Vocational education in Nigeria: A preliminary appraisal

This paper examines the vocational education aspects of the new National Policy on Education (NPE) in Nigeria. The NPE advocates a 6+3+3+4 system which means that the educational system would be divided into six years of primary school, three years in a junior secondary school, three years in either a senior secondary school, a technical or teacher training college and four years in a university. The junior secondary school will be terminal for those who do not have the aptitude for the more academic subjects of senior secondary school and the emphasis at this stage would be both pre-vocational and academic. While it is generally thought that the vocational provision outline in the NPE would help to lay the foundation for a modern technological society, it is clearly an over-simplistic appraisal of the Nigerian socio-economic background. First, the selection for the trainees in vocational education is not usually from an open population in terms of relevant characteristics but from a closed population, those who had already proved to be of lower than average ability, by failing to gain entry to the ‘academic’ senior secondary school. The social implication of such a situation is that trainees in vocational education are caught up in an ‘ecological niche’ in society as fishermen, miners and other direct producers. Secondly, when the elite, the top federal government officials, advocate vocational expansion, it is often for other peoples' children rather than their own. Furthermore, as could be seen from the results of the Udoji report set by the government to harmonize civil service salaries, those who had academic qualifications from schooling rather than vocational qualifications were more favoured. Thus this paper calls for a rethink of the NPE, bearing in mind the realities of the Nigerian educational system and the job market.     

Assessment in child abuse: An account of a system operated in the metropolitan borough of Barnsley by the N.S.P.C.C. special unit

During the course of the Special Unit's operation it became apparent that in many cases there was a demonstrable need for assessment; for a period of involvement with the family by one worker who could not only explore the background information, from parents and agencies alike, but also engage the whole family in an interventive schedule which explores their positive development by the use of a number of treatment modalities, the effectiveness of which could be evaluated in operation. Time-tabled case conferences on a weekly basis with a standing membership at the core reflecting the membership of the policy-making Area Review Committee, supplemented by other workers also involved in each case, provide the regular and consistent forum from which assessment cases are referred and for which assessment reports are prepared. The assessment process is the beginning of a long-term interventive schedule in which the clients and workers both participate. The system is, in essence and practise, a simple one but its effects have been felt not only in terms of ongoing casework with families but also at the level of policy-making in reappraisal of our traditional agency attitudes to child abuse.     

The information needs of perioperative staff: a preparatory study for a proposed specialist library for theatres (NeLH)

AIMS/OBJECTIVES: To undertake an information-needs analysis of operating theatre staff in order to inform the development of a specialist library of the National Electronic Library of Health (NeLH). SETTING: Three hospitals in an NHS Trust in a rural county in the north of England. METHODS: In-depth interviews, during which staff were questioned in regard to their job roles and information needs, information-seeking behaviour, access to computers, use and perceptions of the NeLH, and what they would like from a specialist library. RESULTS: Information needs were found to concern direct care, professional and academic development, medical devices knowledge and administration. Currency and speed of delivery were the key information requirements. Poor communication appeared to be a major problem for many staff and inhibited efficient information exchange. When using the Web, both clinical and non-clinical staff searched in a similar fashion to health consumers generally, despite their need for highly specialist information. Most respondents reacted warmly to the idea of the proposed National Electronic Library for Theatre Staff (NeLTS) and made several practical suggestions for suitable material. However, access was problematic for nurses and might prove to be an obstacle to take-up of the Specialist Library. CONCLUSIONS: Communication difficulties, the fragmentation of data in the field and the consequent difficulties of finding information point to the need for an NeLTS. However, for this library to embrace and succeed with all the various groups that constitute the operating theatre staff, issues of access and digital literacy need to be addressed.     

Visualizing carrier status: fragile X syndrome and genetic diagnosis since the 1940s

What does it look like to be the carrier of a genetic disease? Carrier status may be determined through the visual analysis of both genotypic and phenotypic evidence. Over the past 70 years, clinical geneticists have depended upon multiple strategies for identifying disease carriers within a family. This has included pedigree analysis, which was based upon clinical observations of individual family members and, in recent decades, cytogenetic and molecular methods. Newer techniques have offered novel opportunities to actually see the suspected etiological markers of certain genetic diseases, such as Fragile X syndrome. The visualization of these markers has both clarified and confused previously observed inheritance patterns, in some cases leading to the development of newly distinct diagnostic categories. As a result, what it means to be affected by, or the carrier of, a genetic disease has continuously evolved.