Managerialism and equalities: tensions within widening access policy and practice for disabled students in UK universities

This paper draws on a four-year longitudinal ESRC funded project examining learning experiences of disabled students in higher education in four universities. The focus here is on institutional responses to the demands of audit culture and legislation in relation to making reasonable adjustments for students with impairments. The data comes from institutional documents and face-to-face interviews with key informants within the institutions. The findings indicate that quality assurance regimes and legislation have had some positive effect on improving access for disabled students; however, local factors and type of institution also have a major impact on the way that national policies are expressed in particular contexts.     

Higher education as the catalyst of recovery in conflict-affected societies

ABSTRACT

This article examines the role of higher education in the recovery of conflict-affected societies and argues that while the sector is typically a very low reconstruction priority, it has the potential, if addressed strategically, to act as a catalyst for effective and sustainable post-war recovery. The article begins by contextualising higher education within broader debates around post-war recovery and education. It then analyses the relationship between higher education and four core intervention agendas in conflict-affected societies: stabilisation and securitisation, reconstruction, statebuilding and peacebuilding.     

A process model of writing development across the life span

In this article, we provide an overview of writing development from a product perspective and from a process perspective. Then we discuss modifications of the most influential process model of skilled adult writing to explain beginning and developing writing, including a proposed developmental sequence of the emergence of cognitive processes in writing. Next we report the results of two recent dissertations by the second and third authors supervised by the first author aimed toward contrasting developmental issues: (a) specifying the algorithms or rules of thumb beginning and developing writers may use during on-line planning; and (b) investigating the further development of writing processes among skilled adult writers. In the first study, development was conceptualized as a linear process across age groups. In the second study, development was conceptualized as a horizontal process within skilled adult writers who expanded their expertise. Finally, we consider the developmental constraints and the instructional constraints on writing development and argue for a model of writing development in which endogenous and exogenous process variables interact to determine the outcome of the writing development process.     

Integrating knowledge resources at the point of care: opportunities for librarians.

Health sciences librarians at the University of Washington (UW) are partners in the evolution of Internet-based clinical information systems for two medical centers, University of Washington Medical Center and Harborview Medical Center, as well as the UW Primary Care Network clinics. Librarians lead information resource and systems development projects and play a variety of roles including facilitator, publisher, integrator, and educator. These efforts have been coordinated with parallel development efforts by the Integrated Advanced Information Management Systems (IAIMS) clinical informatics group in developing electronic medical record systems and clinical decision support tools. The outcome is MINDscape, a very heavily used Web view of the patient medical record with tightly integrated knowledge resources as well as numerous Web-accessible information resources and tools. The goal of this article is to provide a case study of librarian involvement in institutional information systems development at UW and to illustrate the variety of roles that librarians can assume in hospital settings.     

THE GENEALOGY OF JUDGEMENT: TOWARDS A DEEP HISTORY OF ACADEMIC FREEDOM

ABSTRACT:  The classical conception of academic freedom associated with Wilhelm von Humboldt and the rise of the modern university has a quite specific cultural foundation that centres on the controversial mental faculty of 'judgement'. This article traces the roots of 'judgement' back to the Protestant Reformation, through its heyday as the signature feature of German idealism, and to its gradual loss of salience as both a philosophical and a psychological concept. This trajectory has been accompanied by a general shrinking in the scope of academic freedom from the promulgation of world-views to the offering of expert opinion .     

Turning heads: The impact of political reform on the professional role,identity and recruitment of head teachers in Wales

This article considers the professional work, identity and recruitment of head teachers (HTs) in Wales. Drawing on the sociology of professions, the article illustrates how intensive educational policy reform post‐2011 has restricted HTs’ professional agency and re‐orientated the head teacher role towards organisational professionalism. Drawing on semi‐structured interviews (n=30) with both head and deputy head teachers, the article argues that issues with the recruitment and retention of HTs in Wales can, in part, be explained by the promotion of managerial and technicist approaches to professional practice. This role reconfiguration is the result of myriad and, at times, overlapping accountability mechanisms. The article illustrates how these changes to HT professional roles and identity are more intense within a small education system where HTs had, traditionally, enjoyed an elite professional status. To ameliorate these issues, the article proposes policy initiatives which the Welsh Government could introduce to foster the agency of HTs within a revised professional framework for educational leadership in Wales.     

The effects of limb dominance and a short term,high intensity exercise protocol on both landings of the vertical drop jump: implications for the vertical drop jump as a screening tool

The effectiveness of vertical drop jumps (VDJs) to screen for non-contact ACL injuries is unclear. This may be contributed to by discrete point analysis, which does not evaluate patterns of movement. Also, limited research exists on the second landing of VDJs, potential lower limb performance asymmetries and the effect of fatigue. Statistical parametric mapping investigated the main effects of landing, limb dominance and a high intensity, intermittent exercise protocol (HIIP) on VDJ biomechanics. Twenty-two male athletes (21.9 ± 1.1 years, 180.5 ± 5.5 cm, 79.4 ± 7.8 kg) performed VDJs pre- and post-HIIP. Repeated measures ANOVA identified pattern differences during the eccentric phases of the first and second landings bilaterally. The first landing displayed greater (internal) knee flexor (η² = 0.165), external rotator (η² = 0.113) and valgus (η² = 0.126) moments and greater hip (η² = 0.062) and knee (η² = 0.080) flexion. The dominant limb generated greater knee flexor (η² = 0.062), external rotator (η² = 0.110) and valgus (η² = 0.065) moments. The HIIP only had one effect, increased thoracic flexion relative to the pelvis (η² = 0.088). Finally, the dominant limb demonstrated greater knee extensor moments during the second landing (η² = 0.100). ACL injury risk factors were present in both landings of VDJs with the dominant limb at potentially greater injury risk. Therefore, VDJ screenings should analyse both landings bilaterally.