Pupils’ perceptions of grades: a narrative analysis of stories about getting graded for the first time

The starting point for this article is changes in the Swedish assessment system which stated that pupils are to receive grade reports in school year 6 (12–13 years old) during the academic year 2012–2013. Since the 1970s, compulsory school pupils have received their first grade reports in grade 7 and/or 8. The issue here is to present pupils’ narratives about the possible future significance of grade reports in school year 6. Pupils were interviewed about their experiences of getting their first grade reports, and a narrative analysis was conducted. More specifically, we investigated pupils’ conceptions of themselves as pupils and of their future possibilities, as described in their stories of getting their first grade report. The findings show that pupils perceive grades in year 6 differently, showing both adaption and resistance to the new grading discourse. Our conclusion concerns pupils’ learning and well-being when national assessment policies are changed.     

Educating future citizens in between Mischkultur nationalism and authorities: traces from teachers’ journals

By analysing teachers’ journals in Luxembourg from 1892 to 1939, this paper argues that the teaching press played an active role in the promotion of Luxembourg’s forthcoming cultural identification. Set amid the growing importance of their professionalisation and self- understanding, teachers became recognised as an essential force for the national coherence of the young multilingual nation-state. By identifying common themes in these discussions – the role of state, patriotism, and the hegemony of the church in particular – this paper asks the following question: Given the linguistic and cultural diversity of the country, what markers were used in education to construct national identity and which other identities were promoted alongside or at the expense of national identity? This study concludes by suggesting that Luxembourgish teachers went to great lengths to contribute towards and shape the concept of ‘mixed culture’ (Mischkultur), which was to become the foundation of the country’s image of cosmopolitanism.     

Teaching about the Gypsies at Levanger College of Education

The author describes an extensive project undertaken at Levanger College of Education since 1976.

The project grew out of a concern about the conflicts which arose annually when gypsy groups passed through Levanger. A group of students carried out extensive research into the situation and background of the gypsies and presented their findings at a cultural evening. This presentation began a process of change in attitudes towards the gypsies, and the project was extended. Later, it involved students in work at the Gypsy School in Oslo and with the production of teaching materials. These have been added to constantly and have been widely disseminated. The project continues, and has been extensively reported.     

Rediscovering Development in Infancy

This commentary endorses J. Kagan’s (2008) conclusion that many of the most dramatic findings on early perceptual, cognitive, and social competencies are ambiguous. It supports his call for converging research operations to disambiguate findings from single paradigms and single response indices. The commentary also argues that early competencies must be placed into a longitudinal framework, thereby allowing researchers to (a) identify whether regressive phenomena play a role in skill development, (b) understand what functions (if any) given skills play in their precocious manifestations and whether these functions are comparable in later instantiations of skills, and (c) avoid rich interpretations by identifying how robust a suspected competency is across contexts.     

Bouncing off the Paywall – Understanding Misalignments Between Local Newspaper Value Propositions and Audience Responses

ABSTRACT

Declining advertising revenue and print copy sales have propelled extensive paywall experiments in local newspapers to generate new revenue and fund local journalism. The success of these experiments is ultimately depending on whether or not they deliver the value that customers require. This article studies local newspapers’ potential to build successful paywalls by conducting a two-sided analysis of paywall value propositions and local news audiences’ responses to these value propositions. Drawing on mixed methods – in-depth interviews with 20 newspaper managers and a national survey (N = 1586) among local newspaper audiences – our study identifies a major gap between intended value of paywalls and customer value perception and behavior. These are misalignments between the intended attractiveness of paywalled content and audience attitude toward this content, and misalignments between access to paywalled content and use. Local newspapers’ offerings are particularly misaligned with younger, lower income and lower news interest customers. When these groups hit a paywall, they most likely bounce off.     

Why Does Infant Stepping Disappear and Can It Be Stimulated by Optic Flow?

Two independent experiments (n = 22 and n = 22) showed that 2‐month‐old infants displayed significantly more stepping movements when supported upright in the air than when supported with their feet contacting a surface. Air‐ and surface‐stepping kinematics were quite similar (Experiment 2). In addition, when data were collapsed across both experiments, more air steps and more donkey kicks were seen when infants were exposed to optic flows that specified backward compared to forward translation. The findings challenge the currently accepted heavy legs explanation for the disappearance of stepping at 2 months of age and raise new questions about the visual control of stepping.