Hollywood films partially construct how Americans think about education. Recent work on the representation of schools in American cinema has highlighted the role of class difference in shaping school film genres. It has also advanced the idea that a nuanced understanding of American individualism helps to explain why the different class genres are…

Although not a well-known figure either in educational or South Carolina history, John Eldred Swearingen had a profound impact on the schools of the Palmetto State. Guiding the schools to transition from 19th-century academies to 20th-century schools, Swearingen held office from 1907-1922. During these years, Swearingen oversaw unprecedented…

This article is an autoethnography of the author's journey toward the reconciliation of her spirituality with the academy. She depicts the origin of her crisis in the academy, and why the climax of the crisis was critical to her reconciliation. Drawing on Cynthia Dillard's notion of an endarkened feminist epistemology, she identifies the Black…

Chicanas and Mexican women share a history of colonialism that has (a) sustained oppressive constructions of gender roles and sexuality, (b) produced and reproduced them as racially inferior and as able to be silenced, conquered, and dominated physically and mentally, and (c) contributed to the exploitation of their labor. Given that colonialism…

This article considers the significance of YouTube as a pedagogical space from which young people can play participatory roles as theorists in their own constructions as popular cultural subjects. Drawing upon the public profile of "KevJumba," a teenager who makes videos of himself on YouTube, the article suggests that representational practices…

As youths spend more time engaged in social media and informal learning experiences online, they interact with the public pedagogy of technological spaces. The public pedagogy of technological spaces, specifically Facebook, functions to create a "habitus" for the way youths act and respond in digital discourses and digital culture. This article…

This study explores gender differences in approaches to studying for GCSE among high-achieving pupils. The sample comprised 310 Year 10 and 11 pupils from two single-sex schools. Pupils completed a self-reported questionnaire designed to assess approaches to studying for GCSE, including statements relating to coursework, examinations, research,…

This paper examines the contribution of parents' education and children's gender on parental expectations of their children's future education and the role of parental perceptions of their child's competencies in the formation of their expectations. A group of university and vocationally educated parents (N = 418) were asked to estimate the…

The attitudes and the self-efficacy that characterize learners relative to the Internet have been identified as important factors that affect learners' motivation, interests and performance in Internet-based learning environments. Meanwhile, learners' perceptions of the Internet may shape learners' attitudes and online behaviours. This study…

The research examines the range of effects of obtaining Specialist School status in two contrasting mathematics and computing colleges, concentrating on the mathematics department. The positive impact of a wider range of technology was evident in both schools although the inherent pedagogical perspectives within each mathematics department…

Many researchers have identified a process they call "deskilling", which they use to describe the daily experience of teachers who have been gradually losing control of their own labour within "low-trust" workplaces. Conversely, other scholars have found that under similar conditions, some teachers have their own ways of dealing with it which…

Research aimed at developing and validating an instrument to assess secondary school students' perceptions of assessment tasks was conducted. Following a review of literature, a five-scale instrument of 40 items was trialled with a sample of 658 science students in 11 English secondary schools. Based on internal consistency reliability data and…

A survey of 172 undergraduates, carried out during the fall 2002 and spring 2003 semesters at a large research university in the Midwestern United States, found, as expected, a statistically significant positive relationship (r = 0.174, p [is less than] 0.05) between the importance students attributed to attendance and the rates at which they…

In this paper, we highlight the importance for teachers of having sound practical skills in interacting with students, parents, administrators and other teachers, and argue that the development of such skills is often insufficiently considered in professional training. We then present a new framework for conceptualizing practical skills in dealing…

Early murmurs concerning teacher attrition in the United States have risen to an alarming level since the 1990s. Given that half of the 1990s teaching force were/are expected to retire between 2000 and 2010, the cry has been heard loud and clearly throughout the nation. Furthermore, today's fledgling teachers are fleeing at astronomical rates,…