Individuals,Communities of Practice and the Policy Context: School teachers' learning in their workplace

Current theorising about learning at work comes from a predominantly participatory perspective, emphasising the social and communal dimensions of learning. This paper seeks to develop such a perspective further, devoting particular attention to the interrelationships between individual worker dispositions to learning, community of practice and wider organisational and policy contexts. This is done through the case study examination of the learning of one secondary school teacher, and of the art department of which she was part.     

Evaluating the impact of early years educational reform in Wales to age seven: the potential use of the UK Millennium Cohort Study

Early years education has received considerable attention in recent years, particularly as a result of longitudinal studies that demonstrate the importance of the first few years in a child’s development and educational experience. In 2004, a new approach to early years education, the Foundation Phase, was introduced in Wales. This is a major flagship policy of the recently devolved Welsh Government, and marks a radical departure from the more assessment-driven competency-based approaches to early childhood education that existed prior to the Foundation Phase. Studying approximately 2000 children in Wales who are part of the UK Millennium Cohort Study (MCS), all born in 2000–2001 we investigate the potential impact of the Foundation Phase pilot on a range of key academic and well-being outcome measures. Compared with other children, those attending a Foundation Phase pilot school tended to have lower scores in a number of academic assessments at age seven and lower subjective well-being, in terms of their attitudes to learning and well-being at school. We consider these surprising, yet concerning, results in the context of the methodological limitations to this analysis and propose how the MCS can be further used to substantiate these findings.     

Proposing a center on aging and well-being: Research,education, and practice considerations

ABSTRACT

This environmental scan aimed to discover research interests and educational needs of faculty, graduate, and undergraduate students to inspire research, education, and practice in the development of a center on aging and well-being for older adults. The scan consisted of a search of university faculty and researchers regarding research on aging; a survey of graduate students and faculty about interests in aging research and needs of undergraduate students; and key informant interviews. Results offer a conceptualization based on the pillars of research, education, and practice. An inventory of researchers with various levels of expertise and interested in aging was created. Participants offered their perceptions of strengths, as well as challenges and strategies for success. These results will be a catalyst for planning and successful development of a center on aging and well-being. This article addresses a gap in the literature and will assist others undertaking a similar initiative in various geographical and cultural contexts.     

Serving the preschool gifted child: Programming and resources

Highlighting the unique educational needs of gifted and high ability preschoolers, this article guides the reader to consider the characteristics of young gifted children along with appropriate assessment practices in planning educational programming. A triarchic approach to programs and services for gifted preschoolers is outlined with major emphases on an integrated curriculum, ongoing evaluation, and parental involvement. Specific strategies including internet resources are described to guide practitioners in providing optimal learning environments for this distinctive student population.     

Exposing Student Teachers' Content Knowledge: Empowerment or debilitation?

Previous governments and other commentators have emphasized the relationship between a teacher's knowledge of the subject material being taught and the quality of learning outcomes. This has been reflected in the entry requirements to Initial Teacher Training (ITT) (primary) of public examination performance in the core subjects. However, disquiet has been expressed as to the efficacy of such qualifications as indicators of knowledge and skills at the entry point. Recent changes to ITT (primary) regulations require students' actual knowledge of the content of the three core subjects to be audited. This paper reports and reflects on the effects that re-examining their knowledge and skills in mathematics has had on the confidence of primary trainee teachers. It presents some key questions that must be addressed if the current audit regulations are indeed to benefit our future teachers and to enhance the learning of our pupils.     

Using Rhetorical/Relational Goal Theory to Examine College Students’ Impressions of Their Instructors

Guided by rhetorical/relational goal theory, the purpose of this study was to examine whether students’ impressions of their instructors’ credibility, attraction, and homophily are influenced by four specific rhetorical and relational communication behaviors that instructors use when communicating with their students in the classroom. Participants were 193 undergraduate students enrolled in a variety of introductory communication courses at a large mid-Atlantic university. Using a series of multiple regression analyses, it was found that (a) clarity emerged as the sole indicator of instructor competence, trustworthiness, and task attraction; (b) clarity and confirmation emerged as indicators of goodwill; and (c) humor and confirmation emerged as indicators of social attraction and attitude homophily.     

Information world mapping: A participatory arts-based elicitation method for information behavior interviews

Participatory, arts-based methods generate rich data with which researchers can explore information behavior in context, and may be particularly apt when engaging with youth or participants with low literacy levels. Information world mapping (IWM) is an innovative and interactive drawing-based interview technique for data elicitation. Initially developed for use in a study of young parents’ health information practices, IWM guides participants in depicting their personal social information worlds, including items, places, and relationships. Maps are then used to facilitate critical incident elicitation of participants' stories about, and interpretations of, their information practices. Within the young parent study, three styles of map were commonly seen: the directional map, the mind map, and the symbolic map. Use of IWM requires time and ethical care, but the method enables researchers to center participants’ own perspectives on information practices, triangulate data obtained via more traditional methods, and enrich understanding of social information worlds.     

Developing mental orthographic representations in refugee spellers with low literacy: how much input is too much?

Background

We used two principles of implicit learning, variability and complexity, to train mental orthographic representations in refugee English learners to improve spelling.

Methods

Twenty‐eight refugees enrolled in a 10‐week English class were trained on classroom words using stimuli designed to encourage implicit learning. We contrasted high‐variability visual input combined with either high‐linguistic or low‐linguistic complexity, using a short (<5 minute) PowerPoint‐based training. Participants were regularly tested on their spelling and were compared with themselves using single subject design. Individual effect sizes were aggregated across participants, and we used dependent measures t‐tests to compare conditions.

Results

Participants learned significantly more treated words than control words in the high‐variability/low‐complexity condition, but not in the high‐variability/high‐complexity condition.

Conclusions

Refugees can benefit from interventions designed to promote implicit learning but can be overwhelmed by too much input.