Neurodevelopmental Effects of Early Deprivation in Postinstitutionalized Children

The neurodevelopmental sequelae of early deprivation were examined by testing ( N  =   132) 8- and 9-year-old children who had endured prolonged versus brief institutionalized rearing or rearing in the natal family. Behavioral tasks included measures that permit inferences about underlying neural circuitry. Children raised in institutionalized settings showed neuropsychological deficits on tests of visual memory and attention, as well as visually mediated learning and inhibitory control. Yet, these children performed at developmentally appropriate levels on similar tests where auditory processing was also involved and on tests assessing executive processes such as rule acquisition and planning. These findings suggest that specific aspects of brain-behavioral circuitry may be particularly vulnerable to postnatal experience.     

Confronting the Dark Side of Higher Education

In this paper we philosophically explore the notion of darkness within higher education teaching and learning. Within the present‐day discourse of how to make visible and to explicate teaching and learning strategies through alignment procedures and evidence‐based intellectual leadership, we argue that dark spots and blind angles grow too. As we struggle to make visible and to evaluate, assess, manage and organise higher education, the darkness of the institution actually expands. We use the term ‘dark’ to comprehend challenges, situations, reactions, aims and goals, which cannot easily be understood and solved by agendas of quality assurance and professionalisation of higher education. We need to understand better why gender issues or ethnic conflicts emerge, and why students take up arms, within an institution which is thought to be inclusive, inviting and open to all kinds of people and cultures. And we need to study the educational potential of days of boredom or isolation, caught up in daily routines of teaching or studying which do not lead anywhere or give way to any productive work. These matters have not been sufficiently researched and conceptualised as meaningful in themselves. We aim here to open a space for insights through the concept of darkness presented in this paper. In order to make educational darkness palpable we draw on the philosophies of darkness found in the work of Friedrich Nietzsche and Emmanuel Levinas. Through those philosophies we argue that the growing darkness within higher education is not a symptom we should fear and avoid. Having the ability and courage to face these darker educational aspects of everyday higher education practice will enable students and teachers to find renewed hope in the university as an institution for personal as well as professional imagination and growth.     

I. CHILDREN IN INSTITUTIONAL CARE: DELAYED DEVELOPMENT AND RESILIENCE

Children exposed to institutional care often suffer from “structural neglect” which may include minimum physical resources, unfavorable and unstable staffing patterns, and socially emotionally inadequate caregiver‐child interactions. This chapter is devoted to the analysis of the ill effects of early institutional experiences on resident children's development. Delays in the important areas of physical, hormonal, cognitive, and emotional development are discussed. The evidence for and against the existence of a distinctive set of co‐occurring developmental problems in institutionalized children is weighed and found to not yet convincingly demonstrate a “postinstitutional syndrome.” Finally, shared and nonshared features of the institutional environment and specific genetic, temperamental, and physical characteristics of the individual child are examined that might make a crucial difference in whether early institutional rearing leaves irreversible scars.     

Swedish technology teachers’ attitudes to their subject and its teaching

Background: From previous research among science teachers it is known that teachers’ attitudes to their subjects affect important aspects of their teaching, including their confidence and the amount of time they spend teaching the subject. In contrast, less is known about technology teachers’ attitudes.

Purpose: Therefore, the aim of this study is to investigate Swedish technology teachers’ attitudes toward their subject, and how these attitudes may be related to background variables.

Sample: Technology teachers in Swedish compulsory schools (n = 1153) responded to a questionnaire about teachers’ attitudes, experiences, and background.

Methods: Exploratory factor analysis was used to inwvestigate attitude dimensions of the questionnaire. Groupings of teachers based on attitudes were identified through cluster analysis, and multinomial logistic regression was performed to investigate the role of teachers’ background variables as predictors for cluster belonging.

Results: Four attitudinal dimensions were identified in the questionnaire, corresponding to distinct components of attitudes. Three teacher clusters were identified among the respondents characterized by positive, negative, and mixed attitudes toward the subject of technology and its teaching, respectively. The most influential predictors of cluster membership were to be qualified for teaching technology, having participated in in-service-training, teaching at a school with a proper overall teaching plan for the subject of technology and teaching at a school with a defined number of teaching hours for the subject.

Conclusions: The results suggest that efforts to increase technology teachers’ qualifications and establishing a fixed number of teaching hours and an overall teaching plan for the subject of technology may yield more positive attitudes among teachers toward technology teaching. In turn, this could improve the status of the subject as well as students’ learning.     

Standardization of Work: Co-constructed Practice

There is strong pressure to achieve greater uniformity, standardization and application of best practices in the service professions, a sector that is growing in presence and importance. At the same time, there is a conflicting demand for the delivery of high-quality (or high-priced or “knowledge-intensive”) specialized or localized services. Our article analyzes information systems-enabled standardizing of service work through an in-depth interpretative study of an ongoing standardization initiative within the field of nursing. Nursing provides a graphic illustration of the dilemmas involved in the standardization of service work. In nursing, standardization is commonly a feature of projects to improve both efficiency and quality in health care. In contrast to the dominant conception of standardization as a largely top-down, imposed process, we offer a view of standardization as incomplete, co-constructed with users, and with significant unintended consequences. The article contributes by (a) developing a theoretical perspective for the standardization of information-system-embedded service work and (2) providing operational and practical implications for system design and health care management.     

The Use of External Consultants for School Development: A Norwegian Case Study

>Although teaching has traditionally been regarded as a stressful occupation, it may be argued that the increased pace of change and enhanced levels of competition within education have impacted upon all schools in Britain, and have brought added pressures to the profession. Additionally, a number of schools have experienced further traumatic change through the process of school merger and, hence, it would seem that teachers in these particular schools are highly vulnerable to high levels of stress.

A study, which was carried out to assess the levels of stress experienced by teachers in a sample of schools which were threatened by merger, had merged or had not merged, revealed that those who were threatened by traumatic change exhibited the highest levels of stress. The findings are discussed in relation to their implications for the management of traumatic organisation change projects.     

Friluftsliv and adventure: Models,heroes and idols in a Nansen perspective

Abstract

With the ambition of penetrating into the very core of the Norwegian and Nordic friluftsliv: An ecologically responsible life in the open air-in nature, people will have to become acquainted with Fridtjof Nansen—with the thinker as well as the practitioner. Outdoor life with natural and strong links to the national friluftsliv—tradition was his ideal, and quite a lot of people in the years after him have been fired with his enthusiasm for the wonderful experiential and health—giving meetings with nature. Obviously, he has been a hero and an idol for generations of people. His reputation as an arctic explorer, as scientist and sportsman, as an internationalist and a humanitarian, have been emphasized by a great many books and articles about him. The main purpose of this article is to shed more light upon his thinking about friluftsliv, to show and explain its focus, its models and paragons.