Change management and the SENCo role: developing key performance indicators in the strategic development of inclusivity

This article follows an earlier publication highlighting the changing role of special educational needs co‐ordinators (SENCos) in England. SENCos are now required to manage change strategically and deliver inclusive school cultures. School‐based action research undertaken by a teacher studying for the postgraduate National Award for SEN Co‐ordination (NASENCO) is featured in the article; a strategic review of resource allocation increased the availability and quality of interventions for students with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). The commentary which frames the study acknowledges that many SENCos are not yet members of a senior school management team (SMT) despite their mandated strategic whole‐school remit. Featuring the process through which one SENCo has strived to enhance SEND provision and develop context‐specific key performance indicators brings official guidance on the SENCo's role in strategic change management into sharp focus, raising questions that should concern both SMTs and non‐SMT SENCos.     

Cheating or cheated? Surviving secondary exit exams in a neoliberal era

Cheating on exams is a rampant and highly developed practice among youth in the Arab world, often involving elaborate networks, advanced technology and adult authorities. Rather than viewing cheating as mere laziness or immorality, this article interrogates the social meanings of cheating by comparing the practices and discourses of cheating on high-stakes high school exit exams – the tawjihi in Jordan and the Baccalauréat in Morocco. Using informal networks to obtain higher grades, and thereby better futures, cheating is one way youth contest the putative meritocracy of the state to reclaim a sense of control over their lives. Ironically, cheaters develop twenty-first century skills of collaboration, networking and creativity outside the school in order to evade the nation’s formal system of educational sorting. We argue that cheating illuminates the declining effectiveness of the public school in the nation-building project and the simultaneous emergence of the outcomes-oriented ‘neoliberal student’.     

University Counseling Centers at the Twenty‐First Century: Looking Forward,Looking Back

The author examines the historical foundations of the university counseling movement, including the origins of professional affiliation, training, and education. The article also reviews existing literature that attempts to determine changes the university counseling profession must address to remain viable on the dynamic, pluralistic, 21st‐century campus.     

Learning How to Learn: Parental ethnotheories and young children's preparation for school

This paper discusses one aspect of the findings from an ethnographic study of the ways in which four-year-old children learn, and are taught, at home and in their Reception class. The children were from two distinctive cultural backgrounds within the same urban neighbourhood: one-half belonged to UK ('Anglo') families, and one-half to families from Bangladesh. They were observed and assessed throughout their first school year, and additional data were collected from interviews with parents, practitioners and the children themselves. Analysis of the data suggested that one way of understanding the variation in the children's experiences was through the ethnotheories, or cultural belief systems, of their home communities--such as their parents' concepts of childhood, and their theories of intelligence and instruction. The paper argues that such differences in children's home preparation have consequences for their school experience, and carry implications for their school providers. The study of parental ethnotheories, therefore, may help to explain, and alleviate, the differences in school achievement of children from diverse backgrounds. However, accessing respondents' personal theories presents both ethical and methodological problems, particularly when the researcher is working with socially disadvantaged groups. La recherche dans les ethnothe´ories parentales, ou dans les syste ¤ mes de croyance culturels, peut contribuer a ¤ notre compre´hension de l'expe´rience scolaire diffe´rentielle et de l'accomplissement des enfants de classes diffe´rentes et de milieux culturels diffe´rents. Cependant, l'acce ¤ s a ¤ les the´ories personnelles des personnes interroge´es, que peut-etre ils sont inconscients de posse´der, pre´sente proble ¤ mes e´thiques et methodologiques, particulie ¤ rement quand les chercheurs travaillent avec des groupes qui sont de´savantage´s socialement. Cet essai pre´sente quelques de´couvertes d'une e´tude ethnographique sur les fac¸ons dans lequelles des enfants de quatre ans apprennent, et sont enseigne´s, a ¤ la maison et dans leur classe de re´ception. La expe´rience d'apprendre a ¤ la maison est diffe´rente pour chacun des 16 enfants, et dans chaque cas est forme´e par les croyances parentales -- en particulier leurs concepts sur l'enfance, et sur les ro´les des parents, et leurs the´ories sur l'intelligence et l'instruction. Ceux-ci refle ¤ tent partiellement la position des familles dans la communaute´ "anglo" ou bangladaise dans leur voisinage partage´. Quand les diffe´rences dans la pre´paration e´ducative des enfants a ¤ la maison sont comprises, il y a des implications e´videntes pour leurs pourvoyeurs d'e´ducation. La investigacio´n sobre las etnoteor L ´as paternales, o sea sobre los sistemas culturales de la creencia, pueden contribuir a nuestra comprensio´n de la experiencia diferencial escolar y del logro de los nin ¨ os de clases y or L ´genes culturales diferentes. Sin embargo, el acceso a las teor L ´as personales de los respondientes, que quizas ellos mismos no son conscientes de poseer, presenta problemas e´ticos as L ´ como tambie´n metodolo´gicos, particularmente cuando los investigadores trabajan con grupos socialmente desventajados. Este ensayo presenta algunas conclusiones de un estudio etnogra´fico sobre el modo en que los nin ¨ os de cuatro an ¨ os de edad aprenden, y se les ensen ¨ a, en casa y en su clase de recepcio´n. La experiencia de aprendisaje en el hogar es diferente para cada uno de los 16 nin ¨ os, y en cada caso esta´ formada por creencias paternales -- en particular sobre sus conceptos de nin ¨ ez, y el rol que juegan los padres, y de sus teor L ´as sobre la inteligencia y la instruccio´n. Estos conceptos reflejan en parte la posicio´n de las familias dentro de la comunidad 'Anglo' o banglades L ´ en su vecindario compartido. Cuando las diferencias en la preparacio´n educativa en el hogar de los nin ¨ os son comprendidas, hay implicaciones evidentes para sus proveedores de escuela.