The rhetorical functions of consciousness‐raising in third wave feminism

The rhetorical practice of consciousness‐raising has changed since communication theorists first began to apply its functions and style, as a small group, face‐to‐face practice, in the early 1970s. In this essay, we argue that in feminist activism and theory, the practice of consciousness‐raising has evolved in response to shifting cultural conditions. Our examination of consciousness‐raising rhetoric produced by self‐labeled “third wave” feminists reveals how contemporary social contexts have generated different rhetorical problems and discursive responses for feminists. Specifically, we show how third wave feminist consciousness‐raising instills a critical perspective that focuses on personal and social injustices. We argue that these rhetorical responses raise consciousness in the public sphere, through mass media, popular culture, and college classrooms, fostering both public and private dialogue about gender inequities that aims at self‐persuasion.     

Twenty-metre shuttle run test performance of English children aged 11 – 15 years in 2007: Comparisons with international standards

Abstract

Recent international normative data for the 20-m shuttle-run test demonstrated a below-average performance index for UK children. The aims of the present study were to create an international comparison of 20-m shuttle-run test performance in a sample of English children and to identify age- and sex-specific differences in test performance. Mass, stature, body mass index, and 20-m shuttle-run test performance were measured in 2041 children aged 11 – 15 years (963 boys, 1078 girls). Performance was expressed as maximum running velocity and a performance index was created by generating z-scores. The shuttle-run test performance index was higher than the existing published value (?0.046, 95% confidence interval [CI] ?0.070 to ?0.022) for all children (0.061, 95% CI = 0.006 to 0.115), for boys (0.075, 95% CI = ?0.022 to 0.171), and for girls (0.048, 95% CI = ?0.010 to 0.106). Boys' relative performance increased significantly (F = 4.43, P = 0.002) throughout the measured age range, whereas girls' relative performance tended to decrease (F = 1.98, P = 0.096). The results were favourable when compared with existing values. Differences in performance index may be due to the different geographical areas from which present and past samples were drawn. Reasons for differences in the performance indices between boys and girls warrant further investigation.     

ADOLESCENTS' COMPREHENSION AND CONTENT AREA EDUCATION STUDENTS' PERCEPTIONS: BENEFITS FROM ONE-ON-ONE TUTORING

In this research study the authors analyzed the effectiveness of content-area education students tutoring adolescents and documented changes in the attitudes of the education students over time. Tutors tested the reading comprehension of both the students they tutored (treatment group) and students they did not (comparison group). The authors used a repeated measures ANOVA to evaluate the effects of the tutorial program on reading for the two groups. The dependent variable was pre- and post-reading scores as measured by the Bader Reading & Language Inventory for both groups. The main effect was significant for the tutored group. In addition, the authors utilized the “preservice teachers' perception/attitude survey” using a Likert scale to document changes in the attitudes of the education students toward implementing literacy strategies within their content areas. To test the effects of the semester-long experience, the authors employed a repeated measures ANOVA to determine significance between the pre/post means. The authors' findings revealed that the semester's experience had a significant impact on the tutors' attitude mean; however, no significant differences pre to post were found among the various content majors.     

The return of the repressed?: the gender politics of emergent forms of professionalism in education

Three distinct discourses frame this paper: ‘new public managerialism’, new modes of governmentality, and new masculinities and femininities. This paper considers the changing forms of governance in projects of educational professionalism emerging in the nested contexts of teaching, teacher training, and academic research within departments of education. It takes the production of the subject position of the manager/wo‐manager as central to managerialist regimes theorized as provoking and potentiating modes of recruitment, refusal, and mis/recognition. It illustrates this through a heuristic relational schemata constituted by the dominance of the managerialist—audit gaze. Taking a theoretically similar but methodologically different (i.e. non‐empirical) approach (or liberty?), one understands subject positions like Prichard and Deem, as produced ‘through a series of discursive or communicative practices’ realized in different ‘conditions of possibility’. The notion of ‘communicative practice’ was also put under scrutiny, given the monovocal as opposed to the dialogic nature of audit: ‘Audit is essentially a relationship of power between scrutinizer and observed: the latter are rendered objects of information, never subjects in communication’.1 This paper was originally given as part of a symposium on gender and teacher training in higher education at the British Educational Research Association Annual Conference Leeds, 13–15 September 2001. The paper has been subsequently revised as a result of conversations with other colleagues in the Professional Education Research and Reading Group, Cathy Aymer and Toyin Okitikipi. It has also been significantly reworked in the light of reviews and we thank our reviewers for their insights. One is, thus, interested in the ubiquity of the ‘managerialist subject position’ as a limit condition for the professional self and how gender gets reworked within this. One is aware that the paper slides across the domains of teaching, teacher training, and academic and professional work identities. It is not presented as an orthodox ‘labour process’ account, neither is it a conventional sociological reading of ‘professionalism’. The authors wish to deliberately keep open the possibilities provided by this lack of specificity through exercising the sociological imagination. The following is best considered an experiment in social critique deriving from a post‐structuralist methodological stance. The aim is to capture through metaphorical means the temperature and tempo of some experiential dimensions of the gendered regulation of educational subjectivities, thought as a central psychosocial feature of the ‘domaining effect’ of audit.     

Expanding horizons—into the future with confidence!

Gifted students often show a deep interest in and profound concern for the complex issues of society. Given the leadership potential of these students and their likely responsibility for solving future social problems, they need to develop this awareness and also a sense of confidence in dealing with future issues. The Future Problem Solving Program (FPSP) was developed to meet these needs, by an emphasis on (a) problem solving, (b) creative solution finding, (c) group work and research skills, and (d) exploration of a wide range of current issues. In this Australian study, subsequently replicated in the United States, ten years of former program participants were surveyed to examine their perceptions of the impact of the program in the light of its objectives.     

Classifying Prosocial Behavior: Children's Responses to Instrumental Need,Emotional Distress,and Material Desire

This study investigates the diversity of early prosocial behavior by examining the ability of ninety‐five 2‐ to 4‐year‐olds to provide aid to an adult experimenter displaying instrumental need, emotional distress, and material desire. Children provided appropriate aid in response to each of these cues with high consistency over multiple trials. In contrast to the consistency with which the children provided aid within each task, there were no cross‐task correlations, and the tendency to respond to each of the cues revealed unique developmental trajectories. Taken together, these results provide preliminary support for the importance of examining the cues to which children are responding and of differentiating between varieties of aid when considering the development of prosocial behavior.     

Bridging the Gap Between Academic Gerontology and the Educational Needs of the Aging Network

Colleges and universities have failed to meet the long-recognized, growing need for nonacademic-credit gerontology education. With the explosive growth of the aging network, other organizations have readily responded to the fast-growing market. Results of two needs assessments over a 5-year period demonstrate employers' higher support for noncredit gerontology educational experiences over for-credit academic degree programs. The Professional Development in Gerontology Certificate Program at Kennesaw State University, which has grown substantially over the past 7 years, is a viable model for easy adoption by other colleges and universities who wish to meet community needs for gerontology noncredit education.     

Making the invisible visible: a methodological and a substantive issue

This article discusses the issue of ‘making the invisible visible’ from a methodological and a substantive viewpoint. The ideas emerged from a doctoral research study into individual target setting with middle ability students in an English secondary school. The students involved had been identified by assessments as ‘average’ and by their teachers as quiet, unnoticed children. It is suggested that the methods used by the researcher to elicit the students' perceptions could also be used by teachers in order to engage these quiet students in a learning discourse.