Parents,professionals and social welfare models: the implementation of the Education (Scotland) Act 1981

ABSTRACT

This paper examines the effect of the Education (Scotland) Act, 1981, in terms of one of its aims, that is, to increase parental control over assessment, recording and placement of children with special educational needs. Kirp (1982) has argued that British provision for children with special educational needs reflects a social welfare model based on a belief in professional benevolence and expertise. This is in contrast with the United States, where a human rights model of social welfare prevails. Kirp's account is critically examined through an analysis of the legislation and guidance literature, and also data gathered from interviews with professionals and parents.

It is concluded that data do exist to support Kirp's argument. The legislation did not radically increase parents’ rights, and professionals themselves retained control through failing to provide parents with adequate information, often excluding them from multi‐disciplinary meetings and omitting to foster the involvement of voluntary organisations and Named Persons.     

Dismantling boundaries in science and technology studies

The boundaries between the history of science and science and technology studies (STS) can be misleadingly drawn, to the detriment of both fields. This essay stresses their commonalities and potential for valuable synergy. The evolution of the two fields has been characterized by lively interchange and boundary crossing, with leading scholars functioning easily on both sides of the past/present divide. Disciplines, it is argued, are best regarded as training grounds for asking particular kinds of questions, using particular clusters of methods. Viewed in this way, history of science and STS are notable for their shared approaches to disciplining. The essay concludes with a concrete example--regulatory science--showing how a topic such as this can be productively studied with methods that contradict any alleged disciplinary divide between historical and contemporary studies of science.     

Infant educators’ beliefs about infant language development in long day care settings

This study examined infant educators’ beliefs about infant language development in the context of early childhood classrooms. Participants were 59 educators who were employed to work directly with under-two-year-old children. Educators were interviewed to determine their understandings of infant language development and Grounded Theory qualitative techniques were used to develop a conceptual model which illustrates their perceptions of the relationships between contextual, personal and teaching and learning components of their classroom contexts. The model provides a means of conceptualising ‘insider’ practitioner voices on how, as a dynamic system, contextual, individual and pedagogical components mutually interact to bring about the kinds of experiences and interactions that can shape language development. Findings have implications for understanding educators’ perspectives on infant room quality, suggesting that issues related to educator-infant ratios, staff consistency, qualifications and professional knowledge about language development processes may impact efforts to provide intentional language development support.     

Processing of conflicting and redundant stimulus information by pigeons

Selective attention in processing of visual information by pigeons, trained on alternating sessions with two colors (red and green) and two forms (a diamond and an X shape) differentially associated with a left—right key choice task, was examined. A color and a form were presented together on probe trials during sessions in which, on other trials, only one of the dimensions, color or form, was shown. The dimension in effect on the surrounding trials had no influence on choice when the information provided by the two dimensions on probe trials was in conflict—color correct for one choice and form for the other. When both color and form redundantly cued the correct choice, there was no increase in accuracy in comparison with that associated with one dimension. Following separate training on the color and form discriminations, pigeons appeared to base their choices on color on some trials, on form on other trials, but not on both simultaneously. These findings are discussed in terms of an exemplar model of information processing.     

Technological innovation in a corporatist state: The case of biotechnology in the Federal Republic of Germany

This article examines a decade of federal support for biotechnology in the Federal Republic of Germany in order to determine the impact of liberal corporatist patterns of decision-making on industrial policy. For this purpose, industrial policy is taken to include both public initiatives aimed at promoting the new technology and those designed to control its risks.Two distinct forms of corporatism are discernible in this case study. In the first, the principal actors are large businesses, the state, and to a lesser extent, the academic reserch community. These actors have been most influential in defining the scope and specific objectives of the federally funced R&D program in biotechnology. A more traditional form of corporatism, including organized labor, has been engaged in the debate on regulatory policies.In the case of biotechnology, these patterns of corporatism have created the consensus necessary for the adoption of a comprehensive R&D program, but have perpetuated certain barriers to technological innovation. In particular, the reliance on established peak organizations to formulate policy has discouraged structural changes that could have enhanced Germany's early competitiveness in biotechnology. Incrementalism has produced more favorable results in the context of regulatory policy, by permitting control strategies to develop in step with technological progress.     

Infants’ experience with ‘near and clear’ educator talk: individual variation and its relationship to indicators of quality

This study investigated the quantity of audible and intelligible (‘near and clear’) educator talk directly experienced by under-two-year-old infants attending early childhood education and care (ECEC) programmes and examined whether the quantity of educator talk was related to characteristics of quality in their ECEC room. Participants were 57 infants attending separate infant rooms in and around the Sydney metropolitan area, Australia. Each infant was observed for 3?h, wearing a small, custom-designed digital language processor (DLP) which digitally recorded and generated measures of ‘near and clear’ adult talk, unclear talk and infant vocalisations. Structural quality indicators include educator qualification, group size and educator-infant ratios, and Interaction Quality was assessed using the ITERS-R Interaction and Listening and Talking subscales. Infants’ experience with ‘near and clear’ talk was predicted by Interaction Quality, the presence of a degree-qualified teacher and group size. ‘Near and clear’ talk was also significantly and positively related to the quantity of infant vocalisation and, negatively, to their level of exposure to unclear talk. Findings are discussed in terms of conceptualisations of quality in infant ECEC rooms, as well as the potentials and limitations of the ‘near and clear’ talk measure for use in future studies of language development in this context.     

Obstetrics and the family: Identification of mothers at risk for parenting failure,and methods of support

The nurturing of a child has been termed the “Irrational commitment” [1]—“the enduring, irrational commitment of one or more adults in care and joint activity with the child.” The paper examines ways of facilitating this kind of caring. It is not enough to utilise the extensive technology and skills now available in obstetrics and paediatrics if there is a failure to ensure that the parents are able to nurture and enjoy their new infant. Success can only be claimed if parents are assisted in establishing a mutually satisfying relationship with their infants, i.e. they make an irrational commitment to the nurturing of their children. Results from a study of early identification and prediction of major parenting difficulty within the maternity hospital [7] are given and some of the various methods of early intervention and support now being undertaken to assist in the establishment of good nurturing between mothers and infants are described.