The effects of speech and language therapy intervention on children with pragmatic language impairments in mainstream school

In this article, Catherine Adams, clinical senior lecturer in speech and language therapy at the University of Manchester, and Julian Lloyd, senior lecturer in psychology at Newman College, Birmingham, describe the implementation and effects of an intensive programme of speech and language therapy for children who have pragmatic language impairment (PLI) attending mainstream education in the north west of England. An intervention which focused on aspects of pragmatic language such as conversation, inference and narrative was developed. Six children who have PLI (mean age=7;10 years), all with a Statement of special educational needs, participated in a single case study series in which they each received 20 sessions of the speech and language therapy programme in their own school. Guidance and specific training was provided for learning support assistants and classroom teachers. Despite showing heterogeneity in their initial profiles of impairment, progress in conversation skills was seen in all six children and some significant changes in language test performance were found. These findings suggest that intensive speech and language therapy intervention has the potential to produce generalis-able gains in language and communication skills in children who have PLI and indicate appropriate outcome measures for future effectiveness studies.     

Can the Law Support Children's Rights in School in Scotland and Prevent the Development of a Climate of Blame?

This paper focuses on issues to do with inclusion of children currently causing considerable political concern: those who are excluded from education in mainstream school or class because they are considered too disruptive or because they are thought to have 'social, emotional or behavioural difficulties'. The critical literature on special educational needs in its recent focus on disability has tended to avoid discussion of this group, yet they form a large and increasing proportion of the population of segregated special education. Though this paper focuses on Scotland, its content has relevance to a wider audience.     

International rankings and the contest for university hegemony

In just a decade, the international university rankings have become dominant measures of institutional performance for policy-makers worldwide. Bolstered by the façade of scientific neutrality, these classification systems have reinforced the hegemonic model of higher education – that of the elite, Anglo-Saxon research university – on a global scale. The process is a manifestation of what Bourdieu and Wacquant have termed US “cultural imperialism.” However, the rankings paradigm is facing growing criticism and resistance, particularly in regions such as Latin America, where the systems are seen as forcing institutions into a costly and high-stakes “academic arms race” at the expense of more pressing development priorities. That position, expressed at the recent UNESCO conferences in Buenos Aires, Paris, and Mexico City, shows the degree to which the rankings have become a fundamental element in the contest for cultural hegemony, waged through the prism of higher education.     

AN EVALUATION OF THE CONCURRENT SANDWICH DEGREE AND TEACHER'S CERTIFICATE AT THE UNIVERSITY OF BATH

This paper describes the overall system of a concurrent sandwich degree and teacher's certificate at the University of Bath, and then discusses some of the advanatages and disadvantages of such a course. These suppositions were then used as the basis for a postal questionnaire which was sent to 96% of the ex‐students of the course. Their responses to the questionnaire form the data for this study and suggest that several major advantages result from this type of teacher training.     

The Golden Rule Settlement: A Minority Perspective

In his "minority perspective," Bond takes a position opposing mechanical application of Golden Rule-like procedures but advocating that, at least in some situations, issues of equity can be introduced in item selection without doing violence to test validity.