Effects of student anonymity-nonanonymity on the factor structure of a teacher rating form

Factor analysis of an instructor rating form administered to three successive student and teacher populations revealed a reasonably consistent factor structure across analyses. In one of the three administrations, students were asked to sign the evaluation form; in this case, substantial changes in proportions of common variance appeared for the first two factors when comparing anonymous versus nonanonymous conditions. Results are discussed in terms of methods for use of student ratings to improve instruction.     

Social class and pedagogy: a model for the investigation of pedagogic variation

This article addresses an enduring concern in the sociology of education: how social class differences are reproduced through schooling. In particular it focuses on the functioning of pedagogy in this regard. The article presents a model that elucidates the inner logic of pedagogy in order to reveal the structuring of inequality with respect to different groups of students. Theoretical concepts are drawn from the work of Bernstein, Dowling (1998 Dowling, P. 1998. The sociology of mathematics education: Mathematical myths/pedagogic texts, London: Falmer.  [Google Scholar]) and Pedro (1981 Pedro, E.R. 1981. Social stratification and classroom discourse: A sociolinguistic analysis of classroom practice, Stockholm: Stockholm Institute of Education, Department of Educational Research.  [Google Scholar]). An analysis considering the relay of social class differences, what is relayed, and its organizational form is undertaken with respect to working class and middle class children learning literacy in a sample of South African primary schools.     

Ethnicity and engagement in first-year New Zealand law programmes

This paper investigated the extent to which the engagement levels of a self-selected cohort of students enrolled in first-year law programmes at three New Zealand universities varied according to ethnicity. When viewed in the light of factors identified within the international literature as having a bearing on student engagement and, in consequence, academic success and retention, no significant differences were identified in the ways students of Pākehā (European), Māori, Pasifika, Chinese and Indian descent interacted with the law school at which they were enrolled. This was despite some identified differences in students’ backgrounds and motivations for study and in the external factors having an impact on their study. Nevertheless, the identified differences between the ethnicities in relation to personal and external factors can be utilised to enhance and/or improve the engagement of particular groups of students. Overall, the findings indicate a need for law schools to focus on student engagement in first-year programmes with a view to improving the engagement levels of students across all ethnicities.     

Changing the culture of a primary school: The case of introducing ICT across the curriculum

Abstract

Teachers and teacher learning are critical and key to establishing, understanding and realizing the possibilities of a learning society One first step in the process requires teachers to place their own learning at the centre of their activities. They must learn how to change, change the way they learn, and learn how to change their conditions of learning. This paper examines some policies and practices in regard to the provision of teacher professional development. Providing opportunities for teacher learning in Ireland has in general been preoccupied with facilitating curriculum reform, supporting organizational change and with easing management concerns. Shifting the emphasis from programme delivery to professional development through personal development is one challenge that has been taken up by the Second Level Support Service. It favours a process that is organic, career long and participant driven. Shifting the emphasis to a more personal and holistic form of development will not be an easy task but is a necessary one if the vision of a learning society and lifelong learning is to become realised.     

‘Leav[ing] the white[s] … far behind them’: The girls from fort shaw (Montana) Indian School,basketball champions of the 1904 world's fair

In spring 1903, barely a dozen years after the invention of ‘basket ball’, a girls' team from an Indian boarding school in Montana overcame racial and gender barriers to win that state's first basketball championship. Subsequently, these ten young women spent the summer of 1904 attending the government's Model Indian School at the St Louis World's Fair, where their twice-weekly intra-squad exhibition games provided fairgoers with their only glimpse of women's team sports. Having also taken on – and defeated – all challengers, they returned to Montana with a gleaming silver trophy declaring them ‘Basket Ball Champions’ of the 1904 World's Fair.     

“Martin Luther King Fixed It”: Children Making Sense of Racial Identity in a Colorblind Society

Children in the United States grow up in a context wherein colorblindness and racism coexist. This article examined how colorblindness functions as a societal “master narrative” that shapes how children construct their own racial identities. Data were collected via semi-structured interviews with 217 Black, White, and Multiracial children (M_age = 9.92) in public schools in the Pacific Northwest during 2013–2014 academic year. Our analysis identified four race narratives, which varied systematically by child age and race. Associations were also found between narrative types and children’s ratings of racial identity importance. Although colorblindness infuses many of the racial narratives, there was evidence that children also question and disrupt this master narrative with stories of resistance that counter colorblind norms.     

Beyond ‘migrant background’: how to select relevant,social justice oriented,and feasible social categories in educational research

European Journal of Psychology of Education - Across continental Europe, educational research samples are often divided by ‘migrant background’, a binary variable criticized for masking...     

Michael Young and the curriculum field in South Africa

The paper addresses the question of what we should make of Michael Young’s recent work with respect to curriculum theory by considering the particular case of South African curriculum reform. The paper thus traces two trajectories: the evolution of Michael Young’s ideas over time and South African curriculum reform in the post-apartheid period. The paper shows how the two trajectories have run in parallel, not least because of Young’s ongoing involvement and interest in South Africa. Three broad periods in Young’s career are identified: the new sociology of education period; a middle period where he engaged in substantial policy work, focusing predominantly on the relation between schooling and the economy; and his social realist phase, where much of his work has focused on an educational notion of specialized knowledge: ‘powerful knowledge’. The possibilities and limitations of this notion as it has been taken up in the research literature, and in relation to the South African case, are explored.     

Testing moral foundation theory: Are specific moral emotions elicited by specific moral transgressions?

Moral foundation theory posits that specific moral transgressions elicit specific moral emotions. To test this claim, participants (N = 195) were asked to rate their emotions in response to moral violation vignettes. We found that compassion and disgust were associated with care and purity respectively as predicted by moral foundation theory. However, anger, rage, contempt, resentment and fear were not associated to any single moral transgression. Thus, even though the type of moral violation matters for the type of emotion that is elicited, the link between moral foundations and moral emotions seems more complex than moral foundation theory suggests. Rather, the findings suggest that there are both emotion-specific foundations (i.e. care and purity) and emotion-unspecific foundations (i.e. fairness, authority and loyalty).