Developing policies for inclusive education: a study of the role of local education authorities

In many parts of the world there is evidence of initiatives aimed at finding ways of creating forms of mainstream schooling that can respond to pupils with disabilities and others seen as having special educational needs (UNESCO 1995). There is also a growing research literature that throws light on how schools and classrooms can be developed in relation to this idea (e.g. Rouse and Florian 1996, Sebba and Sachdev 1997, Thomas et al. 1998, Ainscow 1999, Clark et al. 1999). However, few studies have considered the contributions and roles of local administrative arrangements to such developments, even though there is evidence that these can be highly influential in relation to policy implementation in general (Spillane 1998). Drawing on the evidence of a recent study carried out in England, this paper starts to fill this gap. Specifically, it addresses the question: in what ways do local administrative arrangements bear on attempts to develop more inclusive ways of working in schools? In considering the evidence and arguments presented it is important to recognize that the peculiarities of each national context mean that district level arrangements for the management of education in one country cannot be assumed to be similar to that in other countries. Consequently, transporting conclusions from one situation to another is impossible. Nevertheless, a detailed engagement with the experiences of particular countries can provide a useful basis for reflection on what happens elsewhere. Before considering this specific agenda, however, we summarize certain relevant international trends.     

The effects of Florida's university admission policies on black and white entering freshmen, 1975–76

This study examined differential enrollment, survival, progress, and academic success of both black and white first-time-in-college students according to three admission categories (unrestrictive, restrictive, and special) in predominantly white universities in the Florida State University System. Data were extracted from the Board of Regents' student data course files and analyzed. White students were enrolled almost exclusively in the traditional (unrestrictive) category, while black students were almost equally enrolled in all three categories. Although the overall survival rate of white students was higher than that of black students, within each admission category, the survival rate of black students was higher than that of white students.This paper was presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Boston, April 1980.     

“I am not simply learning and regurgitating information,I am also learning about myself”: learning portfolio practice and online distance students

This case study explored the experience of learning portfolio practice and whether learning portfolio practice facilitated the development of critical thinking skills among online distance students. Data were generated using the participant learning portfolio entries and two-time semi-structured interviews. Five themes were constructed in the data-led thematic analysis: being an online distance student, the experience of learning with a learning portfolio, my approach to learning, thinking critically in my learning portfolio, the sociology discipline context. Findings indicate that learning portfolio practice can enhance the nature of the learning experience by providing students with a personal space to evaluate their own learning, to process their thoughts and experience and to document their lives and learning in an authentic and meaningful way. The findings suggest that learning portfolio practice can facilitate the development of critical thinking skills within a disciplinary context.     

Emotional Intelligence and Education: A critical review

In recent years there has been an increased interest in the role of emotional intelligence in both the academic success of students and their emotional adjustment in school. However, promotion of emotional intelligence in schools has proven a controversial pursuit, challenging as it does traditional “rationalist” views of education. Furthermore, research findings in this area have been inconsistent at best. In this article we discuss the following key questions relating to this important debate. What do we mean by emotional “intelligence”? What impact would improved emotional intelligence have on learners’ emotional health and well‐being, academic achievement, and other adaptive outcomes? Can emotional intelligence be taught? It is felt that these are the key issues for consideration in developing policy, practice, and further research in this area.     

Deviant Peer Factors During Early Adolescence: Cause or Consequence of Physical Aggression?

This study investigated reciprocal relations between adolescents' physical aggression and their perceptions of peers' deviant behaviors and attitudes. Analyses were conducted on four waves of data from 2,290 adolescents (ages 10–16) from three urban middle schools. Autoregression models revealed reciprocal relations between peer factors (i.e., friends' problem behavior, peer pressure for fighting, friends' support for fighting) and adolescents' reporting of their aggressive behavior. Bidirectional relations were also found between peer pressure for fighting and adolescents' frequency of physical aggression based on teacher ratings. Findings were consistent across sex, grade, and time. Findings suggest that multiple dimensions of peers' behaviors uniquely play a role in the development of adolescents' aggression and have important implications for interventions to reduce problem behaviors.     

库珀中心纵向研究：有氧运动的灵魂

目的：为肯尼斯·库珀（Kenneth H. Cooper）于1970年提出的库珀中心纵向研究（CCLS）提供详细历史。方法：对库珀中心纵向研究人群和库珀诊所所检查的重要参数,以及库珀诊所患者的各种疾病发病率和死亡率进行数据描述。并对近50年来已发表的库珀中心纵向研究的主要研究结果进行总结。结果：在库珀诊所检查期间,通过最大跑台运动测试客观地测量出的心肺功能（CRF）已成为各种疾病发病率和死亡率的强大且独立的风险因素。更具体地说,库珀中心纵向研究明确表明,中高水平的心肺功能与人体全因、心血管疾病和癌症死亡率有显著相关关系。此外,已经证明,中年人群的心肺水平是全因痴呆、Ⅱ型糖尿病、慢性肾病、癌症发病率和存活率以及一些其他慢性疾病的预测因子。因此,库珀中心纵向研究结果还表明,中年人群的心肺水平与老年时期的医疗保健成本呈显著相关。结论：除罕见情况以外,已经进行了近50年的库珀中心纵向研究的研究结果表明,相对于较低水平的心肺功能,中高水平的心肺功能可以有效预防许多疾病。     

Accounting for young children’s competence in educational research: New perspectives on research ethics

Educational researchers working with young children face ethical issues when researching the talk and interactions of young children. Issues around the competence of children to participate in research pose challenges to educational researchers and to the young participants and their families, within what are seen as increasingly risky and regulated research environments. This paper examines some of these issues in light of recent sociological perspectives that account for children as competent practitioners of their social worlds. Drawing on research investigating the governance of the lives of young children in Australia, we examine the rights of children to be both seen and heard as competent research participants. These sociological directions afford opportunities to reconsider the ethical issues around research with young children. Such an approach breaks new ground in early childhood education research.