The Importance of Forgetting ‘Perishing’ in Whitehead’s Cosmology and Epistemology

In this paper, I will address a constructive criticism of the papers that appeared as a Symposium on Whitehead’s Process Philosophy of Education (Interchange, 26(4), pp. 341–415, 1995). In his criticism of those papers, George Allan (1998) claimed that the contributors to the Symposium were not as Whiteheadian as they thought they were because they failed to contextualize their papers in the harmony and holism of Whitehead’s organic philosophy. Allan thought, in essence, that we had committed a fallacy of misplaced concreteness. Ironically, this is exactly what we had been trying to avoid. With regards to my paper, Allan felt that I had failed to explain the importance of perishing for Whitehead in the becoming and objective immortality of the superject of experience. Hopefully, I have done a better job of this in what follows. I would also like to begin exploring the implications of Whitehead’s cosmology and epistemology for the advance of theory in psychology. On a pleasant afternoon in Oulu, Finland I was discussing the ideas presented here with my friend Hannu Soini who said to me, “when one is learning it is important to forget certain things so they do not impede our creativity.” Hence, the title of this paper and a further exploration of the concepts that Hannu and I feel are impeding the advance of psychology. I would like to preface with a reminder that when I try to explain Whitehead’s philosophy succinctly I sometimes fail to explain things well. His is a truly organic conception of reality so please forgive me.     

Dimensions of teacher self‐efficacy among Chinese secondary school teachers in Hong Kong

This article reports the development of a teacher self‐efficacy scale that aims to accommodate the complexity of teacher functioning in secondary schools in times of education reforms in Hong Kong. The scale was designed to assess six domains of teacher self‐efficacy: teaching highly able learners, classroom management, guidance and counselling, student engagement, teaching to accommodate diversity, and teaching for enriched learning. The total scale and the six subscales were evaluated based on the responses of 159 Hong Kong Chinese prospective and in‐service teachers for internal consistency and construct validity, and for convergent and discriminant validation with external measures.     

Emotional intelligence,self‐efficacy,and coping among Chinese prospective and in‐service teachers in Hong Kong

Emotional intelligence (intrapersonal and interpersonal) and general teacher self‐efficacy were assessed to represent personal resources facilitating active and passive coping in a sample of 273 Chinese prospective and in‐service teachers in Hong Kong. Intrapersonal emotional intelligence and interpersonal emotional intelligence were found to predict significantly active coping strategy, but teacher self‐efficacy did not contribute independently to the prediction of active coping even though there was some evidence that teacher self‐efficacy might interact with intrapersonal emotional intelligence in the prediction of active coping, especially for male teachers. The implications of the findings for preventive intervention efforts to combat teacher stress through teaching to enhance emotional intelligence are discussed.     

Silicon Valley,disruption, and the end of uncertainty

ABSTRACT

This paper reflects on the relationship between high-tech disruption narratives and uncertainty. My main argument is that an economic sociology of the future is incomplete without addressing the ‘demonic’ or rather eschatological elements apparent in the promissory twin rhetoric of disruption and inevitability that a number of contemporary technology firms employ. The conjuring up of liberatory high-tech futures implicates a political-philosophical perspective of the end game. It utilizes at once the productive power of uncertainty to create visions of ‘absolute riches’ and societal gain but at the same time narrows these futures down to one inevitable alternative to the status quo. Through the examples of two Silicon Valley disruptor firms, I argue that these eschatological narratives need to be opened to social scientific critique in order to examine their potential societal consequences above and beyond the narrow geographic confines of ‘the Valley.’     

Challenging science teachers' beliefs and practices through a video-case-based intervention in China's primary schools

The present study aims to challenge primary school science teachers' beliefs about education and teaching efficacy, as well as their teaching practices, through a video-case-based intervention programme in a Chinese educational setting. A total of 46 in-service teachers were involved in this study (experimental group = 23, control group = 23). Pre- and post-intervention surveys were administered to examine possible changes in the participants' beliefs about education and science teaching efficacy. Video data were gathered through classroom observations of 9 participants from the experimental group and 9 participants from the control group. The results of one-way analysis of covariance indicate that the reported post-intervention beliefs of teachers who participated in the programme differed significantly from their pre-intervention beliefs. More specifically, teachers in the experimental groups reported fewer traditional and more constructivist beliefs after the intervention, as well as stronger personal science teaching efficacy beliefs. One exception included beliefs about science teaching outcome expectancy. The video data showed that teaching practices became more constructivist in terms of both practical activities and student ICT use.     

家庭经济困难与青少年社会适应的关系:应对效能的补偿、中介和调节效应

通过对广东省粤东地区613名青少年的问卷调查,重点探讨了青少年感知到的家庭经济困难与其积极和消极社会适应(学业成就、外化和内化问题行为)的关系,以及应对效能在经济困难与青少年社会适应之间是否具有补偿、中介和调节效应。结果表明:(1)家庭经济困难与学业成就呈显著负相关,与外化和内化问题行为则呈显著正相关。(2)应对效能可以在一定程度上抵消经济困难对青少年社会适应的不利影响,起到风险补偿效应。(3)应对效能在经济困难与青少年社会适应之间具有中介作用。(4)应对效能可以缓冲经济困难对青少年外化和内化问题行为的促进效应,支持压力缓冲假设。因此,应对效能在家庭经济困难与青少年社会适应之间同时具有补偿、中介和缓冲效应。     

高职院校辅导员工作效能的提升途径——以M学校为例

辅导员工作效能是指为了达到高职院校教育目标而组建辅导员队伍进行的一系列学生管理活动达到预期结果以及其影响的程度,具体而言,主要指辅导员向高职院校这一组织系统提供的劳动力水平和能力。提高辅导员队伍的工作效能是辅导员队伍建设的目标之一,当人力、物力、财力经常保持最佳比例,辅导员的积极性得到充分调动,辅导员的潜能得到充分发挥,不断提高辅导员工作效率和工作能力,提高学生管理工作的整体教育质量,便促成辅导员、学校、学生三方面共赢的局面,从而满足高职院校当前以及未来发展的需要以保证其教育目标的实现。     

Teaming up: Linking collaboration networks, collective efficacy, and student achievement

Improving student achievement through teacher collaboration networks is a current focus of schools in many countries. Yet, empirical evidence on the relationship between teacher networks and student achievement and mechanisms that may explain this relationship is limited. This study examined the relationship between teacher networks and student achievement and the mediating role of teachers’ collective efficacy beliefs. Data were collected from 53 Dutch elementary schools. Using social network analysis and multiple regression we analyzed teacher survey and student achievement data. Findings indicate that well-connected teacher networks were associated with strong teacher collective efficacy, which in turn supported student achievement.     

学校组织创新气氛、教师教学效能感与教师教学创新的关系研究

学校组织创新气氛、教师教学效能感和教师教学创新的关系对学校整体教育质量的提高有着重要的影响。通过问卷调查法,考察影响教师教学创新的学校因素和教师个体因素,其中,学校因素重点考察学校组织创新气氛,教师个人因素重点考察教师的教学效能感,得出如下结论:学校组织创新气氛、教师教学效能感及教师教学创新相互之间显著正相关;教师教学效能感在学校组织创新气氛和教师教学创新间起着部分中介作用。     

加速中国开放大学建设

现代远程教育工程全面启动给中国广播电视大学带来难得的时代机遇,文章集中探讨了电大应对激烈竞争、确立功能定位以及发挥自身媒体资源和系统共建等方面的优势,积极实施战略革新,为建设具有中国特色的现代远程教育开放大学做出新贡献.