The mediation of teaching and learning processes through identity artefacts. A Vygotskian perspective

The aim of this paper is to address the teaching and learning processes in schools from a Vygotskian perspective based on the notion of identity artefacts (IAs) which, for our purposes, consist of documents created by the learners about themselves, in which they try to capture all the things that make sense and are meaningful to them and which, subsequently, can be used by teachers to work on curricular and pedagogical content. We conceptualise the notion of the identity artefact from the broader notions of mediation and cultural artefacts. We also provide a critical analysis of some examples of IAs.     

Hanging tough: post-PhD researchers dealing with career uncertainty

ABSTRACT

This study examines the impact of career uncertainty on post-PhD researchers’ experiences. Drawing on an identity-trajectory approach and a qualitative design, we analysed experiences of post-PhDs from the UK and Switzerland. Our findings show that in the course of their work experiences, career uncertainty takes two different forms: intellectual uncertainty and occupational uncertainty. On a daily basis, both forms strongly impact the participants’ work and personal lives and can limit their ability to plan for the future, restrict their developing research expertise and networks and induce tension in trying to reconcile work and personal lives. While often struggling with a blurred institutional status, participants ‘hang tough’ despite their uncertain situation, notably by clinging to the academic researcher identity. Contributing to the previous work on the increasing casualisation of post-PhD positions and the resulting challenges, our study offers new insights into how different aspects of career uncertainty influence post-PhDs’ work and identity.     

Strategies and resources for contextualising the curriculum based on the funds of knowledge approach: a literature review

This article aims to describe and illustrate how the curriculum can be contextualised through different educational experiences based on the funds of knowledge approach. Educational contextualisation is understood to be the linking of curricular content (literacy, science, mathematics, social sciences) with students’ lives, including prior learning experiences from their homes and communities. The literature review began by surveying 59 articles retrieved from the ERIC database after entering the search terms “funds of knowledge” and “teaching methods”. Out of these, 22 peer reviewed papers were selected based on the following criteria: the paper should illustrate how artefacts produced by students (photographs, texts, artistic productions, digital stories) can be put to pedagogical use by turning them into resources to mobilise knowledge and experiences inside and outside school. The results are discussed in light of the CREDE Standards for Effective Pedagogy, as well as the notion of funds of identity, which has been proposed recently within the context of the funds of knowledge approach.     

Positive and negative experiences related to doctoral study conditions

ABSTRACT

During their doctoral studies, students undergo an emotionally and intellectually intensive process involving a wide range of positive and negative experiences. This article analyses PhD students’ perceptions of the most positive and negative experiences related to doctoral study conditions. Previous researchers have primarily focused on analysing experiences that negatively affect doctoral work and have related these experiences to institutional, social and individual variables. However, little is known regarding positive experiences and how both positive and negative experiences are interpreted and related to variables connected with doctoral study, such as discipline, funding, enrolment type, and the stage of the doctoral process. In total, 1173 doctoral students from 56 Spanish universities completed an open-ended online survey. The findings indicate that opportunities for PhD students to communicate their scientific advances, receive expert feedback and interact with other researchers have a high positive influence on their doctoral journey. However, funding difficulties, particularly for students in the social sciences, and relationships with the research community, principally with the supervisor, were perceived as the main negative challenges. Experiences related to research design, data collection and analysis were perceived either negatively – primarily for mid-level students – or positively. These results should be considered in future doctoral programme policies to determine when, how and why to provide specific support during the doctoral process.     

Impediments to change: Applications of coaching in high-school science teaching

This article describes how two coaching models were utilized in an attempt to assist Jonathon, an experienced teacher who had been teaching science for only two years, to improve his science teaching. Because of the numerous difficulties that Jonathon encountered in planning and implementing the science curriculum, school administrators requested assistance from several science educators from a university near the school. In order to assist Jonathon, two coaching models were used over a period of approximately six months. In the first coaching program two high-school teachers were coached by three science educators from the university. In the second coaching program the teachers coached one another. Neither program was successful in improving Jonathon's teaching in the intended manner. The major impediments to change were Jonathon's beliefs about teaching and learning and his relatively poor knowledge of the science content he was to teach. The findings of the study suggest that the coaching interventions require teachers to analyze teaching, reflect on practice, and consider alternative approaches to teaching and learning. Involvement in the coaching programs provided Jonathon with a foundation of knowledge on which sustained improvements in teaching might develop in the future.     

Funds of knowledge in 21st century societies: inclusive educational practices for under-represented students. A literature review

Although the first educational applications of the funds of knowledge (FoK) concept were carried out in the late 1980s, there have been numerous developments and proposals since then, many of which have been made within the last few years. It continues to be, therefore, a valid, cutting-edge educational approach; one which seeks to overcome the lingering deficit perspective in education, by improving relationships between families and schools, and by designing culturally sensitive and contextualized curricular activities. In this review, we have identified 92 peer-reviewed publications relating to FoK in the ERIC database, dating from between 2011 and 2015. In this review, we aim to provide a summary of this literature and identify potential key trends, tensions, extensions and issues concerning current applications of the FoK approach. A number of contributions for teacher candidates and teacher professional development derived from the literature review are also suggested.