Editorial: A Vision of a Fair and Efficient,Diverse and Inclusive,Cumulative Science of Child Development in the Best and Worst of Times

If you have come here in search of the submission requirements at Child Development, this is perhaps not the editorial you are looking for. Consider visiting instead our revised instructions to authors . Nor does this essay simply detail the priorities of the incoming board and the initiatives we will be implementing over the next 6 years, though these are summarized in Table 1. Rather, this editorial was written to articulate clearly the scientific values underlying current plans and policies at the journal in support of publishing the highest quality and highest impact research on child development. I emphasize two interrelated themes: (a) our plans for continuing to emphasize and enhance diversity and inclusion in research on child development and (b) our policies that remove impediments to cumulative developmental science. Discussion focuses primarily on how we are incentivizing efforts to achieve these widely held yet too often neglected goals, taking as its point of departure emerging challenges to a fair and efficient editorial process at the journal. In so doing, I mean to highlight the essential work of continuously cultivating editorial structures that firmly embed in developmental science fundamental scientific values, principles that make it possible for research on child development to flourish in both the best and worst of times.     

Clarifying and reframing the neoliberal critique of educational policy using policy process theories

ABSTRACT

This paper explores the vocabulary and frameworks offered by two theories of public policy process: the advocacy coalition framework (ACF) and the narrative policy framework (NPF) and what they offer to the study of global education reform. The foci of ACF are policy subsystems, formation of advocacy coalitions around policy issues, and their impact on policy change; the emphasis of NPF is the divergent narratives developed and used by these coalitions. This paper reviews each theoretical framework, summarizes existing research literature on their education policy applications, and then poses alternative questions and suggest alternatives to study global education policies, especially those presently critiqued using the term neoliberal which we position as nebulous in its current usage. The aim is to open channels of communication for scholars from different disciplines by introducing different theoretical approaches to analyse the role of the numerous elements that shape global education policy.     

Academic identity and autonomy in a changing policy environment

The article draws on two research projects to explore the implications of policy change in the UK for academic identities within a predominantly communitarian theoretical perspective. It focuses on biological scientists and science policies. It examines the impacts of changes upon the dynamic between individuals, disciplines and universities within which academic identities are formed and sustained and upon individual and collective values central to academic identity, namely the primacy of the discipline in academic working lives and academic autonomy. Challenges to these have been strong but they have retained much of their normative power, even if the meaning of academic autonomy has changed. Communitarian theories of academic identity may need to be modified in the contemporary environment but they do not need to be abandoned.     

The Potential of Perspectivism for Science Education

Many science teachers are presented with the challenge of characterizing science as a dynamic, human endeavour. Perspectivism, as a hermeneutic philosophy of science, has the potential to be a learning tool for teachers as they elucidate the complex nature of science. Developed earlier by Nietzsche and others, perspectivism has recently re-emerged in the context of the philosophy of science in the work of Ronald Giere. Giere presents a compelling case that scientific theories and scientific observation are perspectival by using science itself. There are many tangible examples already present in science textbooks which, when approached in a certain way, offer an exciting opportunity for a realistic incorporation of philosophy of science into the classroom. Furthermore, introducing perspectivism to students necessitates an engagement with notions such as truth, reality, perception and experimentation, through a familiar medium, while painting a nuanced conception of the nature of science.     

First‐year university science and engineering students’ understanding of plagiarism

This paper is a case study of first‐year science and engineering students’ understandings of plagiarism. Students were surveyed for their views on scenarios illustrating instances of plagiarism in the context of the academic work and assessment of science and engineering students. The aim was to explore their understandings of plagiarism and their judgement about the seriousness of each incident, and to shed light on the decisions they might make in response to such situations. The data indicated that although students could provide sound definitions of plagiarism, they did not always appreciate the scope of class‐based activity that constitutes plagiarism. Some examples of plagiarism were regarded as less serious than others, and in contradiction with the institution’s policy. Students also generally favoured more lenient penalties than provided for by policy. The purpose of the study was to ascertain first‐year students’ developmental needs in relation to academic honesty, plagiarism and appropriate acknowledgement of others’ work.     

Child sexual abuse prevention education: A review of school policy and curriculum provision in Australia

The past four decades have seen increasing public and professional awareness of child sexual abuse. Congruent with public health approaches to prevention, efforts to eliminate child sexual abuse have inspired the emergence of prevention initiatives which can be provided to all children as part of their standard school curriculum. However, relatively little is known about the scope and nature of child sexual abuse prevention efforts in government school systems internationally. This paper assesses and compares the policies and curriculum initiatives in primary (elementary) schools across state and territory Departments of Education in Australia. Using publicly available electronic data, a deductive qualitative content analysis of policy and curriculum documents was undertaken to examine the characteristics of child sexual abuse prevention education in these school systems. It was found that the system-level provision occurs unevenly across state and territory jurisdictions. This results in the potential for substantial inequity in Australian children’s access to learning opportunities in child abuse prevention education as a part of their standard school curriculum. In this research, we have developed a strategy for generating a set of theoretically-sound empirical criteria that may be more extensively applied in comparative research about prevention initiatives internationally.     

Research and teaching cultures in two contrasting UK policy contexts: Academic life in Education Departments in five English and Scottish universities

The paper explores academic staff and departmental research and teaching cultures in the Education Departments of five universities in Scotland and England, countries with increasingly diverging public policies in respect of education. The relationship between research and teaching, how the purposes of universities are defined and the status of research in Education are current UK higher education policy preoccupations. Data is drawn from interviews with 40 academics, observation of department settings, documentation and websites. The analysis draws on the work of Bourdieu, considering the changing habitus of individual academics, their departmental and academic subject context and the forms of symbolic capital now required in Scottish and English Education departments in response to new policies affecting their academic field. The paper also utilises recent literature on the research–teaching relationship. The career trajectories of respondents, their habitus and the forms of symbolic capital that they bring to academic life are examined, as are the extent to which the teaching and research cultures in each of the five departments studied mirror each other and whether these also reflect the two different policy contexts. The themes how academic cultures are shaped and research/teaching connections viewed have international as UK relevance.     

Where policy meets the pavement: Stages of public involvement in the prevention of school violence

Based on qualitative research on school and city violence, this article examines three forms of partnerships between community organizations and schools, including youth interventions by social services; community activism; and school liaisons with the police. The article examines how violence-prevention strategies are conceived within a context that includes the formation of policy directed at communities, youths, and schools; social science theories of delinquency; public rhetoric about youth and families; and efforts on the part of community residents, city departments, and social services. The underlying theory-base behind the research can be associated with cultural studies, since it combines cultural and structural interpretations of the topic and analyzes policies according to their processes, in light of their constructions, and in connection with the theories that guide them. It becomes obvious by the end of the article that community-based violence-prevention organizations collaborating with schools are sometimes blocked from doing good work by poor funding, power struggles, and a deficit model of youth. While the partnerships can, at times, help to initiate positive involvement of disenfranchised people, they can also become instruments of city power structures. For their positive and productive work to come out, the interagency and school collaborations must solve the problems that are discussed in the article.     

公共政策的理论与现实——从公共政策的基础理论看公共政策冲突

近些年,我国政策科学研究取得许多成绩的同时也暴露了一些问题。公共政策理论基础的薄弱,基础理论对解决公共政策中现实问题的支撑力不足已成为制约我国政策科学发展的"阿基里斯之腱",因此对公共政策基础理论进行反思,从政策主体、政策客体、问题、价值等政策理论的基础理论入手,通过基础理论研究推动政策科学发展,已成为公共政策学未来发展的必由路径。     

职业心理理论及其研究进展

经过百年的应用实践与理论研究的职业咨询为职业心理理论提供了丰富的源泉,这些理论有着自身的系统性、继承性和内在逻辑性。比较和归纳各种职业心理理论流派,可以划分为职业素质构成、职业生涯发展、职业的社会文化背景、人与工作相互适应、认知理论等五大研究方向。其中,每个方向的研究都有着自身独立的延续性。最新的职业生活计划观提倡实现工作和生活的平衡,并以此作为职业选择的核心目标。     

基于PMC指数模型的社情民意政策量化评价

搜集了29项国家层面社情民意政策,并以其中的9项作为研究对象进行基于PMC指数模型的量化评价。首先采用文本挖掘技术并参考相关文献构建了一个包含9个一级变量和37个二级变量的评价指标体系,然后计算各项政策的PMC指数得分,绘制PMC曲面图,最后分析政策的一致性水平及其优势和劣势。结果显示,9项政策中3项政策达到完美等级、6项为优秀等级,这表明社情民意政策整体质量良好,内部一致性水平较高,但仍有提升空间。因此,建议政策制定部门设计一个动态的政策发展框架、建立长期效力与短期效力相结合的政策规划、不断完善政策内容,并在政策内容中加强大数据、人工智能等新技术与实践工作相结合方面的指导。     

What All Parents Need to Know? Exploring the Hidden Normativity of the Language of Developmental Psychology in Parenting

In this article we focus on how the language of developmental psychology shapes our conceptualisations and understandings of childrearing and of the parent‐child relationship. By analysing some examples of contemporary research, policy and popular literature on parenting and parenting support in the UK and Flanders, we explore some of the ways in which normative assumptions about parenthood and upbringing are imported into these areas through the language of developmental psychology. We go on to address the particular attraction of developmental psychology in the field of parenting and upbringing within our current cultural context. Drawing on the work of (among others) Zygmunt Bauman, we will show how developmental psychology, as one of the instruments that contributes to a breaking down of our existential condition into a series of well‐defined, and thus apparently manageable, tasks and categories, displaces rather than confronts the possibly limitless depth of the enormity of the reality of ‘being a parent’.     

Contemporary approaches to learning science: technologically-mediated practical work

This paper describes the current state of science education in Arab states and anticipates some of the challenges faced by those states as they reform their science education. After discussing problems of illiteracy, access and quality we provide contextual information about the structure of the educational systems and describe recent efforts to reform them. We focus on issues pertaining to science curriculum and textbooks, language, religion, student learning in science, science teacher education and science education research and summarise the challenges and opportunities for research faced in each area. We conclude the paper by proposing a set of policy and research recommendations that could aid in the development of lasting solutions for recurring problems.     

University autonomy and public policies: A system theory perspective

This article addresses problems facing universities because of external pressures for changes in their teaching, research, and governance and management policies and practices to align them with public policies. The view is put that governments are introducing public policies in times of economic recession to achieve rationalisation of human, physical and financial resources in higher education and to foster initiatives that shape university teaching and research to serve the needs of society and assist in national economic recovery. Examples of these external pressures, which have resulted in intrusions into the autonomy of university governance and management, are provided in the context of general system theory. It is assumed that the pressure of public policies on universities will continue and that each university should have a development plan for its present and future teaching and research activities, which has the endorsement of the government higher education advisory agency so that university management can function on a secure basis. The effectiveness and efficiency of functioning at the various levels of the university system should be assessed by periodic evaluative reviews. The quality of management by academic leaders should be fostered by the establishment of national centres for the study of higher education management and policy. The relationship between government higher education advisory agencies and universities should be renegotiated so that, as interdependent and interrelated parts of the higher education system, they work in joint co-operation to ensure the most effective and appropriate development of each institution. Nevertheless, a state of equilibrium between the university system and the supra (social) system within which it exists will never fully be achieved. The fundamental role and functions of a university require that it be concerned with teaching and researching both ageless and current phenomena. Hence, a perfect equilibrium state cannot exist if external social pressures are for the main weight of university activities to be shifted to providing service for the current needs of society.     

高技术企业R&D投入税收激励政策的国内外比较及思考

分析了税收优惠政策对高技术企业RD投入的激励机制,并对美国、英国、加拿大、日本、韩国等国家的RD税收激励政策和我国科技税收优惠政策的改革及现行RD税收激励政策进行了分析,在借鉴国际经验的基础上提出我国科技税收优惠政策改革的思路。     

Intelligent educational systems for anchored instruction?

Conclusion In this article, the potential for using Intelligent Educational Systems for anchoring instruction in macro contexts in science education has been explored. The rationale provided, the examples presented, and the issues posed should help to initiate research on anchored instruction using computers. An argument could be made that assuming the principles of anchored instruction are generalizable, they should be applicable to IES as they are to interactive video systems. Intelligent Educational Systems as computer-based systems have an advantage over video systems in terms of long-range use. IES environments might be more cost-effective than video systems in the long range. Also, IES are suitable for studying cognitive processes and for developing cognitive models to improve anchored instruction. His research interests include computer applications in science instruction ans assessment.     

Public Transit and School Choice in Philadelphia: Exploring Spatial Equity and Social Exclusion

This article explores the importance of considering transportation mode when calculating commute time for a child’s school choice options. While proponents of school choice argue that students can attend any school that will provide them the best education, several have argued that commute time is as important for families as a school’s characteristics. However, research to date models commute time using either distance as a proxy or minutes driving. In Philadelphia, a context where most people use public transportation to work and school, the authors argue that commute time to school must be calculated using this mode of transit. Using geospatial network analyses, the authors create choice sets for each neighborhood public high school. They first calculate the commute time between each zoned public high school and each public high school choice in the city by driving and by using public transportation. These two sets of commute times are then evaluated for the differences. The authors then calculate choice sets based on the average commute time in the city based on both modes of transportation. Finally, they compare the choice sets for each service area for spatial equity of public school quality. Findings indicate that the commute times between driving and public transportation are statistically different. Furthermore, public school choice sets within Philadelphia are spatially equitable, although the overall school quality needs improvement. The article concludes with policy implications and recommendations for future research.     

Genetics Interfaces: Representing Science and Enacting Public Discourse in Online Spaces

This article analyzes the Web interfaces of two well-known national civic action groups, both related to genetics research: the Genetic Alliance and the Innocence Project. These two sites are excellent examples of interface design and information retrieval, and they also attempt to translate complex science to the general public, even those traditionally most underrepresented and marginalized by the complexities of science and technology. The Genetic Alliance and Innocence Project provide excellent case studies for technical communication courses about the necessity to marry factual scientific knowledge with cultural and emotional rhetorics while providing an interface for multiple stakeholders in public policy change.     

Living in an era of comparisons: comparative research on policy,curriculum and teaching

ABSTRACT

The articles in this special issue include different perspectives on comparative policy studies with an aim to understand transnational education policies in relation to the logic of national educational systems and to grasp the ongoing reframing of teacher identity and teaching as a result of the policy activities of ‘new’ and coordinated international actors. This special issue aims to contribute to a continued qualified investigation in curriculum issues at the various levels within the public education system, as well as in the international policy movements, affecting public education differently in different nations. A ‘comparative curriculum research’ inspired by theories and methods from comparative education might be helpful in this endeavour.     

Policy Options for Early Childhood: A Model for Decision Making

There is a substantial and documented need for policies to provide comprehensive health, social work, and early education services for young children and their families. Public subsidies to support other enterprises deemed in the public interest are public transportation, higher education, and social security. Childcare would seem to be another such responsibility. The majority of parents with children under the age of five are in the work force, there is documentation of the importance of early experience to brain growth, and further evidence that current child care provisions are often mediocre to poor. This article presents a decision making matrix, which displays major policy options for early childhood and a range of criteria by which to judge the relative efficacy of those options. Several special issues connected with the decision making are discussed.