The impact of PL 94-142 on the practice of school psychology: A national survey

This paper presents the results of a national survey of school psychologists to determine the impact of PL 94-142 on the role of the school psychologist. Data were based on responses to 856 surveys by practicing school psychologists who were selected randomly from the NASP membership list during 1979-80. The results suggested that this legislation has had remarkably little impact on the evaluation procedures used or on the school psychologist's role. The two clear changes that have occurred may have negative implications for psychological services (e.g., an increased focus on handicapped children and increased paperwork). It was found that many school psychologists are involved in evaluation, but do not have time to be involved in the IEP process, or to provide follow-up consultation, or direct intervention for prevention and/or therapeutic purposes. This problem was exacerbated in districts that had ratios of greater than 1,000 to 1. Despite these problems, many respondents view the legislation in positive terms, and feel it has helped to enlarge the scope of practice.     

Handling Small Talk at Work: Challenges for workers with intellectual disabilities

Interpersonal workplace interaction provides many challenges for workers with intellectual disabilities. While these workers are generally able to handle well the tasks required of them at work, the social interaction which others manage with ease often presents unexpected hurdles to such workers. This paper analyses tape-recorded workplace small talk collected in a range of New Zealand workplaces, including workplaces employing workers with intellectual disabilities. The topics, the distributional patterns, and the functions of small talk are described, and aspects of the management of small talk which may present problems to workers with intellectual disabilities are illustrated and discussed. Finally, some suggestions are provided concerning ways in which teachers and trainers may be able to assist workers acquire some of the basic sociolinguistic skills in small talk needed to operate effectively in their workplaces.     

Refining Assessment for Resource Based Learning

Technology has introduced a new dimension into resource based learning, with the opportunities for flexibility in time and place offered by delivery of course material either through CD‐ROM or the World Wide Web (WWW), and the potential for access to a wide variety of diverse information sources. Many projects are currently experimenting with courses using these delivery media. This paper describes part of an action research project in which a study of student perspectives on assessment for a resource based UK Open University course highlights those aspects of assessment which appear to support student learning effectively. The feedback has been used to refine three of the assignments, as a way of fine tuning the course pedagogy.     

Refugee Students at College and University: Improving Access and Support

This article summarizes the findings and recommendations of a study into access to, and experience of, colleges of further education and universities by refugees in Sydney, Australia. The study sought to identify examples of institutional good practice which are potentially transferable to other major host countries for refugees in the developed world. It focuses upon the factors influencing the decision to enter college or university, sources and usefulness of information and advice, access courses and special entry schemes, the recognition of prior learning and overseas qualifications and institutional sensitivity and support. It concludes with a series of recommendations for providers of further and higher education to improve access and support for students from refugee backgrounds.     

Moral Economies in Science: From Ideal to Pragmatic

In the following pages we discuss three historical cases of moral economies in science: Drosophila genetics, late twentieth century American astronomy, and collaborations between American drug companies and medical scientists in the interwar years. An examination of the most striking differences and similarities between these examples, and the conflicts internal to them, reveals constitutive features of moral economies, and the ways in which they are formed, negotiated, and altered. We critically evaluate these three examples through the filters of rational choice, utility, and American pragmatism, using the latter to support the conclusion that there is no single vision of moral economies in science and no single theory—moral, political, social—that will explain them. These filters may not be the only means through which to evaluate the moral economies examined, but aspects of each appear prominent in all three cases. In addition, explanations for decisions are often given in the language of these theories, both at the macro (policy) level and at the local level of the moral economies we discuss. In light of such factors, the use of these frameworks seems justified. We begin with an attempt to define the nature of moral economies, then move to a consideration of scientific communities as moral communities operating within material and other constraints which we relate to wider questions of political economy and societal accountabilities.