Can the National Curriculum Help Reduce Working‐class Under‐ achievement?

This paper reviews some of the evidence which demonstrates under‐achievement in working‐class children together with important analyses and interpretations, and contemporary practical attempts to redress the problem. It is argued that practical innovations have not greatly influenced or improved the relationship between class and achievement. An attempt is made to discover to what extent the introduction of a National Curriculum as part of the Education Reform Act can be seen as a potential solution to the problem of working‐class under‐achievement. It is argued that the means of redressing working‐class under‐achievement in the National Curriculum must lie ultimately with individual teachers and their ability to present the National Curriculum in relevant forms to all children. In any mass education process there will be those for whom the given curriculum is removed from everyday experience. This does not invalidate the idea of “worthwhile’ knowledge but it means that we must be constantly questioning how we can transmit the curriculum while, as far as is possible, reducing the gap between everyday experience and classroom experience.     

Students’ Perceptions of Priorities in Nurse Education: Research Findings and their Curriculum Implications

A credible assumption is that the success of any curriculum intended for adult students is a function of the match between the curriculum and the needs and aspirations of participating students. This assumption provided a basis for investigating the educational priorities of students undertaking nurse education programs in selected N.S.W. colleges of advanced education. The investigation involved a longitudinal study together with several comparative studies. The findings of the studies present a picture of groups of students who are ambivalent towards many of the objectives and priorities of their vocational programs. The origins of that ambivalence appear to reside both in a restricted view of the nurse's role and in anxieties and doubts which students have about their clinical experience and competence. The ambivalence experienced by the students appeared to be working to divert their attention, if not to alienate them altogether, from aspects of their programs and indeed from the vision of nursing which college curricula are intended to foster. Possible responses to the challenges presented by the findings of the studies are canvassed.     

The English Football Association Charter for Quality: the development of junior and youth grassroots football in England

In this article, we provide a practitioner’s account of the work undertaken by the English football association (FA) in the field of junior and youth grassroots football over the past two decades. We cover The FA’s main achievements and challenges in implementing strategies and changes in the delivery and provision of grassroots football. In doing so, we draw upon some of the research The FA has commissioned and undertaken to inform the developments that have been and continue to be made. It is rare for organizations such as The FA to communicate their work and contextualize the challenges and innovations within which this work takes place. As such, we hope this contribution will inform the reader of the past and future innovations that are central to sustaining and developing the grassroots game.     

The long and winding road: A grounded theory of reminiscence among Filipino residents in nursing homes

Although reminiscence is a naturally occurring process in late adulthood, not all older adults reminisce effectively. Notably, feelings of guilt, loneliness, bitterness and regret lead to despair and remorse rather than integrity. In spite of this, little is known about the process of reminiscence among Filipino older adults. This grounded study aims to develop a model that describes how a select group of older Filipino patients residing in nursing homes in the Philippines experience reminiscence.

Strauss and Corbin’s (1990) grounded theory design was employed in this study. A total of eighteen (18) Filipino older adults in nursing homes were purposively selected to participate in one-on-one, semi-structured interviews. These were then transcribed into field texts and analyzed through open, axial and selective coding. Member checking procedure was employed to ensure that the emerged themes were sensible and consistent with the participants’ lived experiences.

Through constant comparative method, the findings of this study presented the development of a three-phase process (Reactivating, Reconstructing and Reframing) that describes the reminiscence experiences of a select group of Filipino nursing home residents. The emergent theoretical model invites nurses as quality care providers to renew and restructure interventions to promote effective reminiscence.     

Integrating Background Nursing Experience and Study at the Postgraduate Level: An Application of Problem Based Learning

The delivery of postgraduate courses to registered nurses is faced with the challenge of providing learning opportunities which accommodate a wide range of backgrounds and which draw upon the students' clinical experiences as well as upon conventional academic sources. Courses not providing such opportunities may be devalued by the students and perceived by them as removed from, and irrelevant to, clinical practice.

This paper describes a course which appears to have been successful both in providing for background diversity and in securing the integration of academic content and the clinical experiences of postgraduate nursing students. The course uses a problem based learning approach to cover concepts and principles relating to patient education and aspects of clinical teaching. The rationale of the approach and an outline of its features are provided.

The procedures used to evaluate the course are also described. The qualitative and quantitative data realised by these procedures indicate that the course was perceived by the students to be stimulating, interesting and consonant with their clinical needs and aspirations. The data also show that the main cognitive objective of the course was achieved by a substantial proportion of the students but that students would benefit from receiving more assistance with their learning skills.

It is concluded that the form of problem based learning used in the course can provide for the postgraduate educational needs of nurses from diverse professional and academic backgrounds.     

When everything is under control: Chronicling the affective containment experiences of Filipino elderly in institutionalized settings

Affective Containment has been recognized as a means to manage negative experience by projecting emotions to others. To date, there are no known literatures on the process of affective containment in the elderly context; hence, this grounded theory investigation. This study aims to describe the process by which affective containment is experienced by a select group of institutionalized Filipino elderly. To achieve the overall intent of this study, Strauss and Corbin’s Grounded Theory design was employed. Face-to-face, semi-structured interviews were carried out among 20 institutionalized Filipino elderly. Field texts were subjected to thematic analysis involving open, axial, and selective coding. The overall validity of the findings was ensured through member checking procedure. An interesting set of phases emerged relative to the layer of experience, namely: Holding-up, Gearing-up, and Opening-up; collectively known as the 3-Stage Analogy of Elderly Affective Containment. Said model describes how emotions can be contained to other individuals through interactions inside the institution. The study has eidetically described and examined the process of affective containment among the institutionalized Filipino elderly. Findings of the study invite nurses to put premium to nurse–patient relationship and provide timely interventions with a view to improving emotional health.     

Learning from Wang Yang-Ming: exploring oriental contributions to understanding action research

This article reports recent foraging for ideas in action research among the lives and intellects of Chinese society. It began and is reported as a personal journey, initially following the trail of the activist scholar Wang Yangming. The method is a roam through some of the resources that have so far been discovered. The style is autobiographical, in that it seeks to expose a degree of puzzling about the relationships between action research and some challenging concepts from Chinese culture. The outcome hoped for is to introduce others who find the ideas interesting to a conversation across generations and across cultures. The conclusions thereby remain to be heard.