‘I do not like what I am becoming but…’: transforming the identity of head teachers in Catalonia

The aim of this article is to elucidate how a new system of school and teacher assessment in Catalonia is transforming the conceptions, practices and identity of head teachers, especially younger ones. It begins by considering the impact of global neoliberal policies on educational practices, highlighting their Foucauldian productive nature. It then examines the educational context of Catalonia during the last 30 years, emphasising the changing role of head teachers and the impact of neoliberal governance. This is followed by an account and analysis of in-depth interviews with four head teachers, focusing especially on how the head teacher’s objectives, practices and identities are being transformed, or produced, as a result of the new neoliberal ‘assessment regime’. It ends with a discussion on the importance of refusal and resistance to this process and the need to reconsider basic educational and social questions.     

Morphological Processing Before and During Children’s Spelling

ABSTRACT

Our understanding of spelling development has largely been gleaned from analysis of children’s accuracy at spelling words under varying conditions and the nature of their errors. Here, we consider whether handwriting durations can inform us about the time course with which children use morphological information to produce accurate spellings of root morphemes. Six- to 7-year-old (n = 23) and 8- to 11-year-old (n = 25) children produced 28 target spellings in a spelling-to-dictation task. Target words were matched quadruplets of base, control, inflected, and derived words beginning with the same letters (e.g., rock, rocket, rocking, rocky). Both groups of children showed evidence of morphological processing as they prepared their spelling; writing onset latencies were shorter for two-morpheme words than control words. The findings are consistent with statistical learning theories of spelling development and theories of lexical quality that include a role of morphology.     

Influence of stick stiffness and puck weight on puck velocity during slap shots in women’s ice hockey

Previous studies have found that reduced stick stiffness increases puck velocity in young male ice hockey players. This study investigates the hypothesis that female players are disadvantaged by using equipment that is designed for taller and stronger players. The purpose of this study was to investigate if stick flexibility and puck weight affect puck velocity in standing slap shots performed by female ice hockey players. There was a significant increase in puck velocity (4.1%, p = 0.037) when stick stiffness and puck weight were reduced. ANOVA revealed that there was a significant correlation between stick, puck and the participant herself (R ² = 0.987). Spearman’s correlation analysis revealed that participants with higher puck velocities benefitted the most when the stick flexibility and puck weight were reduced (r = 0.648, p = 0.043). It was concluded that decreased stick stiffness and puck weight increased puck velocity in standing slap shots for female ice hockey players.     

How does reading performance modulate the impact of orthographic knowledge on speech processing? A comparison of normal readers and dyslexic adults

Studies on proficient readers showed that speech processing is affected by knowledge of the orthographic code. Yet, the automaticity of the orthographic influence depends on task demand. Here, we addressed this automaticity issue in normal and dyslexic adult readers by comparing the orthographic effects obtained in two speech processing tasks that are or not sensitive to strategies developed by participants. Our finding showed that while participants’ performance in a metaphonological task, which is known to be strategy prone, was affected by their orthographic knowledge regardless of the childhood diagnosis of dyslexia or of their actual reading-related skills, this latter factor significantly modulated the orthographic influence found in a more natural speech recognition task. The finding supports the claim that while any individuals who know a reading code are able to resort to their orthographic knowledge when they process speech, a more profound modification of the speech processing system by the orthographic code takes place only in readers who have reached a certain level of reading expertise.     

Using body donor demographics to assist the implementation of donation programs in Brazil

The use of human material in anatomy education depends upon the generosity of body donors. However, little is known regarding the demographics of body donors in Brazil, where voluntary body donation is a relatively rare phenomenon. Hence, the aim of the present study was to elucidate the demographic profile of applicants to the Body Donation Program (BDP) at the Federal University of Health Sciences of Porto Alegre in Brazil, as well as to assess whether the observed characteristics of body donors are unique to that sample, or if they merely reflect the characteristics of the regional population. Information derived from the specific forms filled out by donors between January 2008 and June 2016 at the time of registration were collected. Data from 416 forms were analyzed. Based on this study, the typical applicant in Brazil is typically a white female (67.4%), over 60 years of age (60.3%), unmarried or single (70.6%), affiliated with a religious group (89.1%), of middle class background (40.4%), who has completed high school and/or holds a university degree (93.8%). The motivation of donors was, in most cases, an altruistic gesture, represented by the desire to help society and science. Elucidating these demographic characteristics of potential donors may help identify the target public to which information regarding body donation campaigns could be directed. Anat Sci Educ 10: 475–486. © 2017 American Association of Anatomists.