Gamification of Computer Programming Tasks to Promote the Growth Mind-Set in a Disadvantaged School

This paper describes a growth mind-set intervention with Junior Cycle Coding students in a disadvantaged school in Ireland. This intervention builds on the work of O’Rourke et al. (2016) and applies findings to a computer programming setting where gamification is used to incentivise growth mind-set behaviour in students learning to code. Data revealed a large drop in the perseverance of effort with the control group while learning computer programming. Significantly, the intervention shielded the focus group from experiencing the same drop while learning to code. This research found an increase in the growth mind-set behaviour as the intervention progressed. Additionally, the study revealed that some game elements were effective at incentivising growth mind-set behaviour like perseverance, while others were less successful. These findings are important for educators to consider when they find their Coding students showing a helpless response to challenge as this research sets out a clear path to successfully incentivise persistence and changing strategy in the face of challenge.

Alignment of school discipline with positive behavioural interventions and supports: The case of one disadvantaged urban South African Primary School

Background: Positive behavioural interventions and supports (PBIS) is a framework that aligns with the South African Department of Education’s Alternatives to Corporal Punishment.Aim: The aim of this study is to provide a snapshot of the extent to which policies and practices in a disadvantaged South African primary school align with PBIS.Setting: The study was conducted at a South African primary school with grades kindergarten to Grade 7 in an urban disadvantaged community.Methods: Twenty-eight teachers, administrators and non-educational school staff completed a survey that addressed: (1) common behaviour problems; (2) the extent to which the school implements five core features of PBIS and (3) the existence of a crisis prevention and intervention plan.Results: In this disadvantaged school, there is little evidence that (1) a cohesive, evidence-based schoolwide behaviour plan exists that includes multi-tiered systems of support; (2) staff have the expertise to implement a positive and proactive behaviour plan or are provided adequate professional development; (3) staff follow the plan and are held accountable for following it and (4) a representative leadership team provides oversight and direction regarding the plan by using learner behaviour data.Conclusion: The results indicate that there is a lack of multi-tiered systems of behavioural support and a continued reliance on reactive and punitive approaches to learner behaviour. Moreover, staff do not adhere to the schoolwide behaviour plan, are not held accountable for doing so, and need training in key areas of behaviour management.

The disadvantaged school during the pandemic crisis

The coronavirus disease pandemic (COVID-19) has caused an unprecedented crisis in all areas. In the field of education, this emergency has led to the massive closure of face-to-face activities of educational institutions in more than 190 countries in order to prevent the spread of the virus and mitigate its impact. According to data from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), by mid-May 2020, more than 1.2 billion students at all levels of education worldwide had stopped having face-to-face classes. On March 25, after years of consultations and preparations, the European Commission launched the Child Guarantee (CG) to address child poverty and rising disparities across the EU. In this context, the crisis will have a profoundly negative impact on the various social sectors, particularly health and education, as well as on employment and poverty.

Curriculum Leadership and Alain Badiou’s Ethics: A South African Experience

Several curriculum scholars have argued for an ethical turn in the study of curriculum based on concerns about the debunking of ethics in postmodern society. The notion of ethics in curriculum scholarship, with specific emphasis on curriculum leadership, is explored through a narrative of a school principal and contemporary French philosopher Alain Badiou’s theory of ethics. The data indicated several conditions (which are by no means exhaustive) for ethical curriculum leadership to transpire. These include a truthful aspiration towards curriculum excellence and deep transformation, a loving encounter as a truth procedure underpinning ethical curriculum leadership, a longing for the truth, developing a collective fidelity, and creating a reflexive aptitude. It is argued that ethical curriculum leadership begins with love, that is, the antidote to acting in one’s own interest. In addition, it is seen as a dialectic between managing school efficiency, building infrastructure and managing talent to enable optimal curriculum enactment, and a continual process of curriculum leadership. This article reports on one aspect of a larger research project titled “Women Leading in Disadvantaged School Communities”.

Correlates of sugar-sweetened beverages consumption among adolescents

Objective:To identify correlates and underlying beliefs regarding the adolescents’ intention to abstain from consuming sugar-sweetened beverages (SSB) and the consumption of ≤1 daily portion of SSB.Design:Correlational study.Setting:Region of Chaudière-Appalaches in the province of Quebec, Canada.Participants:311 adolescents aged 13–18 years completed a self-administrated online questionnaire based on the Reasoned Action Approach. Frequency and quantity of different types of SSB within the past month were measured.Results:Total mean SSB intake was 882·6 ml/d (654·0 kJ/d ). Only 11·3 % abstained from SSB within the last month. Intention to abstain from SSB was explained by identification as SSB abstainers (β = 0·47), perceived norm (β = 0·32), attitude (β = 0·30), age 13–14 years (β = –0·27) and perception of the school environment (β = 0·14), which explained 66 % of the variance. Consumption of ≤1 daily portion of SSB was explained by the intention to abstain (OR = 1·55; 95 % CI 1·14, 2·11), perceived behavioural control to abstain (OR = 1·80; 95 % CI 1·29, 2·52), sex (girls v. boys: OR = 2·34; 95 % CI 1·37, 3·98) and socio-economic status (advantaged v. disadvantaged school: OR = 2·08; 95 % CI 1·21, 3·56). Underlying beliefs (i.e. more energy, decreased risk of addiction and friends’ approval) associated with intention as well as perceived barriers (e.g. access to SSB, after an activity that makes you thirsty), and facilitating factors (e.g. access to water) linked to SSB consumption were identified.Conclusions:The results can inform public health interventions to decrease SSB consumption and their associated health problems among adolescents.

Is the 2014 E-Rate reform a game changer? An empirical analysis of Pennsylvania data

Purpose This study aims to analyze the impact of the 2014 E-Rate reforms on the pattern of distribution of funds of the program. Design/methodology/approach Using Pennsylvania data, the paper investigates whether a school district that successfully applied for funding received increased support post-reforms, and what socio-economic characteristics of school districts were associated with successful applications. Furthermore, it asks whether the reforms reduced the barriers that disadvantaged school districts face in obtaining support. Findings The finding suggests that, even after controlling for changes in the school districts’ eligibility and application skills, the amount of funding committed to the school districts was still significantly higher after the reform. Originality/value The analysis shows that, immediately after the reform, the non-urban school districts were committed more funding than urban school districts were; they also received more funds than they would have without the reforms. This indicates that the 2014 reform might have benefited disadvantaged applicants, especially rural school districts.

School-level (dis)advantage and adolescents’ substance-use behaviours: The role of collective efficacy and norms

Drawing upon ideas stemming from social disorganisation theory, this study explores how structural and social aspects of the school context affect youth substance-use behaviours in terms of smoking, alcohol and/or drug use. A key focus is to investigate the joint effect of school collective efficacy and schools’ substance-use norms on students’ substance use. Analyses are based on combined information from two independent data collections conducted in 2014 among ninth grade students ( n = 5122) and teachers ( n = 1105) in 81 senior-level schools in Stockholm. Results from multilevel analyses confirm previous research by suggesting that the proneness to engage in substance use varies depending on the socioeconomic profile of the school. Youth in socioeconomically advantaged schools were more prone to engage in substance use than youth in disadvantaged school settings. Furthermore, collective incentives for exerting social control against substance use seem to be weaker in schools where conventional values towards substance use (anti-substance-use norms) are suppressed.