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Parental support or resistance has been widely recognised as an important factor that enables or constrains the implementation of quality Relationships and Sexuality Education (RSE). This paper analyses parental experiences of involvement and engagement with Gender Equality Matters (GEM), an educational programme focused on raising awareness, building confidence and enhancing capacity levels among children to tackle gender inequality and promote LGBTQI inclusion. The paper focuses on qualitative data from participating parents in the Irish primary school context. Pre- and post-questionnaires (n = 162) and semi-structured interviews (n = 3) were utilised to gain insight into the parents' experience of participating in GEM. Using thematic analysis, the analysis explores three themes: 1) positive parental partnerships; 2) naturalistic at-home conversations; and 3) resistance and disengagement. The study highlights the key role of parental partnerships with school curricula, whilst critically reflecting on potential sites for resistance and providing a successful model for future educational programmes to adopt. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork, the paper draws on conceptions of culinary capital and socialisation to explore children's experiences of mealtime in one academy school. In this paper, the author argues how 'healthy eating' interventions have led to the neglect of the social significance of dining together. The paper highlights how children's culinary capital is reproduced in schools, whilst recognising the rising tensions between how eating spaces designed for children become consumed by adults. The findings from the study outline the growing power relationships in relation to school food spaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic caused worldwide educational disruption. This paper addresses a gap in the literature relating to the impact of the pandemic on learning experiences of children in rural communities in the Global South, particularly in earlier years of schooling. Children in these communities are at considerable disadvantage in comparison to their urban peers due to poor school infrastructure and challenges in recruitment and retention of teachers. Drawing on a mixed-methods study of primary school children, their teachers and families in rural Sierra Leone, both during and immediately after school closures, the paper highlights how primary schools and their communities responded to the pandemic and how this influenced children's engagement with their learning. While national planning focused on pandemic control measures and provision of some remote learning support, findings highlight challenges for poor rural communities in accessing basic learning supports and the consequent disruption to children's education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research, primarily from pre-service teachers' perspectives, has found that teacher education programmes are not providing adequate preparation for constructivist pedagogy using information technology. This subject is pronounced in Ghana's teacher education programmes, where local research that investigates knowledge patterns in technology training methods and competencies pre-service teachers mainly acquire is also scarce. In addressing this gap, this paper describes a qualitative study that examined the reflective views and experiences of 20 in-service teachers regarding what was offered and missing in their pre-service training for digital pedagogy. Findings revealed teachers benefit from standalone educational technology courses, teacher educators modelling technology use, and curriculum activities requiring technology use. The knowledge pattern in these training methods suggests a prioritisation of technical skills acquisition that mostly supports traditional, teacher-centred teaching tasks. Factors impeding pedagogical development training are unpacked, along with the reasons behind misalignments between teacher education policy requirements, and actual pre-service technology training practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Critical discourse analysis (CDA) is known for its capacity to reveal ideology reproduced through discourse, but when applied to educational research, its focus on mere language constrains its utility for understanding and improving social reality. In this paper, through the example of a textbook study, we explore how CDA can be strengthened by critical realism. As a theory of ontology and epistemology, critical realism seeks to explain how causal mechanisms in society constrain and enable the emergence of human agency. As a practical framework, it can offer a research design for the textbook study, featured by a stratified ontology, a dialectic epistemology and a methodological requirement for self-reflexivity. Such a design can overcome the limitations of positivism and interpretivism. It can enable CDA to demonstrate both criticalness and a higher level of explanatory power, with the potential to identify real (rather than Utopian) possibilities for human emancipation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The compulsory education of students who have complex learning characteristics has received little attention in New Zealand research literature. This paper explores the positive educational experiences of a student who transferred from one high school to another in the same city, which resulted in him 'actually learning'. Using Appreciative Inquiry (AI) methodology, qualitative interviews and focus groups were held with educators and the student's mother, and time was spent with the student. Thematic analysis revealed the significance of communication/relationships, values and flexible teaching and learning practices. The analysis also revealed that educators' beliefs included relational understandings of disability and a presumption of competence, while their practice evidenced elements of inclusive pedagogy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]