The role of the university tutor in school-based work in primary schools in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland

There has been much international debate on the role of the university tutor in the supervision of student teachers during school-based work. This study focuses upon the Irish context, where there has been little research. It involves a comparative study of the views and attitudes of university staff, student teachers and class teachers from the Irish Republic and Northern Ireland. Data collection methods comprised questionnaires to university tutors, class teachers and students (n = 150), focus groups and one-to-one interviews. This project reveals a reservoir of goodwill between tutors, teachers and students, along with a willingness to engage in dialogue and collaboration. Importantly, this study concludes that it is the university tutor who should have the lead role in collaborative models of school-based work partnership, with significant consultation and input from the class teacher and consultation with the student in the evaluation process.     

Representing education 1969–80: notes on ‘Kes’ and ‘Grange Hill’

Focusing on the Working Men’s College (WMC), this study charts the chequered fortunes of a Victorian project: providing workers with a ‘liberal education’. The paper analyses the project’s aim (making ‘better citizens’), its disciplinary content (the humanities and/or the sciences) and its challenges (the increasing prestige of vocational studies). It argues that, in an increasingly professionalised society, a ‘liberal education’ for workers became contentious ground. As the role of the sciences within a ‘liberal education’ diminished, and the provision of practical skills took precedence in the local-authority-funded courses, Victorian workers’ opportunities for education became polarised between ‘useful’ sciences and ‘profitless’ humanities. With natural scientists losing the intellectual independence of their discipline to technicians, the WMC Edwardian educators chose to side unequivocally with the humanities. The paper contends that it was in the Edwardian context of the adult education movement that the ‘two cultures’ debate first emerged in Britain.     

Athlete burnout in elite sport: A self-determination perspective

Abstract

The practice of exercise has shown to be beneficial to quality of life of individuals with HIV/AIDS. Thus, the present study analysed the effects of a combined exercise training in persons living with HIV/AIDS. Ten participants participated in the present study. The following variables were analysed: viral load and cell counts for TCD4+/TCD8; maximal oxygen consumption (VO_2max); total mass, absolute fat mass, relative fat mass, absolute lean mass, relative lean mass and body mass index; fasting glycaemia, fasting insulinaemia, homeostatic model assessment (HOMA) index (insulin resistance – homeostatic model assessment (IR-HOMA)); total cholesterol, triglycerides, high-density lipoprotein (HDL), very low-density lipoprotein (VLDL), low-density lipoprotein (LDL); superoxide dismutase, catalase, glutathione peroxidase activities; thiobarbituric acid reactive substances. The combined exercise training consisted of resistance exercises plus aerobic training (60 min · session^?1, three times per week, during 20 weeks). The number of TCD4+ cells, absolute lean mass and relative lean mass, muscle strength for the 45° leg press, seated row and triceps extension, HDL-c levels as well as VO_2max increased post-training. The activity of superoxide dismutase, catalase, glutathione peroxidase enzymes and thiobarbituric acid reactive substances levels were diminished post-training. Finally, it can be concluded that combined exercise training is able to change positively several variables related to health of individuals with HIV/AIDS, mainly the immune system as well as antioxidant mechanisms re-establishment.     

Effects of weighted sled towing on ground reaction force during the acceleration phase of sprint running

Abstract

Athletes use weighted sled towing to improve sprint ability, but little is known about its biomechanics. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of weighted sled towing with two different loads on ground reaction force. Ten physically active men (mean ± SD: age 27.9 ± 1.9 years; stature 1.76 ± 0.06 m; body mass 80.2 ± 9.6 kg) performed 5 m sprints under three conditions; (a) unresisted, (b) towing a sled weighing 10% of body mass (10% condition) and (c) towing a sled weighing 30% of body mass (30% condition). Ground reaction force data during the second ground contact after the start were recorded and compared across the three conditions. No significant differences between the unresisted and 10% conditions were evident, whereas the 30% condition resulted in significantly greater values for the net horizontal and propulsive impulses (P < 0.05) compared with the unresisted condition due to longer contact time and more horizontal direction of force application to the ground. It is concluded that towing a sled weighing 30% of body mass requires more horizontal force application and increases the demand for horizontal impulse production. In contrast, the use of 10% body mass has minimal impact on ground reaction force.     

A sociocultural perspective as a curriculum change in health and physical education

As a lens through which to read and understand a subject area and its curriculum content and issues, a sociocultural perspective is a recent and arguably significant change for the Health and Physical Education (HPE) Key Learning Area (KLA) in Australia. Its significance lies, first, in the fact that it seems to represent a notable departure from the predominantly medico-scientific, bio-physical and even psychological foundations of the learning area as it stood throughout the second half of the twentieth century, and second, because its attention to social and cultural influences on health put it in direct opposition to notions which locate health almost solely in the individual and his or her decisions. Despite the potential ramifications of these shifts for practitioners, to date there has been little research that has examined this change within the context of the classroom. This paper reports on a research project conducted in two classrooms in the Australian state of New South Wales, which began with the question ‘what happens when you introduce a unit of work planned with the aim of developing a sociocultural perspective into the HPE classroom?’ I respond to this question by drawing on teacher and student interviews, planning sessions, and classroom observations and recordings to discuss the most prominent discursive tensions and organisational constraints that stand as impediments to a sociocultural perspective as a practiced curriculum change.     

维吾尔族7—18岁城乡青少年身体形态比较

了解维吾尔族青少年身体形态状况、形态发育的变化特点及其变化规律,为改善维吾尔族青少年体质健康水平提供依据。采用专家访谈法、测试和数理统计法,于2012年10—12月,对新疆和田地区中小学7—18岁4800名维吾尔族青少年的身高、体重和胸围指标进行统计分析,并针对问题提出相关建议。     

UNIVERSITY STUDENTS’ VIEWS OF THE ROLE OF MATHEMATICS IN THEIR FUTURE

We report on an international study about mathematics students’ ideas of how they will use mathematics in their future study and careers. This builds on our previous research into students’ conceptions of mathematics. In this paper, we use data from two groups of students studying mathematics: those who participated in an in-depth interview and those who completed an open-ended questionnaire. We found that their responses could be grouped into four categories: don’t know; procedural skills; conceptual skills; and professional skills. Although some students held clear ideas about the role of mathematics, many were not able to articulate how it would be used in their future. This has implications for their approach to learning and our approach to teaching.     

Concerning the Telling of Painful Tales: The Case of Masks of the Sacred Bush

Abstract The public seems more likely to take issue with what history museums say than with what art, anthropology, and natural history museums say. In part, this is because these disciplines are understood to be challenging, not least because of the often opaque language and methods designed to impart psychic distance from their content. Exhibitions in these disciplines work by equipping and requiring us to step back before we step in, thereby making it easier to process difficult subjects. One such exhibition which was potentially emotionally charged did not provoke controversy. Did the disciplines through which the story was approached remove the story temporarily from the highly charged slave narrative and place it in a different, less contested—because more reified—context, a different kind of narrative? If so, was that a constructive contribution or a missed opportunity?