NOSTALGIC NOTES ON MY DAY SCHOOL YEARS

Schools Necessarily reflect the conditions of the society which they represent.¹ As Elazar Notes,² Jewish schools so accurately reflect the ambiguities of American Jewish life that the experience of the schools necessarily creates conflicts within the Jewish community. This paper examines that important relationship between the Jewish school and American Jewish life. In particular, it looks outside the school to the loss of a substantive identity among Jews and to the dissolution of community among Jews. Within the school, it describes a disturbing picture of Jewish education that is reflective of those wider conflicts.     

Teacher's Life Worlds,Agency and Policy Contexts

Life history studies of teachers have remained a sadly neglected genre and have only recently become strongly developed in many countries. In 2000, the authors began a collaboration to develop life and work history research with a group of teachers who, 40 years earlier, had been pioneers of the Swedish 9-year compulsory school reform. The present paper describes interesting differences between British and Swedish research and school policy raises questions about the professional development of teachers in contexts of increasing marketisation of public service. The study connects directly to Michael Huberman's life cycle work and emphasises a close and egalitarian collaboration between the researchers and the teachers in the scholarly process.     

Correction to: Educational Psychology Early Career Award Winners: How Did They Do It?

Educational Psychology Review -     

Lipid peroxidation and antioxidant vitamins in urolithasis

The present, study was conducted to determine the level of malondialdehyde (MDA) as an index of free radial induced lipid peroxidation and antioxidant vitamins-vitamins A, vitamin C and vitamin E in 75 confirmed cases of urolithiasis. Significantly high level of MDA (p<0.001) with significantly low levels of vitamin E (p<0.001) and vitamin A (p<0.001) with no significant decrease in vitamin C (p>0.05) were observed in the plasma of urolithiasis cases as compared to normal controls. In conclusion, it appears that a role of lipid peroxidation and oxidative function exists in the pathogenesis of urolithiasis. But, the exact mechanism how this occurs remains to be elucidated.     

How newly qualified primary teachers develop: A case study in rural Eritrea

This paper reports on the professional development of a small group of newly qualified teachers (NQTs) who began their careers in four rural schools in Eritrea. These teachers were monitored over a period of four years from 2001 to 2004. Their development as primary practitioners was recorded by videoing and observing their classes and by interviews and informal discussions held over the period. The ways in which they developed and the factors involved in this development are analysed and discussed.It is hoped that this research offers an insight into the challenges faced by newly qualified teachers in small rural communities, often very much dependant on their own resources and those of the local community. This indicates ways in which the current programme and on-going in-service provision may be targeted in future. An important point is made that in spite of the unusual circumstances of education in Eritrea this research provides insights that are relevant to other sociocultural contexts.     

Teacher Ideology and Sex Roles in Curriculum Texts

This paper explores the relationship between teachers’ general beliefs about sexism in society with their views on sexism in curriculum materials. In so doing, it seeks to elaborate on the nature of teachers’ ideological perceptions of sexism, sex roles and feminism. By analysing sex stereotyping in the school texts of one secondary school for the subjects English, mathematics and French, the research reported in the paper substantiates much of the previous research in this area which has found school texts to be male dominated. In conclusion, the paper suggests that, in certain cases, teacher ideology could be a considerable obstacle to the development of anti‐sexist pedagogies because those teachers who support traditional sex roles tend to resist or devalue anti‐sexist initiatives in education.     

Does calibration reduce variability in the assessment of accounting learning outcomes?

Reliable, consistent assessment process that produces comparable assessment grades between assessors and institutions is a core activity and an ongoing challenge with which universities have failed to come to terms. In this paper, we report results from an experiment that tests the impact of an intervention designed to reduce grader variability and develop a shared understanding of national threshold learning standards by a cohort of reviewers. The intervention involved consensus moderation of samples of accounting students’ work, with a focus on three research questions. First, what is the quantifiable difference in grader variability on the assessment of learning outcomes in ‘application skills’ and ‘judgement’? Second, does participation in the workshops lead to reduced disparity in the assessment of the students’ learning outcomes in ‘application skills’ and ‘judgement’? Third, does participation in the workshops lead to greater confidence by reviewers in their ability to assess students’ skills in application skills and judgement? Our findings suggest consensus moderation does reduce variability across graders and also builds grader confidence.     

Co-teachers’ attitudes towards planning and instructional activities for students with disabilities

Co-teaching is considered a means for improving the inclusion of students with disabilities in mainstream classrooms. This research employs a mixed methods research approach to investigate teachers’ attitudes towards co-teaching practices for students with disabilities in Greek schools. In total, 400 co-teachers completed a survey questionnaire and 10 of them participated in semi-structured interviews, in which they reported co-teaching practices with regard to planning and evaluation activities, co-teaching models, content of teaching and instructional grouping arrangements. The participants stated that the time they spend to plan and evaluate together is insufficient and that they need more time to perform these activities. In addition, co-teachers were found to use their limited time to separate rather than to co-plan or evaluate co-teaching activities. They reported inconsistencies in the rating of co-teaching activities during planning and evaluation. Even though co-teachers approved a specific stance towards all models of co-teaching, they mainly noted that they implemented supportive co-teaching. Also, they stated that they modify the content of teaching for their students with disabilities, but they limit this practice to individual teaching in order to assist these students to overcome specific difficulties. Finally, co-teachers indicated that they prefer to teach the students with disabilities in mixed ability groups rather than to teach them individually out of the class. The results of this research support those of previous studies with regard to the planning needs of co-teachers and the prevalence of the supportive co-teaching model. In addition, our results inform the field about diverse approaches and inconsistencies in delivering the curriculum and the grouping arrangements for students with disabilities. We argue that professional development on the practical implementation of co-teaching and administrative support are necessary to enhance co-teachers’ activities towards the development of an inclusive culture.