Reading comprehension instruction in Irish primary classrooms: key insights into teachers' perspectives on classroom practices

Despite a wealth of international research indicating the importance but also the dearth of explicit reading comprehension instruction in classrooms, current classroom reading pedagogy does not appear to have acknowledged and addressed this shortcoming to any significant degree. This is cause for some considerable concern, as today's students require effective, metacognitive reading comprehension strategies in order to succeed in a vastly expanding multi-literate textual environment. This paper will discuss a recent study, involving a survey (n=278) and interviews (n=12), which examined current beliefs and understandings regarding reading, as well as reading pedagogy and practice among teachers at primary level in Ireland. The findings revealed that current reading pedagogy, as indicated by the surveyed teachers, relies heavily on decoding instruction and an affective approach to reading while explicit comprehension instruction practice remains secondary and more the exception rather than the rule. The paper will attempt to examine possible reasons as to why current reading pedagogy remains ‘un-balanced’ in this manner while also exploring possible avenues for improvement.     

The Pedagogy and Politics of Art in Postmodernity: Cognitive Mapping and The Bothersome Man

This essay inquires into the pedagogical and political dimensions of art in the contemporary moment. Specifically, it seeks to reanimate Fredric Jameson's notion of “cognitive mapping,” which he introduced as a response to the postmodern problem of representing the social totality. To that end, the essay begins by explicating the twin impulses of cognitive mapping. It, then, undertakes a sustained rhetorical analysis of Jens Lien's award-winning 2006 Norwegian film, The Bothersome Man, demonstrating how the film employs entropic satire to, at once, map and critique the cultural logic of late capitalism. The essay concludes by reflecting on the important contributions rhetorical scholars can make to a renewed interest in cognitive mapping.     

Can student teachers acquire core skills for teaching from part‐time employment?

Part‐time employment among university students has become commonplace internationally. Research has largely focused on the impact of part‐time employment on academic performance. This research takes an original approach in that it poses the question whether students can acquire core skills relevant to teaching from their part‐time employment. The research was conducted in a university college of education. A case study approach was adopted using an opportunistic sample of 285 students drawn from two BEd programmes. The project is based on an interpretive paradigm, focusing on students’ perceptions of their part‐time employment. The research methodology included a questionnaire containing both closed and open questions, a follow‐up focus group discussion and two case histories. The results showed that the majority of students believed that they had acquired core skills from their part‐time employment. The findings of this research raise important issues about how university courses can effectively build on such learning experiences.     

Outside the Comfort Zone of the Classroom

What comes to mind when the word learning is mentioned? Is it a classroom full of students and a teacher dictating notes as the students struggle emphatically to write down every word that is said? Is it a picture of a student in the library with a stack of books piled on a desk, trying to read them all? These examples of learning may fit the traditional definition but this paper expands learning to include service. This paper describes a non‐traditional style of learning that takes the student “out of the comfort zone of the classroom” into the community and explains how this experience has an impact on the students’ education as well as their lives. The authors of this paper hope to influence its readers to re‐think the definition of learning by understanding the importance of service.     

The Influence of Perceived Poverty and Academic Achievement on School Counselor Conceptualization

This analog study presented 173 practicing school counselors with one of four case scenarios depicting a student new to their school. Each scenario manipulated one of two levels of the independent variables, which were perceived poverty and academic achievement. Main effects indicate that participants rated students as more attractive counseling participants when they are perceived as poor and/or strong academic performers. Implications for school counselors and further research are discussed.     

Equity and Empowerment in PDS Work: A Review of Literature (1999 to 2006)

In this paper we examine the degree to which recent research and writing about professional development school activity indicates progress toward fulfilling the professional development school model's commitment to providing equitable educational opportunities and outcomes, especially from a critical pedagogy perspective. Our review of 95 papers and articles from 1999 to 2006 found little published evidence of even a rhetorical commitment to equitable pedagogy and student outcomes. In those cases where equity was mentioned as a factor, it was nearly always in terms only of improved test scores, with no mention of the empowerment of students, teachers, or community.     

Hurricane Katrina's Impact on Students and Staff Members in the Schools of Mississippi

Following Hurricane Katrina, a team of researchers from the University of Southern Mississippi's Department of Educational Leadership and Research surveyed school administrators regarding the impact of Hurricane Katrina upon students and school staff members in Mississippi public schools. Respondents disclosed concerns over displacement and psychological stressors experienced by both students and staff. Additional concerns were expressed regarding support systems for students, destruction of student and personnel records, student achievement and school accountability, and the employment status of teachers. Implications for policy and practice are discussed.     

Results From the Quality Early Childhood Training Program

High-quality child care is related to children's positive developmental outcomes. One way to increase quality of care is to provide training to child care providers. This study used assessment-based training to determine if overall quality of care in center-based preschools could be enhanced. Participants were recruited from six center-based child care programs serving preschool-age children and included program administrators, teachers, teacher aides, and enrolled children. Program administrators (N?=?6) were assessed with the Program Administration Scale (Talan & Bloom, 2004), classrooms (N?=?14) with the Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale Revised (ECERS-R; Harms, Clifford, & Cryer, 2005) and the Early Language and Literacy Classroom Observation—Research Edition (ELLCO; Smith & Dickinson, 2002), teachers (N?=?24) with the Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS; Pianta, La Paro, & Hamre, 2007), and children (N?=?135) with an author-created measurement designed to assess typical skills across five child domains. Assessments were administered at two time points and individualized targeted training was provided in between. Results demonstrated that after 7 months of intervention, the largest effect sizes were seen at the program administration and classroom levels and that smaller effect sizes were found at the teacher and child levels.