THE ROLE OF UNIVERSITIES IN PROMOTING LITERACY

This article offers a critique of the traditional role of the university in relation to the promotion of universal literacy. It describes some of the developments in university Involvement in adult basic education in the United Kingdom and suggests possibilities for the future. K argues that universities must commit themselves to a lifelong learning approach to education. They must support new access routes for adult students and collaborative models of research and practice in developing the field of literacy.     

Announcing The Encyclopaedia of School Stories

Editorial Introduction

Announcing The Encyclopaedia of School Stories     

The Concept of Readiness in the Academic Department: A Case Study of Undergraduate Education Reform

While there has been emphasis on the institution and individual classroom as loci of learning and reform, less attention has been paid to the academic department. However, precisely because its structure is so endemic to institutions of higher education, the academic department may be the most logical and potent site for change. Using a case study approach, this paper examines the conditions under which change in undergraduate education takes hold and flourishes in the academic department, advances the concept of readiness, and explores its implications for those who wish to promote change in the department. Virginia S. Lee  is managing member and consultant, Virginia S. Lee & Associates, LLC, a consulting firm specializing in teaching, learning, and assessment in higher education. She received her B.A. from Smith College, her M.B.A. from New York University, and her Ph.D. from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Special interests include the design and implementation of institution-wide curriculum reform efforts, course and curriculum design, inquiry-guided learning, intensive learning, outcomes-based assessment, and the scholarship of teaching and learning. Michael R. Hyman  is Director of Graduate Programs and Associate Professor in the Department of Microbiology at North Carolina State University. He received his B.S. from University College, London, his M.B.A. from Oregon State University, and his Ph.D. from Bristol University. His major research interest is the biodegradation of environmental pollutants. Geraldine Luginbuhl  is Interim Department Head and Professor in the Department of Microbiology at North Carolina State University. She received her B.S. from Stanford University and her Ph.D. from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She has a longstanding interest in undergraduate education and, recently, inquiry-guided learning.     

The teacher leadership process: Attempting change within embedded systems

This embedded case study examines the leadership practices of eleven teacher leaders in three urban schools to identify how these teacher leaders attempt to change the teaching practice of their colleagues while working as professional learning community leaders and as mentors for new teachers. Using a theoretical framework integrating complex systems theory with Kotter’s (Leading change. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, 1996) eight steps for leading organizational change, we analyze the work and perspectives of individual teacher leaders, and we examine how teams of teacher leaders and principals function collectively in their efforts to lead instructional change. Our findings have implications for schools seeking to utilize teacher leadership as a reform strategy for authentic instructional improvement.     

The International Adult Literacy Survey: What Does It Really Measure?

The paper evaluates the work of the International Adult Literacy Survey as reported in OECD 1997. It assesses its contribution to understanding literacy in terms of the perspective of the New Literacy Studies. It outlines this perspective as a basis for a critique that is mostly concerned with the validity of the test. Three criticisms of the survey are made: that it provides only a partial picture of literacy; that culture is treated as bias; and that the test items do not represent the real-life items as claimed. Finally, the paper concludes with an overall evaluation of what the IALS achieves in terms of its own aims.     

Controversy versus concurrence seeking in multi-grade and single-grade learning groups

The effects of controversy and concurrence seeking and participation is age-homogeneous and age-heterogeneous cooperative learning groups were compared on achievement, achievement motivation, perspective-taking accuracy, and interpersonal attraction. In addition, the interaction among students within the cooperative learning groups was observed. One-hundred-twelve 4th-, 5th-, and 6th-grade students were assigned to conditions on a stratified random basis controlling for age, sex, reading ability, and homerooms. In all conditions, students studied two controversial issues with materials representing both pro and con views. In the controversy condition each small group was divided into two halves representing the pro and con sides. In the concurrence-seeking condition each small group studied pro and con materials on alternating days and were told to learn the material without arguing or disagreeing with one another. In the multi-age conditions 4th-, 5th, and 6th-graders were placed in the same learning groups, while in the single-age conditions students were placed in small groups with peers of the same age. The results indicate that controversy promoted higher achievement, greater achievement motivation, and more accurate perspective taking than did concurrence seeking. Multi-age learning groups had greater achievement motivation than did the single-age groups.     

Vocational knowledge in motion: rethinking vocational knowledge through vocational teachers’ professional development

The paper presents empirical data to consider some of the current debates concerning the nature of vocational knowledge taught in Further Education colleges to students following craft, vocational and occupational courses. The concept of ‘knowledge in motion’ and workplace learning theories are employed as a conceptual framework to examine the continuing professional development (CPD) activities of vocational teachers. This is used to shed light on the ways in which teachers use CPD as a means of accessing and transporting vocational knowledge from occupations to classrooms. Empirical data were gathered through questionnaire, in-depth interviews and participant observation. The findings are presented around five themes: (1) the range of CPD engaged with by vocational teachers; (2) the limitations of propositional, explicit knowledge; (3) engaging with and capturing tacit knowledge; (4) managing the temporality of vocational knowledge; and (5) networking within and to the occupation. Findings suggests that vocational knowledge is distributed and networked and this conceptualisation makes visible some of the ways teachers are able, through CPD activity, to transport vocational knowledge from occupations to classrooms.     

Peter rabbit hops into the twenty-first century

Summary Adults have tried to identify and to seek complex explanations for Potter's success. She explained it simply: “It is much more satisfactory to address a real live child. I often think that was the secret of the success of Peter Rabbit; it was written to a child—not made to order” (Lane, 1976, p. 183). She felt the more spontaneous the pleasure, the better the result. You are encouraged to heed Potter's advice. Address the real live child as you enjoy the pleasure of this adventure into the life and times of Beatrix Potter and all her animal friends.     

Assessing Science Teaching Explanations in Initial Teacher Education: How Is This Teaching Practice Transferred Across Different Chemistry Topics?

Research in Science Education - One of the core practices of science teachers is the construction of science teaching explanations. These explanations serve to clarify concepts, procedures, facts,...     

‘You're Like Yourself': Multimodal Literacies in a Reading Support Class

This article explores the experiences and literacy practices of an adolescent boy enrolled in an academic support class, in which students received an open-ended invitation to respond to S.E. Hinton's novel The Outsiders with the software programme Comic Life. In constructing this ‘telling case', we highlight how traditional print literacies associated with English instruction can construct school as a ‘contradictory symbolic space' for many students, but also how the introduction of the multimodalities can provide opportunities for adolescents to experience in-school literacies as social, performative and creative. We argue for re-envisioning literacy curricula and assessment not only to incorporate multimodalities, but also to provide students with instruction in writing conventions and practice with print in ways that serve larger purposes beyond remediation and test preparation. We posit the possibility for ‘complementary symbolic spaces' that are connected to the landscape of adolescent literacies that students traverse outside school and to students' desires to communicate, create and reach others within a range of discourse communities.