Moving towards Inclusion: An Analysis of Photographs from the 1926 Women's Games in Gothenburg

The 1920s was characterised by a struggle over the social acceptance and inclusion of women's track and field disciplines into international organisations. The debate was particularly heated between Alice Milliat, the then president of the Fédération Sportive Féminine Internationale, and the members of the International Athletic Federation and International Olympic Committee. Underlying the debate were differing assumptions about gender ideals and the role of women in society. While Milliat's efforts have been crucial and recognised in developing women's track and field, little research has examined how visual representations of track and field athletes related to gender norms. In this paper, we examine a corpus of professional sports photographs taken during the 1926 Women's Games in Gothenburg to gain understanding of how female athletes' media representations were part of negotiations over gender ideals. Placing the material within the notion of ‘gender dispositive’, our analyses reveal a process of negotiation between the ‘new’ woman ideal that included characteristics such as autonomy and self-control, as well as the mechanisation of women's bodies and traditional notions of femininity.     

Constructive readings of interactive episodes: examining ethics in physical education from a social constructionist perspective

In this paper we illustrate how ways of thinking about ethics are tied up with sport and physical education practice and introduce an alternative approach that can help to develop ethical pedagogies. We begin by locating socio-moral education in physical education within historical and contemporary pedagogical scholarship. Our argument is that the work of today's physical educators is still shaped by claims that were made about school sport in the nineteenth century and that sport scholars have long had difficulties proving these claims empirically. Rather than search for data that can confirm or refute claims of moral learning, we examine how incidents related to moral behaviour occur during physical education lessons. To do this we draw on data from an ethnographic investigation of a school in North Western Switzerland. Specifically, we present three episodes of interaction in three different physical education lessons. To make sense of these episodes, we introduce a social constructionist perspective. The main assumptions of this perspective are: (1) meanings are created through dialogue and consensus and are context-relative; (2) interactions between people are joint accomplishments; and (3) contexts affect how people interact with one another. Equipped with a constructionist framework, we then inspect the interactive episodes more closely. We include brief discussions of how constructionist understandings might inform ethics pedagogies in the future, suggesting that practitioners should be cautious of universal understandings of ethics, consider pupils as members of communities that are held together by shared practices, provide space for pupils to position themselves differently during lessons and, finally, account for contextual factors when evaluating pupils’ actions.     

Improving teacher professional development for online and blended learning: a systematic meta-aggregative review

Educational technology research and development - In order to fully realise the potential of online and blended learning (OBL), teacher professional development (TPD) strategies on how to teach in...     

Preschool Contexts and Teacher Interactions: Relations with School Readiness

The majority of early education programs promote children’s learning through a mix of experiences in child- and teacher-managed contexts. The current study examined time spent in child- and teacher-managed contexts and the nature of children’s experiences with teachers in these contexts as they relate to children’s skill development. Participants were preschool children (N = 283, M age = 52 months, 48% girls, 70% Mexican or Mexican American) from families of a lower socioeconomic status. Observations captured children’s time in child- and teacher-managed contexts and experiences with teachers in each context. School readiness was assessed directly and through teacher reports. Research Findings: Time spent in teacher-managed contexts was positively related to children’s academic and social skill development. Experiences in child-managed context predicted vocabulary, math, and social skills when teachers were directly involved with children. Overall, the findings suggest that teacher engagement is related to positive outcomes even during child-managed activities. Practice or Policy: Given these findings, preservice and professional development programs for early childhood educators should have a component that focuses on how to enhance the teacher’s role during child-managed activities.     

Exploring shifts in the characteristics of US government-funded science curriculum materials and their (unintended) consequences

Grant-funded curriculum development efforts can substantially impact practice and research in science education. Therefore, understanding the sometimes-unintended consequences of changes in grant priorities is crucial. Using the case of two large funding agencies in the United States, the current portfolio review provides insight into these consequences by examining shifts in the characteristics of K-12 science curriculum materials funded during two time periods with differing funding priorities. Findings revealed a move away from comprehensive curricula, increased reliance on technology-based materials, a growing trend towards open access, but also a decrease in teacher supports. While these shifts may enhance teachers’ flexibility to shape curriculum, they also increase the challenge of ensuring curricular coherence. Recommendations are outlined for policymakers, science education researchers, and curriculum developers.     

‘The one that got away’: how angling as a culture of practice manifests in the teaching and learning relationship within angling-based intervention programmes

In recent years a professional sector has emerged within the UK delivering angling-based intervention programmes targeted at young people ‘disengaged’ with education. These coaches bring with them an angling cultural background, which influences their interactions with young people as ‘novices’, emerging in ‘angler talk’ that accompanies waterside coaching. We argue that young people's exposure to ‘angler talk’ amounts to a cultural apprenticeship, socialising young people into an experience-based learning community. Through angler anecdotes and waterside banter young people are encouraged to be active participants in an egalitarian system of knowledge exchange that is particularly appealing for working with disaffected young people. By identifying how angling as a community of practice manifests in the teaching and learning relationship, we demonstrate the benefit of ethnographic approaches for appreciating the subtle cultural influences at work in skill-based intervention programmes.     

The Influence of a Career Pathways Model and Career Counseling on Students' Career and Academic Self-Efficacy

This qualitative study examines the effects of career pathways programming and targeted career counseling services on 71 high school seniors across seven schools engaged in school reforms funded through South Carolina's Education and Economic Development Act (EEDA). EEDA is a statewide, multipronged effort to improve academic achievement, graduation rates, and students' chances at success in both careers and college. One component of EEDA is the requirement that all students complete an individual graduation plan, and in order to build capacity to execute this new requirement, additional counselors and/or counselor aides were added to every high school in the state. We found that the combination of a career pathways model along with targeted career counseling services enhanced students' sense of career and academic self-efficacy by increasing their motivation to complete school, willingness and interest to take more challenging courses, and sense of preparedness for college and work. We examine these themes through the social cognitive career theory's triadic model of causality (Bandura, 1997) connecting study findings with the central constructs of self-efficacy beliefs, outcome expectations, and personal goal development.     

Development of the Transferable Learning Orientations tool: providing metacognitive opportunities and meaningful feedback for students and instructors

This study encapsulates the development and testing of the Transferable Learning Orientations (TLO) tool. It is a triangulated measure built on select scales from the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ), together with multiple-choice items adapted from the lifelong learning VALUE rubric, and an open-ended response for each dimension. Select scales from the MSLQ were tested in a range of undergraduate courses, and the TLO (version one) was developed and piloted in a first-year engineering course. Minor refinements were made, and the TLO (version two) was retested with second-year undergraduates. The TLO is designed to engage students in meta-cognitive processes and provide meaningful feedback to students. The dimensions are outcome motivation, learning belief, self-efficacy, transfer and organisation. Results from the second-year group were more consistent and reliable than the first-year group, suggesting that context is an important factor. The scales demonstrate acceptable reliability, and the moderate correlations between scale scores and rubric ratings provide support for concurrent validity. We recommend the TLO be tested with broader populations to confirm psychometric properties and that it be implemented longitudinally to investigate the development of learning skills and changes in orientations over time.