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Does paired mentoring work? A study of the effectiveness and affective value of academically asymmetrical peer mentoring in supporting disadvantaged students in school science
No full textBackground: In England, there is a growing need to improve the lives of secondary school students who are defined as disadvantaged and to support these students in their attainment and attitudes to secondary school science.
Purpose: This paper reports on a project designed to support students from disadvantaged backgrounds by pairing them with undergraduate mentors from a university throughout the final year of their compulsory science education in England (Year 11 – aged 15–16) at the end of which students take their public General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) examinations.
Sample: The study, set up as a randomised control trial, involved 86 disadvantaged students – students from low-income families who are eligible for free school meals, or had been looked after for more than six months, or whose parent(s) are currently in the Armed Forces. Four schools were recruited. The schools were similar in terms of the proportion of free school meals, GCSE 5A*-C measures and value added performance to reduce the likelihood of any effect being attributable to factors other than mentoring.
Design and methods: Students were recruited from four schools and were randomly assigned to experimental and control groups – half in each group. Experimental group students were mentored for one hour per week for 23 weeks up until their GCSE examinations with an intensive six-hour mentoring session just prior to those examinations. Data were collected from the Year 11’s mock and actual GCSE examination results as well as questionnaires from Year 11 and undergraduate mentors.
Results: It was found that mentored students did statistically better in terms of attainment in both mock and actual GCSEs examinations and also showed a statistically significantly greater improvement in their attitudes to science than un-mentored students.
Conclusions: These findings indicate the value of academically asymmetrical paired mentoring for disadvantaged students within science
Negotiating meaning in multiple communities of practice: reconciliation and disidentification in the identity work of headteachers leaving Anglican primary schools
No full textThe Anarchy: war and status in 12th-century landscapes of conflict
No full textThe turbulent reign of Stephen, King of England (1135–54), has been styled since the late 19th century as 'the Anarchy’, although the extent of political breakdown during the period has since been vigorously debated. Rebellion and bitter civil war characterised Stephen’s protracted struggle with rival claimant Empress Matilda and her Angevin supporters over ‘nineteen long winters’ when, according to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, ‘Christ and his Saints slept’. Drawing on new research and fieldwork, this innovative volume offers the first ever overview and synthesis of the archaeological and material record for this controversial period. It presents and interrogates many different types of evidence at a variety of scales, ranging from nationwide mapping of historical events through to conflict landscapes of battlefields and sieges. The volume considers archaeological sites such as castles and other fortifications, churches, monasteries, bishops’ palaces and urban and rural settlements, alongside material culture including coins, pottery, seals and arms and armour. This approach not only augments but also challenges historical narratives, questioning the ‘real’ impact of Stephen’s troubled reign on society, settlement, church and the landscape, and opens up new perspectives on the conduct of Anglo-Norman warfar
Embodied voices: using applied theatre for co-creation with marginalised youth
No full textIn this article we take a strength-based approach to understand how Applied Theatre as a vehicle, provides opportunities for embodied voices to have a positive influence on the wellbeing, and attitudes to health, of young people who have been ‘pushed’ to the margins. We begin by explaining the concepts of wellbeing, embodiment and embodied voices, and Applied Theatre, followed by an example of practice from Canada with Indigenous youth to illustrate these concepts, and finally present some recommendations for professionals using Applied Theatre for co-creation with ‘marginalised’ youth for their wellbeing
Entrepreneurial learning: peripherality and connectedness
No full textThis article explores the roles of peripherality and centrality in relation to entrepreneurial learning and development. Peripherality has previously been considered from a mainly geographical perspective as being remote, loosely connected, and marginal. A broader conception of the topic is addressed, asking: in what ways is peripherality relevant to entrepreneurial learning? How can centre-peripheral connectivity enhance this? What are the implications for communities, learners and educators
Developing an entrepreneurial mindset in US engineering education: an international view of the KEEN project
No full textThis article explains the Kern Entrepreneurial Education Network (KEEN) in introducing innovative approaches to undergraduate engineering degree programs in independent universities in the United States of America (USA). The mission is to graduate engineers with an entrepreneurial mindset to create personal, economic, and societal value
Building skills for effective primary teaching
No full textThis book supports and challenges primary trainee teachers and their mentors (both school based and university/SCITT based) by offering a range of approaches, strategies and perspectives to aspects of primary teaching, with learning and pupil progress as the focus. It offers thought provoking activities, case studies and reflection tasks for trainees and mentors and supports trainees working towards their professional development targets.
The text also explores less common themes such as question and dialogue, EAL and teacher presence. It helps trainees to understand and develop these skills and begin to use them in their teaching. It then supports them in reflecting on their development of these skills and evaluating their impact on learning
Academic writing
No full textThis chapter aims to support practitioners in the processes of academic reading and writing, including how to read non-fiction sources; the types of sources to use; expectations and features of academic writing; reflective writing; reviewing your work
Mastery
No full textThis chapter focuses on the principles of mastery and how this approach can be managed in the classroom. Although mastery as a teaching approach has existed for many years, a renewed emphasis has been placed upon this approach to learning which links with the intended application of the National Curriculum that all pupils should have opportunity to master skills and knowledge to ensure depth of understanding, that learning is embedded rather than rushing on to the next objective. This has serious implications for ideas about ability and differentiation. The influence of Singapore Maths and Mathematics Mastery is particularly evident in primary schools and this chapter aims to explore the benefits and challenges of this
‘You’ll see that everywhere’: institutional isomorphism in secondary school subject departments
No full textThis paper asks why spatially separated school departments might exhibit, in different ways, very similar practices. Data from an ethnographic study of three secondary school geography departments in England are discussed through a concept of ‘isomorphism’ (homogenising forces), drawn from neo-institutional theory. Similarities across these departments are analysed in terms of coercive isomorphism, including the strong regulatory role played by examination boards and Ofsted; mimetic isomorphism, in which similar approaches are adopted in response to situations of high uncertainty, based on spreading good practice; and normative isomorphism, including the implications of closely guarded educational routes, the professionalisation of teaching, and wider social trends including the increasing use of Google as a source of knowledge for lessons. It is argued that evidence of homogeneity across spatially separated departments raises interesting questions about teachers’ practice, with implications for departmental and school leadership