A psychosocial approach to shame,embarrassment and melancholia amongst unemployed young men and their fathers

This paper uses a psychosocial approach to explore young unemployed men’s resistance to work they describe as ‘embarrassing’ and ‘feminine’, in the context of the closure of a steelworks in a town in the South Wales valleys. In our psychosocial interview‐based study, with young men as well as their mothers and (where possible) their fathers, we found a community riven with complex feelings about masculinity and femininity, projected on to the young men in such a way as to almost scapegoat them. The experience of the young men was marked by embarrassment and shame. They feel bullied and shamed by their families, peers and others in the community for not being able to find gender‐appropriate work.     

Actor and partner effects of adolescents' romantic working models and styles on interactions with romantic partners

The present study examined how adolescents' and their romantic partners' romantic working models and relational styles were related to their interactions with each other. Sixty-five couples (M age = 18.1 years) were observed interacting. Romantic working models were assessed in interviews about their romantic experiences; romantic styles were assessed by self-report. Data were analyzed using the Actor Partner Interdependence Model. Working models of romantic relationships, especially girls' models, were predictive of their behavior, the partners' behavior, and the dyads' behavior. Fewer links were found between relational styles and observed behavior. The present study extends past work by showing that representations of romantic relationships influence or are influenced by romantic interactions, even as these representations and relationships are just developing.     

Conceptualizing identity,learning and social justice in community-based learning

This paper explores the process of learning to become a social justice teacher, drawing in particular on Bakhtin’s notions of dialogue in order to theorize pre-service teachers’ identity negotiations. Interpretations of learning and identity are based on the content of pre-service teachers’ narratives about community-based learning. Supported by theoretically-sensitive ways of conceptualizing identity and social justice, the author develops an understanding of the ways pre-service teachers shape their identities through participating in community events. Implications for teacher education, in terms of the design and pedagogic practices, are presented with the intent of enabling the realization of social justice teacher education.     

Foucault, narrative and the subjugated subject: Doing research with a grid of sensibility

This paper introduces the grid of sensibility, a strategy that engages Foucaultian analysis and narrative research to provide a theoretical basis for research on subjugated knowledge. This strategy was devised in response to the specific needs of a study that sought to consider the experiences of subjugated and disqualified young people who had been told they were mentally disordered. The grid of sensibility functioned as a communicative meta-tool that provided a flexible, responsive and connected way to access the ideas and considerations that informed the research process. The grid of sensibility is discussed with reference to this study. The paper outlines the grid of sensibility, how it was applied, and suggests its potential application in other studies seeking to consider the perspectives of subjugated disqualified knowledges.     

Two representations of the research process: The preparing,searching, and using (PSU) and the beginning,acting and telling (BAT) models

Two representations of a three-stage diagrammatic model that holistically depicts the research process are presented. The representations incorporate elements culled from existing information-seeking behavior and information literacy instruction research, as well as evidence gathered from a study of third grade elementary school students, as they worked to fulfill a class project's requirements. Both representations are content independent, attribute equal importance to each of the three stages, and target the K-12 educational environment. The full representation, the preparing, searching, using (PSU) model, is intended for use by instructors and more advanced students. The model identifies elements inherent within the three stages of the research process including actions, affective behaviors, impact factors, learning, and reflection. The simpler representation, the beginning, acting, telling (BAT) model, which is embedded into the PSU, presents only the three main stages and the actions associated with those stages using a familiar graphic (a bat) and a mnemonic device to visually present the basic elements of the research process to younger elementary school students. The PSU model is designed to identify and address the unique information behaviors of students (affective, cognitive, and physical) and factors that may impact the research process. As a result, the representations can be used by educators, including information professionals and teachers, to inform instruction, such as lesson planning, development of assignments, resource location and evaluation, and the use of information, to fully exploit all aspects of the research process. The PSU model can also be used to teach more sophisticated concepts to older students by introducing more complex features gradually to the BAT model.     

Wrestling Whiteness: Three Stages of Shifting Multicultural Perspectives among White Pre-service Teachers

Pedagogical progress in the field of multicultural education moves at a snail's pace due to pre-service teachers' level of acceptance of multiculturalism and its tenets. Teacher candidates and seasoned teachers are simply unconscious and apathetic about matters of diversity. Pre-service teachers, primarily White and middle class, are mandated to take multicultural courses and grapple with recognizing their own cultural beings and the cultural realities of others. While student populations grow more diverse, the pre-service teacher population is becoming more homogenous. A major obstacle in teacher preparation programs arising from this mismatch of teacher and student cultures is the ability to facilitate a critical consciousness. This includes the ability to analyze the world and employ equity pedagogy in pre-service teachers who are resistant to diversity issues.

Pre- and post-course surveys, in open-ended and anonymous narrative form, were administered to White pre-service teachers (= 94), and this article is divided into two sections based on the results. First, I outline the three shifting perspectives that were identified during a semester-long course with White and middle class pre-service students, and then connect these perspectives to existing research on racial identity ego, theorizing whiteness, and curriculum integration. This new theoretical model addresses equity pedagogy and is framed within whiteness and consciousness studies and may serve as a reflective tool for educators to self-evaluate their pedagogical proclivities. Second, the implications of this informal action research project for White pre-service educators and research in theorizing whiteness are developed.     

Using Photographs to Assess Equity Climate: A Taxonomy

Our challenge as teachers and as human beings is to begin the process of "changing our voices," facing who we are and what that means in a society based on power and oppression. We must learn to listen to others, so we can speak together with voices both united and unique. The journey described is personal, yet it is also generalizable. Changing one's voice may be the only real way in which a teacher can be a model of diversity and multiculturalism. If as a teacher I do nothing to change my own voice, I have accomplished little in terms of effective teaching. My attitudes, behaviors, words should reflect and embody humanity, not just those who "look" like me or are thought of as more capable learners. I must challenge my students' thinking in terms of diversity and multicultural issues and push them to think of the "other."