Specific Learning Difficulties (Dyslexia): Equal Opportunities Issues

Their article raises important questions concerning the lack of attention to issues of equal opportunity in the literature on specific learning difficulties. The authors identify five objectives for professional practice and research.     

The Right to Teach, the Right to Learn

Believe that the findings and recommendations of the Elton Committee have much to offer schools for children with emotional and behavioural difficulties, as well as mainstream schools. They outline the way they have introduced 'assertive discipline' into behaviour management policy of the school.     

Academic Development as Academic Work

In this paper the authors reflect on their experiences of being academic developers and suggest how our profession might advance in the future. Our inquiry focuses on academic development and how we can support our clients more effectively. We propose that the profession of academic development should aim for academic status with many more research‐active staff contributing to its knowledge base. If this profession were located within the already recognized research field of higher education, we believe a number of potential benefits could accrue. These include a new level of professional standing, greater efficiency in our universities and a more substantial academic development community. Our thoughts and arguments on the nature of our work are framed within a discussion of professional identity, knowledge and academic freedom.     

Behaviour,race and inclusion

Abstract

This article argues that because of the practice in the 1960s of placing black children in so-called ‘educational subnormal’ units there is now a reluctance to look at the speci?c needs of African Caribbean children. The post-Warnock politics of integration/inclusion following this period point to the ‘institutional racism’ of schools and white teachers to explain poor exam results. This article argues that in the current political climate which prioritizes ‘inclusion’ we should not patronize the black child. There is a need to position the factors of oppression equally with other factors of underachievement; to re-employ psychological, behavioural and educational tools as well as to deconstruct school processes and teacher attitudes; and to consider psychosocial factors related to underachievement without forgetting the reality of institutional racism. The article illustrates a research project that looks at the pastoral needs of African Caribbean children. It points to these needs as the key variable in unlocking their underachievement at school.     

BROADCAST TELEVISION AS A CAUSE OF AGGRESSION? RECENT FINDINGS FROM A NATURALISTIC STUDY

This sub‐study is part of a longitudinal naturalistic investigation monitoring the social behaviour of young children (3‐8‐year‐olds) before and after the arrival of broadcast television in St Helena, South Atlantic.

Children's free‐play behaviour in first school playgrounds was videotaped in 1994 (pre‐tv), and in 1995 and 1996 (post‐tv), and then coded and analysed by trained observers. Findings showed no significant differences in children's behaviour either across the availability of broadcast television (i.e. CNN) or with the addition of further channels (CNN plus others).     

Why Our Theoretical Models of Integration are Inhibiting Effective Innovation

In education, as in all other fields, grassroots practitioners need people with sharp, creative minds who are able to question accepted ideologies and challenge current practice. Such innovators stimulate argument and collaboration which, in turn, lead to the development of new philosophies and to more enlightened and effective practices.

In this paper it Is argued that in special education, however, the philosophical models of integration which have been presented over the last eight years have often inadvertently inhibited, rather than promoted, the Introduction of more effective learning systems.     

From peripheral to full participation in a blended trade bargaining simulation

This article considers the extent and nature of student participation in a trade bargaining simulation from a community of practice perspective. This third‐year economics module included a blend of online communication (through email, online chats and online discussions) and face‐to‐face meetings, both in smaller bargaining groups and in whole class plenary meetings. Our method of analysis includes the use of Exchange Structure Analysis of text chats and face‐to‐face learning conversations, triangulated by observation, survey and interview data. The focus on community of practice enables us to offer a nuanced interpretation of differences in crude participation data derived from the online chats. Superficially, the data may suggest marginalisation of participants, but Wenger's (1988 ) notion of peripheral participation with a trajectory towards full participation reframes the disparities in terms of an active community of practice. Some members are fully engaged with the practices of trade bargaining from the early stages of the simulation, while others move towards full participation over the duration of the simulation. Our results suggest that the laboratory‐based online text chats did provide opportunities for student participation in the simulation, and that male and female students exhibited different patterns of participation in the chats.