Then & Now Arts at Warwick Student Project

This article overviews the ‘Then & Now: Arts at Warwick’ student-led research and public engagement project that took place at the University of Warwick from January to August 2020. It discusses the methods of student co-creation and student-led research that underpinned the project and provides a detailed description of the pedagogic practices employed. The value and challenges of student co-creation are examined alongside the experience of managing a complex project in the crisis situation of Covid-19. The project’s impact in building learning community and enhancing the student academic experience is evaluated, and critical commentary is provided on some aspects of the project’s design. This article demonstrates the benefits of utilising digital technology for the facilitation of student co-creation in the arenas of research and public engagement, and for the development of learning that enables students to participate in ‘real life’ academic activities and shape the pedagogic approaches that are used in their teaching.

Use of Non-verbal Communication in Pedagogic Practices at Public High Schools in Lahore

It was a descriptive research which studied the use of non-verbal communication in the pedagogic practices at secondary school level in Lahore. The study was conducted to examine the practices of teachers’ non-verbal communication used in conjunction with verbal communication in actual classroom setting by teachers which affected the participation and performance level of learners. It investigated the students’ understanding, interpretation of and attitude towards non-verbal communication used by teachers and identified the existing barriers for the use of non-verbal communication strategies to improve students’ learning. The non-verbal communication was restricted to five factors—physical appearance, facial expressions, eye contact, spatial distance and paralinguistic. The study was limited to the subject of English (compulsory) at the female secondary schools in public sector. The sample comprised of 1200 students and 40 teachers from female public high schools of Lahore (Punjab), Pakistan. The study recommended that all female teachers at secondary level schools should be provided an orientation in non-verbal communication which would help them to use these skills in their teaching methodologies. While recognizing the importance of non-verbal communication, the curriculum planners and policy makers should take practical steps to make it a part of teacher education programs for the training of prospective teachers. Moreover, an awareness among students shall be created on how to interpret and reflect upon the teachers’ non-verbal communication signals during teaching-learning process.

Invisible pedagogies in home education: Freedom, power and control

Home-schooling, or ‘elective home education’ (EHE) as it is more commonly known in the UK, invites contestation and controversies. Drawing on a UK-wide study of 242 families this paper explores a collection of EHE pedagogic practices within the socially situated contexts of doing everyday life. Through an application of Bernsteinian ideas, the findings surface some of the ways in which invisible pedagogies afforded children greater autonomy over the sequence and pace over their learning. It also considers how community development has helped some parents to harness the forms of capital which extend and remake new structures to strengthen the transmission of their social values. Contrary to the messages of EHE advocates, it shows that approaches inspired by unschooling are not devoid of power and control altogether. In considering the experiences of children and young people, the findings highlight the relative challenges and opportunities of transitioning from invisible pedagogies to formal qualifications in a context where access to public examinations can be difficult to achieve. Considering the tensions that these pedagogies reveal in the socialisation towards individualism, the author suggests solutions for questioning, challenging and bridging divides.

An investigation into the mediation of the representation of gender roles in God of women : a critical discourse analysis of pedagogic practices in selected Namibian schools

This is a qualitative study designed to investigate the role of pedagogical practices in the mediation of stereotypical gender representations in the drama God of Women by Sifiso Nyathi (1998). This drama is one of the literature setworks for Grade 9 English Second Language learners in Namibian Secondary schools. Fairclough’s (2012) Critical Discourse Analysis was used as a research design, as well as the conceptual and analytical framework. The analysis of this drama by teachers during the teaching and learning process, pedagogic practices they employ, learners’ engagement in classroom activities, and the nature of comments that teachers write on students’ assignment, based on God of Women, formed part of the unit of analysis. The study explored teachers’ pedagogical practices during English Literature teaching to gain insight into whether and how teachers shape learners’ engagement with literature to promote critical thinking. Focus on the mediation process (‘teacher talks around the text’) concerned a close analysis of teachers’ engagement with the text during lessons. Semi-structured interviews, classroom observation and documentary evidence were used to generate data. The research site and study participants were purposively sampled.

Theoretical grounding of writing centre practices: a foundation for tutor training

A variety of factors influence the strategies and practices of writing teachers and tutors, such as beliefs about writing and how writing can be learned; following mandates by educational authorities; uncritical adherence to the latest, most fashionable practice; and poor support of writing facilitators in the contexts in which they are employed. These factors increase the need for creating among facilitators of writing an awareness of the different theoretical approaches and traditions of writing and learning to write in applied linguistics and education, as well as the pedagogic practices in writing centres that are associated with them. This paper takes as its point of departure the three main educational theories underpinning writing centre work: The Current-traditional paradigm, Expressivism and Socio-constructionism. However, we argue that theories used to characterise and justify writing centre work need to be adapted to suit specific historical and local contexts. In particular, we propose that writing in South Africa should acknowledge the need to identify theoretical and analytical lenses that are appropriate to their specific institutional contexts. The discussion of the maintheories and pertinent sub-theories is followed by a tabulated summary of each theory, underlying beliefs, associated writing centre models, tutor roles that align with each approach, and the associated tutoring strategies. The article is concluded by outlining a broadframework to underpin tutor training, which draws on powerful theories that originated in the global North as well as theories that are particularly relevant to the global South and speak to its complexities. Keywords: tutor roles, tutor training, writing centre models, writing centre theory, writing centre pedagogy, writing centre practices