School Governors—an effective management force or another bureaucratic layer of school management?

This paper reviews the pattern and organisation of governors' meetings and their effectiveness for managing the new environment established by the 1988 Education Reform Act. It suggests that the move towards a sub‐committee structure may be counter‐productive in educational terms. A different approach is put forward which may be more appropriate for primary and most secondary governing bodies. The paper goes on to suggest a training strategy which facilitates the team approach that it is necessary for the partners in the process, i.e. governors, head and officers/advisers, to adopt. This draws heavily on the training approach adopted in Leicestershire.     

Support or Control -- or Both? The Role of a National Agency

The article aims at critically discussing the role and position of a buffer agency from the point of view of some of its different tasks, viz. accreditation, quality audit, support of academic leadership and internal quality enhancement. The contribution seeks to illuminate the conflicting roles of a buffer organisation in the light of these tasks and pressures from the government and higher education institutions. It concludes that the different roles can support and complement each other, and that change is best accomplished by emphasising support in the early stages of the establishment of a national quality assurance system.     

Professional support staff at higher education institutions in Sweden: roles and success factors for the job

This paper aims to analyse and discuss the professional support staff at higher education institutions in Sweden in terms of how they view their roles and what the success factors for them are. The study is based on semi-structured interviews with support staff from the fields of business liaison, internationalisation and strategic research support. The results show that the participants have shaped their own roles and see themselves as back-office staff. This can make it challenging for them to prove their contribution to the academic activities of education and research. Because they neither identify themselves as administrators nor hold academic positions, their ability to build credibility on a personal basis is a central success factor. Aware of being actors in a culture dominated by academic values and norms, they see a more transparent discussion of their roles as a desirable development in the sector.     

Substrate oxidation during incremental arm and leg exercise in men and women matched for ventilatory threshold

The aim of this study was to determine the variations in substrate utilization between men and women matched for ventilatory threshold (Tvent) during incremental arm cranking and leg cycling exercise at 70, 85, 100 and 115% of the mode-specific Tvent. Recreationally active men (n=12) and women (n=10) with similar values for percentage of peak oxygen consumption at Tvent participated in the study. Ventilatory equivalence, excess CO2 and modified V-slope methods were used concurrently to determine Tvent. The participants performed 5 min of exercise at each of 70, 85, 100 and 115% Tvent during both arm cranking and leg cycling exercise. The females were tested during the early follicular phase for all trials. A two-way mixed-design analysis of variance was performed to test for differences between the sexes. When carbohydrate and fat oxidation were expressed relative to total fat-free mass, carbohydrate oxidation during arm cranking and leg cycling was significantly higher in men than women at each percentage of Tvent. In contrast, women showed significantly higher fat oxidation across intensities during both arm cranking and leg cycling. Our results suggest that when substrate utilization is expressed relative to total fat-free mass, women appear to maintain a higher rate of fat and lower rate of carbohydrate oxidation than men during both incremental arm cranking and leg cycling exercise relative to Tvent.     

Can a Two‐Question Test Be Reliable and Valid for Predicting Academic Outcomes?

Scores on essay‐based assessments that are part of standardized admissions tests are typically given relatively little weight in admissions decisions compared to the weight given to scores from multiple‐choice assessments. Evidence is presented to suggest that more weight should be given to these assessments. The reliability of the writing scores from two of the large volume admissions tests, the GRE General Test (GRE) and the Test of English as a Foreign Language Internet‐based test (TOEFL iBT), based on retesting with a parallel form, is comparable to the reliability of the multiple‐choice Verbal or Reading scores from those tests. Furthermore, and even more important, the writing scores from both tests are as effective as the multiple‐choice scores in predicting academic success and could contribute to fairer admissions decisions.     

Do Parents Foster Self‐Esteem? Testing the Prospective Impact of Parent Closeness on Adolescent Self‐Esteem

Close parent–child relationships are viewed as important for the development of global self‐esteem. Cross‐sectional research supports this hypothesis, but longitudinal studies provide inconsistent prospective effects. The current study uses data from Germany (N = 982) and the United States (N = 451) to test longitudinal relations between parent–child closeness and adolescent self‐esteem. The authors used self‐, parent‐, and observer‐reported parent–child closeness and self‐reported self‐esteem from ages 12 to 16. Results replicated concurrent correlations found in the literature, but six longitudinal models failed to show prospective relations. Thus, the longitudinal effect of parent–child closeness and self‐esteem is difficult to detect with adolescent samples. These findings suggest the need for additional theorizing about influences on adolescent self‐esteem development and longitudinal research with younger samples.     

Teachers’ views on risk factors for problematic school absenteeism in Swedish primary school students

In the present online survey, 158 teachers in regular and special education teaching in grades six to nine were asked to rate the importance of probable reasons for problematic school absenteeism. On average, the teachers estimated that among their students, 19 students had presented with problematic school absenteeism over the last five years. Teachers viewed school absenteeism as a multifactorial problem. Family factors were considered to contribute most and low mood or depression were rated as one of the five most contributing factors. Teachers in special education viewed school factors as more influential than teachers in mainstream education did (t₁₅₆ = ?3.94, p < 0.05). The current findings stress the importance of collaboration between the school, parents and the student to be able to address all factors that may lead to problematic school absenteeism.