Our view on the Other: issues regarding school textbooks

Studies of the image of Muslims or ‘the Other’ in general have been done to a certain extent by Western scholars showing that stereotyped images have been prevalent. In the case of Islamic studies, the long tradition of Orientalist scholarship is a clear example of this, but, as researchers have shown, generalisations and stereotypes are still apparent in school textbooks. This article discusses some general and problematic areas that pertain to textbooks. The focus is on what critical issues we need to take into consideration when discussing or performing textbook production and how we can think about these.     

Media Education in Primary Schools in Austria: Teaching Materials

Abstract

This article describes the questionnaire by which the Austrian Ministry of Education investigated the state of media education in primary schools, and briefly summarizes the results. It then describes the teaching materials that have been and are being produced.     

Preschool children’s Collaborative Science Learning Scaffolded by Tablets

This paper reports on a project aiming to extend the current understanding of how emerging technologies, i.e. tablets, can be used in preschools to support collaborative learning of real-life science phenomena. The potential of tablets to support collaborative inquiry-based science learning and reflective thinking in preschool is investigated through the analysis of teacher-led activities on science, including children making timelapse photography and Slowmation movies. A qualitative analysis of verbal communication during different learning contexts gives rise to a number of categories that distinguish and identify different themes of the discussion. In this study, groups of children work with phase changes of water. We report enhanced and focused reasoning about this science phenomenon in situations where timelapse movies are used to stimulate recall. Furthermore, we show that children communicate in a more advanced manner about the phenomenon, and they focus more readily on problem solving when active in experimentation or Slowmation producing contexts.     

Coach–athlete sexual relationships: if no means no does yes mean yes?

Coach–athlete romantic relationships and consensual sexual relations are commonly accepted among coaches and athletes, although a growing number of sport organisations discourage or prohibit such relationships. In research, coach–athlete sexual relationships are lumped together with sexual abuse, suggested to harm athletes' well-being, performance, athletic career and team dynamics, and to inherently constitute an abuse of power, trust and ethics. In addition, mistrust of coaches' motives, related to physical touch and fear of sexual misconduct, has resulted in a growing anxiety among coaches. This paper highlights and critically discusses research conceptualisations, contextual understandings and critical issues surrounding coach–athlete sexual relationships, on which there is no comprehensive research outside the sexual abuse context. Studies of authority–subordinate romantic relationships in other social settings have reported that such relationships facilitate both positive and negative characteristics and outcomes. To prevent and reduce harm and to promote well-being, functionality and safe practice in coach–athlete sexual and non-sexual relationships, I suggest that comprehensive research outside the sexual abuse context is required. In addition to the previous research focus on harmful and abusive relationships, coach–athlete sexual relationships that are experienced as consenting and mutually fulfilling by the involved parties need further examination.     

Exploring a pluralist understanding of learning for sustainability and its implications for outdoor education practice

This article explores a pluralist understanding of learning for sustainability in educational theory and relates it to outdoor education practice. In brief, this kind of learning can be described as a deep engagement with an individual’s multiple identities and the personal location in diverse geo-physical and socio-cultural surroundings. I identify the intersection of learning for sustainability and pluralism in three themes: learning as transformation, learning as participation and learning about identities and spaces. The reflections on what kind of learning outdoor education could seek to promote potentially help the field to clarify its role as a sustainable education approach. A programme designed to be responsive to both sustainability and pluralism would enable learners to explore the multifacetedness of a location and provide space for them to share and exchange individual experiences, perceptions and worldviews.     

Selbstwirksamkeitserwartungen und Pädagogisches Professionswissen im Verlauf des Lehramtsstudiums

Teacher Self-Efficacy and General Pedagogical Knowledge During Teacher Education. The present study investigates how teacher self-efficacy beliefs develop during teacher education and how self-efficacy beliefs and general pedagogical knowledge of student-teachers are related. In a cross-sectional study, 257 student-teachers were investigated (173 first year students, 27 advanced students, 35 examination candidates, 19 preservice teachers). The data show that self-efficacy beliefs for the subscales classroom management and assessment increase between the start and the end of training (preservice teachers). Concerning diagnostic competency, self-efficacy beliefs do not change during studies and even decrease for the preservice teachers. For the subscales communication and conflicts as well as coping little difference is noticeable. Professional knowledge, in contrast, increases during studies. Self-efficacy beliefs for classroom management and assessment are linked to professional knowledge. Finally, the usefulness of the multidimensional measuring of self-efficacy beliefs is discussed and implications for future research approaches are presented.     

Kooperationsbereit oder Innovationsgegner?

The issue of implementing large-scale reforms has played an important role both in the past as well as in current debates on structural changes and quality measures in education. When putting reforms into practice, individual schools and their leaders, who take a key role in reform processes, are focused. In the context of a comprehensive school reform in Berlin, this contribution presents an implementation of the Stages of Concern Questionnaire (SoCQ, Hall and Hord 2011), which intends to assess the degree of participants’ engagement with innovations in a phased respectively stepwise approach. Recently, the SoCQ questionnaire has been used to build different profiles or types of engagement in reform. Based on N?=?196 school leaders, latent profile analyses thus served to identify five types of profiles. Altogether, they indicate that the majority of school leaders are ready to implement the reform and contribute to its optimization. A rather small group remained skeptical with regard to the school reform. With respect to individual leadership characteristics, differences in profile composition could be found for gender, school type, and professional experience.