A foreign model of teacher education and its local appropriation: the English teachers’ centres in Spain

This article explores the implementation of the English model of teachers’ centres in the context of 1980s Spain. Originally it was a top-down plan initiated by a national government. However, from the very beginning its fate was dependent on a bottom-up educational project carried out by pedagogical social movements. The first part of the article focuses on the multiple factors, the combination of which finally brought about the mediated educational transfer of the English teachers centres into Spain. The second part analyses the role played by the pedagogical movements during the implementation of this new initiative. The article concludes by evaluating how the interaction between the bottom-up and top-down processes gave impulse to the rapid establishment of a grand variety of innovative teachers centres, in the first stage, but ultimately brought about a consolidation of a single, hegemonic model, very different from the original object of educational transfer.     

Skill may not be enough: The role of mindfulness in learning and transfer

The gap between what learners can do and what they actually do can be narrowed down to a great extent by the notion of mindfulness. This construct is defined as the volitional, metacognitively guided employment of non-automatic, usually effortful processes. Mindfulness is a mid-level construct which reflects a voluntary state of mind, and connects among motivation, cognition, and learning. It is both a general tendency and a response to situational demands. This dimension of mindfulness-mindlessness, plays various important roles in different kinds of learning and transfer situations, and for different kinds of learners. Theoretical, operational, and educational implications of this dimension are discussed.     

Naming difficulties in children with dyslexia: application of the tip-of-the-tongue paradigm

The present study used the tip-of-the-tongue (TOT) experimental paradigm in a picture naming task to explore the source of the naming deficits of children with dyslexia. Compared with a control group of typically developing readers, the children with dyslexia showed fewer correct responses and spontaneous recalls, more don't know (DK) and TOT responses, and less accurate feeling of knowing (FOK) judgments. When they failed to retrieve a target word, the children with dyslexia did not differ from the control group in the partial semantic information they provided, but they gave less valid and more invalid partial phonological information. The children with dyslexia also benefited less from phonological cues. The phonologically related responses of the children with dyslexia elicited during the administration of the TOT procedure were related to their performance on a phonological awareness test. These findings suggest that the naming problems of children with dyslexia arise because of their difficulty in accessing the phonological word forms after the corresponding abstract lexical representation has been successfully accessed. The results are discussed in relation to the claim that two-stage models of naming can be profitably used in the early identification and treatment of reading disabilities.     

Digital technologies for promoting “student voice” and co-creating learning experience in an academic course

“Student voice” (SV) refers to listening to and valuing students’ views regarding their learning experiences, as well as treating them as equal partners in the evaluation process. This is expected, in turn, to empower students to take a more active role in shaping their learning. This study explores the role played by digital technologies in creating a space for SV in academia. The qualitative study was conducted in an academic course, which combines face-to face, synchronous lessons with a variety of asynchronous self-directed and group learning activities. The participants were 54 Master’s students in education. We analyzed the pedagogical design of the course, as well as interpretations of teaching, learning, assessment, and the role of technology as experienced and presented by the students. The findings demonstrated that students functioned as co-designers of the course content, co-creators of teaching and of their own learning experience. Students perceived the requirements of active learning, teamwork, and community participation (i.e., an advanced way of conveying SV—leadership; Mitra International handbook of student experience in elementary and secondary school, Springer Publishers, The Netherlands, 2007), as both challenges related to overload and stress, and benefits related to the gains of meaningful learning, innovative pedagogical design, and diverse instructional methods. The equalization effect of the digital environment, which diminishes status cues changed the power dynamic, promoted students’ active participation and their pedagogical partnership with the instructor. Based on the findings, our conceptualization of SV and its implications for academia includes: (1) co-design of content, (2) co-teaching, (3) co-creation of learning experience and outcomes, and (4) embedded co-assessment for learning.     

Antecedents and Correlates of Course Cancellation in a University “Drop and Add” Period

Most institutions of higher education allow students to drop or add courses in the first 2–3 weeks of each term (D&A). Arguing that course cancellation is not merely an administrative issue involving enrollment trends but represents complex decision making processes taken by students, this study investigated antecedents and correlates of course cancellation during a D&A period in 109 elective courses. Student ratings of the teachers (SRT) and characteristics of the syllabi distributed in the first class session were investigated as predictors of course cancellation. Rates of cancellation were significantly predicted from SRT and from syllabus workload difficulty—lower quality teachers (SRT-based) and more difficult courses (syllabus-based) being cancelled more frequently. Analysis of a sub-sample of truly elective, high-priority courses revealed that these correlations were intensified in teacher-centered lecture courses, but nullified in student-centered seminar courses, in which students write independent research papers. The importance of students’ course selection and course cancellation as decision making processes, the methodology based on institutional data rather than students’ self-reports, and the unique effects of course difficulty on students’ decisions were discussed.

Visual testing — Visual literacy’s second dimension

One dimension of visual literacy is concerned with the use of visual materials for the improvement of student learning. Might not the use of visual testing employing similar types of visual materials provide a more valid assessment of the level of information acquisition achieved by students receiving visualized instruction? This exploratory study took a look at that question — and in itself raised some interesting questions for future study.     

Childhood emotional invalidation and adult psychological distress: the mediating role of emotional inhibition

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate a model in which chronic emotional inhibition mediates the relationship between a history of childhood emotional invalidation or abuse and adult psychological distress. METHOD: One hundred and twenty-seven participants completed a series of self-report questionnaires, and a subset of this group (n=88) completed an additional measure of current avoidant coping in response to a laboratory stressor. Structural equation modeling was used to evaluate and compare a full and partial mediational model. RESULTS: Findings strongly supported a model in which a history of childhood emotional invalidation (i.e., psychological abuse and parental punishment, minimization, and distress in response to negative emotion) was associated with chronic emotional inhibition in adulthood (i.e., ambivalence over emotional expression, thought suppression, and avoidant stress responses). In turn, emotional inhibition significantly predicted psychological distress, including depression and anxiety symptoms. CONCLUSION: This study found support for a model in which the relation between recollected negative emotion socialization in childhood and adult psychological distress was fully mediated by a style of inhibiting emotional experience and expression. Although it is likely that childhood emotional inhibition is functional (e.g., reduces parental distress and rejection), results suggest that chronic emotional inhibition may have long-term negative consequences for the inhibitor.     

The response of clinical practice curriculum in teacher education to the Covid-19 breakout: A case study from Israel

PROSPECTS - This case study explores how teacher education curriculum in a college in Israel responded to the Covid-19 outbreak. The article focuses on the clinical component of the preservice...     

Symbolism and survival in developing organizations: Regional colleges in Israel [1]

This article draws on the work of John Meyer and others who look at the institutional side of organizations. We analyze the origins and early history of a system of regional colleges in Israel in the context of an emerging postsecondary system. We argue that the terms used to define legitimacy, as well as who defines it, are crucial issues in the institutionalization of educational organizations, especially colleges and universities.