Specialization and school organization: investigating pedagogic culture

Drawing on Bernstein’s notion of pedagogic culture or the ‘mode of being’ of the school, this paper develops and uses a theoretical framework for the analysis of school organization that draws attention to specialization of instructional practice. An understanding of the ordering principles of the school emerges from the analysis, fundamentally understood as relations of power and control in the school as an organization. The paper considers how the ordering principles of the school are related to differential performance. The framework is deployed in an analysis of six primary schools located in poor communities in South Africa.     

Exploring ICT Integration as a Tool to Engage Young People at a Flexible Learning Centre

The Edmund Rice Education Australia (EREA) Flexible Learning Centres aim to provide a supportive learning environment for young people who find themselves outside of the mainstream secondary schooling system. Drawing on twenty first Century learning principles, the Centres aim to deliver a personalised learning experience with an emphasis on flexibility and individual choice. Provision of a comprehensive curriculum enables young people to make positive future life choices and successfully transition into employment and further training. The aim of this research project has been to work with teaching staff at a Flexible Learning Centre in North Queensland, Australia, to explore the value of integrating ICT in the form of Web 2.0 technologies to enhance young people??s engagement with the subject of science. The findings of this case study suggest that ICT integration is effective in revitalising science education interest for disengaged young people. This may have wider implications in relation to general concerns of declining student interest and participation in science in the secondary years of schooling.     

A comparison of time-motion and technical–tactical variables between age groups of female judo matches

Abstract

The aim of the study was to verify differences between age groups of female judo matches in time-motion and technical–tactical analysis. The sample was composed of pre-cadet (13–14 years, n = 148), cadet (15–16 years, n = 228), junior (17–19 years, n = 104) and senior (>20 years, n = 237) groups. The time-motion indicators consisted of total combat time, standing combat time, displacement without contact, gripping time, total time of techniques, groundwork combat time and pause time, per match and by each combat/pause cycle. Technical and tactical variables were also collected. The one-way analysis of variance and a post hoc test were conducted, P ≤ 0.05. Cadets, with a median of 7 (2, 12), had a number of combat/pause cycles different from junior, with 3 (1, 8.5). Regarding time-motion per match and per cycle, senior had longer total combat time, standing combat time and gripping time than other groups. Senior presented lower frequency of leg techniques than pre-cadet, cadet and junior. Time-motion and technical–tactical variables effects in female judo athletes emphasise the difference between seniors and other groups.     

Alien or Alike? How the Perceived Similarity Between the Typical Science Teacher and a Student’s Self-Image Correlates with Choosing Science at School

By applying the self-to-prototype matching theory to students?? academic choices, this study links the unpopularity of science in many industrialized countries with the perceived gap between typical persons representing science (e.g. physics teachers) on the one hand and students?? self-image on the other. A sample of N?=?308 Dutch and German students described both themselves and typical teachers representing different school subjects using 65 trait adjectives. The following hypotheses were tested: The typical hard sciences teacher and the typical languages teacher will be perceived as differing in their personal characteristics. The typical physics teachers will be perceived as being less similar to students' own self-image than teachers representing languages. Actual choices students make during secondary school should correlate with the perceived fit between students?? self-image and the prototype of teachers representing different school subjects, especially in the less frequent and less popular choices of a math or physics major/profile. The findings supported these hypotheses. The discussion stresses that students acquire not only knowledge about science but also about science culture (sensu Aikenhead) in their science classes and that students?? image of science teachers can influence their academic choices.     

Implications of risk and resilience in the life of the individual who is gifted/learning disabled

The constructs of risk and resilience and their implication in the life of individuals who are gifted, learning disabled, and gifted/learning disabled will be explored in this paper. The intent is to understand further how the constructs of risk and resilience affect individuals who are gifted/learning disabled. The paper includes a discussion of risk and resilience, followed by a discussion of learning disabilities, giftedness, and learning disabilities combined with giftedness. Each of these sections addresses the risk factors that hinder normal development and make the individual more vulnerable and the protective factors that serve to buffer the individual's response to adversity. Interventions that may foster resilience in the individual who is gifted/learning disabled are proposed.     

Adopters build bridges: Changing the institutional logic for more sustainable cities. From action to workset to practice

The aim of this article is to develop a model of change in urban context to map key steps towards changing an institutional logic: How can new ideas that aim at changing the dominant logic become practice in a city? To this end, the article explores the innovation process of institutions, thereby bringing together areas of research on institutional entrepreneurship, innovation processes, and transformation. Our model interlinks invention, innovation and adoption of new institutions to achieve a new institutional logic for more sustainable development in a city. We introduce ‘workset’ as an interim step between action and practice and identify local adopters as key for diffusion. We illustrate our framework using a case study of urban institutional entrepreneurship in the socio-economic system of a German city. Our findings indicate that the roles of local institutional entrepreneurs and local adopters partly overlap, that worksets are crucial for broader diffusion of new institutions, and that a robust design supports the adoption of the institutional innovation.