Staying engaged: the role of teachers and schools in keeping young people with health conditions engaged in education

It is well known that having a chronic or traumatic health condition can seriously impact on a young person’s educational trajectory, as well as placing the young person at higher risk of experiencing mental health conditions such as depression and anxiety, and increasing their likelihood of participation in risky behaviours. This paper reports on research examining best practice by schools in mitigating the impact of having a health condition by keeping students engaged with education in the post-compulsory years of schooling. The research project was designed to examine the strategies, both formal and informal, which are enacted by schools, individual teachers, families and students in ensuring an ongoing connection with educational pathways in the senior years. We describe an interconnected set of critical success factors for retaining these vulnerable young people in education, and reflect on the implications of these for educational policymakers and school administrators.     

Evidence of proteins,chromosomes and chemical markers of DNA in exceptionally preserved dinosaur cartilage

A histological ground-section from a duck-billed dinosaur nestling (Hypacrosaurus stebingeri) revealed microstructures morphologically consistent with nuclei and chromosomes in cells within calcified cartilage. We hypothesized that this exceptional cellular preservation extended to the molecular level and had molecular features in common with extant avian cartilage. Histochemical and immunological evidence supports in situ preservation of extracellular matrix components found in extant cartilage, including glycosaminoglycans and collagen type II. Furthermore, isolated Hypacrosaurus chondrocytes react positively with two DNA intercalating stains. Specific DNA staining is only observed inside the isolated cells, suggesting endogenous nuclear material survived fossilization. Our data support the hypothesis that calcified cartilage is preserved at the molecular level in this Mesozoic material, and suggest that remnants of once-living chondrocytes, including their DNA, may preserve for millions of years.     

Exploring the Effects of Student Expectations about Financial Aid on Postsecondary Choice: A Focus on Income and Racial/Ethnic Differences

This study investigates how the expectations of different types of financial aid affect the student college choice process from application through enrollment. We find that students from different race and income groups respond differentially to aid packages in their application and enrollment decisions depending on their levels of aid expectations. In application behavior, Asians at all income levels increase their likelihood of application at a greater rate in response to an increase in their aid expectations than other racial groups. Simulations indicate that enrollment probabilities decline more for African American and Hispanic students than whites and Asians when they expect to receive financial aid but do not. The findings suggest the particular importance of financial aid packages in the college choice process for underrepresented minority students.     

The External Pressures on the Internal Governance of Universities

Governance is a means for realising institutional goals and in an ideal world should enable the institution to respond to the demands of the political environment by regulating its internal affairs accordingly. In the case of universities, not only is that environment increasingly differentiated but so also is the ability of universities to access it. Changes in state funding arrangements, accountability mechanisms, the contribution of the private sector, and the public definition of university education have placed numerous and varied pressures on institutions. Yet there is a studied reluctance by institutions to accept that their ability to respond to these pressures is equally variable, that they should tailor their ambitions to their capacities, and that their internal governance should be adapted using the principle of fitness for purpose. In the main, this is because the dominant ideological themes of higher education do not support the idea of distinct university functions of equal status. Rather, they encourage the erroneous belief that all universities are homogeneous in their functions – or, at least, that all have the potential to be homogeneous.     

"The New Generation": Mental Hygiene and the Portrayals of Children by the National Film Board of Canada, 1946–1967

That is the achievement of the psychologists. In our own society they are very kind, and do everything for our own good. The tales of what they do elsewhere are rather terrifying. —Hilda Neatby So Little for the Mind (1953)     

Parties,Lads, Friends,Love and Newcastle United: A study of young people's values

Traditional research into values has tended to dichotomise young people into categories of self and other orientations. In the present study values were explored within a contemporary context and analysed into more complex value sets. The sample comprised of 111 girls and 133 boys, aged 11-16 (mean = 13.2, SD = 1.14), who responded to four open-ended sentences designed to tap philosophies of life, fears and underlying values. The pleasures in life for girls tended to centre on relationships with family, friends and boys, whereas boys enjoyed activities such as sport. Many desired to win the National Lottery, although they also concurrently held humanistic values. The potential impact of these value sets on development during adolescence is discussed. For these young people, the best things in life are free but, like many adults, they dream of fame and fortune.