‘Doing research was inspiring’: building a research community with teachers

This paper reports on a mixed-methods study related to K–12 teachers’ understandings of what research is, and what enables or inhibits teacher use of research in the classroom towards informing their instructional practices. In a collaboration exemplifying school board and university partnerships, we examined the nature of associations between teachers and education research(ers). Our findings indicated that teachers felt both connected and disconnected to research practices in education. Participants suggested ways to establish and sustain better links and collaborations among the communities of teaching and research. This paper emphasizes the importance of universities, schools and teachers working together to conduct meaningful research and apply current knowledge in the field of education.     

The Organisation of Staff in Secondary Schools: Headteachers' management structures

Elected primary school parent governors, in this exploratory study, were dismissive of the termly governors’ meeting because they did not recognise its function or accept the relevance of its business. Inhibited from making a worthwhile contribution because of inexperience and the dominance of appointed representatives they sought to meet their responsibilities, as they saw them, by supporting the headteachers or by giving of their time during the school day. They expressed concern about classroom organisation and teaching methods and did not relate them to the broad aims of education they had themselves defined.     

Curriculum Balance,Curriculum Review and Curriculum‐led Staffing: A Response

There are an increasing number of research studies concerned with the realm of middle management in schools. However, few of these studies have adequately defined what might be considered middle management in schools, or have clarified which posts constitute those of middle managers. In addition, these studies have rarely considered the way in which different departmental cultures and structures affect leadership style and departmental performance. This article acknowledges the importance of the role of the head of department in secondary schools in school wide change and outlines some of tensions and dilemmas facing those who manage from the middle. It considers the leadership tensions facing heads of department in secondary schools and points towards the variety of departmental contexts, structures and cultures in which heads of department, or subject leaders operate. The article offers an analysis of the dynamic between leadership and culture within the departmental context. It concludes by suggesting that heads of department have a major contribution to play in managing cultural change at both the department and whole school level.     

Absorbing the shocks: The case of food security,extension and the agricultural knowledge and information system in Havana,Cuba

Since 1959, Cuba has undergone a series of political changes, and since 1989, Cuba has had to invent, evolve, and implement a new system of food production that provides lessons from which others can learn. Many of the changes since 1989 caused shocks to the food-security system. As a result many institutions and individuals had to absorb the realities of a food production and distribution system faced with major disruption. These shocks led to adjustments and adaptations necessary to ensure a secure food supply for the 11 million inhabitants of Cuba. This article focuses on adjustments and adaptations made in the extension domain within Cuba's unique agricultural knowledge and information system.     

Students and sex work in the UK: providers and purchasers

Available evidence suggests that changes in the funding of UK higher education in recent years have been accompanied by an increased student presence in the sex industry, ostensibly for financial reasons and to make ends meet. The current study comprises a sample of students (N = 200) drawn from several universities in the UK. Data were gathered on financial and employment circumstances, a range of measures of psychological well-being, attitudes to sex work, whether respondents were currently engaged in different types of sex work and whether they had participated in utilising a range of sexual services or forms of adult entertainment. Results indicated that around 6% (2.7%–9.3%) of the sample was currently working in the sex industry – in erotic dancing, stripping or escorting, with significant numbers of both male and female students also involved in purchasing and using sexual services. Little evidence was found to link these activities to prior experiences of psychological adversity. The implications of the results are discussed.     

How sex education research methodologies frame GLBTIQ students

The ‘bullied’ gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, intersex and otherwise Queer (GLBTIQ) student is a fairly recent figure in the sexuality education research literature. GLBTIQ students have previously been problematised by sex education research in a range of different ways and have been the subjects of varying methodological interventions. This paper explores how the different ways in which GLBTIQ students have been constructed by research, have been to some extent interdependent on the research questions behind the inquiries and the methodologies and methods employed to explore them. To achieve this, the paper draws on a Foucaultian view of research as discursive and the GLBTIQ subject as an entry point for considering different research discourses. It reviews constructions of GLBTIQ students in past, recent and emerging research projects through post-structuralist reflection on the key research reports, studies and peer-reviewed journal articles that have shaped the field of contemporary research. Rather than asserting a dichotomy between sex education research that contributes to constructions of the ‘deviant homosexual student’ and studies that contribute to ‘bullying victim’ tropes, the paper considers both the usefulness and limitations of the many different types of inquiries being pursued and the diverse constructions of GLBTIQ students they offer. Future research approaches for particular contexts and audiences are identified.     

论民族中等职业教育的公益性及其实现形式——基于“9+3”教育模式的思考

教育的公益性内涵包括两个方面,即教育符合社会公共利益和举办教育坚持公益性。对于社会效用较大且受教育者是弱势群体的教育层次和类型,须坚持教育供给上的公益性。民族中等职业教育的效用外溢性和受教育者的弱势地位决定了它的公益性属性。四川藏区"9+3"免费职业教育模式是民族中等职业教育公益性独创性的实现形式,在管理模式、经费投入、资源分配、就业等方面公益性特征突出。     

Collection Development Assessment for New Collection Development Librarians

A number of articles have been written in the past several years that provide practical advice for librarians new to collection development, particularly in terms of understanding terminology, learning collection development processes, and gaining familiarity with one's library and institution. This article furthers this discussion, but with attention to working in collection development within the OhioLINK consortial environment. In order to thrive in this environment, new bibliographers are benefited by becoming familiar with and using data such as usage statistics, consortium reports, and peer institution statistics to develop and expand collections in one's assigned disciplines. Attention is also given to creating subject collection statements, faculty networking, and colleague assistance. The writer, himself relatively new to collection development, provides insights and perspectives on these matters, chiefly applicable to others new to collection development.