Special Needs Education, eLearning and the Reflective ePortfolio: Implications for Developing and Assessing Competence in Pre-Service Education.

This paper reports on the use of an eportfolio for assessing aspects of a Post-Graduate pre-service teacher education programme specifically in the context of special needs education in Northern Ireland. Participants were challenged to develop their individual eportfolios by selecting and presenting evidence for assessment drawn from diverse sources. The rationale for using eportfolios for assessment purposes was to offer students the opportunity to demonstrate competencies by documenting and reflecting upon academic and pedagogical learning during a one year Post Graduate Certificate of Education (PGCE) programme.

One thing leads to another: science in the news as a basis for curriculum and professional development

Science based news is widely reported in the media. The ability to interact critically with such news reports is increasingly seen as a legitimate part of the science education agenda. This paper reports the findings of two studies looking at the early response and subsequent usage of a resource promoting the integration of science-based news in secondary science curriculum in Northern Ireland. This paper charts the introduction of the resource into schools. The subsequent impact on the science curriculum and the implications for teacher professional development are considered. Many science teachers demonstrate willingness and aptitude to use primary media sources within their teaching. Some who adopted the resource demonstrate the capacity to sustain the development using the resource as a catalyst in ongoing curricular change. Insights gained in this study are relevant to policy makers and curriculum developers as well as teachers seeking to promote this aspect of science education

Ethnic habitus and young children: a case study of Northern Ireland

This article presents the findings of an exploratory survey of the ethnic attitudes and identities of a random sample (n=352) of three–six-year-old children in Northern Ireland. The survey represents one of the first of its kind to explore how young children's awareness of ethnic differences develops in contexts where ethnicity is not marked by visible, physical differences. In drawing upon the notion of an ‘ethnic habitus’, the article shows how young children from the two majority ethno-religious groups in the region – Catholic and Protestants – are already acquiring the cultural dispositions and habits of their respective groups even though, at the earlier ages, they have little awareness or understanding of what these dispositions represent. The article shows that young children are capable of developing ethnic identities and prejudices in the absence of physical cues and discusses the implications of these findings for practice as well as for understanding the effects of racial and ethnic divisions on young children in other social contexts.

Acculturation and religion in schools: the views of young people from minority belief backgrounds

This paper aims to explore the relationship between religious identity, acculturation strategies and perceptions of acculturation orientation in the school context amongst young people from minority
belief backgrounds. Based on a qualitative study including interviews with 26 young people from religious minority belief backgrounds in Northern Ireland, it is argued that acculturation theory provides a useful lens for understanding how young people from religious minority belief backgrounds navigate majority religious school contexts. Using a qualitative approach to explore acculturation theory enables an in-depth understanding of the inter-relationship between minority belief youth’s acculturation strategies and their respective school contexts. Similar to previous research, integrationist attitudes generally prevailed amongst minority belief young people in this study. The findings highlight how young people negotiate their religious identities in a complex web of inter-relationships between their minority religious belief community and the mainstream school culture as represented through peer and staff attitudes, school ethos and practices and religious education. Young people demonstrated differentiated understandings of acculturation orientations within the school context, which they evaluated on the basis of complex perceptions of educational policy, interpersonal relationships and individuals’ motivations. Findings are discussed in view of acculturation tensions, which arose particularly in relation to the religious education curriculum and their implications for opt-out provision as stipulated by human rights law.