Online Bullying among High-School Students in India

Six hundred and forty high-school students (Grades 7–12) from a large central government school in South India participated in this exploratory study of online bullying (cyberbullying) in India. Participants responded to the Survey on Social Use of Information and Communications Technology (SSUICT; Bhat and Ragan 2013). Findings indicated that approximately half the participants experienced online bullying in one or more roles described by Bhat et al. Education about Asia, 2(18), 36–39, (2013), with these being: initiating online bully, secondary online bully, bystander, or target of online bullying. Overall, engagement in online bullying tended to increase with grade level, and participation in the role of secondary online bully was the highest of the four roles for Grades 8–12. Male participants reported higher engagement in all four roles than female participants, and this difference was significant for the roles of initiating online bully, secondary online bully, and target of online bullying. Significant correlations were found between the four roles of online bullying. Recommendations for addressing the issue of online bullying in the Indian context are provided, along with limitations of the study and suggestions for future research.     

The Democratising Potential of Dialogical Focus in an Action Enquiry

This article considers the role of classroom‐based action research in the development of media education in British schools. The first part of the article offers some general observations on the contribution of action research in this field, and on the relationship between action research and broadly ‘ethnographic’ approaches within media and cultural studies. It identifies shared dilemmas in the politics of such research, and in the relationships between researchers and their subjects. The second part of the article develops these themes through brief accounts of two contrasting forms of classroom practice, drawn from collaborative research between an academic (DB) and a classroom teacher (JSG) in a largely working‐class North London comprehensive school. First, there is an examination of the difficulties of ‘reading’ students’ creative media productions, with particular emphasis on questions of gender and subjectivity. Secondly, there is an account of classroom work in which students themselves carried out research projects on aspects of media consumption, using both quantitative and qualitative methods.     

Comparison of the effectiveness and efficiency of oral and written retellings and passage review as strategies for comprehending text

The purpose of this study was to compare the instructional effectiveness and efficiency of oral retelling, written retelling, and passage review comprehension strategies on third‐grade students' accuracy and rate of answering reading comprehension questions. A modified alternating treatment design was used to compare the effects of oral retelling, written retelling, and passage review strategies. Each strategy occurred within the context of repeated readings with phrase drill error correction. This study extended previous research findings by examining the effects of oral and written retelling as strategies for improving both literal and inferential comprehension and by investigating the efficiency of retelling procedures. Findings revealed that students' accuracy in answering reading comprehension performance was better under both retelling conditions than the passage review condition. The oral retelling coupled with repeated readings and phrase drill error correction was the most efficient instructional method for answering comprehension questions correctly. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

New professionalism in austere times: the employment experiences of early career teachers in Scotland

International concern to raise educational standards and improve teacher quality has directed attention to the need to sustain career-long professional learning. Teacher induction and early professional learning (during years 2–6) have been associated with patterns of attrition and improved pupil outcomes. As the economic crisis impacts on public sector employment, the rhetoric of professionalism stands in contrast to the employment experiences of many recently qualified teachers. This article draws on interviews with 20 early career teachers in Scotland who achieved full registration from 2006. Work histories drawn from this small-scale study challenge the implicit assumptions of staged models of teacher development and draw attention to the increasing fragmentation and casualisation of experience in the teacher labour market.     

Research and teacher education in the UK: Building capacity

The need for capacity-building in teacher education in the UK has been raised as a serious issue by a number of commentators. Tensions about the place of research in teacher education have persisted for many decades, but following changes to the core funding mechanisms in the UK, the maintenance of education research bases within many universities has become increasingly tenuous. This paper provides an analytical account of an initiative conducted by the Teacher Education Group (TEG) to build research capacity in teacher education. With reference to a review of the national contexts for research in the UK and research on teacher educators, the article argues that, in order to build research capacity initiatives we need to provide motivation and new types of networking opportunities for researchers, as well as developing their expertise. In developing this argument, the article also explore the relationships between national policy changes, institutional research cultures and individual habitus and agency in research capacity-building. The paper also describes a new initiative in England, the Teacher Education Research Network (TERN).     

Students’ perceptions of the role of assessments at higher education

The quality assessment agency higher education review noted that assessment and feedback in higher education still remains an area of concern for students. Despite this, very little research has been carried out to assess students’ experience of assessments. The evidence for what factors within assessments actually contribute to student engagement is not fully understood and more research is required. This research was a qualitative study comprising of three focus groups. The student participants were 4 male and 19 female undergraduate psychology students. The data was analysed using experiential inductive thematic analysis. Two themes were identified as effecting student learning. The first was teaching factors which included two subthemes: timeliness and type of assessment. The second theme was student factors which included two subthemes: academic maturity and emotions. These themes were found to be mediated by the relationship between tutors and students. The outcome relates to previous research while also providing a better understanding into the role personal qualities and emotional factors have on learner engagement. Strategies to promote academic maturity and reduce stress and fear in students could foster a more constructive approach to learning.