Educational Psychology

The research presented in this dissertation aimed at understanding how computers are being used by primary school teachers and how ICT use is influenced by and related to a number of teacher and school related variables. This research aim embodies the idea that ICT integration should be seen as a specific case in the wider field of school improvement. The school-improvement perspective and findings from each subsequent chapter resulted in the
development of a model of ICT integration in primary education. The model adds to the holistic approach when explaining ICT integration in education because teachers are not considered as completely independent, but sharing their school context. Although ICT integration still seems to depend for a large part on the willingness and attitudes of individual
teachers, an important conclusion arising from our studies is that school-based policies have the potential to become a vehicle to promote ICT integration. In this phd, we especially focused on the iterative construction of a model that
describes and explains ICT integration in class. Although future research is needed to further develop this model, we nevertheless hope that the conclusions presented throughout this dissertation are already helpful for those actively involved in the difficult task of managing the complex process of ICT integration. It must be stressed over and over again that, even
when teachers recognise ICT as a beneficial tool, the integration of computers in daily classroom practice remains a complex and long-term enterprise.

The objective of this study was to construct a teaching strategy for facilitating students’ conceptual understanding of the boiling concept. The study is based on 52 freshman students in the primary science education department. Students’ ideas were elicited by a test consisting of nine questions. Conceptual change strategy was designed based on students’ alternative conceptions. Conceptual change in students’ understanding of boiling was evaluated by administering a pre-, post- and delayed posttest. The test scores were analysed both by qualitative and quantitative methods. Statistical analysis using one-way ANOVA of student test scores pointed to statistically significant differences in the tests and total scores (p\0.05). Quantitative analysis of students’ responses on each test revealed different schema about changing their knowledge system. Both qualitative and quantitative analyses suggest that the teaching activities facilitated students’ conceptual understanding. No statistically significant differences were found between post-test and delayed post-test scores, suggesting that the teaching strategy enabled students to retain their new conceptions in the long-term memory.

Keywords Conceptual change, Teaching strategy, Alternative conception, Boiling

This empirical study explores the nature of and profiles in primary teachers’ educational beliefs in the Chinese educational settings. A survey of 820 primary school teachers was conducted using a questionnaire focusing on teachers’ traditional and constructivist
beliefs about teaching and learning. Analysis of variance and cluster analysis were applied. Results show that gender and subject domain affect traditional educational beliefs. Significant differences appear considering economic and geographical context variables. Cluster analysis helps to delineate four teacher belief profiles: a constructivist profile, a mixed constructivist /traditional profile, a traditional profile, and a mixed low constructivist/traditional profile. Inter-relation between teacher belief profiles and school categories are discussed.

Simulations in virtual environments are becoming an important
research tool for educators. These simulations can be used in a
variety of areas from the study of emotions and psychological
disorders to more effective training. The current study uses
animated narrative vignette simulation technology to observe a
classroom situation depicting a low level aggressive peer-to-peer
victim dyad. Participants were asked to respond to this situation
as if they were the teacher, and these responses were then coded and analyzed. Consistent with other literature, the pre-service teachers expressed very little empathic concern, problem-solving or management of the situation with the victim. Future direction and educational implications are presented.

This research examines empathic dispositions of 178 pre-service teachers. We analyzed open ended responses to animated narrative vignette simulations (ANVs), which served as stimulated experimental situations depicting students in victim and perpetrator scenarios. Empathy was examined by addressing the following questions: (1) Do participants’ responses differ over vignettes? (2) What is the dimensionality of the empathy construct? (3) Is word count an indicator of empathy?
(4) Is there a dispositional effect? (5) To what extent do pre-service teachers express empathy? After the text responses of pre-service teachers were coded, log-linear and log-multiplicative association models, which have graphical representations, were used to analyze the data and to develop a
context dependent measure of empathy. The results suggest that a single latent variable underlies the responses, and from our measurement model, very few teachers expressed empathy toward the victim in the ANVs.
Published by Elsevier Inc.

This article presents information on the history and role of Web-based tools and vignette use in education by providing a definition of a vignette and other Webbased collaboration tools. After providing background on the use of vignettes and
case-based scenarios in teaching and learning, the author discusses how Webbased tools may be used to examine how educators perceive and solve a particular classroom interaction involving two children. The author presents an example of
how data can be gathered through the use ofWeb-based cultural learning portals.

The research investigates how conceptual understanding of mathematics is promoted when using three types of software: black-box (no mathematical intermediate steps shown), glass-box (intermediate steps shown) and open-box (interaction at each intermediate step). Thirty-eight students were asked to think-aloud and give detailed explanations whilst answering three types of tasks: mechanical (mostly procedural), interpretive (mostly conceptual) and constructive (mixture of conceptual and procedural). The software types had no impact on how students answered the mechanical tasks; however students using the black-box did better on the constructive tasks because of their increased explorations. Students with low maths confidence resorted to using real-life explanations when answering tasks that were application related.

Three mathematical software types: black-box (no steps shown), glass-box (steps shown) and open-box (interactive steps) were used by 32 students to solve conceptual and procedural tasks on the computer via remote observation. Comparison of the three software types suggests that there is no difference in the scores that students receive for conceptual understanding tasks. Students using the black-box are more likely to explore answers than students using the glass and open-box software.

In order to identify differences in determinants of supportive and class use of com-puters, path modelling was applied in a sample of 468 primary school teachers. Inde-pendent variables were categorised in three levels: demographics (age and gender), computer experience (computer training, computer experience expressed over time, in-tensity of computer use), and attitude measures (general computer attitudes, attitudes toward computers in education, and technological innovativeness).

Computer support and class are not related to the same set of variables. Computer sup-port was mainly predicted by computer experience variables and general computer atti-tudes. Strongest predictors of class use were technological innovativeness and gender. Yet, the degree of explained variance for class use of computer was considerably lower compared to supportive computer use. These results indicate the limitations of explain-ing complex forms of professional computer use on the basis of both individual deter-minants and quantitative models. The article concludes with some practical implica-tions and recommendations for further research.

The purpose of the study reported in this article was to analyse the relationship between teachers’ educational beliefs and typical approaches to computer use in the classroom. In this context, the question arises whether particular profiles of teachers can be distinguished based on their beliefs about good education. A survey of 574 elementary school teachers was conducted that focused both on teachers’ traditional or constructivist beliefs about education and on different types of computer use: “computers as an information tool”, “computers as a learning tool” and “basic computer skills”. Cluster analysis resulted in four distinct teacher profiles, reflecting relatively homogeneous scale scores, based on varying levels of traditional and constructivist beliefs teachers hold about education. Overall results indicate that teachers with relatively strong constructivist beliefs who also have strong traditional beliefs report a higher frequency of computer use. In addition, results point to a specific relationship between teachers’ beliefs profiles and how computers are used in the classroom. Implications for the role of educational beliefs in supporting teachers to integrate ICT in the classroom are discussed.

Despite the assumption that the integration of ICT influences the entire school system, research focusing on ICT in schools is generally limited to the study of variables at classroom level. In contrast to these studies, the present research explores ICT integration from a school improvement approach. More particularly, it examines the local school policy with respect to ICT integration from both the principal’s perspective and perceptions of teachers. Furthermore, it studies the relationship between school policies and the actual use of ICT in the classroom. To answer the research questions, a representative sample of 53 primary school principals was interviewed. In addition, the interview data were supplemented with survey data of 574 teachers from the same 53 schools. What emerged from the analyses was that school-related policies, such as an ICT plan, ICT support and ICT training have a significant effect on class use of ICT. In addition, the findings from the interviews indicate that school policies are often underdeveloped and underutilised. The discussion section focuses on challenges to improve the potential of an ICT school policy.

The central aim of this study was to test a model that integrates determinants of educational computer use. In particular, the article examines teacher and school characteristics that are associated with different types of computer use by primary school teachers. A survey was conducted, involving 527 teachers from 68 primary schools. A separate questionnaire was administered to ICT coordinators from the same schools to gather additional information about cultural and contextual school characteristics. The combined impact of both teacher and school characteristics was explored through a multilevel analysis. Besides the importance of school characteristics, the results point to differential effects on specific types of computer use.

This study builds on the idea that school characteristics affect educational change, such as ICT integration. The goal of this inquiry is to explore both structural school characteristics (i.e. infrastructure and support) and cultural school characteristics (i.e. leadership and innovativeness) and how they contribute to ICT integration in the classroom. A survey of 527 teachers in 68 primary schools in Flanders (Belgium) was conducted that focused on teacher perceptions about structural and cultural school characteristics and their use of ICT in the classroom. In order to study the variables at school level, teacher responses were aggregated. The next step was to delineate school profiles originating from structural and cultural school characteristics by using a cluster analysis. Finally, the relationship between these school profiles and ICT integration was studied. The results suggest that (1) structural and cultural school characteristics fit together and (2) are relevant catalysts for ICT integration in the classroom.

In this paper I aim to show that the creation and manipulation of written vehicles is part of our cognitive processing and, therefore, that writing transforms our cognitive abilities. I do this from the perspective of cognitive integration: completing a complex cognitive, or mental, task is enabled by a co-ordinated interaction between neural processes, bodily processes and manipulating written sentences. In section one I introduce Harris’ criticisms of ways in which writing has been said to restructure thought (Goody 1968; McLuhan 1962, 1964; Ong 1982). This will give us a preliminary idea about possible pitfalls for a cognitive integrationist account. The second section outlines, firstly, how integrated cognitive systems function. Secondly, the model is applied to a hybrid mental act where writing allows us to complete complex cognitive tasks. The final section outlines the sense in which, following Harris, there is “a more realistic picture of how writing restructures thought” [Harris, R., 1989. How does writing restructure thought? Language and Communication 9 (2/3) 99–106] that is concealed by the ‘romantic fantasies’ of theorists such as the above. This picture is one of writing providing an autoglottic space in which a new form of theoretical thinking becomes prevalent. The cognitive integrationist understands this in terms of the nature of the written vehicles and how we manipulate them

EFL young learners have a number of practices that inhibit their effective listening. Some of these practices are: a tremendous drive to be more kinesthetic rather than auditory, having a dominating inner self-talk distracting their attention and getting engaged with many attractions around them which usually results in losing focus. However, EFL current listening instruction erroneously places more emphasis on testing EFL young learners' listening comprehension rather than teaching them how to listen properly. Therefore, EFL young learners need to be made fully aware of the nature of listening as it is the skill with which they construct meaning in any communication process. The interaction between participants represents a kind of cooperation that results in a fuller picture of meaning. Therefore, this study aimed at promoting EFL young learners’ cooperative listening and finding out its effect on their listening comprehension, listening behaviors and the management of affective-cognitive processes they practice when listening.

This article examines the debate over issues of musical intelligence, largely in a Scottish context, although it draws on recent international research in its discussion. It examines different perceptions of musical gift, and will relate these to factors which either release it, or constrict the release in different ways. Musical intelligence is then examined within the context of the multiple intelligences proposed by Howard Gardner, and is related to practical aspects of musical education.

Heavy-Duty Diesel Engines (HDDEs) support critical and high cost services, thus failure of such engines can have serious economic and health impacts. It is necessary that diagnosis is done during both preventive maintenance and when the engine has failed. Because of their complexity, HDDEs require high expertise for the diagnosis of their faults; such expertise is in many cases scarce, or just unavailable. Current computerized tools for diagnosing HDDEs are tied to particular manufacturer’s products. In addition, most of them do not have the functionality that is required to assist inexperienced technicians to completely diagnose and repair HDDE faults, because most of the tools have only the capability to identify HDDE faults. These tools are not able to recommend corrective action. This paper presents an easy to use expert system for diagnosing HDDE faults that is based on the Bayesian Network Technology. Using Bayesian Networks simplified the modeling of the complex process of diagnosing HDDEs. Moreover, it enabled us to capture the uncertainty associated with engine diagnosis, and to incorporate learning capabilities in the expert system.

Problem-based learning (PBL) is an instructional methodology placing primary emphasis on students solving realistic problems in a team-oriented environment. Here we discuss using PBL to integrate a language for specific purposes (LSP) track into an undergraduate biological engineering curriculum as a means to prepare students for an engineering career requiring job-specific foreign language skills. In Part I we review PBL theory and anticipate possible problems that may arise when merging it with a LSP track. In Part II we detail the development of a PBL/LSP module including module performance objectives and assessment instruments. Areas of potential future research will also be highlighted.

The effect of large and small favors on gratitude was tested using a behavioral measure. Participants were 149 undergraduates (120 female, 29 male). Half received raffle tickets for a US$100 prize, and half received tickets for a US$10 prize. Some received tickets from another (fictitious) student, and others received tickets by chance. Participants receiving a favor subsequently distributed more tickets to the other student; participants receiving a more valuable favor also distributed more (ps 5 0.05). Self-reported grateful motivation predicted distribution better than did indebtedness. Grateful motivation mediated the relationship between favor and distribution (p 5 0.05). Results provide validity for a behavioral measure of gratitude, tentatively support favor value as a determinant of gratitude, and further differentiate between gratitude and indebtedness.

This article examimes cognitive models of peer learning in schools and implicaitons that these schools have for the teaching of science in primary schools. This article is the product of the European Commission funded,  Comenius 2.1 project 'The implementation of Scientific Thinking in (pre) primary School Settings (STIPPS)' project (www.stipps.info). It reviews liteterature and examines the models to exemplify Piagetian and Vygostkian models of peer learning. The role that metacognition and affective development play in the peer learning process is explored. Research regarding the implementation of peer learning in school contexts is reviewedand recommendations are made as to a critical typology for the organisation andstructure of peer learning in primary school science are made. The article provides a link between cognitive models of peer learning in primary school science and calssroom implementation of such models. The implicaitions of continual professional development of teachers in respect of the use of peer learning in science are explored and recommendations in this respect made.

In this paper I explore jazz as a generative metaphor for education. I first briefly discuss the role of metaphor in shaping the way we think about education and organizations. I then compare the hierarchical organization of a classical symphony orchestra with the Industrial Machine Age factory/office system and the educational system that arose with it. I contrast this with the organization of a jazz band, and discuss the educational implications in relation to creativity, learning, collaboration, improvisation, and social organization.

A number of cross-cultural studies have looked closely at the study approaches using Biggs' Study Process Questionnaire (SPQ) in various countries worldwide including Asia. We investigated study approaches of Pakistani students in tertiary institutions using revised version of the questionnaire (R-SPQ-2F). The sample comprises 13331 students who appeared countrywide at 15 centres for National Postgraduate Scholarship examination in December 2003. 9,692 (73%) responded. The psychometric properties of the self reported SPQ support its further use in Pakistan. The results show that the students predominantly have higher scores on deep approach. No statistically significant differences were observed on the basis of gender, age and highest qualifications obtained but differ significantly for various fields of study. The findings are interesting especially in context of the earlier studies focussing on Asian Students where they are found to be more reliant on rote memory and exam-oriented learning using surface approaches. In the context of Pakistan it is even more interesting because the curriculum, teaching strategies and assessment are still based on traditional models. One possible explanation may be the influence of technology on the learning process. With the advent of internet and open access to educational material the student is no more looking at teacher for all the answers. This may imply that the geographical distinction defining students as Asian or else needs to be re-examined as net generation enters tertiary education. .

In this paper I explore Creative Inquiry as an approach to education that navigates between and beyond the Scylla of reproductive, "banking" education and "right brain" narcissism to view education as a creative process. This process includes the self-creation of the knower as well as the understanding of how knowledge is created. The paper takes a broader view of the creative process: it requires rigor and imagination, learning and unlearning, self-knowledge and a thorough grounding in one's subject matter, theory and praxis.

Can academia be a place where engage our creativity and experience the joy of inquiry?
I reflect on my educational experiences as a starting point for an exploration of the way that education can be a joyful process if framed as an opportunity for what I call "creative inquiry." I outline some dimensions of an attitude of creative inquiry, focusing on Wonder, Passion, Hope, and Conviviality. I then explore a number of different metaphors for inquiry and the way they can frame our attitude and evoke different moods.

Gregory Bateson was a thinker beyond disciplines, contributing not only to specific disciplines ranging from Communication to Family Therapy to Ecology, but also helping us to think about the nature of inquiry, thought and disciplinary organization. In this paper I argue Bateson was a transdisciplinary thinker, and illustrate how his work can lead us to a new approach to inquiry. I conclude by outlining the 5 central features of transdisciplinarity: inquiry-driven rather than exclusively discipline-driven; meta-paradigmatic rather than intra-paradigmatic; informed by thinking that is complex, creative, contextualizing, and connective; inquiry as a process of creative combining rigor and imagination.

LA ROUTE PRAXIQUE VERS L'ECRITURE (see English below)

François Gaillard, neuropsychologue FSP, prof. Hon. Université de Lausanne

Résumé

Entre le moment où l'enfant s'empare la première fois du crayon et le moment où il écrit, deux ou trois années sont nécessaires à une lente maturation de la motricité fine. En neuroréhabilitation, ce laps de temps peut être beaucoup plus long. D'où l'intérêt d'étudier la progression graphopraxique avant l'écriture.

L'observation de l'apraxie acquise de l'adulte et de ses effets sur l'écriture permet d'avancer les hypothèses sur les difficultés que peuvent rencontrer les enfants dans cet apprentissage. Nous avons en effet décomposé certaines productions graphiques de l'adulte pour mieux comprendre les facettes de l'apraxie.

Une fois décomposées, les mêmes graphies peuvent être étudiées dans la période préscolaire. La méthodologie met en lumière les manières dont l'enfant tire ses traits, choisit la direction de ses gestes, engage les volutes, assemble les pièces, complète les traces pour en faire une forme reconnaissable. Elle montre particulièrement comment le corps de l'enfant s'engage pour une action dans le plan, comment s'ancrent les repères somatognosiques et visuels, auxquels répond l'affinement du contrôle moteur.

Partant du principe que l'écriture proprement dite commence quand l'enfant signe de son prénom, nous étudions l'apparition de la "signature" entre les âges de trois et six ans; nous créons un indice de pré-écriture.

Dans une vision instrumentale des troubles d'apprentissage, nous utilisons cet indice pour comparaison avec les autres, verbaux et non-verbaux. Cette observation préventive et thérapeutique est complémentaire de l'option attentiste, qui "ne lit l'enfant que lorsqu'il écrit".

Mots-clés : praxie, apraxie, dyspraxie, écriture, dysgraphie, neuropsychologie, enfant.

Full text available on https://docs.google.com, search "writing readiness".


NEUROPSYCHOLOGICAL CUES OF WRITING READINESS

François Gaillard, neuropsychologist FSP, prof. emeritus University of Lausanne

Summary

During the development of a child, once he or she has started walking, two motor acquisitions related to language are expected, that is, speaking and writing. Since there is no mention of either reading readiness or of writing readiness in the MEDLINE database, except by occupational therapists, so access to literacy is not considered to be a medical problem like those listed in the MEDLINE database. On the contrary, these two themes are frequently mentioned in the psychological and educational databases PSYCHINFO and ERIC, respectively, although writing is seven times less frequently cited than reading readiness. For neuropsychologists, writing reveals itself to be a complex acquisition of superior neurocognitive abilities which are co-ordinated together with hand and finger movements.

240 children aged 3 to 8 from normal schools were asked to write down their (first) name, or alternatively to write what they know and can produce, or at least to draw him/herself.
Analysing their traces, the following abilities were identified and appeared chronogically in the following order: the symbolic expression of the graphic trace, the praxia of building each letter, the selection of the writing direction and the inhibition of mirror letters, the linguistic link between the letters (phonem-graphem conversion), the sense of coordinates (gravitational/retinal vertical and horizontal), the use of perceptual constancy and the exercise of the most distal commands that both realize micrography, the differentiation between capitals and small letters, the topology of the writing on the available support, the fluency of connecting the letters graphically, and lastly the personal marking of the first letter.

A writing-readiness index called « signature » has been calculated and provided an age-related prewriting quotient.

This analysis was part of an experiment on ideomotor praxia, and data was collected outside "signature" on certain verbal as well as praxic abilities. Thus internal and external validity studies were performed aiming to illustrate the numerous neuropsychological components of writing development.

Full text available on https://docs.google.com, search "writing readiness".

Results show that the contributions made by the abilities identified all combine to result in the first writing. The prewriting quotient reliably represents the grapho-praxic development, permits an early detection of writing disabilities, and helps guiding remediation.

Key-words: praxia, apraxia, dyspraxia, writing, dysgraphia, neuropsychology, child.

Full text available on https://docs.google.com

Full text

Changing to a problem-based learning (PBL) curriculum represents a substantial challenge because many faculty members are unfamiliar with the process. Faculty development is a crucial component of successful curriculum change to PBL. This paper describes a logical process for designing and implementing a comprehensive faculty development programme at three main stages of change: curriculum transition, curriculum implementation and curriculum advancement. The components of each stage are discussed with reference to the literature and practice. Future advances in faculty development include harnessing the potential of complex adaptive systems theory in understanding and facilitating the change process, and incorporating the results of research, which illuminates the relationships of the PBL tutorial process to student achievement. There is a continuing need for rigorous outcome-based research and programme evaluation to define the best components and strategies for faculty development.

The aim of this paper is to discuss different approaches to creativity and underline the cultural nature of its genesis. Biological genius (the “He-paradigm”) and psychological-individualistic (the “I-paradigm”) standpoints are contrasted with social and cross-cultural ones (the “We-paradigm”) and the cultural psychology of creativity is introduced and positioned. This emerging paradigm, drawing from both social accounts of creativity and the latest developments in cultural psychology and the theory of social representations, emphasises the contextual and generative nature of creative acts and employs a person (creator) – other (community) – object (artefacts) model. Creativity is conceptualized as a complex process that leads to the generation of new artefacts by working with “culturally-impregnated” materials within a representational space. This particular viewpoint highlights the meaning-oriented nature of creativity, its link to personal and group identities, and also calls for ecological research and situational interventions. One of the central issues addressed by the cultural psychology of creativity is the problem of “genesis” or how creativity is developed and manifested within cultural settings. The pioneer in this field is undoubtedly D.W. Winnicott who asserted at the beginning of the 70’s that creativity and cultural experience are twin-born. Children experiment culture creatively and they do so in the “third” or “potential” space, one that we can identify today with the social world of representations. In his view of ontogenesis the origins of creativity are found in the first forms of playing and are shaped by the nature of the mother – child relationship. The final part of the paper will develop further this account and show how creativity emerges from early childhood within a symbolic space where children “play” with artefactual resources, a space of dialogue between self and significant others, constantly alimented by social and collective systems of beliefs and practices, life experiences and communication.

Key-words: creativity paradigms, the cultural psychology of creativity, representational space, genetic account, culture, artefacts, play

A theoretical analysis of the development of numerical representations indicated that playing linear number board games should enhance preschoolers' numerical knowledge and ability to acquire new numerical knowledge. The effect on knowledge of numerical magnitudes was predicted to be larger when the game was played with a linear board than with a circular one, due to a more direct mapping between the linear board and the desired mental representation. As predicted, playing the linear board game for roughly one hour increased lowincome preschoolers' proficiency on the two tasks that directly measured understanding of numerical magnitudes -numerical magnitude comparison and number line estimation -more than playing the game with a circular board or engaging in other numerical activities. Also as predicted, children who had played the linear number board game generated more correct answers and better quality errors in response to subsequent training on arithmetic problems, a task hypothesized to be influenced by knowledge of numerical magnitudes. Thus, playing linear number board games not only increases preschoolers' numerical knowledge; it also helps them learn from future numerical experiences.

This is an edited, abridged transcript of the remarks made in my keynote address to the 2006 Cognitio conference "Beyond the brain: Embodied, situated and distributed cognition". The material is drawn primarily from , and these articles should be consulted for a more detailed treatment of the themes introduced in this talk.

Five experiments investigated transfer from multiple analogs to a superficially dissimilar target problem. When subjects explicitly compared the analogs and then immediately attempted to solve the target problem in the context of a single experiment, transfer was obtained with significant frequency even without a hint that the analogs and target were related. Prehint transfer was sharply reduced or eliminated when the source analogs and the target were presented in different contexts, even when the transfer test was immediate. However, prehint transfer was enhanced, even after a context shift and a week-long delay between reading the source analogs and solving the problem, when the following conditions were met: The target problem was reworded slightly to emphasize a structural feature that it shared with the analogs; three rather than two source analogs were provided; and detailed, schema-oriented questions were used to help subjects focus on the problem-relevant aspects of the stories. Although spontaneous transfer between small numbers of dissimilar analogs is difficult to obtain, it can be achieved by manipulations that foster abstraction of a problem schema from the training examples.

Arts education is a seriously funny business. We demand that students conform to the formalities of the university and yet we secretly hope they will practise wild, if subtle rebellion. We require them to be versed in inherited theoretical vocabularies, but need them to energise us with some previously unseen thing. Besides, these days their lecturers are generally up to something even more weird, spending day after day away from the studios in interminable admin meetings. The very fact that so many students survive the contradictions is in itself wonderfully encouraging. (Clark, 1998) In the spring of 1997 I was in Germany interviewing applicants for the performance design degree course that I ran at the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts (LIPA). Amongst those interviewed was young woman, B., who immediately struck me and my cointerviewers as a real 'creative spark'. It was also obvious that she exhibited a number of the non-conformist qualities and attitudes (described later in this paper) that are characteristic of highly creative people. We also recognised that if she were to accept the offer of the place that we made, her relationship with the course, the institution and the system would not be unproblematic.

Tutor at the University of Plymouth. Her research interests focus on aspects of the tourism phenomenon. In particular, she has published on rural tourism, public-sector tourism and student travel, with research locations including Britain and China. Graham Busby has been with the University of Plymouth for 12 years, undertaking a number of functions. He is currently Programme Manager, BSc Tourism awards. His research interests focus on cultural tourism, specifically the literary and film aspects. Vol. 6, No. 2.

This PhD thesis explores the relationship between gender and professional prestige. In order to study this relationship I focus on professional identity of teachers and ask what ‘characteristics’ play a role when teachers grant respect and esteem to a colleague. In addition, I examine how the quality of teachers’ work performance is evaluated by their colleagues.
      The most important finding of this sociological study is that prestige is the outcome of a complex evaluation logic. Furhtermore, it does not suffice to acquire valuable ‘characteristics’ if a teacher wants to be bestowed with a high value that prestige symbolises. His/her work performance and skills have to meet various criteria and conditions that on top of this are not simple, uniform or unchallenged, but depend very much on the context. This also shows that prestige arises from the interaction between professionals. 
      The research was conducted in Greece and employs qualitative research methods and is situated within the tradition of symbolic interaction. Though limited by the context the study nonetheless furnishes important theoretical insights for research in other countries and/or professions.

This study examined the influence of culture on students' perceptions of academic success. Students read scenarios depicting hypothetical classmates achieving success through the cultural themes of individualism, competition, communalism, or verve. Students reported their social endorsement for the hypothetical classmates. A 2 ϫ 4 repeated measures analysis, examining the effects of cultural group and cultural theme on students' endorsement, revealed an interaction between the two variables. African American students were significantly more accepting of communal and vervistic high-achieving peers than European American students. European American students endorsed individualistic and competitive high achievers significantly more than African American students. These and other findings suggest that the value students attach to academic success should not be understood in the absence of cultural considerations.