Systemic threats to the growth mindset: classroom experiences of agency among children designated as 'lower-attaining'

In this paper, the authors consider how Carol Dweck’s concept of growth mindset has been misconceptualised. They explore the proposition that agency is an important aspect of growth mindset and that the effects of hard work by children is reduced when agency is limited. They draw on qualitative data from 84 interviews with 23 participant children who had been designated at the end of their Year 3 as ‘lower-attainers’ in mathematics, English or both. They explore their experiences of this designation across the first two years of the five-year project. Their findings suggested that participants displayed ample capacity for action, curiosity, engagement and creative learning. However, classroom rules sometimes mitigated against children benefiting from these capacities. Children narrated adopting the performance orientation suggested by Dweck, which could lead to a reduced sense of competence, which itself led to less agentic classroom behaviours

“Look at them! They all have friends and not me”: the role of peer relationships in schooling from the perspective of primary children designated as ‘lower-attaining’

This paper explores the peer relationship experiences of 23 primary-school children who had been designated as “lower-attaining”. It is written against the backdrop of the mental health crisis among young people in Britain. Using John Macmurray’s principles of equality and freedom as underpinning positive personal relationships, it investigates how “lower-attaining” children experience their peer relationships in a climate where attainment in mathematics and English is politically prioritised over the nurturing of positive relationships. We drew on the recent literature pertaining to peer relationships in general; and peer relationships among “lower-attainers” in particular. We build on the assumption that positive personal relationships support creative learning and high attainment. Using 107 extended individual and paired/triad activity-interviews as well as lesson observations every term over six school terms, we carried out research in four sample primary-schools. Our findings illustrated the high value put on friendships by sample children, despite a strong emphasis in schooling on individual competition. The children described instances of feeling troubled by their relationships; and their “low-attainment” status appeared to be linked to some, if not many, of their troubles. They sometimes felt excluded from the main body of their classes due to emphasis on high-attainment. We conclude by proposing a greater emphasis on collaboration and the nurturing of relationships in schooling, which in turn could support these children’s creative learning and attainment

Parity of participation? Primary-school children reflect critically on being successful during schooling

Nancy Fraser describes parity-of-participation in social interaction as an important component of social justice. In this paper, we explore the participatory experiences of primary-school-children who have been labelled ‘lower-attainers’ in mathematics and/or writing. The paper explores justice drawing on the perspective of these pupils, in relation to how they perceive success in their school learning. We link the concept of participation to the three components of social justice outlined in Nancy Fraser’s definition: a) distribution of wealth; b) recognition of status; and c) representation of voice. Our findings indicate that children who do not excel in attainment in prescribed subjects may experience obstructions to parity-of-participation within schooling which are beyond those encountered by all children. We conclude that injustices in all three senses (above) are being experienced by specific children and these injustices need urgent confrontation

Persevering for a cruel and cynical fiction? The experiences of the 'low achievers' in primary schooling

This paper is significant in its exploration of the experiences of children designated as ‘lower-attaining’ in British primary schooling. It is underpinned by Nancy Fraser’s conceptualisation of a global shift from government via nation-state welfare structures to governance through supra-national financialised neoliberalism. Within this context, we take the innovative path of investigating how ‘lower-attaining’ children explain perseverance with hard work at school within neoliberalism’s ‘cruel and cynical fiction’ of social mobility. Our extended interviews with 23 ‘lower-attaining’ children over two years provide findings which indicate – with a startling vividness – that these particular children experienced loneliness at school and blamed themselves for being inadequate and inferior. Fear appeared to be an essential component of their schooling system and sometimes elicited from them anger as well as humiliation. In particular, these children feared being assessed and sorted according to attainment. We propose that these factors often led the ‘lower-attaining’ children to experience schooling as at least uncomfortable. And yet they came to accept as fact the fiction that they were inadequate; and to perceive that perseverance in conforming to schooling’s rules was their only chance of not slipping out of the race altogether

'My life is like a massive jigsaw with pieces missing'. How 'lower-attaining' children experience school in terms of their well-being

‘Lower-attaining’ children are known to encounter negative experiences in school, including experiencing feelings of upset, shame and inferiority. Using extensive interview and observation data from the first two years of a five-year longitudinal study of 23 ‘lower-attaining’ children (age 7–9), we draw on Seligman’s theory of well-being to identify the children’s experiences of school in terms of their emotions, relationships and sense of achievement. Our analysis finds that on balance, these children are experiencing threats to their well-being in relation to their perceived lack of attainment and its associated shame, in an increasingly performative educational culture. We conclude that such threats are hampering the well-being of these children, which may cause both immediate and longer-term damage

Teachers' classroom feedback: still trying to get it right

This article examines feedback traditionally given by teachers in schools. Such feedback tends to focus on children's acquisition and retrieval of externally prescribed knowledge which is then assessed against mandated tests. It suggests that, from a sociocultural learning perspective, feedback directed towards such objectives may limit children's social development. In this article, I draw on observation and interview data gathered from a group of 27 9- to 10-year olds in a UK primary school. These data illustrate the children's perceived need to conform to, rather than negotiate, the teacher's feedback comments. They highlight the children's sense that the teacher's feedback relates to school learning but not to their own interests. The article also includes alternative examples of feedback which draw on children's own inquiries and which relate to the social contexts within which, and for whom, they act. It concludes by suggesting that instead of looking for the right answer to the question of what makes teachers' feedback effective in our current classrooms, a more productive question might be how a negotiation can be opened up among teachers and learners themselves, about how teachers' feedback could support children's learning most appropriately

Reduced glycogen availability is associated with increased AMPKα2 activity, nuclear AMPKα2 protein abundance, and GLUT4 mRNA expression in contracting human skeletal muscle

Glycogen availability can influence glucose transporter 4 (GLUT4) expression in skeletal muscle through unknown mechanisms. The multisubstrate enzyme AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) has also been shown to play an important role in the regulation of GLUT4 expression in skeletal muscle. During contraction, AMPK [alpha]2 translocates to the nucleus and the activity of this AMPK isoform is enhanced when skeletal muscle glycogen is low. In this study, we investigated if decreased pre-exercise muscle glycogen levels and increased AMPK [alpha]2 activity reduced the association of AMPK with glycogen and increased AMPK [alpha]2 translocation to the nucleus and GLUT4 mRNA expression following exercise. Seven males performed 60 min of exercise at ~70% [VO.sub.2] peak on 2 occasions: either with normal (control) or low (LG) carbohydrate pre-exercise muscle glycogen content. Muscle samples were obtained by needle biopsy before and after exercise. Low muscle glycogen was associated with elevated AMPK [alpha]2 activity and acetyl-CoA carboxylase [beta] phosphorylation, increased translocation of AMPK [alpha]2 to the nucleus, and increased GLUT4 mRNA. Transfection of primary human myotubes with a constitutively active AMPK adenovirus also stimulated GLUT4 mRNA, providing direct evidence of a role of AMPK in regulating GLUT4 expression. We suggest that increased activation of AMPK [alpha]2 under conditions of low muscle glycogen enhances AMPK [alpha]2 nuclear translocation and increases GLUT4 mRNA expression in response to exercise in human skeletal muscle. <br /

An investigation of the nature and reactivity of the carbonaceous species deposited on mordenite by reaction with methanol

An investigation of the nature of the carbonaceous species deposited upon mordenite by reaction with methanol has been undertaken. The nature of the species has been shown to be a strong function of both temperature and time on stream. Upon reaction at 300 degrees C a range of alkyl and aromatic species, consistent with the development of an active hydrocarbon pool, are evident and time on stream studies have shown that these are developed within 5 min. Upon reaction at 500 degrees C, a narrower range of hydrogen deficient aromatic species is evident. Thermal volatilisation analysis (TVA), not previously applied to the study of coked zeolites, is shown to be complementary to the more commonly applied C analysis, C-13 MAS NMR and TGA techniques

Hypocalcification and hypoplasia in permanent teeth of children from different ethnic groups in South Africa assessed with a new index

A new descriptive index, the HHI (hypocalcification-hypoplasia index), is described for comparing enamel defects in groups of people. The index was used in a study completed in 1986, in which 1251 11-year-old children from different ethnic groups resident in South Africa were examined: 210 rural black, 203 urban black, 206 urban colored, 426 urban Indian, and 206 urban white. The index can be used as a screening examination, and the results from these different ethnic groups are presented.TS2016.http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/08959374890030021001?journalCode=adr