School reform policy in England since 1988: relentless pursuit of the unattainable

There is growing concern that almost 20 years after the 1988 Education Act, top‐down, large‐scale reform has stalled. The policy mix of choice, competition, markets, regulation, accountability and leadership seems not to have closed the gap between advantaged and disadvantaged areas and individuals, while most variations in school performance can be explained in terms of intake differences. This paper reviews policy and progress since 1988 and assesses the extent to which central government has achieved its educational aims. Unacknowledged tensions and contradictions are identified in structures and practices that are supposed to constitute a reliable framework for sustainable improvement. The conclusion is drawn that since 1988 the national government apparatus has itself become an important obstacle to further progress. An independent review of policy‐making and implementation is recommended so that schools and colleges are enabled to contribute more effectively to improvements in the quality of education.     

Discovery and innovation in the undergraduate learning experience

This article argues that an overhaul of undergraduate education in Ireland is needed. It asserts that at present most students leave university short-changed, never having been exposed to the riches of discovery and research. A framework founded on research and inquiry is designed to stimulate learning and innovation through action. It is argued that a coherent institutional mission is essential, with exploration, creativity and practice as the core of the undergraduate experience. An approach based on inter-disciplinarity, collaborative learning, identity and place as guiding features is developed along with a discussion of how this might be implemented so graduates are prepared for living and working in a knowledge-driven sustainable society.     

Managing Older Worker Training: A Literature Review and Conceptual Framework

This article reviews literature on educational gerontology, adult education, and training and identifies factors that may encourage or discourage older workers from participation in training. Previous research has emphasized models based on either motivation or deterrent factors. This article offers a unique exploratory model combining five motivational and two deterrent factors that hold the potential for predicting older worker's participation in training. Research based on the proposed model can help explain older learner's participation in work-related training and, thereby, provide practitioners with clues to enhance training programs for older workers.     

From course assessment to redesign: a hybrid-vehicle course as a case illustration

Assessment has become a central aspect of engineering education for evaluating student learning, attaining accreditation, and ensuring accountability. However, the final step of the assessment process, which requires assessment results be used to redesign courses and programmes, is appreciably underdeveloped in the literature. As such, this work suggests a process, based on the engineering problem-solving method, to analyse and act on problems and successes identified in the assessment results. The process is illustrated through an application to Colorado State University's new programme for Hybrid-Electric Vehicle Engineering, for which the redesign process was originally created. Readers will benefit by simplifying and systematising the essential aspect of the assessment process – application to course redesign – for use in both research and practice applications.     

Reenacted Case Scenarios for Undergraduate Healthcare Students to Illustrate Person-Centered Care in Dementia

Healthcare practitioners have suggested that interpreting person-centered care for people who have dementia to undergraduate students requires guidance in practical application. This article describes the production of a written and digital interdisciplinary educational resource for tertiary students. It uses real-life case scenarios provided by healthcare practitioners to illustrate person-centered care in practice with people who have dementia. The resource provides students with the theoretical underpinning of person-centered care and dementia as well as reflective questions that relate to the reenacted case scenarios to guide their application of this theory in practice.     

Leadership Perception

Multirater feedback, often called 360‐degree feedback, is a popular development and assessment tool, especially for organizational leaders. Raters from different organizational levels, including subordinates, boss, peers, and self, rate the leader's performance. However, there seldom is strong agreement across rater groups. This study used the data from a commercially available 360‐degree leader development feedback instrument and a second‐order confirmatory factor analysis model to try to explain the differences in ratings between the groups. Rather than an explanation of the differences, what was found were two second‐order factors that may be the underlying elements that all raters consider when observing leader performance.     

新浪微博替代计量指标特征分析

通过对新浪微博替代计量指标进行统计分析,探索中文环境下替代计量指标的特征和规律。研究发现:新浪微博替代计量指标覆盖率不足1%,但由于追踪时间和追踪对象的局限,该数字可能被严重低估;新浪微博关注和讨论较多的论文来自"综合""生物化学、遗传学与分子生物学""保健科学""医学"及"生命科学"等学科;新浪微博替代计量指标的期刊分布满足对数曲线规律,除著名的综合性期刊如Nature等,预印本平台arXiv和开放存取期刊PLoS ONE等也获得了较多关注,生物学和医学的"明星期刊"最多;新浪微博主要关注最新论文,正式出版180天内受到关注的论文比例高达68.66%,同时也会关注经典论文;新浪微博发布者倾向宣传、推介和评论贴近生活、趣味性强、实用性高、涉及生命健康的学术论文,传递出引文无法体现的社会价值和学术价值;新浪微博替代计量指标呈现出显著的离散和集中分布特点,5.1%的学术论文获得了50%的新浪微博关注。此外,受新浪微博关注的论文在全球范围内获得远高于平均水平的关注度。     

Celtic FC’s 1967 Lisbon Lions: why the European Cup victory of the first club from Britain was a defining moment for the Irish diaspora in Scotland

ABSTRACT

In 1967, in Lisbon, Celtic Football Club, won the European Cup becoming the first club outside of Portugal, Spain and Italy to win it. The win was and is totemic for the Irish Catholic immigrant community in Scotland that has historically supported Celtic. We suggest the significance of the win reveals intersections of ethnicity, religion, nationalism, and the politics of ‘sectarianism’ in Scotland. During a period of discriminatory practices and attitudes towards Irish descended Catholics in Scotland, this iconic win for a Scottish based club born of Irish Catholics personified for this diaspora that (on one level) their day had arrived. This article explores the socio-cultural significance and legacy of ‘Lisbon 67? for insider and outsider groups in Scotland. We reveal that soccer remains a central component of group memory connecting the past, present and future. We suggest Celtic’s win offered confidence and hope to a marginalized group within Scotland.