On Widening Participation in Higher Education Through Positive Discrimination

Notwithstanding an ongoing concern about the low representation of certain groups in higher education, there is reluctance on the part of politicians and policy makers to adopt positive discrimination as an appropriate means of widening participation. This article offers an account of the different objections to positive discrimination and, thereafter, clarifies and criticises the view that universities ought to select those applicants who are expected to be most successful as students. It distinguishes arguments from meritocracy, desert, respect, and productivity and shows how these arguments are compatible with the use of positive discrimination in higher education.     

REPORT OF BIBLICAL INSTRUCTORS CONFERENCE*

This article examines the psychoanalytic concepts of object-relations theorist Christopher Bollas, applying them to a view of the Bible as “transformational object.” Emphasizing the connection between psychological process and religious experience, this article suggests that each person's innate ability to choose and use objects is a key factor in their ability to appropriate the Bible for constructive use. By offering religious objects with psychological awareness, religious educators may come to appreciate that silence, empathy, and open-ended lesson plans are important incubators of transformation; and that aggression has a potentially positive role in the healthy development of worship communities.     

Applying Tablet‐Based Performance Support Application for Technicians’ Training at the Israeli Air Force: A Case Study

Performance support systems are mechanisms enabling users) productivity while reducing training expenses as support is being delivered in real time, often eliminating the need for costly pre‐performance training. Mobile technologies have created new opportunities for improved performance support systems, especially for tasks performed outside the offi ce. This article describes the fi rst mobile learning and performance support initiative taken by the Israeli Air Force. The project included the development and eff ectiveness pilot study of a learning and performance support application delivered via tablet to helicopter engine technicians. The application provided support videos and illustrations of maintenance routines, thereby enabling learning and practicing at the same time. Pilot study results show high performance levels of application users compared to those applying traditional methods. Results also show that self‐effi cacy levels were not aff ected by the successful performance achieved when using the mobile performance support application. Plans to expand mobile support use are also described.     

The role of special schools for children with profound and multiple learning difficulties: is segregation always best?

The education of young people with profound and multiple learning difficulties continues to raise challenges and controversies. In this article, Ben Simmons, an ESRC funded PhD student and research assistant, and Phil Bayliss, programme director for the masters degree in special education and disability, both based in the School of Education and Lifelong Learning at the University of Exeter, describe their research into provision for pupils with profound and multiple learning difficulties in a special school in the south west of England. Their work, based in an interpretivist, qualitative approach, set out to illuminate issues relating to the inclusion of pupils with profound and multiple learning difficulties. The findings presented here suggest that the school, in spite of its strong reputation, struggled significantly to provide appropriate learning experiences for pupils with profound and multiple learning difficulties. Ben Simmons and Phil Bayliss discuss the need for improved staff development opportunities focused on enhancing current levels of knowledge and skills. They conclude by calling for a reappraisal of the established view that special schools necessarily provide the best learning environment for pupils with profound and multiple learning difficulties.     

Governing software: networks,databases and algorithmic power in the digital governance of public education

This article examines the emergence of ‘digital governance’ in public education in England. Drawing on and combining concepts from software studies, policy and political studies, it identifies some specific approaches to digital governance facilitated by network-based communications and database-driven information processing software that are being discursively promoted in education by cross-sectoral intermediary organizations. Such intermediaries, including National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts, Demos, the Innovation Unit, the Education Foundation and the Nominet Trust, are increasingly seeking to participate in new digitally mediated forms of educational governance. Through their promotion of network-based pedagogies and database-driven analytics software, these organizations are seeking to delegate educational decision-making to socio-algorithmic forms of power that have the capacity to predict, govern and activate learners' capacities and subjectivities.     

狩猎、体育与相关社会问题研究——基于历史人类学视角的考察

通过历史资料分析、对比研究、逻辑分析等方法对狩猎、体育以及相关社会问题进行研究,研究认为:狩猎与体育的发展是相辅相成的;狩猎的过程和体育竞赛的过程是高度吻合的,体育竞赛可以视为一种抽象的狩猎活动,而升级、变异的狩猎和体育可能导致战争的发生;在当今社会,商务人士、沉迷于网络游戏的群体以及罪犯,都从事着象征性的狩猎活动,并引发了一系列社会问题。现代社会密集型的体育赛事有缓解人类狩猎欲望和社会冲突的功能,但却又为恐怖袭击和暴乱活动的制造者们提供了良好的"狩猎场所",文明社会如何解决人类的狩猎本能问题还需要进一步的探索。     

博白地佬话词汇特点

事物的特点,因分析的角度不同而不同。方言的词汇特点也一样,从不同的角度可以分析出不同的特点。从词源和词的构成分析博白地佬话词汇,其特点主要有:保留了诸多的古语词;有一批与广东粤语共通的词汇;有一批与少数民族语言音近义同的词语;有许多生动形象的方言词;有丰富的带缀词;有丰富的连绵词。