The industrial middle class and the development of sport and in a railway town

ABSTRACT

Increased industrial activity during the Victorian period led to the creation of industrial townships such as Crewe, whose growth was stimulated and sustained by the involvement of the London and North Western Railway Company. As in other townships, the paternalism of employers was reflected in company involvement in all aspects of the social, political and economic life of Crewe and the influence that was exerted on the population through the company’s middle-class managers. Men such as manager Francis Webb and company clerk Thomas Abraham had a significant impact on the sporting life of the town, and this paper explores their life courses to chronicle their involvement. These men were not public-school- or university-educated but they shared similar attitudes to sport with their middle-class counterparts in the South, and this paper uses their biographies to suggest that individuals concerned with the organisation of amateur sport across the country adhered to the basics tenets of the amateur ethos. The authors also reinforce the notion that, while the creation of governing bodies was certainly important in structuring late-nineteenth-century sport, the commitment and motivation of the individual was always critical in ensuring that local sport was played ‘in the right way’.     

Changes in locomotive rates during senior elite rugby league matches

Abstract

The aim of this study was to quantify the changes in locomotive rates across the duration of senior elite rugby league matches. A semi-automated image recognition system (ProZone 3, ProZone®, Leeds, England) was used to track the movements of 59 players from six teams during three competitive matches. The players were classified into one of four positional groups: props (n = 9), back row (n = 9), pivots (n = 14) or outside backs (n = 27). Players' movements were classified as low, high or very high intensity running and reported as locomotive rates (distance covered per minute played) for successive quarters of each match. Analysis of variance revealed that only the outside backs showed a significantly lower overall locomotive rate during the final quarter compared to the first (P < 0.05). However, locomotive rates for high and very high intensity running during the final quarter were significantly lower (P < 0.05) than the first quarter among outside backs, pivots and props despite no change in the rate of involvements in contact. On the basis of these findings, it is suggested that high and very high intensity running locomotive rates may be more affective methods of detecting fatigue during competitive matches than overall locomotive rate.     

The value of music in London

London is one of the world's foremost music cities. Using a statistical approach developed in earlier studies of music in the United Kingdom (NMC, 1996; NMC, 1999), this chapter presents the results of a survey commissioned by London Arts from researchers at the University of Westminster. The chapter draws together available data oh the commercial and public sectors of the industry, on live performances and their audiences, on education and training and on exports. This data has been supplemented by new research, notably in the area of live performance and in identifying geographical ‘clusters’ of music business firms in certain areas of inner London.

Among the key findings of the research are that consumer spending represents some 90 per cent of the £1.1 billion total spending on music in London; consumers spent more on concert tickets and entrance charges for music of all types than on CDs and other soundcarriers; music provides the equivalent of 34,000 full‐time jobs in London and creates added value of over £1 billion and the London music business has net foreign earnings of over £400 million per annum.

The chapter concludes with some reflections on the implications of this research for music policy at both the national and city level. The statistical evidence demonstrates that classical music, a genre with only 10 per cent of the audience, continues to attract over 90 per cent of public subsidy. A similar imbalance in training of education of musicians means that the development of many young and talented non‐classical musicians is left to the vagaries of the market.     

Groundwater scarcity impact on inclusiveness and women empowerment: Insights from school absenteeism of female students in two watersheds in India

A survey was conducted in eight secondary schools located in two watersheds in Gujarat and Rajasthan (semi-arid region of India) to assess students’ perceptions about groundwater scarcity issues and the impact of the scarcity on their educational opportunities. Survey responses to a detailed questionnaire by a cohort of students in both watersheds; school attendance records of year 8 class students (13–14 years old) and responses gathered via a socio-economic survey involving 500 families in the study area were used in the study. In both watersheds, >90% students identified groundwater scarcity as a major issue. Required to work at home or farm, about 65% students in Gujarat and 60% in Rajasthan missed school for up to 2 days/month; and a smaller proportion (～ 30%) missed schools for 4 or more days/month. School absenteeism was found to be linked with gender; female students missed schools more frequently than their male counterpart. The school attendance records in Rajasthan showed that the frequency of female students missing schools for 5 or more days/month was on an average 2–10 times greater than that for males. The gender difference in absenteeism in all schools was statistically significant (P?<?.018**). The study highlighted that groundwater scarcity in the study area, and consequent demand on their time for household work including fetching drinking water are contributing factors towards limiting their educational and economic opportunities. Groundwater scarcity can be one of the key factors that can limit inclusiveness and empowerment of women and need to be considered in policy-making.     

‘You want us to teach outdoor education where?’ Reflections on teaching outdoor education online

This article reports on the experiences of two lecturers working at the University of Tasmania required to teach outdoor and sustainability education (O&SE) courses online. Using an (auto)ethonographic case-study approach, the lecturers were interviewed with a view to exploring their perceptions, challenges, ethical dilemmas, tensions, opportunities and experiences in this space. A number of themes emerged, including commitment to quality teaching and learning, the role of experience, and experiential learning, in the online space, the challenge of fostering a connection to place, difficulties faced when trying to develop a learning community, and the role of professional learning and support in terms of pedagogy and technology in the online space. These themes, and their implications for teaching and learning in higher education both generally, and specifically in O&SE, are discussed in light of what is a mounting body of literature exploring the move to online delivery in higher education.     

Design and Teaching: A Bibliographic Essay

Abstract

Distance education, particularly online education, is becoming a standard experience in formal learning environments, particularly at the postsecondary level. As more faculty and students have expectations that distance education is a part of the learning experience, we need to build a deeper understanding of how to design effective environments to enhance and extend the learning process. Further, we need to explore how to best facilitate learning in these contexts. This bibliographic essay explores the literature related to design and teaching in distance education as presented in the third section of Moore's (2007a) Moore, M. G. 2007a. Handbook of distance education, 2nd, Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.  [Google Scholar] Handbook of Distance Education (Table 1 provides an overview of all the chapters in the Design and Teaching section of the Handbook).     

Theory,Practice and Reflection: A pre-service primary mathematics education programme

This paper describes a case study investigating the impact of a primary mathematics method programme on pre-service primary teachers' capacity, and willingness to learn and teach mathematics for relational understanding. The programme, a collaborative endeavour between primary schools and university tutors, enables student teachers to practice in an on-going, integrated and consistent manner what they are learning in theory, and to reflect on their experiences. The findings from test, questionnaire and interview data indicate that the weekly cycle of theory, practice and reflection in which student teachers engage enhances their capacity, and provides an incentive for them to learn and teach mathematics for relational understanding.     

Making Sense of Bali: Unintended outcomes of study abroad programs

Study abroad programmes for teacher education students are increasingly being evaluated to determine their effectiveness in achieving intended outcomes. There is a danger, however, that such evaluations will ignore valuable but unintended and serendipitous outcomes of such programmes. This paper investigates an example of such an outcome, the development of a critical perspective towards media constructions of ‘otherness’. In 2002 a group of Australian teacher education students undertook an intensive in‐country Indonesian language programme. The course included mornings of formal immersion language classes and afternoons of cultural experiences with local students. Throughout and following the programme the students were interviewed and wrote about their changing perceptions of Indonesia and the implications of the experience for their professional development. Soon after their return Indonesian–Australian relations were challenged by the terrorist attack in the tourist heart of Bali. Two hundred and two people, including many Australian tourists, were killed in the bomb blast. In some cases the students were personally acquainted with Australian victims. As part of their reflection upon their in‐country experience the students were asked to comment upon whether, and in what ways, the Bali bombings might have affected their perceptions of Indonesia. The students were highly critical of the ethnocentric and stereotyped way in which the Australian media depicted Indonesians in their reporting of the bombing. These students were concerned with the effect that such media constructions might have upon Australian attitudes towards Indonesia and were prepared to challenge such media constructions in the classroom.