Staying on task: can a thinking skills approach support a productive pedagogy for inclusion?

This study investigates the effects of a thinking skills approach on the on task rates of pupils with Special Educational Needs (SEN). There were three situations: two experimental and one controlled. The experimental situations compared on task rates of 19 primary-aged pupils with SEN in thinking skills (TS) and non-thinking skills (XTS) lessons. These same 19 pupils' on task rates were then compared to the 19 different pupils with SEN in the control situation (CON). The study found that pupils with SEN had significantly higher on task rates in thinking skills lessons compared to the non-thinking skills lessons and pupils with SEN in the control situation. This study also found that pupils' on task rate was directly proportional to the level of thinking skills content in a lesson. In addition it was found that pupils in thinking skills lessons spent significantly more time working collaboratively.     

Students’ evaluations of the use of e-learning in a collaborative project between two South African universities

Online learning is increasingly being used in Higher Education, with a number of advantages to online learning being identified. One of these advantages is the suggestion that online learning provides for equality of opportunity. This article reports on students’ evaluations of the use of e-learning in a collaborative project between two South African universities. The results highlighted both positive and negative evaluations of the use of e-learning. The positive aspects identified were that e-learning provided for ease of communication between parties, and easy access to information and learning material. Negative aspects identified were that it presented some technical challenges; online communication was disjointed; there was unequal access to computers between students from the two universities; students felt that more face-to-face interaction is needed. The issue of unequal access to computers and the internet is highlighted as a crucial issue for e-learning in the South African context, and for the fostering of a democratising educational discourse.     

Preparing Teachers for Effective Child Protection: a pre‐service curriculum approach

A pilot programme on child abuse issues was introduced into the pre‐service teacher education curriculum at University College of Central Queensland in 1987. Queensland Department of Family Services personnel provided assistance in planning and provision of resources. Time was allocated in each of the three years so that students’ developing educational ideas could be paralleled with growth in attitudes, knowledge and thinking about child abuse. Student evaluation determined subsequent content and processes. Students involved in the programme now have completed their first year in the field and their perceptions of the programme are described together with survey results for entering students. Implications for reporting, continuing education and professional roles in prevention of child abuse are outlined.     

Wider reading at Key Stage 3: happy accidents,bootlegging and serial readers

This paper reports a small‐scale study of wider reading at Key Stage 3 in current English classrooms in secondary schools in the south of England. Six English teachers, three of whom were relatively new to teaching, were interviewed on what they thought about wider reading. The findings indicate that because of a lack of time and absence of demand for such reading in the current English curriculum, the more experienced teachers felt ambivalent about encouraging and assessing wider reading. The less experienced teachers were uncertain about how to encourage it and whether to respond positively to students' preferred reading patterns, such as the serial reading of books by a particular author. In several of the schools concerned, it appeared that school librarians had taken over the role of encouraging wider reading, as the English teachers focused on the technical skills required by the National Literacy Strategy. Where teachers did initiate wider reading, this was sometimes against departmental practice, a semi‐illicit addition to their workload and could thus be seen almost as a form of ‘bootlegging’. In addition to wider educational effects, the lack of support for this practice has implications for students' future success in English at General Certificate of Secondary Education and Key Stage 5 (16–18) as both require students to read whole texts widely and confidently. The paper argues that it might be more productive to prepare students for this than to expect such reading to develop spontaneously as a ‘happy accident’.     

Gatty's Tale; or virtue restored

Most children's books assume a moral framework in which their characters live and grow, but in most cases, morality remains extrinsic to the characters themselves: it is what happens to them and what they do, rather than what they believe and who they become. Kevin Crossley-Holland's novel Gatty's Tale , is unusual in that it presents a protagonist for whom being good matters for its own sake. This article explores Gatty's developing goodness, and shows how Crossley-Holland helps young readers understand what virtue is.     

Landmarks in the professional and academic development of mid-career teacher educators

This paper focuses on the professional and academic development of mid-career teacher educators from two universities in England. The objectives of the study were to analyse and compare the career experiences of teacher educators; in particular, to identify stages of development, landmark events and contextual factors affecting professional learning and academic identities. In-depth biographical interviews were carried out with 12 teacher educators, together with living graphs of their career paths. Clear landmarks were identified in both contexts, with development in teaching seen as largely positive, while research development was much more varied. Teacher educators who were further on in their careers saw research development as transformative personally as well as academically. In analysing the findings within a sociocultural learning framework, the authors draw in particular on Swennen et al.’s model of teacher educators’ sub-identities, Akerlind’s categorisation of an academic identity and Eraut’s contextual and learning factors.     

Physical Discipline Use and Child Behavior Problems in Low-Income,High-Risk African American Families

This article has been retracted.