Training from cradle to grave? Social justice and training for people with learning difficulties

In this paper we question whether the radical change in the life situation of people with learning difficulties triggered by the closure of long‐stay hospitals does in fact represent an adequate inclusion into civil society or whether people with learning difficulties continue to experience strong exclusionary tendencies. We will explore the implications of a range of contemporary social justice theories for people with learning difficulties and examine the justice inherent in arrangements for training people with learning difficulties made by Local Enterprise Companies (LECs). We argue that training may be seen as a crucible of social values since its distribution transmits powerful messages about who is considered salvageable or unsalvageable, who is likely to become economically active and who is to be consigned to some special status of otherness. Finally, we consider what conceptualizations of social justice might hold out most hope for people with learning difficulties.     

How to unring the bell: A meta-analytic approach to correction of misinformation

The study reports on a meta-analysis of attempts to correct misinformation (k?=?65). Results indicate that corrective messages have a moderate influence on belief in misinformation (r?=?.35); however, it is more difficult to correct for misinformation in the context of politics (r?=?.15) and marketing (r?=?.18) than health (r?=?.27). Correction of real-world misinformation is more challenging (r?=?.14), as opposed to constructed misinformation (r?=?.48). Rebuttals (r?=?.38) are more effective than forewarnings (r?=?.16), and appeals to coherence (r?=?.55) outperform fact-checking (r?=?.25), and appeals to credibility (r?=?.14).     

Each Medium Tells a Different Story: The Effect of Message Channel on Narrative Persuasion

Limited attention has been given to the medium of story presentation in this process of narrative persuasion. The present study (N = 243) fills this gap by directly comparing narrative involvement across print and audiovisual versions of the same cervical cancer-related story. The mediation analysis revealed that exposure to an audiovisual narrative was associated with higher levels of cognitive and emotional involvement than exposure to the exact same narrative in its printed form. Yet the higher levels of transportation in the audiovisual condition came at a price of enhancing psychological reactance, eliminating the relative advantage of the film narrative.     

Serum markers for early diagnosis of non-‘Q’ wave and ‘Q’ wave myocardial infarction

The present study conducted on twenty-five uncomplicated cases of acute myocardial infarction diagnosed by clinical and electrocardiographic findings indicated significantly increased level of cardiac Troponin-T and increased activities of the enzymes total creatine kinase, creatine kinase-MB, aspartate transaminase and lactate dehydrogenase as compared to the twenty-five healthy control subjects. The level of cardiac Troponin-T and the activities of the enzymes total creatine kinase, creatine kinase-MB, aspartate transaminase and lactate dehydrogenase was found to be higher in “Q” wave myocardial infarction patients as compared to the non-“Q” wave and the controls. Since cardiac Troponin-T has been shown to increase in unstable angina and renal failure without cardiac disease and creatine kinase-MB activity has been found to be normal in patients with unstable angina and increase very slightly in patients with renal failure, it was concluded that a combination of cardiac Troponin-T and creatine kinase-MB activity was sufficient for the early diagnosis of acute myocardial infarction.     

The Self‐Reference Effect on Memory in Early Childhood

The self‐reference effect in memory is the advantage for information encoded about self, relative to other people. The early development of this effect was explored here using a concrete encoding paradigm. Trials comprised presentation of a self‐ or other‐image paired with a concrete object. In Study 1, 4‐ to 6‐year‐old children (N = 53) were asked in each trial whether the child pictured would like the object. Recognition memory showed an advantage for self‐paired objects. Study 2 (N = 55) replicated this finding in source memory. In Study 3 (N = 56), participants simply indicated object location. Again, recognition and source memory showed an advantage for self‐paired items. These findings are discussed with reference to mechanisms that ensure information of potential self‐relevance is reliably encoded.     

Library links on medical school home pages

The purpose of this study was to assess the websites of American Association of Medical Colleges (AAMC)-member medical schools for the presence of library links. Sixty-one percent (n?=?92) of home pages of the 150 member schools of the AAMC contain library links. For the 58 home pages not offering such links, 50 provided a pathway of two or three clicks to a library link. The absence of library links on 39% of AAMC medical school home pages indicates that the designers of those pages did not consider the library to be a primary destination for their visitors.     

Reforming special education in Scotland: tensions between discourses of professionalism and rights

In 2001, the (then) Scottish Executive embarked on a process of reform of the SEN framework in Scotland. This paper analyses negotiations between different social actors, principally local authority staff and parents, in the formation of the legislation and its subsequent enactment. Data are drawn from an analysis of responses to consultations, official statistics and parent and local authority staff perceptions of the reforms as revealed in questionnaire surveys. It is argued that policy frameworks based on professionalism and bureaucracy have tended to dominate in Scotland, with a rights framework emerging much more recently. The legislation attempts to strike a balance between the different actors, although, in implementing the legislation, local authorities have sought to neutralise aspects which they felt tipped the balance of power too far in favour of parents. Parents have responded by campaigning as citizen‐consumers, and appear to be having a growing influence on Government.     

Educational and indigenous justice in Africa

This article examines the way in which some of the most discriminated against, disadvantaged and marginalised groups on the African continent, are re-defining education through strategies aimed at recognition of rights and social justice. It uses Fraser's analysis of social justice – distribution, recognition and participation – to examine the demands of the indigenous movement in Africa for rights to education. Over the past 10 years the concept of ‘indigenous’ has become embedded in African regional resolutions and reports while communities self-identifying as indigenous have been shaping new political and educational spaces for their participation and decision making about their development and their education. Taking the example of the East African pastoralists and the Maasai of Ngorongoro District in Tanzania, it looks at indigenous communities’ initiatives to define and achieve a qualitative education which is relevant and meaningful for their lives today. It concludes with a discussion of the potential for the indigenous movement in Africa to ‘reframe’ education for the benefit of not only indigenous communities but for all learners.