Feel the Quality

abstract

Learning through conversation constitutes a simple form of pedagogy which has received a great deal of rhetorical but little serious attention, certainly with regard to children of school age. This paper first examines research on preschool children conversing with their parents or carers which serves to highlight the vital role of dialogue in early intellectual development; conversational learning also appears to be crucial for the success of programmes designed to accelerate early learning. Conversational learning is necessarily curtailed when children start school. Nevertheless, a number of indicators have recently emerged which suggest that conversational learning loses little, if any, of its potency as children grow older. These include studies in which researchers talk to individual children in the classroom, experimental studies of adult‐guided learning and the experience of parents who educate their children at home. Peer‐tutoring and cooperative learning are considered.     

A Descriptive Analysis of Elite-Level Racquetball

In this study, we used social cognitive career theory (Lent, Brown, &; Hackett, 1994) to examine the development of female athletes' career interest in coaching and, specifically, the impact of contextual factors (female coaching role models, working hours, and perceived discrimination) on coaching self-efficacy and outcome expectations. Participants were 205 predominantly White, heterosexual female student athletes. A path analysis indicated that role models and working hours predicted coaching self-efficacy, which predicted coaching outcome expectations. Additionally, coaching self-efficacy, coaching outcome expectations, and contextual factors predicted coaching interest. Practical implications are discussed as well as suggestions for further research in this relatively unexplored area.     

The Impact of Research Training and Research Codes of Practice on Submission of Doctoral Degrees: An Exploratory Cohort Study

The paper examines the impact of the transformations in doctoral education in the arts, humanities and social sciences in the United Kingdom over the past decade. It focuses on the introduction of formal research training and codes of research practice and in the first longitudinal candidate cohort study examines their impact on doctoral outcomes, especially Ph.D. submission rates. Results from this quantitative study show that engagement with research training, completion of a project outline and plan and appointment of a supervisory team were statistically positively associated with submission of the thesis within four years. It is concluded that the professionalisation of doctoral education by research training and codes of research practice has had a positive impact on doctoral educational outcomes.     

“OK,I Get It! Now Tell Me How to Do It!”: Why We Can’t Just Tell You How to Do Critical Multicultural Education

As educators who work with preservice teachers on critical multicultural education, we often struggle with our students’ desire for us to provide them with the how-to’s of multicultural education—a kind of “answer list.” In this paper, we share the analogies we have developed and found effective in explaining to our students why the list that they imagine not only doesn’t guarantee success, but could actually result in undermining core principles of critical multicultural education.     

Shirt sponsorship by gambling companies in the English and Scottish Premier Leagues: global reach and public health concerns

While the nature of gambling practices is contested, a strong evidence base demonstrates that gambling can become a serious disorder and have a range of detrimental effects for individuals, communities and societies. Over the last decade, football in the UK has become visibly entwined with gambling marketing. To explore this apparent trend, we tracked shirt sponsors in both the English and Scottish Premier Leagues since 1992 and found a pronounced increase in the presence of sponsorship by gambling companies. This increase occurred at the same time the Gambling Act 2005, which liberalized rules, was introduced. We argue that current levels of gambling sponsorship in UK football, and the global visibility it provides to gambling brands, is a public health concern that needs to be debated and addressed. We recommend that legislators revisit the relationship between football in the UK and the sponsorship it receives from the gambling industry.