Early years curriculum: funds of knowledge as a conceptual framework for children’s interests

Children’s interests are frequently cited as a source of early‐years curricula. Yet, research has rarely considered the nature of these interests beyond the play‐based environment of early‐childhood education. This paper reports findings from a qualitative, interpretivist study in two early childhood settings in Aotearoa/New Zealand. Using participant observation, interviews, and documentation, the study examined children’s interests and teachers’ engagement with these in curriculum interactions. Evidence suggested children’s interests were stimulated by their ‘intent participation’ in family and community experiences and encapsulated in the notion of ‘funds of knowledge’. The concept of funds of knowledge provides a coherent analytic framework for teachers to recognize children’s interests and extend teachers’ curriculum planning focus beyond that of a child‐centred play‐based learning environment.     

Education policy and the question of child labour: the Lancashire cotton industry and R. D. Denman's Bill of 1914

Those of our people who avail themselves of the advantages of education, are generally distinguished for their good conduct, steadiness, neatness and self respect; and I perceive them afterwards becoming attendants in our reading room for their recreation and improvement instead of frequenting the ale‐houses

(John Walsh MacMaster, 12 January 1851).     

Dimensions of conflict: reflections on the higher education experience from an access education perspective

Given the widening participation agenda and associated enrolment targets, mature students who enter higher education by non-traditional pathways look set to become an increasingly prominent cohort who bring with them valuable skills, experiences and personal attributes that can and do enrich the learning environment. However, the Australian case study reported here indicates that those same attributes can present particular challenges for educators and for the students themselves, not least of which is the challenge inherent in the need for students to transform the procedural knowledge of their prior experience into the corresponding propositional form required by academic contexts. In relating the experiences of ‘Judy’, who had both successfully completed a comprehensive access programme and who began her undergraduate studies equipped with richly relevant life experience, this account provides evidence of some of these challenges, the potential for tension and conflict that they present, and the negative impact they can have on the first year higher education experience. Their effects can however be mitigated, we suggest, by: closer collaboration between support services and academic faculty; raising awareness in prospective lecturers and tutors; and ensuring, through training and professional development initiatives, that staff are adequately equipped to respond effectively and appropriately.     

Implementation of primary Social and Emotional Aspects of Learning small group work: a qualitative study

The aim of this study was to build an implementation process model for social–emotional interventions. Case studies were conducted at five primary schools in England nominated as ‘lead practise’ by their local authorities. Data collection comprised interviews with school staff, children and parents, observations of intervention sessions and other settings, and document analysis. Data were analysed using qualitative content analysis. In brief, the process model of Social and Emotional Aspects of Learning small group work indicates that successful implementation is dependent upon a range of factors, ranging from the skills and experience of the group facilitator to the availability of an appropriate physical space to conduct the sessions. Key aspects of the delivery of small group interventions included setting achievable targets for children, providing constant reinforcement of desirable behaviour, and providing opportunities for pupils to verbalise their emotional experiences. We discuss the implications of the model and make recommendations for future development in this area.     

To Sign or Not to Sign? The Impact of Encouraging Infants to Gesture on Infant Language and Maternal Mind‐Mindedness

Findings are presented from the first randomized control trial of the effects of encouraging symbolic gesture (or “baby sign”) on infant language, following 40 infants from age 8 months to 20 months. Half of the mothers were trained to model a target set of gestures to their infants. Frequent measures were taken of infant language development and dyadic interactions were scrutinized to assess mind‐mindedness. Infants exposed to gesture did not differ from control conditions on language outcomes; thus, no support was found for previous claims that encouraging gesturing with infants accelerates linguistic development. Microgenetic analysis revealed mothers in the gesture training conditions were more responsive to their infants' nonverbal cues and encouraged more independent action by their infant.     

Holocaust Memorial Day in schools - context,process and content: a review of research into Holocaust education

The Holocaust was officially remembered in Britain for the first time on 27 January 2001. This is to be an annual event and it is intended that it will provide a focus for work in schools. The paper reviews the findings of research into Holocaust education and discusses the implications for teachers intending to respond to this important initiative.     

Knowledge development in adult learning groups

Adult learning groups have often been studied in terms of the inter‐personal relations and problems which they generate. But how do adults develop, and build on, a shared understanding in such groups ‐ which is, after all, their main purpose ‐ and how can tutors best facilitate these processes? Neil Mercer, of the Open University's School of Education, and Derek Edwards, of Loughborough University's Social Sciences Department, address these questions here by applying research methods developed in schools. A tutor group at a recent Open University summer school is analysed as an example, but the implications of the study are more general.     

TRAINING OLDER AND YOUNGER ADULTS TO USE SOFTWARE

Forty‐six subjects (22 young, 24 old) received three training sessions with software (Borland's “Sidekick"). Each session lasted a maximum of S h. The fourth session was a test. Subjects were randomly assigned to two learning environments, partnered or individual, and half were given a computer “jargon” sheet before training. All instructions were written, learning was self‐paced, and tasks were formulated according to discovery‐method guidelines. Attitudes toward computers were measured before Session 1 and on completion of Session 3. The results showed that older adults took twice as long as younger ones but achieved nearly equal performance levels, exceeding young adults in one condition but falling slightly below them in others. Older adults requested help two to three times as frequently. Session 3 attitude scores were positively correlated with the mark achieved on the final test, and changes in attitudes were related to training conditions.