The reporting of university league table employability rankings: a critical review     

Fiona Christie 《Journal of Education & Work》2017,30(4):403-418

Which are the best and worst universities in the UK for getting a job when you graduate? This question attracts readers of the employability rankings in national league tables. This study critically reviews the employability measure used in the rankings and its subsequent reporting in public news and commentary sources, such as national and local media, student and advisory websites as well as universities and the publishers themselves. A debate that is constrained by a reproduction of the content and apparent neutrality of the employability measure in the tables is revealed. Universities themselves are the most frequent commentators, and echo the content of the tables fairly uncritically. Analysis leads to a consideration that participants in higher education may not be served well by a proliferation of information that can lead to simultaneous over-simplification and obfuscation that does not result in clarity or trust. I will argue that prospective students and their advisers need to review information that is available critically, and that universities individually and collectively should facilitate the production of a more nuanced narrative about graduate career pathways that is not controlled by marketing and metrics.  相似文献   

Changing Patterns of Thinking: Individuals and organisations     

Alan Jensen  Liz Malcolm  Fiona Phelps  Rob Stoker 《Educational Psychology in Practice》2002,18(1):35-45

The promises and hopes of the 'reconstructing' movement in educational psychology post-Summerfield 1968 (Gillham, 1978) have not had a major impact on the ability of the profession of applied educational psychologists to effect change across systems. Despite innovative ideas generated by individuals over the past few decades that have promoted opportunities to apply psychology more widely, there is little evidence that the profession has been able to expand on these initiatives and incorporate them into their existing practice. Ideas drawn from a variety of psychological sources enable applied educational psychologists to review their thinking and practice, and to develop different models that can promote and influence useful change at an institutional and/or individual level. This paper considers, in particular, the impact of new models of language and thought on organisational behaviour and, in turn, identifies the manner in which change at an individual and organisational level can be promoted.  相似文献   

Dermatoglyphics and the persistence of 'Mongolism'     

Miller FA 《Social studies of science》2003,33(1):75-94

In 1961, a prestigious group of medical researchers called on their colleagues to stop using the language of 'Mongolism' to describe people with what we now call 'Down's syndrome' (or Trisomy 21). This call responded to new knowledge about the biological basis of Down's syndrome: rather than the product of racial degeneration, as had been hypothesized in the 19th century, the condition was the result of an extra chromosome, dubbed '21'. Yet, despite this plea, the terms 'Mongol' and 'Mongolism' continued in scientific use through the 1960s. Drawing on published and archival materials, I argue that the new knowledge about chromosomes did not rupture older patterns of scientific practice or interpretation, and with them, older terminological habits. The persistence of the language of Mongolism reflects the continuity of a network of older approaches to interpreting the condition within the community of human and medical geneticists, including an enduring diagnostic and interpretive technology, dermatoglyphics. Old networks were not supplanted; they were re-aligned.  相似文献   

Architectures of oppression: Perceptions of individuals with Asperger's syndrome in the Republic of Armenia          下载免费PDF全文

Fiona Hallett  David Allan 《Journal of Research in Special Educational Needs》2017,17(2):123-131

This paper presents a phenomenographic analysis of perceptions of individuals with Asperger's syndrome in the Republic of Armenia. The primary objective was to apply and develop existing theory in a unique national context and across a broader respondent group than in previous studies. As such, the research compares and contrasts the views expressed by individuals with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEN/D), the parents of individuals with SEN/D and lay members of the public. Social comparison models developed by Hedley and Young (2006), Huws and Jones (2015) and Locke (2014) are utilised as lenses through which to analyse the conceptions, attitudes and beliefs of each respondent group. The particular social, cultural and political history of Armenia offers an insight into the challenges of, and opportunities for, autism research in the former Soviet Union.  相似文献   

The teacher as co-creator of drama: a phenomenological study of the experiences and reflections of Irish primary school teachers     

Fiona McDonagh  Michael Finneran 《Irish Educational Studies》2017,36(2):169-183

Classroom drama in the Irish primary school context remains a relatively new endeavour and is largely under-researched. The knowledge base for all aspects of teacher education should be informed by rigorous reflection on teachers’ experiences in the classroom. This paper reports on a phenomenological study conducted with seven Irish primary school teachers which focused on their experiences of co-creating drama with their students. Co-creating drama is held in this work to be the coming together of teacher and students in a collective creative enterprise during the drama lesson. The term proposes a partnership whereby they operate as co-participants and co-artists in the drama experience. The ‘creating’ aspect of co-creating can be considered the artistic enterprise of making drama in a way that is new and unique to the group. In considering the teacher as a potential co-creator of drama, the paper probes the emergent and changing ontological attitudes of the participants throughout the process: the values, attitudes and perspectives that informed their teaching. The paper illuminates the phenomenon of teachers co-creating drama in all its complexity, and seeks to reflect on the meaning of this for the teachers.  相似文献   

Exploring the nature and implications of student teacher engagement with development education initiatives     

Fiona Baily  Joanne O’Flaherty  Deirdre Hogan 《Irish Educational Studies》2017,36(2):185-201

In this article, the authors outline and discuss the findings of a research study, which explored student teacher engagement with development education (DE) interventions implemented within Professional Master of Education (PME) programmes across eight Irish Higher Education Institutions. Interpretivist methods were employed incorporating questionnaires administered to 536 student teachers pre and post the DE intervention and 6 focus group discussions conducted with 26 student teachers. Findings indicate that the capacity of PME students to engage with development issues and integrate DE into their teaching has strengthened considerably because of their participation in the intervention. However, in order to build upon this more must be done with respect to: strengthening student teachers’ knowledge of development issues; embedding DE further across PME programmes; enhancing practical engagement with DE on School Placement and prioritising DE-related research and reflection. Findings align with a conceptual understanding of DE as a complex system.  相似文献   

Using interactive nonfiction narrative to enhance competence in the informed consent process with 3-year-old children     

Fiona Mayne  Christine Howitt  Léonie J. Rennie 《International Journal of Inclusive Education》2017,21(3):299-315

ABSTRACT

Ensuring young children’s competence to participate meaningfully in the informed consent process is a troublesome ethical issue. Evolving recognition of the influence of context and relationship, researcher perspective, and researcher responsibility to provide adequate support has advanced understanding of how this might be achieved. Here, we report the findings of the pilot trial of a new approach that used an ‘interactive nonfiction narrative’ to enhance young children’s capacity to provide meaningful informed consent. This innovative approach employs (re)telling strategies and technology (interactive) to convey factual information about the research (nonfiction) via a story (narrative) to promote participant understanding. Case studies of two 3-year-old boys and their mothers captured participants’ understanding of the informing and consent process. Data collection in the child’s home took place over 11 weeks and included conversations with children and semi-structured interviews with parents on three occasions, together with videos of children interacting with the informing story. We found that children understood many of the key concepts, including the research problem and how they could ‘help’ (participate). Children also understood that they could cease their participation, with one boy exercising his right to opt out towards the end of the study.  相似文献   

Humanizing and conducive to learning: an adolescent students’ perspective on the central attributes of positive relationships with teachers     

García-Moya  Irene  Brooks  Fiona  Moreno  Carmen 《European Journal of Psychology of Education - EJPE》2020,35(1):1-20

The aim of this qualitative study was to identify central attributes of positive relationships with teachers from the adolescent students’ perspectives that could help delineate the meaning of student–teacher connectedness while exploring to what extent its main attributes were similar or different in England and Spain. As part of the EU-funded project “Well-being among European youth: The contribution of student-teacher relationships in the secondary-school population”, we conducted focus groups in England and Spain with 42 students aged 11 to 18 years. Using a bottom-up approach for thematic analysis, we identified two main attributes that were linked to positive relationships with teachers as seen by our participating students from England and Spain: humanizing relationships, in which the students are acknowledged and respected as individuals and feel understood and supported by their teachers; and relationships conducive to learning, encompassing aspects such as a perception of a genuine commitment with their learning on the part of the teachers, a positive classroom management, and teachers motivating students. This study contributes to the conceptualization of student–teacher connectedness and provides useful insights for teachers and educational professionals. In addition, the study findings pointed to the importance of power and authority dynamics in student–teacher relationships that foster or undermine connectedness, and they revealed some cross-cultural differences in the role of emotions in the class, two important aspects which deserve further attention in future research.

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Stories of family in working-class graduates’ early careers     

Fiona Christie  Ciaran Burke 《British Educational Research Journal》2021,47(1):85-104

How do young graduates view the role of immediate families in influencing/supporting them as they start their working lives and how do those reflections affect how they think of themselves as graduates? Social, political and economic changes have led to many young people being dependent on family for longer, but how does this play out in their reflections? This article addresses these questions by reporting upon findings from qualitative research with 14 young people from working-class backgrounds, who were part of a larger study of recent graduates. Figured Worlds theory illuminates data, with a consideration of the role that family plays in the ‘space of authoring’ and understanding of ‘positionality’. Findings capture vivid stories of the enabling but also limiting role of family. In our analysis of data, we borrow the words ‘salience’ from Holland and her co-authors and ‘distinction’ from Bourdieu, which help capture different depictions of family. Both articulations of ‘salience’ and a search for ‘distinction’ emerge in how graduates’ stories respond to family. We argue for a greater appreciation of the differing family resources of working-class graduates, and reject an emphasis on what they may lack, compared to their peers, which has tended to be the case in some media and policy commentary. There are implications for educators to foster student reflexivity about family sensitively, and to be aware of how family backgrounds may influence graduate career paths and students’ awareness of wider inequalities.  相似文献   

Changing perceptions about feminists and (still not) claiming a feminist identity     

Suzette Dyer  Fiona Hurd 《Gender and education》2018,30(4):435-449

We examine student perceptions about feminists and feminism, and the willingness to claim a feminist identity and engage in collective activism, as stated at the beginning and end of a Women’s Studies course. Course participation simultaneously fostered more positive views towards feminists and feminism and entrenched the unwillingness to claim a feminist identity and engage in activism. These contradictory outcomes stemmed from the critical capacity to recognise that structural inequality is reproduced through disciplinary relationships. Thus, unwillingness was entangled with feelings of fear and vulnerability in relation to the national context whereby neoliberalism guides the governance of the self, and where gender equality has presumed to be achieved. The article highlights that developing the willingness to identify and act is intimately shaped and constrained by the socio-political context and personal relationships. We consider the implications of this insight in relation to pedagogical assumptions about developing feminist knowledge in the classroom.  相似文献