University competition,student migration and regional economic differentials in the United Kingdom

University entrance for undergraduate degree courses is highly competitive in the United Kingdom, both among students and universities. A model is proposed of regional competition among the latter, from which a number of indices of their relative competitiveness are derived. These are applied to empirical evidence for groups of neighbouring universities from which a regional pattern of competitiveness emerges in harmony with the national north-south divide. The model is then extended to other aspects of higher education and to the wider space economy. Certain implications are identified, bearing in mind changes in the level and funding of degree course provision now being introduced nationally.     

Changing teaching styles

Eleven tutor counsellors in the British Open University were interviewed to ascertain how they responded to the idea of using a facilitative teaching style in their tutorials. Their responses have been analysed by a systems model of the tutorial process which indicates the extent to which they possessed a coherent framework, appropriate for teaching in a distance education teaching system. The interviews revealed factors which have echoes in student learning research and which, taken together, offer a tentative explanation of why some tutor counsellors were more amenable to changing their teaching styles than others. This has implications for staff development, not only in distance education systems but for teaching in general.     

Authentic Pedagogy and Students with Severe Disabilities

This paper describes a project carried out by the first author, an academic in special education, with the other authors, teachers of students with severe disabilities. It aimed to explore the application of the New South Wales (NSW) model of pedagogy, derived from authentic pedagogy, to the education of students with severe intellectual disabilities. The project was directed at students with severe intellectual disability who were unable to use spoken language for receptive and/or expressive communication and who were being taught augmentative and alternative means of communication. The group analysed and reframed the development of communication skills in relation to the elements of deep knowledge, deep understanding and higher order thinking, which are components of the dimension of intellectual quality in the NSW model. This analysis is presented here as an example of the way the authentic pedagogy framework can be applied to teach cognitive skills that are usually assumed by teachers of normally developing students.     

Moving forwards with the aim of going backwards fast: high-performance rowing as a learning environment

Background and purpose: This paper focuses on the learning culture within the high-performance levels of rowing. In doing so, we explore the case of an individual's learning as he moves across athletic, coaching and administrative functions. This exploration draws on a cultural learning framework and complementary theorisings related to reflexivity.

Method: This study makes use of an intellectually, morally and collaboratively challenging approach whereby one member of the research team was also the sole participant of this study. The participant's career as a high-performance athlete, coach and administrator, coupled with his experience in conducting empirical research presented a rare opportunity to engage in collaborative research (involving degrees of insider and outsider status for each of the research team). We acknowledge that others have looked to combine roles of coach/athlete/administrator with that of researcher; however, few (if any) have attempted to combine them all in one project. Moreover, coupled with the approach to reflexivity adopted in this study and the authorship contributions, we consider this scholarly direction uncommon. Data comprised recorded research conversations, a subsequently constructed learning narrative, reflections on the narrative, a stimulated reflective piece from the participant and the final (re)construction of the participant's story. Accordingly, data were integrated through an iterative process of thematic analysis.

Results: The cultural (i.e. the ways things get done) and structural (e.g. the rules and regulations) properties of high-performance rowing were found to shape the opportunities both to be present (e.g. secure a place in the crew) and to learn (e.g. learn the skills required to perform at the Olympic level). However, the individual's personal properties were brought to bear on reshaping the constraints such that many limitations could be overcome. In keeping with the theory of learning cultures, the culture of rowing was found to position individuals (a coxswain in this case) differentially. In a similar manner, a range of structural features were found to be important in shaping the cultural and personal elements in performance contexts. Finally, the cultural and structural elements in rowing appeared to be activated by the participant's personal elements, most notably his orientation towards quality performance.

Conclusion: The participant in this study was found to be driven by the project that he cares about most and at each turn he has bent his understanding of his sport back on itself to see if he can find opportunities to learn and subsequently explore ways to improve performance. The story here emphasises the importance of learner agency, and this is an aspect that has often been missing in recent theorising about learning. In this study, we find an agent using his ‘personal emergent powers’ to activate the resources in the culture and structure of his sport in an attempt to improve performance. We conclude from this account that this particular high-performance rowing culture is one that provided support but nonetheless encouraged those involved, to ‘figure things out’ for themselves – be it as athletes, coaches and/or administrators.     

Education,pedagogy and sport for development: addressing seldom asked questions

This special issue features the growing field of Sport for Development. Importantly few questions have been raised about the educative quality of sport for development programmes or the pedagogies by which they are delivered. This seems to be something of an oversight since; by definition development infers some sort of learning or educative process. This introductory paper provides an editorial commentary and summary on the papers included in this issue. We also comment on Sport for Development as a growing field of research and identify what might be some fruitful areas of research direction based on the papers included in the issue. Our reading of the papers suggest that there are important concerns related to pedagogy and educational practices in sport for development projects that stem from a dominance of neoliberal agendas, unintended though this may be. At the same time however, it is apparent that this challenge is being met head on by a growing number of researchers, and reports of this progress can be found in this issue.     

Exploring the impact of domestic abuse on the mother role: how can educational psychologists contribute to this area?

Domestic abuse has been shown to negatively affect a child’s social, emotional and behavioural development and a mother’s emotional well-being, parenting capacity and ability to respond to their child. Educational psychologists have a role to play in ameliorating these effects but their potential contribution has not always been fully realised. The study that is reported here employed Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) methodology to explore the impact of domestic abuse on women’s perceptions of their role and identity as a mother. The findings provide a basis for proposing how educational psychologists and other professionals can best support these families to identify a clearer and more consistent resilience trajectory.     

Mentoring beginning teachers in secondary schools: An analysis of practice

The conditions that promote best practice in the mentoring of beginning teachers in secondary schools are explored in this paper in relation to the experiential model of learning put forward by Kolb [(1984). Experiential learning: Experience as the source of learning and development. New York: Prentice-Hall]. The underpinning processes of this learning cycle include the experience, the reflection, the learning that results and (further) experimentation.We present some empirical research from a two-year funded project on The Professional Development of Subject Induction Tutors and data derived from questionnaires completed by beginning teachers in three education authorities at the start and end of induction year and from semi-structured interviews with sub-samples of beginning teachers. The questionnaire data allowed us to distinguish three broad teacher ‘types’ in terms of their experiences of induction and the associated mentoring. In relation to these types we explored differences and similarities in the extent to which mentoring functions are distributed in schools, the extent to which different mentoring relationships allow beginning teachers to be empowered in their work, and the particular uses made of review and target setting and the value placed on these processes by beginning teachers and their mentors. Overall we found that best practice for ‘developmental mentoring’ involves elements of challenge and risk-taking within supportive school environments with clear induction systems in place and strong school ethos in relation to professional development.     

Challenges to university autonomy in initial teacher education programmes: The cases of England,Manitoba and British Columbia

Since the middle of the twentieth century in England and Canada responsibility for the design and delivery of pre-service teacher programmes has been located primarily in universities and their Faculties/Schools of Education. Operating within a tradition of university autonomy, the governance of these programmes is nonetheless constrained by the accreditation and certification requirements of the state and the profession and the pragmatic demands of teachers’ work. Over the last two decades, a variety of provisions have been made to regulate the pre-service preparation of teachers in both countries that have afforded quite different roles and authority to the state, the university, and the teaching profession. It is the interplay of these pressures on the governance of initial teacher preparation in three different jurisdictions—England, Manitoba and British Columbia—and the characterisation of teacher preparation associated with each, that is the focus of this article.