The development of knowledge for teaching physical education in secondary schools over the course of a PGCE year

There has been a considerable amount of work on what knowledge student teachers need to develop to become effective teachers. The purpose of this study was to look at the development of knowledge of student physical education teachers in England. Six secondary student physical education teachers completed a journal on a monthly basis throughout their one‐year course. The student teachers and their mentors were interviewed in school towards the end of their course in June. Responses were analysed inductively. Results showed that knowledge important to develop, knowledge developed and knowledge which still needs to be developed at the end of the course was all related to content knowledge and pedagogical knowledge which they could apply in the immediate practical teaching situation. The results are discussed in relation to the development of student physical education teachers knowledge for teaching.     

Making space for democracy through assessment and feedback in higher education: thoughts from an action research project in education studies

This paper reports on an action research project into the development of a ‘democratic feedback model’ with students on an education studies programme at a post-1992 university in the UK. Building on work that has explored the dialogic dimensions of assessment and feedback, the research explored the potential for more democratic practice in this area. Although much learning and teaching on the programme in question took a collaborative and dialogic approach, assessment and feedback were modelled entirely differently, around the concept of an ‘expert’ marker and ‘novice’ marked. The findings of the research indicate the elements necessary for ‘democratic feedback’, and illustrate the emotional impact of moving from more transmission-based models, grounded in notions of expertise, towards democratic practice. They also highlight the ways in which such work can alert students to the imperfect, messy and human nature of the assessment process. Although the model has limited applicability in its extant form, its constitutive elements might be usefully incorporated within existing practice to promote democratic learning.     

Communication: One key to mainstreaming success

Mainstreaming the exceptional child necessitates that regular and special teachers work much more closely today than in the past. The most important element for successful mainstreaming is effective communication (Schubert & Glick, 1981). This article describes the collaborative consultation model as one approach to attaining good, effective communication.     

A study of the scientific interests of dwellers in small towns and in the country

Congress's role in defining and promoting equality of educational opportunity has evolved over the past 55 years since Brown v. Board of Education. Most recently, all three branches of the federal government have focused more on equality of educational opportunity for individual students rather than for protected classes. In this article, the authors combine two different frameworks to assess Congress's evolving role in ensuring equality of educational opportunity for all students—particularly given the new political and economic realities facing the nation. The first is federalism; the second is policy instruments for advancing varied goals in education, which the authors use to examine specific policy domains where Congress might increase its impact on equality of educational opportunity. These domains are concerned with “incentivizing equity” through competitive grants designed to reduce racial and socioeconomic inequality, improving existing categorical grant programs to make them more targeted and efficient, and strengthening enforcement of existing policies and programs. Throughout, the authors consider how recent research about equality of best be brought to bear on congressional priorities. In conclusion, they discuss the political realities facing Congress in 2012 and beyond, including partisanship and the prospect of cuts to pre-K-12 education spending.     

The Performance-based Research Fund,gender and a cultural cringe

This article explores ways the Performance-based Research Fund (PBRF) produces gendered results and expresses a cultural cringe. It is argued that the research evaluation is fixated with being ‘world-class’ at the expense of academic practice that focuses on New Zealand. In this context, disadvantage faced by female academics under the PBRF can be re-imagined as an exemplar of a broader experience faced by all New Zealand-trained and focused academics. At the same time, the PBRF has produced some embarrassing results for neoliberal policy-makers and somewhat empowers academics as arbiters of excellence by reifying elements of peer review.     

Examining the effects of a highly rated science curriculum unit on diverse students: Results from a planning grant

This article reports on the results of a planning grant studying the effects of a highly rated curriculum unit on a diverse student population. The treatment was introduced to 1500 eighth grade students in five middle schools selected for their ethnic, linguistic, and socioeconomic diversity. Students were given pre‐, post‐, and delayed posttests on a Conservation of Matter Assessment and measures of motivation and engagement. This quasi‐experiment found statistically significant posttest results for achievement, basic learning engagement, and goal orientation. Analyses of disaggregated data showed that subgroups of students in the treatment condition outscored their comparison group peers (n = 1500) in achievement in all cases, except for students currently enrolled in ESOL. Analysis of video data of a diverse group of four students as the unit was enacted suggests that students entered a learning environment that permitted them to function in different, but consistent ways over time; that is, the frequency of students' manipulation of objects showed a different pattern of engagement for each of the four students compared with patterns of verbal responses such as the use of scientific terms. The results of this planning grant paved the way for a large study of the scale‐up of highly rated curriculum units. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 42: 912–946, 2005     

School Leaders as Political Strategists: William Boyd's Contributions to our Understanding of the Politics of Leadership

William Boyd's contributions to the education field's understanding of the political nature of school leadership are formidable. In this article, I describe the growth and development, over a roughly 30-year time span, of his key insight that successful school leaders should have the capabilities of a political strategist and that the actualization of this capacity is related to school leaders’ political and policy context. The perennial question of “who governs education” was central to Boyd's work and his various answers are important touchstones for today's educational leaders.