Chemical Laws, Idealization and Approximation

This paper examines the notion of laws in chemistry. Vihalemm (Found Chem 5(1):7–22, 2003) argues that the laws of chemistry are fundamentally the same as the laws of physics they are all ceteris paribus laws which are true “in ideal conditions”. In contrast, Scerri (2000) contends that the laws of chemistry are fundamentally different to the laws of physics, because they involve approximations. Christie (Stud Hist Philos Sci 25:613–629, 1994) and Christie and Christie (Of minds and molecules. Oxford University Press, New York, pp. 34–50, 2000) agree that the laws of chemistry are operationally different to the laws of physics, but claim that the distinction between exact and approximate laws is too simplistic to taxonomise them. Approximations in chemistry involve diverse kinds of activity and often what counts as a scientific law in chemistry is dictated by the context of its use in scientific practice. This paper addresses the question of what makes chemical laws distinctive independently of the separate question as to how they are related to the laws of physics. From an analysis of some candidate ceteris paribus laws in chemistry, this paper argues that there are two distinct kinds of ceteris paribus laws in chemistry; idealized and approximate chemical laws. Thus, while Christie (Stud Hist Philos Sci 25:613–629, 1994) and Christie and Christie (Of minds and molecules. Oxford University Press, New York, pp. 34--50, 2000) are correct to point out that the candidate generalisations in chemistry are diverse and heterogeneous, a distinction between idealizations and approximations can nevertheless be used to successfully taxonomise them.     

Person centred planning ‘in action’: exploring the use of person centred planning in supporting young people's transition and re‐integration to mainstream education

This study, by Emma Corrigan of the Plymouth Excellence Cluster and Community Psychology Service, explores the use of person centred planning (PCP) in supporting young people who have experienced school exclusion, in their transition and re‐integration to mainstream settings. Young people of different ages participated in the PCP process and multiple stakeholder perspectives provided insight into the implementation and outcomes of PCP over time. Reported findings indicate a positive impact upon young people's social‐emotional well‐being, attendance in school, and educational achievement, and highlight a range of ‘supports’ and ‘barriers’ that can facilitate and/or obstruct the use of PCP in practice. This research contributes towards practice‐based evidence at a time when legislative reform advocates a broader use of PCP to support special educational needs in the UK. Potential gains, pitfalls and further actions are considered to support a wider application of PCP within the new statutory framework and to inform implications for future practice and further research.     

Capitalism without capital: the intangible economy of education reform

ABSTRACT

This paper explores third-wave post-neoliberalism as an assemblage, fractured and dis/embodied, a mobile tool of governance articulated in various shapes across geopolitical sites. Post-neoliberalism is assembled alongside other key cultural shifts, such as post-truth, posthuman and the computational turn. In light of this Special Issue, this paper will argue that education reform is not only shaped by neoliberal drivers, such as marketisation, competition and decentralisation, but a central tenet of post-neoliberal reform is the presence of the intangible; ‘big data’ and data-fication, shaped by prominent globalised datasets such as OECD PISA, artificial intelligence, predictive software and complex algorithms. Measurement is far from new in the capitalist economy, but this economy seeks to measure the intangibles, that which does not necessarily exist in three-dimensional spaces. This is, as I will argue in this paper, the mark of capitalism without capital and the rise of the intangible economy in schooling.     

‘We’re not trying to turn them into middle-class Guardian readers’: constructing the offender in the probation ‘classroom’

Over the past 10 years, cognitive-behavioural programmes have come to be seen as a standard form of rehabilitation for offenders in the United Kingdom. However, the majority of research has tended to evaluate the programmes purely within the evidence-based context of the ‘What Works’ criminal justice agenda. By placing the programmes within their social and political context, this article suggests that they function as neo-liberal regimes of governance that aim to ‘responsibilise’ offenders. Through an analysis of interviews with probation practitioners, the article explores how ‘othering’ discourses relating to offenders intersected with gendered, classed and ‘raced’ social identities. Consequently, young white, working-class masculinities were constructed within this educational environment as impulsive, irresponsible and ‘cognitively deficient’. Thus, the article calls for a discursive shift away from cognitive-behavioural rehabilitation techniques and towards more genuinely inclusive, socially just, and holistic educational programmes for probationers.     

Can virtual environments enhance the learning of historical chronology?

Historical time and chronological sequence are usually conveyed to pupils via the presentation of semantic information on printed worksheets, events being rote-memorised according to date. We explored the use of virtual environments in which successive historical events were depicted as “places” in time–space, encountered sequentially in a fly-through. Testing was via “Which came first, X or Y?” questions and picture-ordering. University undergraduates experiencing the history of an imaginary planet performed better after a VE than after viewing a “washing line” of sequential images, or captions alone, especially for items in intermediate list positions. However, secondary children 11–14 years remembered no more about successive events in feudal England when they were presented virtually compared with either paper picture or 2-D computer graphic conditions. Primary children 7–9 years learned more about historical sequence after studying a series of paper images, compared with either VE or computer graphic conditions, remembering more in early/intermediate list positions. Reasons for the discrepant results are discussed and future possible uses of VEs in the teaching of chronology assessed.     

Special educational needs,disability and school accountability: an international perspective

Standards-based accountability approaches in education are increasingly being adopted in many industrialised countries. This tends to involve the scrutiny of student performance in national academic tests and then holding schools accountable for subsequent progress. International assessments such as Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) are not accountability measures in themselves, but are often utilised in a similar way and national policies are judged against performance in these tests. Drawing upon the examples of PISA and national assessments in the USA, this paper explores how students with special educational needs and disability (SEND) are included in, and served by, these assessment policies. The analysis suggests that while these approaches are inclusive in their intent (most obviously through efforts to include students with SEND in testing) they may poorly represent the progress of these students. It is argued that more equitable inclusion of students with SEND must find a balance between accountability measures which measure performance in traditional attainment-focused tests and other relevant assessments which are meaningful to the given student and/or SEND sub-group.     

Comparison of the effects of mainstream and special school on National Curriculum outcomes in children with autism spectrum disorder: an archive‐based analysis

The literature dealing with the inclusion of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in mainstream schools has increased over recent years, propelled by the argument that it will improve the quality of life, educational performance and social development of ‘included’ children. This area of research is currently an important one for the development of policy and practice. The literature on inclusion dealing with the inclusion of children with ASD is limited, so the implementation of inclusion has preceded research. The current study investigated whether children in mainstream placements show enhanced performance, relative to those in specialist provisions. The study used a combination of primary and secondary data analysis to explore the impact of inclusion on children with ASD in four authorities in the south east of England. The results suggest that mainstream children have no greater academic success than children in specialist provision. The study suggests that a number of specific provisions are involved in promoting success, such as Speech and Language Therapy, and the impact of Learning Support Assistants, and these are also reviewed and discussed.     

Researcher-led academic development

In this study, members of a higher education department explore their research activity and how it influences their practice as academic developers in a research-led institution. While the research activities of the team members appear diverse, they are all underpinned by a shared set of professional values to provide an anchor for these activities. Research-as-pedagogy and the relationship between the discourses of research and teaching are explored using Bernstein’s knowledge structures. The authors conclude that differences in research focus (horizontal discourse) provide dynamism across a department and that stability is provided through the underpinning core values inherent in the vertical discourse.     

Career oriented and university bound: higher education outcomes of IB Career-related Programme graduates in the US

The Career-related Programme (CP) is an innovative education programme by the International Baccalaureate (IB). Designed to promote college and career readiness equally in the last two years of high school, the CP combines rigorous university preparatory coursework with targeted career-related studies. This study examines the patterns of higher education enrolment, destination and persistence of all CP graduates from high schools in the US between 2013 and 2015. The results indicate that CP graduates enrol in higher education at higher rates than do all high school graduates nationally and career and technical education concentrators specifically: 81% versus 68% versus 70%, respectively. They persist for 1 year at higher rates than do all high school graduates: 89% versus 72%, respectively. Results of logistic regression show that the number of IB exams and the completion of the CP certificate are significant predictors of postsecondary enrolment and that higher mean IB exam scores predict higher odds of a student attending a 4-year institution over a 2-year institution. The results suggest that students who engage in career and technical education alongside rigorous university preparatory coursework within the CP are well-prepared to succeed in higher education.