Academics on Non-Standard Contracts in UK Universities: Portfolio Work, Choice and Compulsion

This paper analyses the profile and motivation of over 1,300 academics employed on part‐time, fixed term or temporary contracts at 10 post‐1992 UK universities, whom it categorises as ‘non‐standard academics’. Based on a questionnaire survey, it investigates their demographic background, including age, gender and ethnic background, as well as the factors behind acceptance of their current employment status. It reveals that six out of ten chose their status and correspond in some ways to the profile of ‘portfolio worker’ (high level of qualifications, multiple job holding and sense of independence). This tends to correct the perception of them as mainly ‘casual’. However, commitment to their current employment status is less clear, with over one‐third stating that they would accept a permanent job on their current hours. There are, therefore, signs of adaptation to certain forms of non‐standard status (hours) but not to others (impermanence). Such uncertainty illustrates the hazy boundaries between casual and portfolio status.     

The effect of support staff on pupil engagement and individual attention

Despite an unprecedented increase in classroom-based support staff, there are confusing messages about their appropriate deployment and a lack of systematic evidence on their impact. This article addresses the deployment and impact on pupil engagement and individual attention of support staff, commonly known as teaching assistants (TAs), in terms of: (1) a comparison between TAs and teachers; (2) differences between pupils with and without special educational needs (SEN); and (3) differences between primary and secondary schools. Systematic observations of pupil behaviour in 49 primary and secondary schools showed that support staff presence resulted in increased individualisation of attention and overall teaching, easier classroom control, and that pupils showed more engagement and a more active role in interaction with adults. This supports teachers’ positive view of support staff, but their presence also meant pupils’ contact with teachers declined and at secondary level there was less individual and active interactions between teachers and pupils.     

Learning to Question: The Roles of Multiple Hypotheses, Successive Approximations, Balloons and Toilet Paper in University Science Programs of Southwestern Amazonia

Learning to question is essential for determining pathways of conservation and development in southwestern Amazonia during a time of rapid global environmental change. Teaching such an approach in graduate science programs in regional universities can be done using play-acting and simulation exercises. Multiple working hypotheses help students learn to question their own research results and expert witnesses. The method of successive approximations enables students to question the results of complex calculations, such as estimates of forest biomass. Balloons and rolls of toilet paper provide means of questioning two-dimensional representations of a three-dimensional Earth and the value of pi. Generation of systematic errors can illustrate the pitfalls of blind acceptance of data. While learning to question is essential, it is insufficient by itself; students must also learn how to be solutionologists in order to satisfy societal demands for solutions to environmental problems. A little irreverence can be an excellent didactic tool for helping students develop the skills necessary to lead conservation and development efforts in the region.     

Letting Go

下文为澳大利亚广播公司ABC Radio Regional Production Fund Short Story Project 2007短篇故事获奖作品。