Notes on the Canadian professoriate

While many publications on higher education in Canada make some reference to the professoriate, few are devoted specifically to that group. This paper draws, therefore, on many sources in an attempt to provide an overview. Aspects dealt with include characteristics of the professoriate; recruitment and selection; salaries and fringe benefits; rank, promotion and tenure; teaching, research and community service; professorial associations; and the professoriate and politics.     

THE INQUIRY AS COOPERATIVE STUDY OF EXPERIENCE

This address was given in the seminar on inter‐group images and also at a symposium marking the publication of Portrait of the Elder Brother     

Examining Associations Between Effortful Control and Teacher–Child Relationships in Relation to Head Start Children's Socioemotional Adjustment

Research Findings: The current project examined the unique and interactive relations of child effortful control and teacher–child relationships to low-income preschoolers' socioemotional adjustment. One hundred and forty Head Start children (77 boys and 63 girls), their parents, lead teachers, and teacher assistants participated in this study. Parents provided information on child effortful control, whereas lead teachers provided information on their relationships with students. Teacher assistants provided information on children's socioemotional adjustment (emotional symptoms, peer problems, conduct problems, prosocial behaviors) in the preschool classroom. Both teacher–child closeness and conflict were significantly related to low-income preschoolers' socioemotional adjustment (i.e., emotional symptoms, peer problems, conduct problems, and prosocial behaviors) in expected directions. In addition, teacher–child conflict was significantly associated with emotional symptoms and peer problems among children with low effortful control; however, teacher–child conflict was not significantly associated with socioemotional difficulties among children with high effortful control. Teacher–child closeness, on the other hand, was associated with fewer socioemotional difficulties regardless of children's level of effortful control. Practice or Policy: Results are discussed in terms of (a) the utility of intervention efforts focusing on promoting positive teacher–child interactions and enhancing child self-regulatory abilities and (b) the implications for children's socioemotional adjustment.     

Cognitive and affective components of challenge and threat states

Abstract

We explored the cognitive and affective components of the Theory of Challenge and Threat States in Athletes (TCTSA) using a cross-sectional design. One hundred and seventy-seven collegiate athletes indicated how they typically approached an important competition on measures of self-efficacy, perceived control, achievement goals, emotional states and interpretation of emotional states. Participants also indicated to what extent they typically perceived the important competition as a challenge and/or a threat. The results suggest that a perception of challenge was not predicted by any of the cognitive components. A perception of threat was positively predicted by avoidance goals and negatively predicted by self-efficacy and approach goals. Both challenge and threat had a positive relationship with anxiety. Practical implications of this study are that an avoidance orientation appeared to be related to potentially negative constructs such as anxiety, threat and dejection. The findings may suggest that practitioners and researchers should focus on reducing an avoidance orientation, however the results should be treated with caution in applied settings, as this study did not examine how the combination of constructs exactly influences sport performance. The results provided partial support for the TCTSA with stronger support for proposed relationships with threat rather than challenge states.     

Teacher education students using TPACK in science: a case study

Teacher education is in the grip of change. Due to the new Australian Curriculum, no longer is it possible to plan and implement lessons without considering the inclusion of Information and Communication Technologies. Simply knowing about the latest technology gadgets is not enough. Information literacy is essential in today’s information-rich learning and working environment. Students and teachers must be able to engage with diverse learning technologies efficiently and effectively in the search for the “right information” at the “right time” for the “right purpose”. Key information literacy and inquiry skills have been recognised as vital learning goals by the Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority and the International Society for Technology in Education and are thus critical in science teacher education. This paper examines the overlap of technology, pedagogy and science content in the Technological Pedagogical and Content Knowledge (TPACK) framework and its affordances for science educators, at the intersection between technology knowledge, science pedagogy (information literacy and inquiry) and science content knowledge. Following an introduction of the TPACK framework for science education, the paper reports the research findings, which illustrate that 90% of pre-service teachers thought the experimental unit improved their understanding of the inquiry process, 88% reported more confidence in their understanding of science concepts and 94% of students reported an increase in their knowledge and confidence of Web 2.0 tools in supporting scientific inquiry in science. The implications of this study are that the online inquiry improved students’ knowledge and confidence in the skills and processes associated with inquiry and in science concepts.     

The perceptions and experiences of young people with a BESD/SEMH classification

Social, Emotional and Mental Health (SEMH) needs, previously Behavioural, Emotional and Social Difficulties (BESD), is the most frequently occurring category of Special Educational Need (SEN) in secondary schools in England, associated with school exclusion and poorer outcomes in later life. This study explores the perceptions of young people of the “label” BESD/SEMH and their school experiences. A social constructionist grounded theory approach was used to analyse data from semi-structured interviews with nine young people with a statement of SEN for BESD. Findings show that eight of the participants were previously unaware of their classification of BESD and that it was predominantly negatively evaluated. The grounded theory model arising from the research describes the perceptions of young people of the struggles and strengths that they experience at school. Teacher–pupil relationships were found to contribute to both strengths and struggles at school depending on their perceived quality. Implications for policy and practice are discussed.