Creating the effective school : The role of evaluation

The concept of children's rights evolved during the 1980s giving prominence to the role of children as active participants in the construction of their lives. The rhetoric of children's rights has emerged as an important consideration in all policy and practice relating to children. Implementation of children's rights in practice is necessary to maximise their potential to improve the lives of children. This paper presents an argument for the importance of giving meaning to the implementation of children's rights in the Individual Education Plan (IEP) process for pupils with autistic spectrum disorder (ASD) in Ireland. The study, on which this paper is based, was conducted in two stages using both qualitative and quantitative approaches. The first stage focused on the development of a set of indicators for the IEP process based on a children's rights framework and informed by the perspectives of children, parents and teachers, alongside the literature on best practice on IEPs. In the second stage, a survey questionnaire was designed, based on the children's rights indicators, to evaluate current IEP practice in Ireland for pupils with autistic spectrum disorder. This article outlines the development of a set of indicators for the IEP process. It also presents findings of the survey which evaluates current practice in relation to the IEP process for pupils with ASD in Ireland. The article focuses specifically on Article 3(1) of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) which stipulates that in all actions concerning children, ‘the best interests of the child shall be a primary consideration’.     

儿童青少年运动员的营养需要

1. 儿童青少年运动员应该食用多样化的食物，其中，蛋白质应占膳食总能量的12％-15％，碳水化合物至少占55％，而脂肪至多占30％。日常生活中如何吃才能满足这些要求呢？膳食指南宝塔提供了一条可行之道。2.有些营养素对热爱运动的儿童青少年运动员非常重要，要保证摄入充足，这些营养素是碳水化合物（包括纤维素）、维生素B6、维生素D、铁、钙、镁、锌、铬。科学合理、包罗各类食物的平衡膳食，对青少年运动员最大程度地全面摄取各种营养素，满足生长发育和运动训练的需要，是非常必要的。3.鼓励儿童青少年运动员在运动训练前、中、后进行补液，以避免脱水的发生。4.如果膳食合理平衡，就没必要额外补充营养品。     

Feminising and masculinising primary teaching: a critical examination of the interpretive frameworks of male primary school principals in Hong Kong

Over the past two decades, the feminisation of primary school teaching has been identified by the media and government officials in Western countries as an important contributing factor to boys' academic problems. This panic, which has been criticised by feminists as a backlash and a form of recuperative politics, has promoted the development of research into gender and education, particularly studies related to the gendered culture of primary schools and on the masculinities of male teachers. However, male primary principals remain relatively under-researched in the literature, despite the importance of their structural position and increasing concern over the masculinisation of school leadership. This paper aims to contribute to the discussion by critically analysing the interpretive frameworks of 12 male primary school principals. The findings reveal not only the complex, contradictory and at times culturally specific gendered discourses that some male principals employ, but also their feminising and masculinising effects on the school workplace and leadership.     

Profiles of emergent literacy skills among preschool children who are at risk for academic difficulties

The purpose of this study was to explore patterns of within-group variability in the emergent literacy skills of preschoolers who are at risk for academic difficulties. We used the person-centered approach of cluster analysis to identify profiles of emergent literacy skills, taking into account both oral language and code-related skills. Participants were 492 preschoolers (aged 42-60 months) enrolled in needs-based programs. In the fall of the academic year, children were administered eight measures of emergent literacy: four oral language measures (i.e., expressive and receptive grammar, expressive and receptive vocabulary) and four code-related measures (i.e., print concepts, alphabet knowledge, name writing, and rhyme). Controlling for age, hierarchical-agglomerative and K-means cluster analysis procedures were employed. Five psychometrically sound profiles emerged: highest emergent literacy (prevalence = 14%); three profiles with average oral language and differential code-related abilities (16%, 24%; 23%); and lowest oral language with broad code-related weaknesses (23%). Profiles were then compared on midyear teacher ratings of emergent literacy as well as end-of-kindergarten literacy performance; results provided convergent evidence of predictive validity. This study highlights the considerable heterogeneity of emergent literacy abilities within an “at-risk” group. The resulting profiles have theoretical and practical relevance when examining both concurrent relationships between oral language and code-related skills as well as longitudinal relationships between early patterns of performance and later reading achievement.     

Childhood emotional abuse and disordered eating among undergraduate females: mediating influence of alexithymia and distress

OBJECTIVE: Drawing from stress-vulnerability and trauma theory (e.g., Rorty & Yager, 1996), this paper presents a model of associations among child emotional abuse (CEA), alexithymia, general distress (GD), and disordered eating (DE). This study extended previous research on psychological outcomes of child physical and sexual abuse to explore those of CEA using measures of specific emotionally abusive acts. METHOD: Five hundred and eighty-eight female university students completed self-report surveys consisting of measures of CEA, alexithymia, depression, anxiety, and DE. Structural equation modeling was used to test this conceptual model. RESULTS: Comparison between measurement models suggested that bulimic behavior is a separate construct from restrictive eating behaviors and body dissatisfaction. In the structural model with the best fit, the association between CEA and DE was mediated by alexithymia and GD (i.e., a component of depression and anxiety). Specifically, CEA was associated with alexithymia, which was further related to GD. Then, restrictive eating behaviors and attitudes mediated the relation between GD and bulimic behaviors. By analyzing a second, nested model, this latter pathway was shown to be important. CONCLUSION: While the best-fitting model is only one of many possibilities, these results point to a weak-but significant-complex relation between CEA and DE. They are associated through a series of mediating relations in a multivariate model including alexithymia and GD. The current study supports research suggesting that child emotional abuse can have a negative impact on its survivors. Treatment of those survivors manifesting disordered eating should be holistic, as opposed to targeted towards specific symptoms.     

Reading the Word and Reading the World: The Impact of a Critical Pedagogical Approach to the Teaching of Criminology in Higher Education

Critical pedagogical approaches are underpinned by the principal that education is an inherently political process which should be concerned with enabling students to be reflective, independent, and critical thinkers. In this paper we argue that facilitating the development of a critical consciousness is an integral part of the teaching of critical criminology in higher education. We contend that it is essential if students are to recognize the broader social and political contexts of their own, and others’, lived experiences and thus be able to challenge political oppressions and domain ideologies. By drawing on a pilot study conducted with final‐year undergraduates from a university in the north west of England, the paper will demonstrate how a critical education (critical in terms of subject content, and teaching practice) can better enable students to develop both academically and, as importantly, with regard to their personal, social, and political consciousness.     

Faecal fat content in healthy adults by the ‘acid steatocrit method’

Malabsorption syndromes causing steatorrhoea are quite common in India. Estimation of faecal fat is an important non-invasive investigation, which provides vital information regarding the occurrence of malabsorption. The aim of this study was to estimate the fat excretion per day in stools of apparently healthy adults on an unrestricted diet in random spot stool samples using the Acid Steatocrit Method, which provides an alternate, simpler and yet reliable method of stool fat estimation. Several studies have proved the correlation of the acid steatocrit method with the conventional methods. In India, however, there has been no published data regarding the normal levels of fat in the stools, by the acid steatocrit method. We follow the normal range values, as set by the United States and the European countries, not having a range for the Indian population. Hence, we took up a preliminary study, to estimate stool fat in a section of normal and healthy Indian population. The result obtained after screening 600 healthy and normal adults, showed the mean of stool fat to be 8.72 gms/24 hours, which is much higher than that, defined by Western literature (7 gms/24 hours). This can be accounted for, by the cultural and ethnic variations in dietary and food habits. Further studies are required in the same direction, involving larger population groups, and in different malabsorptive conditions.     

Preparing More Confident Preservice Elementary Science Teachers: One Elementary Science Methods Teacher's Self-Study

Journal of Science Teacher Education -