A Longitudinal Study on Stability and Transitions Among Bullying Roles

Trajectories of stability and change in bullying roles were examined through a longitudinal prospective study of 916 school students followed up biannually from age 11 to 17. Perpetrators and victims had relatively stable trajectories with most of the children remaining in the same role over time or becoming uninvolved. Bully/victim was the most unstable role with frequent transitions to perpetrators or victims. Developmental change in bullying roles was found with a decrease in physical forms over time in bullies and victims but with persistently high perpetration and victimization in bully/victims. These findings open new horizons in research and practice related to bullying and can be useful for its early detection or design of targeted interventions.     

Co-existing Notions of Research Quality: A Framework to Study Context-specific Understandings of Good Research

Minerva - Notions of research quality are contextual in many respects: they vary between fields of research, between review contexts and between policy contexts. Yet, the role of these co-existing...     

Latin American Universities,Academic Freedom and Autonomy: A long-term myth?

This article explores the issues of academic freedom and autonomy in different systems of higher education in Latin America, with an emphasis on the Brazilian case [1]. It starts with a broad historical view that permits the location of the tensions between the academic community and the State in relation to academic freedom and autonomy. These issues are then analysed in three different moments of higher education in Latin America: the early framing (the 1920s to the 1950s), the middle framing (the 1960s and the 1970s), and the contemporary framing (the 1980s and the 1990s). In the conclusion, an interpretation is offered of the current debate on higher education and the consequences for academic freedom and autonomy in the new millennium.     

Teaching in the Foundation Stage—how current systems support teachers’ knowledge and understanding of children’s speech and language

This paper discusses the knowledge, skills and understandings of Foundation Stage teachers in relation to children’s speech and language development. Results from a questionnaire to 294 teachers reveal limited initial and post qualification training. Teachers’ knowledge of specific aspects of children’s language revealed that key areas for training were centred on the identification of children who may have speech and language difficulties and speech sound development. The discussion centres on how changes to the curriculum in initial teacher training, in the consolidation of the revised Special Educational Needs Code of Practice and in the assessment requirements within the Foundation Stage may impact on teachers’ knowledge of speech and language development and on their ability to identify children who have speech and language difficulties.     

“Excellent Library”—A Holistic Quality Model and Certificate for Libraries: Concept and Experiences from Germany

In Germany, more than 15 libraries are operating successfully with the quality model Excellent Library. They are part of a research project at Stuttgart Media University where the quality model and certificate have been developed since 2008. The article reflects the experiences of the project: A short introduction to the German library system and quality projects in German libraries will be followed by an overview over the model and certificate. Furthermore, the challenging process of becoming an Excellent Library and related effects will be described.     

Historical perspective taking: A standardized measure for an aspect of students' historical thinking

Researchers widely agree that learning history should involve more than learning historical facts and should include competencies of historical thinking. Various models of historical thinking view students' competency to take historical perspectives as a standard in history education. In this study we introduce a standardized measure for historical perspective taking (HPT) consisting of a short scenario set in the German Weimar Republic. We assessed students' HPT by using rating scales; our data were obtained in grammar schools from 170 German 10th graders. Latent class analyses identified three types of students with similar profiles of HPT. One was present-oriented and two showed more or less contextualized historical thinking. Students' history grades were connected to their HPT competency. We discuss limitations of the study and argue for further research on measures assessing students' historical thinking.     

Governing Boards in Public Higher Education Institutions: A perspective from the United States

Governing boards have a long tradition and prominent role in U.S. higher education. The diversity of institutional types, and thus governing boards, represents a multifaceted tapestry of functions, roles, and responsibilities. This paper will attempt to define the parameters of public higher education governing boards in the USA and offer critical insights into their degree of effectiveness. It is the author’s position that both positive and negative lessons can be learned through an examination of these public governing boards in the USA. The recent emergence of university boards in Europe is examined and their characteristics are compared against the characteristics of public and private boards in the USA.

     

Performance strategies of US Olympians in practice and competition

Until recently, no self‐report instruments have examined psychological skills use in both practice and competition. In light of the significant role of practice in sport performance outcomes, a need exists to measure these skills in both domains. This study was designed to investigate differences in performance strategies of US Olympians in both practice and competition. The Test of Performance Strategies was administered to 176 US participants in the 2000 Sydney Olympic Summer Games. Discriminant function analyses demonstrated significant differences between medalists and nonmedalists in both the competition and practice performance strategies. Furthermore, significant gender and age differences were identified for competition strategies only. The 16 subscales of the TOPS, with two exceptions, create an internally stable instrument with moderate predictive ability relative to quality of sport performance, gender, and age in this elite sample of athletes.