How to conduct External Quality Assessment Schemes for the pre-analytical phase?

In laboratory medicine, several studies have described the most frequent errors in the different phases of the total testing process, and a large proportion of these errors occur in the pre-analytical phase. Schemes for registration of errors and subsequent feedback to the participants have been conducted for decades concerning the analytical phase by External Quality Assessment (EQA) organizations operating in most countries. The aim of the paper is to present an overview of different types of EQA schemes for the pre-analytical phase, and give examples of some existing schemes. So far, very few EQA organizations have focused on the pre-analytical phase, and most EQA organizations do not offer pre-analytical EQA schemes (EQAS). It is more difficult to perform and standardize pre-analytical EQAS and also, accreditation bodies do not ask the laboratories for results from such schemes. However, some ongoing EQA programs for the pre-analytical phase do exist, and some examples are given in this paper. The methods used can be divided into three different types; collecting information about pre-analytical laboratory procedures, circulating real samples to collect information about interferences that might affect the measurement procedure, or register actual laboratory errors and relate these to quality indicators. These three types have different focus and different challenges regarding implementation, and a combination of the three is probably necessary to be able to detect and monitor the wide range of errors occurring in the pre-analytical phase.     

Fees,flows and imaginaries: exploring the destination choices arising from intra-national student mobility

ABSTRACT

Are intra-national student flows driven by the same forces as international student mobility? This paper addresses this question by analysing cross-border student mobility in the UK. The paper identifies four principles that one might expect to drive the destination choices of students from Scotland enrolling in English universities. Following a statistical analysis of student destination choices, it is argued that cross-border moves from Scotland to England are stimulated by some of the same global forces as international student mobility (such as a desire to accumulate cultural capital), but in terms of destination choice the imaginaries held by Scottish students of ‘good’ places to study in England to accumulate cultural capital are constructed differently from the imaginaries of international students.     

The influence of partner cues on the extinction of causal judgments in people

Studies in laboratory animals have shown that the extinction of a conditioned stimulus, A, is regulated by the associative history of a second stimulus, X, when the two are extinguished in simultaneous compound: An inhibitory X protects A from extinction (Rescorla Learning & Behavior, 31, 124–132, 2003), whereas an excitatory X facilitates, and under some circumstances deepens, the extinction of A (Rescorla Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes, 26, 251–260, 2000, Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes, 32, 135–144, 2006). In the present study, we used the allergist task to examine whether the extinction of causal judgments in people is similarly regulated by the causal status of co-present stimuli. Experiment 1 showed that a cue trained as a conditioned inhibitor protected a target cue from extinction: The target extinguished in compound with the inhibitor was rated as being more causal of the outcome than was a target extinguished in compound with a control cue lacking inhibitory properties. In contrast, the remaining experiments showed that the extinction of a target cue was regulated by the presence, but not the causal status, of a partner cue: Target cues extinguished in compound were protected from extinction, and no evidence showed that an already extinguished partner conferred more protection (Exp. 2), or that an excitatory partner conferred any less protection (Exps. 2 and 3), or that an excitatory partner deepened the extinction of its already extinguished target. These findings are inconsistent with elemental models that rely on a common error term to explain associative changes in extinction. They are largely, but not completely, consistent with the configural model proposed by Pearce (Psychological Review, 94, 61–73, 1987), which predicts an ordering of levels of protection that was not observed.     

Implementing the 2014 SEND reforms in England: perspectives from SENCOs

This article is based on research conducted within two years of the 2014 SEND (special educational needs and disability) reforms being in force and reports on the experiences of five SENCOs (special educational needs coordinators) on implementing the reforms in London schools. The research was conducted primarily to inform professional practice and improve delivery of the principles underpinning the reforms. The research deployed an adapted version of SWOT analysis as a tool for seeking the views of SENCOs on the perceived benefits and challenges of the SEND reforms. The findings demonstrate that SENCOs broadly support the principles of the reforms. However, SENCOs find some of the procedures in the 2015 SEND Code of Practice as proving problematic. There still remains a significant focus on managing administrative processes, rather than bringing about a fundamental change to school culture and educational provision. The article concludes by making several recommendations on ways to reduce bureaucracy for SENCOs and increase their focus on classroom practice.     

Teacher education,motivation, compensation,workplace support,and links to quality of center-based child care and teachers’ intention to stay in the early childhood profession

The purposes of this study were to present a conceptual model for selection into the early childhood profession and to test the model using contemporaneous assessments. A stratified random sample of center-based child care providers in 4 Midwestern states (n = 964) participated in a telephone interview, and 223 were also assessed with the Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale—Revised or the Infant–Toddler Environment Rating Scale to rate global observed quality, and the Caregiver Interaction Scale to rate interactional quality. When the model was tested with infant–toddler and preschool teachers combined, having a Child Development Associate (CDA) predicted global observed quality, education years and child development coursework predicted compensation, and compensation predicted observed quality. When the model was tested separately for infant–toddler teachers, years of education and child development coursework predicted compensation, but none of the education variables predicted observed quality and compensation did not predict observed quality. For preschool teachers, years of education predicted compensation and having a CDA predicted observed quality, but compensation did not predict observed quality. For all of the models, only motivations for child care work predicted intention to stay in the profession. No variables in the structural equation models predicted interactional quality.     

Job burnout and the school psychologist

School psychologists participating in a workshop on burnout completed Freudenberger's Burnout Questionnaire (1980), identified major job-related stressors, and responded to a list of suggested supervisory, individual, and organizational strategies for prevention. Slightly less than half of the participants appeared on the questionnaire to have burnout problems. Age, years of experience, and sex were not significantly related to the burnout score. Major identified stressors included excessive caseloads, lack of time, and lack of support or appreciation. Reactions to the strategies were positive and hopeful. Implications for training were drawn.     

Hong Kong University and Polytechnic Grants Committee

The political uncertainties surrounding Hong Kong's future as a British Crown Colony have not inhibited either the Hong Kong Government or its particular version of a University Grants Committee (UGC) system from devising and planning a continuing expansion of higher education at a time when most other countries are levelling off or contracting their own.This article deals with the many unique features of the Hong Kong situation of which perhaps the most important is the nature of the Hong Kong Government - traditionally colonial and potentially authoritarian, not elected yet highly sensitive to Chinese opinion both internally and externally, and highly efficient in most of its management activities in spite of a strongly laisser faire tradition.The Hong Kong UGC system is charged with much wider planning functions throughout higher education than elsewhere and is responsible for the polytechnic as well as the two universities - hence its trans-binary designation as the University and Polytechnic Grants Committee. While this has helped its overall planning and academic guidance roles, it has involved it in severe difficulties in relation to its basic financial role which requires it to develop methodologies of financial assessment of Polytechnic costs for which no overseas models exist. Its academic membership is still entirely from overseas, with inevitable repercussions on its ability to arrange adequate collective discussion and its reliance on its local secretariat who act as the Government's de facto Department of Higher Education.     

Understanding students’ experiences of professionalism learning: a ‘threshold’ approach

Professionalism is a core element of curricula in many disciplines but can be difficult to teach and learn. This study used audio-diary methodology to identify professionalism threshold concepts in a small group learning setting in undergraduate medicine and to understand factors that might facilitate students to ‘get’ such concepts. Fifteen students and seven tutors kept audio-diaries over two terms. Data were analysed qualitatively for content. The key themes were then cross referenced to threshold concept criteria (e.g. where language indicated that learning was troublesome, integrative or transformative). Seven potential threshold concepts were identified which centred on students’ developing professional identities including working with uncertainty, considering the bigger picture, not needing to know everything and professional culture. Reflection on workplace experiences within a small group helped students ‘get’ these concepts. The study concludes that threshold concepts and audio-diaries are useful tools for understanding lived experiences of professionalism learning.     

The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning: Theory–Practice Integration in a Faculty Certificate Program

There is growing recognition of the complexity of academic work and the need for university and college faculty members to develop scholarly approaches to teaching and learning. While structured programs of study have been initiated for faculty to address these issues in various higher education contexts, very little research has investigated the theory–practice relationship of the scholarship of teaching and learning within a faculty certificate program context. This article presents a program development and evaluation framework to enhance the theory–practice integration of the scholarship of teaching and learning in such a program. Data suggest that a broad range of institutional and programmatic strategies can enhance the scholarship of teaching and learning in a faculty certificate program. A scholarly approach to teaching and learning is viewed as both an individual and social contextual process.Dr Harry Hubball and Dr Helen Burt are faculty members at the University of British Columbia, BC, Canada. Harry Hubball's research focuses on curriculum and pedagogy in university settings. He coordinates the UBC Faculty Certificate Program on Teaching and Learning in Higher Education. Helen Burt is the Associate Dean of the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences. Her research interests include the development of novel polymer-based drug delivery systems.