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SATurated models of pupildom: assessment and inclusion/exclusion
No full textAdopting a socio-cultural theoretical framework and based on ethnographic data from two primary schools, this paper seeks to answer the question: what meanings about inclusion and exclusion are encoded in school and classroom practices? It documents the (inclusionary and) exclusionary pedagogic processes that influence learning and children’s participation in the learning opportunities on offer to them. From their analysis of observational, interview and documentary data, externally-imposed and monitored regimes of assessment are what really matters in the school lives of the year six children in the authors' fieldwork schools. Assessment, narrowed to testing, defines the school day, the curriculum, the teacher’s responsibilities, the pupil’s worth, the ideal parent, and what counts as ability; it pushes towards a particular type of learning at the expense of other types. The article begins with a brief theoretical and methodological account of the study and a note on each participating school. It then suggests and discusses models of ‘SATurated pupildom’ that are supported by the data. Versions of learning and ability as well as teacher subject positions that variously fit with the demands of summative assessments for accountability purposes, but that do not square with valuing diversity, are also discussed. The conclusion briefly considers the findings in the context of a macro-culture that circumscribes what schools and teachers must value most and in relation to tensions within New Labour’s push for standardisation on the one hand and inclusion and social justice on the other
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
How did young left wing political activists learn to become active and critical citizens?
Full text linkThis thesis explores the factors that inspired left wing young people to become politically active. In particular it examines their citizenship education experiences. It asserts a critical and maximal conception on citizenship education and offers insights into how it can be improved pedagogically to promote activism for social justice. This thesis draws on and contributes to the literature in three fields: political socialisation; citizenship education; Marxist analysis of education and critical pedagogy. Its central theme focuses on the contradiction evident in the citizenship education literature. Based on the perspective that young people are increasingly disengaged from formal political activity, citizenship education is fundamental in education policy in Scotland. Whilst the Scottish policy context suggest a maximal conception of citizenship education which aims to build young people’s capacity to engage actively and responsibly in political affairs and to encourage thoughtful action to achieve social justice, the evidence shows that the minimal conception is dominant. This produces ‘personally responsible citizens‘ who accept our unjust and unequal status quo, meaning that it is largely unchallenged and reproduced. By working with young activists who were already active, critically conscious citizens committed to social justice, this thesis uncovers the key reasons for their development as activists and highlights the pedagogical approaches that helped this process. It deployed a critical qualitative research approach and conducted 17 individual, in-depth interviews with political activists from the Communist, Labour and trade union movement. A theoretical thematic analysis method was used to analyse this interview data.
Growing up in a political family and peer relationships were identified as key political socialising agents. This is consistent with the literature. However, music, which is often ignored in the socialisation literature, was also cited as a key agent. Another significant contributing factor to activism was their sense of political efficacy. This was underpinned by critical agency linked to a firm commitment to social justice. The Scottish Independence referendum and the election of Jeremy Corbyn as leader of the Labour Party were also identified as ‘critical moments’ that prompted their move to activism. The role of the formal school curriculum was complex. It supported the activism of some of the respondents, but for others it played little part. A few activists could identify taking part in some form of citizenship education. The influential role of the teacher was particularly significant in this context. Interestingly, this was largely restricted to one subject area, Modern Studies. Nevertheless, most of these active and critical citizens struggled to recall undertaking any clearly identifiable citizenship education in school. New knowledge and insights are offered for those interested in promoting a critical and maximal citizenship education that can support activism for social justice, particularly in school settings. The thesis shows that whilst schools do contribute to the reproduction of the current status quo, politically committed educators can also find the spaces in schools to resist this process. By adopting Freirean dialogical approaches to teaching and by providing opportunities for activism through participation in representative structures or community based voluntary opportunities educators can help nurture and inspire the development of young political activists
Headteachers’ views on the inclusion of students with special educational needs in Taiwan
Full text linkThe main aim of this research is to offer a sociological analysis of Taiwanese headteachers’
views of the inclusion of students with special educational needs (SEN) in mainstream
schools. Taiwan is a country which combines Confucian and westernised traditions, and
these are reflected in its education systems, including SEN provision. To date, there is little
research on headteachers’ views of inclusion and most studies involve attitudinal surveys. By
way of contrast, this qualitative research, which adopts a neo-marxist theoretical perspective,
is based on twenty five in-depth interviews with school headteachers, who are regarded as
having high social status in Taiwan. In addition, the research presents two case studies of
schools implementing inclusive practices, based on interviews with headteachers, analysis of
the school websites and media reports. Critical discourse analysis is used to analyse the
twenty five interview texts and the case studies. Three major discourses of inclusion are
identified: the managerialist discourse, the critical discourse and the school as social
microcosm discourse. The extent to which headteachers employ these discourses appears to
be influenced by various personal and social factors. Headteachers’ understanding of
disabled students is the key personal factor influencing their views on inclusion. Further,
their unfavourable attitudes towards the inclusion of disabled students may be influenced by
the views of parents with non-disabled children, competitive credentialism and the
government’s stance. With regard to the inclusion of gifted students, the discourses
employed are he following: the school as social microcosm discourse, the privileged class
discourse and the dilemmatic discourse. The first two discourses are articulated by
headteachers holding favourable attitudes towards the inclusion of gifted students whilst the
third discourse is articulated by those holding uncertain attitudes. Headteachers’
understanding of gifted students is the key personal factor influencing their views on
inclusion. Competitive credentialism has a major influence on attitudes towards the inclusion
of disabled students as well as gifted students. With regard to the two case studies of schools
exemplifying inclusive practices, it is argued that the wider applicability of their approaches
is questionable. Overall, the results highlight the Taiwanese government’s unclear stance on
promoting inclusion. This research has also suggested that a clear operational definition of
inclusion is necessary and urgent before the comprehensive implementation of inclusion in
wider educational arenas
An study of how teenage girls accommodate or resist emphasized femininities in progressive Scottish secondary school
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Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Full text linkWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
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