Current research in both cognitive neuroscience and what has been called “positive psychology” point to the need for wholesale reappraisal of what happens in schools, especially…
Abstract
Purpose
Current research in both cognitive neuroscience and what has been called “positive psychology” point to the need for wholesale reappraisal of what happens in schools, especially with regard to the wellbeing of children. Seeks to examine this issue.
Design/methodology/approach
Reviews and discussion of research by the World Health Organization and current UK reports on the mental health of children together with US and European research on the optimum conditions for children's learning.
Findings
Current research findings in both psychology and cognitive neurology suggest that the condition of “positive emotion” is a prerequisite of deep, transferable learning, and also of a healthy mind and body. The author suggests that involvement in creative activity and creative thinking in any context seems to be a particularly effective way of promoting this sense of wellbeing.
Practical implications
A curriculum and school ethos designed to promote a sense of security and happiness would be a powerful means of addressing under‐achievement in large sections of UK society. It is hypothesized that the mood of distrust and unhappiness, which negatively affects both the health and learning of many young people, would be effectively addressed by a curriculum which concentrated more on the kind of creative and practical activities which provoke positive emotion.
Originality/value
Provides 12 practical recommendations arising from ongoing work of educationists, psychologists and neurologists for consideration by leaders of health education and school policy.
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Theoretical reconstruction for the sake of deeper and clearer understanding of an important theme in classical philosophy (aporia/euporia)
Abstract
Purpose
Theoretical reconstruction for the sake of deeper and clearer understanding of an important theme in classical philosophy (aporia/euporia)
Methodology/approach
Logical critique (and reconstruction); aporetic and euporetic logic.
Findings
Using key texts by Plato and Aristotle on aporia and euporia, I attempt to show that Derrida’s, and more broadly deconstructive, readings are problematic and require careful and critical reconsideration.
Research limitations
A full account of aporia in the work of Derrida is beyond the scope of the paper – so too is a full account of aporia and euporia in the works of Plato and Aristotle.
Practical implications
The paper has important implications in terms of our reading and interpretation of important classical texts such as Aristotle’s Metaphysics.
Originality/value
The paper builds on important research by philosophers like Matthews and on the nature and role of aporia in classical philosophy, just as it extends the author’s own critique of deconstructive appropriations of aporia. It argues for the importance of reconstructing our understanding of aporetic and euporetic thinking in order to see it more clearly especially in its classical forms, contexts and frameworks.
No longer do resource economists merely regard nature as a collection of inert materials to be improved by human labor and manufactured capital; rather, nature is, to an…
Abstract
No longer do resource economists merely regard nature as a collection of inert materials to be improved by human labor and manufactured capital; rather, nature is, to an increasing extent, taken to be a mindless producer of economically valuable ecosystem goods and services. Instances of natural capital are frequently said to produce such goods and services in a manner that is relatively detached from human agency. This article argues that, historically, the idea of nature as a systematic original producer capable of self-generation is hardly novel. The eighteenth-century roots of this idea can be found in the writings of Carl Linnaeus who depicted the whole Earth and all of its productions as the “oeconomy of nature.”
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Although the particular policies that groups establish may serve to differentiate those groups from others in the broader community, policies are better envisioned as aspects of…
Abstract
Although the particular policies that groups establish may serve to differentiate those groups from others in the broader community, policies are better envisioned as aspects of group life in the making than as structures or rules that define the character or operations of the groups under consideration. Addressing instances of policy as humanly engaged ventures, this statement attempts to demystify policy by (a) examining organizational directives in process terms, (b) explicitly incorporating people into the study of the policy‐making process. This paper also addresses policy in ways that (c) are more amenable to ethnographic research on actual instances of policy and (d) contribute to a sustained, comparative analysis of “policy in the making”.
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The article extends the distinction of semantic from syntactic labour to comprehend all forms of mental labour. It answers a critique from de Fremery and Buckland, which required…
Abstract
Purpose
The article extends the distinction of semantic from syntactic labour to comprehend all forms of mental labour. It answers a critique from de Fremery and Buckland, which required envisaging mental labour as a differentiated spectrum.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper adopts a discursive approach. It first reviews the significance and extensive diffusion of the distinction of semantic from syntactic labour. Second, it integrates semantic and syntactic labour along a vertical dimension within mental labour, indicating analogies in principle with, and differences in application from, the inherited distinction of intellectual from clerical labour. Third, it develops semantic labour to the very highest level, on a consistent principle of differentiation from syntactic labour. Finally, it reintegrates the understanding developed of semantic labour with syntactic labour, confirming that they can fully and informatively occupy mental labour.
Findings
The article further validates the distinction of semantic from syntactic labour. It enables to address Norbert Wiener's classic challenge of appropriately distributing activity between human and computer.
Research limitations/implications
The article transforms work in progress into knowledge for diffusion.
Practical implications
It has practical implications for determining what tasks to delegate to computational technology.
Social implications
The paper has social implications for the understanding of appropriate human and machine computational tasks and our own distinctive humanness.
Originality/value
The paper is highly original. Although based on preceding research, from the late 20th century, it is the first separately published full account of semantic and syntactic labour.
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Sue Brindley and Bethan Marshall
The purpose of this paper is to report on one UK secondary school English teacher and use his practice as a vehicle for exploring the classroom realities of dialogic assessment…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to report on one UK secondary school English teacher and use his practice as a vehicle for exploring the classroom realities of dialogic assessment. Dialogic assessment, a term first proposed by Alexander (2004), is a position which seeks to synthesise the potentially powerful positions of both dialogic teaching and assessment for learning remains largely unexploited as an approach to developing effective teaching and learning.
Design/methodology/approach
Using video classroom evidence and interview, the authors explore the parameters within which dialogic teaching and assessment can be developed, and investigate the opportunities and obstacles which developing dialogic assessment bring about.
Findings
The authors develop a framework, drawing on the evidence, which demonstrates the development of dialogic assessment in the classroom.
Originality/value
This paper is an original look at dialogic assessment within the upper secondary sector.