Child sex abuse treatment: Some barriers to program operation

A treatment program for sexually abusing families is described, which illustrates the complexities in the families, in the treatment required to assist them, and in the interrelations of agencies with whom they come into contact. The program used a multi-therapist, multi-modality treatment model in conjunction with expert consultants in medicine, psychology, art therapy, law, criminology, and research. The article discusses the formidable barriers to creating a treatment program that stem from the necessity of establishing linkages with other agencies and systems in the society. These barriers include the difficulty other service providers may have in recognizing the problem; the trouble doctors, lawyers, and policemen have in interviewing the young victims; the problems in the criminal justice system with obtaining justice for the victim by arresting and prosecuting the offender while protecting his rights; and the conflict of the schools caught between their responsibility as mandated reporters of abuse and the legal rights of the parent-offender. Questions are raised which may assist others embarked on developing similar programs.     

Steering Dynamics in Complex Education Systems. An Agenda for Empirical Research

Many policy systems and education systems have grown more complex in the last three decades. Power has moved away from central governments in different directions: upwards towards international organisations, sideways towards private institutions and non‐governmental organisations and downwards towards local governments and public enterprises such as schools. Where once we had central government, we now have governance, which can be defined as the processes of establishing priorities, formulating and implementing policies, and being accountable in complex networks with many different actors. Steering in such complex education systems emerges from the activities, tasks and responsibilities of state and non‐state actors, operating at different levels and from different positions and often has un‐deliberate, un‐intentional and un‐foreseen consequences. There are many conceptual models that encapsulate this complexity, but this article suggests that there is a real need for empirical research. Without empirical research it remains unknown whether and how steering in complex networks works out in practice, what are its effects and for whom. Moreover, it is only through empirical research that we can find out whether central government has become less dominant, or rather whether its appearance has changed and it has become less visible, but not necessarily less influential. Foucault's governmentality perspective is a useful notion on which to build such a framework for empirical research which allows for a careful study of the interactions that signify steering. Inspired by Foucault, this article develops a trilogy of assumed conditions for steering to take effect in modern societies. Following this reasoning, ‘something' first needs to be made thinkable, calculable and practicable by different actors for steering to occur. This trilogy is a promising starting point for empirical research into very specific phenomena which can help us to understand how steering in complex education systems works.     

Dilated canine hearts: A specimen for teaching cardiac anatomy

Dilated canine hearts were used to teach undergraduate students internal and external cardiac anatomy. The specimens were dilated using hydrostatic pressure and then fixed using 5% formalin. These specimens provided the students with an alternative to prepackaged embalmed hearts and anatomical models for studying the external and internal cardiac anatomy. In addition, the dilated hearts are more similar to the organ they encounter within the thoracic cavity of their dissected animal. This gives the students a better chance of developing a three‐dimensional understanding of the heart. Anat Sci Ed 1:207–211, 2008. © 2008 American Association of Anatomists.     

The teaching profession against the background of educationalisation: an exploratory study

This article focuses on the teaching profession against the background of educationalisation in the Netherlands in the sense that Dutch schools are increasingly regarded as focal points at which to address and solve social issues. Our research project concentrated on the extent to which teachers, being key figures in the school organisation, understand their role as one that embraces a social in addition to an educational mission. It explores teachers’ professional identity and their awareness, task perception and self-efficacy with respect to performing a social mission. The results show that ‘addressing social issues’ can be identified as a dimension of teachers’ professional identity. However, teachers report low self-efficacy as regards carrying out social tasks, irrespective of their task perception and awareness. The phenomenon of educationalisation is occurring in other Western European countries and in the US. The results of this exploratory study raise questions about the feasibility of educationalising social problems.     

Serial position effects in social transmission of food preference

The serial position effect in Long-Evans rats was evaluated in two experiments. In Experiment 1, the effect in a group for which an interstimulus interval (ISI) was introduced between items in a list of demonstrators was compared with that in a group without an ISI. With an ISI, a recency effect was produced. In Experiment 2, a serial position effect group was compared with four groups in which either the distinctiveness or the context of the middle item was changed, relative to the items on either side of it. A von Restorff effect was produced when a rat from a different strain was used as a demonstrator in Position 2. The results for Experiment 1 are discussed in relation to interstimulus effects in monkeys and those for Experiment 2 with respect to changes in the physical properties of middle items.