Research and scholarship: Perceptions of senior academic administrators

This paper reports selected findings from the first stage of a study on the research role within academic work in Australian universities. These findings come from the interview component of the study and discuss the perceptions that senior academic administrators hold on research and scholarship. The analysis of the interviews indicates that research covers a wide and varied range of activities across the disciplines found in a university and therefore needs to be defined broadly. However, research has three major attributes: new knowledge, enquiry and publication of results and views. Scholarship was perceived to be part of the research process, providing the context for good research by adding the element of breadth to the depth of research. In addition, scholarship describes the manner of pursuing a serious, sustained line of enquiry as well as the dissemination process.     

Occupational interests of Barbadian adolescents

A sample of 850 adolescents in the Caribbean island of Barbados indicated their general interest in 90 locally available occupations which were designated male, female or either sex in accordance with judgements of present employment of the sexes in these positions, and named up to three jobs for which they had particular preference. Results showed sex to have a pervasive influence on both general interest and particular job choice, although both males and females were most strongly attracted to modern sector, mid/high status managerial positions. Implications for career guidance in schools, and for further research, are discussed.     

Career Development and the Needs of Young College-Educated Females in Taiwan

This interpretive study examined the lived experiences of young college-educated Taiwanese women employed as clerical workers. Using hermeneutic phenomenology as the research methodology, the study explored the meanings of the participants lived experiences. Systematic text analysis of the data revealed various experiences and expectations. Experience themes identified in the study were: (a) bored and busy; and (b) disrespected and mistrusted. Major expectation themes revealed are: (a) career dreams and aspirations; and (b) desire for meaningful work. The study emphasised the importance of career development education in young Taiwanese women. The experiences of Taiwanese female clerical workers as recorded in the study reflected a need for career development, which might provide insightful information for career development scholars and practitioners.     

Women in higher education

The high level of admissions of women into higher education in Japanis analysed in the context of examining revised views about the highereducation of women resulting from changes in the traditional view of therelationship between higher education and social values. Despite the shiftin womens educational expectations, there is still clear evidence that agender track continues; typically men congregate in four year institutionswhilst women focus on Junior Colleges and on particular courses of studydeemed to be appropriate for women. The gender track is furtherdemonstrated by detailed studies of the Junior College and the WomensCollege. Womens employment opportunities are shown to have been affected byrestrictive attitudes of employers which tended in the past to impose onwomen particular modes of employment. The reasons for the emergence of achange in these attitudes in the latter part of the 1980s are explored andthe impact of the Equal Employment Opportunity Act of 1986 is examined. Thearticle concludes by considering the wider implications for women, both inthe work-place and in society more generally, of these developments. It isnoted that highly educated Japanese women tend to hold more conservativevalues and may see their education as an expression of their social statusrather than a way of increasing their earning power. The recentestablishment of a number of courses in Womens Studies may well have aninfluence upon future developments in ideas about women and higher educationin Japan.     

Swedish Universities towards Self-Regulation: A New Look at Institutional Autonomy

Swedish universities are required to change towards more effective self-regulation as the government has recently reduced state steering and devolved further responsibilities to them. In this paper, self-regulation is related to the concept of autonomy, a concept which is analysed on the two dimensions of purpose and authority, resulting in four models of state governance and consequently in a different space of action for the institutions. However, in order to develop self-regulation, the space granted must also be used effectively to realise autonomy. Six Swedish higher education institutions are analysed concerning how they have used their new space of action and what restrictions they have met in their efforts for self-regulation.     

Some aspects of the individual-difference modelling of causal attribution

A review of some contemporary studies based on an individual-difference model of student learning is presented. The exploratory fitting of conceptual models of student learning to atypical individual-similarity data structures is discussed, and an experimental categorisation procedure for producing such structures is outlined. Insofar as the features of some established conceptual models of student learning do not fit such atypical structures, either by virtue of their conceptual parsimony, or their underlying conceptual assumptions, the fitting of a locus model to such structures is explored. It is argued that, within the student experience of learning framework, conceptual models of student learning need to incorporate such additional dimensions of variation if such models are to be employed in individual-difference studies of student learning.     

“Without Contraries is no Progression”: Dust as an All-Inclusive, Multifunctional Metaphor in Philip Pullman's “His Dark Materials”

Drawing on John Milton's Paradise Lost and on motifs found within Gnostic mythology and the poetry of William Blake, this article explores Philip Pullman's reworking of the Judeo-Christian myth of the Fall. At the centre of this investigation is Dust: a conventional metaphor for human physicality inspired by God's judgment on humanity. This article suggests that Dust is re-presented in the trilogy in a more positive manner through the development of Milton's metaphor of the dark materials into a substance in which good and evil, and spirit and matter—conceptual opposites that form the basis of religious dualism—coexist.     

The cultural grid: A framework for multicultural counseling

The Cultural Grid suggests a structure for interpreting a person's behavior in the context of culturally learned expectations. When two persons' expectations are similar, but their behaviors are dissimilar, cross cultural misunderstanding is likely to result. When their expectations are dissimilar, the result is likely to be a personal misunderstanding even though their behaviors are similar. This article introduces a framework for differentiating personal and cultural differences in the interview which is essential for appropriate multicultural counseling. The alternatives are to allow apparent and obvious cultural differences to mask underlying personal differences or to incorrectly assume that two persons who appear culturally similar are having a personal disagreement.     

The nature of scientific thought

Scientific thought is regarded here as both a type of goal-directed behaviour (practice) and its product, and the question of its nature posed in terms of that goal and of means appropriate for achieving it, preferably with regard to an existing paradigm (exemplar) such as the Galilean-Newtonian. Empiricism, a widely received view of the nature of science, is examined and rejected, as is the general idea that scientific thought has philosophical foundations. The question of the actual or possible scientific status of the human sciences is raised and some methodological guidelines for an answer to it suggested.This paper is a version of one commissioned for the forthcoming International Handbook of Science Education edited by Ken Tobin and Barry Fraser (Kluwer Academic Publications). Thus it deals in a condensed way with wide-ranging and complex matters that would ordinarily be treated separately and at greater length. (Editor)     

Counsellor education and the future: Cautious sailing

The future remains always elusive and yet by examining the present, some hints of what is to come may be seen by the discerning. In this article, six existing social forces (the baby boom, the new woman, the silicon chip, disenchantment, the monetary system and the increased tempo of modern life) are reviewed as well as some of the implications of these forces for counselling education programmes. The hope is that such an examination will help counsellors and counsellor educators to be better prepared for the future and therefore better able to influence it.University of Alberta     

Lexical priming of nonword spelling in the regular orthography of Italian

In pronounced contrast to English, Italian orthography contains extremely regular sound-to-spelling correspondences and therefore Italian words could, in principle, be spelled perfectly correctly using nonlexical phoneme-to-grapheme conversion rules alone. If this were so, then there should be no lexical influence upon nonword spelling. However, the present experiment reports lexical priming effects for two inconsistently spelled segments in Italian words: Italian participants were more likely to spell the nonword tece as TECIE if they had just heard the word specie rather than pece and were more likely to spell the nonword cuodo as QUODO if they had heard the word quota rather than cuoco. These results suggest that Italian, despite its regular orthography, is not spelled purely nonlexically. It is argued that a dual-route model of spelling production can be applied to Italian.     

The Pseudo-Conceptual and the Pseudo-Analytical Thought Processes in Mathematics Learning

This paper suggests a theoretical framework to deal with some well known phenomena in mathematical behavior. Assuming that the notions conceptual and analytical are clear enough in the domain of mathematical thinking, the notions pseudo-conceptual and pseudo-analytical are proposed and explained. Examples from mathematics classrooms, mathematics exams, and homework assignments are analyzed and discussed within the proposed theoretical framework.The notions pseudo-conceptual and pseudo-analytical proposed in this paper, actually narrow the extension of the notion cognitive by restricting it to the domain of meaningful contexts. Analysis of meaningless behaviors, it is claimed, requires a different theoretical framework. The attempt to analyze meaningless behaviors in the same way as meaningful behaviors is called here the cognitive approach fallacy.     

From Conant's Education Strategy to Kuhn's Research Strategy

The seminal influence of Kuhn's The Structure of Scientific Revolutions on the history, philosophy, and sociology of science illustrates how changes in pedagogical demands can significantly alter patterns of research. Kuhn's book was honed as a teacher in the General Education of Science curriculum designed by Harvard President James Bryant Conant, to whom Structure is dedicated. The courses targeted non-scientists who would have to make policy decisions in the dawning Atomic Age, where science would play an increasing role, despite the public skepticism generated by the atomic bomb (which Conant administered). Conant wanted these future policymakers to be connoisseurs of science who understood problematic Big Science as continuing the basic mindset of culturally valued Little Science. This partly explains why Kuhn presented science as following the same stages, regardless of the specific science and period under discussion. I consider three other senses in Conant's curriculum left its imprint on Kuhn's research practice: the use of case histories to manufacture the internal/external history distinction; the invention of the historiographical mirage known as normal science; the application of the incommensurability thesis to create a more receptive attitude to past scientists.     

Styles of scientific thinking

It is a main contention of this paper that the history of science is not so much a story of the progressive advance in our understanding and discovery of the facts of nature, but rather, an account of different ways of seeing things; where the things thus seen are to a considerable extent themselves the result of realizational processes operating in terms of some theory or other. But further, such theories are in turn controlled by some respective methodology which has its history: with the latter itself a record of different views about those elements believed to be essential for any adequate constructionof scientific theories. The paper then distinguishes between three views, the rationalist, the empiricist, and the systemic processing of scientific facts; the last-named view operating under the guidance of certain leading maxims and principles. Finally, the paper formulates a triadic type of methodology whose three components mirror the three views just mentioned: the probative, the explicative and the systemic components; which in turn are then shown to generate three corresponding ontologies.     

Education for work: Reflections towards a theory of vocational education

By integrating aspects of a philosophy of work and a sociology of work, this article draws conclusions relevant to framing a theory of vocational education. Education for work is accepted in this paper as the common central meaning of the term vocational education. The two concepts, education and work, are first examined separately: work is seen to include recreational and occupational work, while occupational work is seen to fall on a continuum ranging from constrained to unconstrained occupational work. Education and training are distinguished. After a discussion of the conceptual links which might be drawn between education and work, recommendations are made about the aims, the place, and the curriculum of vocational education within the general institution of education.

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Zusammenfassung Durch die Integration von Aspekten einer Philosophie der Arbeit und einer Soziologie der Arbeit kommt der Verfasser dieses Artikels zu Schlußfolgerungen, die eine Theorie der Berufsbildung entwickeln. Bildung für die Arbeit wird in diesem Artikel als die allgemeine, zentrale Bedeutung des Begriffes Berufsbildung verstanden. Die beiden Begriffe Erziehung, und Arbeit werden zunächst einzeln untersucht: Arbeit umfaßt hier Freizeit- und Berufsarbeit; Berufsarbeit ist ein Kontinuum von mehr oder weniger vorgegebener Tätigkeit. Es wird zwischen Bildung und Ausbildung unterschieden. Im Anschluß an eine Diskussion über begriffliche Gemeinsamkeiten zwischen Erziehung und Arbeit werden Vorschläge über Ziele, Einordnung und Curriculum der Berufsbildung innerhalb des allgemeinen Systems der Erziehung unterbreitet.

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Résumé En intégrant des aspects d'une philosophie et d'une sociologie du travail, cet article tire des conclusions pertinentes pour l'élaboration d'une théorie de l'éducation professionnelle. L'éducation pour le travail est prise dans cet article au sens commun central du terme éducation professionnelle. Tout d'abord, on examine séparément les deux concepts éducation et travail: on considère que le travail inclut les occupations récréatives et professionnelles alors que le travail professionnel est vu en tant qu'un continuum allant du travail professionnel contraint au travail non contraint. On distingue l'éducation de la formation. Après une discussion sur les liens conceptuels qui pourraient être établis entre l'éducation et le travail, des recommandations sont faites sur les objectifs, la place et le contenu de l'éducation professionnelle au sein de l'institution générale de l'éducation.

     

Education and schooling

An analysis of the concept of education has been thought necessary by philosophers of education in the past in order to provide a measuring stick against which the genuineness and quality of purportedly educational activities and educated people could be gauged. R.S. Peters and John Wilson have both offered new analysis of education and it is here argued that each fails: Peters' because it will allow too much to count as educational and Wilson's because it will permit too little. The author's position is that the concept of education is too vague to admit of precise characterization, hence further analysis is futile. In its place is offered an analysis of the concept ofschooling. Schooling is less vague and can be divided intotypes of schooling each of which provides criteria for establishing the genuineness and quality of educational activities and educated people.

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Zusammenfassung In der Vergangenheit wurde eine Analyse des Erziehungsbegriffs von Erziehungsphilosophen für nötig gehalten, um einen Maßstab zu schaffen, anhand dessen Echtheit und Güte von beabsichtigten erzieherischen Aktivitäten und der Ausgebildeten abgelesen werden könnte. R.S. Peters und John Wilson haben beide eine neue Erziehungsanalyse vorgeschlagen, und der Autor legt dar, daß eine wie die andere fehlschlagen: Peters Analyse, weil sie erlaube, zu viel zum Erzieherischen zu zählen und Wilsons, weil sie zu wenig gestatte. Der Autor meint, daß der Erziehungsbegriff viel zu ungenau ist, um abgrenzende Beschreibung zuzulassen, und daher weitere Analyse vergeblich ist. Stattdessen wird eine Analyse des BegriffsSchulung vorgeschlagen. Schulung ist weniger ungenau und kann in zwei Schulungstypen unterteilt werden, welche beide Kritieren liefern, zur Feststellung von Echtheit und Güte der erzieherischen Aktivitäten und der Ausgebildeten.

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Résumé On pensait autrefois que l'analyse du concept de l'éducation présentée par les philosophes de l'éducation était nécessaire à l'élaboration d'une échelle de mesure d'après laquelle on pouvait apprécier l'authenticité et la qualité des activités pédagogiques visées et des personnes instruites. R.S. Peters et John Wilson ont présenté l'un et l'autre une nouvelle analyse de l'éducation et l'on démontre dans cet article que les deux échouent: celle de Peters parce qu'elle prend trop en considération l'aspect pédagogique, celle de Wilson pas assez au contraire. L'auteur pense que le concept de l'éducation est trop vague pour permettre une définition précise, ce qui rend tout autre analyse futile. On offre donc à la place une analyse du concept de l'instruction. L'instruction est moins indéfinie et peut être divisée entypes d'instruction, chacun pouvant fournir les critères de détermination de l'authenticité et de la qualité des activités pédagogiques et des personnes instruites.

     

Coming to Grips with Radical Social Constructivisms

This essay distinguishes two broad groups - psychological constructivists and social constructivists - but focusses upon the second of these, although it is stressed that there is great within group variation. More than half of the paper is devoted to general clearing of the ground, during which the reasons for the growing acrimony in the debates between social constructivists and their opponents are assessed, an important consequence of these debates for education is discussed, and an examination is carried out of the radical social constructivist tendency to make strong and exciting but untenable claims which are then backed away from (a tendency which is documented by a close reading of the early pages in Bloors classic book). The last portion of the essay focuses upon social constructivist accounts of the causes of belief in science - the more radical of which denegrate the role of warranting reasons, and which give an exalted place to quasi-anthropological or sociological studies of scientific communities.     

The Total Quality Initiative at South Bank University

The total quality initiative covers all aspects of the University's academic and support services, but only one of a number of different programmes is discussed in detail, the formulation of quality service agreements. The paper outlines both the theoretical basis and the practical implementation of the approach. Another programme, quality in teaching and learning, is also briefly outlined.The systematic examination and articulation of customer/supplier relationships lies at the core of South Bank's total quality approach, with quality being customer rather than system driven. The concept of the quality chain is developed to stress and demonstrate the interdependence of all staff in providing a high quality service to students.The customer/supplier relationship is founded on three aspects of quality-characteristics, standards and measurement of performance, all of which are dealt with in some detail.Thirty-two Customer/Supplier Working Groups are charged with the task of establishing detailed quality service agreements between academic schools and support departments the internal customers and suppliers, and between the schools as suppliers and their students (and other clients) as external customers.     

Socialist mathematics education: Does it exist?

A recent book by Frank Swetz and others has postulated the existence of the phenomenon socialist mathematics education. In this paper we consider critically Swet's arguments and assertions and suggest an alternative methodology whereby one might attempt to describe socialist mathematics education.     

‘Discrete analysis’ — An approach to fundamental ideas of analysis

The paper investigates conceptual relationships between the Continuous and the Discrete. Differentiation, integration and the fundamental theorem of calculus are based on corresponding operators and a corresponding theorem with functions on finite domains (discrete functions). The final section discusses the possibilities for introducing elements of a discrete analysis into the mathematics curriculum.