Path-Selection Behavior of Young Children in Body-Mazes

A sample of 120 subjects, 11 to 14 years of age, was used to examine the effects of gender and community socioeconomic setting (CSES) on intransitivity of paired-comparison responses. A two-way analysis of variance was used to analyze data. Small gender differences were attributable to chance alone. CSES differences were large, however, with the lower CSES group having significantly (p = .014) more intrasitive responses than the higher CSES group. Interaction effects were inconsequential. It was not possible to isolate the specific aspect(s) of community socioeconomic setting (i.e., family income, parents’ education, etc.) that accounted for the CSES effect. It was concluded that CSES is too complex to treat as a simple dichotomous variable (higher or lower) and that additional research is needed to examine its multidimensional nature. Suggestions for future research are given.     

Development of the SIT,an instrument to evaluate the transfer effects of adult education programs for social inclusion

To date, hardly any evidence is available on the quality of adult education programs for vulnerable adults. Evaluation instruments or models mostly focussed on regular education and less on programs of adult education aiming to enhance social inclusion. This study presents a first exploration of the construct validity of a newly developed instrument, called the SIT-instrument (social inclusion after transfer) for the evaluation of educational programs for vulnerable adults and their impact on increasing social inclusion. The sample consisted of 308 respondents belonging to the target-group of vulnerable adults. The results of the validation study indicate a reliable instrument consisting of elements of a learning-environment for “vulnerable” adults influencing 4 specified categories of social inclusion.     

Balancing the workload equation in English primary schools: a continuing story?

This article traces the gradual increase in primary teachers' workloads over several decades to the point where workforce reform was introduced to ameliorate the problem. A central feature of the reform was the use of teaching assistants to undertake various duties, so that time should be available for primary teachers to plan and prepare future lessons. Although official sources have described this initiative as a success, recent research that examines the consequences of these changes, from both the teachers' and the teaching assistants' viewpoints, would challenge these claims. This research is described in the article and shows that primary schools in England have increasingly come to rely on poorly paid untrained assistants to teach classes. The article concludes by looking at the implications for the future status of the profession as a result of this practice.     

Marketing and health libraries

AIM: To present an overview of the concepts of marketing and to examine ways in which they can be applied to health libraries. METHODS: A review was carried out of literature relating to health libraries using LISA, CINAHL, BNI and Google. RESULTS: Marketing is seen as a strategic management activity aimed at developing customer relationships. Concepts such as the 'four Ps' (product, price, place and promotion), marketing plans, the marketing mix, segmentation, promotion and evaluation are identified and discussed in relation to health libraries. CONCLUSION: In increasingly complex health service and information environments, the marketing and promotion of library services is becoming more important if those services are to justify the resources given to them. Marketing techniques are equally applicable to physical and digital library services.