Fees,flows and imaginaries: exploring the destination choices arising from intra-national student mobility

ABSTRACT

Are intra-national student flows driven by the same forces as international student mobility? This paper addresses this question by analysing cross-border student mobility in the UK. The paper identifies four principles that one might expect to drive the destination choices of students from Scotland enrolling in English universities. Following a statistical analysis of student destination choices, it is argued that cross-border moves from Scotland to England are stimulated by some of the same global forces as international student mobility (such as a desire to accumulate cultural capital), but in terms of destination choice the imaginaries held by Scottish students of ‘good’ places to study in England to accumulate cultural capital are constructed differently from the imaginaries of international students.     

Mental toughness and transitions to high school and to undergraduate study

Mental toughness can be conceptualised as a set of attributes that allow people to deal effectively with challenges, stressors and pressure. Recent work has suggested that it may be a valuable construct to consider within educational settings. The current studies explored the associations between mental toughness and educational transitions. Study 1 examined the relationships between mental toughness and concerns about moving to a new school in 105 children aged 12–13 years of age. The results revealed significant relationships between several aspects of mental toughness, but particularly confidence in abilities, and children’s concerns. Study 2 examined the relationships between mental toughness and adjustment to university in 200 undergraduate students at various stages of their course. The results revealed a role for several aspects of mental toughness; commitment, control of life, control of emotion, confidence in abilities and interpersonal confidence. The results are discussed in terms of implications for educational practice. It is suggested that measures of mental toughness could be used to identify individuals who may benefit from additional support during transition to a new school or to university, and that future research should explore the potential benefits of mental toughness training.     

Teacher motivation to implement an educational innovation: factors differentiating users and non-users of cooperative learning

This study applied expectancy theory to integrate the numerous and disparate explanations that researchers and educators have proposed to account for teacher resistance to implementing cooperative learning as an educational innovation. The cooperative learning implementation questionnaire (CLIQ) contained 48 items grouped under three broad motivational categories: perceived value of the innovation, expectancy of success, and perceived cost. These items accounted for 42.3% of the total variance in self-reported use of cooperative learning among 933 teachers. Expectancy of success issues were most important in differentiating users and non-users, suggesting that increased emphasis on professional development should be used to enhance teachers' beliefs that they can succeed in implementing an innovation in their own context. This may require both follow-up support and adaptation of the innovation.     

Theory Competition and the Process of Change

The reasons why many educational change initiatives have little impact are often framed in terms of either a poorly designed process on the part of the change initiator, or in terms of problems with the attitudes, skills and/or knowledge of those responsible for implementation. In this paper, we seek to integrate these two perspectives more closely by focusing on their interface and the competing theories frequently held by the change initiators and implementers. This concept of theory competition is illustrated with a case of a national literacy initiative in New Zealand in which the change initiators wished to raise the achievement of low performing students through the development of “learning-centred” leadership in schools and evidence-based practice. The desired outcomes were not achieved because theories about what it means to be a successful leader in such a situation, the data needed to undertake the type of evidence-based analysis envisioned and school personnel beliefs about the target students were understood differently by those responsible for initiating the change and those responsible for implementing it.     

Recovering lost histories of educational design: a case study in contemporary participatory strategies

Past practices shape and limit the design imagination of teachers, pupils, parents, governors, and others concerned with designing modern schools. Bringing histories of education to the table in the participatory design process of new school buildings and curricula is necessary. Schools having an extraordinary past have the potential to draw from that prefigurative practice. This paper reports a case study on how the Kees Boeke School in The Netherlands recently has returned to its own history in addressing the needs of its current and future learners in a redesign project. Through addressing the question of how the redesign might reflect a reconnection with the original vision of education espoused by Boeke—learning in relative freedom, with awareness of responsibilities for own and community’s well-being—the school management, architects, teachers, and students took part in a participatory design process. That process and the resulting school design is discussed. From this case study we argue that past adventures in education can inspire current redesign. Past experiences as well as concerns and beliefs about the future are an inevitable influence on initiatives to realise schools for the future, both for schools with experimental and those with traditional histories.     

From the Didactic to the Dialectic—Intercultural Exchanges in Contemporary Counsellor Education

Within the context of the growing development of intercultural counsellor education, the question of how different cultures reconceptualize and transform Western counselling theories for their own context is an important one. In this intercultural exchange in education, concepts such as ‘globalization’, ‘indigenization’ and ‘universalization’ have an impact on the education process. This paper briefly explores these terms and movements and then highlights findings from a research project that took place with a group of counselling graduates in Hong Kong examining how they undertook the processes of reconceptualization and transformation. The dialogical process involved in that enabled participants and researcher to co-explore the process of knowledge development within the counselling education field. Implications for counsellor education are highlighted.

Turning scientific and technological human capital into economic capital: the experience of biotech start-ups in France

This paper examines how scientific and technological (S&T) human capital is transformed into financial capital through the creation of firms by scientists. The analysis is based on a database describing the positions held by 132 founders from 62 French biotech SMEs. It shows that star scientists engage in highly risky but also valuable firms. Less famous scientists must develop their human capital rather than valorising a stock. The paper concludes by pointing to three paradoxes concerning the commitment and compensation scheme of star scientists and the managerial position of less known scientists.     

Library Jargon Creates Barriers for Potential Users of Health Library and Information Services

This paper is based on Helen Kiely’s Masters dissertation on MA in Library and Information Service Management, successfully completed at the University of Sheffield in 2018. The aim of the study was to explore the extent to which users of a health care library service understood common terminology used by clinical librarians/information professionals. A survey was developed based on the terminology used for common services and was distributed to staff and students at an acute NHS Foundation Trust. One hundred and eight people participated over a four week period and were asked to provide definitions to the terms. Analysis of the responses for accuracy and common themes indicates that jargon can be a barrier to user access and recommendations are made with respect to the need for outreach to users and the language used in this practice for creating better accessibility. F.J.     

In search of a new, linguistically and culturally sensitive paradigm in deaf education

For more than a century, educators have recognized the low academic achievement of deaf children in America. Teacher training programs in deaf education historically have emphasized medical-pathological views of deaf people and deaf education rather than appropriate pedagogies that draw upon and build on deaf students' linguistic and cultural knowledge. A recent and growing interest in educating deaf children bilingually acknowledges the value of American Sign Language and English in the classroom. The authors address the dire need for prospective teachers and teacher educators to rethink their views of deaf people and, in doing so, rethink the teaching methodologies in deaf education.