Chipata College of Education Digital Library

Items

• An exploratory study on perspectives of Vietnamese experienced teachers and student teachers toward teachers’ code-switching
  There have existed different perspectives on teachers’ use of code-switching (CS) in sec-ond/foreign language (L2) classrooms. While some suggest teachers’ exclusive use of L2 in L2 classrooms, others argue that teachers’ switching to first language (L1) can have val-uable contributions to L2 teaching. Also, little research has examined student teachers’ perspectives on this issue even though student teaching experience plays a significant role in teacher education programmes. This exploratory qualitative study aims to compare the perspectives of student teachers and experienced teachers toward CS use in teaching Eng-lish as a foreign language (EFL) in Vietnam. Data were gathered through semi-structured interviews with fourteen Vietnamese EFL student teachers and experienced teachers. The findings revealed that all student teachers and experienced teachers had positive attitudes toward CS. In line with previous research, CS was reported to be employed for several different pedagogical functions in L2 classrooms, such as explaining grammar points, clar-ifying difficult concepts, checking students’ comprehension, and dealing with students’ misbehaviours. In addition, apart from the previously reported benefits of CS, such as facilitating students’ comprehension, saving time, motivating students, and accommodating students’ low English proficiency levels, the student teachers in this study also maintained that CS could help them address their anxiety in delivering instructions while the experi-enced teachers believed that CS could help them deal with their lack of confidence about their pronunciation and avoid students’ judgements. Based on the findings, this paper suggests that CS could be considered as an instructional strategy and EFL teacher education programs in Vietnam should consider incorporating training on teachers’ CS use to im-prove their awareness and confidence.
• Interrogating Equity in Education for Sustainable Development
  The discourse of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) promises a brighter, more just, and equitable future by ‘leaving no one behind’ and identifies Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) as a tool for reaching this future. This paper presents a critical analysis of whether Education for Sustainable Development in its current form is fit for this purpose, based on its conceptualizations of equity. Through this paper, I argue that the way ESD is conceptualized today suffers from a ‘design flaw’ as it is embedded in the dominant theory of neo-liberalism. I showcase that neoliberalism promotes a narrow concept of equity that is (i) top-down in nature, (ii) a by-product of economic growth, and (iii) seen merely as distribution of resources. I assert that for ESD to truly deliver on ‘leaving no one behind’ it needs to be re-conceptualized through ideas and theories that broaden the concept of equity: reflexivity and ecojustice. I begin by elaborating on the evolution of ESD and sharing how the concept is conceptualized by key international organizations. I then situate ESD within the neoliberal paradigm before demonstrating how neoliberalism espouses equity. I problematize these conceptualizations of equity, contending that they are restricted in scope and inhibit ESD from being a ‘transformative’ education. Finally, I reconceptualize ESD using two intersectional frameworks that broaden the notion of equity: reflexivity and ecojustice.
• UtopiaS and Reimagining the Reimagining of Higher Education
  Critiques of contemporary UK higher education oscillate between troubling ideological influences and working within the remit of these matters. In response to such circularity, this paper examines the contribution of future-oriented discussions that concern the ‘what could be’ rather than that ‘which is’. This is achieved first through a genealogical analysis of utopian thought and theory that traces from the modern’s problematic and potentially totalitarian preoccupation with the realisation of grand visions to the postmodern and feminist poststructural interest in the abstract utopian “wish” (Jameson, 2005), and second through applying these observations against existing “reimaginings” of higher education. Upon observing the emphasis these reimaginings place on expertly developed blueprints and singular frameworks for change, the final part of this paper develops a means of researching and teaching the future of and within higher education that favours the multiple and the subjective. Although this method, utopiaS, does not promise nor seek the concrete realisation of an objectively better sector, the perspectives that arise from its application will offer further insight into the shortcomings of the contemporary university. By supporting the exchange of ideas, utopiaS may also broaden the hopes and imaginative horizons of researchers, teachers, participants and peers, thereby pushing against the walls of the circle between ideology and utopia
• Books Saving lives? Critiquing the Conceptualisation of Education as Humanitarian Aid
  In recent decades, the world has witnessed an increase in violent and protracted conflicts. Education in Emergencies (EiE) as a field has emerged since the 1990s in response to these rising conflicts and disasters together with the realisation that children living in these situations often spend years without access to schooling. As EiE has grown, it has successfully positioned education as a key aspect of humanitarian aid. This paper focuses upon literature on conflict emergencies, including refugee and displaced populations. Through a review of the historical perspectives and development of EiE, this critical paper unveils that despite the conceptualisation of EiE as aid, it is not apolitical. By analysing the literature by prominent scholars and practitioners in EiE, the paper allows us to bear witness to the success of the rise of EiE which has developed from the power dynamics of the humanitarian aid infrastructure, governed by Western agendas and financing. In addition, the short-term vision and packaged nature of education to create normalcy supported by a rights-based and protection rationale has prevented the international development and aid sector from addressing wider structural issues and inequalities. The technical notions of EiE are revealed to be often detached from realities of communities and fail to empower and create quality learning opportunities. The paper calls for the immediate need to provide quality education to children in conflict and displacement settings but urges EiE to address the tensions and power relations examined between technical solutions, political agendas and security interests that remain at the core of the field’s evolution.
• How Young Readers Comprehend Multilayered Diegetic Worlds: A Case Study of Cloudland
  Constructing multilayered worlds is a prevalent strategy employed in fiction, especially within the genres of fantasy and fairy tales. Various techniques establish different imaginary worlds, which are either sharply demarcated or subtly intertwined. The tradition of weaving multilayered worlds into stories, along with depicting the journey of young protagonists from mundane realities to enchanting realms, is a cornerstone of children’s literature. This provides a fundamental method for fostering literary proficiency and cognitive growth among young readers. Viewing children’s reading as a voyage through multilayered fantasy worlds and back to everyday reality, readers begin by following the footsteps of protagonists and deciphering the textual and visual components, while drawing upon their real-life experiences and generating cognitive ties between the diegetic story and non-diegetic reality. This study thus examines the visual fantasy in John Burningham’s picturebook, Cloudland (1999/2017), with a particular emphasis on how young readers navigate multilayered diegetic worlds. Drawing primarily on Maria Nikolajeva’s cognitive approaches to children’s literature, this study incorporates an interview with a child in a critical stage of cognitive development. This involves a Drawing as Reflection section to validate the investigator’s hypotheses in the Close Reading section: which elements influence young readers in discerning between fantasy and reality? By analyzing the participant’s drawing and responses, this study demonstrates that real-world anchors and images play a decisive role when young readers engage with multilayered-worlds visual texts and explore the boundaries of different worlds.
• The Journey Continues: Where We Are and Where We Plan To Go
• The Role of Teachers in Adolescents’ Career-Specific Future Orientation
  Despite the importance of teachers and the school context to adolescents’ career development, teachers’ influence on adolescents’ career preparation has received little attention. This study examined the relationship between perceived support from teachers and adolescents’ career motivation and exploration. The sample for this study (N = 801) comprised senior secondary school students in Nigeria (Mean = 15.23 years) and data was analysed using structural equation modelling. Perceived teacher invested support, teacher expectations, and teacher autonomy support were related to intrinsic motivation to choose a career and career exploration. This study is relevant to research and practice in its investigation of the neglected role of teachers in adolescents’ career development and its inclusion of an understudied population in the discourse on adolescents’ future orientation.
• Educational Leadership in Crisis and Conflict: A Case Study on Ukrainian Educational Leadership and Institutional Adaptability
  This research project aims to improve upon our understanding of the role of education during violent conflict through the Victim, Perpetrator, Liberator, and Peacebuilder (VPLP) framework posited by Pherali et al. (2022). This research uses decolonial theory to move beyond the lens of singularity into the lived and multiple realities of education during conflict. Using reflexive qualitative interviews of five Ukrainian educational leaders who conducted community projects following the full-scale hostilities beginning in 2022 (Mandragelya, 2022), it builds upon the VPLP framework from Pherali et al. (2022), to understand how Ukrainian schools adapted to crisis. These interviews revealed how Ukrainian educational leaders shift between all four roles described in the VPLP framework instead of just performing one role. This research explores the importance of leader agency in prioritizing building resilience to adapt to changing circumstances during conflict and move beyond victimisation and perpetration roles to include liberation and peacebuilding education. During conflict, these educational leaders attempted to balance their educational responsibilities with liberation by resisting Russian hegemonic tradition and peacebuilding through community and trust-building projects. These attempts highlight the crucial role of educational leadership utilising their positionality to make critical decisions regarding how schools function and impact their communities during conflict and crisis situations.
• Human Rights Education in Osler and Starkey: From Analytic Framework to Object of Analysis
• COVID-19 and the Evolving Classroom: Perspectives from Two Indian Classrooms
  As in other parts of the world, the COVID-19 pandemic in India brought with it an unprecedented change in the fabric and structure of the classroom in Indian schools, with teachers having to shift from in-person teaching to online instruction without prior exposure or training to this new interface of teaching and learning. This study—which was part of a larger paper on the newly introduced Arts-Integrated Learning (AIL) approach to teaching in a section of Indian schools—throws light on the perils and the possibilities of online instruction as experienced by teachers and students in two Indian schools. Drawing on the voices of the participants from semi-structured interviews that were conducted over a duration of two months, the study reveals the challenges posed to teachers and students by voluntary and involuntary disengagement, deeply embedded systemic pressures such as shortage of time, technological shortcomings, and teacher-centric pedagogical styles. The study further revealed the changing role and function of the teacher in the classroom, from a source of knowledge to a facilitative agent in the learning process. Additionally, both teachers and students highlighted the benefits of online instruction, citing time saved as an important factor. Given these perspectives from the two most significant stakeholders in the educational landscape, the study offers practical recommendations that could potentially mitigate the challenges posed by online instruction and reimagine the online interface as a tool that could aid both teachers and students in their interactions.
• Midas Syndrome? Commognition as a Lens for Research on how Stem Sentences Feature in a Primary Mathematics Classroom
  This article outlines how commognition - communication and cognition - (Sfard, 2008) was utilised as a theoretical lens to guide doctoral research. My doctoral research aims to make sense of stem sentences, which are speaking scaffolds used in primary mathematics classrooms in England. I challenge an oversimplified narrative between mathematical thinking and communication, which endorses stem sentences as faultless discursive objects or d-objects – a narrative Dr. Anna Sfard names ‘Midas syndrome’ (Sfard, 2019, p. 98). Contrary to popular opinion, stem sentences are not faultless and how they feature in everyday classroom discourse is not well documented. My significant contribution to knowledge is a critical stance towards an endorsed-by-many practice and an evaluation of the utility of theory to analyse audio-visual data from the primary mathematics classroom. To support my argument, I outline an episode of classroom observation which features commognitive conflict, where stem sentences also feature, and how a class teacher expertly navigates a learner towards a mathematical realisation through visual mediation. The article is structured using guiding principles which exemplify and evaluate the appropriateness of commognition – gathered from Sfard’s seminal work ‘Thinking as communicating: Human development, the growth of discourses, and mathematising’ (2008) and related works – and the impact on my doctoral research when observing communication-in-situ in multilingual primary mathematics classrooms.
• Dialogues of fisherwomen in Amazonian coastal communities - outcomes of a financial literacy education programme
  The richness of resources in the Amazonian coastal region, combined with the need to break free from the constant financial vulnerability, stand at the heart of our fieldwork, conducted as part of the Fish Forever Program for Rare Brazil, an NGO that catalyses behavioural change to achieve enduring conservation results. Our research proposes an analysis of the intended and unintended outcomes of the financial literacy education programme offered during 2020 to the fisherwomen of eight communities in the State of Pará, Brazil. We aimed to understand the enablers and implications of individual and group change arising from that education programme. Drawing from theory of change and emancipatory education theories, we analyse evidence derived from ethnographic journals, interviews, and document analysis. Our initial findings show that the structure of the meetings for the financial literacy education programme enabled the emergence of new social-relational links amongst the women. This, in turn, allowed each woman to discover a new side of their identity, both on an individual and a communal level. Overall, we identify five themes of unintended outcomes: structured dialogue, foundations of dialogue, oracy, transformative emancipation, and self and group identity. We offer an analysis of their causes and implications. Using dialogic approaches to co-develop strategies of financial literacy allowed the women in eight Amazonian coastal communities to manage their fisheries' resources collectively and sustainably as well as see their cultural identity in a new light. We reflect on how this shift in the perception of self and group identities challenges elements of structural and cultural violence in the context of Amazonian fisherwomen. We conclude by proposing the inclusion of a feminist research perspective into the operationalisation of evaluation tools for education programmes aimed at fisherwomen in coastal communities.
• The ‘Reluctant State’: ‘Academic Technologies’ in Stephen Ball’s Policy Sociology
• Teachers’ perceptions of cyberbullying: a comparative multilevel modeling approach
  Teachers’ perceptions of bullying and cyberbullying in schools are an increasingly important field in educational research. Teachers play a very important role in reducing bullying, and many psychological theories (such as Social Cognitive Theory and Expectancy Theory) would suggest that teachers’ perceptions of bullying may influence their likelihood of responding. The aim of the research was to explore how teachers’ perceptions affected their likelihood of responding to varied cyberbullying scenarios (e.g., whether at home or school). Using multilevel modeling, this study investigated the relationships between teachers’ likelihood of response and key psychological factors and background characteristics, drawing on a convenience sample of 212 new and experienced teachers from England and the United States. Some of these factors include valence (severity of cyberbullying), expectancy (level of teacher self-confidence), and instrumentality (confidence in selected task). Findings show that valence, expectancy, and location of the cyberbullying were statistically significant predictors of teachers’ likelihood of response to situations of cyberbullying. This study has potential implications for the design of teacher training programs that could help address cyberbullying in schools.
• Does Cogmed Working Memory Training Improve School-age ADHD Children’s Academic Achievement?
  Working memory deficits are consistently found in ADHD children, which might underlie core ADHD symptoms, hindering ADHD children’s academic achievement. Thus, one way to enhance ADHD children’s academic achievement is to mitigate their working memory deficits through working memory training. A widely applied training is Cogmed Working Memory Training (WMT). Despite the prevalence of this training, its effect on ADHD children has been rarely reviewed. This study aims to fill this gap by systematically reviewing the effect of Cogmed WMT on ADHD school-age children’s working memory, ADHD symptoms, and academic achievement. It systematically searched PsycINFO, Google Scholar (for accessing grey literature), and Cogmed websites. Eleven randomised controlled trials met the eligibility criteria. Findings of these studies were qualitatively synthesised. The internal and external validity of studies included in this review were critically assessed. Results showed that Cogmed WMT might have a positive effect on school-age ADHD children’s performance on trained working memory tasks. However, the effect of this training was spurious for untrained working memory tasks, ADHD symptoms, and academic achievement. Findings of this study therefore did not yield strong support for Cogmed WMT having a positive effect on ADHD school-age children’s academic achievement. Hence, educational practitioners need to maintain a critical attitude when considering whether to adopt Cogmed WMT for ADHD children. More research on the effect of Cogmed WMT on ADHD children is also needed.
• Breaking Barriers: The Struggle for Equal Access to Higher Education in Israel's Palestinian Arab Minority
  This article undertakes a historical and contemporary examination of barriers to equal and equitable access to higher education for Israel's Palestinian Arab minority, with a specific emphasis on the pre-university examination criterion. Rooted in the aftermath of the 'Nakba' of 1948 and subsequent systemic erasures of Palestinian history and identity, the analysis uncovers how the segregated education system, compounded by socio-economic factors, has persistently hindered the learning outcomes of Arab students. These layered challenges reveal a sustained pattern of discrimination against Israel's Arab citizens, leading to a state of cultural and cognitive dissonance. Drawing on frameworks of Fanon and Sen, the paper argues for achieving more equitable educational outcomes through authentic integration models that value the minority's indigenous culture. This necessitates political resolve, historical acknowledgment, and a decolonial approach. The article concludes by outlining directions for future research focused on restructuring education policy to enhance Arab students' outcomes
• The Role of Parents in the Education of their Children with Disabilities in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Critical Review of the Literature
  Parents of children with disabilities (CWDs) play important and varied roles in their children’s education. Policies, including the United Nations Convention of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), underscore the need for parent-teacher partnerships to improve a child’s learning environment. This paper explores the extent to which countries in Sub-Saharan Africa have integrated the UNCRPD’s tenets on parental involvement in inclusive education into their own cultural contexts. To achieve this, the paper analyzes the literature written on parents of CWDs in the Sub-Saharan context to identify the different conceptualizations of the roles played by parents in the education of their CWDs. Findings of the literature review reflect consistent barriers faced by and responsibilities expected of parents of CWDs in educational settings. Future research should focus directly on parents of CWDs’ experiences in schools.
• Can humour help the Early Years supply teacher in developing positive relationships with staff and pupils?
• To mix or not to mix: A critical review of literature on mixed-age groups in primary schools
  In this review, I explore mixed-age grouping in primary schools, illustrating, through a review of scholarly research, its position within current education paradigms and in the field of education research. I justify my investigation into this topic and explicate my literature search procedure, considering the difficulties around establishing consistent terminology in mixed-age research. I explain various circumstances that give rise to mixed-age groupings and propose using four circumstantial categories – default, by-product, mandate, and preference – as a conceptual framework for understanding mixed-age phenomena. I then summarize findings from methodologically diverse inquiries into the effects of mixed-age grouping. These studies, conducted over the last sixty years, focus on many forms of mixed-age groups from around the world and consider both academic and social outcomes. Broadly speaking, outcome-based findings are inconsistent across time and place. Systematically measured differences are often small or non-existent. In the context of ambiguous empirical findings, I discuss the perspectives held by parents, teachers, and researchers around mixed-age grouping and highlight limitations of utilizing findings from comparative studies to inform education practice. I position the outcomes of my reviewed literature within the proposed circumstantial framework and discuss the implications of this standpoint. I deconstruct arguments for and against mixed-age grouping by posing the question “to mix or not to mix”, offering apparent reasoning for each position. I extend my perspective on the future of mixed-age research, focusing on the need for thorough description and clear definition of all investigated mixed-age groups, and conclude by critically considering mixed-age grouping as a promising education reform.
• The Relationship between Secondary Education and Economic Growth in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Review of the Literature
  Education plays a vital role in a person's life as it provides them with the necessary knowledge, skills and tools needed for the working world later on. With the introduction of the Millennium and Sustainable Development Goals in the 21st century by the international community, more children, especially in Africa, are attending school. With fast-growing economies, such as Kenya and Ghana, and the Sustainable Development Goals' particular focus on secondary education, the relationship between secondary education and economic development becomes fascinating. While most studies on this topic have looked at primary education's association with economic growth, this literature review tries to fill the gap in the academic literature by documenting and analysing the relationship between secondary education and economic growth in Sub-Saharan Africa. A general overview of the field and three detailed case studies are given. In addition, human capital theory is used to explain how people acquire knowledge and use it to their benefit to contribute and be productive in an economy. For this literature review, six major academic research databases have been searched for quantitative studies examining the relationship between education and economic growth in Sub-Saharan Africa. Most studies found a positive association between secondary education, largely proxied through enrolment rates, and national economic growth. This shows that investments in secondary education can boost local economies and provide people with more opportunities. However, more research must be conducted as the quality of education has been neglected in studies examining the relationship between secondary education and economic growth in Sub-Saharan Africa.
• Equitable Education: Opportunity and Entrepreneurship within the Spatio-Temporal Liminality of the Refugee Camp
  Refugees are spending increasingly protracted amounts of time in refugee camps, ‘waiting’ for a distant future outside of the camp to arrive. The notion of the camp as a temporary space of transition is contradicted by a reality in which this state of being ‘in limbo’ becomes indefinite, and at times even permanent. This essay presents a critical literature review to investigate what ‘equitable education’ means within this spatio-temporally liminal context of refugee settlement camps. While Amartya Sen’s capability approach and John Rawls’ theory of justice underpin many conceptualizations of equity, these do not hold in the inhumane condition of ‘bare life’, where refugees’ freedoms and rights are limited, and futures are continually delayed. Alternative reconceptualizations of the camp as a ‘third space’ of opportunity – with its refugee inhabitants as entrepreneurs rather than helpless victims – are supporting currently popular policies of (neo-liberal) self-reliance. By examining different interpretations of the triangle of concepts of ‘equity’, ‘refugee camp’ and ‘refugee’ within a framework of spatio-temporal liminality, this essay attempts to show that none of the various approaches discussed are unproblematic. Non-formal, self-led entrepreneurship education, however, may provide a chance to soften the ambiguous tensions of living in time-spaces of liminality, and facilitate a shift from education focussed on indefinitely delayed futures outside the camp towards supporting refugees’ creation of possible futures within the camp, ‘here and now’.
• Understanding Attitudes Towards Mathematics (ATM) using a Multimodal Model: An Exploratory Case Study with Secondary School Children in England
• Imagining Inclusive Education through Systemic Compassion
  School inclusion is a key United Nations priority (UNESCO, 2017). Their goal for education by 2030, is that everyone, without exception, will access their entitlement to an “inclusive and equitable quality education” (UNESCO, 2017, p. 2). There is rising support for the role that compassion might play in achieving this goal (UNESCO MGIEP, 2021). This paper explores compassion as a mechanism for promoting equitable and inclusive education in schools in England. The research aimed to stimulate the participants’ imaginations and emotions, to envision how a compassion-informed school might be realised. The paper presents the results of two comparative focus groups of education professionals with a shared interest in compassion and inclusion: one comprising teachers, and one comprising school leaders. The focus groups discussed the potential scope of compassion in facilitating and furthering inclusive practice, and imagined how this might be accomplished in a school setting. Thematic analysis was applied to the data, and the interpretation of the findings drew on systemic approaches and social network theory. The findings suggest compassionate approaches modelled by leadership as the most important priority, and external pressures on schools as the most significant barrier, in the development of a whole school approach to compassion. The paper argues the case for the role of compassion in facilitating inclusion, finding that this is most effective when compassion informs and infuses all aspects of school life.
• Reviewing Different Types of Working Memory Training on Reading Ability among Children with Reading Difficulties
  This review evaluates the effectiveness of different types of working memory training on reading performance among children with reading difficulties. Reading performance is closely related to academic achievement whilst working memory (WM) serves as a crucial cognitive component to reading. Some researchers believe that WM training can improve WM capacity, intelligence and other cognitive functions. However, whether the effect extends to reading performance has rarely been examined. According to the multi-component WM model, the current review classifies WM training into domain-general, domain-specific (verbal WM and visuospatial WM), and mixed training and evaluates their effectiveness to reading ability correspondingly. According to the existing studies, verbal WM training seems to be most effective for improving reading ability, while other types of training show effects on WM or cognitive skills but only limited effects for reading. Limitations of these findings and reasons for transfer failure are discussed.
• Building a Global Community in Educational Research Through Open-Review