L'image des enseignants dans les moyens de communication de masse

An analysis of the image of teachers found in the mass media reveals two conflicting stereotypes. One represents an idealised view of teaching, emphasising teachers’ interaction with individual pupils, the other singles out only the problems faced by the profession, such as personal conflicts, inadequate resources, or the atmosphere of tension and violence in the schools. These two images appear to follow successively in the self‐image teachers hold of their profession. During the course of their careers, they move further away from the idealistic view and adopt a more troubled outlook as they face up to the widening gap between their ideals and the realities of their employment.     

Prenatal programming of sporting success: Associations of digit ratio (2D:4D), a putative marker for prenatal androgen action,with world rankings in female fencers

Abstract

Associations of the second-to-fourth digit ratio (2D:4D), a putative marker for prenatal androgen action, and of absolute finger length, a putative marker for pubertal–adolescent androgen action, with sport performance were examined in a multinational sample of 87 world-class women épée fencers. Lower (masculinized) digit ratios correlated, although not significantly so, with better current and highest past world rankings. These correlations were significant for right-hand 2D:4D with controls for the most salient factors for 2D:4D (ethnicity) and world rankings (years of international experience, height, and weight). Longer (masculinized) fingers correlated strongly with better current and highest past world rankings; these correlations became insignificant with the same controls. Replicating previous evidence for fencers, left-handedness was much more prevalent in this sample (21%) than in the female general population, and left-handers had somewhat, but not significantly so, lower 2D:4D as well as better world rankings than right-handers. These findings extend related evidence suggestive of prenatal programming of aptitude across a variety of sports, especially running and soccer. Some known extragenital effects of prenatal testosterone that contribute to the development of efficient cardiovascular systems, good visuospatial abilities, physical endurance and speed, and to the propensity for rough-and-tumble play, apparently promote sporting success in adult life.     

Inoculation against Stress: a technique for beginning teachers

The article draws attention to the increasing importance of stress in the teaching profession, stemming largely from changes in the social context in which teaching takes place. A number of factors contribute to this phenomenon.

The article goes on to describe a method of inducing ‘inoculation’ against stress, on the basis of work which has been carried out over two years in the context of an initial teacher training programme for future Secondary level teachers.     

Culture in the School: Assessment and the content of education

After obtaining more than 200 examinations used in 36 primary schools with 12-year-old children, a standard examination was made mixing questions of different subjects. This examination was taken by a group of university students and most of them failed outright. How is it possible to consider a 12-year-old a failure when university students are unable to succeed? What is wrong, the elaboration of examinations for 12-year-old children or the academic level of university students? What are the criteria for selecting the content of the curriculum? The paper concludes that schools follow traditions that are difficult to justify and reveals a lack of definition in the way we train teachers and, therefore, in the role that they develop in their work. Après avoir collecté plus de 200 examens utilisés dans 36 écoles primaires avec des enfants de douze ans, un examen type a été élaboré en utilisant des questions relatives à des matières différentes. L'examen a été testé avec un groupe d'étudiants universitaires qui ont tous échoué. Comment peut-on considérer comme un échec scolaire le cas d'un élè ve de douze ans qui ne réussit pas un examen que même des étudiants universitaires sont incapables de passer? Où est le problème, est-ce dans l'élaboration des examens pour enfants de douze ans, ou est-ce dans le niveau culturel des étudiants universitaires? Quels sont les critères de sélection des contenus du curriculum? Le présent article arrive à la conclusion que de nombreux procédés utilisés dans les écoles sont axés sur des traditions difficilement justifiables, et qu'ils révèlent un manque de définition de l'identité dans laquelle nous formons les enseignants, et donc dans le rôle que ceux-ci développent dans leur travail. Tras obtener más de 200 exámenes realizados en 36 colegios de primaria con niños de 12 años, se elaboró un examen-tipo, en el que se mezclaban preguntas correspondientes a las distintas materias de enseñanza. El examen se pasó a un grupo de estudiantes universitarios que fracasó claramente al contestarlo. ¿Cómo es posible considerar como fracasado escolar a un niño de 12 años por no ser capaz de contestar un examen que tampoco son capaces de contestar los alumnos universitarios? ¿Dónde está el error, en la forma en que se elaboran los exámenes de los alumnos de 12 años, o en el nivel cultural de los alumnos universitarios? ¿Con qué criterios se seleccionan los contenidos del curriculum? El artículo llega a la conclusión de que muchos de los procedimientos en curso en nuestras escuelas están basados en tradiciones que no tienen justificación, y que revelan una falta de definición de la identidad profesional que formamos en los profesores, y por tanto del papel que los profesores juegan en su trabajo. Nach Erhalt von 200 Prüfungen für zwölfjährige Schüler von 36 Schulen, erarbeitete man eine Prüfung mit Fragen aus den verschiedenen Schulfächern. Dieser Prüfung unterzogen sich 125 Studenten, von denen nur sieben den Test bestanden. Dieses Ergebnis wirft natürlich wichtige Fragen über die Legitimität unseres Lehrsystemes auf. Wie kann man einem Schulkind im Alter von zwölf Jahren Schulversagen attestieren, da es Fragen nicht beatworten kann, an denen Universitätsstudenten scheitern? Nach welchen Kriterien wird der Stoff ausgewählt, der in den Schulen gelehrt wird? Der Artikel schlägt vor, die Studie der häufigsten Verständnisprobleme zu vertiefen, um den Unterricht in den verschiedenen Fächern zu verbessern. Unter anderem zeigt der Artikel auch, dass Lehrer durch ihre Prüfungen mehr Wert auf das Auswendiglernen als auf andere intellektuelle Aktivitäten der Schüler legen.     

Education and Work in a European Framework

In industrialised countries education and work are no longer two opposing realities, there now being greater and greater mutual dependence between them. One the one hand, the working world demands higher levels of training and continuous refresher courses or retraining. On the other hand, the educational system is forced to adapt its teaching to the changing demands of the labour market.

In this paper an analysis if is made of both the most representative trends of this phenomenon and present day answers to an ‘education for work’ in the environment of the countries of the European Economic Community.     

Self-efficacy and behavioral intention: A mediational analysis of the effects of commitment on career counseling

This article examines two questions of research. Can we make educational and vocational information sessions effective by applying commitment theory (Kiesler, 1971) to this particular aspect of career counseling? Does commitment as part of an initial low-cost behavior (taking part in an information session) have a direct effect or is the effect a mediate one? Data gathered during an experiment involving six sixth-year secondary school classes would appear to suggest that there is a mediate process. To be more precise, the accepted impact of commitment upon the effectiveness of information sessions (postsession information and orientation is more actively sought) would seem to be linked to its mediation by perceived self-efficacy (Bandura, 1997/2003) in orientation. On the other hand, it is not mediated by the behavioral intention (Fishbein, 1980) to take such steps, this being an intention upon which commitment has no effect. The discussion links these results to some of Kiesler's initial questions (commitment as a process of internal self-attribution), and also places them within the framework (proper to counseling) of factors common to all intervention theories and techniques designed to explain the effectiveness of said interventions.     

Learning in the wild: coding for learning and practice on Reddit

Learning on and through social media is becoming a cornerstone of lifelong learning, creating places not only for accessing information, but also for finding other self-motivated learners. Such is the case for Reddit, the online news sharing site that is also a forum for asking and answering questions. We studied learning practices found in ‘Ask’ subreddits AskScience, Ask_Politics, AskAcademia, and AskHistorians to develop a coding schema for informal learning. This paper describes the process of evaluating and defining a workable coding schema, one that started with attention to learning processes associated with discourse, exploratory talk, and conversational dialogue, and ended with including norms and practices on Reddit and the support of communities of inquiry. Our ‘learning in the wild’ coding schema contributes a content analysis schema for learning through social media, and an understanding of how knowledge, ideas, and resources are shared in open, online learning forums.     

Transparency in policy making: A complexity view

The literature on transparency in participatory policy making is flourishing. With the increased digitization of our world, recent work suggests that the digitally-enabled relationships of how policy makers and citizens observe each other may transform policy making in a fundamental way. In this paper, we use complexity theory to examine how digitally-enabled transparency affects the effectiveness of policy making in aligning citizens with the policy goal to improve collective human welfare. We map Kauffman's NKC fitness landscape model, a generalizable theory of co-evolutionary complexity, to the phenomenon of transparent policy making in order to explain how transparency as an enabling generative mechanism encourages citizens to align with the policy goal without exercising central control. In our framework, citizens are agents who co-evolve by adapting to information available in their citizen landscapes. These landscapes represent the citizens' decision context, which policy makers observe and modify throughout an iterative policy cycle. In our study we identify three types of transparencies that relate to three properties of the citizens' decision context: (1) individual decision interdependence; (2) decision bias; and (3) collective decision interdependence. Using conceptual modeling, a form of inquiry combining formal representation with empirical sense making in three policy domains (e-health, smart transportation, and smart energy), we articulate and empirically validate two generative mechanisms that explain transparency effects for each of the three transparencies: (1) orchestration via iterative landscape “tuning” to reduce ambiguity and simplify citizens' alignment with the policy goal; and (2) social learning via information sharing, a co-evolutionary social “nudge” that encourages citizens to be more open to behavioral changes. Our findings have implications for the literature on transparency in participatory policy making as well as the literature on complexity in public policy and public administration.     

Mapping the impact of climate change on biomass accumulation on stone

Several climate parameters affect the growth of organisms and, hence, their capacity to accumulate biomass. In the present research, we analyse the influence of two parameters, temperature and precipitation, on biomass accumulation on stone substrate, and propose a function to estimate it in temperate areas. The expression is subsequently used for the first time to evaluate the impact that climate change would have in biomass accumulation in Europe. The models on climate change predict an increase in temperature and precipitation in northern areas of Europe for the far future (2070–2099), which would lead to a higher accumulation of biomass. Otherwise, a significant reduction in precipitation is expected in southern areas of Europe, associated with a lower biomass accumulation in such areas.