'Inclusion is more than a place': exploring pupil views and voice in Belfast schools through visual narrative

The research reported in this article by David Ryan, an adviser for special educational needs and inclusion in Belfast, was based on a participatory approach in which young people in a number of schools were encouraged to develop their ideas about inclusion. The project set out to explore any differences in perceptions between pupils with special educational needs and those without. The young people were equipped with cameras and were encouraged to generate 'visual narratives' expressing their views about the 'reasonable adjustments' that mainstream schools might make in order to become more inclusive. David Ryan concludes that education must be personalised so that schools take account of the perspectives of individual pupils in their endeavours to become more inclusive. He also notes that young people appear to have strongly-held views about some of the sensory aspects of the school environment.     

The –ography of markets (or,the responsibilities of market studies)

How should we write about markets? What responsibilities does this writing bring upon us? This paper offers an immanent critique of ‘market studies’ scholarship, and through this a call to reflection and reformed action. Turning the intellectual framework of market studies upon itself, we come to see its texts as performative and agential. We discuss these qualities and the associated responsibilities via a reading of literature from the domain of ethnography. An auto-ethnographic sketch of market writing allows us to consider the problematic nature of expertise for market studies scholars and the agency and power of our texts. We find a dual moment of performativity from which our texts emerge more powerful than their authors. On this basis we offer a vision of critical interventions embedded in our texts, underpinned by the intellectual axioms of the market studies programme.     

历史盛衰总结中的世界史眼光--以鸦片战争前后中国边疆史地学者为中心

鸦片战争前后,中国边疆史地研究中的历史盛衰思想出现了新的因素,开始把中国历史的兴衰放在世界历史变动过程中作为一个系统来考虑.这一时期历史盛衰思想的总结反映了边疆史地学者已自觉地从哲理之高度阐发对世界形势和中国问题的理论认识.     

The Same Term but Different Connotations: Cultural and Historical Perspectives on Studying the Academic Profession in China and Other Asian Countries

Through experiencing and reviewing multiple-country endeavors in academic profession study and participating in a new project regarding the academic profession in Asia, the author pinpoints and anticipates the shortcomings of study alone or dominantly questionnaire-based and ignoring the broader social context. The author proposes a new perspective or methodology to mitigate these shortcomings. The traditional approach focuses on commonalities rather than differences of the academic profession in a variety of countries. By comparing identical questionnaires, it is easy to conclude that, according to some indicators, the academic profession in developing countries, a category in which most Asian countries belong, is inferior to that in developed countries by a certain magnitude. This research strategy will devalue the research efforts on the academic profession in Asia. The academic profession is a complicated phenomenon, and it requires a sophisticated research methodology. The characteristics of the academic profession in Asia can be induced by empirically studying its relationship with the institutional environments in which the academic profession is embedded. In addition, all developing countries in Asia are undergoing a process of modernization. This dynamic feature is valuable and deserves exploration. The institutional environments in Asia can be demonstrated and illustrated via cultural and historical lenses. The purpose of this paper is to review international projects and literature regarding the academic profession. This review tries to be both critical and constructive, and shed light on newly initiated projects in the Asian academic profession. Two major research questions are raised by the author: What is the scholarly value of the new project? What strategy can researchers employ for this endeavor? Past research is dominated by the structure-function paradigm and cross-sectional questionnaire method. This approach has both strengths and weaknesses. Historical and cultural perspectives are proposed to overcome the existing limitations and explore the potential value of the new academic effort.     

Pakistani Teachers’ Perceptions of Kindergarten Children’s Learning: An Exploration of Understanding and Practice

This paper considers perceptions of children’s learning and classroom practice to support learning in the Pakistani early years educational context. In Pakistan, there is a growing focus on quality provision of early childhood education and building early childhood education teacher capacity. Over the course of one academic year, data were collected from kindergarten teachers in a Pakistani urban school through interviews and classroom observations as part of a larger study. Findings presented in this paper are based on the interview data of two teachers in the sample, a novice and an experienced teacher. Data analysis examined their perceptions of kindergarten children’s learning and of their practice to support kindergarten children’s learning, taking into consideration the gender perspective. The results showed tensions in the teachers’ perceptions which contrasted between a constructivist approach and a teacher-directed skills approach. Perceptions of their practice reflected a formal, teacher-directed approach rather than a constructivist approach and a teacher-directed skills approach to teaching. Several factors, including deep-rooted perceptions as well as curriculum structure, time, number of staff and resources, contributed to this.     

基于社会学想象视野的体育生活方式阻力分析

随着全民健身运动的深入开展,＂体育生活方式＂逐渐为人们所熟悉,但诸多数据显示,运动缺乏现象普遍存在,体育生活方式阻力重重。为此,尝试基于社会学想象视野,以文献研究为主要方法,分别从历史视角和社会结构视角对我国体育生活方式的阻力进行分析。研究认为,我国体育生活方式的阻力有着深刻的历史和社会结构的根源。     

Understanding the Lived Experiences of University Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD): A Phenomenological Study

This study sought to describe factors impacting the success of students with ASD in university programmes. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to gather both the students’ personal perspectives of their university experience and the perspectives of a significant person in their life. An interpretative phenomenological approach was utilised to ascertain common factors that contributed or posed a barrier to students experiencing success in their studies. Findings revealed that students with ASD felt their internal influences of determination, perseverance and passion in their areas of academic interests, greatly impacted on their ability to achieve successful outcomes in university, but these factors were always mitigated by the degree to which they experienced anxiety, depression and isolation. Participants also highlighted the importance of mediating factors in helping them to manage their social–emotional needs so they could pursue their interests and achieve success in university programmes.     

Design,implementation and evaluation of school-based sexual health education in sub-Saharan Africa: a qualitative study of researchers’ perspectives

This study investigated facilitators and challenges to designing, implementing and evaluating school-based sexual health education in sub-Saharan Africa, using interviews with intervention designers and researchers. At the pre-planning and planning stages, participants reported that facilitating factors included addressing the reproductive health needs of participants, contextual (culture, religion, economic and social) considerations and the adoption of holistic approach to sexuality education. Lack of open communication about sexual health matters between young people and adults; concerns that sexual health education could encourage sexual activity; and inadequate funding, were key barriers. Implementation was facilitated by the involvement of relevant stakeholders, the training of facilitators and adopting strategies to overcome resistance to sexual health education. The provision of structured, detailed lessons plans and monitoring with supportive supervision optimised fidelity of delivery. Barriers to implementation included facilitators’ resistance to teaching safe sex promotion and logistical challenges in school environments. Participants also reported that the validity of self-reported adolescent sexual behaviour (as part of evaluation) may be improved by complementing well-designed self-report surveys with computerised audio devices for data collection, qualitative interviews and participant observation. Study findings generate recommendations to improve future forms of school-based sexual health education in sub-Saharan Africa.     

试谈中小学体育教师素质重构和体育教学观的重建

通过献资料法、专家访谈法等对《体育与健康教学大纲》，学生体质健康标准(试行方案)和《学生体质健康标准(试行方案)》实施办法进行了研究，经过归纳分析，从中提取出体育健康课程所蕴含的精神实质，并提出新时期体育教师素质重构和体育教学观重建的思想，目的是加深体育教师对体育健康课程的认识，转变思想观念，尽快的融入到体育与健康课之中，同时为师资培训部门加快师资培训工作提供参考。