Assessing the impact of football-based health improvement programmes: stay onside,avoid own goals and score with the evaluation!

Health improvement is an important strand of the Premier League’s ‘Creating Chances’ strategy. Through community programmes, professional football clubs offer health-enhancing interventions for a number of different priority groups at risk from a range of lifestyle-related health conditions. However, while national guidance recommends evaluating health improvement interventions, concerns remain about how to do this most effectively. This study aims to investigate the popularity of football-based health improvement schemes and assess the challenges associated with their evaluation. Adapted from existing methodologies, a semi-structured questionnaire was administered to an ‘expert’ sample (n?=?3) of football-led health evaluators. The sample was selected because of their experience and knowledge of performing evaluations of football-led health improvement programmes. Our ‘experts’ offered reasons for the popularity of football settings as channels for health improvement (including the reach of the club badge and the popularity of football), the justification for evaluating such schemes (including confirming effectiveness and efficiency) and the challenges of implementing evaluations (capacity, commitment and capability). Finally, a selection of key considerations for the evaluation of the impact of football-led health improvement programmes (obtaining expert guidance, building capacity and planning for evaluations) are discussed.     

Shaping Literacy in the Secondary School: Policy, Practice and Agency in the Age of the National Literacy Strategy

This article examines the definitions of literacy in operation in secondary schools, and the relationship between official literacy policy and the practices of the agents responsible for implementing this policy. We trace the history of national 'policy' back to the Language Across the Curriculum movement of the 1970s as it provides an illustrative point of comparison with the first five years of the National Literacy Strategy. Drawing on empirical data which illuminate the views, perceptions and practices of key agents on a number of levels, we critically review the concept of 'school literacy' promoted in government policy, defining it as 'school–centric literacy' and question its ability to facilitate participation in the practices associated with the media and technological literacies which are increasingly a feature of school life. There is evidence of some unplanned effects of the current national policy but also that levels of agency, for literacy teachers in particular, may be rapidly diminishing.     

Educational change takes ages: Life, career and generational factors in teachers’ emotional responses to educational change

This paper examines the relationship of the emotions of teaching to teachers’ age and career stages based on experiences of educational change. Drawing on an analysis of interviews with 50 Canadian elementary, middle and high school teachers it analyzes how teachers respond emotionally to educational change at different ages and stages of career, and also how they attribute age and career-based responses to their colleagues.     

Memorable Messages as Sources of Hope

Based on hope theory, this study examined potential links between hope and memorable messages. Using qualitative methods, the authors coded the content and form of memorable messages in three domains: academics, relationships, and finances. Quantitative analysis then tested if the memorable message characteristics of positivity and efficacy were associated with dispositional and domain-specific hope. Consistent with predictions, participants with higher dispositional hope reported more positive and efficacious messages across message domains. Hierarchical regression analysis suggested that the agency, but not the pathways, dimension of dispositional hope predicted message positivity and efficacy. Regression results also indicated that participants with higher domain-specific pathways reported more efficacious memorable messages.     

How do primary education trainee teachers perceive educational psychology?

Educational Psychology makes a significant contribution to the development of skills to research the effectivity of teacher practices in class. However, there is little agreement on what educational psychology concepts are most relevant for teacher training. This paper reports on trainee teachers’ self-perceived mastery of, and attributed importance to, the syllabus content of the Learning & Development module taken as part of the BA Primary Education programme at a university in Barcelona (Spain). Data were collected through a questionnaire answered by all the participants (N = 561) and a focused interview conducted with a representative sample (n = 24). Results showed that students attributed greater importance to syllabus topics related to socio-emotional development and teaching roles in the classroom. Theoretical topics, such as conceptual frameworks for development and learning, were less rated. Students reported deficient mastery of the syllabus topics and significant gaps between attributed importance and self-perceived mastery of contents were confirmed. Implications of our study results for teaching psychology to primary school pre-service teachers are discussed.     

Discovering patterns of achievement in Hong Kong students: An application of the Rasch measurement model

Researchers have warned of the need to identify accurately students who are underachieving in Hong Kong, particularly among the gifted group. When comparing the relative effectiveness of three methods for estimating the proportion of underachievement, the absolute split method, using an arbitrary upper and lower limits for estimates of both performance and ability, is more useful for identifying gifted underachievers than the simple difference method (where standardized performance scores are subtracted from standardized ability scores) or the regression method. In contrast, the latter two methods are more useful for identifying underachievers at all levels of ability. All three methods, however, depend on measurements that are invariant, unidimensional and additive. With the advent of modern measurement theory using Rasch measurement models, it is now possible to satisfy these requirements. In this study, a sample of Primary 5 students in Hong Kong (n = 957) were asked to complete a test of mathematical achievement and the Ravens Progressive Matrices test in order to estimate the proportion of students who are underachieving at all levels of ability. Measurement scales were created using Rasch models for partial credit and dichotomous responses for each variable, respectively, and students placed on each scale according to their responses. Because the results are based on measurement scales that are invariant between persons, the identification of underachievement in these students across all levels of ability can be regarded as objective rather than sample dependent.     

The impact of technology on the teaching and assessment of ‘systems’ diagrams in two online environmental management modules

Abstract

The context and tools used to create diagrams may hinder or help students in learning how to represent a situation and how to learn about diagramming and the situation at the same time. These equally provide opportunities and challenges to tutors in teaching, assessing and providing feedback on these diagrams, particularly for students studying at a distance. Two online undergraduate modules, dealing with environmental management at The Open University UK, require students to share diagrams with other students, to work collaboratively on diagrams in small groups and include diagrams in all assignments. This paper reports on students’ and tutors’ experiences of using diagrams before, during and outside involvement with both modules to better understand the main factors that influence their educational value, in particular the part that familiarity, experience and confidence in the techniques, the technologies and acts of sharing played in supporting learning or not.     

Assessing the relative performance of U.K. university technology transfer offices: parametric and non-parametric evidence

We present evidence on the relative performance of U.K. university technology transfer offices (TTOs) using data envelopment analysis (DEA) and stochastic frontier estimation (SFE). U.K. TTOs are found to exhibit low-levels of absolute efficiency. There also appear to be decreasing returns to scale, implying that TTOs may need to be reconfigured into smaller units. The development of regionally-based sector focused TTOs is also advised. Consistent with qualitative evidence from U.S. TTOs, we find that there is a need to upgrade the business skills and capabilities of U.K. TTO managers and licensing officers.