President Rouhani and Iran’s ‘Woman Question’ after one year in office

Is the Islamic Republic capable of accommodating gender reform? What does the election of reformist President Hassan Rouhani mean for the country’s women? And after one year in office, has his government offered a meaningful response to the ‘woman question’? This paper examines the socio-political climate around women and their position in Iranian society inherited by the Rouhani administration, and analyses the extent to which Rouhani has the authority to oversee real policy change on women’s status. Through a critical review of Rouhani’s first year in office, the author argues that there are some promising signs of change, but these are up against a culture of patriarchy that is entrenched amongst Iran’s political and clerical elite, whose view of women is that of the homemaker and caregiver, with limited public agency.

Critical perspectives, enabling classrooms and digital games: challenges for teachers and researchers working with games-based learning

There is significant interest in the potential of digital games for Twenty first century pedagogy and curriculum in schools. However, developing an informed and granular understanding of the challenges facing 'everyday' teachers in introducing work with digital games in a range of schools, across diverse subject areas, age groups and system requirements, is not straightforward. This paper reports on the initial stages of a three-year research project investigating the introduction and use of games in a variety of contexts, and discusses some of the challenges entailed in introducing teacher participants to working with games in critical and productive ways.