Education,development and poverty reduction: A literature critique

The concept of development has evolved from an exclusive focus on economic growth towards an interrelated, even integrated approach involving progress across a range of disciplines such as health, education, economics and agriculture. The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are rooted in this evolved conception of development. A concerted global effort embracing multiple disciplines in the formal and informal sectors is now essential for their achievement. This paper traces the changing meaning of development, while at the same time tracing the benefits of investing in education for poverty reduction, and the conditions that facilitate and/or hamper education's contribution to poverty reduction.     

Deficits in emotion regulation mediate the relationship between childhood abuse and later eating disorder symptoms

The present study examined the relationship of child maltreatment to both emotion dysregulation and subsequent eating pathology. In an effort to extend previous research, the authors examined the unique impact of childhood emotional abuse (CEA) on emotion dysregulation and eating disorder (ED) symptoms while controlling for the effects of sexual and physical abuse. Structural equation modeling was utilized to simultaneously examine the effects of all three abuse types on multiple dependent variables as well as examine whether deficits in emotion regulation mediated the relationship between abuse and eating pathology. Results from a survey of 1,254 female college students revealed significant paths from abuse subtypes to specific eating disorder symptoms, with CEA evidencing the strongest association with ED symptoms. Additionally, emotion dysregulation was positively associated with ED symptoms, and mediated the effects of emotional abuse on symptoms. Findings support previous research on the enduring effects of emotional abuse as well as highlight the importance of the assessment of CEA in the treatment of ED symptoms.     

Photography

Pamela Jeffcott Parry's Photography Index: A Guide to Reproductions (Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1979–$25.00)

Hilary Evans' The Art of Picture Research: A Guide to Current Practice, Procedure, Techniques and Resources (Newton Abbot, Y.K.; and North Pomfret, Vt.: David & Charles, 1979—$28.00)

Melissa Milar, ed. 1980 Photographer's Market: Where to Sell Your Photographs (Cincinnati, Ohio: Writer's Digest Rooks, 1979—$12.95)

Photographis '79 (New York: Hastings House, 1979–$49.50)

John Sander's Photography Year Book 1979 (New York: Fountain Press/Hastings House, 1979—$24.95)

Harold E. Edgerton and James R. Killian, Jr.'s Moments of Vision: The Stroboscopic Revolution in Photography (Cambridge, Ma.: MIT Press, 1979—$20.00)

Deborah Turbeville's Wallflower (New York: Congreve Publishing Co, 1978—$27.50)

Robert L. Kerns' Photojournalism: Photography with a Purpose (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1980—$14.95)

Focalguide to Slides by Graham Saxby (New York: Focal/Hastings House, 1979- 46.95, Paper)

Focalguide to Close-Ups by Sidney F. Ray (1978--$6.95, paper)     

A philosophical perspective on leading music activities for the over 50s

The basis of this article is findings from the Music for Life Project which investigated the benefits and challenges of music activity participation for the over 50s in three case study sites in the United Kingdom. The paper uses a philosophical lens to explore the leaders’ and participants’ views on the purpose of the activities, how learners are characterised, the role of the activity leader, and the use of assessment. Data from 147 participant and 13 activity leader questionnaires, from 28 participant and 13 activity leader individual interviews, and from 15 participant focus groups were analysed within a philosophical framework that refers to six approaches: liberal, progressive, behaviourist, humanistic, radical and analytic. NVivo and SPSS assisted with the quantitative and qualitative analyses. The analyses indicated that humanism was prevalent although other approaches, particularly behaviourist and progressive, were evident. Activity leaders’ emphasis on humanism might lead to more concern with the comfort side of participation than with musical progression. There was very little use of formal assessment or feedback to support progression. There was some discrepancy between purposes for participation between leaders and participants. There might be a need to clarify purpose, particularly if activities are part of adult education rather than adult social groups.     

‘How are we going to do it?’ An exploration of the barriers to access to higher education amongst young people from disadvantaged communities

The number of young people progressing to higher education (HE) in Ireland has grown significantly over the last three decades but inequality of access and participation remain a major policy challenge. This article sets out to explore the factors which impact on levels of participation in HE by young people from lower socio-economic backgrounds, based on interviews and focus groups with 70 secondary school students and 25 parents in three case-study locations. In line with previous research, we found that financial considerations continue to have an important influence on decisions about whether to go on to higher education. The findings in relation to young people’s aspirations and orientations to HE present a more complex picture. While the majority of students aspired to go on to HE, this was countered by a lack of confidence in relation to certain aspects of college life, both social and academic.     

Under the microscope: A study of schools in special measures and a comparison with general characteristics of primary school improvement

This paper considers the process of being in special measures and looks at the experiences that teachers in five primary schools encountered. It also endeavours to establish links with generally accepted characteristics of school improvement as identified in previous research on sustained primary school improvement and school improvement in general.     

Patterns of response to an approaches to studying inventory across contrasting groups and contexts

The development of the Approaches and Study Skills Inventory for Students (ASSIST) is reported, which incorporates a revised version of the Approaches to Studying Inventory. This questionnaire was completed by three separate samples; 1284 mainly first-year students from six British universities, 466 first-year students from a Scottish technological university; and 219 students from a ‘historically disadvantaged” South African university. Analyses of these data were designed to explore the patterns of response found in sub-groups which varied in terms of their levels of attainment and contexts. Maximum likelihood analysis of the largest sample confirmed the expected three factors of deep, surface apathetic, and strategic approaches to studying, and almost identical patterns were also found in the other two samples, and in students having contrasting levels of attainment. There were, however, some interesting minor differences in the South African sample. K-means relocation cluster analysis was then carried out on the largest sample and produced clusters with generally coherent patterns of response. However, one persistent low attainment cluster showed unexpected, dissonant patterns of response, combining moderately high scores on the sub-scales of both deep and surface apathetic approaches, associated with low scores on the strategic approach.     

IRUS-UK: Improving Understanding of the Value and Impact of Institutional Repositories

Institutional repositories (IRs) are important research management tools that can give increased visibility to the institution’s scholarly outputs. Although statistics were previously available through the various repository interfaces, without an agreed standard it was not possible to measure usage across a range of IRs accurately. IRUS-UK is a national aggregation service, containing details of all content downloaded from participating IRs in the United Kingdom. Through collecting raw usage data and processing them into item-level usage statistics IRUS-UK provides comparable and authoritative standards-based data and also acts as an intermediary between UK repositories and other agencies.     

Tutoring primary trainee teachers through E-conferencing

This article explores issues for developing primary teacher trainee mathematics subject knowledge from a tutor perspective, and ways of working together in an e-environment that can promote quality learning. It focuses on the design of the e-environment, the methods of working and the advantages and disadvantages for developing mathematics subject knowledge through an e-environment from a tutor perspective.