How is it that some teachers have just “got it”? They walk into a room and the atmosphere changes. They get through to students in a way that no-one else can. The author has sought answers to this question by observing and interviewing teachers from preschool to upper secondary school levels. Having intensively studied the highly influential but underestimated relational dimension of teaching, her contention is that these teachers successfully use relational practices to build educational relationships with their students and educational communities among them. Moreover, she finds that what may come across as a teacher’s personal traits is actually a sensible professional approach. These teachers haven’t “got it” - they “get it”. This book explains how teachers carry out their relational practices, and contains an abundance of everyday examples from all stages of education. The deep theoretical reasoning departs from these examples to create a compelling argument for a teacher’s relational professionality that is possible to learn and teach. New relational perspectives and concepts are introduced for the purpose of facilitating professional conversations about the profound dimension of relationships in education.

This book brings together contributions from international experts on early years education to explore and debate relational pedagogy across different countries and in the context of a broad international field.

Classroom management is often perceived as the most overwhelming challenge faced by new teachers; it may also continue to confront more experienced educators as they encounter a new group of youngsters or face a new set of demands. Successful classroom management is invariably tied to student engagement and empowerment: teachers who are singled out for excellent classroom management practices are often praised for successfully maintaining a strong instructional focus in their classes coupled with high levels of student motivation. The contributors offer classroom-tested strategies and timely advice on how to create such an effective and supportive instructional environment for academic and social-emotional learning for all. Similar to the previous four volumes, Breaking the Mold of School Instruction and Organization: Innovative and Successful Practices for the 21st Century (2010), Breaking the Mold of Preservice and Inservice Teacher Education (2011), and,Breaking the Mold of Education for Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Students (2012), and, Breaking the Mold of Education: Innovative and Successful Practices for Student Engagement, Empowerment, and Motivation (2013), the purpose of this book is to offer a carefully selected collection of documented best practices and practical, classroom-tested strategies for immediate implementation

This book examines the question of why ‘play’ is a happy and benevolent verb in childhood, yet a subjective label of behaviour in adulthood. It studies the transformation of the positively labelled term ‘child’s play’, used to refer to our early years, into an aberrance or deviation from normal social relationships in later life, when we speak of playing up or playing around. It answers the question by proposing play as a theory of learning, an ideology that circumscribes behaviour, and a way of thinking. Written by scholars of early childhood through to further and higher education, the book presents research on play enacted in a way that arches beyond the specificity of age groups or predictive, normative patterns. It is international in its focus, moving beyond insular, inward and parochial educational standards and limitations in one city, province, state or nation. Finally, it demonstrates the value of play to educational policy and theories of learning.

In the revised Fourth Edition of the best-selling text, John W. Creswell and new co-author Cheryl N. Poth explore the philosophical underpinnings, history, and key elements of five qualitative inquiry approaches: narrative research, phenomenology, grounded theory, ethnography, and case study. Preserving Creswell's signature writing style, the authors compare the approaches and relate research designs to each of the traditions of inquiry in a highly accessible manner. Featuring new content, articles, pedagogy, references, and expanded coverage of ethics throughout, the Fourth Edition is an ideal introduction to the theories, strategies, and practices of qualitative inquiry.

Contemporary strength and conditioning coaching is, for the most part, informed by the exercise sciences, with little engagement being made with sociocultural and pedagogical perspectives which have emerged in sports coaching research over the last two decades. In Understanding Strength and Conditioning as Sport Coaching: Bridging the Biophysical, Pedagogical and Sociocultural Foundations of Practice, the authors – whose expertise span strength and conditioning, sports coaching and pedagogy – help students and coaches to integrate perspectives from these disciplines to enhance their strength and conditioning coaching practice. The book encourages readers to add moral, ethical and political considerations to the technical aspects of their coaching practice. It discusses and applies concepts to a full range of strength and conditioning settings, including elite performance, young athletes, ageing athletes and returning to play following injury. Featuring an eResource, and structured around rich, narrative pedagogical cases reflecting the issues faced by practising strength and conditioning coaches, the book offers a thoroughly engaging introduction to pedagogical and sociocultural concepts and literature in a strength and conditioning context. This is a vital book for students of strength and conditioning, and an important resource for practising strength and conditioning coaches and sport science staff.

Making and Relational Creativity explores the developing relationships that arise between art teachers and students through creative practices outside of the secondary school arts curriculum. The author offers a powerful account of both her own and student experiences, exposing the complexities and problematic nature of creative practices emerging outside of the curriculum framework. The book specifically explores relationships that develop in informal making spaces and argues for the significance of democratic creativity within art education. Examining the processes of making and the narratives arising within the A/R/Tography Collective, the lived experiences of both students and educator are revealed, providing a unique insight into their lives. The book explores the impact such spaces have on teachers’ professional relationships with students together with the impact on student relationships and urges educators to inhabit a more holistic role and tailor their pedagogy to meet the needs of students. In addition, the research also aims to address the implications of informal making spaces for the school curriculum in England. This book will be of great interest for postgraduate students, researchers, and academics in the field of arts education, democratic learning, teacher education, cultural and organisational studies.