Language approaches used with deaf pupils in Scottish schools: 2001-2004

In this article we address "language approach" data as a key variable in quantitative, large-scale research on educational achievement, focusing on our work for the Achievements of Deaf Pupils in Scotland (ADPS) project. The complexity of approaches is addressed, with a particular focus on a "no-exclusion" model of service. In this context 3 years of language-related data are discussed, using constructions of language variables that take into account the variability in deaf pupils' hearing loss levels, types of provision, and professional practice. We see this as a necessary first step toward offering a nuanced context for understanding patterns in the educational outcomes among the ADPS population to be reported in a later article. The ADPS data on language approach can reveal general patterns at macro levels: our analysis suggests that, in Scotland, the extent and quality of British Sign Language/English provision may be determined more by local factors than by linguistic requirements and that ostensibly responsive policies can mask a limited spectrum for pupils and their families. However, the ADPS data are insufficiently sensitive to detailed and local variations to reflect the full complexity of language situations over time-a situation which represents an ongoing challenge for all long-term, large-scale studies.     

Changing and/or reinscribing gendered discourses of team leadership in education?

In this article, prevailing professional, business and managerial discourses of team leadership are ‘troubled’ by some feminist critiques and analyses of collectivity and gendered discursive relations of power. I draw on a study of primary school co‐principalships to describe and reflect on Karen’s (a pseudonym) accounts of her personal and shared leadership practices within a three teacher co‐principalship. The article indicates how feminist consciousness, politics and relationships can contribute to social, cultural and organizational change within ‘mainstream’ institutions. ¹ 1. I am grateful to the reviewers of this article, one of whom made this point. View all notes It also explores how pre‐constructed discourses about gender, class and leadership, can be unwittingly stitched back into an individual’s collaborative practices, limiting the potential for democratic change. My aim is to contribute to the kind of work called for by Davies when she argued that if we are alerted to the work being done by the various discourses we are invoking, then we can more effectively reflect on how limiting and disempowering discursive constructions can be challenged and changed.     

Transforming,storing and consuming athletic experiences: a coach’s narrative of using a video application

The analysis of sport performance in competitive contexts has become synonymous with the use of a range of software applications and hardware e.g. heart rate monitors and gps systems. With the prevalence of technology in mind, a small but growing corpus of literature has begun to consider this phenomenon and its influence upon the coaching process. This study adds to this literature by detailing the autoethnographic experiences of a case study coach; Derek. A contextualised and richly described narrative account of Derek’s experience of using coaching applications is provided. Analysis of Derek’s narrative suggests that technology can be a useful means by which individuals make sense of their experience. Specifically, (1) technology can be a ‘ready-to-hand’ instrument that enhances the coaching process. Unfortunately, (2) technology may become the only and ‘calculative’ means by which individuals come to understand their performance. In such instances, it is important to note that (3) the videos we use to understand our performance are transformed and incomplete representations of lived athletic experiences. Thus, Derek’s story illustrates how technology can be both an enabler and barrier to athletes who wish to holistically understand their own lived experiences and engage in coach-athlete relationships. The accompanying analysis draws upon concepts from Heideggerian philosophy to add insight into the use of technology within the coaching process. In so doing, the study prompts coaches to critically view their coach-athlete relationships as situated in a wider world which contains, and can be mediated by, technology. In addition, Derek’s story (re)directs researchers and coaching practitioners interested in technology to a useful literature (philosophy of technology) which may further inform their understanding of coach-athlete relationships.     

Relationships among values, achievement orientations, and attitudes in youth sport

This research examines the value-expressive function of attitudes and achievement goal theory in predicting moral attitudes. In Study 1, the Youth Sport Values Questionnaire (YSVQ; Lee, Whitehead, & Balchin, 2000) was modified to measure moral, competence, and status values. In Study 2, structural equation modeling on data from 549 competitors (317 males, 232 females) aged 12-15 years showed that moral and competence values predicted prosocial attitudes, whereas moral (negatively) and status values (positively) predicted antisocial attitudes. Competence and status values predicted task and ego orientation, respectively, and task and ego orientation partially mediated the effect of competence values on prosocial attitudes and of status values on antisocial attitudes, respectively. The role of sport values is discussed, and new research directions are proposed.     

Self-instruction training: A potential tool for school psychologists

Self-instruction training is a cognitive-behavioral approach to self-control in which children are taught to use covert speech to modify their own behavior. The potential effectiveness of self-instruction training as an intervention technique for school psychologists to enhance student academic and/or social behavior in the classroom is the focus of this review. Research results addressing the practical issues of how, when, and with whom to use this strategy, its generalizability, and its long-term and comparative effectiveness are presented. Implications for further research in the schools are discussed.     

Current Issues in Pastoral Management

REVIEW ARTICLE

The Health-Related Behaviour Questionnaire Service from the Schools Health Education Unit: Some Comments on the Review by Lambourn, reviewed by Davis Regis

REVIEWS

The Effective Teacher, by Cedric Cullingford. London: Cassell, 1995. 205pp. pb ISBN 0 304 33177 5, £13.99, hb ISBN 0 304 33180 5, reviewed by Don Baines

Cooperation in the Multi-Ethnic Classroom: The Impact of Cooperative Group Work on Social Relationships in Middle Schools, by Helen Cowie, Peter Smith, Michael Boulton and Rema Laver. London: David Fulton Publishers, 1994. 214+viiipp. pb ISBN 1 85346 284 5, £14.99, reviewed by Andrew Wright

Areas for Growth, by James Hanratty. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994. 108pp. pb ISBN 0 521 46910 4, £25.95, reviewed by Joy Widdows

Refugee Children in the Classroom, by Jill Rutter. Stoke-on-Trent: Trentham Books, 1994. 288pp. pb ISBN 185856 008 X, £13.95, reviewed by Caroline Lodge