Knowledge‐building or a Free‐for‐all? A Prolegomenon to an On‐line Creative Writing Class

Abstract

It can be argued that media studies has already defined itself too narrowly in terms of the communications media and that it takes too little account of the impact of new technologies on the lives and activities of young people. Here David Collins, a Research Fellow of the University of Sheffield, who is investigating the uses of information technology in relation to special educational needs, considers the potential of microcomputers in the context of music teaching.     

The Recruitment of New Teachers from Minority Ethnic Groups

This article reports on part of a larger, ongoing two-year investigation supported by the Teacher Training Agency into the recruitment of new teachers from minority ethnic backgrounds via Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) courses in England. The authors focus here on interviews with admissions tutors, course directors and other senior staff at teacher training institutions. The interviews revealed differences between institutions in the measures taken to attract minority ethnic students. The research indicates a need for much clearer guidelines for admissions tutors on the issues surrounding the question of 'positive action' on the recruitment of new teachers from minority ethnic groups.     

Chapter 12 A Summary

The detrimental effects of nonresponse bias are particularly significant given the widespread use of the survey data collection method in educational surveys. The authors explore and critique the current methods for remediating nonresponse bias in educational surveys.     

The Utility of Social Attitudes Theory

Kerlinger’s social attitudes theory indicates that attitudes regarding educational practices can be subsumed by the two uncorrelated dimensions, progressivism and traditionalism. This study examined in detail the nature of educators’ education-related attitudes. A stratified sample of 195 students completed two instruments measuring educational attitudes. The results suggest that the already potent explanatory power of Kerlinger’s constructs can be augmented by measuring additional constructs when examining educational phenomena. The results also suggest that Kerlinger’s theoretical principle that social attitudes are dualistic may need to be qualified when the attitudes studied involve the vital roles of subjects.     

River of words as space for encounter: Contested meaning in rhetorical convergence zones

This essay explores a word-based public art project. In its quotidian presence and its technical violation of historic district codes, the project enables varied interactions. The project requires us to revise our understanding of rhetorical situation, rhetorical space, and rhetorical ecology by understanding public art as a space for encounter: places and moments that enable engagement between and among humans and place that amplify the sense of the contingency of public space. They are important realms for activating a democratic ethos for the city. This concept attends to the intentionality and contingency of rhetorical interaction seeing space as contextual but not determinative, a place of convergence. Using oral history interviews with hosts of the words and participant observation of two historic district hearings, I read the hearings, and the words, as spaces that mobilize a convergence zone between the intimate and the public. Building on encounter and spatial theory, this essay offers a defense of the mid-level as a register of political practice that can be glimpsed in cultural processes.     

“LIVING” EDUCATION: ACTION RESEARCH AS A PRACTICAL APPROACH TO CONGREGATIONAL EDUCATION

Action research as an educational strategy suggests that educators engage in an intentional, collaborative cycle of observing, reflecting, planning, and acting. This approach deliberately attempts to bring theory and practice together in praxis. Action research may be helpful for religious educators who wish to improve their educational practice. This article focuses on ways in which action research might be employed by congregationally based educators.     

Remember people's education? Shifting alliances,state‐building and South Africa's narrowing policy agenda

Following the 1994 democratic elections, education policy in South Africa has moved from collective and transformational priorities, salient during the 1980s period of resistance, to a centrist and pro‐human capital position. While the democratic movement talked much about core reforms in the social relations inside classrooms, the new Government of National Unity is focusing on system‐wide rationalisation (including a unified qualifications scheme), developing management information and incrementally changing spending patterns. School quality is being addressed but with much less emphasis on democratising social relations and changing the character of classrooms than anticipated during die years of resistance. This paper describes this dramatic shift in education policy priorities, focusing on central government and two contrasting provinces. It employs two theoretical frameworks ‐‐ political economy and institutional theory ‐‐ to explain the causes and forms of this new set of policy priorities.