All Journals published by Symposium Journals

Analysis of Academic Journals in Education: a comparison of publication patterns in England and Germany

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 16:49:43 GMT

Title: Analysis of Academic Journals in Education: a comparison of publication patterns in England and Germany
Author: HUBERT ERTL; KLAUS ZIERER; DAVID PHILLIPS; RUDOLF TIPPELT
Journal: Research in Comparative and International Education
Year: 2013 Volume: 8 Issue: 1 Pages: 1-16
ABSTRACT This article outlines some of the findings of a project funded by the German Research Association which conducted an analysis of six leading journals of education in Germany and England. All articles published in these journals between 2001 and 2009 were analysed according to thematic foci, methodological approaches and characteristics of authors. The findings of this analysis demonstrate that there are clear differences and similarities in publication patters between different journals and countries and that some of these patterns have changed substantially over time. The comparative perspective used for the analysis results in conclusions regarding nation-specific trajectories of the discourse and research in the area of education.

Historical Research in Comparative Education: a discussion of some methodological issues

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 16:49:43 GMT

Title: Historical Research in Comparative Education: a discussion of some methodological issues
Author: AISI LI
Journal: Research in Comparative and International Education
Year: 2013 Volume: 8 Issue: 1 Pages: 17-26
ABSTRACT In this article the author discusses some issues with conducting historical research, rooted in her own experiences. She focuses on four main points: minimising one's own biases, choosing a suitable research question, evaluating the quality of the sources and providing a balanced interpretation of events. She argues that using a historical approach to understand an educational phenomenon is both a fact-finding process and an opportunity to revisit one's own values, and is an important way to confirm or reinterpret what we know about current educational practices.

Learner Success Stories: what constitutes, and contributes to, success in tertiary vocational training courses?

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 16:49:43 GMT

Title: Learner Success Stories: what constitutes, and contributes to, success in tertiary vocational training courses?
Author: ANN HARLOW
Journal: Research in Comparative and International Education
Year: 2013 Volume: 8 Issue: 1 Pages: 27-37
ABSTRACT In this article, adult learner experiences of embedded literacy and numeracy within vocational programmes in New Zealand are explored and described to identify what these learners felt had contributed to their success as learners. The embedded approach is a distinctive feature of the adult literacy and numeracy education infrastructure in New Zealand. Two models of data collection were used: in one model, literacy and numeracy events were recorded through photos taken by learners of their own use of literacy and numeracy practices. A follow-up interview was held where the learner explained the significance of the photos to the researcher; in the other model, focus-group interviews were held with two to six adult learners about their learning. The transcripts from both models were collated and then interrogated for themes across the stories. Learners above all valued the support they were given that enabled them to become successful - this support came from tutors, peer group, friends and families. In a few cases, learners had determined they would succeed in spite of their home circumstances and had needed extra support from the institution. Since being enrolled in a vocational course where the focus was on literacy and numeracy, within a meaningful context that offered them entry into gainful employment, these learners had grown in confidence and self-directedness, and had developed a determination to succeed. They had gained literacy and numeracy skills at the same time as developing vocational skills. Their success had led to a changed attitude and disposition towards lifelong learning.

Nurturing Young Children's Moral Development through Literature in Japan and the USA

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 16:49:43 GMT

Title: Nurturing Young Children's Moral Development through Literature in Japan and the USA
Author: SATOMI IZUMI-TAYLOR; JERRIE C. SCOTT
Journal: Research in Comparative and International Education
Year: 2013 Volume: 8 Issue: 1 Pages: 38-54
ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to examine the views of American and Japanese early childhood teachers regarding the nurturing of young children's moral development using literature. The data consisted of responses to a questionnaire and written explanations of 36 American and 36 Japanese teachers. By comparing responses of the two groups, it was possible to identify both similarities and differences in American and Japanese early childhood educators' philosophical and pedagogical views on nurturing young children's moral development. Accounting largely for similarities in responses were generic items, such as beliefs in the importance of nurturing children's hearts/spirits and in the value of using literature to nurture them. Differences were reflected in particular aspects of philosophical beliefs and pedagogical practices. The study revealed that the sources of different viewpoints may be attributed to a combination of culturally specific patterns and curriculum guidelines to which teachers are exposed.

Educational Disparities and Conflict: evidence from Lebanon

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 16:49:43 GMT

Title: Educational Disparities and Conflict: evidence from Lebanon
Author: RANIA TFAILY; HASSAN DIAB; ANDRZEJ KULCZYCKI
Journal: Research in Comparative and International Education
Year: 2013 Volume: 8 Issue: 1 Pages: 55-73
ABSTRACT This article examines the impact of Lebanon's civil war (1975-1991) on disparities in education among the country's main religious sects and across various regions. District of registration is adopted as a proxy for religious affiliation through a novel, detailed classification to assess sectarian differentials by region and regional differentials within each major religious group. Findings show that the civil war helped close the gender gap in education across various sects/regions, presumably because many young men joined militias. However, the education of Muslims still lags behind that of Christians. Intra-sectarian disparities remain very pronounced, especially among Sunni Muslims. The article shows that Lebanon's regional and sectarian inequalities that pre-dated the civil war have been largely maintained. The civil war and its aftermath, however, have led to some shift in the balance of power and to some changes in the ranking of particular sects and regions. Drawing upon the work of Weber and Lenski, the authors argue that sectarian/regional inequalities in education in Lebanon are the product of disparities in economic power and differential access to the state resources among the various regions and sects. They conclude by discussing the future of educational inequalities in Lebanon.

The Face of Private Tutoring in Russia: evidence from online marketing by private tutors

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 16:49:43 GMT

Title: The Face of Private Tutoring in Russia: evidence from online marketing by private tutors
Author: OLGA KOZAR
Journal: Research in Comparative and International Education
Year: 2013 Volume: 8 Issue: 1 Pages: 74-86
ABSTRACT Private tutoring is a common and worldwide phenomenon. However, there is a dearth of up-to-date research on private tutoring compared with that on institutional one-to-one teaching, which could be explained by challenges associated with data collection. This article proposes using publicly available online advertisements of private tutors as a method of acquiring data on private tutoring practices. It describes a two-stage study which employed this technique to investigate private tutoring practices in Moscow city. The first stage of the study looks at the subjects which are commonly offered for tuition in Moscow city, and the second part qualitatively analyses 32 profiles of top-ranking tutors in order to identify potential attributes of a 'high-ranking' tutor. The particular focus is made on the demographics and self-presentation style of private tutors in Moscow. The findings show that while the majority of tutoring services in Moscow seem to target school students preparing for the Unified State Examination, the most frequently offered subject is English for Speakers of Other Languages, possibly due to a larger target clientele (both school students and adult learners). Other findings include a difference in self-presentation style between two groups of private tutors: those who offer school-curriculum subjects, and those who tutor foreign languages.

A Cross-cultural Study of American, Chinese, Japanese and Swedish Early Childhood In-service and Pre-service Teachers' Perspectives of Fathering

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 16:49:43 GMT

Title: A Cross-cultural Study of American, Chinese, Japanese and Swedish Early Childhood In-service and Pre-service Teachers' Perspectives of Fathering
Author: YOKO ITO; SATOMI IZUMI-TAYLOR
Journal: Research in Comparative and International Education
Year: 2013 Volume: 8 Issue: 1 Pages: 87-101
ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to examine similarities and differences in perspectives of fathering among American, Chinese, Japanese and Swedish in-service and pre-service early childhood teachers. The participants in the quantitative survey consisted of 67 American in-service and 277 pre-service teachers, 118 Chinese in-service and 163 pre-service teachers, 325 Japanese in-service and 350 pre-service teachers, and 105 Swedish in-service and 182 pre-service teachers. Randomly selected participants from these nations also participated in focus-group interviews. The results of this study revealed that fathers' involvement was related to hours of care for both Chinese and Japanese in-service teachers as well as for all four countries' pre-service teachers. Chinese, Japanese and Swedish teachers' perceptions of fathers' involvement were associated with gender equality. The more American, Chinese and Japanese pre-service teachers valued sensitivity of care, the more they considered fathers' involvement to be important. Qualitative data analysis found that the majority of participants valued fathers' involvement and that their cultures clearly influenced their concepts of fathering.

Outlook on Research in Education for Sustainable Development

Wed, 15 May 2013 16:12:26 GMT

Title: Outlook on Research in Education for Sustainable Development
Author: CORNELIA GRÄSEL; INKA BORMANN; KERSTIN SCHÜTTE; KATI TREMPLER; ROBERT FISCHBACH
Journal: Policy Futures in Education
Year: 2013 Volume: 11 Issue: 2 Pages: 115-127
ABSTRACT This article provides an overview of current research on Education for Sustainable Development (ESD). It shows a lack of correspondence between ESD research and recent debates in educational research. Research on ESD has established as a field of research with insufficient relations to other fields in educational research. Based on the overview the article suggests an outlook on prospective topics and methods in ESD research.

Racism, the Left and Twenty-first-century Socialism: some observations on the Gur-Ze'ev/McLaren interchange

Wed, 15 May 2013 16:12:26 GMT

Title: Racism, the Left and Twenty-first-century Socialism: some observations on the Gur-Ze'ev/McLaren interchange
Author: MIKE COLE
Journal: Policy Futures in Education
Year: 2013 Volume: 11 Issue: 2 Pages: 128-136
ABSTRACT The Gur-Ze'ev/McLaren interchange covered a wide range of issues that are important for twenty-first century socialists. In this article, the author concentrates on two of them: first, Gur-Ze'ev's charge that critical pedagogy is part of the 'new anti-Semitism'; second, his critique of McLaren's support for Hugo Chávez and the Bolivarian model of twenty-first century socialism.

Roles for Educators in Helping the USA Form a Real Global Society

Wed, 15 May 2013 16:12:26 GMT

Title: Roles for Educators in Helping the USA Form a Real Global Society
Author: RUBEN GENTRY
Journal: Policy Futures in Education
Year: 2013 Volume: 11 Issue: 2 Pages: 137-144
ABSTRACT By not properly addressing economic issues, health care, and educational needs, the United States of America was on the verge of financial collapse and people had to choose between having food or medicine. President Barack Obama emerged with a broad-based plan of change for the country which impacts every major sector of society. He wants peace to replace war, an economy that provides jobs, health care that brings relief to all Americans and education that is effective from preschool to college. This article moves from Obama's general vision for the country to his detailed plan for education. First, a review of literature is conducted to validate the merit of his plan. With a refined agenda, educators are challenged to embrace it and make ready for its implementation. The final charge is to focus attention on strategies for imparting quality education to students around the world.

Can Market Capitalism Be Greened? Environmental Education Revisited

Wed, 15 May 2013 16:12:26 GMT

Title: Can Market Capitalism Be Greened? Environmental Education Revisited
Author: DEB J. HILL; LYNLEY TULLOCH
Journal: Policy Futures in Education
Year: 2013 Volume: 11 Issue: 2 Pages: 145-153
ABSTRACT Widespread recognition of the detrimental effects that human activities have had on nature and its ecosystems can now be found in every domain of public policy. Since the inception of international accords in the 1970s provoked greater engagement by nations in environmental amelioration measures, 'education' has been lauded as an important panacea to promote a generational shift in attitudes and actions towards the conservation and protection of the environment. Using 'environmental education' as a backdrop for our discussion, our intention in this article is to apply the important insights of the Italian Marxist thinker, Antonio Gramsci (1891-1937) to an analysis of educational concerns. Although much existing radical environment theory involves acknowledgement of the complex and dynamic way in which civil society and the political economy are interconnected, Gramsci's historical, dialectical, and materialist worldview brings to light the extent of the hold that the prevailing forces of capitalism exert on those subjected to its valuations. The dynamics of attitudinal change are complex. Gramsci's work provides us with a richer understanding of the depth of the workings of power generated through the nexus of the cultural bulwarks of capitalist 'production'. This is an interrogation of curriculum theory of a deeper kind.

Neoliberalism, Policy Reforms and Higher Education in Bangladesh

Wed, 15 May 2013 16:12:26 GMT

Title: Neoliberalism, Policy Reforms and Higher Education in Bangladesh
Author: ARIFUL HAQ KABIR
Journal: Policy Futures in Education
Year: 2013 Volume: 11 Issue: 2 Pages: 154-166
ABSTRACT Bangladesh has introduced neoliberal policies since the 1970s. Military regimes, since the dramatic political changes in 1975, accelerated the process. A succession of military rulers made rigorous changes in policy-making in various sectors. This article uses a critical approach to document analysis and examines the perceptions of key stakeholders to explore how the International Financial Institutions (IFIs), and the economic and political interests of the ruling civil-military elites, worked together to consolidate power and adopt neoliberal policy in various sectors. Moreover, the democratic regimes, since the 1990s, have continued to implement neoliberal policies with support from the IFIs. As part of neoliberalism, the democratic regimes initiated a market-driven economic policy in the higher education sector in the 1990s. The neoliberal transformation of policies has brought major changes in the higher education sector in recent times. This article aims to examine and report on these changes.

Getting Past the Gatekeeper: safeguarding and access issues in researching HIV+ children in Jamaica

Wed, 15 May 2013 16:12:26 GMT

Title: Getting Past the Gatekeeper: safeguarding and access issues in researching HIV+ children in Jamaica
Author: PAUL MILLER; KEMESHA KELLY; NICOLA SPAWLS
Journal: Policy Futures in Education
Year: 2013 Volume: 11 Issue: 2 Pages: 167-174
ABSTRACT This article is derived from a recently completed research study on the 'Schooling Experiences of HIV+ Children in Jamaica'. It is written against the background of researching children generally, and also in the context of researching vulnerable children, specifically those who are HIV+. Research carries with it various notions of power and ethics, often manifested in terms of researchers gaining access to participants, researchers' positionality (i.e. whether they are an insider or outsider) and the intended use of the research findings. As regards the field experiences being reported in this article, researcher positionality was of only limited consequence. However, the intended use of the output of the research was central to gaining access to the key participants (namely children who are HIV+), since overriding issues for 'gatekeepers' (namely state officials and partners) included safeguarding children and the protection of their right to privacy and confidentiality.

On the Need to Ask Educational Questions about Education: an interview with Gert Biesta

Wed, 15 May 2013 16:12:26 GMT

Title: On the Need to Ask Educational Questions about Education: an interview with Gert Biesta
Author: HERNER SAEVEROT
Journal: Policy Futures in Education
Year: 2013 Volume: 11 Issue: 2 Pages: 175-184
ABSTRACT This interview attempts to articulate what it might mean to speak for 'Pädagogik' in an era where new trends in education run the risk of marginalizing 'Pädagogik' as an independent academic discipline. This trend can be found in several European countries and is judged by Herner Saeverot and Gert Biesta to be a development that is cause for concern.

Local Knowledge Brokerage for Data-Driven Policy and Practice in Education

Wed, 15 May 2013 16:12:26 GMT

Title: Local Knowledge Brokerage for Data-Driven Policy and Practice in Education
Author: JAN VANHOOF; PAUL MAHIEU
Journal: Policy Futures in Education
Year: 2013 Volume: 11 Issue: 2 Pages: 185-199
ABSTRACT The concept of 'knowledge brokerage' focuses on promoting the integration of the best available evidence into policy and practice-related decisions. In this study, emphasis is put on the knowledge brokerage role of cities. The study aims at finding similarities and differences in existing educational knowledge brokerage initiatives, at exploring the effectiveness of knowledge brokerage initiatives, and at explaining differences in the effectiveness of educational knowledge brokerage initiatives. Four medium-sized cities were investigated using a case study methodology. During the case studies a qualitative approach using document analysis and in-depth interviews was adopted. The article firstly describes the existing knowledge brokerage initiatives. The descriptive part also looks at the effectiveness of the studied knowledge brokerage initiatives by describing their (un)intended results. Afterwards three clusters of factors are introduced that can explain differences in the success of brokerage initiatives of cities: the policy context, the users and their organisation, and the knowledge brokerage system. The article stresses the importance of a context of trust, and a context that stimulates data use, and elaborates on findings regarding the impact of data literacy, data culture, the organisations' policy-making capacities, and a sense of urgency.

Existential Thoughts in Fanon's Post-colonialism Discourse

Wed, 15 May 2013 16:12:26 GMT

Title: Existential Thoughts in Fanon's Post-colonialism Discourse
Author: CHUAN-RONG YEH
Journal: Policy Futures in Education
Year: 2013 Volume: 11 Issue: 2 Pages: 200-215
ABSTRACT Frantz Fanon, a pioneer of post-colonial theory, attempted to seek some unbeknown possibilities through a Sartrean existentialism thought toward ethnic liberation and the fighting against imperialism. This article tries to enter Fanon's short life that was full of humanism and existentialist thought and to explore the hidden theoretical context when he was speculating the ethnic liberation movement and overturning imperialism. The article also tries to find a whole new vision and direction of thought about Fanon and his anti-colonial theory.

European Higher Education and Corporate Designs of Utopia

Wed, 15 May 2013 16:12:26 GMT

Title: European Higher Education and Corporate Designs of Utopia
Author: Ricardo D. Rosa
Journal: Policy Futures in Education
Year: 2013 Volume: 11 Issue: 2 Pages: 216-222
ABSTRACT Not available

Introduction. Exploring the Educational Potential of Open Educational Resources

Wed, 1 May 2013 20:03:19 GMT

Title: Introduction. Exploring the Educational Potential of Open Educational Resources
Author: Markus Deimann; Norm Friesen
Journal: E-Learning and Digital Media
Year: 2013 Volume: 10 Issue: 2 Pages: 112-115
ABSTRACT Not available

What's Educational about Open Educational Resources? Different Theoretical Lenses for Conceptualizing Learning with OER

Wed, 1 May 2013 20:03:19 GMT

Title: What's Educational about Open Educational Resources? Different Theoretical Lenses for Conceptualizing Learning with OER
Author: STEFANIE PANKE; TINA SEUFERT
Journal: E-Learning and Digital Media
Year: 2013 Volume: 10 Issue: 2 Pages: 116-134
ABSTRACT In the last decade, the concept of Open Educational Resources (OER) has gained an undeniable momentum. However, it is an easy trap to confuse download and registration rates with actual learning and interest in the adoption and reuse of OER. If we focus solely on access, we cannot differentiate between processes of mere information foraging and deep sense-making activities. The article provides an overview of the OER movement, stressing emerging concerns surrounding the educational efficacy of OER and highlighting learning theories which aid our understanding of this growing domain. The authors discuss building-blocks for a theoretical framework that allows us to conceptualize the learner's part in open educational practices, also characterizing challenges of open learning and traits of successful open learners.

It's Not Their Job to Share Content': a case study of the role of senior students in adapting teaching materials as open educational resources at the University of Cape Town

Wed, 1 May 2013 20:03:19 GMT

Title: It's Not Their Job to Share Content': a case study of the role of senior students in adapting teaching materials as open educational resources at the University of Cape Town
Author: CHERYL HODGKINSON-WILLIAMS; MICHAEL PASKEVICIUS
Journal: E-Learning and Digital Media
Year: 2013 Volume: 10 Issue: 2 Pages: 135-147
ABSTRACT Inspired by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's landmark decision to make its teaching and learning materials freely available to the public as OpenCourseWare (OCW), many other higher education institutions have followed suit sharing resources now more generally referred to as Open Educational Resources (OER). The University of Cape Town (UCT) in South Africa joined the OER movement with the launch of the UCT OpenContent directory in February 2010. While much of the research has focused on the potential value of OER to institutions and to the community at large, less attention has been paid to the complex processes that need to be undertaken to adapt existing materials as OER and specifically the opportunity to engage senior students in this practice. In this article the authors explore the processes that three senior physics students employed in assisting their lecturers to adapt existing materials as OER, the challenges they encountered and the contribution these students made. The findings reveal that the senior physics students report having sufficient time, knowledge of the field and skill in using a range of technological tools that made the OER adaptation process of their lecturers' materials easier. Based on the participating physics lecturers' acceptance of the students' adaptations of their materials, it would seem that the strategy of using senior students to support busy lecturers to adapt existing teaching materials as OER is worth considering.

Researching Resistance to Open Education Resource Contribution: an activity theory approach

Wed, 1 May 2013 20:03:19 GMT

Title: Researching Resistance to Open Education Resource Contribution: an activity theory approach
Author: GLENDA COX
Journal: E-Learning and Digital Media
Year: 2013 Volume: 10 Issue: 2 Pages: 148-160
ABSTRACT Higher education and associated institutions are beginning to share teaching materials known as Open Educational Resources (OER) or open courseware across the globe. Their success depends largely on the willingness of academics at these institutions to add their teaching resources. In a survey of the literature on OER there are several articles that discuss reasons why academics should contribute teaching materials. There are fewer articles that refer to academics' concerns or why they choose not to contribute their teaching resources. There have been only a few reported empirical studies thus far, and most of the studies have not been framed within any particular theoretical perspective. Hence there is a need to explore possible theories that might help to conceptualise and explain what enables or constrains the open education movement. This study aims to ascertain whether Engeström's activity theory and its principle of contradictions is a sufficiently versatile and insightful lens to investigate non-participation of OER contribution. Activity theory was found to be useful for framing the literature and three interviews with University of Cape Town (UCT) academics and for surfacing some of the constraints in the system. The key concerns that emerged centred around the rules in the institution concerning promotion and what is valued by the institution. At present this institution places value on research and until value is placed on sharing teaching materials as OER, it is unlikely that there will be large-scale voluntary contribution to the UCT OpenContent directory.

Learning and Open Educational Resources: a psychological perspective

Wed, 1 May 2013 20:03:19 GMT

Title: Learning and Open Educational Resources: a psychological perspective
Author: MELODY M. TERRAS; JUDITH RAMSAY; ELIZABETH BOYLE
Journal: E-Learning and Digital Media
Year: 2013 Volume: 10 Issue: 2 Pages: 161-173
ABSTRACT The provision of Open Educational Resources (OER) means that learning horizons are no longer restricted by time and space. However, if the learning potential of OER is to be fully realised, educators and students must have the media literacy skills to select, use and produce information in a judicious and useful way. A consideration of the psychological dimensions of media literacy skills is crucial to maximise the learning opportunities offered by OER. Although learning platforms may be shifting to online content, the fundamental issues remain: How do we learn? How can learning be facilitated? These core psychological issues are key to the appropriate deployment and use of OER. The authors highlight how psychological theory and research has contributed to our understanding of technology-mediated interactions and the learning process, and consider how psychology can contribute to our understanding and application of OER as a learning facilitator. They discuss how advances in Web 2.0 technology may help maximise participation in learning and consider the potential psychological barriers and enablers to the uptake and use of OER.

From Learning in Coffee Houses to Learning with Open Educational Resources

Wed, 1 May 2013 20:03:19 GMT

Title: From Learning in Coffee Houses to Learning with Open Educational Resources
Author: SANDRA PETER; LESLEY FARRELL
Journal: E-Learning and Digital Media
Year: 2013 Volume: 10 Issue: 2 Pages: 174-189
ABSTRACT What is 'open' about Open Educational Resources? How does education become 'open' when it is removed from the institutional housing of the school or the university and develops in public social settings? Has the Internet, in providing educational content without cost and free of copyright restrictions, provoked a unique and fundamental shift in what we understand education to be and who we understand it to be for? The authors analyse the persistent but elusive claims to 'openness' in education by examining two moments when education seemed to be released from institutional constraints to be accessible to 'everyone'. They look at today's Open Educational Resources and the coffee houses of Europe at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. Their focus is the learner - what constitutes access, the role of technologies in enhancing access, and the social and institutional constraints which are always in tension with the affordances of technologies.

Open Education and Bildung as Kindred Spirits

Wed, 1 May 2013 20:03:19 GMT

Title: Open Education and Bildung as Kindred Spirits
Author: MARKUS DEIMANN
Journal: E-Learning and Digital Media
Year: 2013 Volume: 10 Issue: 2 Pages: 190-199
ABSTRACT Among the most important of the tremendous changes that have been taken place in teaching and learning throughout recent years has been a move towards 'openness' in education. This includes an increased availability of alternatively licensed resources as well as extended possibilities for formal and quasi-formal learning in the context of open courses. Since learning theories typically conceive of learning as occurring in clearly structured environments, they are not necessarily well suited to understanding the specific characteristics and general significance of open education. Consequently, a broader concept apposite to the breadth and variety of experiences of learning in open and complex settings would be valuable. One such concept has its origin in the German philosophy of education, and goes by the name of Bildung. This article is aimed at getting insight into this theory because it reflects broader concepts than conventional learning theories, and suggesting a way of applying this framework to a range of relevant aspects of open education. This is done in the hope that Bildung may evolve from a quite unknown body of knowledge to a valuable resource to be consulted for guidance and advice as the possibilities for personal development and maturation continue to evolve.

'Open Learning 2.0'? Aligning Student, Teacher and Content for Openness in Education

Wed, 1 May 2013 20:03:19 GMT

Title: 'Open Learning 2.0'? Aligning Student, Teacher and Content for Openness in Education
Author: NORM FRIESEN; JUDITH MURRAY
Journal: E-Learning and Digital Media
Year: 2013 Volume: 10 Issue: 2 Pages: 200-207
ABSTRACT The mission of Thompson Rivers University Open Learning (TRU-OL) can be understood in terms of three entities: the student, the faculty member and the curriculum content. Their conjuncture - when a TRU-OL student works with TRU-OL courseware and is supported by a TRU-OL faculty member - is where learning, assessment and, ultimately, credentialing take place. These three elements may form three points in a triangle, with assessment and credentialing in the centre. TRU-OL is currently exploring the results of defining these three elements differently. Instead of designating TRU-OL students, teachers and contents specifically, these elements may serve as placeholders for any students, any instructional personnel or supports, and any open content. These can, in theory, all be shared, opened and disaggregated among various institutions, with assessment and credentialing remaining as the principal service offered locally. The purpose of this article is to explain this model in the context of the open educational movement, to describe its various permutations and implications, and to consider some questions and objections that may arise in relation to it. The result is an updated version of similar triangular models that would interconnect student, teacher and content in pedagogical interrelationship.

Thinking Forward: Theo Gray and the Future of the Book

Wed, 1 May 2013 20:03:19 GMT

Title: Thinking Forward: Theo Gray and the Future of the Book
Author: Daniel Araya
Journal: E-Learning and Digital Media
Year: 2013 Volume: 10 Issue: 2 Pages: 208-211
ABSTRACT Not available

Interview with Jiang Qiping

Wed, 1 May 2013 20:03:19 GMT

Title: Interview with Jiang Qiping
Author: Daniel Araya
Journal: E-Learning and Digital Media
Year: 2013 Volume: 10 Issue: 2 Pages: 212-215
ABSTRACT Not available

Editorial

Tue, 16 Apr 2013 18:01:47 GMT

Title: Editorial
Author: Cristyn Davies; Anthony Semann
Journal: Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood
Year: 2013 Volume: 14 Issue: 1 Pages: 1-7
ABSTRACT Not available

In Conversation with Jonathan Silin: past, present and future

Tue, 16 Apr 2013 18:01:47 GMT

Title: In Conversation with Jonathan Silin: past, present and future
Author: Anthony Semann; Cristyn Davies; Jonathan Silin
Journal: Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood
Year: 2013 Volume: 14 Issue: 1 Pages: 8-11
ABSTRACT Not available

The Scholarship of Jonathan Silin: a reading through the lens of sexuality

Tue, 16 Apr 2013 18:01:47 GMT

Title: The Scholarship of Jonathan Silin: a reading through the lens of sexuality
Author: SUSAN GRIESHABER
Journal: Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood
Year: 2013 Volume: 14 Issue: 1 Pages: 12-13
ABSTRACT While Jonathan Silin's ideas have challenged early childhood educators to think seriously about the relationship between developmentalism and revisioning early education, they have done much more than this. They also challenge us to know who we are and how our identities might be enacted in our teacher-selves, whether in the classroom with young children, teacher education students or engaging professionally with teachers. In doing so he shows how to resist injustice and unmasks ways in which institutions function in society to marginalise and exclude.

The Intentional Archivist: what Jonathan taught me

Tue, 16 Apr 2013 18:01:47 GMT

Title: The Intentional Archivist: what Jonathan taught me
Author: JANET ROBERTSON
Journal: Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood
Year: 2013 Volume: 14 Issue: 1 Pages: 14-15
ABSTRACT The possibilities of intentionally archiving events is explored as an extension of Dr Silin's discussion of loss, memory and social amnesia, from the perspective of a practitioner.

At a Loss: scared and excited

Tue, 16 Apr 2013 18:01:47 GMT

Title: At a Loss: scared and excited
Author: JONATHAN SILIN
Journal: Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood
Year: 2013 Volume: 14 Issue: 1 Pages: 16-23
ABSTRACT Drawing on the author's struggle to come to terms with multiple personal losses, his observations of young children in early childhood classrooms, and work with novice teachers, this essay points to the generative possibilities embedded in moments of disorienting loss. Constrained by traditional templates of mourning that did not reflect the lived experience of on-going grief, he found himself turning to writing as a recuperative strategy that enabled him to better understand what had been and to shed preconceptions of how it should be when we are ambushed by life. At the same time, he was prompted to reflect on the ways that children first begin to use play and spoken language to seek solace and meaning from moments of seeming abandonment. Ironically, coming to embrace and organize pain on paper allowed him to understand how learning lies at the heart of every loss and how new, unfamiliar ways of being in the world can open up even as we grieve the known, familiar and much loved.

Losing Oneself and Finding the Other: a response to Jonathan Silin

Tue, 16 Apr 2013 18:01:47 GMT

Title: Losing Oneself and Finding the Other: a response to Jonathan Silin
Author: PETER BANSEL
Journal: Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood
Year: 2013 Volume: 14 Issue: 1 Pages: 24-28
ABSTRACT In responding to Jonathan Silin's article 'At a Loss: Scared and Excited', the author takes up his invitation to articulate a relationship between the personal and the professional, and contemplates the autobiographical as more than a mode of recounting one's own experience. In so doing he foregrounds possibilities for working with an autobiographical account of experience as both a self-reflexive research method and a site for learning about oneself and others. The author situates autobiography as a generative space in and from which one might theorise the self, with the express purpose of simultaneously understanding something of the other. He uses a personal experience of loss as an intellectual resource in order to theorise: the formation of the self in and over time and space; the normative practices through which selves and their experience are made intelligible and recognisable; the relational character of recognition; and the possibilities of narrative for developing an ethic of solicitude and care. In thinking what this theorising might mean for early childhood education he gives an account of the ontological, epistemological and pedagogical implications of loss.

'At a Loss: scared and excited': a response to Jonathan Silin

Tue, 16 Apr 2013 18:01:47 GMT

Title: 'At a Loss: scared and excited': a response to Jonathan Silin
Author: KAREN L. MARTIN
Journal: Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood
Year: 2013 Volume: 14 Issue: 1 Pages: 29-31
ABSTRACT This response to Jonathan Silin's article employs personal narrative to engage with learning and loss in early childhood education. For the author, in Jonathan Silin sharing his stories of loss, he also tells the author's stories of loss. For the author, these shared experiences are the 'very means by which we learn about loss; about grieving; about pain; about being social; about being human; about being relational. We learn how limited terms like 'resilience' are; we learn more about ourselves and we certainly learn more about the others in our lives.'

Loss, Failure, and an Awful Reputation: a response to Jonathan Silin

Tue, 16 Apr 2013 18:01:47 GMT

Title: Loss, Failure, and an Awful Reputation: a response to Jonathan Silin
Author: CLARE BRITT
Journal: Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood
Year: 2013 Volume: 14 Issue: 1 Pages: 32-38
ABSTRACT In this article the author responds to Jonathan Silin's article 'At a Loss: Scared and Excited', and in doing so, takes up his ideas around the generative potential of loss. She uses these notions of loss to illuminate how, in one diverse school community in Australia, loss, failure and an 'awful reputation' have opened up spaces for re-imagining multiple, heterogeneous, (im)possible student subjectivities and have allowed room for seeking out pedagogical practices centred around complexity, connectedness, authenticity and uncertainty.

Reconceptualising Family: negotiating sexuality in a governmental climate of neoliberalism

Tue, 16 Apr 2013 18:01:47 GMT

Title: Reconceptualising Family: negotiating sexuality in a governmental climate of neoliberalism
Author: CRISTYN DAVIES; KERRY H. ROBINSON
Journal: Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood
Year: 2013 Volume: 14 Issue: 1 Pages: 39-53
ABSTRACT Based on qualitative research, this article examines the complex kinship relations involved in constructing queer families. The discussion focuses on the heterogeneity of queer families; the difficulties encountered in association with processes of recognition and how this is negotiated across different contexts within queer families, extended families, and bureaucracies; how sexual subjectivities are articulated within the context of 'family'; and concerns raised by queer families in relation to children's early schooling. Of particular importance to this discussion is awareness that in a governmental climate of neoliberalism, there are contradictory and competing discourses about queer subjectivities, the child, and constructions of family. The queer subject is frequently and increasingly positioned as a targeted consumer and this consumption extends to accessing foster care, adoption, reproductive technologies, the healthcare system, and education. However, despite the invitation to queer families to be consumers in these contexts, the normative family is still viewed as heterosexual, with queer families continuing to be excluded and rendered invisible in representations of family. Taking up Jonathan Silin's earlier call to educators of young children, the authors argue that children's early education needs to include difficult knowledge and subjugated knowledges. Early education should include knowledge about different kinds of kinship relations including queer families, non-biological formations of family, including fostering and adoption, and alternative reproductive practices and technologies through which many young children are now conceived. Currently, most early childhood education and primary school curricula in Australia do not reflect the reality of many young children's lives. Educating all children and youth about alternative families and sexuality is critical to children becoming socially informed citizens and politically active members of their communities who can participate in creating alternative and more equitable futures.

What Makes a Queer Family Queer? A Response to Cristyn Davies and Kerry H. Robinson

Tue, 16 Apr 2013 18:01:47 GMT

Title: What Makes a Queer Family Queer? A Response to Cristyn Davies and Kerry H. Robinson
Author: JONATHAN SILIN
Journal: Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood
Year: 2013 Volume: 14 Issue: 1 Pages: 54-59
ABSTRACT In this essay I respond to Cristyn Davies and Kerry Robinson's research on queer families by remarking on the distance GLBTQI people have travelled in the last half century. I raise critical questions about the potential gains and possible losses that may result from bringing heretofore subjugated knowledges into the school curriculum. Drawing on my own biography, I also interrogate the radical edge that our outsider status once allowed us, the rapid normalization of gay life, and the foreclosure of options which that normalization has brought. Finally, I pose a distinction between non-traditional and queer families as a prompt to further investigation of how vectors of identity such as class, race, ethnicity, and religion intersect with the choices people make about constructing families and raising children.

The Politics of Normative Childhoods and Non-Normative Parenting: a response to Cristyn Davies and Kerry Robinson

Tue, 16 Apr 2013 18:01:47 GMT

Title: The Politics of Normative Childhoods and Non-Normative Parenting: a response to Cristyn Davies and Kerry Robinson
Author: AMY CHAPMAN; SUE SALTMARSH
Journal: Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood
Year: 2013 Volume: 14 Issue: 1 Pages: 60-65
ABSTRACT This article offers a consideration of the ways that the politics of normative childhoods are shaped by discourses of happiness predicated on heteronormativity. Responding to the work of Cristyn Davies and Kerry Robinson (2013, this issue), the authors argue that non-normative families and in particular, non-normative parenting, are obliged to secure, protect and police their children's perceived entitlements to normative 'happy' childhoods in order to achieve social legitimacy. Such obligations, they contend, locate non-normative parents and families, rather than societies, as responsible for the effects of discriminatory social norms to which they are subjected. Informed by the work of Jonathan Silin, the authors support a politics of childhood that gives discursive legitimacy to children's voice and experience regarding the ways in which normativity is enforced at their and their families' expense.

Innocence, Protection and Failure: bringing the child subject to the centre of the politics of the family. A Response to Cristyn Davies and Kerry Robinson

Tue, 16 Apr 2013 18:01:47 GMT

Title: Innocence, Protection and Failure: bringing the child subject to the centre of the politics of the family. A Response to Cristyn Davies and Kerry Robinson
Author: LUCY HOPKINS
Journal: Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood
Year: 2013 Volume: 14 Issue: 1 Pages: 66-71
ABSTRACT In response to Davies and Robinson's article looking at how queer families are positioned and position themselves in relation to neoliberalism, this article brings the child to the centre of the debate to examine how reading the child subject in terms of discourses of innocence and protection might work to maintain the hegemony of the normative - that is, heterosexual, nuclear - family, and close down discussions of alternative family structures. In exploring how the child subject is positioned in relation to these ideas, the article draws on Judith Butler's reworking of Adorno's notion of 'ethical violence' to suggest that the constraining of possibilities for the constitution of children's subjectivities by limiting their access to 'difficult knowledges' around sexuality can be read as a kind of violence to the child subject. Turning to the children's voices that emerge from Davies and Robinson's research, it argues that children's failure to enact the position of the innocent child can be seen as a productive or generative space from which to begin to question the terms of this specious positioning. Thus, the article suggests that both the acknowledgement of borderwork as ethically violent towards the child, and the failure of the child to conform to the discourse of innocence together work to destabilise the normative positioning of the heterosexual, nuclear family.

Heteronormativity in Online Information about Sex: a South Australian case study

Tue, 16 Apr 2013 18:01:47 GMT

Title: Heteronormativity in Online Information about Sex: a South Australian case study
Author: DAMIEN W. RIGGS
Journal: Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood
Year: 2013 Volume: 14 Issue: 1 Pages: 72-80
ABSTRACT Whilst sex education in Australia has moved beyond a focus solely on abstinence, it is still in many instances shaped by what Silin refers to as the 'silences' that accompany topics considered unspeakable to young people. The present article focuses specifically on one such silence, namely the representation of non-heterosexual sexualities and non-gender-normative people in the context of sex education. By focusing on three South Australian websites that act as first ports of call in terms of information about sex and sex education to young people and their parents, the analysis provided suggests that two of the three websites evoke a range of heteronormative and gender-normative assumptions, with one of these sites more explicitly emphasising reproductive heterosex, and the other adopting a liberal approach that nonetheless fails to adequately challenge stereotypes about non-heterosexuality and non-gender normativity. The third site, by contrast, provides relatively progressive inclusion of a range of genders and sexualities, and addresses homophobia and its effects. The article concludes by suggesting that websites providing information about sex to young people and their parents must make a substantive shift away from perpetuating the silencing of marginal sexualities and genders, and towards contributing to open public discussion about young people and sex.

Building Respectful Relationships Early: educating children on gender variance and sexual diversity. A Response to Damien Riggs

Tue, 16 Apr 2013 18:01:47 GMT

Title: Building Respectful Relationships Early: educating children on gender variance and sexual diversity. A Response to Damien Riggs
Author: KERRY H. ROBINSON
Journal: Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood
Year: 2013 Volume: 14 Issue: 1 Pages: 81-`87
ABSTRACT This article, which is a response to Damien Riggs' article, 'Heteronormativity in Online Information about Sex: A South Australian Case Study', focuses on three main areas relevant to children's early education in this area. Firstly, it is important to increase parents', educators', and children's awareness of gender variance or gender diversity in children's and young people's lives. Gender variance is becoming increasingly visible, including in schooling, with some children and young people experiencing hostile reactions to their gender transgressions from their peers and also from some adults. Secondly, it is vital that the development of children's sexual citizenship and building respectful relationships starts early in children's lives through open and comprehensive sex and sexualities education in online, schooling, and family contexts. Attempts to include the development of knowledge and skills in building and maintaining respectful relationships and exploring the factors that influence gender and sexual identities in children's early education are hindered by discourses of childhood innocence. The third main area discussed is, in order to effectively address sex and sexualities education in children's lives, there is a need to address these issues in a collaborative manner between early childhood educators and families.

Normative 'Sexual' Knowledge and Critique as a Mode of Resistance - a response to Damien Riggs

Tue, 16 Apr 2013 18:01:47 GMT

Title: Normative 'Sexual' Knowledge and Critique as a Mode of Resistance - a response to Damien Riggs
Author: KELLIE BURNS
Journal: Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood
Year: 2013 Volume: 14 Issue: 1 Pages: 87-93
ABSTRACT In this response to Damien Riggs' analysis of sex education websites, the author draws on Foucault's understanding of knowledge, power and governmentality to understand how some forms of knowledge about sex and sexuality become normalised 'official knowledge' that frame institutional policies and practices and shape everyday discourses. Foucault provides a framework for analysing sexuality as a modality of government that produces and manages what types of knowledge are, or are not, 'knowable' about sex, gender and sexuality. The author then considers the implications for those who are marginalised or silenced in 'official' knowledge cultures of this kind. Theory, she argues, provides tools for disrupting normative knowledge about childhood sexuality, which frames educational practices and everyday discourses.

'But What about the Dinosaurs?': a response to Damien Riggs

Tue, 16 Apr 2013 18:01:47 GMT

Title: 'But What about the Dinosaurs?': a response to Damien Riggs
Author: ROBERT PAYNE
Journal: Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood
Year: 2013 Volume: 14 Issue: 1 Pages: 94-98
ABSTRACT This article is written in response to the work of Damien Riggs, providing a critical reading of his analysis of the inherent homophobia and gender normativity present in a selection of sexuality education websites targeted at children. Taking up the productive possibilities of both silences and narrative disruptions, the author examines a moment of unlearning from his own educational practice alongside a reading of the film Tomboy (dir. Sciamma, 2011) in which a narrative of gender development is plotted around contingency, lack of explanation and emergence. In contrast to Riggs' call for 'proactive' strategies of inclusiveness as a way of countering the closing down of sex and gender conversations among children, the author reconsiders the childlike capacities of adults and thus aims to destabilise privileged constructions of adulthood.

Quality versus Quantity: the use of observation by early childhood educators in improving the performance of children enrolled in preschool programs in Ghana

Tue, 16 Apr 2013 18:01:47 GMT

Title: Quality versus Quantity: the use of observation by early childhood educators in improving the performance of children enrolled in preschool programs in Ghana
Author: VIVIAN TACKIE-OFOSU; KWESI BENTUM
Journal: Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood
Year: 2013 Volume: 14 Issue: 1 Pages: 99-103
ABSTRACT In the current study, the authors explored how early childhood educators used observation to support children in the learning environment. The objectives set were to find out the observation methods teachers used, ascertain their understanding of child observation, find out activities children undertook, and how teachers documented what children did and said during play activities. A qualitative, explorative, descriptive and contextual design, using in-depth interviews, focus group discussion and photography, was considered appropriate for this research. Three main themes emerged in this study: Teachers or Playmates?, Observation as in Supervision, and Observation or Resources? The results of the study revealed that supervision of activities that children engaged in was equated to observation. Lack of observational skills, resources, and poor record keeping emerged as areas of concern. Implications for child development are rooted in the need for teachers to recognize the educational needs of children via observation and to develop appropriate strategies to address identified needs.

BOOK REVIEWS

Tue, 16 Apr 2013 18:01:47 GMT

Title: BOOK REVIEWS
Author:
Journal: Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood
Year: 2013 Volume: 14 Issue: 1 Pages: 104-108
ABSTRACT Not available

Posthuman Humanities

Thu, 28 Mar 2013 17:20:50 GMT

Title: Posthuman Humanities
Author: ROSI BRAIDOTTI
Journal: European Educational Research Journal
Year: 2013 Volume: 12 Issue: 1 Pages: 1-19
ABSTRACT This article compares notes on different and new concepts of 'the Human', developed both within disciplinary and interdisciplinary academic scientific research and in broader social practices. The main focus is on the shifting relationship between the 'two cultures' of the humanities and science in the light of contemporary developments, such as the sophisticated forms of interdisciplinary research that have emerged in the fields of biotechnologies, neural sciences, environmental and climate change research and Information and Communication technologies. These rapid changes affect the very definitions of the human and of human evolution. The question is how and to what extent they have an impact on both the practice of the humanities and on their self-representation. Is humanism challenged or strengthened by these developments? To what extent is anthropocentrism called to task by what is becoming known as posthuman theory?

What is Wrong with the 'What-Went-Right' Approach in Educational Policy?

Thu, 28 Mar 2013 17:20:50 GMT

Title: What is Wrong with the 'What-Went-Right' Approach in Educational Policy?
Author: GITA STEINER-KHAMSI
Journal: European Educational Research Journal
Year: 2013 Volume: 12 Issue: 1 Pages: 20-33
ABSTRACT This article critically examines how 'what-went-right' analyses are used to subsequently justify the transfer of reform packages or 'best practices' from one country to another. Similar to evidence-based policy planning, the what-went-right approach needs to be criticized for being presumptuous. There are three fallacies of the what-went-right analysis that the article dismantles: rationality, precision and universality. The article focuses on the façade of universality and examines how the claim to universal solutions is methodologically sustained. First, the author shows how standardized or normative comparison has in recent years overshadowed the other two types of comparison: comparison across time (historical analyses) and comparison across contexts ('simple comparison'). Then, she elaborates on why the what-went-right approach requires policy analysts to downplay differences between educational systems in order to establish comparability between cases. The emphasis on comparability and similarity of cases is a prerequisite to importing 'best practices' from vastly different educational systems. But what if transfer occurs regardless of difference? There is a curious phenomenon that the article addresses in greater detail: the retrospective definition of a local problem. Given the worldwide circulation of 'best practices' and traveling reform packages, policy analysts sometimes are under pressure to align their analyses of local problems with already existing global solutions. The article ends with a reflection on policy borrowing and lending research and situates the what-went-right approach in the broader question of why and how policy analysts 'buy' or 'sell' reform packages that worked well in one context for transfer into another.

Constitution, Education and Research

Thu, 28 Mar 2013 17:20:50 GMT

Title: Constitution, Education and Research
Author: FUENSANTA HERNÁNDEZ PINA
Journal: European Educational Research Journal
Year: 2013 Volume: 12 Issue: 1 Pages: 34-47
ABSTRACT This article gives an overview of Cádiz in 1812 and the Constitution; the development of the contents of this constitution; its influence on the constitutions of other countries and vice versa; and the role of women under this constitution. Cádiz was a cosmopolitan city where races, cultures and traditions mingled - what we would call a multicultural city. The cultural environment of Cádiz in 1812 was so positive that not even in the worst moments of the French siege and bombing of the city would local people stop attending gatherings, concerts, schools, theatre performances, etc. The Cádiz Constitution is an essential text in the history of constitutionalism and of the liberal movement of the beginning of the nineteenth century in Spain, as well as in neighbouring countries and America. Therefore, the year 1812 may be considered the birth of Spanish constitutionalism and the beginning of the construction of Spain as a Constitutional State. The contributions of this constitution and subsequent extensions regarding developments in education will be explained, and its importance in the development of education will be highlighted. The Cádiz Constitution is one of the most important legal documents in Spanish national history and a chief contribution of our country to liberalism and international constitutionalism. Cádiz symbolises the beginning of constitutional Spain, Europe and Latin America.

Governing Education Systems by Shaping Data: from the past to the present, from national to international perspectives

Thu, 28 Mar 2013 17:20:50 GMT

Title: Governing Education Systems by Shaping Data: from the past to the present, from national to international perspectives
Author: VALÉRIE LUSSI BORER
Journal: European Educational Research Journal
Year: 2013 Volume: 12 Issue: 1 Pages: 48-52
ABSTRACT Nowadays, the use of indicators (benchmarks) to govern education systems and policies at national and international level is widespread. The practice of using data to administrate and govern education systems appeared at the end of the nineteenth century and developed throughout the twentieth century. Through national and international case studies, this issue studies the process and the conditions which allowed the emergence and the expansion of this phenomenon. Deciding how to collect useful data, how to organise data series according to models which allow comparison (or even ranking), and how to transform them into governing tools is essential for conducting data/benchmarks-based policies. This process leads to a new 'vision' (social construction of reality) of people, education systems and backgrounds, through new standardised objects like the 'average child' or an 'achievement standard'. These processes are at the core of policies conducted by organisations at national, European or international level (European Commission, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development [OECD], UNESCO). This issue aims to better understand these processes through historical and sociological analysis from national or inter/transnational points of view.

The Science from the State: the production of data by the statisticians of the French Ministry of Education, 1957-2007

Thu, 28 Mar 2013 17:20:50 GMT

Title: The Science from the State: the production of data by the statisticians of the French Ministry of Education, 1957-2007
Author: XAVIER PONS
Journal: European Educational Research Journal
Year: 2013 Volume: 12 Issue: 1 Pages: 53-69
ABSTRACT This article analyses the institutionalisation of the production of statistical data by the central administration of the French ministry of education from 1957 to 2007. It shows that beyond the necessary technical and methodological evolutions, this institutionalisation clearly depended on political arbitrations, administrative struggles and professional orientations. Using some theoretical approaches in political science, it interprets this process as the progressive and non-linear development of a specific 'state science'. On the basis of materials collected during a four-year qualitative research study (through 32 interviews, several data sets of documents, consultation of archives, and a questionnaire), it highlights first the main cognitive and transversal properties of this specific state body of knowledge. It describes then its historical concrete forms which varied according to the policy configurations. The latter are studied through four main variables: the formal organisation of the statistical production; the statistical methods, techniques and tools implemented; the composition of the central office; and the main professional cleavages among the members of this office.

Power, Information and Control: school statistics and the Spanish educational system (nineteenth century and first third of the twentieth century)

Thu, 28 Mar 2013 17:20:50 GMT

Title: Power, Information and Control: school statistics and the Spanish educational system (nineteenth century and first third of the twentieth century)
Author: JEAN-LOUIS GUEREÑA; ANTONIO VIÑAO
Journal: European Educational Research Journal
Year: 2013 Volume: 12 Issue: 1 Pages: 70-80
ABSTRACT In this article, the authors investigate the relationship between the development of school statistics, especially in the area of primary education, and the development of the Spanish educational system in the nineteenth century and the first third of the twentieth century. To do this, they first look at attempts to gather statistical information on education and to provide general figures on education in Spain that took place under the absolute monarchy during the eighteenth century and the first third of the nineteenth century. They then analyse in a little more detail the long journey undertaken by the new liberal regime between 1834 and 1850 - during which years the Spanish education system would be built - to know the educational situation in the country and have steady, regular, reliable school statistics. What can be considered the golden age of school statistics (1855-1885) followed, when this project was realised. Finally, they discuss the characteristics and evolution of occasional school statistics produced during the last years of the nineteenth century and the first third of the twentieth century.

'A Necropolis of Numbers': data production in Switzerland's decentralised education system

Thu, 28 Mar 2013 17:20:50 GMT

Title: 'A Necropolis of Numbers': data production in Switzerland's decentralised education system
Author: VÉRONIQUE CZÁKA; MATHILDE FREYMOND; VALÉRIE LUSSI BORER
Journal: European Educational Research Journal
Year: 2013 Volume: 12 Issue: 1 Pages: 81-94
ABSTRACT Since 1876 the educational landscape in Switzerland has been made up of more than 20 distinct education systems that are largely managed by the cantons themselves, with minimum interference from the federal state. However, approximately a century ago, Switzerland embarked on a policy of harmonisation, which draws on various data sources that are progressively shaped to serve this aim. Why are data important and what exactly are these data? Who needs, who collects and who shapes them? To what end? This article looks at the processes of collecting, comparing and shaping data through the journal published for close to 100 years by the Swiss Conference of Cantonal Ministers of Public Education. This journal was the first to produce yearly statistics on Swiss education at the end of the nineteenth century. The authors compile and compare the two versions of the journal - one in German, the other in French - and focus on two periods which seem particularly relevant for the history of statistics - namely, from the end of the nineteenth century to the First World War, and the 1960s-1970s.

Historical Change in the Production and Legitimisation of Education Statistics in Switzerland

Thu, 28 Mar 2013 17:20:50 GMT

Title: Historical Change in the Production and Legitimisation of Education Statistics in Switzerland
Author: THOMAS RUOSS
Journal: European Educational Research Journal
Year: 2013 Volume: 12 Issue: 1 Pages: 95-107
ABSTRACT Internationalisation as a factor in the impetus for and establishment of education statistics is analysed, taking the example of Switzerland in a long-term perspective. The case of Switzerland shows that historically, international comparisons depended on the nationalisation of statistics' responsibility. This nationalisation of education statistics' authority was itself closely connected with the demand for the domestic availability of statistics from the sub-central regions. This demand was in turn coupled with the structural challenges in the education system caused by its expansion and the heterogeneous degrees of institutionalisation of education statistics.

Voyages of Measurement in Education in the Twentieth Century: experts, tools and centres

Thu, 28 Mar 2013 17:20:50 GMT

Title: Voyages of Measurement in Education in the Twentieth Century: experts, tools and centres
Author: MARTIN LAWN
Journal: European Educational Research Journal
Year: 2013 Volume: 12 Issue: 1 Pages: 108-119
ABSTRACT Through the twentieth century, an international scientific community in education, testing and statistics appeared which was rooted in the same texts and processes and worked together across distance and in specific research centres. From Thorndike in New York in the early 1900s to Husén in Hamburg and Stockholm in the late 1900s, there is a web of shared procedures and purposes. The administration and management of education came to depend on the work of community to solve problems and develop governance and control across the sites and work of education.

Creating an Educational Testing Profession in Norway, Sweden and Denmark, 1910-1960

Thu, 28 Mar 2013 17:20:50 GMT

Title: Creating an Educational Testing Profession in Norway, Sweden and Denmark, 1910-1960
Author: CHRISTIAN YDESEN; KARI LUDVIGSEN; CHRISTIAN LUNDAHL
Journal: European Educational Research Journal
Year: 2013 Volume: 12 Issue: 1 Pages: 120-138
ABSTRACT In Sweden, Norway and Denmark national testing communities advocating the introduction and expanded use of standardised educational tests in the national educational systems emerged around World War I. Using international research and cross-border networking activities, these coteries were able to gain power and thus establish and promote a new profession, the educational psychologist, along with instituting practices of alleged scientific tests in the following decades.

Numbers Do Not Replace Thinking

Thu, 28 Mar 2013 17:20:50 GMT

Title: Numbers Do Not Replace Thinking
Author: ANTÓNIO NÓVOA
Journal: European Educational Research Journal
Year: 2013 Volume: 12 Issue: 1 Pages: 139-148
ABSTRACT The article is organised around three themes, each one illuminating half a century of historical life: (i) the first theme relates to the second half of the nineteenth century, analysing the role of statistics in the formation of state education systems; (ii) the second theme concentrates on the first half of the twentieth century and the importance of tests, examinations and surveys in the development of 'pedagogical modernity'; (iii) the third theme looks at the historical period of the second half of the twentieth century, and how databases began to be used as an important tool in the formulation of educational policies. To conclude, the article underlines how comparison is becoming one of the main instruments of governance in contemporary societies - in other words, how power tends increasingly to be exercised through policies that claim to be 'obvious', 'natural', 'evidence-based', instead of being grounded on ideological and political options.

Introduction. Changing the Discourse of Education

Thu, 21 Mar 2013 16:57:49 GMT

Title: Introduction. Changing the Discourse of Education
Author: Heather Piper; Jerome Satterthwaite; Pat Sikes
Journal: Power and Education
Year: 2013 Volume: 5 Issue: 1 Pages: 1-3
ABSTRACT Not available

Interrupting the Politics of Learning

Thu, 21 Mar 2013 16:57:49 GMT

Title: Interrupting the Politics of Learning
Author: GERT BIESTA
Journal: Power and Education
Year: 2013 Volume: 5 Issue: 1 Pages: 4-15
ABSTRACT In this article, the author raises critical questions about the notion of 'learning', the language of 'learning' and the discourse of 'learning'. The analytical and critical device used is the idea of the 'politics of learning', through which the author highlights the powerful work that is being done by, and which at the very same time is hidden behind, the discourse of 'learning'. The author focuses on the field of lifelong learning, not only because it is here that claims about and demands for learning are most explicitly articulated, but also because this field, through both policy and research, is contributing most strongly to an apparent 'common sense' about learning in contemporary societies. Based on this analysis, the author argues that there is a need for an interruption of the politics of learning in order to reclaim the emancipatory potential of education.

Post-Fordist Illusions: knowledge-based economies and transformation

Thu, 21 Mar 2013 16:57:49 GMT

Title: Post-Fordist Illusions: knowledge-based economies and transformation
Author: JAMES AVIS
Journal: Power and Education
Year: 2013 Volume: 5 Issue: 1 Pages: 16-27
ABSTRACT The argument that post-Fordism was able to overcome the oppressions and exploitations embedded within Fordist work relations has been subject to extensive critique for its evasion of capitalist antagonisms. However, there are particular analytic currents in radical thought which assert that knowledge-based economies hold within them not only radical, but also transformative possibilities. Such possibilities flow from developments in the forces of production and changes in the way in which surplus value is generated. These arguments tend to be located within what could be described as the knowledge economy as well as the creative industries. This article seeks to interrogate these arguments and suggests that, as with earlier discussions of post-Fordism, they are amenable to capitalist appropriation.

From Marginal Learning to Marginal Employment? The Real Impact of 'Learning' Employability Skills

Thu, 21 Mar 2013 16:57:49 GMT

Title: From Marginal Learning to Marginal Employment? The Real Impact of 'Learning' Employability Skills
Author: LIZ ATKINS
Journal: Power and Education
Year: 2013 Volume: 5 Issue: 1 Pages: 28-37
ABSTRACT This article explores notions of 'employability' in the context of the experiences of those young people who leave the English education system at 16+ with few or no academic credentials. The article contests the conflation of 'employability skills' with 'inclusion' in policy discourse, arguing that the real impact of such programmes is to inculcate attitudes and behaviours consistent with low-pay, low-skill work in already marginalised young people. It draws on empirical evidence from two studies which suggest that what young people really want are real, practical skills which are directly transferable to the world of work and which would fulfil the promise of high-pay, high-skill work in a knowledge economy. The article concludes that in a world where many young people are increasingly marginalised in terms of both education and employment, only an education which provides the skills the young people aspire to and which has real exchange value in the labour marketplace can confer any real advantage to them. Current approaches to employability skills education, far from achieving this, are little more than an exercise in social control resulting in new forms of class and labour (re)production, as already marginalised young people are socialised into particular forms of casual and low-pay, low-skill employment.

Ideologies of Mothering in an Internet Forum: hurting narratives and declarative defence

Thu, 21 Mar 2013 16:57:49 GMT

Title: Ideologies of Mothering in an Internet Forum: hurting narratives and declarative defence
Author: KRISTINA ALSTAM
Journal: Power and Education
Year: 2013 Volume: 5 Issue: 1 Pages: 38-51
ABSTRACT The interaction that takes place in Internet forum environments is performed through a compressed and dense form of writing and is highly dependent on the user's rhetorical and narrative skills. This article, which uses data from a Swedish parents' website, demonstrates the structure of aggression and defence in a conflict around appropriate mothering and seeks to demonstrate how the written subjectivity of a user relies also on particular alignments with ideologies on responsibility. The author argues that the hurting narrative, apart from using stacked-up information previously provided by other users, confiscates the dominant discursive position, thereby claiming a powerful evaluative role in relation to the counterpart. The article further argues that when accepting ideologies on responsibility, the defence of the counterpart becomes incapacitated and the protest itself is understood as a sign of discursive approval.

Opportunity and Justice: building a valuable and sustainable educational experience for disenfranchised and disengaged youth

Thu, 21 Mar 2013 16:57:49 GMT

Title: Opportunity and Justice: building a valuable and sustainable educational experience for disenfranchised and disengaged youth
Author: EUGENE C. SCHAFFER; SAM STRINGFIELD; DAVID REYNOLDS; JUSTIN SCHAFFER
Journal: Power and Education
Year: 2013 Volume: 5 Issue: 1 Pages: 52-63
ABSTRACT Building a valuable and sustainable educational experience for disenfranchised and disengaged youth remains a challenge for secondary schools. This article examines successful schools located in areas of deprivation through the lens of Rawlsianism, particularly those ideas stated in A Theory of Justice (1971). Case studies from 16 schools located in England and Wales are examined for characteristics identified by heads, teachers and pupils which support their overcoming low performance, poverty and social disadvantage. The article reports both the 15-year quantitative outcomes of the schools on national performance measures and qualitative findings on strategies used by the schools and students to reach comparatively higher levels of success than students at more privileged schools reach. Central to these characteristics is the schools’ ability to offer adequate basic rights or opportunities to all pupils. These schools were able to diminish social and economic inequalities for the least-advantaged students without diminishing these same opportunities for all students.

Foucault, Pollyanna and the Iraq Research Fellowship Programme: political grace and the struggle to decolonise research practice

Thu, 21 Mar 2013 16:57:49 GMT

Title: Foucault, Pollyanna and the Iraq Research Fellowship Programme: political grace and the struggle to decolonise research practice
Author: MICHELE MOORE; HEATHER BRUNSKELL-EVANS
Journal: Power and Education
Year: 2013 Volume: 5 Issue: 1 Pages: 63-75
ABSTRACT The Council for Assisting Refugee Academics in the United Kingdom launched a specific programme called the Iraq Research Fellowship Programme (IRFP) in late 2006 at the height of an Iraqi assassination campaign against academics. Whilst the programme's aims are laudable and its results utterly worthwhile, this article explores, from the point of view of two British female academics, somewhat unexpected by-products in its power dynamics. The different cultural contexts of Iraq and the West mean that Iraqi and Western scholars find themselves differently placed with regard to privilege in their collaboration. The power relations between the Western academics themselves and the different roles they play within the IRFP are characterised by issues of gender and status hierarchy. The theoretical approach the authors take to understand the micropolitics of the IRFP is a post-structuralist feminist one, in particular the post-structuralism influenced by the work of Michel Foucault. The authors argue that the micropolitics of gender, status hierarchy, the West and Iraq present within the IRFP are those acted out in the macro context of Western and Middle Eastern politics. In doing so, the authors suggest, following Foucault's precept that ethics involves the praxis of 'changing the subject', that the deployment of a 'politics of grace' is a primary resource for transformative research fellowship in international collaboration and that, on this foundation, Iraqi re-engagement with research and teaching can be truly facilitated.

Punch Drunk on Research Impact: a critical analysis of textual power politics

Thu, 21 Mar 2013 16:57:49 GMT

Title: Punch Drunk on Research Impact: a critical analysis of textual power politics
Author: JENNIFER PATTERSON
Journal: Power and Education
Year: 2013 Volume: 5 Issue: 1 Pages: 76-86
ABSTRACT Defined by Research Councils UK as 'the demonstrable contribution that excellent research makes to society and the economy', impact is a measure of achievement. Academics are required to predict impact as part of the process of obtaining funding for research, so it is now a measure of the value of research. This article outlines the linguistic and etymological origins of the word 'impact' in order to highlight and investigate the power basis of meanings embedded in a word that tends to be used as if it were a neutral term. The article employs a narrative style in order to investigate for whom, particularly within the academic world, impact functions. It discusses how the power politics in play relate to the ways in which funding operates in higher education and the ways in which that is governed by medical science and industry world views, which have become part of managerial institutional culture. It locates the shock of 'impact' as a symbolic marker of a postmodern crisis, a collision point within universities between positivist managerial values, science-and-technology-based funding frameworks, research and teaching, which is largely ignored. Impact reproduces elitist structures that could ultimately damage the values held within higher education as communities of learning and practice.

BOOK REVIEWS

Thu, 21 Mar 2013 16:57:49 GMT

Title: BOOK REVIEWS
Author:
Journal: Power and Education
Year: 2013 Volume: 5 Issue: 1 Pages: 87-91
ABSTRACT Not available

Editorial. Conceptually and Developmentally Appropriate Education for Financially Literate Global Citizens

Fri, 19 Apr 2013 14:03:09 GMT

Title: Editorial. Conceptually and Developmentally Appropriate Education for Financially Literate Global Citizens
Author: Thomas A. Lucey; Alan B. Bates
Journal: Citizenship, Social and Economics Education
Year: 2012 Volume: 11 Issue: 3 Pages: 160-162
ABSTRACT Not available

Financial Literacy Education for Citizens: what kind of responsibility, equality and engagement?

Fri, 19 Apr 2013 14:03:09 GMT

Title: Financial Literacy Education for Citizens: what kind of responsibility, equality and engagement?
Author: CHRIS ARTHUR
Journal: Citizenship, Social and Economics Education
Year: 2012 Volume: 11 Issue: 3 Pages: 163-176
ABSTRACT Financial literacy education is often assumed to be a form of technical and/or hermeneutic training that assists citizens as well as consumers make responsible financial decisions. As a form of civic literacy education, financial literacy education is often framed as promoting civic responsibility, equality and engagement. This article calls into question the seemingly common-sense construction of financial literacy as personal money management for citizens and consumers and charges that many of the dominant financial literacy education initiatives support civic irresponsibility, inequality and disengagement. From a perspective informed by critical theory and pedagogy, the first three sections of this article analyse the character of the civic responsibility, equality and political engagement promoted in the dominant financial literacy education literature while presenting critical alternatives for each. The analysis in these sections supports the claim made in the fourth and final section of this article that a critical, emancipatory civic financial literacy is needed for a responsible, engaged citizenry who can extend and protect more robust conceptions of freedom and democracy.

One Size Does Not Fit All: conceptual concerns and moral imperatives surrounding gender-inclusive financial literacy education

Fri, 19 Apr 2013 14:03:09 GMT

Title: One Size Does Not Fit All: conceptual concerns and moral imperatives surrounding gender-inclusive financial literacy education
Author: LAURA ELIZABETH PINTO
Journal: Citizenship, Social and Economics Education
Year: 2012 Volume: 11 Issue: 3 Pages: 177-188
ABSTRACT In the wake of the 2008 global economic crisis, financial literacy education received increased political attention worldwide as an important policy solution to achieve a variety of ends. Cloaked in the neoliberal language of value-neutrality, financial literacy education takes on a gender-blind character, presuming a level playing field. Through its naivety, financial literacy education perpetuates the false impression that men and women experience economic participation, decisions and outcomes in the same ways. This article explores how attention to gender justice is an important moral obligation if we are to achieve inclusive financial literacy education and recommends feminist pedagogies to counter dominant and uncritical approaches to financial literacy in classrooms.

Integrative Economic Education to Combine Citizenship Education and Financial Literacy

Fri, 19 Apr 2013 14:03:09 GMT

Title: Integrative Economic Education to Combine Citizenship Education and Financial Literacy
Author: BERND REMMELE; GÜNTHER SEEBER
Journal: Citizenship, Social and Economics Education
Year: 2012 Volume: 11 Issue: 3 Pages: 189-201
ABSTRACT Financial markets grow more and more important for society and its members. People, including school students, should meet these current as well as future competence requirements relating to financial literacy. However, the conditions determining the requirements for financial education are highly dynamic and are becoming more and more complex. So a point exists when the learning results of school education as well as lifelong financial education will not be sufficient to solve the financial problems people are confronted with. It might thus be more effective to take care of legal conditions, which are easier to handle. Generating such conditions requires civic competences in order to establish political pressure. Civic power of judgement without core financial and general economic expertise is not convincing and effective, because to achieve one's political objectives in a democratic society it is necessary to be in possession of the relevant arguments. Further, financial literacy without civic competence remains just on a reactive competence level instead of providing students with political agency. These two dimensions, i.e. financial literacy and the corresponding civic competences, have thus to be understood as parts of an integrative concept of economic education.

Intergenerational Financial Literacy: the case for teaching sustainable financial decision making in schools

Fri, 19 Apr 2013 14:03:09 GMT

Title: Intergenerational Financial Literacy: the case for teaching sustainable financial decision making in schools
Author: CONNOR K. WARNER; MARY FRANCES AGNELLO
Journal: Citizenship, Social and Economics Education
Year: 2012 Volume: 11 Issue: 3 Pages: 202-212
ABSTRACT This article examines national (US) educational financial literacy standards through the lens of sustainability and intergenerational responsibility. Linking financial literacy standards to important sustainability issues like the Bruntland Report, the American Indian seventh generation concept, and future ethics, the article recommends the addition of specific ethical, social, and environmental standards to current financial literacy standards. The example of water is used to illustrate the connection between sustainability and financial literacy, and implications for current educators are discussed.

Ten Hypotheses about Tolerance toward Minorities among Latin American Adolescents

Fri, 19 Apr 2013 14:03:09 GMT

Title: Ten Hypotheses about Tolerance toward Minorities among Latin American Adolescents
Author: DANIEL H. CARO; WOLFRAM SCHULZ
Journal: Citizenship, Social and Economics Education
Year: 2012 Volume: 11 Issue: 3 Pages: 213-234
ABSTRACT Discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation, race, mental and/or physical disability, religious background, HIV/AIDS status, and ethnic origin affects the well-being of minorities and society in general. Recent research in North America underscores the importance of contact with diverse networks, intergroup discussions, a social dominance orientation, religious beliefs, and the school climate, among other factors, to explain tolerance for minorities. Theoretical and empirical work in Latin America is less extensive and has been limited by the lack of quantitative data. This article evaluates 10 different hypotheses about tolerance, using data from eighth-grade students in six Latin American countries that participated in the International Civic and Citizenship Education Study in 2009. Overall, the results provide support for most hypotheses. Notably, countries with relatively more positive views of minorities tend to exhibit very small differences in tolerance attitudes among students of varying socio-demographic characteristics and, apparently, also more effective mechanisms for promoting tolerance through schools.

Entrepreneurs in Kentucky: exploring secondary students' economic and entrepreneurial dispositions and knowledge

Fri, 19 Apr 2013 14:03:09 GMT

Title: Entrepreneurs in Kentucky: exploring secondary students' economic and entrepreneurial dispositions and knowledge
Author: KIMBERLY P. CLAYTON-CODE
Journal: Citizenship, Social and Economics Education
Year: 2012 Volume: 11 Issue: 3 Pages: 235-249
ABSTRACT Entrepreneurship education has received increased attention at all levels of education. National content standards for entrepreneurship education have been developed that address content knowledge and attitudinal dispositions from kindergarten through university levels. In conjunction with this increased focus, one initiative that addressed the need for entrepreneurial and economic education at the secondary level was the Kentucky Council on Economic Education's Entrepreneurs in Kentucky curriculum program. This initiative aimed to develop economic and entrepreneurial knowledge and positive dispositions in secondary students. This article presents the dispositional and content knowledge results of students from 15 secondary schools, a total of 281 students, who participated in the initial Entrepreneurs in Kentucky curriculum initiative. Student responses to the project's pretest and posttest instrument were analyzed to examine if there was a significant difference between the mean pretest and posttest scores for student dispositions toward, and knowledge of, economic and entrepreneurial content. Results from the study indicated that there was a significant increase in secondary students' knowledge and attitudinal dispositions related to economic and entrepreneurial concepts as a result of their participation in the innovative curriculum program.

What Should Students Know about Money? Report of a Pilot Study of Proposed Research

Fri, 19 Apr 2013 14:03:09 GMT

Title: What Should Students Know about Money? Report of a Pilot Study of Proposed Research
Author: URVE LÄÄNEMETS
Journal: Citizenship, Social and Economics Education
Year: 2012 Volume: 11 Issue: 3 Pages: 250-254
ABSTRACT As in all developed and developing countries, the current financial constraints have had an impact on Estonian students' financial circumstances and it is valuable to consider what curricular developments might realistically be introduced to provide support. This article is a report on a pilot study intended to inform future research into curriculum development in the area of financial literacy.

BOOK REVIEW

Fri, 19 Apr 2013 14:03:09 GMT

Title: BOOK REVIEW
Author:
Journal: Citizenship, Social and Economics Education
Year: 2012 Volume: 11 Issue: 3 Pages: 255-256
ABSTRACT Not available

Editorial

Mon, 4 Mar 2013 14:16:42 GMT

Title: Editorial
Author: Steve Newstead
Journal: Psychology Learning & Teaching
Year: 2013 Volume: 12 Issue: 1 Pages: 1-3
ABSTRACT Not available

Adaptive Perfectionism, Maladaptive Perfectionism and Statistics Anxiety in Graduate Psychology Students

Mon, 4 Mar 2013 14:16:42 GMT

Title: Adaptive Perfectionism, Maladaptive Perfectionism and Statistics Anxiety in Graduate Psychology Students
Author: VICTORIA COMERCHERO; DOMINICK FORTUGNO
Journal: Psychology Learning & Teaching
Year: 2013 Volume: 12 Issue: 1 Pages: 4-11
ABSTRACT The current study examined if correlations between statistics anxiety and dimensions of perfectionism (adaptive and maladaptive) were present amongst a sample of psychology graduate students (N = 96). Results demonstrated that scores on the APS-R Discrepancy scale, corresponding to maladaptive perfectionism, correlated with higher levels of statistics anxiety with several subscales of the Statistics Anxiety Rating Scale (STARS). Results also demonstrated negative correlations between bilingualism and dimensions of statistics anxiety. Implications for future research and practical implications are presented.

Teacher and Student-focused Approaches: influence of learning approach and self-efficacy in a psychology postgraduate sample

Mon, 4 Mar 2013 14:16:42 GMT

Title: Teacher and Student-focused Approaches: influence of learning approach and self-efficacy in a psychology postgraduate sample
Author: LINDA K. KAYE; GAYLE BREWER
Journal: Psychology Learning & Teaching
Year: 2013 Volume: 12 Issue: 1 Pages: 12-19
ABSTRACT The current study examined approaches to teaching in a postgraduate psychology sample. This included considering teaching-focused (information transfer) and student-focused (conceptual changes in understanding) approaches to teaching. Postgraduate teachers of psychology (N= 113) completed a questionnaire measuring their use of a teacher- or student-focused approach, deep and surface approaches to learning and teaching, and research self-efficacy. Standard multiple regressions revealed that the manner in which postgraduate students approached their own studies (i.e., deep or surface learning approach) predicted the use of a teacher- or student-focused approach in their teaching practice. Specifically, postgraduates adopting a deep approach to their own learning were more likely to adopt a teaching-focused approach to their teaching practice. Those adopting a surface approach to their own studies were most likely to adopt a student-focused approach. Furthermore, postgraduates with a high level of teaching self-efficacy were more likely to adopt a student-focused approach to teaching practice. Additionally, postgraduates who had received formal teaching training scored higher on teacher self-efficacy than those who had not received such training. Taken together, the findings suggest the key role of formal training in enhancing self-efficacy in teaching, and demonstrate an association between the learning styles adopted by postgraduate teachers and their approach to teaching.

Misconceptions about Psychological Science: a review

Mon, 4 Mar 2013 14:16:42 GMT

Title: Misconceptions about Psychological Science: a review
Author: SEAN HUGHES; FIONA LYDDY; SINEAD LAMBE
Journal: Psychology Learning & Teaching
Year: 2013 Volume: 12 Issue: 1 Pages: 20-31
ABSTRACT This article provides an overview of the available evidence on psychological misconceptions, including key findings, current directions and emerging issues for investigation. We begin by defining misconceptions and then examine their prevalence and persistence, discuss their implications for student learning and highlight potential strategies to eliminate or reduce their influence. Thereafter, several theoretical and methodological issues that have traditionally defined research in this area are discussed. In particular, we highlight the possibility that reported rates of misconceptions may in part be driven by particular features of the measurement procedures employed. On the basis of this analysis, potential avenues for future research are outlined.

Staff Perspectives of Service User Involvement on Two Clinical Psychology Training Courses

Mon, 4 Mar 2013 14:16:42 GMT

Title: Staff Perspectives of Service User Involvement on Two Clinical Psychology Training Courses
Author: SIMON P. CLARKE; SUE HOLTTUM
Journal: Psychology Learning & Teaching
Year: 2013 Volume: 12 Issue: 1 Pages: 32-43
ABSTRACT This study investigated both negative and positive staff perspectives of service user involvement on two clinical psychology training courses as part of an ongoing process of service evaluation. Ten clinical psychology staff from two training courses were interviewed over the telephone by a current trainee clinical psychologist using a semi-structured interview method. Data were coded into textual units of meaning and then analysed using content analysis. The categories most cited by participants regarding the positives of service user involvement were that service user involvement 'develops trainees' learning' and 'challenges power differences'. For opportunities of service user involvement to provide benefits to the training courses, most participants cited 'meaningful versus tokenistic involvement', followed by 'strategic involvement'. Regarding negatives and barriers, those most cited were 'differences of opinion or agendas' and 'lack of resources'. Whilst the findings suggested that the service user involvement initiatives on both courses have been well received, research is needed into how service users also experience the process. Interventions that facilitate staff reflection and processing of multiple perspectives were also recommended, particularly with regards to negative experiences of service user involvement.

Quality Assurance in Psychology Programmes across Europe: survey and reflections

Mon, 4 Mar 2013 14:16:42 GMT

Title: Quality Assurance in Psychology Programmes across Europe: survey and reflections
Author: J. FREDERICO MARQUES
Journal: Psychology Learning & Teaching
Year: 2013 Volume: 12 Issue: 1 Pages: 44-54
ABSTRACT The present article examines how different institutions that offer psychology study cycles across Europe have adopted quality principles and have taken up particular quality assurance initiatives to raise standards and enhance quality. Thirty-eight different institutions from 32 countries who were members of a European psychology network responded to a survey about quality issues. Results are presented regarding (a) policy and procedures for quality assurance, (b) approval, monitoring and periodic review of programmes and awards, (c) assessment of students, and (d) quality assurance of teaching staff. Implications for the quality assurance of psychology programmes and for further studies are discussed.

Teaching Method and Effect on Learning Piagetian Concepts

Mon, 4 Mar 2013 14:16:42 GMT

Title: Teaching Method and Effect on Learning Piagetian Concepts
Author: DAVID J. SWIDERSKI; DEAN M. AMADIO
Journal: Psychology Learning & Teaching
Year: 2013 Volume: 12 Issue: 1 Pages: 55-63
ABSTRACT Instructors of psychology typically use a variety of methods to teach concepts. The present double-blind experiment is intended to determine the effectiveness of popular television clips as exemplars of Piagetian concepts compared to verbal descriptions of the same exemplars among a sample of 86 undergraduate students enrolled in an introductory psychology course in a US college. Results indicated an advantage in learning the concept of conservation at follow-up stage for students exposed to the popular television exemplars, but there were no differences in overall learning at initial assessment, or on the three other Piagetian concepts.

Using Game-based Learning to Teach Psychopharmacology

Mon, 4 Mar 2013 14:16:42 GMT

Title: Using Game-based Learning to Teach Psychopharmacology
Author: JANINA SCARLET ; LAUREN AMPOLOS
Journal: Psychology Learning & Teaching
Year: 2013 Volume: 12 Issue: 1 Pages: 64-70
ABSTRACT This article reviews several approaches used to teach psychopharmacology for graduate clinical psychology students. In order to promote engagement and increase student interest, students were broken up into groups and were asked to demonstrate their understanding of the material through a variety of interactive games (i.e., game-based learning, or GBL). Games used to teach this course included Quiz Bowl, Family Feud, Rounds, Potions, Brainopoly, and Puzzles. Results indicated that most students completed the reading prior to each class, were engaged with their team members, and appeared more confident in their understanding of the material over the course of the semester. Additionally, student satisfaction surveys revealed that most students greatly enjoyed these games and reported that they were useful to advancing their understanding of the material.

Using Eportfolios to Aid Reflection in Introductory Psychology

Mon, 4 Mar 2013 14:16:42 GMT

Title: Using Eportfolios to Aid Reflection in Introductory Psychology
Author: SHELDON SIPORIN
Journal: Psychology Learning & Teaching
Year: 2013 Volume: 12 Issue: 1 Pages: 71-75
ABSTRACT Electronic portfolios (EP) are an academic version of online social media (e.g., Facebook) that archive student work and support integrated learning. Despite limited theory, advocates believe EP enhances the reflective process. Thirty-six students in introductory psychology at Pace University were invited to create EP and complete optional EP assignments: a personality assessment; an appraisal of a group learning project; and a review of a guest lecture on addiction. Reaction to EP was mixed. Twenty-five out of 36 students created an EP and 15 out of 25 earned extra credit. Some higher-level reflection was observed. Results are discussed and a few ideas for future use are suggested.

Counterfactual Thinking in the History of Psychology Course

Mon, 4 Mar 2013 14:16:42 GMT

Title: Counterfactual Thinking in the History of Psychology Course
Author: DAVID W. CARROLL
Journal: Psychology Learning & Teaching
Year: 2013 Volume: 12 Issue: 1 Pages: 76-82
ABSTRACT History of psychology students wrote essays about historical figures and counterfactual events. A linguistic analysis of the essays revealed that counterfactual assignments included more auxiliary verbs and more references to tentativeness and the future. More important, scores on the counterfactual assignments but not the historical figure assignments correlated positively with a critical thinking subtest of the Collegiate Assessment of Academic Proficiency. The linguistic analysis and standardized test results suggest that the counterfactual assignment promotes a different form of thinking than more traditional historical assignments. Counterfactual thinking assignments may be applied to courses in other areas of psychology.

Organizing an Undergraduate Psychology Conference: the successes and challenges of employing a student-led approach

Mon, 4 Mar 2013 14:16:42 GMT

Title: Organizing an Undergraduate Psychology Conference: the successes and challenges of employing a student-led approach
Author: CORY L. PEDERSEN; JOCELYN LYMBURNER; JORDAN I. ALI; PATRICIA I. COBURN
Journal: Psychology Learning & Teaching
Year: 2013 Volume: 12 Issue: 1 Pages: 83-91
ABSTRACT Connecting Minds (CM) is a North American undergraduate research conference in psychology, hosted annually by Kwantlen Polytechnic University in British Columbia, Canada. However, CM is a conference with a twist: it is both student-focused and student-led. The organizing committee is comprised of both faculty and students working collaboratively. While prone to some unique challenges, this approach to conference organization has been exceedingly successful, both for the event and the individuals involved. The organization of CM provides an opportunity for faculty to take teaching out of the classroom, and for students to develop skills essential for success at the graduate level of their education or in employment settings. This article presents the challenges and benefits intrinsic to such a model from both a faculty and student perspective.

Strategy to Promote Active Learning of an Advanced Research Method

Mon, 4 Mar 2013 14:16:42 GMT

Title: Strategy to Promote Active Learning of an Advanced Research Method
Author: HILARY J. McDERMOTT; TERENCE M. DOVEY
Journal: Psychology Learning & Teaching
Year: 2013 Volume: 12 Issue: 1 Pages: 92-95
ABSTRACT Research methods courses aim to equip students with the knowledge and skills required for research yet seldom include practical aspects of assessment. This reflective practitioner report describes and evaluates an innovative approach to teaching and assessing advanced qualitative research methods to final-year psychology undergraduate students. An active-learning approach involving auto-photography was developed and implemented as the assessment requirements for a qualitative component of an advanced research methods module. The authors suggest that this student-centred active-learning exercise is a useful and successful strategy to promote the construction of knowledge.

Collaborative Project to Integrate Information Literacy Skills into an Undergraduate Psychology Course

Mon, 4 Mar 2013 14:16:42 GMT

Title: Collaborative Project to Integrate Information Literacy Skills into an Undergraduate Psychology Course
Author: MELISSA BIRKETT; AMY HUGHES
Journal: Psychology Learning & Teaching
Year: 2013 Volume: 12 Issue: 1 Pages: 96-100
ABSTRACT A collaborative project between an academic librarian and faculty member was implemented in an undergraduate psychology course with the goal of integrating specific information literacy learning outcomes relating to students' use of resources. As part of a semester-long, cumulative project, students' annotated bibliography assignments (N = 67), including 510 unique citations, were reviewed to distinguish resource format and type of research (empirical versus non-empirical). Based on the analysis, students used a variety of resources to complete course assignments. Our evaluation suggests that partnerships between academic librarians and faculty members may be beneficial in positively influencing information literacy skills in psychology classes.

REVIEWS

Mon, 4 Mar 2013 14:16:42 GMT

Title: REVIEWS
Author:
Journal: Psychology Learning & Teaching
Year: 2013 Volume: 12 Issue: 1 Pages: 101-107
ABSTRACT Not available

Abstracts of recent articles published in Teaching of Psychology

Mon, 4 Mar 2013 14:16:42 GMT

Title: Abstracts of recent articles published in Teaching of Psychology
Author:
Journal: Psychology Learning & Teaching
Year: 2013 Volume: 12 Issue: 1 Pages: 108-111
ABSTRACT Not available

Editorial

Mon, 4 Mar 2013 14:16:42 GMT

Title: Editorial
Author: Steve Newstead
Journal: Psychology Learning & Teaching
Year: 2013 Volume: 12 Issue: 1 Pages: 1-3
ABSTRACT Not available

Adaptive Perfectionism, Maladaptive Perfectionism and Statistics Anxiety in Graduate Psychology Students

Mon, 4 Mar 2013 14:16:42 GMT

Teacher and Student-focused Approaches: influence of learning approach and self-efficacy in a psychology postgraduate sample

Mon, 4 Mar 2013 14:16:42 GMT

Misconceptions about Psychological Science: a review

Mon, 4 Mar 2013 14:16:42 GMT

Staff Perspectives of Service User Involvement on Two Clinical Psychology Training Courses

Mon, 4 Mar 2013 14:16:42 GMT

Quality Assurance in Psychology Programmes across Europe: survey and reflections

Mon, 4 Mar 2013 14:16:42 GMT

Teaching Method and Effect on Learning Piagetian Concepts

Mon, 4 Mar 2013 14:16:42 GMT

Using Game-based Learning to Teach Psychopharmacology

Mon, 4 Mar 2013 14:16:42 GMT

Using Eportfolios to Aid Reflection in Introductory Psychology

Mon, 4 Mar 2013 14:16:42 GMT

Counterfactual Thinking in the History of Psychology Course

Mon, 4 Mar 2013 14:16:42 GMT

Organizing an Undergraduate Psychology Conference: the successes and challenges of employing a student-led approach

Mon, 4 Mar 2013 14:16:42 GMT

Strategy to Promote Active Learning of an Advanced Research Method

Mon, 4 Mar 2013 14:16:42 GMT

Collaborative Project to Integrate Information Literacy Skills into an Undergraduate Psychology Course

Mon, 4 Mar 2013 14:16:42 GMT

REVIEWS

Mon, 4 Mar 2013 14:16:42 GMT

Title: REVIEWS
Author:
Journal: Psychology Learning & Teaching
Year: 2013 Volume: 12 Issue: 1 Pages: 101-107
ABSTRACT Not available

Abstracts of recent articles published in Teaching of Psychology

Mon, 4 Mar 2013 14:16:42 GMT