Dangerous activities within an invisible playground: a study of emergent male football play and teachers’ perspectives of outdoor free play in the early years of primary school

This research was carried out during a study which focused upon the rough and tumble play of children in the early years department of a suburban primary school in northern England. The child sample’s playtime activities were ethnographically observed over a period of 18 calendar months, during which time interviews were also carried out with the children’s class teachers and several other adults taking part in the children’s daily school routines. It was found that the narratives created by a cohort of four‐and‐a‐half‐ to six‐and‐a‐half‐year‐old boys around their football (soccer) play were socially and symbolically complex, providing evidence that such play is a highly valuable developmental activity. However, the interview data indicated that owing principally to very low adult:child ratios in playground supervision, the focus of the adults was strongly directed towards negative aspects of outdoor free play.     

Balancing Economic and other Discourses in the Internationalization of Higher Education in South Africa

Since the end of the apartheid era in South Africa, “internationalization” of higher education has been a popular theme as the country takes its place as a regional leader in education and research in sub-Saharan Africa. However, competing discourses of internationalization have produced economic and moral dilemmas rather than the realization of philanthropic academic aims. The process of internationalizing higher education in South Africa has been greatly compromised by under-funding and over-crowding of post-secondary education institutions in the country.     

Speech and language therapy provision for children using augmentative and alternative communication systems

A proportion of children with physical impairments experience significant difficulties in communicating with others and may be recommended augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) systems such as speech synthesizers and symbol charts to support ‘natural’ communication skills. However, AAC systems are often under-utilized. Parents have identified barriers to AAC system use to include the organization of speech and language therapy. Speech and language therapists are developing services to school-aged children in response to changes in education, health reforms and models of speech and language development. However, there is little evidence for commissioners of children's services about what constitutes ‘enough’ or ‘good’ speech and language therapy. This paper examines speech and language therapy provision to 23 children using AAC systems in six London authorities. Research strategies include documenting the amount, type, organization and objectives of provision. Evidence for collaboration between school staff and therapists is explored, analysis is made of child characteristics associated with provision and criteria for decision-making documented through interviews with therapists. However, little conjunction exists between what therapists said guided their decision-making concerning provision and observed provision. For the children surveyed in this study it seems that that provision in amount of therapy is related to educational placement rather than individual needs.     

Teaching Knowledge Application: Advances in Theoretical Conceptions and their Professional Implications

We describe and examine a view of knowledge application in schooling developed from aspects of contemporary learning theory. To situate our perspective in contemporary practice, we establish the significance of the issue of knowledge application as an educational challenge. We then review some enduring theoretical conceptions of the problem and their educational ramifications following which we introduce some developments in educational learning theory and consider their implications for teaching knowledge application.     

Shyness as a Factor when Assessing Children

Differences between shy and non-shy children were found on measures of speech in an assessment situation even when variation in vocabulary scores was statistically controlled. The findings have implications for understanding shyness and for practice in assessing shy children.     

Rats in a levered T-maze task show evidence of time–place discriminations in two different measures

It is difficult for rats to learn to go to an arm of a T-maze to receive food that is dependent on the time of day, unless the amount of food in each daily session is different. In the same task, rats show evidence of time–place discriminations if they are required to press levers in the arms of the T-maze, but learning is only evident when the first lever press is considered, and not the first arm visited. These data suggest that rats struggle to use time as a discriminative stimulus unless the rewards/events differ in some dimension, or unless the goal locations can be visited prior to making a response. If both of these conditions are met in the same task, it might be possible to compare time–place learning in two different measures that essentially indicate performance before and after entering the arms of the T-maze. In the present study, we investigated time–place learning in rats with a levered T-maze task in which the amounts of food varied depending on the time of day. The first arm choices and first lever presses both indicated that the rats had acquired time–place discriminations, and both of these measures became significantly different from chance during the same block. However, there were subtle differences between the two measures, which suggest that time–place discrimination is aided by visiting the goal locations.