New Directions,New Relationships: The Smithsonian's Twenty‐first Century Learning in Natural History Settings Conference and the Natural History Museum,London

The Twenty‐first Century Learning in Natural History Settings Conference at the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. (2012) has been more influential than similar conferences, resulting in new work streams and international collaborations for the Learning Research and Evaluation team at the Natural History Museum, London (NHM). The conference offered a rare opportunity to discuss issues relevant to our unique workplace and to be surrounded by an instant peer group. Although the event itself brought personal and professional satisfaction, it is the impact of the conference on our institution that has been most fulfilling. The conference has enabled us to think bigger—to think about the sector as a whole and the role the NHM can play as a large national museum.     

PITFALLS AND PROMISES: THE USE OF SECONDARY DATA ANALYSIS IN EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH

ABSTRACT:  This paper considers the use of secondary data analysis in educational research. It addresses some of the promises and potential pitfalls that influence its use and explores a possible role for the secondary analysis of numeric data in the 'new' political arithmetic tradition of social research. Secondary data analysis is a relatively under-used technique in Education and in the social sciences more widely, and it is an approach that is not without its critics. Here we consider two main objections to the use of secondary data: that it is full of errors and that because of the socially constructed nature of social data, simply reducing it to a numeric form cannot fully encapsulate its complexity. However, secondary data also offers numerous methodological, theoretical and pedagogical benefits. Indeed by treating secondary data analysis with appropriate scepticism and respect for its limitations, by demanding that tacit assumptions about the unreliability of secondary data are applied equally to other research methods, and crucially by combining secondary data analysis with small-scale in-depth work, this paper argues for a return to prominence of secondary data analysis in its own right as well as becoming a central component of the new political arithmetic tradition of social research.     

The Uneasy Relationship of Self‐Critique in the Public Art Institution

Reacting to the gradual neoliberalization of the European public art institutional landscape, actors within a number of critical art museums and galleries have attempted to reform their institutions from within through a process that is largely commensurate with Chantal Mouffe's radical political strategy of ‘critique as hegemonic engagement‐with’. This article focuses on Manuel J. Borja‐Villel's attempt to implement such a strategy at the Museu D'Art Contemporani, Barcelona (MACBA) in the early 2000s. Through an examination of two key projects – Las Agencias (The Agencies) (2001) and Com Volem ser Governats? (How do we want to be governed) (2003‐2004) – it considers the efficacy of such an approach. In so doing, it calls into question the public art institution's ability to perform a self‐critique when embedded within the hegemony of the neoliberal order and constrained by bureaucratic institutional limitations. It concludes by noting that Mouffe's strategy of engagement does not give sufficient consideration to the dependence critical public art institutions have on local and national political support and its funding channels, making them extremely susceptible to instrumentalization. In response to this constraint, it makes the recommendation that, rather than curbing their experimentation, these critical actors should embrace the potentially temporary status of their institutions, and intentionally push them to and even beyond their bureaucratic limitations.     

Neutrality of VAT Rates Under European Law: All Books are Created Equal,but Some are More Equal than Others?

EU law currently distinguishes ‘physically embodied’ books and e-books for value added tax purposes, even where their content is the same. This article explores the legal root of that difference and, employing the principle of ‘fiscal neutrality’ (a subset of equal treatment) it aims to shed light on the current cases pending before the Court of Justice of the EU against France and Luxembourg for their unilateral reductions in e-book rates. The last part of this article looks at another area of physical and e-book divergence, first sale, and considers what an equality based approach could have to say about this.     

Educational placements and National Curriculum Key Stage 2 test outcomes of children with a history of specific language impairment

As part of their longitudinal investigations of a large cohort with a history of specific language impairment (SLI), Professor Gina Conti-Ramsden and her research team based at the School of Education, University of Manchester, Dr Emma Knox, Dr Nicola Botting and Dr Zoë Simkin report on the changing educational placements and National Curriculum assessment outcomes of 200 children at 11 years. Teacher questionnaires reporting on the Year 6 primary education placements of the sample reveal details about the long-term educational needs of children with SLI.
Furthermore, in exploring the experiences of the sample in the National Curriculum Key Stage 2 tests the present study found that children with SLI perform poorly relative to national expectations of levels of achievement across all tests. At present there are no guidelines for supporting children with SLI in relation to National Curriculum tests and the present data suggests there is an obvious need for these to be developed.