‘I love a curry’: student-teacher discourse around ‘race’ and ethnicity at a UK university

This paper presents aspects of a small scale study that considered student teachers’ language and discourse around race and ethnicity at a university in the northwest of England. The first part of the paper critiques current education-related policy, context and practice to situate the research and then draws upon aspects of critical race theory and whiteness theory as frames of reference. In the research, 250 student-teachers completed questionnaires that invited responses to statements about race and ethnicity and this was followed by two semi-structured group interviews. A discourse analysis approach was taken to analyse the language used in the questionnaire responses and, in particular, the group interviews. Recurrent discursive configurations were characterised by language that signified othering, correct knowledge, personalisation and discomfort. Hesitations and silences during group discussions perhaps intimated thinking time and also maybe a reluctance to talk about aspects of race and ethnicity, and what was not said remains significant. It is suggested that a reconstruction of a teacher/educator subjectivity that fosters self-reflection on values and racial positioning, is needed in teacher education, alongside critical examination of the silences and discomfort surrounding race and ethnicity.     

Employees as customers: Exploring service climate,employee patronage,and turnover

The role of retail employees as customers was explored by quantitatively examining the influence of service climate and employee patronage on employee turnover intentions. Employees representing all shifts in two stores of a national retailer participated. Results indicated that employee patronage partially mediates the effects of service climate on employee turnover intentions. The findings suggest that employee patronage is a highly relevant organizational concept that warrants additional study. Practitioners may apply these findings in developing management and supervision training programs and designing employee selection and retention programs. Researchers may incorporate the variable of patronage when studying populations where employees can be external customers. Future research is necessary because the concept of employee patronage has not been adequately studied.     

Children's Engagement Within the Preschool Classroom and Their Development of Self-Regulation

This study used an observational measure to examine how individual children's engagement with teachers, peers, and tasks was associated with gains in self-regulation. A sample of 341 preschoolers was observed, and direct assessments and teacher reports of self-regulation were obtained in the fall and spring of the preschool year. Research Findings: Children's positive engagement with teachers was related to gains in compliance/executive function, and children's active engagement with tasks was associated with gains in emotion regulation across the year. Engaging positively with teachers or peers was especially supportive of children's gains in task orientation and reductions in dysregulation. Practice or Policy: Results are discussed in relation to Vygotsky's developmental theory, emphasizing that psychological processes are developed in the context of socially embedded interactions. Systematically observing how a child interacts with peers, teachers, and learning tasks in the preschool classroom has the potential to inform the creation of professional development aimed at supporting teachers in fostering individual children's development within the early education environment.     

Validating racism and cultural respect: testing the psychometric properties and educational impact of perceived discrimination and multiculturation for Indigenous and non-Indigenous students

Within the field of quantitative research, the diverse and negative effects of racial discrimination have become increasingly documented across a number of outcome variables (including physical, mental, and social wellbeing); however, research on the direct effects of racism is less evident within educational settings. The present investigation explored the negative impact of perceived racial discrimination, in addition to perceptions of cultural respect (Multiculturation) on both objective (e.g., student grades) and subjective (e.g., importance of school) schooling outcomes for a sample of Indigenous Australian and non-Indigenous Australian high school students. Perceived racial discrimination was found to be one of the strongest negative predictors of a number of outcomes for Indigenous Australian students, and Multiculturation was also found to have substantial positive relations with the subjective schooling outcomes for the same group of students. That the results were also generalisable to the non-Indigenous students suggests that attempts to combat racism and promote respect may benefit all members of society.     

Understanding the psychometric properties of the humor assessment instrument through an analysis of the relationships between teacher humor assessment and instructional communication variables in the college classroom

The purpose of this study was to examine the psychometric properties of the newly developed Humor Assessment (HA) instrument. Previous research (Wrench & McCroskey, 2001) noted a construct validity problem with the Humor Orientation (HO) scale created by M. Booth‐Butterfield and S. Booth‐Butterfield (1991). This study examined the relationships between the HA, which corrects the construct validity problem seen in the HO, and affective learning, nonverbal immediacy, cognitive learning, learning loss, student motivation, and teacher credibility.     

Amount of communication as a symptom of distressed marriages based on reports of divorced individuals

Recent research on married couples has indicated that dramatically reduced communication between married partners may be an indication of a marriage under stress and may indicate an increased likelihood of divorce. The present study compared amount of communication in marriage reported by divorced individuals with that reported by married individuals who reported low to moderate levels of marital satisfaction. The results indicate these reports are highly similar. It is recommended that reduced communication be considered as a marker variable for marriages under stress and future research seek to identify the cause(s) of the observed relationships.     

Willingness to communicate and employee success in U.S. organizations

This article presents a view of the influence and effects of individuals’ willingness to communicate in an organizational setting. Definitional explanations of the willingness to communicate construct are provided along with an extensive review of the relevant research and theory in this area. Communication apprehension is explicated and considered in context of willingness to communicate. The manner in which low willingness to communicate affects individuals and fosters specific organizational outcomes is explored. In general, research indicates negative results from low willingness to communicate, both on individual and organizational levels. Appropriate organizational responses to “at risk individuals”; are explored in terms of diagnosis and remediation.     

Demonstrating Value in Federal Medical Center Libraries

Abstract

Librarians in the federal sector, like librarians in other medical center libraries, increasingly find it necessary to prove their worth to administrators of their facilities in order to keep their libraries open. The Federal Libraries Section of the Medical Library Association developed a survey for use by federal librarians to help them quantify the value of library reference services provided. Using this survey, these librarians gathered statistics to show the library’s effect on patient care, education, and administrative questions.     

Training Paraprofessionals to Support Students with Disabilities: A Literature Review

The purpose of this literature review is to describe intervention research studies in which paraprofessionals received training applicable to student with disabilities. Thirty studies were systematically reviewed to identify (a) characteristics of study participants and settings, (b) characteristics of paraprofessional training and paraprofessional-implemented intervention evaluated within these studies, (c) quality of the studies, and (d) implications for practice and areas for future research. Overall, paraprofessional training and subsequent intervention with students yielded positive outcomes. Training sessions typically were delivered by workshops, lectures, or classes and classroom-based training. However, numerous studies failed to demonstrate characteristics of study quality.     

Changing Contexts in the Professoriate

The current reform movement in higher education involves efforts to alter the missions of universities and the forms of scholarship necessq to accomplish these missions. The authors explore the changing contexts in the professoriate based on this redefinition of scholarship and cite the impact of changes on faculty roles and responsibilities, faculty socialization, and faculty evaluation. They indicate that the current reform movement will lead to significant changes in the way faculty work Department faculty will be given the autonomy to determine the mission of the department, the kinds of scholarship needed to fulfill that mission, and how to evaluate scholarship in their discipline. Formalized, structured socialization processes will be needed to provide consistent formal and informal messages to faculty regarding their changing roles and responsibilities, especially since individual faculty may have very different roles and responsibilities. Faculty will work in interdisciplinary, collaborative groups to bring together the knowledge bases needed to solve current societal problems.