Becoming an inclusive educator: Applying Deleuze and Guattari to teacher education

New ways of thinking are required in teacher education to promote beginning teachers as change agents in education. Twenty years after the Salamanca Statement (UNESCO, 1994) that called for schools to provide equitable opportunities for all children, teaching practices in many classrooms are informed by the deficit view of learning. Beginning teachers need to be prepared to challenge the ideological influences that operate in schools. Deleuze and Guattari’s (1987) model of the rhizome is used to report one beginning teacher’s journey as she learnt to negotiate structural and personal obstacles to create an inclusive learning environment. Data from reflective diaries, semi-structured interviews and classroom observations highlight contextual and personal factors in one case study that contributed to the nonlinear, complex process of becoming an inclusive educator. The paper concludes by arguing the voice of beginning teachers is essential for the ongoing movement towards the creation of just, inclusive schools

Understanding Social-Emotional Reciprocity in Autism: Viewpoints Shared by Teachers

Poor social-emotional reciprocity (SER) has been identified as one of the defining traits of autism. It is a key criterion in recent Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders editions, DSM-IV and DSM-V (American Psychiatric Association [APA], 1994, 2013). Yet this difficulty related to socially engaging and interacting with others is poorly understood. The study reported here was a small-scale, qualitative inquiry underpinned by a phenomenological approach in which social-emotional reciprocity (SER) was the phenomenon being studied. Semi-structured interviews with three experienced teachers at an Australian autism-specific school were used to capture their understandings and experiences related to the trait. Interestingly, our teachers found it challenging to discuss SER in isolation from other key autistic traits such as repetitive behaviour and restricted interests. When data were formally explored using Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA), teacher viewpoints clustered around three interconnected themes: perspectives about SER; relationships and friendships; and impact on teachers. Limitations of this inquiry and recommendations for future research in this area are provided

“My Uni Experience Wasn’t Completely Ruined”: The Impacts of COVID-19 on the First-Year Experience

The first year at university is always challenging, but particularly in 2020 when COVID-19 triggered lockdowns and a rapid shift to online learning. This mixed methods study tracked the wellbeing and engagement of 60 new students in an undergraduate teacher education program at an Australian university throughout the first trimester of 2020. Follow-up focus groups with 14 students used interview and photo elicitation to explore how COVID-19 influenced wellbeing and engagement. Quantitative results demonstrate both student wellbeing and student engagement dipped strongly at the start of lockdown but recovered towards the end of the trimester. Focus group findings illustrate the diversity of experience in terms of student access to time and space to study, their ability to sustain relationships online, and the cumulative stress of COVID-19. The findings lead to recommendations for supporting this cohort and for future research

Angiogenic Factors Stimulate Growth of Adult Neural Stem Cells

The ability to grow a uniform cell type from the adult central nervous system (CNS) is valuable for developing cell therapies and new strategies for drug discovery. The adult mammalian brain is a source of neural stem cells (NSC) found in both neurogenic and non-neurogenic zones but difficulties in culturing these hinders their use as research tools.Here we show that NSCs can be efficiently grown in adherent cell cultures when angiogenic signals are included in the medium. These signals include both anti-angiogenic factors (the soluble form of the Notch receptor ligand, Dll4) and pro-angiogenic factors (the Tie-2 receptor ligand, Angiopoietin 2). These treatments support the self renewal state of cultured NSCs and expression of the transcription factor Hes3, which also identifies the cancer stem cell population in human tumors. In an organotypic slice model, angiogenic factors maintain vascular structure and increase the density of dopamine neuron processes.We demonstrate new properties of adult NSCs and a method to generate efficient adult NSC cultures from various central nervous system areas. These findings will help establish cellular models relevant to cancer and regeneration

Transforming perceptions and responses to student difference : the journey of seven beginning teachers

Drawing on critical social theory and transformative learning, this study investigates the sociocultural factors that enable a move away from the deficit model of learning. The multicase study examines beginning teachers’ perceptions of learning and teaching for students experiencing learning difficulties. The fluid conception of identity occupied by beginning teachers was explored as the participants challenged structural ideologies and their personal belief systems. The study argues that personal factors such as, engaging in critical reflection and beliefs, and school factors such as job security and school context influence how beginning teachers respond to diverse learners and position themselves as agentive

Conceptualising a literacy education model for junior secondary students: the spatial practices of an Australian school

Evidence suggests that increasingly young adolescents are finishing school with poor literacy skills limiting their access to further education, training and employment. This has lifelong effects in terms of their economic participation and health and wellbeing. This paper examines the spatial practices of one school’s approach to improving literacy outcomes for its Years 8 and 9 students, in order to increase positive pathways after school. It shows how staff at this school have begun to work collaboratively with each other and community members in trying to address the reading needs of their students. Using the conceptual frameworks of spatial theory and reflection the paper will share the conceived and perceived spatial practices of staff identified in interview data. We argue that when ongoing reflective practice occurs potential transformative or ‘third space’, practices result; ensuring positive literacy learning outcomes for all students

Exploring how arts-based reflection can support teachers' resilience and well-being

Teaching is a complex profession, and it can have a significant impact on teachers' wellbeing. Awareness of personal and contextual factors that support resilience can help to improve teachers' wellbeing and counter burnout. Three case studies are presented to illustrate how arts-based reflection helped the participants to identify and express their thoughts, feelings and actions within their complex work space. A range of arts-based reflective practices, helped to elicit participants' awareness of the personal and contextual resources that supported their resilience and wellbeing. Such practices enabled them to reimagine their roles by identifying personal, strategic and contextual resources that could support and protect their resilience and wellbeing

Adolescent learners and reading: exploring a collaborative, community approach

Evidence suggests secondary teachers are increasingly in need of strategies to support students' literacy development, particularly in the area of reading. Secondary teachers however, are typically trained to be, and often see themselves as, disciplinary experts rather than literacy teachers. The purpose of this paper is to introduce an appropriate model for adolescent readers. This paper draws on two research projects focused on improving literacy learning in the secondary context. Short vignettes describe each school context and outline the approaches used to support their students. Findings show strategies to improve and support students' literacy learning, particularly reading, need to be student-centred and appropriate for adolescents rather than a 'top-down' approach. A whole school, collaborative approach that acknowledges the distinct needs and strength of students is shared

Sox2 Acts through Sox21 to Regulate Transcription in Pluripotent and Differentiated Cells

SummarySox2 is an important transcriptional regulator in embryonic and adult stem cells [1–4]. Recently, Sox2 was identified as an oncogene in many endodermal cancers, including colon cancer [5–8]. There is great interest in how Sox2 cooperates with other transcription factors to regulate stem cell renewal, differentiation, and reprogramming [9]. However, we still lack a general understanding of Sox2 transcriptional action. To determine transcriptional partners of Sox2 in adult cells, we generated mice where gene expression could be induced by an externally applied stimulus. We analyzed the consequences in the intestine where cell turnover is rapid. Sox2 expression, but not Oct4, specifically increased the numbers of stem cells and repressed Cdx2, a master regulator of endodermal identity. In vivo studies demonstrated that Sox21, another member of the SoxB gene family, was a specific, immediate, and cell-autonomous target of Sox2 in intestinal stem cells. In vitro experiments showed that Sox21 was sufficient to repress Cdx2 in colon cancer cells and in pluripotent stem cells. Sox21 was also specifically induced by Sox2 in fibroblasts and inhibition of Sox21 blocked reprogramming to the pluripotent state. These results show that transcriptional induction of Sox21 is a rapid and general mediator of the effects of Sox2 on cell identity in a wide range of cell types