Every Voice Matters: The Importance of Advocacy

Over the years parents, professionals, and politicians have come together to advocate on behalf of children’s rights. Advocacy can occur individually, collectively, or a combination of both. Although some advocacy efforts are more successful than others, it is the process of the advocacy and voices behind it that matter most. In this guest editorial, the history of two major advocacy organizations and ideas for becoming an advocate are discussed.     

Developing citizen leaders through action learning

This is an account of a programme utilizing the application of action learning to the development of capacities of citizens. The Citizen Leadership for Democratic Governance is designed to equip citizens with the skills to get involved and handle the difficult tasks of governance in their communities in South Africa. After a history of apartheid there is recognition of the need to equip citizens to more effectively respond to the challenges of creating and sustaining democracy. The programme has proven to be highly successful in achieving the aims. The programme design involved an emphasis on reflection, experimental learning, problem solving and action through learning sets.     

Video for teaching: classroom use,instructor self-production and teachers’ preferences in presentation format

ABSTRACT

This study explores the use of digital videos in education, from the perspective of the teacher as an agent of technological integration. Secondary and university teachers were surveyed in a region-wide case study. Three topics were specifically surveyed: common uses of digital video in teaching, instructor self-production of educational videos, and preferences in common presentation formats (chalk-and-talk, screencast, PowerPoint, demonstration and whiteboard writing). Results show that secondary teachers make more use of digital video and are more innovative than university teachers. Video self-production is scarce, though respondents declare a positive attitude, with time constraints and technical qualification as main reported obstacles. Preferences in video presentation formats reveal notable differences between secondary and university teachers for some formats. Preferences are also moderately influenced by the teacher’s knowledge field, and by experience with ICT and video production.     

Exercising older people´s brains in Costa Rica: Design principles for using information and communication technologies for cognitive activity and social interaction

This study is part of a design-based research project aimed at designing a learning intervention for enabling Costa Rican older people to use information and communication technologies for cognitive activity and social interaction. Data from relevant literature, a focus group with older adults, and interviews with professionals teaching older adults how to use information and communication technologies were analyzed, in order to create context-sensitive design principles that could guide the design of learning interventions that meet the needs of older learners. The analysis derived context-sensitive design principles that include wider topics that influence the learning process, such as emotions and stereotypes related to learning about and using information and communication technologies, as well as the social support to that learning. The resulting eight design principles argue for respectful learning environments, in-depth comprehension of changes related to aging, time and space to reflect on emotions related to the learning process, and acknowledgment of participants’ individuality.     

The academic writing of community college remedial students: Text and learner variables

Community college remedial reading studentscomposed an informational report from sources,a task commonly assigned in higher educationthat integrally combines reading and writingprocesses. Productivity, use of source text,reproductions, accuracy, and inclusion of keyideas were analyzed as a function of twoexogenous variables, text density (high, low)and domain (health, business), and twoendogenous variables, prior knowledge andgeneral literacy skill. Text densityinteracted with literacy skill forproductivity, and with prior knowledge foraccuracy. Individuals with lower literacy orprior knowledge scores were at a disadvantagewith high but not low density source text. Domain affected productivity, use of source,and inclusion of key ideas: health text wasassociated with superior performance. Domaineffects may be explained by metacognitive ormotivational variables, or differences in thereadability of the source texts. The resultshave implications for instruction aimed atimproving community college students'preparedness for the academic demands of highereducation.     

Moving toward inclusion by narrowing the gap between early childhood professionals

This article investigates the relationship between early childhood education and early childhood special education in terms of inclusion by providing evidence that there is a gap between the two professions in the inclusion process, discussing the possible reasons for and consequences of this gap, and evaluating the progress that is being made to eliminate the gap. If we are to includeall young children in programs, we need to includeall educators in the discussion, planning, and implementation of the programs.     

The professional development needs of special needs assistants in Irish post-primary schools

According to government policy in Ireland, special needs assistants (SNAs) may be employed in post-primary schools to support students deemed to have chronic and serious care needs. There is currently no national policy regarding the continuing professional development (CPD) of SNAs, to meet the requirements of their role. This study investigated the CPD needs of SNAs, working in post-primary schools, in the Border, Midland and Western region of Ireland. Findings from a survey of SNAs and principals revealed that while the majority agreed CPD for SNAs should be compulsory, an ad hoc approach to provision of CPD prevailed, and barriers to CPD were identified. Findings also indicated that CPD in supporting students with Emotional and Behaviour Disorders was a key requirement identified by principals and SNAs. Supporting students with Autism Spectrum Disorder and promoting student independence were also identified as areas for CPD. The need for a national policy with regard to CPD for SNAs is highlighted.     

Text-based writing of low-skilled postsecondary students: relation to comprehension,self-efficacy and teacher judgments

Summarization and persuasive writing are important in postsecondary education and often require the use of source text. However, students entering college with low literacy skills often find this type of writing difficult. The present study compared predictors of performance on text-based summarization and persuasive writing in a sample of low-skilled adult students enrolled in college developmental education courses. The predictors were general reading and writing ability, self-efficacy, and teacher judgments. Both genre-specific and general dependent variables were used. A series of hierarchical regressions modeling participants’ writing skills found that writing ability and self-efficacy were predictive of the proportion of functional elements in the persuasive essays, reading ability predicted the proportion of main ideas from source text in the summaries, and teacher judgments were predictive of vocabulary usage. General reading and writing skills predicted written summarization and persuasive writing differently; the data showed relationships between general reading comprehension and text-based summarization on one hand, and between general writing skills and persuasive essay writing on the other.