The role of fictive kinship relationships in mediating classroom competition and supporting reciprocal mentoring

Previous research has suggested that competitive classroom environments can play a role in perpetuating race and class inequalities. However, classroom competition can also promote learning, and eliminating it could do students a disservice. This paper draws on research literature and data from a qualitative study by Konstantinos Alexakos, Jayson K. Jones, and Victor H. Rodriguez on fictive kinship in order to explore the conditions under which classroom competition could benefit students from non-dominant groups. Based on their data, I argue that competition can support the learning of students from non-dominant groups, provided that it takes place in the context of strong emotional ties and successful interaction rituals. I also discuss the role of competition in facilitating reciprocal mentoring, as students seek knowledge and skills from each other in order to participate in solidarity-building classroom interactions. In addition, I show how their study challenges a perceived dichotomy between competition and cultural orientations towards communalism.     

Socialising principals: early career primary school principals in Trinidad and Tobago

This paper utilises an interpretivist framework and recent developments in practice theory to examine the conditions which influence practices of socialising into the role of school principal in Trinidad and Tobago. The results indicate that for the 11 early career primary school principals, role socialisation occurs within complex practice landscapes, where the practices of preparing classroom teachers for the principalship materialise within a context of contest. There is conflict between historical antecedents and the expectations and practices of socialising institutions such as the church, the school, the community and the Ministry of Education. This small-scale study has implications for leadership preparation practices and highlights principal socialisation as a challenge of context and history.     

PROGRAM EVALUATION OF THE PREPaRE SCHOOL CRISIS PREVENTION AND INTERVENTION TRAINING CURRICULUM

This study details a program evaluation of the PREPa RE School Crisis Prevention and Intervention Training Curriculum (PREPa RE), conducted in the United States and Canada between 2009 and 2011. Significant improvements in crisis prevention and intervention attitudes and knowledge were shown among 875 Crisis Prevention and Preparedness workshop (Workshop 1) participants and 1,422 Crisis Intervention and Recovery workshop (Workshop 2) participants on matched pre‐tests and post‐tests. Results indicated high participant satisfaction for both Workshop 1 and Workshop 2. A qualitative analysis of workshop evaluation comments indicated strengths regarding workshop aims, materials, and activities, as well as suggestions for improvement, such as utilizing more active learning components. The use of these findings in the PREPa RE curriculum revision is discussed.     

Forum: structure, agency, and the development of students’ identities as learners

In this forum, we discuss the ways in which the culture of science has become conflated with categorical groupings of students according to race, class, and gender – so as to better understand how Black female students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds may become alienated from dominant school discourses that emphasize college and non-college bound trajectories. In addition, we examine the power and limitations of creating spaces inside and outside of science classrooms that value student discourses, goals, and ways of being. Specifically, we debate whether cogenerative dialogues can allow for (a) conscious critical conversations that cut across student, teacher and administration levels, (b) expanded possibilities for local action, and (c) the building of solidarity and respect amongst stakeholders.     

Mathematics Teacher Educators' Perceptions and Use of Cognitive Research

Instructors (N = 204) of elementary mathematics methods courses completed a survey assessing the extent to which they value cognitive research and incorporate it into their courses. Instructors' responses indicated that they view cognitive research to be fairly important for mathematics education, particularly studies of domain‐specific topics, and that they emphasize topics prominent in psychology studies of mathematical thinking in their courses. However, instructors reported seldom accessing this research through primary or secondary sources. A mediation analysis indicated that mathematics methods instructors' perception of the importance of the research predicts their incorporation of it in their courses, and that this relation is partially mediated by their accessing of it. Implications for psychologists who have an interest in education and recommendations for facilitating the use of cognitive research in teacher preparation are discussed.     

Culture and Concepts of School Leadership and Management: Exploring the impact of CPD on aspiring headteachers

In the current UK policy context increased attention is being given to the use of continuing professional development (CPD) as a mechanism for reforming and redefining the professionalism of teachers in the schools' sector. This, in turn, has focused attention on measuring the impact of professional development on practice and, in particular, pupil outcomes. This is a difficult task even where a CPD initiative is focused on changing classroom practice. It becomes even more difficult where programmes focus on the development of school leaders and managers. Nor does measuring impact, in itself a thorny issue, necessarily help us to understand why and how experienced practitioners change their practice. Without some further understanding of what 'impact' entails and the processes involved in achieving it we are unlikely to move further forward in designing and providing effective learning opportunities for serving teachers.     

Minding the child

Abstract

The Mulberry Bush is a residential special school in Oxfordshire. Founded in 1948, it caters for children of primary age (5–12) with severe emotional damage due to the accumulation of adverse experiences in infancy and early childhood. Children usually stay at the school for 3–4 years. The aim is to prepare them to return home or to live with adoptive or foster families by the time of secondary school transfer. The therapeutic philosophy of the school is based on psychodynamic principles and understanding. This emphasizes the importance of individual adult–child relationship building, and of allowing a child's expression of unmet dependency needs in a safe environment. The article describes the legacy of the school's founder and first principal, Barbara Dockar-Drysdale, and was originally given as a lecture before an invited audience of the Friends of The Mulberry Bush School in January 2001.     

Concerns about crime and local television news

This project reports on a two‐part investigation into students' perceptions of behaviors constituting active participation in a college course. Seven factors emerged: Working Hard, Outside Contact, (Refraining from) Negative Behavior, Group Citizenship, Positivity, Attendance, and Class Discussion. Interestingly, students rated the Group Citizenship factor as the most representative of participation. High and low communication apprehensives differed on their ratings of the centrality of some of these factors to participation. The results of this study suggest that students have an expansive notion of what it means to participate in their classes, better characterized as “course involvement,” than is captured by conventional definitions of “class participation.”