Boys’ Underachievement: issues,challenges and possible ways forward

This article considers the issue of boys’ perceived lack of achievement at 16 and the context within which this issue has developed. In addition to conducting a review of relevant literature concerned with boys’ achievement, case study research was carried out in three comprehensive schools in the Midlands, taking the form of interviews with one senior member of staff from each school with a specific responsibility for boys’ achievement. The purpose of the interviews was to consider how different schools perceived the issue of boys’ underachievement and to examine the strategies employed by each to combat it. The discussion of the research indicates some significant factors affecting the ways in which boys identify themselves as being ‘male’ and which may influence their behaviour and attitudes towards school and towards their peers. The authors attempt to place the issue of boys’ underachievement into a wider social context and consider other factors which may have a bearing on the issue. The authors then attempt to relate the experiences of these three schools, and their other research, to the national picture and suggest ways in which teachers nationally may take steps to address the issue of boys’ underachievement within their own schools.     

Popular Culture and Advertising

WHATEVER HAPPENED TO MADISON AVENUE? ADVERTISING IN THE '90s by Martin Mayer (Boston: Little, Brown, 1991—$22.95, ISBN 0-316- 55154-6, 269 pp.)

THE CODES OF ADVERTISING: FETISHISM AND THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF MEANING IN THE CONSUMER SOCIETY by Sut Jhally (New York: Routledge, 1990—price not given, paper, ISBN 0-415-90353-X, 225 pp.)

ROCK AROUND THE BLOCK: A HISTORY OF ROCK MUSIC IN EASTERN EUROPE AND THE SOVIET UNION by Timothy W. Ryback (New York: Oxford University Press, 1990—$21.95, ISBN 0-19-505633-7, 272 pp.)

MUSIC AT THE MARGINS: POPULAR MUSIC AND GLOBAL CULTURAL DIVERSITY by Deanna Campbell Robinson, Elizabeth B. Buck, and Marlene Cuthbert (Newbury Park, CA: Sage, 1991—$39.95/19.95, ISBN 0-8039- 3192-1 hard, 0-8039-3193-X paper, 312 pp.)

THE MANY LIVES OF THE BATMAN: CRITICAL APPROACHES TO A SUPERHERO AND HIS MEDIA edited by Roberta E. Pearson and William Uricchio (New York: Routledge, 1991—$39.95/13.95, ISBN 0-415-90346-7 hard, 0-415-90347-5 paper, 213 pp.)

BROADCAST ADVERTISING: A COMPREHENSIVE WORKING TEXTBOOK by Sherilyn K. Zeigler and Herbert H. Howard (Ames: Iowa State University Press, 1991—$34.95, ISBN 0-8138-0072-2, 358 pp.)

FUNDAMENTALS OF ADVERTISING RESEARCH by Alan Fletcher and Thomas Bowers (Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, 1991—price not given, ISBN 0-534-14778-X, 364 pp.)

THIS BUSINESS OF MUSIC by Sidney Shemel and M. William Krasilovsky (New York: Billboard/Watson-Guptill, 1991—$27.50, ISBN 0-8230-7706-3, 688 pp.)     

Assuring Quality in Distance Education

Many traditional academics view the advent of on-line teaching in higher education with suspicion. They suspect that attempts to compare the outcomes of traditional and on-line instruction do not yield valid results. Nevertheless, on-line instruction is here to stay. It behooves an organization like the American Association of University Professors, a major role of which is to protect academic freedom in American higher education institutions, to make sure that the integration of on-line instruction into the activities of traditional higher education institutions will give rise, in the case of the new component, to the same guarantees as to academic freedom and quality, determined primarily by the faculty, as in traditional university activities.     

‘Shaping the Future’, Black History and diversity: teacher perceptions and implications for curriculum development

ABSTRACT

This study provides an evaluation of history subject leader's perceptions of a project called ‘Shaping the Future’, together with their attitudes towards Black History and diversity. It found that primary subject leaders were less likely to attach importance to these dimensions than their counterparts in secondary schools, whilst only a small minority of subject leaders made use of the project. Nevertheless, the findings provided insights into how some subject leaders used them as threads or within topics in their curriculum. The study argues that this provides a model for developing Black History as a means of understanding the past which is applicable to meeting the needs of all children.     

Refugees and evacuees: enhancing historical understanding through Irish historical fiction with Key Stage 2 and early Key Stage 3 pupils

This article explores the use of historical fiction as a means of undertaking a historical enquiry into the experiences of refugees and evacuees with Key Stage 2 and 3 pupils. The authors reflect on the reasons why people have come to Britain before focussing on specific circumstances associated with World War 2. This is undertaken through the use of two historical fiction novels set in Ireland. The choice of an Irish context is intended to challenge Anglo centric notions of the past. The authors also examine differing opinions over the validity of the place of historical fiction in history lessons and make a strong case for its inclusion. Specific teaching and learning approaches, together with teacher and pupil responses are considered. The novels chosen focus on an Irish dimension which also reflects the authors' work with the Ireland in Schools Project.     

Learning to look through the eyes of our students: action research as a tool of inquiry

Abstract

The story we are about to tell occurred when Gayle was a middle school science teacher and graduate student in Joanne's seminar on the study of teaching. Gayle was trying to make sense of her science students' indifference toward the environment, an attitude that concerned her as an environmentalist. She turned her inquiry into an action research project that sought to answer the question, ‘What are the assumptions that my middle school students have about their relationship with the environment?’ Joanne was mentoring Gayle in her action research study, and at the same time exploring Gayle's perspective as an action researcher. Now, several years later, we are both action researchers and teacher educators and understand that we have been looking through the eyes of our students in order to become scholars of our own teaching.     

Book reviews

The following books are reviewed.

Teaching Public Issues in the High School D. W. OLIVER & J. P. SHAVER (1966) Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

Professional Experience and the Investigative Imagination: the ART of reflective writing RICHARD WINTER, ALYSON BUCK & PAULA SOBIECHOWSKA (1999) London: Routledge. 240 pp. ISBN 0 415 19542 X (hb) £50.00, ISBN 0 415 19543 8 (pb) £ 16.99