Bureaucracies in Schools—Approaches to Support Measures in Swedish Schools Seen in the Light of Skrtic’s Theories

In Sweden, policy changes for provision of special support have been introduced, implying that teachers are obliged to provide and evaluate extra adaptations in regular classrooms prior to referring pupils to special support. The policy changes raise questions about school staffs’ views of support measures and of necessary professional competence for provision of the support measures. We conducted focus group interviews with 60 school staff representatives—headmasters, general education teachers, and special educators/school welfare teams—about their understandings of the new policy. The data were analyzed qualitatively, with the objective to explore school staffs’ approaches to the policy changes. Two main “ideal type approaches” were discerned, using Skrtic’s theories, viz. the bureaucracy approach and adhocracy approach. In the light of Skrtic’s theory, professionals’ reasoning about the new policy may reflect difficulties that are encountered in the process of implementing the policy in bureaucracy-steered schools.     

The exclusive language of science? Comparing knowledge gains and motivation in English-bilingual biology lessons between non-selected and preselected classes

The dominant role of English as the global language of science entails a requirement for science teachers to equip their non-native English-speaking students with receptive and productive language skills for communication in scientific contexts. Although science courses with English elements are part of some schools’ bilingual programmes, they are usually not available to a wider student audience, but are restricted to high achieving or highly motivated students. The present study was to test whether a newly developed biology content and language integrated learning (CLIL) unit could also benefit standard ninth grade classes. The learning gains and motivation of bilingually inexperienced students were compared to those of a preselected group and a comparison group that had been taught solely in their native language. All participating classes achieved similar gains in content knowledge, and the standard students rated their motivation for bilingual science lessons as positive, albeit not as high as the preselected group. We thus provide evidence against concerns that teaching non-selected students bilingually might lead to deficits in content knowledge acquisition. Following this, we conclude that scientific English should be a part of standard science lessons regardless of specific school programmes.     

Strategies for Achieving Gender Equality in Higher Education and Research in Norway

The vision behind the work of the gender equality advisors in Norwegian universities and the Research Council of Norway is that of full equality between women and men in all areas and at all levels of the sector of higher education. The Network of Gender Equality Advisors in Higher Education and Research was formed in 1994. Both good and less good news can be reported on the work accomplished so far. A double strategy is applied to tackle gender inequality: mainstreaming and special commitment.     

Predictors and Outcomes of Early vs. Later English Language Proficiency Among English Language Learners

The development of English language learners (ELLs) was explored from kindergarten through eighth grade within a nationally representative sample of first-time kindergartners (N = 19,890). Growth curve analyses indicated that, compared to native English speakers, ELLs were rated by teachers more favorably on approaches to learning, self control, and externalizing behaviors in kindergarten and generally continued to grow in a positive direction on these social/behavioral outcomes at a steeper rate compared to their native English-speaking peers, holding other factors constant. Differences in reading and math achievement between ELLs and native English speakers varied based on the grade at which English proficiency is attained. Specifically, ELLs who were proficient in English by kindergarten entry kept pace with native English speakers in both reading and math initially and over time; ELLs who were proficient by first grade had modest gaps in reading and math achievement compared to native English speakers that closed narrowly or persisted over time; and ELLs who were not proficient by first grade had the largest initial gaps in reading and math achievement compared to native speakers but the gap narrowed over time in reading and grew over time in math. Among those whose home language is not English, acquiring English proficiency by kindergarten entry was associated with better cognitive and behavioral outcomes through eighth grade compared to taking longer to achieve proficiency. Multinomial regression analyses indicated that child, family, and school characteristics predict achieving English proficiency by kindergarten entry compared to achieving proficiency later. Results are discussed in terms of policies and practices that can support ELL children's growth and development.     

关联理论和古汉诗词翻译

从关联理论的角度探讨古汉诗词英译。古汉诗词翻译实质也是一种交际活动，一种言语交际行为，在源语的理解和翻译过程中对语码的选择所依据的是最佳关联。     

鞋匠与银行家

一个鞋匠每天都在自己的歌声中度过.无论是你看到他,还是听到他的歌声,都会使你觉得很愉快.他非常满意这份职业,甚至觉得这种满足感要胜于当上古希腊的七贤人.与之相反,他的邻居却是个腰缠万贯的银行家,他不但很少唱歌,就连睡眠也很少.白天,他偶尔会打个盹,鞋匠的歌声时常会把他从睡梦中唤醒.于是,银行家便痛苦地抱怨上帝,为何不把睡眠也变为一种类似食品或是饮料那样可以买卖的东西呢.     

Hate and harassment in academia: the rising concern of the online environment

Higher Education - Hostile online communication is a global concern. Academic research and teaching staff are among those professionals who routinely give public comments and are thus vulnerable to...     

Language and reading impairments are associated with increased prevalence of non-right-handedness

Handedness has been studied for association with language-related disorders because of its link with language hemispheric dominance. No clear pattern has emerged, possibly because of small samples, publication bias, and heterogeneous criteria across studies. Non-right-handedness (NRH) frequency was assessed in N = 2503 cases with reading and/or language impairment and N = 4316 sex-matched controls identified from 10 distinct cohorts (age range 6–19 years old; European ethnicity) using a priori set criteria. A meta-analysis (N_cases = 1994) showed elevated NRH % in individuals with language/reading impairment compared with controls (OR = 1.21, CI = 1.06–1.39, p = .01). The association between reading/language impairments and NRH could result from shared pathways underlying brain lateralization, handedness, and cognitive functions.     

从白金预认证到三星级:中美绿色建筑分等评级程序的比较分析

2011年,作为全球最大能源使用国以及二氧化碳排放国,中美的建筑业所消耗的能源分别占到全国能源总消耗量的25%和40%。在建筑节能领域,绿色建筑的出现为消除建筑业所带来的对能源以及环境的负面影响提供了解决方法。为了促进绿色建筑的市场转型,推进设计和施工的差异化,中美均制定了国家绿色建筑分等评级程序以及配套政策。1998年,美国绿色建筑协会首次推出能源与环境先导设计(LEED),而中国政府则于2008年建立了中国绿色建筑评价标识(GBEL)。本文对美国LEED与中国GBEL评级程序、流程、评分系统以及扶持政策作了对比分析,研究发现,虽然两国所采用的绿色建筑设计以及操作评级程序的评分等级较为相似,它们在项目管理、评分要求和分配以及扶持政策类型等方面存在差异。美国能源与环境先导设计是由建筑产业利益相关者委员会制定并实施管理的。判断是否达到认证水平的灵活性更高。中国绿色建筑评价标识则是由政府操控的。判断是否达到评级水平的要求更为严格。但是,中国政府将在2014年下半年对中国绿色建筑评价标识的评级程序作出修正。本文对评级程序以及扶植政策的相似点以及差异是如何影响绿色建筑技术以及市场的发展作了分析,还讨论了绿色建筑未来发展可能面临的挑战以及政策导向意义。     

How to conduct External Quality Assessment Schemes for the pre-analytical phase?

In laboratory medicine, several studies have described the most frequent errors in the different phases of the total testing process, and a large proportion of these errors occur in the pre-analytical phase. Schemes for registration of errors and subsequent feedback to the participants have been conducted for decades concerning the analytical phase by External Quality Assessment (EQA) organizations operating in most countries. The aim of the paper is to present an overview of different types of EQA schemes for the pre-analytical phase, and give examples of some existing schemes. So far, very few EQA organizations have focused on the pre-analytical phase, and most EQA organizations do not offer pre-analytical EQA schemes (EQAS). It is more difficult to perform and standardize pre-analytical EQAS and also, accreditation bodies do not ask the laboratories for results from such schemes. However, some ongoing EQA programs for the pre-analytical phase do exist, and some examples are given in this paper. The methods used can be divided into three different types; collecting information about pre-analytical laboratory procedures, circulating real samples to collect information about interferences that might affect the measurement procedure, or register actual laboratory errors and relate these to quality indicators. These three types have different focus and different challenges regarding implementation, and a combination of the three is probably necessary to be able to detect and monitor the wide range of errors occurring in the pre-analytical phase.