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The primary purpose of this study is to determine if the main character is a shapeshifter and, if so, how does the tale contribute to shapeshifting lore.

The focus of the study is confined to a version of the tale that appears in Jane Yolen's Folktales From Around the World (1986) and on summaries of other versions of shapeshifting tales when needed. Support for the findings is provided by an examination of the observations and rhetorical techniques employed by what appears to be an unreliable narrator and selected knowledge and practices from a variety of academic disciplines.

The research findings neither confirm nor deny that the main character is or is not a shapeshifter.

Instead, the critical reading confirms the traditional characterization of folktales as coming from diverse folk roots and disappearing or changing as they circulate through geographical space and narrative time.

It also implies that the tale has outgrown its practical and social folk roots and now extends far beyond that of traditional shapeshifting or literary folktales.

By bringing to light the racial and gender fears, ignorance and emotional and physical violence that lurk just below the surface of the society from which serpent-woman emerges, the study creates a haunting vision of the embedded biases that lurk just below the surface of many societies.

To this author's knowledge, this is the first study of this tale to appear in publication. The findings need further investigation.

This study examines the application of arts-based research (ABR) methods in producing knowledge about the lived experiences of disasters, particularly focusing on the effects of flooding in an informal settlement in South Africa. It emphasizes the use of playdough sculpting as a tool for storytelling, aiming to address and reduce power imbalances between local participants and external researchers.

The study employed a qualitative approach, using playdough sculpting workshops conducted in the Quarry Road West informal settlement in Durban. These workshops were designed to capture the personal stories of individuals affected by the 2022 Durban floods. Data were collected through participant observation, photography and interviews, and were analyzed using a thematic framework to identify recurring patterns in the participants’ disaster experiences.

The research demonstrates that ABR methods, particularly playdough sculpting, effectively foster participatory engagement in disaster research. This method provided a platform for participants to describe their embodied experiences of the floods, addressing uneven epistemological power dynamics. It also highlighted the potential of ABR in facilitating the decolonization of disaster research by centering local narratives.

This study offers insights into the potential of ABR as a creative methodology in disaster research. It highlights how ABR can complement traditional research approaches by incorporating local perspectives and fostering more inclusive knowledge production in the context of disasters. The study also presents a ten-step guideline for applying playdough sculpting across various disciplines.

Policy makers, professional associations and scholars continue to advocate for the integration of enhanced clinical experiences for future teachers’ preparation. These recommendations reflect the growing recognition that few events in preservice teachers’ education are more significant than their experiences in the classrooms of veteran peers. Aware of the fact that the field of teacher education needs examples of effective clinical experiences, the authors examined the “critical, project-based” (CPB) model, employing Photovoice activities in a dropout prevention course in a secondary education partner school at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. This paper aims to discuss the aforementioned objective.

Aware that the field of teacher education needs examples of effective clinical experiences, the authors examined the CPB model, employing Photovoice activities in a dropout prevention course in a secondary education partner school at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. In this article they detail a practitioner research examination that explores the experiences of 12 preservice middle/high school teachers, reporting on these individuals’ considerations of general pedagogies, writing instruction strategies and teaching personas.

Results suggest that preservice teachers might best identify pedagogical practices that are consistent with their nascent teaching identities via experiences that occur in school-university partnerships in which future teachers are positioned as pedagogues.

This manuscript explores the use of the “CPB” clinical experience model, identifying the impacts of this approach for preparing future teachers.

This paper shares findings from a multi-year literacy professional development partnership between a school district and university (2014–2019). We share this case of a Literacy Cohort initiative as an example of cross-institutional professional development situated within several of NAPDS’ nine essentials, including professional learning and leading, boundary-spanning roles and reflection and innovation (NAPDS, 2021).

We asked, “In what ways did the Cohort initiative create conditions for community and collaboration in the service of meaningful literacy reforms?” Drawing on social design methodology (Gutiérrez & Vossoughi, 2010), we sought to generate and examine the educational change associated with this multi-year initiative. Our data set included programmatic data, interviews (N = 30) and artifacts of literacy teaching, learning and leading.

Our findings reflect the emphasis areas that are important to educators in the partnership: diversity by design, building relationships through collaboration and rooting literacy reforms in teacher leadership. Our discussion explores threads of reciprocity, simultaneous renewal and boundary-spanning leadership and their role in sustaining partnerships over time.

This paper contributes to our understanding of building and sustaining a cohort model of multi-year professional development through the voices, perspectives and experiences of teachers, faculty and district administrators.

The Black Sea region has become as an important energy transit route for Caspian and Russian oil and natural gas to western markets. Since 1996 the quantity of oil exported from the Black Sea through the Turkish Straits and the number of transiting tankers has doubled and will continue to expand. However, these are also two waterways where the risk of either an accidental or intentional disaster is significant bringing serious repercussions for energy supply security. This paper will analyze measures taken by Black Sea coastal States to provide for secure ports and shipping against accidental and intentional disasters. The paper will examine the role of technology, such as satellite based VTS providers in the Black Sea, implementation of the ISPS Code, the role of the relatively new BlackSeaFor in providing both port and navigational security. The paper will further make recommendations for further improvements for enhancement of security emergency response planning. In addition, the paper will examine current security measures taken by the Turkish Administration for oil transportation through the Turkish Straits.

This paper aims to explore smokefree prison policy, from the perspective of people in custody in Scotland.

In total, 77 people in custody in Scotland were interviewed in the period leading up to implementation of a nationwide prison smokefree policy. Data were thematically analysed to identify the diversity of views and experiences.

Participants described a widespread awareness in prisons of plans to implement a smokefree policy from 30 November 2018. Opinions about smokefree prisons varied among participants based on perceptions of the fairness, and anticipated positive and negative consequences of removing tobacco from prisons. At the time of the interviews, people in custody were responding to the impending smokefree policy, either by proactively preparing for the smokefree rule change or by deploying avoidance strategies. Participants described opportunities and challenges for implementing smokefree policy in prisons across three main themes: the role of smoking in prison, prison smoking cessation services and motivations for quitting smoking among people in custody.

This study exploring smokefree prisons from the perspectives of people in custody has several novel features which extend the evidence base. The findings highlight measures for jurisdictions to consider when planning to prohibit smoking in their prisons in the future. These include the need for evidence-based smoking cessation support in advance of smokefree policy, effective communication campaigns, consideration of broader structural determinants of health in prison and ongoing measures to reduce rates of return to smoking post release.