Teacher perspectives on the implementation of the PATHS curriculum

The research was designed to add to the UK-based literature around the Promoting Alternative Thinking Strategies (PATHS) curriculum, a whole school emotional literacy and social competence intervention. Seven semi-structured interviews were carried out with class teachers and pastoral leads. Questionnaires were designed to explore a number of elements including teachers’ perceptions of the PATHS curriculum effect on children’s social and emotional functioning and understanding, and also their thoughts about the implementation of the programme. Results suggested that teachers found implementing the programme a generally positive experience with some support found for the authors’ claims for improvement of children’s social and emotional functioning, some limited support for improvements in children’s ability to recognise others’ emotions and for improvements in children’s learning. Examination of the data also suggested that teachers felt that the programme needs long-term prioritisation in order to be successful. Implications for practice are discussed and future research directions considered.     

THE ESPACES STUDY: DESIGNING,DEVELOPING AND MANAGING LEARNING SPACES FOR EFFECTIVE LEARNING

This paper was given as a key note at the North West Academic Libraries conference ‘Designing Spaces for Learning: Flexible learning spaces, libraries and changing roles’ in September 2006 and was adapted from the eSpaces study so that it met the aims and objectives of the North West Academic Libraries conference. The eSpaces study is shorthand for the Joint Information Systems Committee's ‘Study on How Innovative Technologies are Influencing the Design of Physical Learning Spaces in the Post-16 Sector’. The need for this study came from a recognition that most, if not all, education institutions are now integrating learning technologies into the design of new buildings and the refurbishment of existing ones. Managed learning environments, mobile computing, wireless local area networks and broadband are just a few of the technologies that are influencing how we design, use and manage our learning spaces. They are also changing how we design our libraries. The key findings of this study are outlined and the implications for library space and staff roles discussed.     

The value of library and information services in patient care: results of a multisite study

Objective:

The research conducted a large-scale, multisite study on the value and impact of library and information services on patient care.

Methods:

The study used: (1) 2 initial focus groups of librarians; (2) a web-based survey of physicians, residents, and nurses at 56 library sites serving 118 hospitals; and (3) 24 follow-up telephone interviews. Survey respondents were asked to base their responses on a recent incident in which they had sought information for patient care.

Results:

Of the 16,122 survey respondents, 3/4 said that they had definitely or probably handled aspects of the patient care situation differently as a result of the information. Among the reported changes were advice given to the patient (48%), diagnosis (25%), and choice of drugs (33%), other treatment (31%), and tests (23%). Almost all of the respondents (95%) said the information resulted in a better informed clinical decision. Respondents reported that the information allowed them to avoid the following adverse events: patient misunderstanding of the disease (23%), additional tests (19%), misdiagnosis (13%), adverse drug reactions (13%), medication errors (12%), and patient mortality (6%).

Conclusions:

Library and information resources were perceived as valuable, and the information obtained was seen as having an impact on patient care.

Highlights

• Library and information resources were perceived as valuable, and the information obtained was seen as having an impact on patient care.
• Electronic access to information resources from multiple locations has increased the ability of health professionals to use these resources for improved patient care.
• The roles of librarians are diversifying to include management of electronic resources, user instruction and support, specialized research and clinical information search services, and involvement in institution-level quality improvement.
• It is possible to conduct a large-scale, multisite study on the value and impact of library services on patient care.

Implications

• Ongoing studies of the value and impact of library and information resources will be important for advocacy and quality improvement.
• Community-Based Participative Research methods hold promise as a way of ensuring the relevance of future research.

     

Shifting themes in OECD country reviews of higher education

There have been changes in the political economy since the 1980s, and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has changed as well. Scholars have noted shifts in OECD discourse in some policy fields since that time: shifts away from what might be called classic neoliberal perspectives. This paper reflects on the changes in the political economy and in OECD and explores how they might be related to changes in OECD discourse in higher education. Specifically, it examines country reviews of higher education systems conducted by OECD in the mid-1990s and the late-2000s for evidence of shifts in its higher education discourse. Instead of a softening of neoliberal perspectives, it finds a further entrenchment of assumptions associated with neoliberalization. It also describes what appears to be a deepening contradiction in the discourse concerning the private and public benefits of higher education. Finally, it reflects on how the contexts of the political economy as framed by OECDs discourse, affects its proposed goals and strategies for higher education.     

Daily fluctuations in young children’s persistence

Children's behavior changes from day to day, but the factors that contribute to its variability are understudied. We developed a novel repeated measures paradigm to study children's persistence by capitalizing on a task that children complete every day: toothbrushing (N = 81; 48% female; 36–47 months; 80% white, 14% Multiracial, 10% Hispanic, 2% Asian, 1% Black; 1195 observations collected between January 2019 and March 2020). Children brushed longer on days when their parents used more praise (d = .23) and less instruction (d = −.22). Sensitivity to mood, sleep, and parent stress varied across children, suggesting that identifying the factors that shape an individual child's persistence could lead to personalized interventions.     

Somatotype and size of elite female basketball players

The aim of this study was to compare the somatotype and size of elite female basketball players in terms of playing position and team performance. Anthropometry and somatotype data were collected on 168 players from 14 countries before the Women's World Basketball Championship, Australia, 1994. There were 64 guards (mean?±?s: age 25.4?±?3.3 years, height 1.72?±?0.06?m, mass 66.1?±?6.2?kg, somatotype?=?2.9?–?3.9?–?2.6), 57 forwards (age 25.2?±?3.8 years, height 1.81?±?0.06?m, mass 73.3?±?5.9?kg, somatotype?=?2.8?–?3.5?–?3.2) and 47 centres (age 24.1?±?3.1 years, height 1.90?±?0.06?m, mass 82.6?±?8.2?kg, somatotype?=?3.2?–?3.1?–?3.4). Mean somatotypes by position were significantly different (F?=?7.73, P?<?0.01). Guards had greater mesomorphy than centres and less ectomorphy than forwards and centres. When discriminant function analysis was applied to endomorphy, mesomorphy, ectomorphy, age, height and mass, only height, mass and ectomorphy entered (Wilks' λ?=?0.351, F?=?31.40, P?<?0.000), 70% of the variance was accounted for, and 72% of players were correctly classified. In the four top versus four bottom teams, guards were taller and more ectomorphic, forwards were taller, with lower mesomorphy and higher ectomorphy, and centres did not differ. Thus there are some differences in somatotypes by position and team placing, but the combination of height, mass and ectomorphy provide the best differentiation by position.     

Examining the legacy of the Warnock Report in Northern Ireland: A Foucauldian genealogical approach

Over 40 years after the publication of the Report of the Committee of Enquiry into the Education of Handicapped Children and Young People, commonly referred to as the Warnock Report, this article uniquely considers its legacy in the context of Northern Ireland. The article adopts a Foucauldian genealogical approach to consider first the specific context of the ‘emergence’ or ‘origins’ of the Warnock Report in the 1970s, highlighting competing political forces and the positioning of the report at the very end of the age of post-war welfarism. The approach details the key elements of the Warnock Report itself, and then charts the resulting development of SEN policy in Northern Ireland, culminating in the faltering process of reform which began in 2006 and has been partially completed but which has recently been halted by the collapse of the power-sharing Executive and the suspension of the Northern Ireland Assembly in January 2017. The legacy of the Warnock Report is critically examined, identifying the main positive contributions of the report but also acknowledging the enduring challenges set against a complex current financial and political context. Finally, rather than leaving Warnock completely behind, a case is made for a fresh, detailed, context-specific reading of this seminal report.