17(2)
Table of Contents
Editorial
An introduction to our Summer 2011 issue.
Articles
Michael Apple has changed educational review and study significantly over the past 35 years. He has written numerous books and articles, centering upon education and power, curriculum theory and research, cultural politics, critical pedagogy, as well as advancing the development of the democratic school. Challenging social and political orthodoxy Michael Apple has altered the way scholars and educators approach schooling in North America, situating school life and schooling at the centre of educational theory and practice and, undeniable, social critique. This essay reviews and appraises some of these changes. It follows Michael Apple’s scholarship, acknowledging the theorists profound influence over educational theory and the critical process.
Keywords: Critical Pedagogy, Michael Apple, Education, Resistance, New Sociology of Education.
This article presents a critical discussion of the controversy surrounding the perceived changes to the Saskatoon Public School Board’s assessment policy in September 2010. Utilizing Critical Discourse Analysis (Fairclough, 2005; Gee, 2005) and a critical framework of curriculum reform (Apple, 1996, 2000), an analysis of media representations, government statements, and curriculum documents suggests that the general public outcry, the Saskatoon Public School Board’s reaction to the controversy, and the government’s response exemplify a tacit understanding of the socialization purposes of school in preparing students for the world of labour. This article further examines the influence of "conservative modernization" (Apple, 1996; Lankshear & Gee, 1997; Gee, Hull, & Lankshear, 1996) on Saskatchewan educational policies and the capacity of Saskatchewan schools to innovate.
The aim of the article is to discuss the concept of pedagogical love and its connections to teaching and learning from various perspectives, as well as to illustrate the connection of pedagogical love to other forms of love. Pedagogical love is a specific teaching attitude and concretely demonstrates that action in the teaching profession, with pedagogical love as the core, consists of trust in pupils’ learning capacities and the desire to help pupils improve their abilities and talents. However, pedagogical love is not the only or easy solution to meeting different pupils’ needs and various learning problems.
Keywords: pedagogical love, ordo amoris, education, successful teaching, joy of learning
This article presents the work of two researchers who explored the use of pre-interview activities to support participants in recollecting and recording past events prior to an interview. Pre-interview activities took the form of drawings, diagrams, or lists. Using such activities helped participants to recall events that had transpired over many years and facilitated comfortable, conversational interviews with enhanced opportunities for the researchers to focus on and respond to the stories shared by participants. One researcher was investigating the experience of culturally and linguistically diverse students in schools and the other was researching intercultural communication for international Chinese students at university.
Keywords: interpretive inquiry; hermeneutics; fusion of horizons
This paper examines the role of story in educational research as an empowering method of inquiry. By stepping back and remembering why, the author retells a professional story of practice between her and a colleague, exploring Vivian Gussin Paley’s story play in a Grade 1/2 inner city classroom. Moving in and through past and present experiences illustrates the need for story in researching professional practice, the significance of story as a powerful research tool, and the profound understanding of teaching and learning that unfolds as a result of such collaborations. Story creates an ethos in the teaching and research community, uniting theory and practice into a visible partnership.
The primary purpose of this paper is an exploration of issues related to the provision of second level (central office) services available to schools within the Yorkton Tribal Council (YTC), a First Nations educational authority located in southeastern Saskatchewan. Research results supported the role of second level services in improving student learning and identified a shortfall in second level funding for the Yorkton Tribal Council. Key stakeholder focus groups from within the Yorkton Tribal Council agreed with these conclusions and identified a number of additional issues such as relevant curriculum, instruction, teacher recruitment and retention, and improved leadership and governance.
This review of research (1990 to 2009) on constructivist teacher education synthesizes a growing but fragmented body of research and links it to practice in teacher education; it provides a guide for future research, program development, and policy and practice development which is consistent with empirical evidence. It includes a selection of 27 studies on preservice efforts; efforts which include programs, courses, and field experiences. First, an analysis of the research suggests a variety of effects from both short- and long-term experiences. Effects are identified in two categories: (a) conceptual understandings (with three subcategories: understanding of content, pedagogy, and the self as learner) and (b) classroom practice. Then, based on the findings, six mediatory experiences are suggested that facilitate preservice teachers’ growth. Finally, the studies are assessed using a framework (Darling Hammond, 2006) to determine gaps in the research.
Keywords: Constructivism, Teacher Education, Preservice Teachers
Book Review
A book review of O’Loughlin, M., & Johnson, R. (Eds.), (2010). Imagining children otherwise: Theoretical and critical perspectives on childhood subjectivity. New York: Peter Lang Publishing.
Reviewed by: Robin Adeney, Kimberly Bezaire, Jane Hewes, Patrick Lewis, & James McNinch
