Pub Date : 2019-03-01DOI: 10.1177/1365480218817984
D. Chambers, A. Coffey
Transition from primary (elementary) to secondary school can be both an exciting and a daunting prospect for young adolescents. Ensuring that students quickly settle into their new secondary school environment is the goal of transition programmes employed by schools. These programmes typically comprise a number of discrete and interrelated initiatives that often commence in the year prior to the move and continue during the initial months in the new school. These activities generally include specific initiatives for both the students and their parents. The needs of both groups are many and varied. It is critical that whatever transition events and strategies are planned, the needs of all students and parents are catered for. In this article the authors propose that the principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) may provide a useful basis for the development of transition programmes that address the needs of all participants. UDL is based on three principles which are: multiple means of engagement, multiple means of representation, and multiple means of action and expression. Examples outlining how these principles can be applied before, during and after transition are provided. The authors conclude with the proposition that research be conducted in a variety of cultural contexts and across countries to investigate whether transition programmes based on UDL principles better enable schools to meet the needs of all transitioning students and their parents.
{"title":"Guidelines for designing middle-school transition using universal design for learning principles","authors":"D. Chambers, A. Coffey","doi":"10.1177/1365480218817984","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/1365480218817984","url":null,"abstract":"Transition from primary (elementary) to secondary school can be both an exciting and a daunting prospect for young adolescents. Ensuring that students quickly settle into their new secondary school environment is the goal of transition programmes employed by schools. These programmes typically comprise a number of discrete and interrelated initiatives that often commence in the year prior to the move and continue during the initial months in the new school. These activities generally include specific initiatives for both the students and their parents. The needs of both groups are many and varied. It is critical that whatever transition events and strategies are planned, the needs of all students and parents are catered for. In this article the authors propose that the principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) may provide a useful basis for the development of transition programmes that address the needs of all participants. UDL is based on three principles which are: multiple means of engagement, multiple means of representation, and multiple means of action and expression. Examples outlining how these principles can be applied before, during and after transition are provided. The authors conclude with the proposition that research be conducted in a variety of cultural contexts and across countries to investigate whether transition programmes based on UDL principles better enable schools to meet the needs of all transitioning students and their parents.","PeriodicalId":45995,"journal":{"name":"Improving Schools","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2019-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1177/1365480218817984","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46114819","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2019-03-01DOI: 10.1177/1365480218763845
H. Reicher, Marlies Matischek-Jauk
Depressive adolescents are a challenging and vulnerable group in schools. Specific developmental features such as irritability and comorbid behavioural disorders complicate the recognition of their emotional problems for peers, teachers and even parents. Our research shows that teachers tend to overlook depressive feelings in adolescents; however, even peers are not able to recognize depressive feelings appropriately. Emotional problems can result in underachievement, the inability to learn and problems building satisfactory interpersonal relationships. Our review of research findings detects a complex interplay between social dynamics of exclusion and depression. Educational intervention and prevention efforts with respect to evidence-based social-emotional learning (SEL) programmes are summarized. It can be concluded that the implementation of systematic SEL concepts in schools has the potential to recognize depression-related problems early, to prevent exclusion and to reduce the burden of depressive disorders.
{"title":"Depressive adolescents at risk of social exclusion: The potentials of social-emotional learning in schools","authors":"H. Reicher, Marlies Matischek-Jauk","doi":"10.1177/1365480218763845","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/1365480218763845","url":null,"abstract":"Depressive adolescents are a challenging and vulnerable group in schools. Specific developmental features such as irritability and comorbid behavioural disorders complicate the recognition of their emotional problems for peers, teachers and even parents. Our research shows that teachers tend to overlook depressive feelings in adolescents; however, even peers are not able to recognize depressive feelings appropriately. Emotional problems can result in underachievement, the inability to learn and problems building satisfactory interpersonal relationships. Our review of research findings detects a complex interplay between social dynamics of exclusion and depression. Educational intervention and prevention efforts with respect to evidence-based social-emotional learning (SEL) programmes are summarized. It can be concluded that the implementation of systematic SEL concepts in schools has the potential to recognize depression-related problems early, to prevent exclusion and to reduce the burden of depressive disorders.","PeriodicalId":45995,"journal":{"name":"Improving Schools","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2019-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1177/1365480218763845","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42671805","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2019-03-01DOI: 10.1177/1365480218764693
Joacim Ramberg, S. B. Låftman, Ylva B. Almquist, B. Modin
The effective schools literature has shown that school-contextual aspects matter for students’ academic and social outcomes. A potential link here may be the quality of the relationships between teachers and students, but few studies have investigated whether features of school effectiveness are in fact associated with students’ perceptions of teacher caring, which is the main purpose of this study. Based on recently collected data from 150 senior-level school units in Stockholm, school effectiveness in terms of teacher-assessed ‘school leadership’, ‘teacher cooperation and consensus’, and ‘school ethos’ (n = 2073) was analyzed in relation to perceived teacher caring as reported by students (n = 8022). Two-level linear regression analyses showed that all three aspects of school effectiveness were predictive of higher levels of perceived teacher caring among students. The findings suggest that these features of school effectiveness constitute an important foundation for promoting the quality of teachers’ relationships with their students.
{"title":"School effectiveness and students’ perceptions of teacher caring: A multilevel study","authors":"Joacim Ramberg, S. B. Låftman, Ylva B. Almquist, B. Modin","doi":"10.1177/1365480218764693","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/1365480218764693","url":null,"abstract":"The effective schools literature has shown that school-contextual aspects matter for students’ academic and social outcomes. A potential link here may be the quality of the relationships between teachers and students, but few studies have investigated whether features of school effectiveness are in fact associated with students’ perceptions of teacher caring, which is the main purpose of this study. Based on recently collected data from 150 senior-level school units in Stockholm, school effectiveness in terms of teacher-assessed ‘school leadership’, ‘teacher cooperation and consensus’, and ‘school ethos’ (n = 2073) was analyzed in relation to perceived teacher caring as reported by students (n = 8022). Two-level linear regression analyses showed that all three aspects of school effectiveness were predictive of higher levels of perceived teacher caring among students. The findings suggest that these features of school effectiveness constitute an important foundation for promoting the quality of teachers’ relationships with their students.","PeriodicalId":45995,"journal":{"name":"Improving Schools","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2019-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1177/1365480218764693","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47857750","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2019-02-11DOI: 10.1177/1365480219829537
Terry Wrigley
{"title":"Student well-being as a key strand of school development","authors":"Terry Wrigley","doi":"10.1177/1365480219829537","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/1365480219829537","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":45995,"journal":{"name":"Improving Schools","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2019-02-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1177/1365480219829537","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49582976","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2019-02-11DOI: 10.1177/1365480218794755
A. Zulfiqar, Faiza Rahman Syed, F. Latif
This article aims to explore the concept of student well-being and how it can be introduced and integrated within Pakistan’s educational structure. The basis of the discussion is built around the need for having a student well-being model for schools in Pakistan. For the purpose of the study, the information is gathered inductively through a detailed literature review of the relevant data, which was further supplemented by three case studies from the public, private and catholic schools in Victoria, Australia. Along with this, extensive literature review was made of Pakistan’s education system. Following the completion of the literature review and case studies, a comprehensive framework is proposed along with a student well-being management plan for developing and integrating the student well-being model into the existing educational programme in the country.
{"title":"Developing a student well-being model for schools in Pakistan","authors":"A. Zulfiqar, Faiza Rahman Syed, F. Latif","doi":"10.1177/1365480218794755","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/1365480218794755","url":null,"abstract":"This article aims to explore the concept of student well-being and how it can be introduced and integrated within Pakistan’s educational structure. The basis of the discussion is built around the need for having a student well-being model for schools in Pakistan. For the purpose of the study, the information is gathered inductively through a detailed literature review of the relevant data, which was further supplemented by three case studies from the public, private and catholic schools in Victoria, Australia. Along with this, extensive literature review was made of Pakistan’s education system. Following the completion of the literature review and case studies, a comprehensive framework is proposed along with a student well-being management plan for developing and integrating the student well-being model into the existing educational programme in the country.","PeriodicalId":45995,"journal":{"name":"Improving Schools","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2019-02-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1177/1365480218794755","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42897174","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2019-02-11DOI: 10.1177/1542305018817850
Joan G. Mowat
The primary–secondary transition presents both opportunities and challenges for children. For some, it may represent a ‘critical period’ which impacts their future mental health and well-being. This article focuses on identifying the affordances and constraints of a group-work approach to support children with social, emotional and behavioural needs (SEBN) across the transition with a specific focus on the socio-emotional aspects of transition. This evaluative, mixed-methods case study took place in six clusters of primary/secondary schools in Scotland involving 63 pupils who participated within support groups for around twenty 1-hour sessions. It focuses on the accounts of Support group Leaders, drawing from focus group discussions held within each cluster and a Likert-type scale questionnaire. A wide range of facilitators and barriers to implementation and to pupil progress were identified. Facilitators related principally to the quality of relationships and pedagogy which the support group afforded and the quality of support for the project. Barriers related principally to organisational and resource constraints and more general concerns around how behaviour support is perceived. The article argues that supporting the transition for pupils with SEBN is complex and there is no ‘magic bullet’. Building a supportive infrastructure from the outset is key to success.
{"title":"Supporting the socio-emotional aspects of the primary–secondary transition for pupils with social, emotional and behavioural needs: Affordances and constraints","authors":"Joan G. Mowat","doi":"10.1177/1542305018817850","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/1542305018817850","url":null,"abstract":"The primary–secondary transition presents both opportunities and challenges for children. For some, it may represent a ‘critical period’ which impacts their future mental health and well-being. This article focuses on identifying the affordances and constraints of a group-work approach to support children with social, emotional and behavioural needs (SEBN) across the transition with a specific focus on the socio-emotional aspects of transition. This evaluative, mixed-methods case study took place in six clusters of primary/secondary schools in Scotland involving 63 pupils who participated within support groups for around twenty 1-hour sessions. It focuses on the accounts of Support group Leaders, drawing from focus group discussions held within each cluster and a Likert-type scale questionnaire. A wide range of facilitators and barriers to implementation and to pupil progress were identified. Facilitators related principally to the quality of relationships and pedagogy which the support group afforded and the quality of support for the project. Barriers related principally to organisational and resource constraints and more general concerns around how behaviour support is perceived. The article argues that supporting the transition for pupils with SEBN is complex and there is no ‘magic bullet’. Building a supportive infrastructure from the outset is key to success.","PeriodicalId":45995,"journal":{"name":"Improving Schools","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2019-02-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1177/1542305018817850","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46878473","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2019-02-02DOI: 10.1177/1365480219825540
E. McManus, S. Paul
The role of schools in both educating children about loss and change and supporting bereavement experiences is emphasised, yet, school staff report low confidence in being able to support children when someone dies. This article reports on an evaluation of bereavement training that was offered to eight schools in Scotland and aimed to assist school communities to develop knowledge and confidence in engaging and supporting bereaved children. Pre and post questionnaires were used to measure the confidence, beliefs and values of 282 school staff that attended the training. Two focus groups were held for 6–18 months following the training to gain an understanding of the longer-term impact. Findings suggest that participants viewed bereavement support as part of their role and that a short and targeted bereavement-training programme can contribute to raising the awareness and confidence of school staff to respond to the needs of bereaved children.
{"title":"Addressing the bereavement needs of children in school: An evaluation of bereavement training for school communities","authors":"E. McManus, S. Paul","doi":"10.1177/1365480219825540","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/1365480219825540","url":null,"abstract":"The role of schools in both educating children about loss and change and supporting bereavement experiences is emphasised, yet, school staff report low confidence in being able to support children when someone dies. This article reports on an evaluation of bereavement training that was offered to eight schools in Scotland and aimed to assist school communities to develop knowledge and confidence in engaging and supporting bereaved children. Pre and post questionnaires were used to measure the confidence, beliefs and values of 282 school staff that attended the training. Two focus groups were held for 6–18 months following the training to gain an understanding of the longer-term impact. Findings suggest that participants viewed bereavement support as part of their role and that a short and targeted bereavement-training programme can contribute to raising the awareness and confidence of school staff to respond to the needs of bereaved children.","PeriodicalId":45995,"journal":{"name":"Improving Schools","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2019-02-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1177/1365480219825540","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47377851","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2018-12-29DOI: 10.1177/1365480218821501
Joseph M. Williams, A. Greenleaf, Erin F. Barnes, Tracey R. Scott
Children and adolescents from low-income families now comprise a majority of public school students nationally. As the number of students from low-income backgrounds increases, so does the achievement gap between them and their wealthier peers. This phenomenological qualitative study examined a national sample of high-achieving, low-income middle school students’ (N = 24) perspectives on what schools can do to promote the academic achievement of students from low-income backgrounds. Three main themes and seven subthemes were identified: create a culture of hope, develop relational networks, and establish meaningful parent–school collaborations. Implications for counselors and educators serving youth living in poverty are discussed.
{"title":"High-achieving, low-income students’ perspectives of how schools can promote the academic achievement of students living in poverty","authors":"Joseph M. Williams, A. Greenleaf, Erin F. Barnes, Tracey R. Scott","doi":"10.1177/1365480218821501","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/1365480218821501","url":null,"abstract":"Children and adolescents from low-income families now comprise a majority of public school students nationally. As the number of students from low-income backgrounds increases, so does the achievement gap between them and their wealthier peers. This phenomenological qualitative study examined a national sample of high-achieving, low-income middle school students’ (N = 24) perspectives on what schools can do to promote the academic achievement of students from low-income backgrounds. Three main themes and seven subthemes were identified: create a culture of hope, develop relational networks, and establish meaningful parent–school collaborations. Implications for counselors and educators serving youth living in poverty are discussed.","PeriodicalId":45995,"journal":{"name":"Improving Schools","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2018-12-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1177/1365480218821501","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47641782","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2018-11-01DOI: 10.1177/1365480218810558
Paul H. Smith, Melanie J Blackburn
Philip Woods and Amanda Roberts offer a valuable exploration of how leadership that is based on a deep commitment to social justice can improve the experiences of school children as well as those who are employed to support their development. It productively focuses on two key questions that all school communities should reflect upon: (1) what is leadership? and (2) what should leadership be? In response to these questions, collaborative leadership is offered as an ‘alternative vision’ to a top-down approach. This book is neatly divided into 10 accessible chapters. In its first chapter, a concise overview of the book’s aspirations is outlined, and there is a critical exploration of hierarchical and democratic leadership styles. Subsequently, non-hierarchal management, which has a commitment to democratic values and practices, is called for. Woods and Roberts do however acknowledge that, even when there is a strong organisational belief in the value of such leadership, traditional hierarchies are likely to continue to exist unless substantive whole school change takes place. This note of caution is extremely welcome as it flags up the scale of the change that schools must go through to establish management that is fully democratic. They explain how:
{"title":"Book review: Collaborative School Leadership: A Critical Guide","authors":"Paul H. Smith, Melanie J Blackburn","doi":"10.1177/1365480218810558","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/1365480218810558","url":null,"abstract":"Philip Woods and Amanda Roberts offer a valuable exploration of how leadership that is based on a deep commitment to social justice can improve the experiences of school children as well as those who are employed to support their development. It productively focuses on two key questions that all school communities should reflect upon: (1) what is leadership? and (2) what should leadership be? In response to these questions, collaborative leadership is offered as an ‘alternative vision’ to a top-down approach. This book is neatly divided into 10 accessible chapters. In its first chapter, a concise overview of the book’s aspirations is outlined, and there is a critical exploration of hierarchical and democratic leadership styles. Subsequently, non-hierarchal management, which has a commitment to democratic values and practices, is called for. Woods and Roberts do however acknowledge that, even when there is a strong organisational belief in the value of such leadership, traditional hierarchies are likely to continue to exist unless substantive whole school change takes place. This note of caution is extremely welcome as it flags up the scale of the change that schools must go through to establish management that is fully democratic. They explain how:","PeriodicalId":45995,"journal":{"name":"Improving Schools","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2018-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1177/1365480218810558","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41743931","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2018-11-01DOI: 10.1177/1365480218808892
Terry Wrigley
This issue is wide-ranging in its scope, introducing six innovative and original approaches to understanding school change. These authors explore challenging processes of parental networking, building teams of sufficient criticality, engaging with children’s preferences in more independent approaches to learning, the nature of organisational memory and expectations of students and teachers. Issues include important social justice questions such as avoiding urban segregation and supporting transgender and ‘gender expansive’ students. The first article, by Dara Hill from the University of Michigan-Dearborn (USA), concerns parents in inner areas of the city of Detroit organising together to ensure good school places. There has been a strong trend of better-off families moving away from the inner areas and out to the suburbs, thus increasing segregation. The article describes an initiative by more knowledgeable parents, including young professionals, to avoid this, while also challenging the tendency for inner city schools, under pressure of accountability, to opt for narrow back-to-basics ‘teach-to-the-test’ curricula. Hill’s article includes informative transcripts of interviews with parents, which illustrate the struggle to pursue progressive social and educational values in a complex urban environment. It provides a valuable case study of parental engagement for enlightened school reform. Much has been made of the importance of collaboration in school improvement. This is not always valuable, as repeatedly emphasised by Hargreaves in his accounts of contrived collegiality. In this article, Pascale Benoliel and Chen Schechter, of Bar-Ilan University (Israel), explore the value of doubt within the processes of teamwork and team development. This is important in order to critique normative assumptions and habitual practices. They highlight behaviours such as questioning, debating, exploratory learning, analysing, divertive exploration and reviewing past events. It is important for teams to learn to engage with different standpoints, beliefs and experiences. This article provides important advice for team members and principals in developing a stance of critique and invites further empirical research. It is equally important to engage with a diversity of pupil perspectives, and particularly in contexts which expect learners to engage authentically. This is the subject of Reetta Niemi, Kristiina Kumpulainen and Lasse Lipponen from the University of Helsinki (Finland). Working with a class of 8 year olds, they show how diamond ranking and peer interviews provide tools to capture the pupils’ experiences and perspectives. Finland’s revised national curriculum involves active, investigative, reflective and communicative learning and holds that play, imagination and artistic activity will improve knowledge and skills for critical and creative thinking. This innovative research provides a rich account of techniques which inform and strengthen pupil engageme
{"title":"New challenges of educational change","authors":"Terry Wrigley","doi":"10.1177/1365480218808892","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/1365480218808892","url":null,"abstract":"This issue is wide-ranging in its scope, introducing six innovative and original approaches to understanding school change. These authors explore challenging processes of parental networking, building teams of sufficient criticality, engaging with children’s preferences in more independent approaches to learning, the nature of organisational memory and expectations of students and teachers. Issues include important social justice questions such as avoiding urban segregation and supporting transgender and ‘gender expansive’ students. The first article, by Dara Hill from the University of Michigan-Dearborn (USA), concerns parents in inner areas of the city of Detroit organising together to ensure good school places. There has been a strong trend of better-off families moving away from the inner areas and out to the suburbs, thus increasing segregation. The article describes an initiative by more knowledgeable parents, including young professionals, to avoid this, while also challenging the tendency for inner city schools, under pressure of accountability, to opt for narrow back-to-basics ‘teach-to-the-test’ curricula. Hill’s article includes informative transcripts of interviews with parents, which illustrate the struggle to pursue progressive social and educational values in a complex urban environment. It provides a valuable case study of parental engagement for enlightened school reform. Much has been made of the importance of collaboration in school improvement. This is not always valuable, as repeatedly emphasised by Hargreaves in his accounts of contrived collegiality. In this article, Pascale Benoliel and Chen Schechter, of Bar-Ilan University (Israel), explore the value of doubt within the processes of teamwork and team development. This is important in order to critique normative assumptions and habitual practices. They highlight behaviours such as questioning, debating, exploratory learning, analysing, divertive exploration and reviewing past events. It is important for teams to learn to engage with different standpoints, beliefs and experiences. This article provides important advice for team members and principals in developing a stance of critique and invites further empirical research. It is equally important to engage with a diversity of pupil perspectives, and particularly in contexts which expect learners to engage authentically. This is the subject of Reetta Niemi, Kristiina Kumpulainen and Lasse Lipponen from the University of Helsinki (Finland). Working with a class of 8 year olds, they show how diamond ranking and peer interviews provide tools to capture the pupils’ experiences and perspectives. Finland’s revised national curriculum involves active, investigative, reflective and communicative learning and holds that play, imagination and artistic activity will improve knowledge and skills for critical and creative thinking. This innovative research provides a rich account of techniques which inform and strengthen pupil engageme","PeriodicalId":45995,"journal":{"name":"Improving Schools","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2018-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1177/1365480218808892","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47690430","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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