Culture, language, pedagogy: the place of culture in language teacher education

The principles of many international language teacher education programmes are grounded in a relatively homogenous set of 'Western' cultural values, even though their participants come from a wide range of different cultural backgrounds. This paper addresses some of the issues surrounding the role of culture in language teacher education and discusses the ways in which cultural phenomena are defined and recognised on such programmes. It argues that language teacher education should acknowledge difference on the part of both language teacher educators and participants on language education programmes. Above all, it argues that language teachers need to develop the competence to function in a range of cultural contexts and to be critically aware of the relationship between culture, context and pedagogic practice.     

Territorial identity as a competitive advantage in wine marketing: a case study

This article presents a case study on territorial identity as a competitive advantage in marketing fine wines. The study is centred on three renowned Tuscan local wine systems strongly oriented towards quality and well-established on international markets. The survey aimed at understanding difficulties faced by these local systems in the UK market. An explorative ‘case study’ approach was adopted, aimed at supplying analytical dimensions useful in ‘framing’ a marketing problem to be solved. Experts and key informants were interviewed about their opinions and perceptions on the case study both in the production area and in the UK. Most of the problems faced when marketing the wines considered in this study may be described as a failure to join with the conventional definition of quality that is relevant to the British market. According to the proposed interpretation, a strong territorial identity is a necessary ingredient, but alone is an insufficient condition to build a competitive advantage. The proposed interpretation suggested a set of possible actions at the territory level to exploit economies of concerning market intelligence, marketing approach and collective communication.     

Curriculum and pedagogy in the development of colonial imagination: a case study

The article sheds light upon the concept of imagination that has come into sharp focus in the recent literature having to do with globalisation, equity and race. It adopts one definition of the construct (imagination) and demonstrates how it may be contrived to the detriment of the 'Other'. The context is British colonialism and the curriculum, and how it was dispensed in the late colonial period in Trinidad and Tobago embody the framework from which data are drawn. A mix of sources is used to enhance the data set. Several findings have been revealed. Just as the current global world works through and depends upon a global imagination, so did Empire-building engage and depend upon a colonial imagination developed for, and internalised by, the local through curriculum and pedagogical practices. Dated ideologies were used in the process, but even when current frames informed practice, selection in the interest of the coloniser was the main feature that guided the enterprise. On a more general note the Trinidad and Tobago scenario returns the reader to the colonial scene, demonstrates how education and schooling were deliberately twisted to minister to subversive ends, and supports the critique that the interactions that produced colonial education systems were anchored in racism and violence.     

The practice of postcoloniality: a pedagogy of hope

This article is a collage of ideas and thoughts born out of a contrapuntal reading of the effects of colonial imagination and postcolonial conditions on educational practice in the Caribbean. It is an article which sustains a pedagogy of hope and which uses the epistemological space of academic writing for conceptualizing postcoloniality as an aspirational project. In the article are presented several narratives which are interwoven into conversations between historical and contemporary cases of critical pedagogy. Three themes emerge. Firstly, diasporic considerations are considered in relation to identity, where issues of translation and Creoleness are discussed. Secondly, educational practice and the Caribbean problematic make the link with the third theme, in which a historical case of professional practice is highlighted. The fourth theme proposes a practice of critical professionalism and juxtaposes that practice with the disposition of the subaltern professional. The article concludes with a claim that critical educational practice is a postcolonial aspiration which must be sustained on the hopefulness of the imagination of the Caribbean Diaspora.     

'This is who we are and this is what we do': teacher identity and teacher work in mid-twentieth century english educational discourse

This article is concerned with exploring the development and consolidation of an English national identity, forcefully intertwined with a teacher identity, created as part of modernising tendencies (conservative and socially progressive) within the education system. Within this national identity, with its traditions and 'race'/culture references, there is a constant, and often unremarked reference to the character and personality of the teacher. The article expresses a series of interlinked propositions. First, that emphasis on systems may have obscured the deeper waves of discursive influence on teacher identity as expression of national identity. Secondly, that this teacher identity was formed around notions of the public school teacher and was circulated and re-formed constantly in the middle decades of this century Finally, that this discursive influence was used to morally construct/'civilise' the teacher as a site of Englishness and the nation.     

混合色彩空间与多核学习的色纺织物组织点识别

针对色纺织物组织点参数特征提取困难的问题,建立了基于混合色彩空间与多核学习的色纺织物组织点自动识别算法。首先,将YUV、HSV和Lab 3种色彩空间中具有相同颜色属性的分量通道进行独立融合,并构建混合色彩空间;在此基础上,分别提取色纺织物组织点图像的局部纹理统计特征与三阶颜色矩特征,用于织物组织点特征参数的表征;最后,通过多核学习算法构建支持向量机,实现织物组织点特征的识别。实验结果表明,所建立的色纺织物组织点识别算法,不仅能够对府绸、斜纹与缎纹等典型结构的组织点进行有效识别,而且对于纤维种类、成纱工艺与织物组分的调整也具有理想的鲁棒性与普适性,其平均识别率达到91.2%。     

The curriculum as alchemy: school and the struggle for cultural space

This article examines the impact of the introduction of the National Curriculum (England and Wales) and standardised assessment procedures on the culture and curriculum of a large culturally diverse secondary school in London during the period 1993-1995. It examines the processes through which centrally controlled definitions of knowledge and its assessment are imposed on teachers and learners through state control of curricula and assessment in a market led system of education. Drawing on material from interviews with teachers, it discusses the incursion of the state into the daily life and culture of a particular school. It uses the imagery of alchemy to question the hegemonic role of a national curriculum in crushing the expression of cultural difference and excluding other possible curricula which recognise and celebrate the knowledge and experience which pupils bring with them into school.     

A critical review of gender and teacher education in Europe

This article explores differences and similarities in various European national histories, politics, and traditions relating to gender relationships within and outside teacher education that have impacted on practices within schools and teacher education institutions. One crossnational feature has been the 'feminisation' (i.e. increasingly involvement of more women than men) in teaching and teacher education. Another has been the presence and impact of the European Union (EU). Questions explored in the article include the extent to which gender has been a discourse in European teacher education, and the theoretical and strategic approaches that need to be adopted to strengthen its present influence and impact.     

Looking inside the Russian doll: the interconnections between context, learning and pedagogy in the workplace

There is now much awareness of the symbiotic relationship between workplace learning, the organisation of work, level of employee involvement, organisational performance, and the broader economic, regulatory, and social context within which organisations have to operate. This article argues that we have to identify and take serious account of the contextual factors (external and internal) that affect all organisations, as these are central to developing our understanding of the nature of pedagogical practice within any workplace setting. By closely examining the nature and impact of these contextual factors, we can gain greater insight into the phenomenon of why organisations adopt different practices and why they create such different learning environments. The article draws on emerging findings from an ESRC-funded multisector study in the UK and uses illustrations from two contrasting sectors to highlight the impact of context on pedagogical practice.     

Democracy, Teachers and the Struggle for Education: an essay in the political economy of teacher education

Teachers, and their educational opportunities, have been under sustained attack from the New Right in England since the late 1970s. An adequate democratic theory of teacher development (which could challenge the New Right agenda) needs to connect with social and political theories; to be located within particular historical, political and educational traditions; and has to develop political support for its ideas and proposals. Such a theory has to see teachers at three interconnected levels: as citizens, as workers and professionals, and as persons. The task is then to find those who are able to reinterpret and redefine traditional values of democracy and equality in a way that relates to the complexity and variety of societies at the end of the twentieth century.     

Infinite rehearsal of culture in St Catherine Jamaica: heritage as tourist product, implications for Caribbean pedagogy

Over the last 20 years educational policies across the globe have become more closely aligned with industry interests. Jamaica is no exception. But what does this mean when the country's leading 'industry' is tourism? It is no coincidence that in this decade the Ministry for Education became the Ministry for Education and Culture. When one of the main threats to the industry is seen to be the country's reputation for violence as substantiated by rising murder rates and increasingly vicious crime scenarios, what is the Ministry's response? One has been the introduction of the PALS (Peace and Love in Schools) curriculum, underwritten by the Tourist Board. The article examines the texts within this curriculum and how they position the identity of children and adults, and distinguish between Jamaicans and foreigners. The author then examines material collected during ethnographic fieldwork in the summer of 2000 with Jamaican youth in which issues of violence, tourism and the marketing of cultural products come to the fore. The youth convey an understanding of the facade/reality dichotomy that tourism necessitates across a wide spectrum of activities that make up daily life, and a pragmatism in which innocence is an unaffordable luxury, as are some forms of resistance to the inequalities that tourism brings so prominently into focus in the shape of all-inclusive hotels and cruise ships. The children's experiences resonate tellingly with some of the Caribbean's leading critical thinkers' misgivings about the tourism project and the schism in identities that it perpetuates.     

Evidence-based teaching in contact lenses education: Teaching and learning strategies

IntroductionContact lens (CL) practice is an ever-changing field with clinical knowledge, techniques and equipment continuously evolving. These new developments are backed with clinical trials and research to ensure that practitioners feel confident that there is an evidence base to support these advances. Evidence-based practice is now a crucial part of CL practice, and its importance also filters down to CL education. For example, lectures are one of the most popular tools for an educator but, is standing at the front of a lecture theatre full of students a more effective way of teaching than providing the same material for students to read by themselves? What evidence exists specific to CL education?MethodAn expert panel of educators completed a comprehensive literature review of current evidence of teaching methods in CL training, or if not available then what can be learnt from other health care professional training that could be potentially applicable to CL education.ResultsDue to the amount of evidence available in the overall subject area relating to healthcare education, the initial plan of compiling evidence into one narrative review paper was discarded in favour of producing two linked papers. Here, the first paper details definitions of terminology, and also teaching methods. The second paper focuses on assessment and specific clinical training required to attain CL practice competency. In this first paper, no direct evidence of the spreading and benefit of new education strategies evidence such as flipped classrooms, spaced learning, test-enhanced learning, group work, CBL, PBL, TBL, and reflective practice in CL education was found. The only technique that was widely used in the CL field was case reports and the group discussion of them. Nevertheless, the authors found a consensus of opinion from other disciplines that are transferable to CL teaching and could help students meet the intended learning outcomes.ConclusionThere is a small amount of evidence supporting CL education, but most of this seems to be related to the practical element of the training. However, there is a lot of evidence in the field of healthcare education from related disciplines which provides additional but important learning tools that may be effectively implemented in CL education.     

Reconceptualising comparative education: the case of international studies in mathematics education

International Comparisons in Mathematics Education GABRIELE KAISER, EDUARDO LUNA & IAN HUNTLEY (Eds), 1999 London: Falmer Press. 269 pp., £17.99, ISBN 0 7507 0902 2     

Inequality as a way of life: education and social class in Latin America

This article presents a regional analysis of educational inequalities in Latin America, drawing on a variety of sources at the national and cross-national levels. It traces how inequalities in education tend to manifest themselves and which population groups tend to be the most affected. The persistence of inequalities is a curious social phenomenon that operates between the interstices of the political promise and pervasive social acceptance that schooling serves to promote social mobility, and the tangible evidence that there are serious gaps in the schooling of the poor, rural children, ethnic minorities, and women. The analysis of Latin America is particularly illustrative because it suggests that educational systems may grow more unequal over time, especially as private schools function as outlets for those seeking to escape the poor quality of public schools and as global norms disseminate the idea of education as simply another tradeable commodity.     

'End of term': teacher identities in a post-work context

There is a well-established literature that is concerned with the ways in which teachers construct their professional identities. There is also a great deal of research that has traced shifts in teacher identities across a career trajectory, the life-history approach. In the majority of this work the starting point and the finishing place has focused on the time spent actively engaged in teaching. This article explores teacher identity from another under-researched perspective. That is, what happens to teachers' identities when they no longer work as teachers, when they have perhaps laid down this aspect of their identity, when they have reached their 'end of term'? The purpose of this enquiry is two-fold. First, the intention is to critically explore theoretical constructions of teacher identities; second, the intention is to start to problematise both retirement as disengagement and life-stage approaches to teacher career and identity.

The article is organised as follows. First, I briefly review some of the different ways in which identity is understood and deployed. Then I consider some of the major research into teacher identity, the life-cycle of the teacher and some of the work on 'end-of career' teachers. The second half of the article draws on a small data set to explore the different ways that teachers have invested in their occupational identity, or not. It also charts what happens (to their teacher identities) when this occupation stops. Finally the article considers what those who used to teach can tell us about teacher identity and a job they no longer do.     

Liberal multiculturalism and national pedagogy in a Finnish preschool context: inclusion or nation-making?

This article analyzes how professionals of early childhood education define Finnishness and how they deal with ethnicity. It illustrates how nationality and ethnicity are actualised in the everyday practices of preschool. As part of a one-year ethnographic study in two preschools, the study reveals that the liberal version of multiculturalism adopted in Finland strengthens the boundaries of the nation-state. Finnishness gets conceptualised within the discipline and order of everyday life. When individuals considered as Finnish are evaluated, individual discourses are mobilised. When individuals considered as 'others' are under scrutiny, cultural discourses work as sources of interpretation.     

Five-stage environmental exposure assessment strategy for mixtures: gasoline as a case study

A five-stage strategy is suggested for conducting an exposure assessment of mixtures that may contain numerous chemical components. The stages are: (1) determination of mixture composition and variability, (2) selection of component groups within the mixture and documentation of criteria used for this selection, (3) compilation of relevant property data for each group, (4) assessment of environmental fate of each group, and (5) assessment of environmental and human exposure to each group and to the mixture as a whole. A subsequent step is the assessment of environmental and/or human risk associated with the individual and aggregate exposure to each group. The approach is illustrated by application to gasoline, which is treated as 24 component groups or hydrocarbon blocks. Focusing on stages 2-4, the illustration shows that the groups display widely different environmental fates as a result of their different physicochemical properties, degradation half-lives, and mode-of-entry into the environment. As a result, the relative proportions of groups in each environmental medium (such as air and water) differ greatly from that of the original mixture. It is thus important to treat gasoline and similar mixtures as a number of component groups instead of as a single substance. A generic procedure is suggested in which the model is run for unit emissions of each component group to air, water, and soil. These results are compiled into matrices that can then be conveniently scaled to actual emission rates without rerunning the model. Methods for determining subsequent exposure and risk are also briefly outlined.     

Critical pedagogy in English for Academic Purposes and the possibility for 'tactics' of resistance

This article traces the evolution of critical pedagogy and its central tenets, and how these have moved through language teaching into the realm of English for Academic Purposes (EAP) and are manifest in current debates in the field. Tracing these debates opens the discussion to the applicability of critical pedagogy to EAP and consideration of the critiques that have been directed at these teaching practices. These include critiques of the metaphor of voice, the notion of empowerment, the relational positioning of subjects within EAP critical pedagogy practices, among others. In the final part of the paper, the author considers the possibilities for a Foucauldian 'counter-practice' or resistance that will be relevant to the current precarious and tenuous positions of both EAP students and teachers. Specifically, De Certeau's observations about strategies and tactics provide the opening for conceptualizing a set of resistance practices for both EAP students and teachers who are vulnerable because of their location within the institutional context.