Der Vorschlag zur Rektorswahl und seine (Un-)Anfechtbarkeit

In der bisherigen praktischen Umsetzung der Regelungen des UnivG 2002 zur Rektorswahl sind mehrfach Probleme aufgetreten, die vor allem vom suboptimalen Zusammenspiel zwischen vorschlagendem Senat und auswählendem Universitätsrat herrühren. Angesichts der für 2009 in Aussicht genommenen umfangreicheren Novellierung des UnivG 2002, sollen hier einige diesbezüglich zentrale Problemlagen behandelt werden.     

Buchbesprechungen

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

Mozart: an anomaly in the history of music?

Mozart's work is quite unique on account of its quantitative and qualitative fullness within a short life. The explanatory patterns offered for this phenomenon range from a concentrated process of musical socialization, which comprised an exclusive preoccupation with music, to the specific fact of his travelling activity at that time (approx. 10 years of Mozart's life); to his good fortune in receiving, as a natural accompaniment in life, a musical education which was focused exclusively on high standards and enabled Mozart to become acquainted with almost the whole of the central European intelligentsia; to a consciously economic way of working which helped him to translate his experience of life into a work of art. These circumstances, which are ideal from the point of view of production, determined as they were by exceptional talent and by the environment, seemed to be so improbable to succeeding generations that the history of the reception of Mozart displays not only a reaction from a non‐academic perspective, but also designed a variety of diverging explanations for the (literally) unbelievable circumstances. This is probably why, ever since the start the nineteenth century, writings about Mozart have been not only contradictory, but have in part also provided no answers whatsoever to those questions which played such a major role in the biography. Consequently, the anomaly is valid not only for the process of production but also for that of reception.     

Development and Construct Validation of a Situational Judgment Test of Strategic Knowledge of Classroom Management in Elementary Schools

The current study describes the development and construct validation of a situational judgment test for assessing the strategic knowledge of classroom management in elementary schools. Classroom scenarios and accompanying courses of action were constructed, of which 17 experts confirmed the content validity. A pilot study and a cross-validation with preservice teachers and inservice teachers revealed the assumed factor structure and sensitivity of the test to differences in expertise. The results indicate that the situational judgment test for assessing strategic knowledge of classroom management in elementary schools is a valid assessment tool for investigating the acquisition and promotion of classroom management knowledge during teacher education.     

Parent stress and satisfaction with early intervention services for children with disabilities – a longitudinal study from Germany

This study assessed parent–child and family-related stress at two points of time and analysed relationships between stress, child and family characteristics and parent satisfaction with early intervention services. In Germany, 125 parents of young children with intellectual disabilities, hearing impairment or visual impairment responded to a questionnaire. Eighty-seven parents agreed to participate in the second survey. Results indicated that (a) perceived parenting competence is associated with general self-efficacy and satisfaction with professional support, (b) parent–child interactional stress increased with time, specifically in families with children with intellectual disability or visual impairment, (c) the level of satisfaction with amount and quality of family support was low in a considerable subgroup of parents, (d) regression analyses support predictive relationships among parent–child stress, family-related stress, perceived parenting competence and satisfaction with early intervention services.     

The relationship between critical power and running performance

Critical power is a theoretical concept that presumes there is a certain work‐rate which may be maintained without exhaustion. The extent to which critical power predicts running performance over varying distances has not been determined, and so the aim of this study was to correlate measurements of critical power in the laboratory to running performances in the field at 40 m and 1, 10 and 21.1 km in a group of 17 male longdistance runners (mean ± s.d. age = 31.7 ± 7.3 years). Each subject ran to exhaustion on the treadmill in the laboratory at six different speeds, ranging from 17 to 25 km h^‐1. Least squares analyses were used to fit an exponential decay to the relationship between the running speed (y) versus time to exhaustion (x). Critical power was calculated as the running speed (y) coinciding with the asymptote or C parameter of the y = A‐e^(‐Bx) + C relationship. The VO₂ max was also measured in all subjects. For the data in the field, each subject was timed over 40 m and 1 km and participated in 10‐ and 21.1‐km races. The mean critical power of die subjects in this study was 18.5 ± 1.6 km h^‐1. The test‐retest correlation coefficient for the determination of critical power was r = 0.99. The mean VO₂ max, measured in a progressive exercise protocol starting at 13 km h^‐1 and increasing by 1 km h^‐1 every minute, was 59.2 ± 4.6 ml O₂ kg^‐1 min^‐1. The 40‐m times ranged from 5.57 to 6.95 s, the 1‐km times from 2:46 to 3:55 min:s, the 10‐km times from 30:43 to 42:02 min:s and the 21‐km times from 67:00 to 95:45 min:s. Critical power predicted running times over 1 km (r = ‐0.75, P< 0.001), 10 km (r = ‐ 0.85, P< 0.00001) and 21.1 km (r = ‐ 0.79, P< 0.001) in this heterogeneous group of runners. The correlation coefficients for VO₂ max and running performances were similar to the above at all distances. Even in the best relationship between critical power and the time taken to run 10 km, only 72% of the variation in the 10‐km running time could be accounted for by differences in critical power. While the test of critical power may be repeatable and correlate significantly with VO₂ max (r = 0.77, P< 0.001), the measurement lacks the degree of specificity required to predict running performance in trained subjects of varying ability.     

Stratifikationen im Bereich der Hochschulbildung in Deutschland

Until recently there have been no universities or study programs in Germany that were connected to claims for top level positions in the field of higher education. However, by now efforts to vertically differentiate higher education are increasing and emphasize differences in quality. Such efforts have so far been observed with respect to research. In contrast, this article focusses on stratificatory efforts that are primarily connected to education at universities. It is based on cases studies in the field of graduate schools funded by the German excellence initiative and in the field of private higher education institutions that belong to law, business, and the social sciences and try to positions themselves as top level institutions. The first part addresses specific forms in which stratification is institutionalized in the field of higher education at present. The second part then exemplifies the various ways in which vertical differentiation is mobilized along a common attribute in both fields—internationality. We show that stratification is not a monolithic process but involves highly complex differentiations along various attributes and in multiple ways.