‘Catholic schooling with a twist?’: a study of faith schooling in the Republic of Ireland during a period of detraditionalisation

The role of faith-based schools is increasingly debated within a context of school reform, rights and plurality in multi-ethnic societies. The Catholic schooling system in the Irish Republic (always referred to as Ireland in the text) represents an interesting case internationally because of the extent to which Catholic education is structurally embedded as normative across the education system. Yet, Ireland is in a process of detraditionalisation and wider societal change. Drawing on Bourdieu and Bernstein, and a mixed methodological study of Catholic secondary schools, the article presents a typology of Catholic schooling in transition. This identifies a continuum of Catholicity among the study schools that is mediated by dynamics of social class in an increasingly competitive and diverse system. It is argued this has implications for considering the role of a recontextualised model of Catholic faith schooling, underpinned by principles of social justice in a multicultural and more secularly oriented society.     

Strategies in testing for an invariant second‐order factor structure: A comparison of EQS and LISREL

Working from a common data base and hypothesized model, this article demonstrates and compares the EQS and LISREL strategies in the analysis of a second‐order factor model. Program similarities and differences are noted with respect to (a) preliminary analyses of the data, (b) treatment of data that are not multivariately normal, (c) assessment of overall model fit, (d) identification of parameter misspecification, (e) post hoc model‐fitting, and (f) tests for multi‐group invariance. Data comprise scores on the Beck Depression Inventory for 658 (boys, n = 337; girls, n = 321) nonclinical adolescents. Issues addressed should be of substantial interest to those unfamiliar with the two programs and/or the methodological procedures presented.     

The ‘High Achievers’ project: an assessment of the support for students with autism attending UK universities

In the UK autism is classed as a disability under the Disability Discrimination Act 2005. Under the Special Educational Needs and Disability Act 2001, higher education institutions in the UK are legally required to make reasonable adjustments for students with disabilities who are placed at a substantial disadvantage in comparison to students without disabilities. Despite the social difficulties associated with autism, and autistic students being at a heightened risk of dropping out of university, high-functioning autistic students are often high achievers academically. The National Audit Office recognises university as a desirable option for academically gifted students with autism. As there have been few studies directly examining the needs of autistic students in post-secondary education by established researchers, we undertook an online questionnaire survey of all UK universities, other than those under foreign ownership, to ascertain current levels of support for students with autism in higher education. This was followed up with Freedom of Information Act requests to establishments that did not respond to the survey. We report our findings based on responses from 99 universities out of approximately 160 establishments in total. As autistic university graduates are at a disadvantage when compared to their non-autistic peers in obtaining employment after graduation, we propose that all higher education establishments follow the government recommendation for providers of services not covered by the Autism Act 2009, but who support people into employment, to adopt the Statutory Guidance issued in connection with the Adult Autism Strategy. Universities should consider seeking accreditation under the National Autistic Society’s accreditation scheme.     

Card Sorting in an Online Environment: Key to Involving Online-Only Student Population in Usability Testing of an Academic Library Web Site?

ABSTRACT

Based on in-person, task-based usability testing and interviews, the authors' library Web site was recently overhauled in order to improve user experience. This led to the authors' interest in additional usability testing methods and test environments that would most closely fit their library's goals and situation. The appeal of card sorting methods became evident: learning more than users' points of confusion interacting with the site, but learning users' preferences for grouping pages or concepts and naming various library links. The appeal of the online venue for card sorting was first that testing could incorporate input from a larger base of users than in-person testing alone, and, additionally, that testing could include the university's online-only student population.     

功能至上

在家具家居设计中,是否外形的华丽和功能的实用始终像是一个硬币的两面,背道而驰、不可交融？不,在设计师的巧手下,我们可以看到这两者的有机融合。这个世界上本就没有极端的黑与极端的白,当两种不同的色彩交融产生出另一种新的色彩的时候,谁又说它不会绽放出更加夺目的光彩呢？     

简单元素 新设计

在人们需求日益多样化、个性化的今日,再好的设计也会过时,任何潮流一旦确立便开始失效。绝对强势的主流风格离我们越来越远,而我们必须要对美常存一颗不断创造的心,才能装扮出与众差异、永远不会过时的家居风格。本期“酷型”特别奉上6组风格新颖的家居用品,它们分别用简单的元素却创造出了不一样的设计感觉,希望能为你的家居装饰提供一些灵感。