Secondary school experiences of individuals with foetal alcohol spectrum disorder: perspectives of parents and their children

The purpose of this study was to examine persistence in school among students with Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) from the perspectives of the students themselves and their parents. Tinto’s (1975 Tinto, V. 1975. Dropout from higher education: a theoretical synthesis of recent research. Review of Educational Research, 45(1): 89–125. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar], 1997 Tinto, V. 1997. Classrooms as communities: exploring the educational character of student persistence. Journal of Higher Education, 68(6): 599–623. [Taylor & Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) Student Integration Model (SIM) provided the theoretical framework for this research. This model involves an interplay between (1) background characteristics and attributes affecting the level of goal commitment, (2) level of academic integration, and (3) level of social integration into the institution that determine whether or not a student will graduate. The findings showed limited support for Tinto’s SIM and that parental advocacy is strongly linked with persistence among adolescents with FASD. A new model showing the parents’ role in encouraging persistence through their actions at home and advocacy at the schools is presented.     

Application of the Literacy Training Service component of the National Service Training Program in New Bilibid Prison (Philippines)

International Review of Education - In 2000, the government of the Philippines launched its National Service Training Program (NSTP), a compulsory 2-semester course component for all the...     

Taking a Closer Look at the Factors That Influence Ethnic Identity

Ethnic identity (EI) has long been known to supersede race as a predictor for attitudes and behaviors. However, little is known about the constituent parts that comprise and influence ethnic identity. In order to improve communications that target EI, we examine both demographic and communication variables to determine which have a greater pull on people’s attitudes and actions. Race appears to moderate the effects of age on ethnic identity, whereby age was negatively related to ethnic-identity exploration among White participants and positively related to ethnic identity commitment among Black participants (p < .05). Having a higher income, print-media use, and information-engagement orientation were also positively correlated with ethnic identity; education and gender were not. Implications and future directions are discussed.     

PITFALLS AND PROMISES: THE USE OF SECONDARY DATA ANALYSIS IN EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH

ABSTRACT:  This paper considers the use of secondary data analysis in educational research. It addresses some of the promises and potential pitfalls that influence its use and explores a possible role for the secondary analysis of numeric data in the 'new' political arithmetic tradition of social research. Secondary data analysis is a relatively under-used technique in Education and in the social sciences more widely, and it is an approach that is not without its critics. Here we consider two main objections to the use of secondary data: that it is full of errors and that because of the socially constructed nature of social data, simply reducing it to a numeric form cannot fully encapsulate its complexity. However, secondary data also offers numerous methodological, theoretical and pedagogical benefits. Indeed by treating secondary data analysis with appropriate scepticism and respect for its limitations, by demanding that tacit assumptions about the unreliability of secondary data are applied equally to other research methods, and crucially by combining secondary data analysis with small-scale in-depth work, this paper argues for a return to prominence of secondary data analysis in its own right as well as becoming a central component of the new political arithmetic tradition of social research.     

Beacons of light,rays, or sun catchers? A case study of the positioning of literacy teachers and their knowledge in neoliberal times

This paper reports on a case study of a “lead literacy teacher” initiative in one Canadian province. This initiative is related to a “minority world” trend in teacher in-service that seeks to develop “experts” in a field with the intent that such experts can help other teachers to raise student achievement for the betterment of the economy. Using a post-colonial theoretical framework that advocates for professional development premised on teacher knowledge production, the study finds that the initiative instead forwards a “train-the-trainer” model of information transmission that negates teachers' prior knowledge, experience, and practices. The study argues that for teachers to become critically reflective in their practice, they need material supports (e.g., time) to share with one another and knowledge must be allowed to flow in all directions within the educational hierarchy.     

The developmental influence of sex composition in preschool classrooms: Boys fare worse in preschool classrooms with more boys

A multilevel modeling approach was employed to investigate the relation between sex composition and developmental change in 70 urban preschool classrooms. The research represents a unique contribution as (1) few studies have examined the influence of sex composition during the preschool years, (2) it represents the first research to use a continuous (i.e., sex ratio) as opposed to binary (i.e., mixed- versus single-sex) indicator for classroom sex composition, and (3) the sample represents an important and often neglected group (i.e., low-income children from urban schools). A series of HLM models were run, addressing the nested nature of the data (children within classrooms), and relating classroom sex composition to developmental change using the cognitive, motor, and social subscales from the Child Observation Record (COR). Overall, there were no main effects at the classroom-level for sex composition. However, a cross-level interaction indicated that, while girls’ development was not influenced by classroom sex composition, boys in classrooms with proportionally more boys fared significantly worse in terms of development as assessed by combined score on the COR. More specifically, this interaction was significant when predicting the COR cognitive subscale, but nonsignificant when predicting the COR social and motor subscales. This was true when controlling for the number of students at the classroom-level, as well as child's age and baseline ability (i.e., Time 1 COR) at the child-level. Implications for early childhood education policy are discussed.     

Listening harder: Queer archive and biography

This article emerges from a wider study on bicultural film archiving practice. It focuses on Jonathan Dennis as a subject of (my) archiving, and as a distinctive archivist himself in relation to a specific archive at a particular moment. Dennis practice differed significantly from North American and European conventions contemporaneous with his life work. The charismatic founding director of Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision (formerly The New Zealand Film Archive) Jonathan Dennis (1953–2002) became a conduit for tensions and debates during the 1981–2002 period in relation to indigenous and non indigenous presentation of (film) archival materials. This resulted in a film archive and curatorship practice which differed significantly from that of the North American and European archives he originally sought to emulate. As a Pākehā (non Māori/indigenous New Zealander) with a strong sense of social justice he argued for an awareness of geographical location and cultural context in his work. He supported a philosophical shift in archival practice, by engaging indigenous peoples in developing creative and innovative exhibitions and programmes from the 1980s period until his death.

Note: From 1988 the official name for the New Zealand Film Archive was Ngā Kaitiaki o ngā Taonga Whitiāhua (Guardians of the Treasured Images of Light). Since August 2014 the institution is called Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision, New Zealand Archive of Film, Television and Sound Ngā Taonga Whitiāhua Me Ngā Taonga Kōrero to acknowledge the acquisition of the state-owned Television NZ Archive and Sound Archives from Radio NZ. For brevity’s sake the Archive is referred to throughout as NTSV (Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision).

Key: NTSV PP JD refers to the NTSV Personal Papers of Jonathan Dennis (uncatalogued at time of writing).     

Classroom interaction patterns among teachers and emotionally disturbed children

Observational procedures were used to investigate classroom interaction patterns among direct and indirect teachers and emotionally disturbed children who were classified as conduct problems or personality problems. It was expected that initiated and respondent interaction dyads, classified as dominant, non‐direct, and nurturant modes, would be the same (reciprocal), thus creating an interaction “cycle”. The cycle concept was only partially supported; instead, initiated dominance by teachers and conduct problem children was the most influential interaction characteristic affecting the classroom environment. A discussion of teacher managerial/instructional behaviours, the impact of student behaviours, and implications for additional research are included.