Volume 16, Number 3, 2022

EN:

A person’s name(s) is typically tied to their family, culture, and sense of identity. Consequently, when a child’s name is inaccurately pronounced, altered, or avoided, a host of adverse consequences may transpire. Although seemingly innocuous, this necessitates attention, as name mispronunciation and change perpetuate microaggressions ubiquitous for marginalized populations, often in school contexts. In reflection of this, an Intrinsic Case Study, underpinned by a Social Constructivist Philosophical paradigm, was conducted to assemble the experiences of three adults in Ontario, Canada, who had their names mispronounced or changed in early educational experiences. The findings of this research signify that name mispronunciation and modification are pervasive and that teachers are often central contributors to this phenomenon. Moreover, findings denote that discord between one’s identity and cultural self is affiliated with name-orientated microaggressions. Participants of this study beseech teachers to denounce insensitive practices by pledging to accurately pronounce and honour each child’s name and in so doing engender more favourable longitudinal outcomes.

EN:

The European Commission calls for schools to move towards becoming open to their communities, integrating external social, civil, and expert stakeholders into authentic learning experiences’ development alongside teachers and students, particularly in terms of science education. However, little research or practical implementation has been reported on how community actors could participate in the development of such curricular learning activities. In this study, we present an implementation of the open science schooling (OSS) approach to science learning, where community involvement in the development of science missions takes a vital role. During the study, students developed science missions related to local societal issues that interested them in collaboration with their teachers and community experts, with frequent hands-on investigations outside their classrooms or laboratories, in five European countries and Israel. Questionnaires with quantitative and qualitative questions concerning students’ and teachers’ views and perspectives about implementing science education using OSS were administered after the participants finished their science missions. The results indicate the effectiveness of the OSS approach to science learning involving the community from both students’ and teachers’ perspectives. This study is a step towards supporting schools in becoming active agents of change through the implementation of contextualized learning experiences alongside external stakeholders.

EN:

Although the importance of formative assessment has been recognized worldwide, the theoretical foundation is insufficiently captured within a broader sociocultural context that promotes teachers and students building an assessment culture. This study proposes a theoretical framework that supports the claim that formative assessment aims to accelerate an agentic process of transforming and improving the teaching–learning activity systems rather than helping teachers mold students with traditional values and cultural discourses. The characteristics of formative assessment were organized for each of the learning metaphors: acquisition, participation, and expansion. In this paper, assessment for expansion is defined as a form of formative assessment to facilitate expansive learning toward a process of making teaching–learning better, of which the functional core is sociocultural feedback with reference to situational criteria. Next, the theoretical discussions demonstrate that assessment for expansion emerges from making a third space and forming a culturally fitted tool for realistic and sustainable practical judgements. These conditions, which work within a continuum of problematic, ends-in-view, and expanded contexts, recognize the impact of assessments in associating a single student’s voice with a school- and community-wide problem. In conclusion, the possibilities and challenges of assessment for expansion are discussed from theoretical and practical perspectives.

EN:

Teachers often enter practice with a narrow perspective of teaching. Through critical reflection, the minds of pre-service teachers can be opened to the bigger realities of teaching and social justice practice. Paired pre-service student teachers from two diverse university settings, Canada and South Africa, were immersed in a collaborative learning experience that involved exchanges through email, text messages, and artwork collages. As lecturers, we implemented action research to determine how to foster critical reflection by pre-service teachers from diverse education contexts. We anticipated the diverse contexts to serve as a disrupting incident in support of critical reflection and possibly also transformative learning. Findings confirm that the collaborative reflective learning across contexts supported the development of critical reflective skills and provided an opportunity for students to confront their own assumptions of ethical and moral teaching practice. Revised strategies are suggested to support deeper critical reflections in collaborative learning across teaching contexts to support transformative learning.

EN:

In the April 2022 issue of the Journal of Teaching and Learning, Dr. Jim Cummins responded to the Ontario Human Rights Commission (2022a, 2022b) report on the Right to Read: Public Inquiry into Human Rights Issues Affecting Students with Reading Disabilities. He expressed several views on literacy education that are moderate and consistent with research. However, his very critical appraisal of the report is misdirected. The first section of the present article documents several recommendations and positions that Cummins attributes to the report but that it does not actually contain. The second section identifies five ways in which this report will bring Ontario’s special education policy into the 21st century, which Cummins has missed. The Right to Read report provides a paradigm for special education that Ontario should now apply to additional domains such as mathematics and social and emotional learning.