Higher-order diffraction concept applied to parallel-plate waveguide patterns

Higher order diffraction concept applied to computation of parallel-plate waveguide aperture radiation pattern

Children's rights in student voice projects:where does the power lie?

This paper aims to develop understandings around the factors which facilitate and those which constrain implementation of Article 12 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989; UN General Assembly Resolution 44/25) in student voice projects. Article 12 is concerned with children being given the right to express their views freely, and for their views to be given due weight in matters affecting them. The paper considers empirical evidence from student voice projects in two schools in the south of England. Through examining the complex, micro-processes of school practices which came into play during the projects, it is argued that the power imbalance in student–teacher relationships plays a significant role in terms of inhibiting and enabling the implementation of Article 12. The paper draws on the work of Freire, Giroux and Foucault to help develop an understanding of the power differentials within student–teacher relationships

'We don't learn democracy, we live it!' : consulting the pupil voice in Scottish schools

As the education for citizenship agenda continues to impact on schools, there is a need to begin the discussion around examining the kind of initiatives that can push it forward. In Scotland the proposals should, it is argued, permeate the curriculum throughout the school. Yet there is the fear that the responsibility of all can become the responsibility of none. This paper examines, through case study research carried out by the authors, initiatives in schools designed to take forward the citizenship agenda in the light of children's rights. The first two relate to firstly the impact of pupil councils in primary schools and secondly the impact of discussing controversial issues in the primary classroom. The third outlines the impact on values and dispositions of developing more participatory, democratic practice in the classroom. The paper concludes by calling for both more initiatives of this type and more evaluation of their worth

Translating Learners, Researchers, and Qualitative Approaches through Investigations of Students’ Experiences in School

This article uses the conceptual framework offered by ‘translation’ to argue for transforming students into authorities and agents in research on educational practice. Drawing on various definitions of translation and highlighting the influence of recent feminist perspectives on translation studies, the article presents two cases that illustrate how learners can be translated into co-researchers of educational experiences, researchers translated into partners with students in making meaning through the research process, and qualitative research’s approaches and modes of presenting findings translated into new versions of those processes and products

Understanding children’s constructions of meanings about other children: implications for inclusiveeducation

This paper explores the factors that influence the way children construct meanings about other children, and especially those who seem to experience marginalisation, within school contexts. The research involved an ethnographic study in a primary school in Cyprus over a period of 5 months. Qualitative methods were used, particularly participant observations and interviews with children. Interpretation of the data suggests that children's perceptions about other children, and especially those who come to experience marginalisation, are influenced by the following factors: other children and the interactions between them; adults’ way of behaving in the school; the existing structures within the school; and the cultures of the school and the wider educational context. Even though the most powerful factor was viewed to be the adults’ influence, it was rather the interweaving between different factors that seemed to lead to the creation of particular meanings for other children. In the end, it is argued that children's voices should be seen as an essential element within the process of developing inclusive practices.<br/

Crossing borders: new teachers co-constructing professional identity in performative times

This paper draws on a range of theoretical perspectives on the construction of new teachers’ professional identity. It focuses particularly on the impact of the development in many national education systems of a performative culture of the management and regulation of teachers’ work. Whilst the role of interactions with professional colleagues and school managers in the performative school has been extensively researched, less attention has been paid to new teachers’ interactions with students. This paper highlights the need for further research focusing on the process of identity co-construction with students. A key theoretical concept employed is that of liminality, the space within which identities are in transition as teachers adjust to the culture of a new professional workplace, and the nature of the engagement of new teachers, or teachers who change schools, with students. The authors argue that an investigation into the processes of this co-construction of identity offers scope for new insights into the extent to which teachers might construct either a teacher identity at odds with their personal and professional values, or a more ‘authentic’ identity that counters performative discourses. These insights will in turn add to our understanding of the complex range of factors impacting on teacher resilience and motivation

Student civic participation in school: what makes a difference in Ireland?

Article 12 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child provides for the views of the child to be given due weight in accordance with the child’s age and maturity. Legislation in Ireland recognizes the rights of children to have a voice in educational matters. Based on a sample of 2838 14-year-olds in Ireland and using questionnaire data from the International Civic and Citizenship Education Study, this paper uses a multilevel model to examine the student and school characteristics associated with civic participation at school. Results indicate that boys have lower levels of civic participation at school than girls, but among boys only, civic participation at school varies in accordance with levels of perceived influence on decision making. Findings are discussed in the context of the rights of children to participate in decisions that affect them and with reference to Bandura’s social cognitive theory

What is Lesson Study?

This paper addresses the conceptual question ‘what is lesson study?’ as an issue that arises in the context of the globalization of lesson study as a method for improving teaching and learning beyond its presumed origins in the Japanese education system. To what extent can adaptations of the method in different national settings be interpreted as faithful representations of its practically significant ‘critical features’ in the country of origin? In order to address this question the author begins by examining the comparative classroom research by Stigler and Hiebert that culminated in the publication of their ground-breaking book The Teaching Gap. This work is generally acknowledged to have been seminal for the global development of lesson study as a method for improving teaching and learning. Sponsored by the 1997 TIMMS testing programme, the research sought to explain pronounced differences in measured educational attainment between students of all ages in Japan, and the USA and Germany. In the process Stigler and Hiebert discovered the extensive use of lesson study in Japanese primary schools as a school-based research method for securing consistency between learning goals and teaching methods. In doing so they identified six principles which underpinned the method and pinpointed its practical significance. In this paper the author claims, that the principles identified by Stigler and Hiebert can be used as a framework for assessing adaptations of lesson study in the context of globalization, and connecting it to related methodological ideas that are internationally circulating. In particular the author stresses links between lesson study, the tradition of classroom action research forged by Lawrence Stenhouse and his colleagues at the University of East Anglia, UK and the pedagogical theory of variation developed in Sweden and Hong Kong by Ference Marton, Lo Mun Ling and others. Such links it is argued can deepen a theoretical understanding of ‘lesson study’ and safe-guard it against a ‘cherry-picking’ approach to its implementation in a context of globalization. The paper particularly highlights the importance of understanding the ways in which the organizational cultures of schooling in many countries shape and distort the implementation of lesson study. It argues for the greater involvement of school leaders and administrators in a form of second-order action research aimed at transforming the organizational context of teachers’ work in classrooms, and creating more space for them to spend less time as test data managers and more time as lesson researchers in accordance with the six principles outlined