School Actors Research Articles

1910년대 신파극의 등장과 전통연희공연의 전개양상

This paper reexamines the aspects of yeonhui (traditional performing arts) unfolded in the relationship with sinpageuk (westernized theatrical play introduced from Japan) in the 1910s, which has been under-researched, focusing on the previous studies on the theater and Gyeongseong Gupa (lit. old school) Actors' Guild, which are key topics related to this period. As a result, there were significant differences from existing discussions in many ways. It has been assumed that yeonhui performances in theaters were reduced due to the introduction of sinpageuk in the 1910s. However, except for Yeonheungsa, which actively accepted sinpageuk and operated it as a dedicated theater among the representative Korean theaters in the 1910s, it was confirmed that yeonhui in Gwangmudae, Jangansa, and Danseongsa during the first and second half of the 1910s had a numerical advantage over sinpageuk in terms of the frequency of performances. Furthermore, the formation of the Gyeongseong Gupa Actors' Guild was not influenced by the decline of yeonhui performances due to the popularity of sinpageuk, but rather by the fact that it was organized with the permission of the Japanese government in order to take charge of entertainment at the exhibition Mulsan Gongjinhoe that the Japanese thoroughly prepared in 1915 for the purpose of promoting the legitimacy of their colonial rule. Moreover, the ‘new and old school performances’ promoted by the Gyeongseong Gupa Actors' Guild were the sinpageuk performance by old school actors, not by sinpageuk troupes, and the ‘sinpa gaeryangdan’ (lit. new school reform troupe) organized by the Gyeongseong Gupa Actors' Guild was a measure taken in cooperation with the Gyeongseong Gupa Actors' Guild for sinpa actors who were on the verge of extinction.

An ambiguous aspiration: school actors making sense of educational innovation policy

ABSTRACT Educational innovation has received significant attention in contemporary policy debates. Many countries and regions have initiated comprehensive reforms to reshape teaching methods and link innovative practices with improved equity and performance outcomes. In Catalonia (Spain), a clear example of this phenomenon, recent policy developments have pressured schools and teachers to introduce innovative teaching practices to enhance the overall quality of the educational system. Yet, the conceptual framework of school innovation in this context is broad and ambiguous. Therefore, the Catalan case offers a rich context to explore how educational innovation policy is interpreted and enacted in schools. This study uses enactment and sensemaking theories, considering material, symbolic, and cognitive factors that explain variations in practices across schools. The study employs a qualitative approach to examine teachers’ and principals’ interpretations of the innovation policy and to analyse innovation practices. The findings show that the broad and ambiguous nature of the innovation policy mandate allows for wide interpretation, adaptation, and enactment, highly dependent on school actors’ understandings of innovation and contextual factors. Additionally, schools often engage in innovation at a superficial level, with externally driven, fragmented, and standardized innovation practices being most frequent, although this varies across schools’ socioeconomic levels.

Comparing the Role of Attitudes on the Enactment of Academic and Non-Academic Education Performance Indicators

Chile has followed the international trend of implementing a standards-based reform, with the particularity of encompassing both academic and non-academic outcomes. Drawing on interview data from four school cases in Santiago, Chile, this study examines the role of attitudes in reform enactment, analyzing whether and how school actors’ attitudes toward academic and non-academic performance indicators influence practice change. Alignment between attitudes toward academic standards and practice change is often disrupted by subjective norms, whereas attitudes toward non-academic indicators consistently drive behavior. This research sheds light on the complex interplay between attitudes and policy enactment, offering valuable insights.

A Longitudinal Study on Body Image Perception and Size among Italian Early Adolescents: Changes over Time and Discrepancies between Genders.

The discrepancy between the current perceived body image (BI) and beauty ideals leads to dissatisfaction, which is believed to be common among adolescents. This study aimed to investigate the stability in BI perceptions and dissatisfaction during early adolescence. Another aim was to highlight differences in dissatisfaction according to Body Mass Index (BMI) and inconsistencies in weight status perception. Two hundred and nine participants (mean age at first survey: 11.33 ± 0.38 years) were enrolled in this longitudinal study with three years of follow-up. Data on size and BI perceptions were collected through individual interviews. Stature and weight were directly measured. Findings indicated significant changes over three years in anthropometric traits but not in weight status prevalence or BI perception and dissatisfaction, except for the ideal figure in males and weight control in females. The results also indicated a significant difference in BI perception and dissatisfaction by BMI categories. Self-reported body measurements were found to be unreliable with a weak-to-moderate agreement between self-perceived and actual weight status. BI perception appears quite stable across the three years considered. Dissatisfaction is similar in both genders, although a tendency toward different gender aesthetic ideals is already appreciable in early adolescence. We suggest that the lower frequency of normal-weight adolescents compared with peers in previous studies is attributable to the effects of the recent pandemic. Given the growing dissatisfaction with increasing BMI and misinterpretations of weight status, school actions to promote a healthy lifestyle and positive BI should be undertaken.

The quest for continuous improvement in light of power disciplinary, sovereign and pastoral power in a state-initiated school improvement programme

ABSTRACT There is a global movement of education reform, informed by a neoliberal agenda, emphasising continuous improvement and accountability through performance measurements, surveillance and monitoring. This puts local school actors under constant gaze and endless pressure to perform. This article uses a Swedish state-initiated school improvement programme, Co-operation for the Best School Possible (CBS), to investigate how power is exercised within the programme and to discuss possible implications for the local actors. A theoretical model based on Foucault’s power modes of sovereign, disciplinary and pastoral power as well as governmentality is used. Empirically, the article builds on a case study from a municipality participating in CBS. The analysis takes impression of Jackson and Mazzei’s “thinking with theory”. The CBS programme illustrates the widespread and multifaceted nature of power in educational governance, prompting local actors to internalise norms, self-regulate, and continuously evaluate their practices. This study highlights the importance of understanding the interplay of different power modes in shaping educational practices and the professional lives of local school actors. This article has contributed to questioning the common sensical, and it has made the exercises of power recognisable through the use of Foucault’s concepts.

Visualising the school: a critical study on co-designing a Moodle-based learning management system

ABSTRACT Critical research on data visualisations in education has so far mostly focused on the representation of numeric data in dashboards or graphs. Consequently, the question of how schools are made visible and (re)enacted through visual structures on data-mediated interfaces more broadly – what we call Graphic Data Visualisations (GDV) – has remained under-researched. Addressing that research gap, this study specifically scrutinises the role of GDV as non-human actors within the design process of a Moodle-based learning management system (LMS) in four schools. Following a critical co-design approach, the potential of GDV to reflect on how the visual design shapes educational practices, and to adapt it according to pedagogical and organisational needs is explored. Focusing on ‘critical incidents’ in the design process, we found that local practices substantially influenced the data-based, visual enactment of a school through specific GDV. At the same time, the use of certain GDV enhanced a general critical engagement with datafication among school actors.

Políticas públicas: O papel do Programa Saúde na Escola (PSE) como ferramenta para a integração entre saúde e educação

This research analyzed the School Health Program (PSE) as a tool for the integration between health and education, highlighting its importance and impact on the integral development of students. The objective was to evaluate how the PSE articulates the health and education networks to improve the quality of life and school performance of children and adolescents. A bibliographic research methodology was used, with a survey of articles on the SciELO, Web Of Science and Google Scholar platforms. The results showed that the PSE promotes an effective intersectoral approach, offering preventive and health promotion actions in schools, such as vaccination, visual screening, physical exercises, and educational campaigns. The analysis revealed that the program contributes to the reduction of social inequalities and improves the school environment by integrating health into the educational process. The conclusion reaffirms that the PSE is an innovative and essential strategy, as it combines health care and teaching to prepare students for academic and social challenges, demonstrating the effectiveness of public policies that promote intersectoral integration and the balanced development of the new generations.

The hidden costs of free services: how donations support the corporate platformization of education

ABSTRACT The adoption of ‘free’ large-scale proprietary platforms, such as Microsoft 365 for Education and Google Workspace for Education by public education has raised significant concerns, including student privacy, technological lock-in, as well as a privatization of educational governance. Because of their ‘non-onerous’ nature, there is limited open documentation to understand the scope and substance of these agreements. This study explores the associations between public education with large software corporations associated with surveillance capitalism in Brazil. The data, requested via formal requests for information sent to all states, demonstrate that the majority of states have adopted these platforms, with a sharp rise during the COVID-19 pandemic. An in-depth legal analysis of the contracts shows that the apparently ‘non-onerous’ nature of these contracts can be used to obscure the business models of surveillance capitalism, which are based on data extraction and processing. Implications for educational governance and school actors are discussed.

The school community's role in addressing vaping: Findings from qualitative research to inform pedagogy, practice and policy.

E-cigarettes are a significant concern in schools due to their rising use by adolescents. This research aimed to identify current and preferred intervention strategies to respond to vaping in the Western Australian school setting. Interviews and focus groups were held with 15 school professionals (leaders, teachers and nurses), parents (n = 12) and students aged 13-17 years (n = 32). Discussions were transcribed verbatim, anonymised and thematically analysed using a deductive approach aligned to the Health Promoting Schools Framework. Participants suggested that limited and varied attention has been directed towards policy in response to vaping in the school setting. Teaching and learning opportunities existed for students, parents and school professionals, albeit somewhat ad hoc in their approach. Additional training would benefit the whole-school community (students, parents and staff) to raise awareness of e-cigarette harms, increase knowledge and build skills in responding to student vaping. Clearly articulated policies are needed to guide school strategies and actions towards vaping. There needs to be a dedicated, developmentally appropriate, cross-subject vaping curriculum for students that incorporates mental health outcomes and social skills reinforcement; professional development for school staff; awareness of and access to school-based health services for help and information; visual cues to de-normalise vaping and parent and community involvement to support vape-free school environments. SO WHAT?: Comprehensive prevention activities are required to reduce the uptake of vaping among adolescents. Building students', school professionals' and parents' awareness of vaping and strategies to prevent use will contribute to de-normalising and reducing this practice among adolescents.

Producing accountability with autonomy in Denmark and England: the analytical potential of assemblage theory with critical realism in comparative education

ABSTRACT School autonomy with accountability (SAWA) reforms have developed in diverse forms in Northern Europe. Following processes of decentralization to the municipal and school levels, quality assurance and inspection became key to the test-based accountability agendas of Denmark and England respectively. With an abductive approach, we explore the epistemological potential of a hybrid theoretical framework, which combines assemblage theory with critical realism, to analyze the production stories of these two policy instruments. Drawing on data from an international comparative research project, and more recent policy document analyses, we examine the arrangement of social entities – discourses, instruments, technologies, artefacts, and actors – that led to particular accountability outcomes within these specific educational assemblages. We argue that, despite distinctions in their social entities, the dominant state assemblages of accountability in Denmark and England have been captured by the global SAWA and capitalist assemblages at distinct times. Although school actors are incorporated into, and antagonistic towards, the state assemblages, change is limited due to the resilience of the underlying logic of epistemic governance and the desire to improve educational standards for a global knowledge economy. We conclude briefly with an assessment of the utility of the hybrid framework to the comparison of SAWA.

Negotiating between the accountability and the innovation mandates: evidence from Italian schools

ABSTRACT In Italy, the National Evaluation System (SNV), encompassing both internal and external accountability components, is designed not only to hold school actors accountable but also to stimulate innovation and change in pedagogical practices. Nevertheless, existing literature presents inconclusive and contradictory findings regarding the effects and the relationship between school performance-based accountability (PBA) and educational innovation. Utilizing sensemaking and filtering theories, this paper analyses the negotiation of PBA and innovation mandates in Italian schools, emphasizing how school actors interpret, filter, and adapt the policy expectations to their organizational and educational practices. Special attention is given to the influence of local school contexts and performative pressures on this process. The primary data collection method involves interviews with school leadership teams and teachers analysed through an ideal type case analysis. Findings reveal diverse school responses to the double mandates of PBA and innovation. Varied logics of school enactment within the contemporary policy context are identified, influenced by teacher attitudes towards PBA and schools’ socio-economic conditions. Innovation is evident in both advantaged and disadvantaged school contexts, albeit with distinct applications and interpretations. Overall, the adaptation of PBA prerogatives in schools to foster innovation and change is neither uniform nor direct, although external pressures impact educational practices across contexts. Beyond socio-economic factors and administrative and marketing accountability pressures, additional intervening elements include school leadership and staff cohesion as well as school infrastructure and material resources.

Queer and trans activism in South African schools: Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) disrupting LGBT+ inequalities

This paper challenges the idea that schools can sufficiently address LGBT+ inequalities and makes a case for schools to forge alliances with non-governmental actors who provide advocacy and support. It draws on in-depth interviews with educational staff and NGO queer and trans activists to explore their agendas in responding to cisheteronormativity in schools. The paper argues that teachers and NGO interactions are underpinned by an ambivalent logic whereby the advocacy and support work by NGOs in schools is viewed as “matter out of place” on the one hand and as work that ultimately matters on the other.

Book review: Reforming lesson study in Japan: theories of action for schools as learning communities

Book review: Reforming lesson study in Japan: theories of action for schools as learning communities

Why do students choose to do an extended GP placement?

ABSTRACT The drivers for medical students’ decision making when considering which Student Selected Component (SSC) to undertake is poorly understood. Furthermore, it is unclear why students undertake a specific SSC allowing them to have an extended placement in GP in their final year. It is known that high quality GP placements encourage students to subsequently choose GP as their career, therefore if the decision-making process of students in this area can be better understood, then this may help inform medical school actions to encourage a greater uptake of these extended placements. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with final year medical students at a Scottish University. Students were selected to provide a mixture of those who had and had not chosen to undertake the extended placement. The data was transcribed and analysed using thematic analysis to generate themes which represented the data. This showed that career intention was a major factor driving SSC choice. Additionally, students sought peer feedback and tended to avoid specific SSCs if they felt a lack of internal motivation. Considering the choice for the extended placement, students tended, again, to choose based on career intentions, and they also based their decision on previous experiences of GP. Career intention and prior experience are key factors in student choice of SSC and whether to undertake an extended GP. In order to address the national shortage of GPs medical schools need to consider how they might influence these drivers.

Large-scale school improvement: results of and conditions for systemic changes within coupled school systems

The aim of this study was to explore the results of and conditions for systemic large-scale school improvement. Through a multi-level analysis and a theoretical framework inspired by organization- and sensemaking-oriented theories, the study examines how a Swedish large-scale school improvement program, “Collaboration for the Best School Possible,” played out in two Swedish municipalities. School actors at four organizational levels (at the National Education Agency, Local Education Authority, school leader, and teacher levels) in the two municipalities were interviewed. Because these school actors’ sensemaking is linked to different aspects of the national largescale improvement program, the analysis shows a variation in the strengthening of the couplings between these organizational levels. The different nature of the couplings affected the implementation process and the results of the program. While the national large-scale program seemed to have contributed to an improvement in the schools’ quality assurance systems and leadership practices, there were difficulties in maintaining general and sustainable changes in schools’ instructional practices. The conclusion of the study was that, even if a national large-scale school improvement program is well designed and backed up with many resources, it must be perceived as legitimate among the local school actors at the different organizational levels. This points to the importance of managing the balance between top-down efforts and visions and local professional knowledge and experience.

Depending on the kindness of strangers: the affective dimension of inspection visits to low-performing schools in Chile

ABSTRACT School inspections constitute a common instrument of Performance-Based Accountability (PBA) policies but are rarely studied beyond its effects on practices and results. This paper examines inspection from an affective perspective through a qualitative case study of three low-performing schools in Chile, exploring to what extent the emotions and relationship between inspectors and school leaders encourage school actors to make sense of performance feedback received during inspections visit between 2016 and 2019. Results suggest that the affective and cognitive responses to performance evaluation of schools, together with the emotional and relational aspects of the inspection visit, influence the extent to which school leaders made sense of and translated the recommendations offered by inspectors into their improvement strategy, identifying kindness as a main affective force mediating sensemaking from school actors. Finally, we discuss the implications of employing the affective dimension as a novel way of understanding processes of policymaking in education.

Old Problems, New Challenges

Although comparative studies on L1 education are facing many new challenges today, two ‘old’ issues should not be forgotten: the professional qualification of teachers as part of their academic training, and elementary language education in primary schools. These issues need a theoretical foundation to make L1 education part of the professional practical knowledge of teachers. In Germany, there is a gap between the subject-related qualification of prospective teachers on the one hand, and their didactic qualification for their professional field of action in schools on the other. What is perceived today as L1 German teaching from school year 1 to 12/13 goes back to two different traditions for which, until a few decades ago, educational institutions of varying prestige were responsible: the Volksschulen (elementary education for the lower classes) initially focusing on "mother-tongue" monolingualism, and the Latin schools (grammar schools for the higher classes) focusing on multilingual education, preparing for academic careers. It was not until the Weimar Constitution in 1919 that Germany also introduced academic qualifications for teachers in elementary education. However, also seminars, pedagogical academies, and colleges that focused on teaching didactics mainly, were established to circumvent university qualifications. What was developed in the last third of the 20th century in the context of a scientific foundation for the didactics of L1 German has since fallen into oblivion. This contribution aims at presenting a critically reflected continuation of these developments.

Supporting adolescent well-being at school: Integrating transformative social and emotional learning and trauma-informed education

There is an urgent need to support the social and emotional well-being of adolescents with experiences of adversity and trauma. Adolescence is a critical period of development for promoting social and emotional competencies, which can prevent poor mental health and problematic substance use and promote thriving during challenging teenage years and beyond. Both transformative social and emotional learning (TSEL) and trauma-informed programs for schools (TIPS) have been identified as promising practices for supporting social and emotional well-being among young people with experiences of adversity. We propose a pragmatic theory of action for schools for implementing and evaluating initiatives that integrate TSEL and TIPS made up of three iterative components: awareness, assessment, and action. The TSEL + TIPS Theory of Action is illustrated by a case study of a cross-sectoral collaboration of government, schools, researchers, healthcare, and adolescents to implement TSEL and TIPS initiatives in British Columbia, Canada. The case study provides evidence for the feasibility of TSEL + TIPS Theory of Action and may serve as an example for other regions as experiences of adversity and poor mental health continue to rise among adolescents globally.

Sleep duration and consumption of ultra-processed foods among Brazilian adolescents

BackgroundSleep duration influences the dietary pattern and quality of life of adolescents and is associated with increased ultra-processed food (UPF) consumption among those with inadequate sleep duration, which may be related to the increased prevalence of obesity, insulin resistance, and high blood pressure in this age group. Thus, the study objective was to verify the association between sleep duration and UPF intake among Brazilian adolescents participating in the Study of Cardiovascular Risks in Adolescents (ERICA). MethodsCross-sectional study using ERICA data, conducted between March 2013 and December 2014 with adolescents aged 12 to 17 years from public and private schools in Brazilian cities with more than 100,000 inhabitants. UPF consumption was obtained by recording a 24-hour food diary and was used as the outcome variable (in grams). The sleep duration was obtained through a questionnaire, stratified into recommended sleep duration (eight to 10 h) and inadequate sleep duration (less than 8 h and more than 10 h). Linear regression was performed to verify the association between sleep duration and UPF consumption. The analyses were carried out using Stata. Results66,791 adolescents were included in the study, 55.94 % of whom had inadequate sleep duration. Regardless of sleep duration, male adolescents had a higher average UPF consumption, as did adolescents in the 14–15 age group, who belong to the high socioeconomic score. Adolescents who slept less than 8 or more than 10 h a night (inadequate sleep duration) showed an increase in UPF consumption compared to adolescents who complied with the recommended hours of sleep (37.20 (22.64 – 51.76). ConclusionThe results show the importance of healthy lifestyle habits, such as adequate sleep duration and healthy eating, for health promotion. Food and Nutrition Education actions in schools are recommended to warn about the harm of inadequate sleep time and excessive UPF consumption.

Organizational Routines and Theorizing in Large-Scale School Improvement—Exploring a Swedish Design

ABSTRACT In many countries, we can see a movement to more large-scale and system-wide approaches to school improvement. The aim of this article is to study and theorize on conditions for school actors’ knowledge building within such large-scale school improvement reforms. Using a Swedish large-scale school improvement program, “Collaboration for the Best School Possible” (CBSP), as a case and the concepts of organizational routines and theorizing as theoretical lenses, we explore questions linked to school improvement design and conditions for school actors’ knowledge building. Internal policy documents from the Swedish National Agency of Education and interviews with responsible officials constitute the empirical material for the study. The results point to a great variation concerning the degree of standardization and formalization of the CBSP design. This implies that some parts of the CBSP process are to a large degree conditional on individuals’ competences, experiences, and attitudes. An important conclusion from the study is that an efficient large-scale school improvement design should contain organizational routines that can reinforce the interplay between the different levels of the school systems, but also create conditions for integrating research to nurture different types of theorizing. Such design will generate conditions for professional knowledge building and educational change.