Connectivity Thinking,Animism, and the Pursuit of Liveliness

In this essay, Deborah Bird Rose takes up Val Plumwood's challenge that Western thought needs radical revitalization by pursuing the liveliness of the biosphere and human ontologies of connectivity. The first part looks at obstacles to the West's understanding of Earth as a place of lively, interactive connectivities that promote diversity, complexity, and relationality. In this context Rose offers a brief overview of Indigenous animisms. The second part explores the question of liveliness. It is taken as given that the West now seeks ontological legitimacy in science, and so this discussion focuses on what biological scientists have contributed to contemporary ontology wars. The third part examines trauma in the Garden of Eden narrative, highlighting both the disaster of the story and its continuing relevance. Drawing on the work of theologians, in particular, Rose seeks in this section to recuperate a mythic foundation for a Western animism from within that great site of loss.     

Folklore epistemology: how does traditional folklore contribute to children’s thinking and concept development?

This research utilised a ‘stimulated recall’ methodology [Calderhead, J. 1981. “Stimulated Recall: A Method for Research on Teaching.” British Journal of Educational Psychology 51: 211–217] to explore the potential of African folklore, specifically Ghanaian folk stories in the development of children’s reflective thinking about social life. The research was based on Ghanaian folklore for children, which is popularly known as ‘By the Fireside Stories’, encapsulated traditionally as Anansesem or Spider stories among the Akan of Ghana. Data were collected through storytelling to a group of children and inviting them to recall their concurrent thinking during and after the storytelling. The children’s cognitive recall processes were stimulated by questions and story character dramatisation recorded on a digital video recorder and played back to the children. Findings showed major contributions to children’s learning and development related to imagination, concept formation and thinking, and beyond the self in social relationship. This paper draws attention to how traditional oral storytelling can be an important part of early childhood education to develop children’s reflective thinking about social life.     

Influence of firm size on the competencies required to management engineers in the Jordanian telecommunications sector

The objective of this study is to identify the competencies required to achieve success in the transition from higher education to the labour market based on the perceptions of employers. This paper analyses the assessments made by a group of engineering company employers. An item-battery of 20 competencies was grouped into 3 dimensions by using factor analysis. Subsequently, respondents’ scores were also clustered into three groups and characterised through contingency tables. The competencies demanded by employers were grouped into business and finance, problem-solving and strategic planning. Significant differences were found between responses from employers working in medium and small companies, who placed more importance on competencies related to problem-solving and strategic planning, and employers in big companies, who were more concerned about the difficulties of finding well-trained graduates. The findings from this paper have important implications for research in the areas of higher education and organisations that usually employ graduate engineers.     

If I experience formative assessment whilst studying at university,will I put it into practice later as a teacher? Formative and shared assessment in Initial Teacher Education (ITE)

The aim of this article is to analyse whether having experience of formative assessment during their initial teacher education courses (ITE) influences graduates’ subsequent practice as teachers. That is, if the assessment methods that university students are subject to during their learning process are then actually employed by them during their professional practice as schoolteachers. To address this issue, questionnaires were issued and focus groups were held with a sample of ITE graduates. The main results of the study are that: (1) formative and shared assessment (FSA) is not used a great deal during ITE, but is highly valued; (2) some graduates have implemented FSA in their practice as teachers, following their experience on their ITE course; and (3) significant variables are found regarding the implementation of FSA in schools (possible resistance from colleagues and/or pupils’ parents, etc.).     

Educating for an Inclusive World: Lessons Learned From A Globally Networked Human Rights and Disability Course for Social Work and Law Students

This article examines an innovative model of online international education regarding disability through a human rights perspective piloted through a collaboration between Universidad LaSalle, Mexico, and University at Buffalo, United States. The course is organized around a pressing global human rights and development issue. Its objective is to promote effective practice with persons with disabilities through cross-national, cross-disciplinary, human-rights based education; strengthen students’ sense of global engagement; and foster cross-cultural expertise and competence with diversity. The implications for effective professional education in law and social work are discussed. The article also examines pedagogical strategies and presents case study materials, identifies key disability rights themes common to both nations and cultures, and explores how distance learning technology is implemented in the course. A preliminary assessment of this newly piloted approach is also presented, based on data from students, as well as the implications for teaching and practice.     

Shaping global teacher identity in a short-term mobility programme

This article explores the shaping of Australian and Malaysian pre-service teachers’ possible selves in a short-term mobility programme. With the theory of possible selves, individuals imagine who they will become based on their past and current selves. The focus of the research was on pre-service teachers’ possible selves as global and culturally responsive teachers. The experiential learning through participation in the programme allowed participants to consider their future possible selves as teachers with a deeper understanding of diverse learners’ needs and how they might strive to address these needs in their own classrooms. The scaffolding of reflections in the programme encouraged the pre-service teachers to take on multiple perspectives, to step outside their comfort zones and in many ways to see the world from different eyes. The research found that through experiential learning in the short-term mobility programme both the Australian and Malaysian pre-service teachers gained in positioning their cultural selves currently and as future teachers, suggesting that there is merit in utilising the theory of possible selves in future research in the area of shaping teacher identity.     

Double jeopardy: poorer social-emotional outcomes for children in the NICHD SECCYD experiencing home and child-care environments that confer risk

Using data from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Early Child Care Research Network (NICHD SECCYD), the authors examined whether interactions between home and child-care quality affect children's social-emotional adjustment at 24, 36, and 54 months (N = 771). Triadic splits on quality of home and child care were used to examine children in specific ecological niches, with a focus on those who experience the double jeopardy of poor quality home and child-care environments. Children in this niche exhibited the highest levels of mother-reported problem behavior and the lowest levels of prosocial behavior. However, there was evidence that children from lower quality home environments were able to benefit from the compensatory influence of high-quality child care. These results suggest policies aimed at the cross-context influences of protective and risky settings.