KEEPING IT LIVE: STAFF DEVELOPMENT AS AN ESSENTIAL PART OF THE CHANGE PROCESS

This cross‐institutional evaluation assesses the effectiveness of promoting staff development as the central strategy for change within the EATE initiative. Increasingly, in institutions of initial teacher education as elsewhere, accountability requires output‐oriented staff who are able to attain given targets at reasonable cost. This “impact” case study is both explanatory and confirmatory, justifying the process of change specified by EATE in relation to organisational efficiency, current relevance and need.

The evaluation demonstrates how change can be effectively managed to improve teaching and learning within a short time scale and how EATE has played a critical part in opening up institutions to working with the business community, an integral element of the EATE strategy previously seldom encountered within initial teacher education.

The EATE initiative sought behavioural changes in participants through raising awareness, identifying the catalysts, better networking, the critical support of management and the business community, in order to keep it live and consequently embed thechange. Whilst staff in differing institutions perceived and defined some changes differently, the evidence suggests that strategies employed by EATE have been and are being efficient and effective contributors to the process of change.     

Mastery motivational climate: influence on physical play and heart rate in African American toddlers

The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of a planned mastery motivational physical play session on physical activity (i.e., heart rate [HR] and physical play intensity [PAHR > 50]) in toddlers (N = 21), as compared to a nonplanned free play session. Participants wore a monitor to measure HR over two, 30 min play conditions. A multivariate analysis of variance was conducted to evaluate the effect of the play conditions. A significant difference between conditions and physiological measures revealed that the mastery motivational physical play session resulted in higher HR and PAHR > 50 when compared to free play. These findings suggest the mastery motivational session resulted in more vigorous physical play in toddlers than free play.