Organisational self-evaluation and teacher education for community relations in a transforming society?

During 2004, the School of Education at the University of Ulster embarked on an innovative three-year project designed to embed community relations objectives within initial teacher education. With the advent of more peaceful times in Northern Ireland, this was a precipitous time for initial teacher educators to review the preparation given to beginner teachers for teaching in an increasingly pluralist society emerging from conflict. The present paper reports on one very specific and time-limited element of the broader project. That is, development work designed to investigate the possibilities of using processes of self-review and evaluation as a lever for improvements in initial teacher education for community relations. Following a brief contextualisation, the background to, and the development of, a set of materials designed to support rigorous and systematic self-review of all aspects of provision in a university-based initial teacher education department is described. The Community Relations Index for Initial Teacher Education (Cr-ITE) was envisaged as being of use to initial teacher education establishments in order to help teacher educators take responsibility for rigorous learning from their practice, whilst placing inclusive values at the centre of organisational development. The final section includes further critical reflection on the role of organisational self-review in transforming teacher education for inclusion in a society emerging from longstanding communal conflict.     

Technology to Advance Research in Kinesiology: The Case for Light,Sound, and Radiofrequencies

Technology has strongly impacted research in kinesiology. Recent technological advances have greatly enhanced our ability to noninvasively quantify activity-related changes in skeletal muscles and peripheral arteries. In people with spinal cord injuries, we can track changes in muscle size, composition, and the presence of injury. We can also measure changes in artery size, health, and the ability to deliver oxygen. However, large investments in time are needed to both obtain these measurements and to be able to interpret them. The monetary costs of advancing technology are rising as well, serving as a major limitation to the promise of technology in kinesiology.     

Welcome to the Neighborhood! Reinventing Academic Life for Undergraduate Students

June Pierce Youatt, Wyl McCully, and Sue A. Blanshan describe an innovative, collaborative approach to making on‐campus life more accessible to students at Michigan State University.     

Four Histories,One Nation? History teaching,nationhood and a British identity

This paper explores the relationship between history teaching and the construction of national identity. Drawing upon recent theoretical and historical work in the field, it provides a comparative analysis of important developments within the history curricula in England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland, and also explains why history has become politicised in Britain over the past few decades. The paper speculates about the implications of these developments within history education by considering the capacity of history to influence pupils’ collective identity alongside other potentially more powerful factors.     

Education for democratic citizenship in Malawian secondary schools: balancing student voice and adult privilege

In countries that embraced democracy after the fall of communism, education became a particular focus for policy change, particularly within their citizenship programmes. Schools that had been used to inculcate obedience to and unfailing support for authoritarian regimes were now being required to adopt citizenship programmes incorporating democratic values. This paper reports a study in Malawi that explored the school as a location where democratic citizenship is practiced. Using a multiple case study approach in three different kinds of secondary schools to explore students’ participation in school affairs, the study found that different forms of participation were being encouraged, with each school apparently socialising students to distinctive kinds of citizenship roles. The paper highlights a conflict between democratic values and traditional roles of schools leading to new and hybrid school cultures. Providing scope for student voice to be heard can lead to tensions and paradoxical practices.