Bayesian Versus Maximum Likelihood Estimation of Multitrait–Multimethod Confirmatory Factor Models

This article compares maximum likelihood and Bayesian estimation of the correlated trait–correlated method (CT–CM) confirmatory factor model for multitrait–multimethod (MTMM) data. In particular, Bayesian estimation with minimally informative prior distributions—that is, prior distributions that prescribe equal probability across the known mathematical range of a parameter—are investigated as a source of information to aid convergence. Results from a simulation study indicate that Bayesian estimation with minimally informative priors produces admissible solutions more often maximum likelihood estimation (100.00% for Bayesian estimation, 49.82% for maximum likelihood). Extra convergence does not come at the cost of parameter accuracy; Bayesian parameter estimates showed comparable bias and better efficiency compared to maximum likelihood estimates. The results are echoed via 2 empirical examples. Hence, Bayesian estimation with minimally informative priors outperforms enables admissible solutions of the CT–CM model for MTMM data.     

Curriculum Reform in South Africa: a critical analysis of outcomes‐based education

Since South Africa's first national democratic elections in 1994, the Government of National Unity has issued several curriculum‐related reforms intended to democratise education and eliminate inequalities in the post‐apartheid education system. The most comprehensive of these reforms has been labelled outcomes‐based education (OBE), an approach to education which underpins the new Curriculum 2005. While the anticipated positive effects of the new curriculum have been widely heralded, there has been little criticism of these proposals given the social and educational context of South African schools. In this article the philosophical, political and implementational dilemmas of OBE are systematically analysed and assessed.

     

From the outside in: tutor perspectives of student transformative experiences within Indigenous Studies health education

ABSTRACT

While more is becoming understood about the effects of Indigenous Studies health curricula on student preparedness and attitudes toward working in Indigenous health contexts, less is known about how tutors in this space interpret student experiences and contribute to the development of preparedness. Reporting on a qualitative study, this article provides insight into tutors’ perceptions of tertiary first year health students’ transformative experiences in an Indigenous Studies health course. Twelve Indigenous and non-Indigenous tutors were interviewed about their teaching experiences within this context. Framed by Mezirow’s transformative learning theory, thematic analysis findings suggest tutors observe several precursor steps to transformative learning including disorienting dilemmas, critical reflection on assumptions, exploration of new roles, and trying on new roles. The content of these themes extends our understanding of how these precursor steps manifest, and the elements related to this. Findings also suggest tutors vary in their identification, interpretation and response to many of these pedagogical entry points. Within this learning context, the concept of teacher/student relationship is suggested as playing a meaningful role in the positioning and efficacy of tutors. This impacts tutors' understanding of transformative learning, the social construction of students, consequent interpretations of student experiences, and means of facilitating cognitive and affective learning. We propose a reconceptualisation of thinking around teaching in this space, with a focus on both further development of educator capabilities and student curricular opportunities to promote transformative learning appropriate to the stated goals of the Australian Indigenous Studies learning and teaching context. The findings indicate that institutional investment in the development of educators in this space remains vitally important.     

Disentangling life events, stress and social support: Implications for the primary prevention of child abuse and neglect

There is a growing body of literature linking stress and child abuse and neglect, but the relationship is not unambiguously supported by empirical data. Two considerations regarding Garbarino's ecological model of child abuse and neglect may explain this research problem. First, any of the predisposing factors, which are grouped into four levels called individual, familial, social, and cultural, may either positively or negatively affect the potential for child abuse and neglect depending upon the quality of social networks and social supports available to families. Second, these factors operate most importantly, not between the perception of stress and the act of abuse or neglect, but through the interpretation of whether a given life event is stressful or not. This clarification of the ecological model points the way to redefining interventions for the primary prevention of child abuse and neglect. Existing support systems can be strengthened in order to increase a family's ability to cope with untoward events before these become stressful. In addition, advocacy activities which support children and families in general can be major components in the primary prevention of child abuse and neglect.     

"Birds of a Feather…": Behavioral Concordances and Preferential Personal Attraction in Children

The purpose of this study was to assess the extent to which preferential personal attraction was associated with behavioral similarity among newly acquinted children. Participants included 69 focal children, selected from a sample of 236 7-year-old children who met, for the first time, in same-sex quartets ( n = 59) for a free-play session. Within each of these quartets, a "discriminating child" was identified; this child expressed a clear preference for one of his or her playmates over one other of her or his quartet playmates. Preference was determined sociometrically after the children became acquainted during free play. The results indicated that "discriminating" children were more behaviorally similar to preferred playmates than to nonpreferred playmates both in terms of cognitive play style and social participation. Implications of the findings are discussed in terms of the relation to the acquaintanceship process.     

What predicts health students’ self-reported preparedness to work in Indigenous health settings?

Australian undergraduate programs are implementing curriculum aimed at better preparing graduates to work in culturally diverse settings, but there remains uncertainty over the role of extant student attitudes towards Indigenous Australians. To begin to address this, we obtained baseline data on student attitudes upon entry to tertiary education. 1175 health science first-year students (275 males, 897 females) completed an anonymous in-class paper questionnaire. On average, students reported positive attitudes towards Indigenous Australians, with female students reporting more positive attitudes than male and domestic students more positive than international. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses indicated that after controlling for demographic variables, interactional diversity experiences and attitudes accounted for significant variance in a range of measures of preparedness to work in Indigenous health contexts. The knowledge gained will inform the development of, and alignment between, curriculum and pedagogical approaches, leading to an improved facilitation model for educators in the Indigenous Studies context.     

Peripheral Voices: Parental involvement,social class,and educational disadvantage

This paper presents the views of working-class parents on home-school links. Group interviews with parents of pupils in a primary school in the disadvantaged areas scheme in the Republic of Ireland suggest that parental involvement in school is limited to the giving and receiving of information, restricted consultation, and engagement in some supplemental responsibilities. Although parents were interested, informed and concerned regarding their children's education, they felt excluded from participation in decision-making about school management and organisation, about matters that affected them personally and financially, and about their children's progress. We suggest that heterogeneity in working-class voice merits further research; that the gendered nature of parent-school links needs further refinement to take account of being a primary carer; and that hearing working-class parents' voices can increase understanding of how parent groupings occupy spaces that are relatively peripheral or proximal to the school site and to their children's experiences of schooling.     

Quantum lithography: A?non-computing application of quantum information

Quantum information theory holds the promise of revolutionizing technologies other than computing and communications. In this article we show how quantum entanglement can be harnessed to beat the Rayleigh diffraction limit of conventional optical lithography, and to permit nano-devices to be fabricated at a scale arbitrarily shorter than the wavelength used. Given the relative ease of performing optical lithography compared with other schemes, and the relative costs associated in migrating the lithography industry to each new fabrication technology, exploiting quantum entanglement to extend the useful life of optical lithography could be economically attractive.