Countering student 'instrumentalism' through creative mediation

One of the most significant features of the educational reforms introduced since 1989 has been the emphasis on raising achievement levels. One of the dangers of this emphasis is that teachers and learners become instrumental in their approach to teaching and learning. Research on the creative mediation of policy shows that primary teachers appropriate reforms and adapt them to ensure a high level of learner involvement in learning. This pilot study of three Year 5 and 6 classes focuses on the creative teaching strategies used to maintain learner involvement in the wake of all the reforms of the 1990s. In particular, the study uses learner perspectives as a major part of the data set. The tentative conclusions are that the clarification of learning objectives with the learners and the reconstruction of appropriate creative learning contexts has had an effect in countering learner instrumentalism. These approaches were effective in developing learners' awareness of the learning process and enabled them to articulate perspectives concerning those processes. However, the study did not find much evidence of teachers incorporating these learner perspectives into their curriculum and pedagogic programmes

Creative and performativity practices in primary schools: a Foucauldian perspective

A number of policy texts are present in educational settings at any one time and each influences the power and significance of others. Policy discourses are one of the main means whereby policy texts, in the settings in which they operate, influence the value, the implementation and the embedding of those policies. However, a number of discourses operate at the same time in any given context and they also they influence the interpretation and implementation of them through the way in which practitioners manage policy processes. This research focuses on two such discourses in education, that of performativity and creativity and investigates how primary teachers manage these policies and how they are influenced by them

Institutional embrace and the postmodern professional

The post-modern teacher is one that has been fashioned over the last 20 year. S/he belongs to a 'greedy institution' in which teachers embrace its values and reproduce them as well as adding value by contributing to a continuous reinvention of it. Their professional identity is now one that is isomorphic with the school, one in which status and professional expertise are bound up with the image of the institution in the glo-na-cal environment of global, national and local. Web sites proclaim the character of the school but also celebrate their local status while national league tables pin point their level of achievement locally and nationally. Their global responsibility is mirrored in their commitment to raising achievement for the labour market and the national economy. The post-modern professional teacher is now a total teacher taking on everything and anything that policy demands as well as their own interests and values, for example contrasting performative and creative pedagogies. The commitment of the postmodern professional has been gained through the development of team work and collaboration, the necessity to improve performative targets and the survival of their institution in a market orientated environment. Economic imperatives drive education policy and they now include creative and entrepreneurialist market approaches, team cultures and a discourse of performativity. The Total Teacher has to ensure the raising of achievement by reaching targets based on external testing, support the institution in maintaining its market position and status, use team strategies and develop creative learners. This paper examines the life of the total professional who plays a major role in the development of the embracing institution

Creative and Performativity Policies in Primary Schools

Primary schools face a new situation, one in which policies promoting creativity no longer have to be fought for but are being promoted at government and national educational level alongside policies that focus on the assessment of school performance in inspections and national tests and encourage target setting. We sought to ascertain how these policy discourses, the contents of which have been perceived as conflicting (Jeffrey and Woods 1998), were affecting primary school management, teachers and learners. In this climate of accountability schools appeared to embrace performance and act innovatively and creatively. Our professional primary school teachers were team players who contributed to the presentation of the school as a unified, creative, inclusive and effective managerial organisation. The merging of the two policies was not pervasive across schools or within schools but there were some examples involving cross-curricular projects. More prominent was a ‘bolt on’ activity of creative teaching and learning such as special creative curriculum weeks or days. Schools found it necessary to ensure success in national tests by institutionalising lengthy SATS preparation for, in some cases, the whole of the Spring term. However, performativity as a progression from one achievement to the next was valued. Teachers, learners and parents considered it beneficial to have information about levels because, in a spirit of openness, all knew what to expect. Professional Identities The stress levels found in the 1990s, (Menter, Muschamp et al. 1997; Osborn, McNess et al. 2000; Troman and Woods 2001) appear to have dissipated along with any resistance from teachers who appeared to be more focused on coping strategies such as team building and appropriating testing and target setting for their own professional benefit. The performativity imperatives were internalised and sometimes generated guilt if they were unrealised but teachers sought to ameliorate these tensions or to resolve them. Where resolution was not possible they accepted the tension and lived with it, (Jones, Pickard et al. 2008) facing daily dilemmas, tensions and constraints but acting creatively with colleagues to manipulate the situation. Conclusion The creativity and performativity policies were integrated at an organisational level through the construction of a school culture of performance and institutional positioning in an open market but less integrated at the level of pedagogy. Where the merging of the two pedagogies did take place – as in 'smart teaching' - teaching creatively was the preferred form over teaching for creativity. The progression narrative was a major feature around which curriculum and pedagogies were organised but where external performativity dominated such as national testing creative teaching was marginalised to ‘bolt on’ fun time slots

Ethnography, education and on-line research

This paper is an attempt to establish the methodological basis for carrying out ethnographies of online education communities, in particular in the Continuing Professional Development VITAL project co-ordinated by the Faculty of Education and Language Studies at The Open University www.vital.ac.uk/ A much shorter earlier draft version of this paper was given at the Qualitative Research For Web 2.0/3.0: The Next Leap! 25 & 26 March 2010 in Berlin. Organised by Merlien. The arguments and references in this paper are almost all to be found in two books 'one authored and one edited – by Professor Christine Hine of Surrey University, UK (Hine 2000; Hine 2005)

Democratic Ruptures and Electoral Outcomes in Africa: Ghana's 2016 Election

Repetitive elections are important benchmarks for assessing the maturity of Africa’s electoral democracies. Yet the processes through which elections entrench a democratic culture remain understudied. We introduce an important mechanism called a democratic rupture: an infraction in the democratisation process during competitive elections that has the potential to cause a constitutional crisis. It provides a new avenue of citizen participation outside of voting, and political space for opposition party realignment and to strengthen its support. Drawing from the case of Ghana, we show how the 2012 presidential election petition challenge served as a democratic rupture by contributing to the opposition’s victory in 2016, enabling its political development. First, it exposed flaws in the electoral system and led to demands for electoral reforms. Second, it led to citizens being better educated on the electoral process. Third, it taught political parties that vigilance at the polling stations can help win elections. The article provides a critical analysis of the factors that shape democratic development, especially in cases where opposition parties defeat incumbent politicians.Sich periodisch wiederholende Wahlen sind wichtige Maßstäbe für die Beurteilung von afrikanischen Demokratien. Doch die Prozesse, durch die Wahlen eine demokratische Kultur verankern, bleiben zu wenig erforscht. Wir führen einen wichtigen Mechanismus ein, den wir als demokratischen Bruch bezeichnen: Eine Verletzung des Demokratisierungsprozesses während der Wahlen, die zu einer Verfassungskrise führen könnte. Diese eröffnet einen neuen Weg der Bürgerbeteiligung außerhalb der Wahlen und des politischen Raums für die Neuausrichtung der Opposition und stärkt deren Unterstützung. Am Beispiel der Präsidentschaftswahl in Ghana 2012 zeigen wir, wie der erfolgte demokratische Bruch der Opposition ihre politische Entwicklung ermöglicht und dieser 2016 zum Sieg verholfen hat. Erstens wurden Schwachstellen im Wahlsystem aufgedeckt, die zu Forderungen nach Wahlreformen führten. Zweitens förderte er eine im Wahlprozess besser geschulte Bürgerbeteiligung. Drittens lehrte er politischen Parteien, dass Wachsamkeit in den Wahllokalen zu Wahlgewinnen führen kann. Der Artikel liefert eine kritische Analyse der Faktoren, die insbesondere in Fällen, in denen Oppositionsparteien etablierte Politiker besiegen, die demokratische Entwicklung prägen

Quantitative comparisons on hand motor functional areas determined by resting state and task BOLD fMRI and anatomical MRI for pre-surgical planning of patients with brain tumors

AbstractFor pre-surgical planning we present quantitative comparison of the location of the hand motor functional area determined by right hand finger tapping BOLD fMRI, resting state BOLD fMRI, and anatomically using high resolution T1 weighted images. Data were obtained on 10 healthy subjects and 25 patients with left sided brain tumors. Our results show that there are important differences in the locations (i.e., >20mm) of the determined hand motor voxels by these three MR imaging methods. This can have significant effect on the pre-surgical planning of these patients depending on the modality used. In 13 of the 25 cases (i.e., 52%) the distances between the task-determined and the rs-fMRI determined hand areas were more than 20mm; in 13 of 25 cases (i.e., 52%) the distances between the task-determined and anatomically determined hand areas were >20mm; and in 16 of 25 cases (i.e., 64%) the distances between the rs-fMRI determined and anatomically determined hand areas were more than 20mm. In just three cases, the distances determined by all three modalities were within 20mm of each other. The differences in the location or fingerprint of the hand motor areas, as determined by these three MR methods result from the different underlying mechanisms of these three modalities and possibly the effects of tumors on these modalities

Can vitamin D prevent acute respiratory infections?

Review of: Martineau AR, Jolliffe DA, Hooper RL, et al. Vitamin D supplementation to prevent acute respiratory tract infections: systematic review and meta-analysis of individual participant data. BMJ. 2017;356:i6583.Can vitamin D prevent acute respiratory infections? A systematic review and meta-analysis says Yes, but the dosages used may not be what you'd expect. PRACTICE CHANGER: Reduce acute respiratory tract infections in those with significant vitamin D deficiency (circulating 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels < 10 ng/mL) with daily or weekly vitamin D supplementation--not bolus vitamin D treatment. STRENGTH OF RECOMMENDATION A: Based pm a systematic review and meta-analysis of 25 trials.Bob Marshall, MD, MPH, MISM, FAAFP; Nick Bennett, DO; Ashley Smith, MD; Robert Oh, MD, MPH, FAAFP; Jeffrey Burket, MD, MBA, FAAFP Madigan Family Medicine Residency, Gig Harbor, Was

Fan Community Identification: An Empirical Examination of Its Outcomes in Japanese Professional Sport

nderstanding why sport fans socially interact with other fans, participate in team-related discussions, recruit new members, and retain membership in sport fan communities is an important issue for sport marketers. In this study, we tested a model of fan community identification that included outcome and moderator variables in the contexts of two major professional sport leagues (soccer and baseball) in Japan. Based on the results, in both settings, fan community identification had positive effects on team brand equity and four fan community-related consequences: fan community engagement, customized product use, member responsibility, and positive word-of-mouth. Furthermore, the impact of team brand equity on positive word-of-mouth was strengthened by consumers' participation in fan loyalty programs. The theoretical model and results add new insights that advance our understanding of fans' collective feelings of friendship and camaraderie in sport fan communities