“The Subjective Necessity”

Abstract

Several recent articles on social work education have advocated for the inclusion of literature in the curriculum. The authors argue that the value of including works of literature in the social work curriculum extends beyond specific content to the reading process itself. They assert that the subjective values inherent in works of literature or film, as opposed to textbooks, can pose a necessary challenge to empirical thinking by exposing students to a diversity of narratives and narrative forms and by introducing ambiguity, critical thinking, and interpretive freedom into the classroom. An argument is made for including literature in a process of learning that is “dialogic” rather than “monologic” and that, by its practice and methodology more than its content, embodies and transmits the professional values of social work.     

From “Producing” to “Consuming” Research: Incorporating Evidence-Based Practice Into Advanced Research Courses in a Master of Social Work Program

Schools of social work have begun to explore teaching evidence-based practice (EBP) across their curriculum. Although the current literature offers ideas on how to incorporate EBP in foundation research and practice courses, the literature seems nonexistent on how to teach EBP in an advanced research sequence, which could clearly address the widespread criticism that research courses are unsuccessful in making the practice–research link more apparent. This article describes the transition of one school from a “producing research” curriculum focus to an EBP focus, which embraces consuming research. In the present article, the authors discuss the benefits and struggles associated with these two different approaches.     

Between a Rock and a Hard Place: Shia Ismaili Muslim Girls Negotiate Islam in the Classroom

ABSTRACT

This case study investigates the experiences of Shia Ismaili Muslim girls as they encounter themselves as subjects of social studies curriculums on Islam. A postcolonial lens is used to examine differently empowered subjectivities and curricular epistimes within the high school world history context. In an effort to understand their experiences, this study focuses on how the students position themselves in relation to the curriculum, and ultimately asks, to what extent do students from minority communities of interpretation appropriate or resist the authoritative narrative of Islam offered in their classrooms, particularly around the question, “Who is a Muslim?” The central finding revealed a paradox of representation and participation for these students, who found their practice and interpretation of Islam silenced in the classroom curriculum, and yet felt obliged to defend Islam and educate others against stereotypes of Muslims. The implications of this study compel educators to explore decolonial approaches to teaching about the religious other.     

The Promise and Dilemma of the Mediated Parent-Teacher Relationship in the Age of Social Networking Sites

Based on an ethnographic study on two cohorts of teachers and parents in China, this article reveals that social networking sites (SNS) have widened the channel for parents and teachers to establish and maintain a relationship, and has formed an online “community of practice” to promote such collaborations. Yet, this could be accomplished only at the expense of teachers’ professional and personal boundaries becoming increasingly blurred, which has emerged as a potential risk for their professionalism. Moreover, such a “community of practice” has also opened up a new space for winning or losing at the educational game for parents from different background, which has inadvertently led to widening the arena for the operation of old mechanisms of social inequality. This study suggests that further investigation should be conducted to examine the potential of SNS in the parent?teacher relationship.     

The President's Greeting

Abstract

Based in an ethnographic project involving three Episcopal Church–affiliated high schools, this article considers how reflective and relational pedagogy influenced students’ personal growth in religious education classes. Students became self-responsible for their spiritual development in the school settings where the practice of “notebooking” (similar to “journaling”) was robustly relational and nurtured emergent personhood. The results of the project suggest that religious educators will benefit from reflecting on the nature and function of relationality, personae, and personhood in religious education praxis.     

Participatory Action Research and MSW Curricula

Abstract

The value of partnership and participation for human empowerment is routinely stressed in today's social work practice literature, in which scholars emphasize the need for consumer participation, co-inquiry, and client collaboration. Because research is recognized to be a crucial element in such collaborations, one would expect that, alongside traditional research topics, the goal of empowerment would likewise be recommended in current social work research literature and curricula. One might further expect that the curricula, as part of the menu of research methods, would espouse specific kinds of participative inquiry available in the social work and social science literature.

The purpose of this study is to explore to what extent social work research methodology courses offered through social work MSW graduate programs in the USA include content that encourages active involvement in the process of research by the people whose lives are being studied. In other words, the question put to test has been how much emphasis (or how little) is placed on a relationship of partnership between “inside” and “outside” participants in the design, implementation, and analysis of the research activity? Utilizing a content analysis research design, the study posed and addressed three exploratory hypotheses in an attempt to answer this question.     

Strategies and resources for contextualising the curriculum based on the funds of knowledge approach: a literature review

This article aims to describe and illustrate how the curriculum can be contextualised through different educational experiences based on the funds of knowledge approach. Educational contextualisation is understood to be the linking of curricular content (literacy, science, mathematics, social sciences) with students’ lives, including prior learning experiences from their homes and communities. The literature review began by surveying 59 articles retrieved from the ERIC database after entering the search terms “funds of knowledge” and “teaching methods”. Out of these, 22 peer reviewed papers were selected based on the following criteria: the paper should illustrate how artefacts produced by students (photographs, texts, artistic productions, digital stories) can be put to pedagogical use by turning them into resources to mobilise knowledge and experiences inside and outside school. The results are discussed in light of the CREDE Standards for Effective Pedagogy, as well as the notion of funds of identity, which has been proposed recently within the context of the funds of knowledge approach.     

An Ideology for the Liberal Jewish Day School: A Philosophical-Sociological Investigation

Liberal day schools in the United States have long championed the ideology of integration between Jewish and secular subjects and values, and have made the “integration” of these subjects and values with one another a cornerstone of their curriculum. In recent years, the ideology of integration has been called into question, and an alternative ideology and curriculum model that stresses the dynamic “interaction” that exists between the Jewish and secular components of the curriculum has begun to emerge. This article discusses the intellectual currents and historical conditions that led to the “integrative model” and indicates what the sociological factors and philosophical ideals have been that have led in recent years to the emergence of the “interactive model” and indicates how this latter model might be applied so as to inform the curricula of liberal day schools today.     

The Women's Educational Equity Act Resources for Ongoing Efforts

This article discusses how an experimental social science curriculum has influenced Latina/o students' perspectives of their potential to graduate high school and attend college. The curriculum, which is called the Social Justice Education Project (SJEP), requires students to adopt a serious academic subjectivity to analyze and address social conditions that may undermine their future opportunities. The curriculum reflects graduate-level seminars in critical theory and participatory action research. Many students in the first cohort to participate in the program were labeled “at risk” of dropping out. These students not only graduated but also excelled with the advanced-level course work. Their exposure to advanced-level work was the best measure for preventing their premature departure from high school as well as preparation for college. The article concludes with recommendations for how universities can work with local schools to foster the type of academic climate that is conducive to success.     

Orwell: 1984 and Counselor Educators

In 1949, Eric Blair, the English Socialist, wrote his powerful novel, 1984, under the pen name of George Orwell. The novel depicted a world in the year 1984 where the masses would be controlled by technology masterfully manipulated by “Big Brother.” The Ministry of Truth would provide such slogans as “War is Peace,” “Freedom is Slavery,” and “Ignorance is Strength.” The old languages of the world would be replaced by the official language of 1984, Newspeak. This article discusses how close we are, in 1984, to an Orwellian world and what the role of counselor educators is in combating an Orwellian philosophy. How can we use the knowledge, skills, and technologies we possess to assist ourselves and our fellow human beings in reaching higher levels of personal, intellectual, and social development and awareness? What changes are needed in counselor education to prepare counselors for the rest of this century and the first quarter of the 21st century?     

Building Professionalism in Human Dissection Room as a Component of Hidden Curriculum Delivery: A Systematic Review of Good Practices

The core values in medical practice which are essential for the humane outlook of a physician are clubbed within the domain of medical professionalism. Professionalism along with other discipline-independent skills (human skills) is propagated implicitly in medical schools as components of a “hidden curriculum.” Evidence suggests a strong association between “hidden curriculum” delivery and development of professionalism in the human dissection room. In this review article, the authors have tried to highlight a few exclusive practices adopted by medical schools which enhance the implementation of the “hidden curriculum” within the practice of human dissection and successfully inculcate the key components of professionalism such as integrity, respect, and compassion among students. These distinctive concepts are aimed at humanizing the experience of anatomical dissection by revealing the identity of the donors along with their personal details either through display of video clips of donor interviews, interactions with the family members of the donor over a meal or recognition of the donor as a mentor and organizing memorial services in honor of donors after conclusion of the dissection in the presence of their family members. The resounding success of these good practices in building professionalism among medical students from the onset of the academic curriculum has signaled a new chapter in anatomical sciences education. It has become imperative to recognize the visionary efforts of a select few medical educators and begin incorporating these recent trends into the delivery of the “hidden curriculum” within the evolving gross anatomy education model.     

Fast Kids,Slow Kids,Lazy Kids: Framing the Mismatch Problem in Mathematics Teachers' Conversations

Abstract

This article examines the social nature of teachers' conceptions by showing how teachers frame the “mismatch” of students' perceived abilities and the intended school curriculum through conversational category systems. This study compares the conversations of 2 groups of high school mathematics teachers addressing the Mismatch Problem when implementing equity-geared reforms. Although East High teachers challenged conceptions that were not aligned with a reform, South High teachers reworked a reform mandate to align with their existing conceptions. This research found that the teachers' conversational category systems modeled problems of practice; communicated assumptions about students, subject, and teaching; and were ultimately reflected in the curriculum. Because East High teachers supported greater numbers of students' success in advanced mathematics, this study considers the relation between teachers' understandings of student learning and the success of equity-geared math reforms. In addition, this study contributes to the understanding of how teacher conceptions of students are negotiated and reified in context, specifically through interactions with colleagues and experiences with school reform.     

Shifting from Sexual Orientation to Relational Orientation: A Discursive Move with Theoretical and Pedagogical Benefits

In this article, I argue that the term “sexual orientation” serves as a mechanism for preserving heteronormative hegemony, with the proposed concept of “relational orientation” encouraging a richer theoretical analysis of the factors that shape identity. The relational orientation approach establishes a more holistic representation of lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) individuals by granting primacy to romantic partnering choices, as opposed to the traditional emphasis on sexual behavior alone that ultimately functions to derogate this community. Furthermore, the model invites exploration of how the dynamics of all social relationships are profoundly and divergently shaped by one's “orientation.” By promoting greater understanding, this discursive framework offers educators a valuable epistemological and pedagogical tool that has the potential to lead to significant personal and societal transformation.     

Balancing the priorities of the classroom teacher with the imperatives of high stakes assessment of reading: An English perspective

The question underpinning this paper, and the international symposium on reading assessment at the University of Nottingham which preceded it, is this: “In what ways can we learn from each other how to improve reading assessment, at the personal, classroom, local and national levels?” This paper will attempt to answer the question “How can we learn from each other?” in the following ways: first some background information on the New Paradigms in Reading Assessment (NPRA) seminar will be presented; second, an account will be offered about what has been happening in language arts assessment (the subject termed ‘English’) in the United Kingdom, which goes some way to explaining why in England there has been a particularly urgent need to learn from the experiences of other countries; third, some examples will be given of new approaches to assessment in other countries, particularly the United States, Australia, and Scotland (which has the same government, but a different education system from that in England and Wales) from which those of us in England might learn; fourth, some principles which might underpin new assessment approaches within the English system will be put forward; and finally, an indication will be given of how some of these principles are being put into practice in classrooms in England, as pilot work on an international collaborative study.     

Jewish Creative Sensibilities: Framing a New Aspiration for Jewish Education

ABSTRACT

Proponents of building a “creative society” through educational innovation are calling for engaging learners in new modes of collaboration, problem solving, and original thinking. How might the enterprise of Jewish education contribute to this evolution in creative thinking and action? This article explores how “the Jewish sensibilities” can be adapted into a framework infusing Jewish “ways of seeing and being” into a vision of “Jewish education for a creative society.” The proposed conceptual framework aims to spark conversation, experimentation, research, and inquiry within the broader discourse of rethinking the aims of Jewish education for the future.     

Harnessing Teacher Potential as Israel Education Curriculum Developers

In this article I investigate how one group of teachers deliberated about Israel education with the intention to “modify the myth” as they engaged in curriculum reform. I begin from the idea that curriculum development should be an in-house endeavor that encourages faculty to embrace their roles as curricular decision-makers. Participants readily shared insights and suggestions from personal experiences and practices and explored goal language for teaching a critical Israel. However, moving from individual reflection to practical decision-making proved complicated due to factors stemming from personal and professional identities, school structure and culture. I consider implications for harnessing teacher potential as Israel education curriculum developers.     

“Walking the Talk”: A Conceptualization of International Mindedness to Inform Leadership in International Schools

In many of the most highly regarded international schools, international mindedness (IM) represents an overarching value orientation and a “mindset” to be developed in students. Over the last 2 decades, there has been increasing attention to both understanding and supporting IM in the explicit and formal curriculum in international schools; however, the theorization of the more implicit or hidden curriculum of international schools has been much less engaged. This article presents a broad conceptualization of IM from a synthesis of the most recent IM literature and, more specifically, digs deeper into the implicit forms of learning and subjectivity via a “post-informed” analysis of a critical anecdote of international school teaching. The article seeks to inform leaders of how they might more robustly understand IM and work to walk the talk of IM through a more open embrace of human difference and cultural conflict under complex, power-laden, and sometimes fraught social relations.     

当代大学“发展自由”的提出与意义建构

在学术本位让渡于学生主体发展的当代大学实践中,“发展自由”进入话语中心。在理论意义上,大学“发展自由”意味着尊重个体价值、通过环境学习、机会成就自我建构、进化性道德与制度规范;在实践意义上,则表现为精神自主、行动自律、学问自理。而学生作为自我探险者、教师作为课程开发者和学习场域作为课程等则构成大学“发展自由”的旨趣。     

基于实践的高师学前教育专业课程体系

“反思”与“实践”是现代教师教育的核心理念,以“培养反思性实践教育者”为目标;以“反思”“实践”为理念,提出构建基于幼儿园实践的高师学前专业课程体系,包括:专业基础、专业核心、专业选修、既定教育实践、反思共五大类课程。并指出保障条件为:树立以“反思”与“实践”为核心的课程理念、建设有话语权的示范性实践基地、建立实践教学管理体系、构建多元化的考评体系。