Trainee teachers in voluntary teaching posts: roles, rights and responsibilities

Trainee teachers in voluntary teaching post have diverse experiences that shape their teaching journey. Structural contexts related to teaching employment landscapes, education policy, institutional cultures and circumstances in addition to the trainee teacher’s own characteristics, motivations and personal situations all interact to affect how teachers train. Research funded by the Education and Training Consortium aimed to explore how trainees, course tutors and other stakeholders viewed the learning experience of trainee teachers in voluntary teaching posts. Fieldwork was undertaken from December 2014 – May 2015. Data was collected from a questionnaire completed by centre managers and 25 semi-structured interviews with centre staff, current Year 2 volunteer trainees and mentors, plus two focus groups of trainee teachers. Volunteer teaching posts can often be successful and offer valuable resources to both the trainee and affiliated institution. However, the balance between a trainee teacher’s learning experiences, their role, responsibilities and rights in their voluntary teaching post, and their developmental needs must be carefully managed as these can have important implications for a trainee’s professional identity and prospects of completing the course

NEET young people and the labour market: working on the margins

This paper is based on findings from a longitudinal study of twenty young people who have spent significant periods of time categorised as NEET (not in education, employment or training). Drawing on three years of ethnographic research conducted across two local authorities in the north of England, it focuses on the lived experience of a set of young people as they move between various sites of exclusion and participation in the labour market. Central to the paper are the experiences of three individuals and their attempts to begin work in the retail, care and catering industries. The paper illustrates a range of tensions between the aspirations of young people and the opportunities open to them. It provides a critical insight into some of the conditions which characterise work on the fringes of the labour market and the inter-play between these and the attitudes, values and dispositions of the young people taking part in the research. The paper’s findings challenge popular discourses about young people on the margins of participation and pose questions about the articulation between education, work and training for those seeking to enter the labour market

The Effects of Valproate Prodrugs on the Inositol Biosynthetic Pathway in Saccharomyces Cerevisiae Yeast

Bipolar disorder is a psychiatric disorder characterized by episodes of abnormally elevated mood followed by periods of extreme depression. Currently, valproate is one of the drugs used to treat the disorder but it is associated with many negative side effects. The goal of this project is to create a prodrug with structural similarities to valproate and determine if its effect on growth of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae is similar to that of valproate. Yeast cells were grown in media with or without the prodrug in the presence or absence of inositol. The results showed that the prodrug inhibited growth

Cinéma Vérité? Australian Film, Young Lebanese-Australian Men, and the Performance of Identity

Australian popular media has stereotyped young Lebanese-Australian men as ‘violent misogynists’; subsequently, young Lebanese-Australian men have been criminalised as the deviant ethnic ‘other’. Recently, however, a number of films have emerged that have attempted to challenge these stereotypes through a variety of mechanisms. This research aims to examine the role of stereotypes in identity-formation among young Lebanese-Australian men, and to explore their representation through characters and issues depicted within recent films. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with men who had been involved in filmmaking; these interviews explored the tensions inherent within the intersection of masculinity and ethnicity in the negotiation of everyday life, and the situational mobilisation of popular stereotypes in the performance of identity. While these results may be particular to the target group, this project illuminates the complexity of identity and the potential for empowerment and active resistance against racism and marginalisation

Managing mobilisation? : participatory processes and dam building in South Africa, the Berg River Project

This paper examines the participatory processes which led to the building of the Berg River Dam in South Africa’s western Cape province. The government-led formal participatory processes initiated by government stand in contrast to the mobilisation of environmental activists against the building of the dam. The case study illustrates that in this case the creation of formal participatory spaces both subverted and neutralised resistance to the building of the dam on the part of the environmental movement as well as civil society. Keywords: mobilisation, participation, water scarcity, scientific knowledge, lay knowledge, environmental activism, water resources managemen

A Principal as Literacy Leader: Promoting Literacy Outcomes for Third-grade Students of Color

Early literacy is the foundation for students’ academic (GPEE, 2019; Murphy, 2004) and future economic success (Carnevale et al., 2013; Frizzell et al., 2017; GPEE, 2019). However, a reading achievement gap continues to exist between low-income children, students of color, and their White and affluent peers (Au, 2007; Fiester, 2013; Hernandez, 2011; Salloum et al., 2017). Because third-grade reading proficiency has been linked to high school graduation (Fiester, 2013), the academic and employment success of students of color is determined by their ability to read. This qualitative, intrinsic case study will examine the literacy leadership practices of a Title I elementary principal in the southeastern United States. Through the lens of instructional leadership for literacy and culturally responsive school leadership for literacy, this study will examine how the principal (1) bolstered the outcomes of third-grade students of color and (2) formed partnerships with the parents and families of third-grade students of color to increase literacy outcomes. Data collection will entail school observations; principal, assistant principal, literacy or instructional coach, media specialist, and parent interviews; a teacher focus group; and document reviews. Data analysis will be conducted through an iterative process of reviewing, pattern-seeking, and regrouping (Stake, 1995). Methodological triangulation, member checking, and iterative questioning will confirm interpretations from the data collection process (Stake, 1995). The findings will report how the principal used literacy leadership practices to close the reading achievement gap for students of color in a Title I school