Academic self‐concept,gender and single‐sex schooling

This article assesses gender differences in academic self‐concept for a cohort of children born in 1958 (the National Child Development Study). It addresses the question of whether attending single‐sex or co‐educational schools affected students' perceptions of their own academic abilities (academic self‐concept). Academic self‐concept was found to be highly gendered, even controlling for prior test scores. Boys had higher self‐concepts in mathematics and science, and girls in English. Single‐sex schooling reduced the gender gap in self‐concept, while selective schooling was linked to lower academic self‐concept overall.     

Awareness within local authorities in England of autism spectrum diagnoses of looked-after children

Educational outcomes for looked-after children on the autism spectrum are significantly poorer than for autistic children not being looked-after by their local authority (those ‘in care’), and poorer than for most other groups of children with special educational needs who are looked-after in England. Such poor outcomes have led to calls for specific attention to be paid to the needs of autistic looked-after children within the care of local authorities. There is also evidence that the numbers of autistic children being looked-after by local authorities could be under-represented in official figures. This study sought to find the current numbers of autistic looked-after children formally recorded across local authorities in England, and whether their needs are given special attention via strategic planning and oversight, using freedom of information (FoI) requests sent to all local authorities in England. From the 147 (97%) local authorities who responded, approximately 3% of looked-after children in England are recorded as having an autism spectrum diagnosis, although this is still very likely to be an underestimation. The majority of local authorities do not routinely monitor or report on the diagnostic status of autistic looked-after children at a strategic level. Implications for research and practice are discussed.     

An Assessment of the Lasting Effects of a Stand-Alone Information Literacy Course: The Students' Perspective

The authors wished to measure the degree to which a library information literacy course establishes a foundation for life-long learning. A web-based survey was administered to 2147 currently-matriculating Louisiana State University students who had taken the one-credit information literacy course, Library and Information Science (LIS) 1001 (Research Methods and Materials). Though the response rate was relatively low, the survey revealed clear evidence that students continue to use the materials and skills taught in the course throughout their college careers for both course work and personal research.     

Scholarly journal publishing: where do we go from here?

The digitization of journal content and its availability online has revolutionized journal publishing in recent years, resulting in both opportunities and challenges for traditional journal publishers. The explosion of data and the emergence of new players such as Google, new business models like Open Access, and new content consumers and producers, for example, China are significantly changing the face of journal publishing. It is not yet clear what the impact of these changes will be but by continuing to collaborate with our existing stakeholders and building partnerships with these newcomers, as well as by maintaining and promoting the quality of our content, we can ensure our future growth and success.     

Artefacts of not-knowing: the medical record, the diagnosis and the production of uncertainty in Papua New Guinean biomedicine

Anthropological and STS scholars of biomedical work have traditionally explored contexts where inconsistencies and lacunas in diagnostic knowledge-production are problematic for medical practitioners, and such scholars have consequently focused on the social and political processes by which such epistemic uncertainties are resolved. This article draws on ethnographic material from a Papua New Guinean hospital where diagnostic uncertainty is not rendered problematic and where the open-endedness of the diagnostic process gives rise to new forms of medical expertise and practice. The paper focuses on the medical record as an artefact of not-knowing that both documents and performs uncertainty as a valuable resource. It shows that medical records can operate as either technologies of 'opening' that multiply opportunities for pragmatic action within a hospital space or as technologies of 'closure' that move people and documents between spaces. Practices of not-knowing and knowing are therefore shown to be interdependent and interchangeable 'moments' of bureaucratic-biomedical work.