Behaviours of Concern to Teachers in the Early Years of School

Teachers of students aged from five to eight years at 21 primary schools in western Sydney were surveyed about child behaviour that concerned them and their needs for support in dealing with such behaviour. Although most teachers were confident of their ability to manage classroom behaviour, teachers reported a need for support in dealing with distractibility and concern about aggressive behaviours. Less confident teachers expressed higher levels of concern about aggression, distractibility, and disobedience and wanted more support for dealing with distractibility and disobedience. No relationships were found between teacher concerns or support needs and teacher experience, class level or size, Local Government Area income grouping, and whether or not the school received additional funding for disadvantaged schools.     

Gallery of the Future: New Directions in Arts Education

The arts at the end of the 20th Century are dynamic: they are playing an increasingly important role in the life of individuals and the structuring of society. But they are also changing dramatically. It is my argument that arts education will need to change practice to match. The aim here is to discuss some of the key changes and values that will require a response from schools. Where do we look for evidence of these changes? Can we say what they are? I believe that we can. There are specific themes or directions now current in the arts which are likely to continue into the future. In the main they stem from the dynamism created by the interaction between art, technology and social change.     

How honeybees find a place: Lessons from a simple mind

Foraging honeybees find their way from their hive to their food in a stereotypical manner using up to four place-finding servomechanisms in sequence: (1) They first fly a vector (straight-line distance and direction) from their home to the vicinity of the target. Direction is determined by the sun compass and by distant landmarks, while distance is estimated by visual flow. (2) They then beacon in on a landmark near the target location. (3) En route toward the landmark, they may adopt a sensorimotor trajectory that takes them toward the target. (4) Near the expected target location, they attempt image matching, which involves trying to put surrounding landmarks at the correct positions on their eyes. In doing image matching, they fly facing a stereotypical direction, a strategy that makes it unnecessary to translate retinal coordinates into another coordinate system.     

Book Reviews

Towards Electronic Journals: Realities for Scientists, Librarians and Publishers by Carol Tenopir and Donald W. King. Washington, DC: SLA Publishing, 2000 Science Editing and Information Management edited by Connie J. Manson. USA: Geoscience Information Society, 1999. Pp. 118. Paperback, $25.00. ISBN 0‐934485‐30‐5 Futurize Your Enterprise: Business Strategy in the Age of the E‐Customer by David Siegel. Chichester: Wiley, 1999. Hardback, £19.50, ISBN 0‐471‐357634 The Impact of Electronic Publishing on the Academic Community (the Wenner–Gren International Series, Volume 73) edited by I. Butterworth. London: Portland Press 1998, Pp. 191. Price £75. ISBN 1‐85578‐122‐0 University Library Spending on Books and Journals: A Major Concern by Peter Sowden. Available from CAPP at the Publishers Association (1 Kingsway, London WC2B 6XF)     

ADHD,parent perspectives and parent–teacher relationships: grounds for conflict

Educational policy and the school effectiveness movement often involve rhetoric about the benefit of parent involvement in schools, but high‐quality relationships between parents and teachers are not always straightforwardly achieved, and this may be particularly true in the case of parents of children presenting with academic problems and/or social, emotional and behavioural difficulties. A systematic review of qualitative research was conducted to explore the school‐related experiences of parents of pupils diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Six studies reported in seven papers met the inclusion criteria. High‐quality parent–teacher relationships were found to be the exception, with mothers feeling silenced and criticised. Findings show commonalities with wider research about parents, but identify additional grounds for conflict resulting from parental blame for pupils' disruptive behaviour, and the ambivalent nature of the concept of ADHD.