Analysing sexual experiences through ‘scenes’: a framework for the evaluation of sexuality education

This paper describes an alternative approach to undertaking and evaluating sexual health promotion, focusing on the notion of sexual scenes and scenarios and how these can provide a vantage point from which to examine sexual experience. The concept of sexual scenes provides a context within which to analyse many of the behavioural and epidemiological factors associated with sexual practice. In principle, such an approach provides a tool for conscientization, action and the invention of novel group and individual repertoires that may result in individual and social mobilization for health and/or sexual and reproductive rights. Scenes can be elicited through individual interviews, group interviews and discussions, or through staged and dramatized performance and students' writing. Analysing sexual scenes offers an entry point for dialogue in sexual health promotion programming. Evaluation of these programmes can be part of the process of changing sexual scenarios. Change is witnessed not only through individual changes but, especially in impoverished communities, through challenges to dominant local sexual scenarios and engagement with structural concerns.     

Parents and sex education—looking beyond ‘the birds and the bees’

The social and political climate of sex education over the last two decades has dramatically changed, with parents now being encouraged to work in partnership with professionals. This paper seeks to further the argument that involving parents in their child's sex education does matter and can have an impact on their child's future sexual health. It discusses the reality of parents' roles and skills in providing sex education within the family. In particular, the discussion explores myths parents associate with sex education, involving fathers in provision, siblings as peer educators, health professionals' attitudes towards involving parents, and school partnerships. The author calls for professionals to involve parents alongside other sources of sex education in health and educational strategies to address sexual health issues and improve sex education. Otherwise future generations of children will experience a closed cultural attitude towards sexual matters and we will not achieve lower teenage pregnancy rates or view sex education positively.     

A study of the difficulties of care and support in new university teachers’ work

This paper discusses some findings from a small‐scale qualitative study involving ‘new’ teachers in a medium sized, regional English university. Using Grounded Theory methods to inform and guide the research, the study explores participants’ views on working as both teachers and researchers whilst also managing considerable amounts of ‘caring work’ with a diverse body of students who often need academic and pastoral support in excess of that assumed within the university academic timetables or support networks. The voices of these teachers suggest that care is an overlooked aspect of university teachers’ work, yet it plays an important part in maintaining their and their students’ sense of scholarly endeavour. Further, our findings suggest that within the university at large there is a ‘discourse of difference’ in the way that many academics conceptualize and represent the student body and students’ needs to be supported. This discourse impacts on the development of new teachers’ identities and aspirations. Some implications of these findings for implementing strategies for supporting teachers to develop both academic and pastoral roles within universities are discussed.     

Imagining a different life in school: educating student teachers about ‘looked after’ children and young people

The research described in this paper concerns the acquaintance of student teachers with the educational and wider pastoral experiences of children and young people who are or have been ‘looked after’ and who they may well teach at some point, together with the familiarisation of student teachers with the ‘looked after’ system in the UK. We discuss an exploratory awareness‐raising curriculum project within a Teacher Education Department at a University in the UK that utilises digital multimedia to develop a ‘community of awareness’ of young people and student teachers. As a result of this work, the student teachers were able to reflect on their pedagogical knowledge and practices related to teaching and wider pupil pastoral care. Further, those involved in the project therefore not only learned how to use technology, but to apply it in meaningful, productive ways, which were potentially transforming in terms of appreciation and knowledge of diversity. Benefits for the participants – the young people involved and the student teachers, as well as implications for both student teachers’ understanding of diversity and limitations of the technology – are discussed.     

Success by Degrees: Addressing Teacher Shortages through a School-Community College-University Partnership

Using a teacher recruitment and preparation model, a unique partnership between PK–12 schools, a community college, and a university is examined. The focus is on the training and credentialing of future educators, particularly from underrepresented backgrounds, in an efficient and quality manner to assist in meeting the current PK–12 teacher shortage. Data indicate that the partnership is progressing towards, or has met, its targets in addressing said shortage.     

WRITING ACROSS THE CURRICULUM PROGRAMS IN NEW JERSEY'S PUBLIC COLLEGES

Since 1976 in response to growing concern about college students’ writing abilities, faculty development programs on writing across the curriculum have arisen in a number of two‐ and four‐year colleges throughout the United States. This movement, for it seems to be one, has its roots in a similar movement that began more than 15 years ago in British secondary schools. This paper first reviews briefly the early history of the movement in England and compares the movement there to the one now under way in U.S. higher education. It then presents the results of a questionnaire survey of New Jersey's public two‐ and four‐year colleges undertaken in the spring of 1979. The purpose of the survey was to determine whether and to what extent New Jersey's public colleges had started or were planning to start development programs designed to bring groups of faculty together, across disciplines, to discuss problems relating to student writing performance and to develop specific interdisciplinary plans for solving these problems. In addition, information is presented about the nature of the steps taken in those institutions that reported having initiated such programs and about the efforts to evaluate the impact of these programs. Finally, conclusions are drawn about the state of writing across the curriculum programs in New Jersey public higher education and recommendations are made for further action in this direction.     

Creating Inclusive,Literacy-Embedded Play Centers in a Children's Museum: Connecting Theory to Practice

Preservice teachers enrolled in an early literacy or developmental preschool course collaborated in order to create inclusive, literacy-embedded play centers at a local children's museum. Using a grounded theory approach, theoretical questions were generated after analyzing multiple data sources. The focus of this paper is how preservice teachers connected theory to practice in an authentic setting. The importance of connecting theory to practice, the place of play in assessment, and the viability of children's museums as alternative field placements are discussed. Implications for preservice teacher education are presented.     

Goal orientation towards teaching (GOTT) scale

Goal orientation theory has been widely investigated and found to affect many motivation and behavior variables in relation to student learning and work performance. However, unlike the motivational construct of self-efficacy, researchers have yet to investigate whether this theory can be applied to the field of teaching and contribute to the explanation for trends in instructional behavior and motives. The purpose of the present study was to develop an instrument to begin the exploration of teachers’ goal orientation towards teaching. From a three-phase research design consisting of scale development, score validation, and convergent/discriminant validation, results provided support for the development of, and validity of scores on, a Goal Orientation towards Teaching (GOTT) Scale. Although further validation is needed, future researchers and practitioners can use the GOTT scale to investigate how teachers’ goal orientation towards teaching can impact student learning, teaching effectiveness, pedagogical learning, and even professional morale.     

Visual function,performance, and processing of basketball players vs. sedentary individuals

BackgroundAthletes tend to have better visuo-motor performance than do sedentary individuals. However, several basic visual-function and perceptual parameters remain unexplored to date. In this study, we investigated whether differences exist in visual function, performance, and processing between basketball players and individuals without a sport-involvement background.MethodsA total of 33 healthy men with no visual impairment or pathology were divided into 2 groups, depending on the involvement in sport (semi-professional basketball players and sedentary individuals). We tested their baseline heart-rate variability in the resting position apart from subjective questionnaires to determine their physical fitness level, and we checked their visual function, performance, and processing through an extended battery of optometric tests.ResultsThe 2 groups differed in resting heart-rate variability parameters (p < 0.001), confirming their dissimilarities in regular time practising sports per week. The basketball players showed a closer breakpoint and recovery nearpoint of convergence, a higher fusional-vergence rate, better discriminability halos, and better eye–hand coordination (all p values < 0.05).ConclusionThese results show evidence that athletes, basketball players in this case, exhibit better performance in several visual abilities in comparison to a group of individuals without sporting backgrounds, suggesting an improvement due to the systematic involvement of those skills during basketball practice.