The Great Education Reform Bill 1988 ‐ some issues and implications

The article explores some of the wider policy issues and concerns raised by the 1988 Education Bill, in particular the implications of the Bill for control over schooling. There is a brief discussion about the main aspects of the Bill's proposals as they affect schools. The paper then moves on to consider the extent to which the Bill gives power both to the Secretary of State for Education and to parents and school governors, whilst removing power from Local Education Authorities and teachers themselves. It is pointed out that the proposals will make long term educational planning and policy implementation across a range of schools very difficult. The paper concludes by questioning whether all the intentions of the Bill will be realized but notes that opposition to the Bill has not really fully taken on board alternative strategies for improving the quality of education.     

Walking the Fine Line: How High School Teachers “Manage” Behavioral Issues

As teachers make daily decisions regarding how to address behaviors in their classrooms, they are walking a fine line of behavior management. In order to be successful in modifying student behaviors, teachers need to analyze the purpose of their strategies and predict the outcome of their actions. This article reports the results of a survey given to secondary teachers working with students with disabilities. Participants were asked to identify the frequency with which they intervened with certain problematic behaviors, which strategies they used, and to what extent they found these strategies useful for modifying student behavior. The implications of their responses are discussed in relation to how they make decisions about improving students' behavioral outcomes.     

Association of leisure time and occupational physical activity with obesity and cardiovascular risk factors in Chile

ABSTRACT

The aim of this study was to investigate the association between physical activity (PA), both occupational (OPA) and during leisure time (LTPA), with obesity and cardiovascular risk factors in Chilean adults. 5,157 participants from the Chilean National Health Survey 2009–2010 were included in this study. OPA and LTPA levels were assessed using the Global Physical Activity Questionnaire. The association between both PA with obesity and cardiovascular risk factors was determined using logistic regression. Our findings showed a significant trend between higher LTPA and lower odds for obesity (OR 0.64 [95% CI: 0.53; 0.76], central obesity 0.52 [0.44; 0.61]) and other cardiovascular risk factors including diabetes (OR: 0.72 [0.55; 0.94]), hypertension (OR: 0.59 [0.50; 0.71]) and metabolic syndrome (OR: 0.62 [0.50; 0.78]). In contrast, OPA was only associated with lower odds of diabetes (OR: 0.79 [0.65; 0.98]) and hypertension (0.85 [0.74; 0.98]). In conclusion, LTPA was associated with a lower risk of all major cardiovascular risk factors, whereas OPA was only associated with a lower risk of diabetes and hypertension.     

Changing Research Perspectives on the Management of Higher Education: Can Research Permeate the Activities of Manager‐Academics?

The paper considers whether, and if so how, research evidence can permeate the world of higher education (HE) management in publicly funded institutions. The paper explores the author's experience of two recent research projects (1998–2000 and 2004) on aspects of managing UK HE institutions and issues arising from the preparation of the HE element of a third study of leadership and public service change agendas in education and health during 2004. Despite the topicality in education and other public services of debates about evidence‐based practice, there is little indication that this debate has permeated HE management qua management. The paper utilises Bourdieu's work on academics and social and cultural capital to explore why manager‐academics may resist taking the findings of research seriously in relation to their own work. It is suggested that, where there is reluctance to learn from research, this may reflect the changing nature of HE, the status of HE research as an academic field and form of academic capital and the relative paucity until recently of training in management for most UK manager‐academics.     

Prior knowledge and primary pupils' interaction with a museum display

Conclusion The study was developed within the constructivist tradition which stresses the importance of prior knowledge in determining learners' interaction with the world around them. Accordingly, information was gathered about primary school children's ideas about diet and dentition in animals, since it was assumed that this would determine the learning that would take place when they observed a display of skulls based on a structure-function generalization about teeth. In retrospect it seems a pity that the subjects weren't asked what they thought were the purposes of labels in the museum, as an appropriate use of labels seems to be crucial in determining whether the objective of the display is realized.