Socially desirable responding in an environmental context: development of a domain specific scale

Numerous studies have pointed to a gap between the attitudes people express about the natural environment and their subsequent behaviors toward that environment. Variables identified within these studies include: how significant others view behaviors related to the attitudes; demographic variables such as sex, age or education; self‐perceived ability to do the attitude‐related behavior; attitude strength; and personal relevance of the attitude. This study proposes the concept of environmental desirability responding (EDR) as another factor which might contribute to the attitude‐behavior discrepancy. The development and construct validation of the Environmentally Desirable Response Scale (EDRS), which is designed to identify the existence and level of EDR, is described. The EDRS contains items designed to measure two types of socially desirable responding – ‘Self‐deception’ and ‘Image management’. A total of 1024 usable data sets were obtained from a sample of respondents in several countries (Japan, the US and Australia). Principal factors and correlation analyses revealed that the EDRS comprises three factors identified as ‘Self‐deception/Assertion of positives’, ‘Image management’ and ‘Self‐deception/Denial of negatives’. Cronbach alpha estimates of reliability for the three factors were .74, .66, and .61. Suggestions for further research regarding the scale and EDR are offered.     

Including Pupils with Special Educational Needs and Disability in National Assessment: Comparison of Three Country Case Studies through an Inclusive Assessment Framework

The assessment of educational progress and outcomes of pupils is important to all concerned with education. This includes testing which is undertaken for accountability and award bearing purposes. This article examines how students with special educational needs and disability (SEND) are included in assessment. An “inclusive assessment” framework is outlined based around three core features: (1) all students are included and benefit from assessment; (2) assessments are accessible and appropriate for the diverse range of children in the education system; and (3) the full breadth of the curriculum is assessed (including curriculum areas of particular relevance to students with SEND). Assessment policies and practice in three countries (England, Ireland and the US) are drawn upon to demonstrate how the framework usefully enables between-country comparisons and within-country analysis. This analysis shows that in comparison to Ireland, the US and England have highly developed system-based approaches to assessment which seek to “include all” (feature 1) and be “accessible and appropriate” (feature 2). However, the analysis highlights that a consequence of such assessment approaches is the narrowing of the curriculum around topics that are assessed (most notably literacy and mathematics). Such approaches therefore may be at the expense of wider curriculum areas that have value for all students, but often of particular value for those with SEND (feature 3). It is argued that within such systems there may be a danger of neglecting the third feature of the inclusive assessment framework, i.e. ensuring that the full breadth of the curriculum is assessed. A consequence of such an omission could be a failure to assess and celebrate progress in relation to educational outcomes that are relevant to a diverse range of students.     

From opportunity to reality: transition into engineering education,trauma or transformation?

ABSTRACT

Transition into university can prove to be a challenging time for young people entering engineering education, irrespective of previous educational experience or demographic background. It is such challenges that this article considers. Commencing by looking at the pragmatic issues associated with transition, the question of whether starting university is a time of transformation or trauma for new engineering students is discussed. Following this, a conceptual framework grounded in the authors previous work depicts a tripartite approach to transition, identifying three interlinked phases that new students typically encounter. The conclusion suggests that through the introduction of realistic and socially relevant engineering activities, transition into engineering education is the ideal time to turn opportunity into reality for new students.     

Individual Differences in Thinking: cognitive and neurophysiological perspectives

This paper explores the neglected area of categories of individual difference in human cerebral function. During thinking and decision making, it is hypothesised that different people process the same information in different ways, using different areas of the brain. Recent work suggests that individuals can be categorised into a small number of consistent groups of thinking, or cognitive, style. The different ways of processing reflect two basic dimensions of cognitive style. A simple computer‐presented method of determining cognitive style has been developed.

It is probable that these styles have an underlying cerebral basis. The styles are likely to be related to cerebral orientation. The specialisation of one cerebral hemisphere for verbal function and the other for visuo‐spatial has been long established. Hemispheric specialisation has been associated with the right hemisphere being the location of the visuo‐spatial and the left the verbal function, although evidence for this has been sometimes conflicting. This is not surprising when attention has not been paid to individual differences in cognitive style, as subjects of different styles will use different processes when doing the same cognitive task. Individual differences in orientation have not been clearly linked to differences in cognitive style.

It is proposed that studies could usefully explore the cerebral basis of individual differences in cognitive style, by measuring EEG asymmetries of individuals of specific cognitive styles, during the performance of a range of cognitive tasks. It is proposed that this would identify the location of certain brain functions associated with the different processing underlying the styles. A subsidiary intention is to assess the effectiveness of digital EEG monitoring as a research tool in this context.     

How to Create the Ideal Son: The unhidden curriculum in pseudo-Plutarch On the Training of Children

This article enquires into the curriculum advocated in the only ancient Greek treatise concerning education that has survived in its entirety, entitled On the Training of Children. The treatise was highly influential in Europe from the Renaissance to the nineteenth century, and thus exhibits certain assumptions concerning the purpose of curriculum that lie behind the development of western education and may still be influential today. The inquiry is conducted in three stages: the intended recipients of the curriculum are identified; its elements are enumerated and evaluated; and its aims are inferred from the text. I conclude that the curriculum was intended for wealthy, privileged boys, that philosophy (though not independent theorising) was the most valued subject of study and that the aim of the curriculum was to instil in the recipients aristocratic values and modes of behaviour. Finally, some topics are suggested for reflection, in response to these conclusions, upon existing curricula.     

The cosmopolitan city and its Other: the ethnicizing of the Australian suburb

Abstract

In this article I argue that there has been a significant cultural change in the meanings attached to two specific sites in the Australian cultural imaginary—the city and the suburb. I see this change as the product of opposing versions of multicultural Australia. In several Australian cities, particularly Sydney, although the combination of multiculturalism and economic globalization has helped to create increasingly cosmopolitan inner city suburbs, it has also contributed to the development of an antithetical but perhaps more politically significant version of the middle or outer suburb. This new version of the suburb is defined by minority ethnic or racial identities; it is increasingly represented as criminalized; and its development runs against the grain of the traditional conception of the suburb in the Australian national imaginary, as well as the globalizing rhetoric endorsing a cosmopolitanizing transnational citizenship. The context for the discussion is given particular force by the series of ‘race riots’ which occurred in the Sydney beach suburb of Cronulla in December, 2005. These events raised serious concerns about the fate of multiculturalism in Australia and highlighted the tensions that lie beneath what is often regarded as a successful set of social policies.     

Participation and provision in arts & culture – bridging the divide

ABSTRACT

Successive policies and efforts to increase participation in a range of arts and cultural activities have tended to focus on the profile and attitude of individuals and target groups in order justify public – and therefore achieve more equitable – funding. Rationales for such intervention generally reflect the policy and political regime operating in different eras, but widening participation, increasing access and making the subsidised arts more inclusive have been perennial concerns. On the other hand, culture has also been the subject of a supply-led approach to facility provision, whether local amenity-based (“Every Town Should Have One” – Lane, 1979. Arts centres – every town should have one. London: Paul Elek), civic centre or flagship, and this has also mirrored periodic growth in investment through various capital for the arts, municipal expansion, urban regeneration, European regional development and lottery programmes. Research into participation has consequently taken a macro, sociological, “class distinction” approach, including longitudinal national surveys such as Taking Part, Target Group Index, Active People and Time Use Surveys, whilst actual provision is dealt with at the micro, amenity level in terms of its impact and catchment. This article therefore considers how this situation has evolved and the implications for cultural policy, planning and research by critiquing successive surveys of arts attendance and participation and associated arts policy initiatives, including the importance of local facilities such as arts centres, cinemas and libraries. A focus on cultural mapping approaches to accessible cultural amenities reveals important evidence for bridging the divide between cultural participation and provision.