Women Who Teach Teachers

While conducting a wider ethnographic study into the job of educating teachers in one small college of higher education it became evident that structural differences existed between the men and women in the education department. Women were generally more experienced and better qualified than their male colleagues but tended to have less posts of responsibility and heavier teaching loads. However only two of the 10 women tutors in the department made any direct reference to the issue of gender in relation to their working lives. It seemed that the majority of the women tutors did not see or acknowledge any disadvantage. This paper investigates possible reasons why some women tutors do not recognise their situation as one of disadvantage. Some of the women tutors may not hold feminist views in relation to their working life. Some of the women tutors may believe that the fact of their own employment demonstrates that there are no bars to the employment of women but have not analysed the actuality of their working conditions further than issues of access. The paper argues that values of neutrality, impartiality and professionalism have served to disguise gendered power relations in teaching and teacher education and this influence will not always be recognised where the ‘common‐sense’ hegemony of male dominance is masked by a version of gender neutrality. The paper draws on interviews with three key informants, Nora, a senior manager and Susan and Monica, two grass roots tutors, who do recognise that their work is shaped by gendered regimes. Through their perspectives the paper illuminates some of the dilemmas which characterise what it is like being a woman doing the job of educating teachers.

     

Examining the educative aims and practices of decision-makers in sport for development and peace organizations

Sport for Development and Peace (SDP) policy-makers and practitioners continue to offer ambitious claims regarding the potential role of sport-based programs for promoting social change. Yet, it is important to put sport under a critical lens in order to develop a more balanced and realistic understanding of the role of sport in society. Whether SDP programs result in positive or negative outcomes depends on the structures and processes of the implementing organizations. Hence, SDP researchers are paying more attention to the organizational approaches of these agencies. Scholars also argue the outcomes of SDP programs depend on the relationship of these organizations with broader community education and health promotion efforts. Despite the claims of many SDP programs, little remains known about the educational goals of these programs and their relationship with broader educational efforts. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to critically examine the role of education among a randomly selected sample of nonprofit SDP organizations in urban settings across the USA. Findings from in-depth interviews with 17 executive directors indicate a broad range of educative aims, but also innovative organizational practices, highlighting a salient relationship between education and SDP in the USA. Prominent themes emerged related to program models and organizational approaches, academic enrichment programming, partnerships with educational institutions and education-focused nonprofits, and educational outcomes. These findings are examined and implications for future SDP research are also discussed. Although important work is emerging in SDP literature on how educational values are delivered in these programs [Spaaij, R., & Jeanes, R. [2013]. Education for social change? A Freirean critique of sport for development and peace. Physical Education and Sport Pedagogy, 18, 442–457], findings from this study also help stimulate a critical dialogue on the educative aims and practices of decision-makers in SDP organizations.     

Differential Associations of Distinct Forms of Childhood Adversity With Neurobehavioral Measures of Reward Processing: A Developmental Pathway to Depression

Childhood adversity is associated with altered reward processing, but little is known about whether this varies across distinct types of adversity. In a sample of 94 children (6–19 years), we investigated whether experiences of material deprivation, emotional deprivation, and trauma have differential associations with reward-related behavior and white matter microstructure in tracts involved in reward processing. Material deprivation (food insecurity), but not emotional deprivation or trauma, was associated with poor reward performance. Adversity-related influences on the integrity of white matter microstructure in frontostriatal tracts varied across childhood adversity types, and reductions in frontostriatal white matter integrity mediated the association of food insecurity with depressive symptoms. These findings document distinct behavioral and neurodevelopmental consequences of specific forms of adversity that have implications for psychopathology risk.     

Cultural support workers and long day care services

In Australia, eligible long day care services may apply for support at the state level to assist with the transition of children from culturally or linguistically diverse backgrounds into childcare settings. For staff in childcare services, this support comes in the form of a cultural support worker (CSW). The primary role of a CSW is to build capacity in childcare staff to support children and families as they enter the childcare program. This paper draws on interview data and documentation from multiple sources to report the perspectives of key stakeholders affiliated with a cultural support program in an Australian childcare setting. It concludes that a more flexible approach to policy that directs the work of CSWs is needed, as well as further research into ways to build capacity for cultural competence for both CSWs and childcare staff who work collaboratively to support young children as they transition to childcare.     

Middlemen and midwives of reform: the in-between worlds of Albanian educational policy-makers and professionals

Based on a vertical case study in post-communist Albania, this article examines how three local experts become ‘in-betweens’ who strategically mediate processes of social change. For example, they negotiate constructions of time and place, East and West, policy and practice, state and society. As they localise global educational models, the ‘in-betweens’ concurrently engage in re-making cultural meaning. This analysis thus enhances our understanding of the cultural complexity of international educational policy transfer and localisation.     

‘The bar is slightly higher’: the perception of racism in teacher education

The education and training of teachers is an issue of national concern. In this paper we analyse the findings of an in‐depth investigation, undertaken by means of semi structured interviews, of a group of minority ethnic teacher trainees who withdrew from Initial Teacher Training courses in England, and a smaller group of those who completed these courses. We focus, in particular, on trainees' perception of the manifestation of racism during their training. Though none of the minority ethnic withdrawers perceive racism as the determining factor for their withdrawal, some mention instances of covert and even overt racism, while others note subtle forms of discriminatory obstacles to successful completion of the course, which they are reluctant to label as racism. The paper concludes by pointing to the complexity of categorizing phenomena as racism. It also draws attention, on the one hand, to the vulnerability of those who view themselves as being racially abused, and, on the other, to those who are disinclined to dwell on barriers to success as forms of racism and are more predisposed to regarding them as failures of the system.     

Assemble Collocation and Colligation in Chinese Writing Web Tools for New Immigrants in Taiwan

CSL （Chinese as a second language） learning is an emergency task in Taiwan, especially when more and more new immigrants joined in Taiwan. However, there are just a few new immigrants who can finish all language courses. For this reason, this research intends to provide a training system to assist new immigrants observing and learning the phrase structure. In this paper, the researchers design a system which can help new immigrants to form Chinese sentences by applying colligation and collocation technology.