Systemic action and learning in public services

Complex, systemic issues continue to challenge public services without respect for organisational and professional boundaries. In practice, collaborative working with others who have differing professional cultural norms and systems confront members with the need to learn about each other's values, priorities and practices. This paper explores the potential of action learning for the development of systemic leadership capabilities within public services. Starting from core principles it is argued that action learning be seen not simply as a small group process for problem-solving or individual development, but as a collective process for inquiring into and taking action on projects and practices within their complex, multi-agent contexts.     

Concentric collaboration: a model of leadership development for healthcare organizations

Drawing on their experience in a Midwest healthcare system, the authors propose a model of leadership development through action learning that embraces ‘concentric collaboration’ at its core. The present study suggests that the process of concentric collaboration can serve to strengthen the skills of the individual leader as well as foster collective leadership. Central to the model is the growth and development of the individual leader which extends outward to create connections with others, ultimately increasing the social capital necessary to effect organizational change. This work contributes to the leadership development literature by offering a comprehensive model that includes the process of individual growth as well as collective capacity, organizational factors that support or inhibit this process as well as implications for practice.     

Year 5 pupils reading an "Interactive Storybook" on CD-ROM: losing the plot?

The use of "interactive storybooks" in the primary classroom may facilitate small group and individual reading with minimal teacher intervention. This small-scale study examines whether small groups of Year 5 pupils, without teacher supervision, progress linearly through an "interactive storybook" and whether such diversions as cued animations affect pupil comprehension. The study finds that more intensive choice of diversions affects some pupils' comprehension.     

Learning citizenship: Campus‐based initiatives for developing student change agents

The phrase “social movement” typically conjures up images of pickets, massive crowds, and noisy demonstrations. An emerging approach to campus‐based change, used in Fraternal Futures and other projects, is tapping into the small, the local, and the personally relevant.     

The relation of parenting style to adolescent school performance

This article develops and tests a reformation of Baumrind's typology of authoritarian, permissive, and authoritative parenting styles in the context of adolescent school performance. Using a large and diverse sample of San Francisco Bay Area high school students (N = 7,836), we found that both authoritarian and permissive parenting styles were negatively associated with grades, and authoritative parenting was positively associated with grades. Parenting styles generally showed the expected relation to grades across gender, age, parental education, ethnic, and family structure categories. Authoritarian parenting tended to have a stronger association with grades than did the other 2 parenting styles, except among Hispanic males. The full typology best predicted grades among white students. Pure authoritative families (high on authoritative but not high on the other 2 indices) had the highest mean grades, while inconsistent families that combine authoritarian parenting with other parenting styles had the lowest grades.     

Can squirrel monkeys (Saimiri sciureus) plan for the future? Studies of temporal myopia in food choice

In seven experiments, 2 squirrel monkeys were given choices between arrays of food that varied in the quantity offered. In Experiments 1-5, the monkeys were offered choices between quantities of the same food that varied in a 2:1 ratio. The squirrel monkeys failed to show the temporal myopia effect or a decrease in preference for the larger quantity as the absolute number of food items offered increased. Even when given choices of 8 versus 16 peanuts and 10 versus 20 peanuts, both monkeys significantly preferred the larger quantity. An examination of the monkeys' rates of consumption indicated that 20 peanuts were consumed over a 1- to 2-h period, with eating bouts separated by periods of nonconsumption. In Experiments 6A, 6B, and 7, food was either pilfered or replenished 15 min after an initial choice, so that choice of the smaller quantity led to more total food in the long run. These manipulations caused both monkeys to reduce choice of the larger quantity, relative to baseline choice. The results suggest that squirrel monkeys anticipated the future consequences of their choices.     

Legal Notes When May a College Regulate an Instructor's In-Class Speech? Recent Guidance from the Sixth Circuit

In a recent opinion, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that a community college instructor has a constitutional right to utilize the words nigger and bitch in the context of a classroom discussion in a course on interpersonal relations. This article discusses this case in the context of other court decisions concerning a college's right to regulate an instructor's classroom speech. Implications for personnel evaluation in the higher education setting are discussed.     

Disabilities Information Flow: a disabilities information management system

The Disabilities Information Flow (DIF) project at the University of St Andrews has sought to provide a means of efficiently managing all student disabilities information within the institution and provide appropriate role‐based service interfaces for all staff who need to routinely interact with this information. This paper describes the software engineering processes used for the context analysis, design and implementation of the DIF.     

An Examination of Change in Teacher Self-Efficacy Beliefs in Science Education Based on the Duration of Inservice Activities

Journal of Science Teacher Education -     

Water, steam and change: the roles of land drainage, water supplies and garden fountains in the early development of the steam engine

The history of the steam engine is generally linked to that of the Industrial Revolution. This article seeks to uncouple this seemingly necessary link by examining other contexts in which the steam engine was introduced and developed.