The future of applied child development research and public policy

After reviewing a brief general history of applied child development research, this paper suggests that in the future we should study questions that society needs to answer as well as questions that might contribute to theory, and that our research methods need to be adjusted to match these types of questions. Further, academics are urged to broaden their audience from a nearly exclusive focus on other academics to a focus on the three ps--practitioners, policymakers, and the public--and to recognize that scholarship is packaged differently for these audiences. Finally, it is suggested that applied child development research should market as well as sell, partner with nonacademic groups, disseminate results more vigorously, and focus efforts on local as well as national issues.     

Defining curriculum policy through slogans

This article explores the upper secondary (or post‐16) school market. The study on which it is based, funded by the Swedish Research Council, was entitled ‘Upper‐secondary education as a market’. Empirical data include official statistics, policy documents, school publications, company reports and school visits. Printed and other news media were also scrutinised to identify how the marketisation of education is represented in public discourse. A number of themes emerged from the study which included mapping the expansion of the school market, chains of ownership and influence, marketing strategies, choice and the school market and issues raised in the media. These imply that there is a new market discourse which represents a clear break with previous social democratic education policies primarily aimed at enhancing citizenship and wider democratic values within an inclusive public school. However, critiques have also emerged including a call for strengthened regulations of and control over independent schools and concern about an education market equated more with shares and profits rather than pedagogy and student citizenship.     

Towards a public policy for the research university in Portugal

Following a model that conceptualizes the functioning of the university, a set of principles to define a public funding methodology for the research universities is proposed, within the context of the Portuguese higher education system. This set of principles is presented on the basis of the analysis of the contemporary mission of the university, giving particular relevance to the research activities that are developed at universities. The positioning of research universities in the science and technology system is valorized, and the set of principles aims at contributing to develop a science policy that gives to the university the relevant role that is required in the emerging knowledge-driven economies.     

Social maladjustment and emotional disturbance: Problems and positions I

Several controversies continue to surround the differentiation between the socially maladjusted (SM) and seriously emotionally disturbed (SED). Central to the controversy is the interpretation of social maladjustment. At one extreme, some restrict the definition of SM to include (a) the socialized aggressive and (b) adjudicated delinquents. At the other extreme, SM is construed broadly and includes (a) Conduct Disorder (group type, solitary aggressive, and undifferentiated), (b) Oppositional Defiant Disorder, and (c) antisocial personality. An intermediate position presented herein argues for the inclusion of the socialized aggressive and unsocialized aggressive under the rubric of SM. Given that those in the anxious-withdrawn-dysphoric group are viewed as both SM and SED, they should be eligible for special education services assuming adverse educational impact is evident.     

Social maladjustment and emotional disturbance: Problems and positions II

Three controversial issues surrounding the differentiation between the socially maladjusted (SM) and the seriously emotionally disturbed (SED) are examined. The first issue addresses the question whether treatment methods should differ for these two groups. Some have argued that the same treatment methods should be used with both groups, while others advocate that differentiated treatment is necessary if these two groups are to receive an appropriate education. The second issue focuses on whether the SM are truly handicapped. Drawing upon professional opinion, research findings, and rational analysis, it is argued that the socially maladjusted as a group are free from serious emotional disturbance. The third issue pertains to the education of the SM. It is pointed out that many provisions for the SM are already available, although perhaps overlooked. The call for a continuum of services is made.     

Higher education markets and public policy

In the major reforms to higher education being introduced throughout the world, market and “market-like” policy instruments are assuming increasing importance. Long perceived as a unique characteristic of the U.S. system of higher education, experiments with market competition in academic labor markets, institutional finance, student support, and the allocation of research funds are now evident in the higher education policy of many different nations. Ironically, the overt rationale for these reforms is not only the traditional argument of economic efficiency—with its supposed corollary benefits of institutional adaptation and innovation—but increasingly a resort to market competition as a means of achieving equity in the form of mass higher education. The paper explores the nature of markets in higher education, the policy mechanisms related to their implementation, and some emerging questions regarding their impact.     

Academic freedom and current public policy

In this presentation, I shall examine the issue of academic freedom and current public policy, and will do so by referring to the present state of affairs in this respect in Russia and, more particularly at St. Petersburg State University.     

公众免费WIFI安全策略

人们对于免费WIFI的需求越来越大,免费又是一把双刃剑,在带来便利的同时,对使用者来说又暗藏危机,这里从产生安全漏洞的原因入手,分析免费WIFI使用的安全策略。     

Goal setting,responsibility training,and fixed ratio reinforcement: Ten-month application to students with emotional disturbance in a public school setting

Reviews of treatment strategies for students with emotional disturbance (ED) have noted that most studies (a) do not involve entire classes or groups of classes, (b) are not conducted in public schools, and (c) do not report data for an entire 10-month school year (September to June). This study applied goal setting (GS), responsibility training (RT), and fixed ratio reinforcement (FRR) to three classes of students with ED in a public elementary school from September to June. GS included daily, weekly, and monthly goals for behavior and work earnings (points). RT included a level system with different reinforcers and privileges for each level, and nonisolated time out with problem solving. FRR included reward contingencies for behavior and work earnings. Data for 10 months indicated that (a) goals were consistently earned at high levels, (b) the percentage of students attaining higher RT levels progressively increased, and (c) time-out levels progressively decreased, with year-end spikes below prior peak levels. Findings supported the use of GS, RT, and FRR for students with ED in public school to encourage appropriate behavior and work effort over 10 months. Method limitations and research implications are discussed.     

高等教育与省级公共支出政策

在公共财政体制下 ,高等教育产品供给方式应实行政府主导的混合提供方式。以河北省为例 ,研究省级公共支出政策得出的结论是 :财政支出应继续作为高等教育投资的主渠道之一 ,但应从支配性转向引导性 ;地方高等教育公共支出主体应为省级财政 ,需坚持效率原则与发展原则的统一 ,突出强调高等教育公共支出的内部结构优化。     

National innovation policy and public science in Australia

In this paper, I have positioned myself with Kean Birch and explored some of the political-economic actors/actants of policy suites implicated in the biotechnologies and bioeconomy. In particular, I have considered Australia’s recent National Innovation and Science Agenda and allied documents and entities (that is, Innovation and Science Australia, the National Science Statement and the 2016 National Research Infrastructure Roadmap) as one of the National Innovation Strategies in place now in OECD countries and beyond. In overview, these policy suites utilise the same high knowledge creation/low translation and commericalisation arguments as elsewhere to press for particular ideologically based ‘improvements’ to public science. Mapping the terrain of these entities has revealed the innovation, biotechnology and bioeconomy policy space to be inordinately complex and challenging to navigate. Reviewing Australia’s position enables the type of comparative work that contributes to a closer understanding of the largely neoliberal global economic imperatives shaping contemporaneity. Moreover, while these policy suites attempt to constitute and circulate particular visions of science education, their complex nature mitigates against science teachers/educators grappling with their implications.     

Problematizing public engagement within public pedagogy research and practice

In this article, we explore issues related to how scholars attempt to enact public pedagogy (i.e. doing ‘public engagement’ work) and how they research public pedagogy (i.e. framing and researching artistic and activist ‘public engagement’ as public pedagogy). We focus specifically on three interrelated issues we believe should be addressed by scholars as they continue to theorize, enact, and analyze public pedagogies in the broader public sphere: (a) power dynamics embedded in individualized versus more collective enactments of public intellectualism; (b) conflicting and complicated conceptualizations of the relationship between the public pedagogue and the public, and how that relationship should be enacted; and (c) ethical issues surrounding the framing of public engagement and activist work under the umbrella of ‘pedagogy’.     

Gender and Education: public policy and pedagogic practice

This paper serves two purposes. The first is an examination of a public policy, the Queensland Department of Education's Equal Opportunity Policy for Girls and Boys (1981) and the Implementation Guidelines (1988) for that policy within the context of the pedagogical practices of one secondary school. The second purpose is to answer a criticism often levelled at structural theories of education. This criticism centres around the inability of structural theories to account for the real life experiences of teachers and students. Bernstein's (1986) theory of Pedagogic Discourse and Fernandes’ (1988) work on Resistance theory are applied to three levels of educational practice; public policy, school practices and the everyday experiences of a group of female students. Through this analysis, movement towards a more satisfactory explanation of the intersection of gender and education is made.