Contradictions of control: Lessons from exploring teachers' work in Botswana

Using the concept of teaching as a labour process, this paper explores the relationship between the work of teaching and the control of education by the state. Ethnographic data from Botswana is used to discuss emergent themes of teachers' certainties and uncertainties; staff divisions and cultures; accommodations and resistances to control; teachers as storekeepers of knowledge; and occupational rewards and addictions. The meaning and forms of ‘centralisation’ appear as important issues, and contradictions emerge in the exercise of control, with teachers able to recreate significant areas of professional and personal autonomy.     

Mapping the Final Frontier: A Publisher’s Experience Launching an Open Access Journal in the Burgeoning Mixed Access Economy

This article describes a program session that focused on publishers’ experiences launching Open Access (OA) journals and lessons learned. The speakers discussed the current journal marketplace, current journal business models, and the possible shape of the OA landscape and marketplace in the future.     

Counting the Cost‐‐monitoring standards in mathematics in Year 6: an eight‐year cross‐sectional study

The National Curriculum was introduced into British primary schools in 1989 to raise standards of attainment, especially in the basic skills of English and mathematics. Has this expensive innovation succeeded? This paper analyses the mathematics standards of eight cohorts of Year 6 children from five randomly selected primary schools within one Local Education Authority (n=1503) who had all done Mathematics 11 from 1989 to 1996. Examination of the means of the standardised mathematics scores for each cohort reveals no evidence of rising standards in attainment over the eight years. There are fewer over‐ and underachievers than one would expect with a tendency for compression of scores around the mean. This paper questions the efficacy of the National Curriculum, assessment procedures and the publication of school performance tables in raising standards in mathematics at Key Stage 2. The need for an effective system of monitoring educational standards throughout the UK is reiterated.     

Standards in Mathematics in Year 6: what do the Key Stage 2 national tests tell us?

This paper assesses the value that can be put on the Key Stage 2 (KS2) Mathematics national test scores as indicators of what children are achieving in mathematics and whether standards are rising. The results of a cross‐sectional study of all the Year 6 children (187 in 1995, 190 in 1996) from five randomly selected primary schools within one Local Education Authority (LEA) are compared. Pupils’ scores on Mathematics 11 (NFER, 1985) are compared. Results show an improvement in the attainment level of children in 1996 compared to those in 1995 on the national tests, with a higher percentage achieving Level 4 or above in the second year. However, examination of the means for each year‐group indicates that the mean NFER score for each national test level is significantly lower (0.1 % level) in 1996 than 1995. It would seem that there is a need to view apparently rising standards, as measured solely by national test results, with a degree of caution.     

The National Library of Medicine and the American medical information system: the physician's perspective

During the past 150 years an excellent health sciences information system has been developed in the United States. Led by the National Library of Medicine (NLM), the system grew along traditional lines until after World War II, when medical researchers, educators, and practitioners produced an enormous amount of new information. To cope with this growth, the power of computers joined traditional librarianship and MEDLARS was born. In 1965 Congress passed the Medical Library Assistance Act, which enabled NLM to lead the nation's and the world's health sciences professionals into the Information Age. Much as been accomplished by NLM, yet much remains to be done to make health information available cheaply, easily, and quickly to all who need it.