Using a college human sexuality course to combat homophobia

The present study seeks to identify factors among university students that may be associated with homophobic attitudes and whether homophobia may be reduced by educational interventions, such as knowledge-based curricula found in college sexuality courses. Participants were 128 undergraduate students attending a small, private university in the northwestern region of the United States. At the beginning and end of the fall semester 2004, survey packets consisting of a demographic questionnaire, the Sexual Opinion Survey, the Homophobia Scale, a sexual knowledge survey, and the Bem Sex Role Inventory were administered to students attending a human sexuality class and a comparison group of students enrolled in professional and social science introductory courses. Relative to the comparison group, homophobia levels significantly decreased over the course of the semester among students attending the sexuality class. The effect of attending the class on reducing homophobia was partially mediated by an increase in self-reported knowledge about sexual matters. Taken together, these results suggest that the knowledge-based curriculum of sexuality courses may play an important role in affecting broader attitudes about sexuality among college students, including attitudes about homosexuality.     

College students' views on criminal justice

We surveyed 683 college students to examine their attitudes toward the death penalty, other criminal sanctions, and the war on drugs. College seniors were consistently less likely than freshmen to hold punitive views; this suggests a “liberalizing” effect of the college experience. This liberalizing college effect on attitudes toward criminal justice was not apparent for criminal justice majors, however, particularly when criminal justice seniors' attitudes toward the death penalty were compared with those of freshmen in criminal justice. The views of criminal justice majors overall did not differ appreciably from other students' views. We found no support for the expectation that criminal justice majors with experience in criminal justice would express more conservative, more punitive views than would criminal justice majors in general.     

Iowa Lakes Community College: Partnerships for Academic and Economic Success in a Rapidly Evolving Wind-Energy Industry

Iowa Lakes Community College responded to a national need for wind-energy technicians. The Wind-Energy and Turbine Program aligned industry and academic competencies with experiential learning components to foster exploration of additional renewable energy applications. Completers understand both the physical and academic rigor a career in wind energy demands.     

Mediation of Consultee's Conceptual Development in New Teacher Groups: Using Questions to Improve Coherency

This qualitative study applied methods used in discourse analysis to investigate how a consultant's questioning supported the goal of group consultation to empower beginning teachers to become effective problem solvers in their work environment. The focus of the study was on the process of questioning and communicative coherency as the group evolved over the course of the school year. The participants in this study were 7 White elementary school teachers in their first year of teaching. There were 12 sessions held over an 8-month period. The investigators found evidence of a parallel process between the coordinate consultation process and coherency in consultative discourse, such that as the coordinate process developed and improved, so did the coherency of group discourse. Implications for practice, training, and future research are discussed.     

Inhabiting the ‘tragic gap’: pre-service teachers practicing racial literacy

Set in the context of a teacher education program, this study examined how three White pre-service teachers participate in book club discussions of children’s literature. We asked: When White pre-service teachers are in a context that enables talk about race, racism and anti-racism, what do they talk about? What conceptual and discursive tools do they use? We were guided by these questions, along with theoretical perspectives of racial literacy, multicultural discourses and a form of critical discourse analysis referred to as ‘positive discourse analysis’ or ‘reconstructive discourse analysis’. Our analysis illustrates that the participants held two questions, what constitutes racism and what makes a person a White ally, without firm resolution in the form and function of their talk. Their discourses illustrate that racial literacy involves what teachers say and also a willingness to stand in the space of indeterminacy, which may create space for new social positions. We argue for a continued theorization of critical discourse analysis alongside of racial literacy and multicultural discourses.     

Closing the gap: supporting literacy through a computer-assisted-reading-intervention

Schools in England are expected to ‘close the gap’ for a range of vulnerable pupils who are achieving below the levels seen amongst their same-aged peers. They are also highly accountable for additional funding that is provided to support this goal. The project reported here involved collating and analysing a range of data in order to evaluate the impact of a widely used computer-assisted-reading-intervention (CARI). Sixteen primary school pupils, all of whom were identified by their school as underachieving in literacy, used the CARI daily over a five-week period. The post-intervention data showed some clear gains in reading and spelling skills for all bar one of the children. The findings are discussed in relation to the wider literatures on CARIs. The research concludes that the CARI under investigation offers a useful and cost-effective adjunct to whole-class and group reading instruction and may be particularly beneficial for supporting the learning of pupils who are struggling to consolidate the knowledge and skills covered in their regular classroom reading instruction.     

Mediating a compromised solidarity

ABSTRACT

This article explores popular media as resources for judgment in how settled migrants in Europe imagine solidarities toward newer arrivals seeking entry into the region. It discusses the news and entertainment consumption of Filipino nurses in London and how this figures in their imaginary of social and political bonds with refugees. Drawing on ethnographic interviews, I argue that these Filipino migrants can only articulate a compromised solidarity: one fractured between empathy with refugees and concern about what these newer arrivals might mean for settled migrants in the city. I then explain how the media contribute to this fracturing. One way is that the xenophobia in popular media content on social media leads the Filipinos to assert their difference with other migrants, including refugees. A second is that the Filipinos deploy popular media content, especially on British television, to assert that they belong to UK society more than other migrants, again including refugees.     

Implementing the 2014 SEND reforms in England: perspectives from SENCOs

This article is based on research conducted within two years of the 2014 SEND (special educational needs and disability) reforms being in force and reports on the experiences of five SENCOs (special educational needs coordinators) on implementing the reforms in London schools. The research was conducted primarily to inform professional practice and improve delivery of the principles underpinning the reforms. The research deployed an adapted version of SWOT analysis as a tool for seeking the views of SENCOs on the perceived benefits and challenges of the SEND reforms. The findings demonstrate that SENCOs broadly support the principles of the reforms. However, SENCOs find some of the procedures in the 2015 SEND Code of Practice as proving problematic. There still remains a significant focus on managing administrative processes, rather than bringing about a fundamental change to school culture and educational provision. The article concludes by making several recommendations on ways to reduce bureaucracy for SENCOs and increase their focus on classroom practice.     

Physical profiles of elite,sub-elite,regional and age-group netballers

Physical profile data from elite, sub-elite, regional, under 21s (U21), under 19s (U19) and under 17s (U17) (n = 845) players from a state netball association in Australia were analysed. Within season changes were examined for the elite and sub-elite players. Longitudinal changes were examined for the elite across four consecutive netball seasons.

Elite were significantly older (24.3 ± 3.4years), taller (182.4 ± 7.2cm) and heavier (73.42 ± 6.95kg) than other playing levels (p < 0.001, ES 0.49–3.26) and had higher vertical jump (VJ) data compared to all groups (p < 0.001, ES 0.47–0.93). U17’s were significantly faster than elite, sub-elite and U19 players over 5m (p < 0.05, ES 0.36–0.58) while elite were faster over 20m compared to all groups (p < 0.01, ES 0.45–0.72). Elite achieved a greater distance (1350.8m; p < 0.05, ES 0.32–0.50) in the Yo-YoIRT1 compared to the sub-elite, regional, U19 and U17. VJ height significantly increased from the 2014 (51.6 ± 4.8cm) to the 2017 season (59.6 ± 6.3cm) for the elite players (p < 0.01, ES 1.18). Yo-YoIRT1 test scores increased significantly between the pre-season and in-season phases (p < 0.05, ES 0.17).