Biochemical markers of brain injury: could they be used as diagnostic adjuncts in cases of inflicted traumatic brain injury?

Child abuse is the leading cause of serious traumatic brain injury (TBI) in infants and young children (Billmire & Myers, 1985; Bruce & Zimmerman, 1989). The incidence of serious or fatal inflicted traumatic brain injury (iTBI) in children < 1 year of age is approximately 1 in 3,300 ( Keenan et al., 2003); since many cases of iTBI are of mild or moderate severity, the incidence is probably significantly higher. Even at an incidence of 1 in 3,300, iTBI is as common as the incidence of cystic fibrosis (CF), the most common genetic recessive disease in the Caucasian population. Proper diagnosis of iTBI is difficult even for experienced and astute physicians because its presentation can be subtle and important historical data are often lacking. As a result, misdiagnosis is common and can have catastrophic medical consequences for patients and significant financial consequences for society ( Ewing-Cobbs et al., 1998; Jenny, Hymel, Pitzen, Reinert, & Hay, 1999). Unlike CF for which there are several well established screening tests, there are currently no diagnostic adjuncts to help physicians screen for possible iTBI.     

Spirituality in children and young people: a suitable topic for educational and child psychologists?

In this article the concept of spirituality, especially with relation to school age children and young people, is discussed. Some of the possibilities and constraints present in this area are noted, especially the unease with which many researchers and practitioners view such a difficult to define topic and also its traditional association with religious organisations.

However, in more recent literature, the spiritual dimension has been seen as a universal human characteristic (within which spirituality in religion is viewed as a sub‐set), which is characterised by a deeper state of meaningfulness. In the case of children and young people, modern writers have argued that the encouragement of spiritual growth is important because it is related to a non‐material, ethical and self‐awareness aspect of their development and is a necessary counterbalance to the attainment‐focused demands of the National Curriculum.

As an aid to future study in this area, a possible measurement of spirituality in school‐aged children (The SQ Pupil Inventory) is reproduced at the end of this article. This inventory represents the work in progress of the late Beverley Ruddock who was carrying out her doctoral research in this topic until her sudden death in late 2008.     

Teacher preparation for vocational education and training in Germany: a potential model for Canada?

Germany's vocational education and training (VET) and corresponding teacher-education programmes are known worldwide for their integrated framework. Government legislation unifies companies, unions and vocational schools, and specifies the education and training required for students as well as vocational teachers. Changing from the Diplom programme model to the Anglophone Bachelor and Masters degree model has raised concerns for VET teacher preparation. It is within this context that we explore Germany's VET teacher-education system and current academic debates. We further investigate challenges in the development of Canada's VET teacher-education programmes and suggest some policy borrowing from the German model.     

Children’s shyness: a suitable case for treatment?

Shy and withdrawn behaviours are cause for concern and have attracted contrasting perspectives. On the one hand, they are regarded as predictive of social anxiety disorder and may benefit from intervention; on the other hand, there are claims that normal behaviours are being pathologised. Evidence is reviewed which suggests that while they represent a risk factor for social anxiety disorder, these patterns of behaviours are only moderately predictive, the large majority of shy children do not go on to meet diagnostic criteria for social anxiety disorder, nor have adults who meet these criteria necessarily been shy as children. A fruitful approach may be to develop effective social and emotional learning programmes to increase children’s understanding of shyness and to aid identification of children at risk.     

Design-based research: is this a suitable methodology for short-term projects?

This article reports on a design-based methodology of a thesis in which a fully face-to-face contact module was converted into a blended learning course. The purpose of the article is to report on how design-based phases, in the form of micro-, meso- and macro-cycles were applied to improve practice and to generate design principles. Design-based research traditionally is associated with multiple iterations of design, development and revision over a long period of time. This challenges the idea of design-based research being an appropriate methodology for a short-term thesis or dissertation. We argue that graduate students who are limited by time constraints can also conduct educational design-based research as long as the relevant phases are followed, which can produce significant, appropriate and effective design principles. This article suggests that the scope of design-based research should not be limited to long-term projects only, which restricts the value of implementing this methodology to improve practice.     

Community colleges in the United States: are they a model for Britain?

The article examines US community colleges from a comparative public policy perspective and asks: are they a model for Britain? The introduction provides the context for this question, stating that, while systems of education and training are recognized as vital to a nation's economic and social development, there has been a long standing lack of confidence in the effectiveness of that in Britain, especially in the intermediate post-school sector. A brief section on comparative education and public policy, is followed by a series of questions and answers aimed at providing an answer to the central question, are US community colleges a model for Britain? There follows a comprehensive review of their history, ideology, patterns of development and effectiveness. The conclusion is that, despite criticisms and shortcomings, the ‘multiple mission’ of the community colleges and their service to millions of ordinary citizens, make them a useful guide for British further education colleges.     

Multiculturalism’s narratives in Singapore and Canada: exploring a model for comparative multiculturalism and multicultural education

This paper examines the diverse nature of multiculturalism. Although there is no lack of literature on multiculturalism, it is dominated by a Western paradigm and perspectives. This paper offers a model that takes a pluralistic perspective on diversity by locating multiculturalism within the imaginings of the nation. This model uses the concept of narratives with its ideological bases to invite dialogue among various multiculturalisms and to examine the processes by which particular multicultural narratives emerge within their socio‐political and historical locations. The Canadian and Singaporean multicultural narratives are explored to tease out some of the nuances of this model.     

Change and innovation in higher education: a role for corporate strategy?

Conclusions In conclusion there are a number of points to be emphasised. Firstly, there are no definite answers to the problems of change and innovation in the management field. Admittedly there are plenty of ideas and models about strategic planning; but the trend over the last ten years or so has been away from the use of analytic techniques towards trying to manage the culture and values of the organisation directly. At the moment there is another reaction developing against this focus on culture (Barney, 1986; Thackray, 1986), but it is not yet clear what is being proposed in its place.So those in higher education should be suspicious of the management pundits who claim that they have the answer - especially if it simply involves copying management structures and systems that are believed to be commonplace in industry. Furthermore many of these systems are actually fraught with difficulty when used in industry. For example, many companies find they have to rethink their appraisal systems every four or five years, because the failure of the previous system usually becomes obvious to all about three years after its installation. In that area the current trend is towards self and peer assessment - which could conceivably be appropriate in higher education too.But there are still a number of ideas that may be gleaned from the management world, and these may eventually provide models of management and strategic change which are appropriate to higher education. Some of these ideas have been mentioned in this article. For example, there is a need to pay closer attention to the environment, especially the political one. Institutions need to think carefully about their distinctive strengths, and how they can fit best into their environments. The idea of universities as service organisations may have considerable power, and it may be as well to think of some of those services as having limited life.It is important to recognise the crucial role of those people at the lower levels of the organisation. Their contribution is not only in helping to determine the best direction to take; but their commitment to any direction is essential if it is to be implemented. Good strategies can't be rushed: it takes time for ideas to evolve. Hence the process of thinking through appropriate strategies probably needs to be fairly continuous; it certainly should not be merely an annual, or quinquennial, activity.Finally it is the values of staff and students that can be the greatest source of, and barrier to, change and innovation. Senior managers get easily excited at the possibilities of being able to manage the values of their organisations. But this is much more difficult than the popular text books would have us believe, and very dangerous. The danger is that if one simply attacks the existing values of an organisation - say those of scholarship, colleagueship and individual freedom - one runs the risk of destroying individuals' sense of purpose, and thus creating a highly demoralised organisation. If values are to be shifted, say towards a greater commercial orientation - then they must be done in a way which allows for retention of the original values in parallel. It is a kind of bridging idea that is needed. This will take time, and not a little creativity.     

Accountability and professionalism: a contradiction in terms?

Declining trust in public services has led to increasing calls for higher education to be ‘accountable’ for the quality of its teaching and learning provision. However, increasing levels of quality evaluation have led academics to feel that their professionalism is under attack. Reflecting on this history and various dimensions of accountability, this paper seeks to interpret accountability by addressing two questions: What is accountability in higher education? How can it be related to academic professionalism? The paper argues that professionalism and accountability appear to be contradictory terms, but can exist simultaneously. If academics' moral and social responsibility becomes requisite to an enhanced social accounting for the quality of university teaching and learning, there could be less perceived tension between academic professionalism and accountability.     

Beyond a battery hen model?: a computer laboratory,micropolitics and educational change

This paper investigates what happened in one Australian primary school as part of the establishment, use and development of a computer laboratory over a period of two years. As part of a school renewal project, the computer laboratory was introduced as an ‘innovative’ way to improve the skills of teachers and children in information and communication technologies and to lead to curriculum change. However, the way in which the laboratory was conceptualised and used worked against achieving these goals. The micropolitics of educational change and an input–output understanding of computers meant that change remained structural rather than pedagogical or philosophical.     

Vocational education and training for development: A policy in need of a theory?

The current decade has seen a significant return of interest in vocational education and training (VET) amongst the international policy community. This rise in policy and programmatic interest in VET's role in development, however, stands in contrast to the state of the academic debate. Whilst there have continued to be both policy and academic developments in VET in OECD countries; in the South there has been a paucity of VET research and little in the way of theoretical exploration. Rather, the academic orthodoxy in the international education and development field is dismissive of VET's possible contribution. Given the return of the policy interest in VET for development, and the possibilities of a broader vision of education–development relations beyond 2015, when the MDGs end, it is time to revisit the role of VET in development from an explicitly theoretical stance. In this article, I argue that the current approach to VET is grounded in an outmoded model of development, whilst the academic critique of VET in developing countries is clearly long outdated. In contrast, I examine the implications for VET of recent trends in thinking about development through the exploration of three particular theoretical approaches: human rights, capabilities and integrated human development. I conclude by considering the purposes, natures and possibilities of VET as a means of human development.     

Institutional Expenditures and Student Engagement: a Role for Financial Resources in Enhancing Student Learning and Development?

The concept of student engagement is receiving increased attention from researchers, higher education leaders, and the general public in recent years. This increased attention represents a shift from the more traditional resource and reputation model of academic quality to a model that emphasizes institutional best practices and student experiences that enhance student learning and development. At the same time, institutions face rising operating costs and the public faces rising costs of attendance. However, relatively little effort has been made to explore the potential relationship between these two important research and policy areas. This study examined the relationship between institutional expenditures and student engagement based on data from 142 colleges and universities. The results of an OLS multiple regression model, including a factor for student engagement as the dependent variable, suggest that administrative expenditures are negatively related to student engagement. These results support further exploration of potential complex causal links between expenditures and engagement and may provide support for initiatives to reverse historical trends and adjust institutional spending.I would like to thank Ms. Cathy Statham for assistance in obtaining data for this study.     

Collaboration in a Virtual World: Support for Conceptual Learning?

Immersive and semi-immersive Virtual Reality (VR) systems have been used for training in the execution of procedures, in exploring (often static) 3D structures such as architectural designs or geographical features, and in designing buildings or constructing molecules. In a separate line of technological development, the availability of distributed computing capabilities has led to VR systems that provide facilities for groups of students that are geographically separated to learn together in a collaborative manner. However, relatively little work has been done to investigate the advantages of such Collaborative Virtual Environments (CVEs) for learning the underlying conceptual content.A pilot study is described which features several worlds designed as part of the Distributed Extensible Virtual Reality Laboratory (DEVRL). The basic results are presented along with a discussion as to how the research could be moved forward to provide improved support for conceptua l learning. The discussion also raises the issues of how the interfaces design affects conceptual learning; of navigation and conceptual learning; of the role of collaboration in learning; and of the difficulties associated with constructing dynamic VR worlds. © IFIP, published by Kluwer Academic Publishers     

Meaning‐making,adult learning and development: a model with implications for practice

Where the meaning of life can be found, and how people make meaning in their lives are age‐old questions pursued by philosophers, clergy, psychologists and educators. More recently, there has been a focus on the role of meaning‐making in learning and development in adulthood. Several writers have proposed that meaning‐making is what adult learning is all about, and a few have explicitly linked meaning‐making activity to development. First reviewed in this article are some of the basic understandings of meaning‐making advanced by classical and contemporary writers. Next, models of cognitive and ego development that directly link with meaning‐making are examined. Finally, a model of the relationship of meaning‐making to learning and development is presented and implications drawn for applying the model to adult education practice.     

Girls and Science: Does a core curriculum in primary school give cause for optimism?

The low numbers of students, particularly girls, pursuing science after the age of 16 continues to give cause for concern, despite the inclusion of science as a core subject in the curriculum of primary schools in England and Wales. This article explores the perceptions of primary pupils with regard to science since its introduction as a compulsory component of the curriculum. The findings tend to replicate those of earlier studies, indicating that primary pupils, both girls and boys, view science positively while at primary school and look forward to science at secondary school. However, results show that, within science, girls' and boys' preferences are different. Girls have greater preference for biological topics while boys demonstrate a wider range of interests. Furthermore, the introduction of the National Curriculum appears to have had negligible effect in broadening the interests of girls. It is argued that intervention strategies are needed in order to make all fields of science attractive to girls and that this should begin in the primary phase of education.