Exploring the work and learning stories of para‐teachers in a college for further education in England

This paper reports findings from a research project which developed and introduced the Enhanced Learning Support Assistant Programme (ELSAP). This was a source of professional development for learning support assistants who were supporting students with additional learning needs in a college for further education in England. The purpose of this paper is to share findings from the project and to report on how learning support assistants experienced their work in inclusive college classrooms. The research project was a mixed methods study with participants drawn from learning support assistants within one college for further education in England. Data was collected throughout the 14‐week intervention. Findings indicate that issues exist around the uniqueness of the vocational curriculum and the implications this has for classroom support. It also shows how conflicting classroom procedures can generate feelings of confusion and how learning support workers often feel lonely in their role with no natural opportunity to mix with others. Furthermore, it indicates how a general lack of knowledge about teaching and learning contribute to them experiencing difficulty when performing their role which feed their views that a college for further education can be a complex and hostile environment to work in.     

Color characterization of roofing slates from the Iberian Peninsula for restoration purposes

Substitution of slate roofing tiles is a conventional operation during building restoration, since tiles are very difficult to restore or clean because of the high degree of alteration they suffer. Criteria for replacement of historical building stones must be based on geological, geotechnical and esthetic parameters, among which color is of great importance. In this sense, this paper constitutes a comprehensive and useful colorimetric study of roofing slates from the Iberian Peninsula, for the purposes of restoration. The color of 50 commercial varieties of roofing slate mined in quarries from the 12 mining districts in the Iberian Peninsula was analyzed with a spectrophotometer device, by considering the CIELAB color space. The results of the study were used to develop a protocol for characterizing the color of roofing slate and to define the color range of roofing slate from the Iberian Peninsula. In addition, the similarities and differences in the color and microstructure of the different commercial varieties of Iberian roofing slate were established and the limit of acceptability of replacement of one type of slate by another was determined. Parameter h_ab was found to be the most important CIELAB color coordinate as regards the formation of homogeneous color groups, and the specular component excluded (SCE) mode was most sensitive as regards detecting color differences between two samples.     

Educating the educators: developing those who support learning for students with additional learning needs

This article reports findings from a research project which developed and introduced the Enhanced Learning Support Assistant Programme (ELSAP) as a source of professional development for learning support assistants who were supporting students with additional learning needs in a college of further education in England. The purpose of this article is to share findings from the project and to highlight the benefits experienced when learning support assistants can participate in professional development activity. The research project was a mixed methods study with participants drawn from learning support assistants within one college of further education in England. Data were collected throughout the 14‐week intervention. Findings indicate that the programme had a positive effect on participants' confidence, sense of professional identify and of being valued, as well as improving their ability to perform their role.     

Teaching Assistants Talking

Local Authorities (LAs) in Britain traditionally employ Visual Impairment (VI) teams as integrative statutory Special Educational Needs and Inclusion (SENI) provision. Teaching Assistants (TAs) work alongside Qualified Teachers (QTs) in VI teams to support children and young people (CYP) with VI. The VI TA has a broad role in covering early years, primary, secondary and special school settings and their key duties can include implementing visual targets, providing sensory support, delivering touch typing lessons, to name a few. Based on systemic and work‐based learning theories, this article explores the learning stories of seven VI TAs who volunteered to participate in professional development focus group discussions between September 2014 and November 2015. The seven participants all work in the VI team of one LA in Cambridgeshire. The focus of the fortnightly focus group discussions were to explore the impact which eye conditions had on the education and learning of CYP. Participants were encouraged to engage in reflective writing about their new knowledge and how this may have changed their VI practice. Findings from qualitative data generated for analysis and interpretation demonstrated that most participants did improve their knowledge and understanding of specific eye conditions. Some participants benefited and changed their practice based on their newly acquired knowledge whereas some were not aware of any impact on their practice. Themes also highlighted constructive comments on how future professional learning for TAs can be improved. There are currently no mandatory training requirements for specialist VI TAs.     

LIVING THE QUESTIONS: RILKE'S CHALLENGE TO OUR QUEST FOR CERTAINTY

A bstract .  In this essay, Mordechai Gordon explores the significance of Rilke's challenge to "live the questions" and embrace uncertainty with respect to the quest for certainty in education. The quest for certainty in education refers to our desire to gain a sense of psychological security and more control over a field that is fundamentally indeterminate. This quest implies an unwillingness to live with the inherent complexities and risks of education. After exploring the meaning and import of Rilke's challenge and comparing it to the position of Socrates, Gordon uses Rilke's insight to analyze a specific educational experience and then discusses some of its educational implications for teacher education.     

Is giving up traditional religious culture part of the price to be paid for acquiring higher education? Adaptation of academic Western culture by Jewish Israeli University students of Middle Eastern origin

This research was designed to investigate whether the Middle Eastern student feels that attaining the status of a “Western modern man” is incompatible with maintaining a traditional, religious way of life. In 1980, a representative sample of the Jewish University student population (N = 1250) responded to a questionnaire aimed at measuring religious attitudes, beliefs and practices. The students of Middle Eastern origin proved to be more religious than their Western counterparts, however their feeling about themselves is that not only are they less religious than their parents and grandparents but that they are less religious than they themselves have previously been. This feeling stemmed from their having discarded or having become lax in the carrying out of some of the more extreme religious practices even though they still maintain many of the same religious practices, attitudes and beliefs as their forefathers. The degree of religiosity, both of the Middle Eastern students and their Western counterparts, is strongly influenced by the home, the high school attended and youth movement membership, with the former two having a stronger influence on the Western student and the latter having a stronger influence on the Eastern student. The findings show that though there is some loosening of certain extreme practices on the part of the Eastern student, there is no revolt against home or tradition and the student has found the way to the “new life” without breaking off from the “old ways” of the parental culture.     

Developing phonological awareness and word recognition skills: A two-year intervention with low-income,inner-city children

Low-income, inner-city children were involved in a two-year intervention delivered in the regular classroom by regular classroom teachers to develop phonological awareness and word recognition skills. For the treatment children, an 11-week phoneme awareness program in kindergarten was followed by a first grade reading program (extended to grade 2 for some children) that emphasized explicit, systematic instruction in the alphabetic code. Control children participated in the school district's regular basal reading program. Both groups participated in a phonetically-based spelling program mandated by the district. At the end of grade 1, treatment children (n = 66) significantly outperformed control children (n = 62) on measures of phonological awareness, letter name and letter sound knowledge, and three measures of word recognition, and reached marginal significance (0.056) on a fourth. They also significantly outperformed the control children on two measures of spelling. One year later, at the end of grade 2, the treatment children (n = 58) significantly outperformed the control children (n = 48) on all four measures of word recognition. For the groups as a whole, there were no differences on the one measure of spelling readministered at the end of grade 2. However, there were significant differences in spelling between the treatment (n = 16) and control children (n = 13) who remained in the bottom quartile of spellers at the end of grade 2 when partial credit was given for phonetically correct spelling, and significant differences in reading favoring these treatment children on all four measures of word recognition.     

On the Dangers of Antiquarian Investigations: Nietzsche,the Excesses of History,and the Power of Forgetting

Drawing on Nietzsche’s insights as well as those of his critics, this article explores the dangers and limitations of the antiquarian type of historical investigations. The author begins his analysis by closely examining Nietzsche’s conception of antiquarian history and explaining why he finds this mode of historical investigation so troubling. Next he shows that the problem that Nietzsche associates with the antiquarian type of historicizing can be seen in a contemporary genealogical investigation: Daniel Mendelsohn’s book The Lost. Returning to Nietzsche, he then analyzes the meaning and value of his notion of the ‘power of forgetting’ and argues that it can serve as an antidote to some of the dangers of antiquarian history. In the final part of this article the author examines how the power of forgetting might be educationally valuable.