Little United and the Big Society: negotiating the gaps between football,community and the politics of inclusion

The UK government’s Big Society vision is a source of fierce debate and controversy, particularly when set alongside severe austerity measures. This has revealed a glaring disconnect between rhetoric of empowered, inclusive communities and the burgeoning reality of cuts to publicly funded community provision. This puts pressure on organizations that rely on or promote volunteering as a means of participatory community inclusion, not just financially through loss of funding, but also potentially on ideological grounds. To explore this, research was conducted within the community projects of FC United of Manchester, a not-for-profit, cooperative, fan-owned, non-league English football club. Findings reveal extremely positive perceptions of its community and inclusivity work, with volunteering and the club’s ownership structure being seen as major factors in that success. Despite clear opposition to the coalition government’s policies, from a community inclusion perspective and on wider ideological grounds, the club aims to increase its capacity as a community provider, acknowledging the potential contradictions and conflicts this may bring.     

Tips for the effective implementation of public law 99-457

Stephen B. Graves and Richard M. Gargiulo are with the School of Education, University of Alabama at Birming-ham.     

How Constructivist-Based Teaching Influences Students Learning Science

The purpose of this article is to provide details about the beneficial processes the constructivist pedagogy has in the area of teaching science. No Child Left Behind could possibly cause detrimental effects to the science classroom and the constructivist teacher, so this essay tells how constructivist-based teaching influences students and their learning of science.     

The Reciprocal Relationship Between Technology and Psychology

This article describes the design and implementation of the year 2 curriculum and student learning experiences in the Michigan State University Master of Arts in Educational Technology program. We discuss the ways that this second set of courses builds on the first year of the program that students encounter, and also describe the theoretical impetus and design-based implications for learning how to teach with technology in effective and creative ways. Students in this group usually come in with some prior knowledge of educational theory, as well as some experience of working with classroom technologies. We intentionally build upon this prior knowledge, to take it to the next level of a more sophisticated TPACK-oriented understanding of learning in technology-driven contexts. Our year 2 courses move classical educational psychology theories of learning, along with educational research issues, squarely into the modern context of educational technology and teacher leadership. Our curriculum design focuses centrally on making meaningful experiences for teachers around technology, and helping them develop the knowledge and skills to create such experiences for their students. Our goal is to develop teachers who see themselves as flexible designers of learning experiences through the creative re-purposing of existing technologies.     

Retaking departments

Conclusion In the past, it was believed that the commitment of scholars to the canons of reason and evidence prevented the ideological capture of most academic departments. However, such transformations not only take place but do so through strategies that are likely to render them permanent. In these new circumstances, those holding traditional academic values may find themselves defined or harassed out of professional existence. As unpleasant as it may be, scholars must learn to recognize and respond to these attempts, which are likely to become increasingly common in the 1990s. These days, as Machiavelli might say, hiding from the facts will only hasten one's ruin.