Offsetting racial disadvantage in employment: enhancing performance on personnel selection tests through access training

This paper gives an account of the use of access training in order to enhance the performance of ethnic minority candidates in the process of selection for the West Midlands Police Force. Following the location of the initiative in an equal opportunities framework, the new Police Initial Recruitment (PIR) Test is described. This test was introduced in 1991 to replace the original test, first used in 1974, and is the first element in the selection process. The aims of the access training course are outlined and attention drawn to the way in which the course seeks to develop a range of skills relevant to both the selection process and police basic training, i.e. it seeks to do more than simply raise test scores. The methods used to evaluate the effectiveness of the access course are reported before consideration is given to the issues raised by the study.     

The Dangers of Pipeline Thinking: How the School‐To‐Prison Pipeline Metaphor Squeezes Out Complexity

In this essay Ken McGrew critically examines the school‐to‐prison pipeline metaphor and associated literature. The origins and influence of the metaphor are compared with the origins and influence of the competing prison industrial complex concept. Specific weaknesses in the pipeline literature are examined. These problems are described as resulting, in part, from the influence that the pipeline metaphor has on the thinking of those who follow it. McGrew argues that addressing the weaknesses in the literature, abandoning the metaphor, and adopting a more complex theoretical orientation grounded in critical scholarship, will enable educational scholars to better capture the relational nature of the social phenomena being described while simultaneously making their work more useful to emerging movements for social justice.     

The challenges of delivering public good in Arab universities: faculty perspectives

The contribution of Arab universities to the public good is being greatly compromised by the political and economic instability of the Arab Spring. To understand the role Arabian universities are playing in the public sphere and their ability to contribute to the public good, we interviewed 74 professors from 14 countries. Analysis of the faculty interviews yielded four major challenges: motivation and rewards for conducting research, security and safety issues, lack of a research infrastructure, and the challenges of international recognition. Our findings suggest universities should focus on the two most critical issues over which they have some control: securing safety for the faculty and creating an effective research infrastructure.     

Re‐asserting the place of context in explaining student (under‐)achievement

One popular view of student achievement is that the quality of teaching students receive plays an important part in whether or not they do well at school. In this article we draw attention to ‘context’ as a complementary explanation, particularly regarding achievement differences between students from different socio‐economic backgrounds. In making these observations, we utilise data from one Australian secondary school located in an economically depressed rural community. Drawing on the insights of Bourdieu, our focus is on the broader social and economic influences that can adversely position students and schools, as well as work to inform the institutional stance that schools take in relation to their students.     

Movement expressiveness, solidarity and the (re)shaping of African American students’ scientific identities

Science educators have yet to identify ways to enable inner city African American high school students to experience success in science. In this paper, we argue that understanding the ways in which cultural practices from fields outside of school mediate what happens inside classrooms and contribute to the learning of students is crucial to addressing current disparities in science performance. Specifically, we explore the significance of movement expressiveness dispositions to the lives and the learning of economically disadvantaged African American youth. These particular dispositions have been repeatedly observed in our research, and they can be important resources for the creation of individual emotional energy, collective solidarity, and heightened engagement in learning activities since they provide resources for the (re)shaping of identity. Thus movement expressiveness dispositions hold potential for transforming the teaching and learning of these students.

我国文化产业统计问题研究

面对世界经济的深刻变革,文化产业的勃兴已引起全世界高度关注.大力发展文化产业对我国的极端重要性,要求我们必须尽快建立健全文化产业统计制度.文章围绕建立健全我国文化产业统计制度这一主题,提出了我国文化产业统计的目标、要求以及建立文化产业统计指标体系应遵循的基本原则,具体构筑了我国文化产业统计指标体系,重点构建了测度文化产业科学发展状况统计指标子体系(一系列指数),特别是借鉴引进国际做法设置了"人文发展指数",并指出了完善我国文化产业统计应把握的几个辨证关系.