Mobilities of policy and mobile parents – creating a new dynamic in policy borrowing within state schooling

ABSTRACT

In this article, we focus on the transformations imposed on schools by individual parents, arguing that schools as modern organisations change not only through top-down pressures orchestrated by an array of international organisations, for-profit companies and media as shown in previous research, but also through the agency of mobile parents, who seek to import reforms from elsewhere, based on their previous schooling experiences abroad. We focus on a specific group of middle class parents, who are continuously mobile, moving between global cities for employment. This paper brings into the discussion the role of individual parental strategies as they seek to promote education policy-borrowing. By applying the theoretical lens of stakeholder identification and salience, using a multi case study research design, we suggest that parents express high levels of power, legitimacy and a sense of urgency, thus being able to successfully advocate for change. We argue that while exploring organisational reform occurring due to the globalisation of education, we must view parents as central actors in this new space.     

The Emotional Literacy Support Assistant (ELSA) programme: parental perceptions of its impact in school and at home

The Emotional Literacy Support Assistant (ELSA) programme is an example of an individualised intervention to support pupils experiencing a range of social and emotional needs. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to explore parents’ constructions of several aspects of the programme: its aims and how these are achieved; its impact on children, within school and home contexts; the function and value of parental contact with ELSAs; and ways in which the programme could be improved. A thematic analysis of the data indicated that a majority of parents perceived the programme to impact positively on social and emotional aspects of development, with skills learned within the ELSA sessions transferring to the home context. Parents also noted several ways in which the programme could be enhanced: improved home–school communication; agreed and measurable targets and outcomes; and plans for children’s next steps. Implications for developments and extensions of the ELSA programme are discussed and the role of educational psychologists within this process is highlighted.     

外出务工少数民族随行子女基础教育问题研究

外出务工少数民族随行子女是外出务工人员随行子女中的一部分,由于其民族特质的文化差异,其既具有外出务工人员随行子女基础教育的共性问题,又具有其特有的个性问题.针对外出务工少数民族随行子女在基础教育上存在的问题,分析原因,提出解决问题的对策措施.     

杂交玉米制种质量问题分析及解决措施

玉米是我国第二大宗粮食作物。玉米杂交种质量对玉米产量有着重要影响。亲本纯度低、制种质量差是造成玉米杂交种子质量低劣的两大根本原因。提纯亲本、加强隔离、严格去杂、严格去雄、割除父本以及做好收、脱、晒、藏等后期工作是确保玉米杂交种子质量提高的有效措施。     

关于幼儿家长幼儿心理健康观的访谈研究

心理健康观作为一种内在、稳定性的主体认识,决定家长对幼儿心理健康问题的识别和处理.对60名幼儿家长进行半结构式深度访谈调查表明:家长认为幼儿心理健康主要体现在性格、人际交往与社会适应、个人行为及能力、道德品质、情绪五个方面;家长的心理健康观具有模糊性、主观性、功利性等特点,并呈现出重外轻内、重适应轻发展的倾向;传统文化价值观、自身经历和认知水平影响幼儿家长心理健康观的构建.     

构建和谐社会下农村父母教育观念之探索

采用半结构访谈法,在河南省农村选取114名被试,研究农村父母的教育观念及其特点。研究发现:(1)农村父母在教育观念上明显重男轻女,文化程度越低表现得越严重,母亲比父亲有更多的重男倾向。(2)仍然强调传统的孝道教育。(3)认为影响学业成就的因素有三个:遗传素质、环境教育和个人的主观努力,其中遗传素质起主要作用。(4)对子女学历的追求不高,对子女职业选择抱有较高的希望。(5)对好父母、好孩子标准的认识比较清楚一致。     

教书更须育人

“传道”就是要使受教育者懂得如何做人 ,而做人的基本应从爱祖国教育、爱家乡教育、孝敬父母教育抓起。重视这几项教育 ,受教育者才能为祖国的建设事业贡献力量。     

社会关系对小学生孤独感的影响

用问卷法和同伴提名法对876名小学生的亲子依恋、教师接纳、同伴接纳与孤独感之间的关系进行研究。结果表明:亲子依恋、教师接纳、同伴接纳与小学生孤独感之间存在显著相关;各变量的不同水平之间儿童孤独感存在显著差异;亲子依恋、教师接纳、同伴接纳对儿童的孤独感有较大的预测作用,但在不同性别、年级水平上又存在明显不同。     

Busy yet passive: (non-)decision-making in school governing bodies

School governing bodies in England have considerable powers and duties, and their formal role positions them as decision-makers. This article draws on qualitative research in the governing bodies of four maintained schools. Using deliberative democracy as a sensitising concept, the article considers some processes by which decisions are made (or not made) in governing bodies. Without claiming that governors never make decisions, it explores constraints and limitations on their ability to do so. Governors exhibit a paradoxical combination of busy-ness and passivity. On the one hand, governing bodies are constituted and structured around activity and technically decisions were made. On the other, decisions could rarely be attributed to active choices by governors. Rather, their more passive agreement with actions and positions was presented as almost unavoidable ‘common sense’, either due to the national policy context or the headteacher’s presentation of the available options.     

Languages discourses in Australian middle-class schools: parent and student perspectives

Much of the literature on social class and language study in schools argues that for middle-class parents and their children, languages are chosen for their capacity to offer forms of distinction that provide an edge in the global labour market. In this paper, we draw on data collected from interviews with parents and children in middle-class schools in Australia to demonstrate how a complex amalgam of elite, cultural identity and/or trade language discourses came into play to explain the choice (or not) to study a language and the choice of specific languages. For many of the parents languages provided a limited form of ‘civic multiculturalism’, as a means of better understanding and respecting the ‘other’. We argue that the value attributed to high status languages via this discourse, means their continued presence in schools hoping to attract middle-class parents, but their relative absence in schools with largely working-class populations, where more ‘practical’ concerns dominate.