Trends in Philanthropic Support: Foundation Giving in Environmental Education

Despite public support, environmental education (EE) is rarely a priority for funders, even those interested in the environment or education. We examined reasons behind the paucity of EE funding, focusing on U.S. foundations, which are one of the largest sources of support for environmental efforts. We analyzed historical giving data and interviewed a dozen funders. Over the 2003 to 2007 period, we found EE funding represented approximately 5% of overall environment funding in the United States. Reasons for the low level of EE support included definitional complexity, uncertainty about efficacy, and inclusion of EE funding within issue-specific grants, such as those focused on climate change.     

Attachment insecurity mediates the relationship between childhood trauma and eating disorder psychopathology in a clinical sample: A structural equation model

Objectives

Childhood maltreatment occurs often among those with an eating disorder and is considered a nonspecific risk factor. However, the mechanisms by which childhood maltreatment may lead to an eating disorder are not well understood. The current study tests a model in which attachment insecurity is hypothesized to mediate the relationship between childhood maltreatment and eating disorder psychopathology.

Method

Treatment seeking adults with eating disorders (N = 308) completed questionnaires about childhood maltreatment, eating disorder psychopathology, and adult attachment.

Results

Structural equation models indicated that childhood trauma had a direct effect on eating disorder symptoms. Also, attachment anxiety and avoidance each equally mediated the childhood maltreatment to eating disorder psychopathology relationship.

Conclusions

Attachment insecurity, characterized by affect dysregulation and interpersonal sensitivities may help to explain why eating disorder symptoms may be one consequence of childhood maltreatment in a clinical sample. Clinicians treating primarily those with trauma might assess for disordered eating as a potential manifestation of the sequelae of trauma and attachment insecurity.     

The contradictory location of high school apprenticeship in Canada

Recent education policies focus on making youth pathways more transparent while addressing skills shortage. However, there appears to be ambivalence about the target audience for ‘new vocational’ programmes in secondary schools and how they should be organized. This paper begins from the observation that Canadian policy‐makers, like those in other countries, have shown increasing interest in bringing vocational and academic tracks into closer alignment. However, drawing on empirical data from a number of case studies of high school apprenticeship, we argue that persistent tensions in educational policy and practice can be explained by the legacy of the historical development of high school vocational education, the ambivalent position of vocational education in the ‘knowledge‐based economy’ and the competing interests of different partners. We conclude that greater awareness of the distributional issues that underlie vocational education policies is needed.     

Refugees and evacuees: enhancing historical understanding through Irish historical fiction with Key Stage 2 and early Key Stage 3 pupils

This article explores the use of historical fiction as a means of undertaking a historical enquiry into the experiences of refugees and evacuees with Key Stage 2 and 3 pupils. The authors reflect on the reasons why people have come to Britain before focussing on specific circumstances associated with World War 2. This is undertaken through the use of two historical fiction novels set in Ireland. The choice of an Irish context is intended to challenge Anglo centric notions of the past. The authors also examine differing opinions over the validity of the place of historical fiction in history lessons and make a strong case for its inclusion. Specific teaching and learning approaches, together with teacher and pupil responses are considered. The novels chosen focus on an Irish dimension which also reflects the authors' work with the Ireland in Schools Project.     

Using dentistry as a case study to examine continuing education and its impact on practice

Continuing education is a defining characteristic of work in the professions. Yet the approach various professional groups take to continuing professional development (CPD) differs widely in terms of regulatory frameworks and requirements, modes of delivery and funding. Importantly, little is understood about how CPD impacts on practice.This paper compares the regulatory context of different professional groups and devises a two‐dimensional model to explore differences in CPD practice by mapping control over CPD content and mode. The emergent quadrants we label as liberal, regulated, managed and controlled. The paper continues by using empirical data from two studies of continuing education in dentistry and the wider literature to explore factors affecting CPD impact. The paper ends by considering how the regulatory context may affect impact and concludes that changes in the control of CPD have potential to influence the power of education to make a difference to professional practice.     

Developing and Piloting a Baselining Tool for Education for Sustainable Development and Global Citizenship (ESDGC) in Welsh Higher Education

Mainstreaming Education for Sustainable Development in higher education is vital if graduates are to possess the abilities, skills, and knowledge needed to tackle the sustainability issues of the future. In this article we explain the development and piloting of a baselining tool, the Education for Sustainable Development and Global Citizenship Development Framework, developed with support from the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales. We draw comparisons with the Sustainability, Tracking, Assessment and Rating System Program, developed by the North American Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education. The resulting framework offers consistency with existing Welsh Government strategic documentation, builds on increasing momentum, and has relevance across the higher education sector globally.     

Did She Jump Because She Was the Big Sister or Because the Trampoline Was Safe? Causal Inference and the Development of Social Attribution

Children rely on both evidence and prior knowledge to make physical causal inferences; this study explores whether they make attributions about others' behavior in the same manner. A total of one hundred and fifty‐nine 4‐ and 6‐year‐olds saw 2 dolls interacting with 2 activities, and explained the dolls' actions. In the person condition, each doll acted consistently across activities, but differently from each other. In the situation condition, the two dolls acted differently for each activity, but both performed the same actions. Both age groups provided more “person” explanations (citing features of the doll) in the person condition than in the situation condition. In addition, 6‐year‐olds showed an overall bias toward “person” explanations. As in physical causal inference, social causal inference combines covariational evidence and prior knowledge.     

New Labour's education policy: first,second or third way?

The education policies of governments have become increasingly directed towards economic ends, including the development of workforce skills. UK governments have been particularly committed to such policies and have adopted some quite distinctive tools, relying heavily on targets and emphasizing certificated rather than uncertificated learning. The underlying assumptions of such policies have been subject to sustained critique, but there has been relatively little empirical evidence available regarding their impact on individual adult learners. This paper uses a large national longitudinal data set to examine whether governments in the UK have met their objectives and how far these are consistent with the learners’ own. It provides, in particular, detailed information on the factors affecting acquisition of additional formal qualifications in adult life and whether there has been any shift in favour of the less skilled in recent years. It also examines the extent to which qualifications, and especially those prioritized by government, lead to increased earnings for their holders. The results strongly suggest that current policies are failing even on their own terms. In conclusion the paper provides some possible explanations for the findings and sets them in an international context.     

The construction and production of youth ‘at risk’

Following the Commonwealth Government funding cuts in 1986, a hiatus has developed in in‐service teacher education in Australia. Recent curriculum innovations and expanding stresses in the educational environment have generated in‐service education needs which are possibly greater than at any other time in the recent past. The trend in other industrialized countries has been to encourage or even require teachers in primary and secondary education to achieve postgraduate qualifications. Similar pressures are currently mounting in Australia. The combination of the stresses and new emphasis, calls for a rethinking of existing approaches and policies. The restructuring of the education system in a number of States, the difficulties which have become apparent in solution‐centred in‐service programmes and the continuing unsatisfactory ad hoc arrangements for the design and delivery of such programmes across Australia indicate that the need for different policies and provisions in teacher professional development is acute. After analysing the state of the art of in‐service training in Australia, this paper provides possible rationales for such policies and programmes and suggests the development of a multiprogramme policy package which could assist the teachers to ensure a better quality and cost‐effective educational service.