The perception of participation in executive governance structures in Dutch universities

In 1997 a new governance act, based on the principles of New Public Management (NPM) was introduced at Dutch universities. The aims were to realise integrated management, to strengthen the position of executives at the central (executive board) and faculty (dean) levels, to introduce a Supervisory Board at the institution’s central level, and to increase the leeway for universities to design its own governance structure. This article reports on a large-scale evaluation of the governance act and focuses on student and staff participation in decision-making and on the actual appraisal of different actors within the universities (leaders, managers, staff, students) of the governance structure of their university. The empirical data reveal a mixed picture regarding the appreciation of the new governance structure, but overall—in contrast with many critical reviews of NPM in higher education—there seems to be considerable endorsement for the present situation.     

Predictive assessment of reading

Study 1 retrospectively analyzed neuropsychological and psychoeducational tests given to N=220 first graders, with follow-up assessments in third and eighth grade. Four predictor constructs were derived: (1) Phonemic Awareness, (2) Picture Vocabulary, (3) Rapid Naming, and (4) Single Word Reading. Together, these accounted for 88%, 76%, 69%, and 69% of the variance, respectively, in first, third, and eighth grade Woodcock Johnson Broad Reading and eighth grade Gates-MacGinitie. When Single Word Reading was excluded from the predictors, the remaining predictors still accounted for 71%, 65%, 61%, and 65% of variance in the respective outcomes. Secondary analyses of risk of low outcome showed sensitivities/specificities of 93.0/91.0, and 86.4/84.9, respectively, for predicting which students would be in the bottom 15% and 30% of actual first grade WJBR. Sensitivities/specificities were 84.8/83.3 and 80.2/81.3, respectively, for predicting the bottom 15% and 30% of actual third grade WJBR outcomes; eighth grade outcomes had sensitivities/specificities of 80.0/80.0 and 85.7/83.1, respectively, for the bottom 15% and 30% of actual eighth grade WJBR scores. Study 2 cross-validated the concurrent predictive validities in an N=500 geographically diverse sample of late kindergartners through third graders, whose ethnic and racial composition closely approximated the national early elementary school population. New tests of the same four predictor domains were used, together taking only 15 minutes to administer by teachers; the new Woodcock-Johnson III Broad Reading standard score was the concurrent criterion, whose testers were blind to the predictor results. This cross-validation showed 86% of the variance accounted for, using the same regression weights as used in Study 1. With these weights, sensitivity/specificity values for the 15% and 30% thresholds were, respectively, 91.3/88.0 and 94.1/89.1. These validities and accuracies are stronger than others reported for similar intervals in the literature.     

Race,school choice and transfers to opportunity: implications for educational stratification in South Africa

This study investigates the links between race, school choice and educational stratification in South Africa. It focuses on racial differences in families’ efforts to take advantage of choice by transferring to opportunity (i.e., transferring to a school perceived to offer students better access to educational opportunity than their current school) and explores the implications of those transfers for emerging patterns of racial stratification in access to high quality schools. Findings reveal significant racial variation in transfers to opportunity and suggest a complex link between race and the ways in which historically disadvantaged groups have engaged with the post-apartheid educational opportunity structure.     

Developing conceptions of food and nutrition

This paper describes an investigation of concepts that various groups hold about food and nutrition. Groups investigated were students in Years 4 and 8, university students in a BEd (primary) program and parents of the Year 4 students. It was found that for many important concepts relating to food selection, the basic ideas of each group were surprisingly consistent, despite the influence of formal education. In particular, misconception about energy and its role in nutrition and particular food groups was an important finding. Implications for school and community education are drawn from the results. Specialization: science curricula.     

Perceived Expectations Related to Promotion and Tenure: A National Survey of CACREP Program Liaisons

The purpose of the present study was to determine the perceptions of expectations and practices that contribute to decisions regarding promotion and tenure for counselor educators. Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs liaisons for 74 counselor education programs responded to an Internet‐based survey about perceptions of promotion and tenure practices in their programs and institutions. The responses indicate that relatively equal emphasis is placed on teaching, scholarship, and service. Implications for defining promotion and tenure criteria are discussed, and recommendations for further research are provided.     

Senior management perspectives of mathematics and statistics support in higher education: moving to an ‘ecological’ approach

This article explores the perspectives of three senior managers in higher education institutions in England regarding their mathematics and statistics support provision. It does so by means of a qualitative case study that draws upon the writing of Ronald Barnett about the identity of an ‘ecological’ university, along with metaphors associated with the notion of organisations as living ‘organisms’, suggested by Gareth Morgan. Using these ideas as a heuristic sheds light upon the view that whilst outwardly universities appear to represent a uniform landscape, mathematics and statistics support alternatively, can be seen as different ‘species’ within the higher education system. The study illustrates how three universities occupying contrasting ecological ‘niches’ are responding to the challenges they face by providing and planning different forms of learning support for mathematics and statistics. In conclusion, it is recommended that senior managers reflect upon the possibilities offered by the idea of ‘ecological’ identities in order to explore how they might respond strategically to a rapidly changing environment. This includes adapting various solutions and the further development of innovative ways of supporting students’ transitions throughout the academic lifecycle. In addition, an ecological approach could also aid the formation of the co-creational relationships and networks required for the future success of those developments.     

A Critique and Response to Multicultural Visions of Globalization

The paper by White in this issue of Interchange contains an interesting model for a global educational perspective based on the writings of Aurobindo and Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. White proposes a foundation for this new perspective based on the synthesis of Aurobindo’s and de Chardin’s theories of global, social, and conscious evolution. In our response we critique the author’s proposal from the perspective of the current challenges to social justice within the educational community. In particular the writings of Charles Darwin, Paolo Freire, Karl Marx, and Vivekananda (Aurobindo’s peer) are examined to present evolutionary and philosophical viewpoints on the origins and causes of inequity. We contend that no global multicultural perspective on education is possible unless we first address the fundamental inequities present within the socio-economic and educational structures that characterize the world today. Thus any attempt to introduce a “global educational agenda” within an educational institutional structure is bound to be problematic.     

Blocking and enhancement of fear conditioning by appetitive CSs

Prior research on Pavlovian-to-instrumental transfer has shown that when a CS previously associated with shock (AvCS+) is presented contingent upon a choice response to a discriminative stimulus for food reinforcement, it facilitates discrimination learning. Conversely, a response-contingent CS previously associated with the absence of shock (AvCS?) retards discrimination learning. To evaluate whether these findings reflect across-reinforcement blocking and enhancement effects, two experiments investigated the effects of appetitively conditioned stimuli on fear conditioning to a novel stimulus that was serially compounded with the appetitive CS during conditioned-emotional-response (CER) training. Although there were no differential effects of the appetitive CSs in CER acquisition, Experiment 1, using a relatively weak shock US, showed that a CS previously associated with food (ApCS+) retarded CER extinction to the novel stimulus, in evidence of enhanced fear conditioning to that stimulus. In addition, Experiment 2, using a stronger shock US, showed that a CS previously associated with the absence of food (ApCS?) facilitated CER extinction to the novel stimulus, in evidence of weaker fear conditioning to that stimulus. These results parallel traditional blocking effects and indicate not only that an ApCS+ and an ApCS? are functionally similar to AvCSs of opposite sign, but that their functional similarity is mediated by common central emotional states.     

Language planning for the 21st century: revisiting bilingual language policy for deaf children

For over 25 years in some countries and more recently in others, bilingual education involving sign language and the written/spoken vernacular has been considered an essential educational intervention for deaf children. With the recent growth in universal newborn hearing screening and technological advances such as digital hearing aids and cochlear implants, however, more deaf children than ever before have the potential for acquiring spoken language. As a result, the question arises as to the role of sign language and bilingual education for deaf children, particularly those who are very young. On the basis of recent research and fully recognizing the historical sensitivity of this issue, we suggest that language planning and language policy should be revisited in an effort to ensure that they are appropriate for the increasingly diverse population of deaf children.     

The use and usefulness of a parent questionnaire to help schools identify disability

The Equality Act 2010 will be implemented in full in 2011, and schools in the UK will have to provide special aids or services for children with disabilities where this provision is considered reasonable. This paper reports on staff perspectives on the use and usefulness of a parental questionnaire on disability from a sample of 49 schools (mainstream and special) located in 12 local authorities. Most schools found the process of administering the parent questionnaire undemanding; just under half of the sample indicated that they would take some action as a result of the data collected from the parental questionnaire (e.g., to inform plans for targeting or monitoring support for children, and to contact parents and follow‐up issues they had mentioned); and about one‐third of schools recorded unanticipated findings from the parental questionnaire, that is, the identification of children whose disabilities were not previously known to the school. Implications for schools are discussed.