Developing positive school–home relationships through structured conversations with parents of learners with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND)

Parents play a crucial role in their children's education, and their active involvement can lead to better outcomes. However, evidence suggests that parental engagement and confidence among perhaps the most vulnerable group of learners – those with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) – may be lower than for those without difficulties. We report on research exploring a model for developing positive home–school relationships, known as ‘structured conversations with parents’, which was implemented as part of a comprehensive intervention to improve outcomes for learners with SEND (the Achievement for All pilot). Our research design utilised both quantitative and qualitative elements, including school‐level surveys, parent questionnaires, interviews with key personnel and stakeholders, and case studies of pupils/parents in participating schools across 10 local authorities in England. Our analyses suggest that the structured conversations with parents were successful in achieving their intended outcomes, albeit with important caveats in relation to issues of individual differences, implementation fidelity/adherence and sustainability.     

Teaching at Master's level: between a rock and a hard place

The considerable focus on capturing the ‘student experience’ has not been matched by investigations into the views and experiences of those teaching and managing programmes. This study aims to contribute to redressing the balance. An online survey of staff responsible for Postgraduate Taught (PGT) programmes in the UK elicited 382 responses from staff in 60 different institutions. Findings relating to perceptions of challenges their students face, students’ preparedness for Master's level study and the influence of institutional culture are reported. PGT students were seen as dealing with complexity and juggling multiple demands. A gap between PGT students’ readiness for study at this level, the QAA's vision of Master's study, and institutional assumptions about student support required was identified. For this gap to be closed, we suggest a review of institutional practices is required.     

Does interpretation influence elaboration and environmental behaviors?

Understanding the development of pro-environmental behavioral intentions and behaviors remains one of the greatest challenges for environmental educators worldwide. Using the Elaboration Likelihood Model as a theoretical foundation, we developed surveys to evaluate the influence of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park Junior Ranger program on youths’ (ages 8–13) elaboration (comprised of awareness, interest, and cognitive engagement) and stewardship behaviors. Results suggest that these programs had significant immediate influences on both elaboration as well as stewardship intentions and behaviors. We then investigated whether elaboration was predictive of children’s behavioral intentions and self-reported behaviors associated with stewardship using structural equation modeling (SEM). Results suggest that elaboration accounted for 88% of the variance in participants’ stewardship behaviors/intentions.     

Emotional and Cognitive Coping in Relationship Dissolution

Dissolution of a romantic relationship can adversely affect functioning among college students and represents one primary reason for seeking campus counseling. This study examined the associations among common coping strategies and distress following relationship dissolution. Avoidance and repetitive negative thinking (RNT) were significantly associated with distress, and gender was found to moderate the relationship between RNT and distress. Findings suggest that college counselors should consider emotional coping strategies following relationship dissolutions.     

Student Participation in Nursing Programs: a Study of their Social Composition Since the Transfer to Colleges of Advanced Education in New South Wales

This paper compares the social origins of 400 nursing students in hospital‐based and 448 nursing students in college‐based programs in New South Wales. Using a specially constructed composite socioeconomic variable for comparison, the preliminary analysis suggests that a middle class bias, presumed to exist by some in the selection of recruits to hospital‐based programs, does not operate in the selection of college recruits. The soundly equitable college recruitment pattern is more marked for females than males. There is a greater proportion recruited to college programs from the group who have delayed entry for more than ten years after leaving school. For students entering directly from school, no significant difference was found in the composite socioeconomic variable in hospital and college programs. The findings also suggest that college programs are more attractive than hospital programs to males entering directly from school.     

Influences on students' academic growth during four years of college

This study modeled the sources of influence on students' reported academic development over a four-year period, focusing on institutionally controllable influences on student growth and assessing how those influences vary from one year to another. A LISREL analysis indicated that students' academic integration level in each of the four years had a direct effect on reported academic skill development in that year and an indirect effect on reported growth in succeeding years. Social integration was influential in students' reported academic growth only (but prominently) in the junior and senior years. The nature and strength of the influences varied over time, however, with academic and social integration appearing to reverse their positions in relative importance over the period.An earlier version of this paper was presented at the Twenty-Sixth Annual Forum of the Association for Institutional Research, Orlando, Fla., June 22–25, 1986.     

Pre-service teachers’ empathy and cognitions: Statistical analysis of text data by graphical models

This research examines empathic dispositions of 178 pre-service teachers. We analyzed open ended responses to animated narrative vignette simulations (ANVs), which served as stimulated experimental situations depicting students in victim and perpetrator scenarios. Empathy was examined by addressing the following questions: (1) Do participants’ responses differ over vignettes? (2) What is the dimensionality of the empathy construct? (3) Is word count an indicator of empathy? (4) Is there a dispositional effect? (5) To what extent do pre-service teachers express empathy? After the text responses of pre-service teachers were coded, log-linear and log-multiplicative association models, which have graphical representations, were used to analyze the data and to develop a context dependent measure of empathy. The results suggest that a single latent variable underlies the responses, and from our measurement model, very few teachers expressed empathy toward the victim in the ANVs.     

Navigating the ambiguous policy landscape of student participation

ABSTRACT

Student participation at school is receiving heightened attention through international evidence connecting it to a range of benefits including student learning, engagement, citizenship and wellbeing, as well as to overall school improvement. Yet the notion of student participation remains an ambiguous concept, and one that challenges many deeply entrenched norms of traditional schooling.

Informed by understandings of ‘participation’ linked to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, this article takes the Australian state of New South Wales (NSW) as a case study to explore how student participation is currently articulated in educational policy. It reports the findings of an analysis of 142 state and federal government policy-related documents, along with qualitative interview data from nine policy personnel. The findings suggest that students are conceptualised within these policies in contradictory ways, interpretations of participation are diverse yet frequently instrumentalist, and there is little conceptual coherence across the educational policy landscape in NSW in relation to ‘student participation’. The findings are discussed in light of international interest around student participation. The analytical framework used in this analysis is proposed as a possible tool for critically examining the place and purpose of student participation at school, regardless of jurisdiction.

Abbrevations: NSW = the Australian state of New South Wales; UNCRC = United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child; SRC = Student Representative Council     

Examining the Short-, Medium-, and Long-Term Success of an Embodied Learning Activity in the Study of Hand Anatomy for Clinical Application

A student's own body provides an often disregarded site of knowledge production and corporeal wisdom. Learning via cognitive processes anchored in physical movement and body awareness, known as embodied learning, may aid students to visualize structures and understand their functions and clinical relevance. Working from an embodied learning perspective, the current article evaluates the use of an offline physical learning tool (Anatomical Glove Learning System; AGLS) for teaching hand anatomy for clinical application in medical students. Two student samples (N₁ = 105; N₂ = 94) used the AGLS in two different ways. In the first sample, the AGLS was compared to a traditional approach using hand bones, models and prosected specimens. Secondly, the AGLS and traditional approach were combined. The evaluation consisted of three outcomes: short-term learning (post-test), medium-term applications (mock-objective structured clinical examination, MOSCE), and longer-term assessment (objective structured clinical examination, OSCE). Findings from the first sample indicated no significant differences between the AGLS and traditional laboratory groups on short- (F_(1,78) = 0.036, P = 0.849), medium- (F_(1,50) = 0.743, P = 0.393), or longer-term (F_(1,82) = 0.997, P = 0.321) outcomes. In the second sample using the AGLS in combination with a traditional approach was associated with significantly better short-term post-test scores (F_(2,174) = 5.98, P = 0.003) than using the AGLS alone, but demonstrated no effect for long-term OSCE scores. These results suggest an embodied learning experience alone does not appear to be advantageous to student learning, but when combined with other methods for studying anatomy there are learning gains.     

Getting Ready for School: An Examination of Early Childhood Educators’ Belief Systems

This study examines early childhood educators’ beliefs about what children need prior to before entering kindergarten. Focus group interviews were conducted with early childhood educators from three learning settings: public center-based programs, private center-based programs, and family child care centers. Qualitative methods were used to analyze the data. Across program types, educators said that three levels should be addressed to help prepare a child for school: child, home, and teacher. The child must be physically and emotionally ready to engage with others and participate in learning opportunities, acquire basic skills, such as letter recognition, and have reasoning skills that enable the child to problem-solve. At the home level, emotionally preparing the child for the transition and creating a home environment that promotes learning were reported as key to getting children for school. Teacher relationships with parents also emerged as important school readiness factor. Differences across program types are discussed.