Representing education 1969–80: notes on ‘Kes’ and ‘Grange Hill’

Focusing on the Working Men’s College (WMC), this study charts the chequered fortunes of a Victorian project: providing workers with a ‘liberal education’. The paper analyses the project’s aim (making ‘better citizens’), its disciplinary content (the humanities and/or the sciences) and its challenges (the increasing prestige of vocational studies). It argues that, in an increasingly professionalised society, a ‘liberal education’ for workers became contentious ground. As the role of the sciences within a ‘liberal education’ diminished, and the provision of practical skills took precedence in the local-authority-funded courses, Victorian workers’ opportunities for education became polarised between ‘useful’ sciences and ‘profitless’ humanities. With natural scientists losing the intellectual independence of their discipline to technicians, the WMC Edwardian educators chose to side unequivocally with the humanities. The paper contends that it was in the Edwardian context of the adult education movement that the ‘two cultures’ debate first emerged in Britain.     

Dystopia on the Health Superhighway

The emerging Information Superhighway is starting to induce visions of dystopia within the medical profession. In several countries, doctors have opposed plans for the establishment of national health data networks. In the most recent example, the Council of the British Medical Association threatened to boycott the government's national data strategy. This action followed the lead of Australian doctors, many of whom have consistently opposed a national wide-area network for health data. In common is the fear that this data linkage will erode medical independence, increase the power of government health authorities, and eliminate the confidentiality of medical information. Doctors have a duty of care to patients to protect confidentiality, and they say the emerging national networks compromise this responsibility. Here, I argue that the emerging health superhighways should either conform to strict privacy standards or they should be demolished.     

Toddlers' use of force against familiar peers: a precursor of serious aggression?

Possible precursors of serious aggression were identified in toddlers' use of force against peers. Instances of grabbing objects and hitting peers were recorded in a sample of 66 British 18- to 30-month-olds, observed at home with familiar peers and seen again 6 months later. Mothers rated aggressiveness in the context of other personality traits. Girls and boys did not differ in average levels of aggression, nor were they rated differently by the mothers. However, the observed rate of hitting peers and mothers' ratings of aggressiveness were stable over 6 months for girls, but not for boys. Toddlers who were especially sensitive to peers' possible intentions hit their peers more often. They were also more likely to use force proactively, 6 months later.     

Children Through Their Own Eyes

Abstract

Over the last decade or more the private and public schools of Britain have successfully campaigned to change their image to that of ‘Independent’ schools. This paper examines the extent to which this change of title is justified. It presents data on the introduction of the Assisted Places Scheme, on changes in the tax regulations regarding charities and on the many other ways that the present government has increasingly given both financial and ideological support to these schools. It questions the degree to which it is appropriate to consider these schools as being independent.     

“One of You Can Cut the Cake; The Other Picks the First Slice,” Routes to Consider How to Selfishly Improve Academic Library Delivery Through Shared Services

This article seeks to explore the sharing relationships and behaviors in academic library and information services—reflecting on some of the practical considerations for internal and external Shared Services. The title reflects an observation made when sharing cake among children: if one child cuts the cake and the other takes the first slice, the first child will take special care to ensure that the slices are equal. In this sharing management technique, “fairness” is perceptible and transparent. The technique addresses the inherent weakness in the trust relationship among the children.

The article attempts to differentiate between service “sharing” and “Shared Services” in order to clarify the underlying factors in some of the sectors’ greatest successes in sharing, as well as some of the more uneven outcomes of Shared Service delivery. In particular, it seeks to explore the propensity, capacity, and appetite for sharing, as derived from the relationships academic library services have developed in the first two decades of convergence.