Creating a flexible fund structure to meet the needs and goals of the library and its users

This paper describes the Texas A&M University (TAMU) Libraries' new and innovative approach to monograph collection development using a re-engineered internal funding structure and a process that reflects the needs and goals of the library and its users. The paper discusses the goals of the new fund structure, the experience of implementing it, and the results after one year in use.     

Disciplinary regimes of ‘care’ and complementary alternative education

In schools, the notion of ‘care is often synonymous with welfare and disciplinary regimes. Drawing on Foucault, and a study of alternative education (AE) across the UK, and looking in depth at two cases of complementary AE, we identify three types of disciplinary regimes at work in schools: (1) dominant performative reward and punishment, (2) team-building and (3) therapeutic. We argue that while all three regimes aim to steer identified students back to the norm, the two complementary approaches that we saw avoided the narrow instrumental behaviourist approaches of the dominant pattern. In so doing, they also opened up wider horizons of possibility and ways to be and become.     

The Civil Rights Commission Must Persist

Columnist George Will and others have questioned the continuing need for a federal civil rights commission, because civil rights protections have been on the books since 1964. The chairman of the Commission, Gerald Reynolds, here responds that practitioners of critical legal theory, advocates of the Akaka-Secession bill, some proponents of diversity, and others like them may make the continued existence of his commission a necessity.     

Intergenerational activities

Early Childhood Education Journal - How can we prepare the young children of today for the future, when 20 percent of all Americans will be old? Education about the process of human aging can help...     

Quality and change in higher education

There is increasing evidence that the pressures on British universities for greater quality and accountability, linked closely to funding, are leading to loss of quality. These governmental pressures, exerted through the Funding Councils, are wholly different from those applied in a quite separate way from another government source, the Employment Department. This article analyses the nature and effects of the two kinds of pressures in terms of change theory. This also demonstrates that the observed effects were not only largely predictable but to a substantial extent were predicted, and warns of the danger that the resulting deleterious effects may become irreversible.Lewis Elton obtained an M.A. in Mathematics at Cambridge University and a B.Sc. in Mathematics and a Ph.D. in Theoretical Physics at the University of London. He is a Further and Higher Education Adviser to the UK Employment Department and Emeritus Professor of Higher Education at the University of Surrey. His special interests are in the improvement of university teaching and learning; staff development; distance learning; and organizational change in higher education. Pat Cryer obtained a B.Sc. in Mathematics and Physics at the University of Exeter and a Ph.D. in Educational Development at the University of Surrey. She has recently resigned as Professional Adviser of the UK Universities' Staff Development Unit and is now a Consultant in Higher Education. Her special interests are in issues of quality; staff development; and teaching large classes.The opinions expressed in this paper are our own and do not commit the Employment Department.     

Families’ perceptions of early childhood educators’ fostering conversations and connections by sharing children's learning through pedagogical documentation

ABSTRACT

Belonging, Being and Becoming: The Early Years Learning Framework for Australia emphasises that families have an important role in their children's learning and it recognises that their earliest development is influenced through these relationships and adds that partnerships can be fostered with families by early childhood educators sharing the children's documented experiences. The research discussed employed an in-depth structured questionnaire. It involved 37 families with children aged from three to five years who attended an early learning centre in Northern Tasmania, Australia. The aim of this research was to determine these families’ perceptions, beliefs and experiences of educators sharing children's learning through pedagogical documentation. The documentation included hard copy and digital formats of the children's learning, capturing their voices and explorations. The findings show that families consider the sharing of documentation fosters family conversations about the children's learning experiences and helps to create stronger connections between the centre, home and extended family. Another recurring theme from the families’ responses was that children gain pride and a positive sense of identity when their documented work is shared with families.     

Mediated Effects of Preschool Intervention

Consistent evidence that the effect of preschool intervention on cognitive achievement fades with the passage of time has resulted in a search for mediators of preschool. This study investigated factors that play a role in mediating the effects of a government funded Child-Parent Center preschool program. The school adjustment of 266 low-income, mostly Black preschool children and of 125 comparison group children were matched on neighborhood characteristics and were traced from kindergarten through the third year of school (1986-1989). Data were collected from children, parents, and teachers on entering kindergarten cognitive readiness, teacher ratings of socioemotional maturity, parental involvement at home and in school, grade retention, assignment to special education, school mobility and cognitive achievement in reading and mathematics. Results of a latent-factor structural model indicated that preschool influenced later achievement and retention indirectly rather than directly. Four major pathways through which preschool exerted its effect included (1) cognitive readiness, (2) cognitive readiness and teacher ratings of socioemotional maturity, (3) teacher ratings of socioemotional maturity, and (4) parent involvement and school mobility. Cognitive readiness, teacher ratings, and parent involvement also transmitted effects to grade retention. That preschool's influence on later outcomes is largely indirect indicates its dependency on intervening factors in exerting effects. These intervening factors appear to be critical in promoting school success of children at risk.