Priority-setting in the roll out of South Africa’s National Integrated ECD Policy

The South African National Integrated Early Childhood Development Policy was approved by the South African Cabinet in 2015. Given capacity and financial constraints, all services outlined cannot be implemented in a single step. Priorities must be set. We examine the budget implications (total cost and cost per child) and benefits of the four largest components of the Policy: interventions to improve pregnancy outcomes; home visits for at-risk mothers of children under 2 years of age; community-based playgroups for mothers and children, and center-based early childhood development services. Further, we identify which services are based on the strongest evidence, the value-based trade-offs that characterise the prioritising decisions, and which logistical factors favour alternative orderings of services. The interventions to improve pregnancy outcomes are low cost, based on sound evidence and would make use of the established healthcare infrastructure. Home visits for at-risk mothers are associated with improved development for targeted children and consequential benefits for caregivers and broader society. Playgroups are a promising low-cost intervention, but further evidence is required to determine their effectiveness. Centre-based services are expensive and generate smaller developmental returns, but provide childcare. The results highlight the value judgements required to determine the appropriate sequencing of interventions.     

Strategies for change in higher education: Three political models

This article describes three models which give insight into the factors that promote or inhibit change in institutions of higher education: a structural model; a social model; and a personal model. Although each offers a distinctive perspective, a number of recurrent themes are identified where the models support and complement one another. The usefulness of the three models in practice is illustrated by analysing how they might help in a possible innovation - the rapid expansion of Continuing Education in a traditional university.This is a revised and extended version of a paper presented at the Sixth International Conference on Higher Education, University of Lancaster, August 28–31, 1984.     

A Foucauldian perspective on student experiences of family discourses in post-primary schools

This work involves researching normative family discourses which are mediated through post-primary settings. The traditional family, consisting of father, mother and children all living together in one house (nuclear) is no longer reflective of the home situation of many Irish students [Lunn, P., and T. Fahey. 2012. Households and Family Structures in Ireland: A Detailed Statistical Analysis of Census 2006. Dublin: ESRI]. My study problematises micro practices involving families as reported by students in three post-primary schools, to report how family differences are managed and (mis)recognised from their lens. The influence of the dominant educational discourses (contextual and textual), are also considered. A framework using Foucauldian post-structural critical analysis traces family profiling through normalising discourses such as notes home which presume two parents together. Teacher assumptions about heterosexual two-parent families make it difficult for students to be open about a family set-up that is constructed as ‘different’ to the rest of the schools. My findings will be of interest to educational research and policy-makers because they highlight how changing demographics such as family compositions are mis-conceptualised in schools, leading to issues of injustice such as bullying and isolation for the students involved.     

Time pressure in scenario-based online construction safety quizzes and its effect on students’ performance

Online quizzes have been shown to be effective learning and assessment approaches. However, if scenario-based online construction safety quizzes do not include time pressure similar to real-world situations, they reflect situations too ideally. The purpose of this paper is to compare engineering students’ performance when carrying out an online construction safety quiz with time pressure versus an online construction safety quiz without time pressure. Two versions of an online construction safety quiz are developed and administered to randomly assigned engineering students based on a quasi-experimental post-test design. The findings contribute to scenario-based learning and assessment of construction safety in four ways. First, the results confirm earlier findings that ‘intrinsic stress’ does not seem to impair students’ performance. Second, students who carry out the online construction safety quiz with time pressure are less likely to ‘learn by trial and error'. Third, students exposed to time pressure appreciate that they become better prepared for real life. Finally, preparing students to work under time pressure is an important industry requirement. The results of this study should encourage engineering educators to explore and implement ways to include time pressure in scenario-based online quizzes and learning.     

Development and validation of a brief screening version of the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire

OBJECTIVE: The goal of this study was to develop and validate a short form of the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (the CTQ-SF) as a screening measure for maltreatment histories in both clinical and nonreferred groups. METHOD: Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses of the 70 original CTQ items were used to create a 28-item version of the scale (25 clinical items and three validity items) and test the measurement invariance of the 25 clinical items across four samples: 378 adult substance abusing patients from New York City, 396 adolescent psychiatric inpatients, 625 substance abusing individuals from southwest Texas, and 579 individuals from a normative community sample (combined N=1978). RESULTS: Results showed that the CTQ-SF's items held essentially the same meaning across all four samples (i.e., measurement invariance). Moreover, the scale demonstrated good criterion-related validity in a subsample of adolescents on whom corroborative data were available. CONCLUSIONS: These findings support the viability of the CTQ-SF across diverse clinical and nonreferred populations.     

The Green Paper and Beyond: How primary headteachers see their deputies

This article reports the findings from interviews with ten primary headteachers on the roles, responsibilities and relationships of the heads and their deputies, particularly in the light of the 1998 Green Paper 'teachers meeting the challenge of change'. These heads were selected because their schools had figured well in the 'Performance Tables 1999: Key Stage 2 Test Results' and so should exemplify good practice. The findings suggest the following key characteristics for an ideal partnership between a head and a deputy: shared values and vision; close personal and professional relationships; clarity about boundaries; provision of non-contact time. Moreover, the article proposes a distinctive role for the deputy in an era of performativity: the 'leading professional' within the school.     

Adolescents and music lyrics: Implications of a cognitive perspective

This essay addresses the relevance of cognitive research in memory processes and auditory information processing for the resolution of policy issues concerning the regulation of popular music. Several assumptions are offered regarding music listening, and conclusions are presented which center on appropriate research methods for resolution of questions surrounding music listening and regulation.     

The role of the 1976 televised presidential debates in the political socialization of adolescents

On the day immediately following their viewing of the first Carter‐Ford televised debate, 156 junior‐high‐school students were interviewed to determine the role of interpersonal communication, media exposure patterns, and family and social environments in the prediction of perceptions of victory and learning about the candidates by adolescents. It was found that parents' social class was the best predictor of adolescents' perceptions of the importance of the debates, whereas the best predictor of the. students' ability to attribute victory to one of the candidates was interpersonal communication prior to and immediately following the telecast. Results are discussed in terms of previous findings, which reflect low importance of the debates in political socialization.