Advancing an LGBTI inclusive curriculum in Scotland through critical literacy

Following the announcement, in November 2018, that Scotland would be the first educational system to introduce an LGBTI-inclusive curriculum in all of its state schools, this position paper advocates critical literacy as a theoretically congruent framework within which LGBTI issues can be explored. We suggest educators could do this by problematising social structures and language practices including our own professional actions beyond what we teach, and by using children’s literature to actively teach LGBTI issues and to open up spaces for discussion of these issues across curricular areas. What we propose is challenging in a Scottish educational context since Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) presents critical literacy as ‘finding and using information’, and it is not grounded in any wider theoretical basis, effectively removing the active, challenging and transformative aspects of critical literacy pedagogies. As Vasquez et al. argue, one of the key ways for teachers to engage with critical literacy is through the literature on its implementation in different contexts; in this position paper we hope to provide both a theoretical framework and practice accounts of LGBTI education from the wider literature to inform the development of an LGBTI-inclusive curriculum in Scotland and elsewhere

"I didn't know they did books like this!" An inquiry into the literacy practices of young children and their parents using metafictive picturebooks

Critical literacy is widely acknowledged as a crucial component of 21st century literacies, with a growing number of researchers providing inspirational examples of what can happen when teachers create critically literate ‘niches’ or spaces in their classrooms (O’Brien 1994; Leland et al 2005; Souto-Manning 2009). Despite this increase in scholarly interest, schooling’s traditional focus on code-breaking and comprehension-type literacy practices (Leland et al 2005) has meant that critical literacy still remains on the margins of many classrooms and curricula, as a buzzword, add-on or extension task that is often reserved for the eldest or most able (Comber 2001). Consequently, researchers have found that a critical stance still does not come “naturally” to readers within schooled contexts (Ryan & Anstey 2003; Scull et al 2013), a situation that cannot be remedied until critical literacy is widely used and valued by readers both inside and outside of schools (Carrington & Luke 1997). Responding to this context and motivated by an absence of research into the critically literate practices of families, a key aim of this study has been to find ways of making space for more critical “ways with words” (Heath 1983) to emerge in places other than classrooms. Underpinned by a theoretical understanding that a powerful and productive relationship exists between the effects of metafiction and the broadly-agreed aims of critical literacy, this thesis is an account of what happened when a group of eight parents and their eight primary school-aged children encountered the complex, surprising and disruptive demands of metafiction in picturebooks. Discussions about the picturebooks were located across a range of school-based and out-of-school settings and the resulting qualitative, analytical inquiry focused specifically on the literacy resources that dominated these readers’ responses when they engaged with metafiction. Key findings included the fact that comments with a ‘critical edge’ always emerged in direct response to the provocations of metafiction. More specifically, this study has identified the ability of metafiction to provoke resistance as a reader response; an experience that made it possible for some readers to interrupt and question their ‘natural’ literacy practices. In addition, the effects of metafiction made it possible for readers to develop metaliterate understandings, a term used here to describe a heightened awareness of language in use and of reading as an active, social process of meaning-making. In both cases, the effects of metafiction helped to foreground the often invisible dispositions that give shape to understandings about words - and pictures - and, simultaneously, about the world (Freire 1985)

“I don’t really have a reason to read children’s literature”: enquiring into primary student teachers’ knowledge of children’s literature

Research into in-service teachers’ knowledge of children’s literature indicates there is a powerfully symbiotic relationship between teachers’ perceptions and projections of themselves as readers and students’ engagement with reading as a pleasurable activity (Commeyras et al., 2003; Cremin et al 2014). Less is known about pre-service teachers’ knowledge of children’s literature or their attitudes towards reading and the Scottish context is unexplored in this regard. Inspired by and aligned with the work of Cremin et al (2008) with in-service primary teachers in England, this project investigated the personal reading habits of more than 150 student teachers over a two-year period by capturing snapshots of their knowledge of children’s literature and perceptions of themselves as not only readers, but as readers of children’s literature, at various stages of their initial teacher education. Framed by understandings of literacy practices as socially and locally constructed (Barton & Hamilton, 1998) and of literate identities as fluid, contingent and plural (Moje et al., 2009), this paper also outlines how project findings linked to knowledge of texts for children and reader identity have informed the teaching and learning of children’s literature at university level

Silenced by the gaps? The status of critical literacy in Scotland’s Curriculum for Excellence

Purpose: Critical literacy foregrounds the relationship between language and power by focusing on how texts work and in whose interests (Luke, 2012, p. 5). It is highlighted as an “important skill” within Scotland’s national educational framework for 3-18 year olds, the Curriculum for Excellence (CfE), yet, as this paper aims to show, what the concept means is far from clear for policy users (Scottish Government, 2009e). Design/methodology/approach: Using a lens that draws from critical discourse analysis, critical content analysis (Luke, 2001; Beach et al., 2009; Fairclough, 2010) and Ball’s method of policy analysis (2015), the authors find that the term “critical literacy” has been applied incoherently within key CfE documentation, including the frequent conflation of critical literacy with critical reading and critical thinking. Findings: The authors argue that the CfE’s use of “critical literacy” is a misnomer, given that the version presented is an amalgamation of literacy-related competences drawing largely from psychological and not socio-political perspectives of literacy. Social implications: This is a missed opportunity, given the Scottish Government’s stated commitment to social justice in policy terms (Scottish Executive, 2000; Scottish Government, 2016), not forgetting the powerful benefits that a critically literate stance could bring to Scotland’s learners at this time of communicative change and challenge. Originality/value: While the authors offer a contextualized view of the ways in which the term “critical literacy” has been incorporated into Scottish educational policy, they propose that its implications go beyond national boundaries

Pre-service teacher knowledge of children's literature and attitudes to Reading for Pleasure: an international comparative study

Reading for Pleasure (RfP) acknowledges the importance of reader engagement and the role of the teacher as a reader of children's literature. The foundational work of the Teachers as Readers (TARs) programme successfully illustrated the impact of RfP activities on student learning. Previous studies of teachers' reader identities have shown a strong need for professional learning to boost teachers' confidence with children's literature. However, less emphasis has been placed on the adoption of RfP pedagogy within initial teacher education (ITE) to develop pre-service teachers' (PST) knowledge of children's literature, as well as their understanding of teachers as reading role models for future students. This paper analyses data from research into RfP undertaken in two ITE programmes for primary teachers informed by contrasting policies in Scotland and Australia. Though both countries aim to improve school student literacy success, the curriculum mandates differ, shaping the potential pathways available in ITE courses. It is within this context that we report on 3 years of data on PST reader knowledge collected from 300 students using survey tools adopted from the original TARs study. Emerging findings provide evidence that teacher educators need to act as circuit breakers to alter PST attitudes to reading

Response Times as an Indicator of Data Quality: Associations with Interviewer, Respondent, and Question Characteristics in a Health Survey of Diverse Respondents

Survey research remains one of the most important ways that researchers learn about key features of populations. Data obtained in the survey interview are a collaborative achievement accomplished through the interplay of the interviewer, respondent, and survey instrument, yet our field is still in the process of comprehensively documenting and examining whether, when, and how characteristics of interviewers, respondents, and questions combine to influence the quality of the data obtained. Researchers tend to consider longer response times as indicators of potential problems as they indicate longer processing or interaction from the respondent, the interviewer (where applicable), or both. Previous work demonstrates response times are associated with various characteristics of interviewers (where applicable), respondents, and questions across web, telephone, and face-to-face interviews. However, these studies vary in the characteristics considered, limited by the characteristics available in the study at hand. In addition, features of the survey interview situation have differential impact on responses from respondents in different racial, ethnic, or other socially defined cultural groups, potentially increasing systematic error and compromising researchers’ ability to make group comparisons. As examples, certain question characteristics or interviewer characteristics may have differential effects across respondents from different racial or ethnic groups (Johnson, Shavitt, and Holbrook 2011; Warnecke et al., 1997). The purpose of the current study is to add to the corpus of existing work to examine how response times are associated with characteristics of interviewers, respondents, and questions, focusing on racially diverse respondents answering questions about trust in medical researchers, participation in medical research, and their health participation. Data are provided by the 2013-2014 “Voices Heard” survey, a computer-assisted telephone survey designed to measure respondents’ perceptions of barriers and facilitators to participating in medical research. Interviews (n=410) were conducted with a quota sample of respondents nearly equally distributed into across the following subgroups: white, black, Latino, and American Indian

Chapter 18: Response Times as an Indicator of Data Quality: Associations with Question, Interviewer, and Respondent Characteristics in a Health Survey of Diverse Respondents. Appendix 18

Appendix 18A Description of individual question characteristics and hypotheses for their relationship with RTs Appendix 18B Description of established tools for evaluating questions and hypotheses for their relationship with RTs Appendix 18C Sample Description Table 18.C1. Number of completed interviews by respondents’ race/ethnicity and sample Appendix 18D Additional Tables Appendix 18E Reference

The impact of armed conflict on school education

Armed conflict has a damaging effect on the lives of children and young people and affects their school education and future possibilities. This creates a serious challenge to the exercise of the human right for education and the achievement of a number of Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) – notably SDG 4, education for all, and SDG 5, gender equality. This paper examines the effects of armed conflict by discussing school closures, or partial closures, internal and external displacement, child soldiers, the six grave violations and the education of girls during armed conflict. The paper concludes with a discussion that argues that the policy of protection promoted by the United Nations is one that should be supported but there are other dimensions that also have to be considered: a more nuanced conceptualisation of childhood and a greater awareness and understanding of the child’s lived experience and agency, the protection of children to be ensured in ceasefire and peace agreements and implementation of strategies to protect children from the effects of war and the enforcement of legal measures and political sanctions that can be used to hold to account the perpetrators of the abuse of children in armed conflict

Questioning Identity: How a Diverse Set of Respondents Answer Standard Questions About Ethnicity and Race

Ethnoracial identity refers to the racial and ethnic categories that people use to classify themselves and others. How it is measured in surveys has implications for understanding inequalities. Yet how people self-identify may not conform to the categories standardized survey questions use to measure ethnicity and race, leading to potential measurement error. In interviewer-administered surveys, answers to survey questions are achieved through interviewer–respondent interaction. An analysis of interviewer–respondent interaction can illuminate whether, when, how, and why respondents experience problems with questions. In this study, we examine how indicators of interviewer–respondent interactional problems vary across ethnoracial groups when respondents answer questions about ethnicity and race. Further, we explore how interviewers respond in the presence of these interactional problems. Data are provided by the 2013–2014 Voices Heard Survey, a computer-assisted telephone survey designed to measure perceptions of participating in medical research among an ethnoracially diverse sample of respondents