Why keep on keeping on?

As a noted author of childbirth education articles, books, and videotapes, Penny Simkin muses over the changes in maternity care during her career and the lessons she has learned. She searches for reasons to keep on working to bring normal birth to women, especially in an era when medical intervention based on editorials rather than evidence continue to increase.     

‘Left with a title but nothing else’: the challenges of embedding professional recognition schemes for teachers within higher education institutions

ABSTRACT

With increasing moves globally towards the professionalisation of teaching in Higher Education, there is growing interest in the role of accredited professional recognition schemes that provide professional development for established university teaching staff. In the UK, There are now over 120 professional recognition schemes, resulting in institutionally focused evaluation studies examining their impact. This article contributes to this emerging body of work; it draws on cross-institutional data and Foucauldian theorising to address two important questions. In what ways does engagement with an institutional professional recognition scheme impact on participants’ teaching development, and how does institutional culture influence that engagement? The data illustrate that whilst institutional culture drives engagement, it did little to promote teaching development. Across the case-study institutions, neo-liberalism agendas were apparent. Some staff felt pushed to achieve professional recognition in response to the increasing use of metrics to measure the student experience and to inform institutional standing in league tables. Whilst evidence shows the process of seeking accreditation can lead to an enhancement in teaching practices, caution must be taken to ensure that the professional development opportunities offered by accreditation schemes are fully realised.     

“Did I mean what I said?” — A reply to McCormick

In this note, I argue that the distinction between what one says and what one means by it is no more problematic (and no less) than the equally important distinction between evidence and theory. Both, I suggest, take a particular form in literate discourse.     

Are you a budding academic writer?

Academic writing can seem a daunting prospect although with the right support and information it can be more achievable than you think. In this first set of editorial comments of 2016, editors from all sections of the Health Information and Libraries Journal outline the origins of the individual section of the journal which they oversee and highlight some of the things you might want to consider when thinking of submitting your writing for publication.     

Pain, suffering, and trauma in labor and prevention of subsequent posttraumatic stress disorder

In this column, Kimmelin Hull, community manager of Science & Sensibility, Lamaze International's research blog, reprints and discusses a recent blog post series by acclaimed writer, lecturer, doula, and normal birth advocate Penny Simkin. Examined here is the fruitful dialog that ensued-including testimonies from blog readers about their own experiences with traumatic birth and subsequent posttraumatic stress disorder. Hull further highlights the impact traumatic birth has not only on the birthing woman but also on the labor team-including doulas and childbirth educators-and the implied need for debriefing processes for birth workers. Succinct tools for assessing a laboring woman's experience of pain versus suffering are offered by Simkin, along with Hull's added suggestions for application during the labor and birth process.     

Criminal Justice Students and Sexual Prejudice

This paper examines sexual prejudice against gays and lesbians by college students. The sample consisted of 325 undergraduate students at a mid-sized Midwestern university. Respondents completed Herek’s Attitudes Toward Lesbians and Gay Men scale (short form) to determine levels of sexual prejudice. Comparisons were then made by respondent major to determine whether criminal justice students displayed higher levels of sexual prejudice than other students. Unlike prior research on criminal justice students and sexual prejudice, the criminal justice respondents in this study were not significantly more prejudiced against gays and lesbians. Male and female students scored similarly on their attitudes toward lesbian women, but male students were more likely to have higher levels of prejudice against gay men. Students who had gay friends and/or family members held significantly lower levels of prejudice against both gay men and lesbians than those who had no gay friends or family members.     

El ordenador como instrumento de la mente

El discurso argumentativo escrito tiene intrínsecamente un carácter dialàgico. Esta característica se pone de manifiesto en la contraargumentación, uno de los aspectos que mayor dificultad presenta para los aprendices, tanto en la comprensión como en la producción de textos escritos. Esta dificultad se hace patente en las actividades desarrolladas en el curso de una secuencia de enseñanza y aprendizaje sobre este tipo de discurso con alumnos de los primeros niveles de enseñanza secundaria. De ello se desprende la necesidad de su enseñanza específica.