Fissures in the Federal Structure? The Case of the University of Wales

The paper describes the evolution of the University of Wales, and describes the attempts made at the end of the 1980s to instigate university-wide planning. These arrangements were, however, of short duration and have recently been reviewed and revised. A degree of tension and instability is endemic in all federations and 'Wales' is no exception. Its large colleges are impatient of central control and planning, and the Welsh Funding Council is unsympathetic to an increase in the sphere of influence of the federal university. Such factors are fissiparous forces, but they have to be set against the symbolic importance of the University of Wales as a means of representing and giving expression to Welsh national feeling.     

Taking an insect-inspired approach to bird navigation

Navigation is an essential skill for many animals, and understanding how animal use environmental information, particularly visual information, to navigate has a long history in both ethology and psychology. In birds, the dominant approach for investigating navigation at small-scales comes from comparative psychology, which emphasizes the cognitive representations underpinning spatial memory. The majority of this work is based in the laboratory and it is unclear whether this context itself affects the information that birds learn and use when they search for a location. Data from hummingbirds suggests that birds in the wild might use visual information in quite a different manner. To reconcile these differences, here we propose a new approach to avian navigation, inspired by the sensory-driven study of navigation in insects. Using methods devised for studying the navigation of insects, it is possible to quantify the visual information available to navigating birds, and then to determine how this information influences those birds’ navigation decisions. Focusing on four areas that we consider characteristic of the insect navigation perspective, we discuss how this approach has shone light on the information insects use to navigate, and assess the prospects of taking a similar approach with birds. Although birds and insects differ in many ways, there is nothing in the insect-inspired approach of the kind we describe that means these methods need be restricted to insects. On the contrary, adopting such an approach could provide a fresh perspective on the well-studied question of how birds navigate through a variety of environments.     

English language learning difficulty of korean students in a Philippine Multidisciplinary University

This qualitative study analyzed the English language learning difficulties of 13 purposively chosen Korean students relative to their sociolinguistic competence, motivation in using the English language, and cultural factors. Interview responses were transcribed, categorized and thematised according to saliency, meaning and homogeneity. The findings of the study disclosed that, on the whole, while the subjects never had the opportunity to use the English language in Korea, they use it almost everywhere in the Philippines. Their difficulties exist both in daily conversation and in the academic setting. Such difficulties are attributable to both the subjects’ and the Filipinos’ different entry points in the learning and use of English. Despite cultural barriers in communication, however, the Koreans studying in the Philippines are instrumentally motivated to learn the English language.     

The third Amendment to the Higher Education Law of the German Federal Republic

The article describes and analyses some of the important changes which have been brought about by the most recent Amendment to the 1976 Higher Education Law. It attempts to show the rationale for some of these changes and to give a flavour of the public debate surrounding the new legislation. The following issues are discussed: university democracy, research, staff structure, the curriculum, the problems of non-university institutions and the position of comprehensive universities.     

Beyond English hegemony: language,migration and Appalachian schools

Co‐authored by an academic who has worked in ESL teacher improvement programmes under the No Child Left Behind Act, an assistant director of an Appalachian school district, and a trilingual translator and teacher who works with indigenous Mexican populations, this article is narrated in the voice of the first author. The essay addresses how teachers in a Tennessee school district have learned to engage new English speakers and how existing ‘English only’ law affects the process. Contrasting today's immigrants with those of the past, the narrator relates her experience of working with Purépecha children in Morristown and considers the perils of stereotyping others' literacy. The children's comfort with speaking English is affected by their awareness that, as undocumented people, they and their families do not enjoy full citizenship.     

Was East German Education a Victim of West German 'Colonisation' after Unification?

German unification took place very rapidly, and it is sometimes argued that East German education was colonised in a process according to which ideas and structures (some of which were not very successful in the West) were foisted on the East in the cause of unity and homogeneity. This paper argues that the 'victim/colonisation' hypothesis is exaggerated. There was a suppressed reform tendency in the German Democratic Republic (GDR) that resulted in several distinctive educational institutions in the New Bundesländer. Although it is true that a controversial divided secondary school structure replaced the GDR unified school, it was the East Germans themselves who clamoured for the grammar school without paying sufficient attention to the implications for those pupils who failed to obtain entry into it. Their suspicions that their most able children were under-achieving were not validated by empirical studies. To a certain degree, reverse transformation can be observed (influence from East to West). In the field of pre-school education and childcare, for example, the spectacle of a well-developed sector in the East made the Westerners realise that they themselves had no adequate policy or strategy so they began to develop one. The Wisssenschaftsrat (Higher Education Council) too drew attention to the efficiency of the GDR higher education system, and in certain respects is striving to emulate it in the Old Bundesländer. The conviction of having been 'colonised' feeds resentment that could result in a backlash against democratic values. The paper ends with a brief discussion of the implications of the colonisation hypothesis for citizenship.     

Multi-criminal and violent groups among child sex offenders: a heuristic typology in a 2-year cohort of 374 men in two English counties

OBJECTIVE: To determine the lifetime criminality of men charged with a sexual offence against a child and to identify any heuristic typologies. METHOD: The police files of a 2-year cohort of 462 men charged with a sexual offence against a minor (<17) in two English counties were analyzed; 374 were convicted. The patterns of their convictions produced a typology based upon judicially substantiated parameters. RESULTS: Half the guilty men had prior convictions for non-sexual crimes, including 24% with convictions for violent offences. Three heuristic groups emerged: "Sex-Only" offenders (S.O., n = 186); "Sex And Other" offenders (S.A.O., n = 97); and "Sex and Violent" offenders (S.V., n = 91), averaging three sex convictions each. However, the S.A.O. and S.V. men had more non-sexual than sex convictions, averaging 5.1 versus 10.5, justifying the designation of "multi-criminal" child sex abusers. However, the patterns of these men's sexual offending did not differ, except that the S.O. men's victims were significantly more often intra-family, 36%, 31%, and 13%, respectively; indicating that the majority of these men's victims were extra-familial (71%). Significantly, 19% of the convicted men had at least one "not guilty" verdict for a sex charge, as opposed to 4% for non-sexual crimes. CONCLUSIONS: While the S.O. group appear to consist of traditional types of fixated and regressed offenders, in men charged with offences, they are atypical of most sex abusers since their victims are mainly extra-familial. These "multi-criminal" men present particular challenges for custodial and therapeutic settings, and the potential dangerousness of these offenders should not be underestimated.     

Effective Schools for All

The study investigated the relation between district culture, student achievement, and student attitudes about their schools. Perceptions of students as expressed in more than 2,000 essays written about their schools were explored. Seven cultural categories were examined for differences across grade levels and districts. Statistical differences were found for 3 categories (Social/People, Education/Curriculum, and Extra-curricular Activities) for writing achievement, for whether the district culture were rated as positive or negative, and for whether student's comments revealed a positive or negative view of their schools. This study suggests that district culture has a noticeable effect on school culture and on student achievement.