一双袜子

一个晴朗的下午,我漫步第五大街,忽然想起需要买双袜子。为何我只想买一双,原因已无关紧要了。我拐进跃入眼帘的第一家袜店,一个不到17岁的男售货员迎上来,说:“先生,您要买什么?”“我想买双短袜。”他双眸闪闪发光,声音饱含激情。“您知道您进的可是世上最好的袜店吗?”我倒并未意识到这点,我是偶然进来的。“随我来,”男孩欣喜若狂地说。我跟着他到了店的后部。他开始从货架上拽下一个接一个箱子,向我展示里面的袜子,让我欣赏。     

Success with qualifications: comparative perspectives on women graduates in the labour market

The growth in the number of women entering higher education is one of the educational success stories of the century. But there has so far been little research into the extent to which this growth has been matched by a comparable success in labour market outcomes for women graduates. This paper directs itself to issues arising in the relationship between higher education and early labour market experiences for women graduates using evidence from three European countries: Britain, Germany and Sweden. Information collected from recent graduate surveys, undertaken within similar frameworks and time spans, is compared within and across different subject fields and over time. It is shown that choice of subject of study is the major factor influencing labour market entry. Women continue academically to prepare themselves for careers within spheres of work traditionally seen as female and follow financially less rewarding career paths premised on assumptions about women's domestic roles. It is also shown to be the case that the few women who choose to follow traditionally male careers paths, though starting off in a more favourable labour market position than other women, still earn less than their male colleagues from within the same field, and over time lose some of their initial relative gains largely due to part-time work patterns. The differential significance of family formation for men and women is noted. The information is discussed in light of a changing labour market situation overall for women in Europe, and the need to understand women's employment patterns and career needs in a more long-term and gender oriented perspective.     

一双袜子

一个晴朗的下午，我沿第五大街而行，忽然想起需要买双袜子。为何我只想买一双，现在原因已无关紧要了。我拐进跃如入眼帘的第一家袜店，一个不到17岁的男售货员迎上来，说：“先生，您要买什么？”“我想买双短袜。”他双眸闪闪发光，声音饱含激情。“您知道您进的可是世上最好的袜店吗？”我倒并未意识到这点，我是偶然进来的。“随我来”，男孩欣喜若狂地说。我跟着他到了店的后部。     

Children "tune out" in response to the ambiguous communication style of powerless adults

Changes in children's attentional engagement were assessed as a function of their exposure to "teachers" who differed in perceived power and the communication style that is associated with perceived power. In Study 1, "teachers" (women assigned to an instructional role) were selected on the basis of their perceived power; low-power women were more likely than high-power women to display communication ambiguity. Children responded to low-power women with low levels of (1) autonomic orienting (consistent with low attention) and (2) high errors on a cognitively demanding task (mental arithmetic). Attentional disengagement was found to be mediated by the ambiguous communication style of low-power adults. In Study 2, the "teacher" was a confederate who systematically varied the facial and vocal ambiguity of her instructions. Children showed the lowest levels of orienting and the highest level of errors when the "teacher" was ambiguous in both face and voice. Results were interpreted as showing that adult ambiguity (naturally occurring or experimentally produced) leads to reductions in children's attentional engagement.     

Students' perceptions of clinical attachments across rural and metropolitan settings

For many years, medical students at the University of Sydney undertook their clinical clerkships in traditional metropolitan teaching hospitals, which were regarded as the ‘gold standard’ for clinical training. In 2001 the university established a rural clinical school at which increasing numbers of students now complete a significant proportion of their medical education. The aim of the study reported here is to examine students’ perceptions of what facilitates their learning in clinical settings and to compare their perceptions across rural and metropolitan settings. Focus groups were conducted to collect students’ views on their experiences of learning in clinical settings. The findings were used to generate a questionnaire with items designed directly from focus‐group data ensuring content validity. The questionnaire was sent to all students in the 2004 cohort. Exploratory factor analysis was used to provide evidence of construct validity. The internal consistency reliability of the questionnaire was assessed using Cronbach’s alpha. Factor scores were computed to compare students’ perceptions across the two settings. Four factors were extracted: (1) clinical teachers’ orientation to teaching; (2) opportunities to develop clinical skills; (3) supportiveness of the clinical setting; and (4) student confidence and sense of self‐efficacy. Students rated the rural experience more highly and positively than the metropolitan hospital experience with regard to all four factors. This study highlights the positive role that rural attachments can play in providing an educationally sound learning experience. The findings are important in the context of both the drive, among medical programs worldwide, to seek out additional and alternative settings for clinical education and the national agenda to foster student interest in rural careers through positive rural training experiences.     

Teachers' approaches to teaching and responses to student evaluation in a problem‐based medical program

Teachers' approaches to teaching may influence the way they interpret and respond to student evaluations. In this article we explore the relationship between teachers' approaches to teaching and responses to qualitative student feedback in a problem‐based medical program. We asked all lecturers and theme session presenters in 2003 who had received student feedback comments in the past 2 years (N=121) to complete anonymously the Approaches to Teaching inventory (16 items) and an Approach to Feedback Inventory (14 items). Results were that most teachers report making changes to their teaching in response to students' suggestions at least sometimes. The types of change(s) teachers make are consistent with their approach. Teachers strong on a conceptual‐change student‐focussed (CCSF) approach are more responsive to feedback and positive about strategies for improving their teaching. To encourage teachers to use student feedback as a guide to improving their teaching, institutions may need to provide a systematic program of teacher education that focuses on teachers' conceptions, approaches and supports observation of exemplary practice.     

Toward reduced bias and increased utility in the assessment of school refusal behavior: The case for diverse samples and evaluations of context

The current article reviews the literature on school refusal behavior. Definitional inconsistencies, the effects of biased assessment processes, and the consequences of the lack of ethnic, racial, and economic diversity in school refusal research samples are highlighted. An increase in the use of low‐income, ethnic minority, community samples in school refusal research is proposed in order to create a more representative and useful literature. Concerns regarding artificial and impractical divisions between the commonly used labels of school refusal and truancy are also discussed. Suggestions are proposed for a new pragmatic framework of school refusal assessment for research and clinical work that utilizes and enhances Kearney's functional approach. The framework has the potential to incorporate the influences of multiple cultural contexts in order to aid professionals from different disciplines in both prevention and early intervention for school refusal in low‐income, ethnic minority populations. Additional suggestions for future direction in school refusal research are also discussed. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Stability of the Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children For A Sample Of At-Risk Preschool Children

This study examined the stability of the Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children (K-ABC) for a sample of at-risk preschool children. Over a 9-month time interval, the stability coefficients (corrected for restriction in range) for the global scales of the K-ABC ranged from .78 to .88. The stability coefficients (corrected for restriction in range) for the K-ABC subtests ranged from .65 to .79. It was concluded that scores on the K-ABC for at-risk preschool children display adequate stability, but that the Simultaneous scale appears to be more amenable to change than either the Sequential or Achievement scales.     

Consultation in school psychology: Changes from 1981 to 1984

In order to assess changes in consultation activities by practicing school psychologists, questionnaires were sent to a nationwide sample of practitioners engaging in consultation on a regular basis. Responses were received from 225 school psychologists, for a return rate of 58%. These responses were compared to their previous responses in 181-82 and revealed a significant increase in both the actual amount of time spent in consultation and the amount of time desired for consultation. School psychologist to student ratio was significantly lower, as was overall satisfaction with the profession, compared to the 1981-82 results. Sex differences were found for perceived competency in teacher consultation. The results and their implications for the field of school psychology are discussed.