Educators’ use of commanding language to direct infants’ behaviour: relationship to educators’ qualifications and implications for language learning opportunities

This study investigated the manner in which 56 infant educators used language to direct the behaviour of infants (defined as children aged birth to two years), on the basis that the ways in which educators frame their commands represent an important component of young children’s learning experiences. Underpinned by systemic functional linguistic theory, the study analysed the frequency and type of command produced by educators with university, diploma and certificate qualifications. Suggestive and indirect commands convey a sense of negotiation, as if the addressees’ subjective opinions and thoughts are considered, while nonsuggestive and direct commands foreground the speakers’ power and authority. The findings demonstrate that commands feature frequently in educators’ talk to infants, with nonsuggestive and direct commands being most commonly used. Individual differences were related to the qualifications of staff. University-qualified early childhood teachers used significantly fewer nonsuggestive and direct commands than did diploma and certificate-qualified educators, and they were more likely to provide infants with a reason for the command. These findings have implications for the way in which learning opportunities are created by the language that educators use, and for the overall quality of infant early childhood programmes.     

How policy impacts on practice and how practice does not impact on policy

The TLRP project reported on in this article attempts to understand how the Learning and Skills sector functions. It traces how education and training policy percolates down through many levels in the English system and how these levels interact, or fail to interact. The authors first focus upon how policy impacts upon the interests of three groups of learners: unemployed people in adult and community learning centres, adult employees in work‐based learning and younger learners on Level 1 and Level 2 courses in further education. They focus next upon how professionals in these three settings struggle to cope with two sets of pressures upon them: those exerted by government and a broader set of professional, institutional and local factors. They describe in particular how managers and tutors mediate national policy and translate it (and sometimes mistranslate it) into local plans and practices. Finally, the authors criticise the new government model of public service reform for failing to harness the knowledge, good will and energy of staff working in the sector, and for ignoring what constitutes the main finding of the research: the central importance of the relationship between tutor and students.     

The Role of School Managers in Monitoring and Evaluating the Work of a School: inspectors’ judgements and schools’ responses

The paper presents an analysis of inspection findings for 22 secondary schools, selected from a larger sample of 100, in order to explore the nature of, and the responses to, OFSTED inspectors’ recommendations about the use of internal monitoring and evaluation to improve classroom practice. Inspectors’ reports, and schools’ action plans, were examined in order to determine inspectors’ expectations of senior managers in schools in relation to monitoring responsibilities and the means managers intend to use to meet these expectations. In their action plans some schools respond with bureaucratic procedures, while others indicate a more collaborative approach. This paper describes the first stage of a research project; the differences in implementation of the planned changes in schools will be the subject of further research.     

Educational/Instructional Media

Sheila Mahony, Nick DeMartino, and Robert Stengel's Keeping PACE with the New Television (New York: VNU Books International, 1980---price not given, paper)

Don Agostino and Jayne Zenaty's "Home VCR Owner's Use of Television and Public Television: Viewing, Recording & Playback" (CPB, 1980---free on request, paper)

The Communications Revolution and the Education of Americans (Council on Learning, NBW Tower, New Rochelle, N.Y. 10801---$6.95, paper)

Ted Carpenter's Calling the Tune: Communication Technology for Working, Learning, and Living (National Institute for Work and Learning, Suite 301 1211 Connecticut Ave. NW, Washington 20036---$12.00, paper)

The Economics of New Educational Media: Vol 2, Cost and Effectiveness (Paris: Unesco/New York: Unipub, 1980---$18.00, paper)

A Guide to Rules and Regulations for Public Radio (National Federation of Community Broadcasters, 1000 11th St. NW (3rd floor), Washington, D.C. 20001---$50.00, loose-leaf format in notebook)     

Foods for health: Involving organizations in planned change

The development of effective strategies for planned change presents a challenge to an organization operating in a modern, complex society. A change agency often faces two barriers to the diffusion of innovations —the lack of direct contact with individual receivers on a daily basis, and limited and perhaps shrinking resources. Two strategies which help a change agency address these barriers are: a) the use of co‐change agencies in innovation development and b) the diffusion of innovations through other organizations at the system‐receiver level. The use and effectiveness of these modifications to the traditional diffusion model are illustrated in the development and diffusion of a health education program called Foods for Health.     

An Analysis of the Relationship between Somatotype and Personality Traits of College Women

Abstract

The underlying rationale for the study was based on the conviction that biological factors are important in accounting for human behavior. This study was undertaken to compare the results of selected personality traits with the somatotypes of college women. Somatotypes were determined by the use of somatotype ratings as established by Sheldon. The personality profiles were determined by two personality measuring instruments: (a) the Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire, and (b) the California Psychological Inventory. Of the 23 hypotheses which were arbitrarily derived from Sheldon's work on physique and temperament of men, only one proved to be tenable. This tenable hypothesis stated that the component of mesomorphy is significantly correlated with the second order Factor I of the 16 PF (Low Anxiety).     

Transatlantic moves to the market: the United States and the European Union

The theory of academic capitalism is used to explore US and EU marketization trajectories. Comparisons are made along the following dimensions: creation and expansion of intermediating organizations external to universities that promote closer relations between universities and markets; interstitial organizations that emerge from within universities that intersect various market oriented projects; narratives, discourses and social technologies that promote marketization and competition; expanded managerial capacity; new funding streams for research and programs close to the market; and new circuits of knowledge that move away from peer review and professional judgment as arbiters of excellence. We also consider the status of fields not closely integrated with external markets, and see fragmentation of the humanities, fine arts and (some) social sciences to be a sign of research universities marketization. We conclude that the US and EU are following very different paths to bring higher education closer to the market. The US move to the market was incremental and frequently led by a wide variety of non-governmental organizations, often with strong ties to the for-profit sector and participation by segments of universities prior to federal legislation or mandates. The European Commission is reverse engineering Anglo-American higher education models to reconstruct technologies of governance in uniquely European contexts that embed competition in nation-state initiatives. Although the discourse surrounding university marketization promises growth of high paying jobs prosperity, evidence to date suggests very uneven results for both the US and EU.     

Making the aural presentation of examination papers student friendly: an alternative to a reader in examinations

Where a student can benefit from having an examination paper presented aurally, the traditional method is to provide a reader. This can be socially uncomfortable for students, and offers of readers are frequently declined. A trial is reported in which examinations were presented on an Apple iPod. This is a medium with which many students are comfortable, which facilitates easy exploration of the examination paper and repetitive listening and which is both socially acceptable and practical in a normal examination room. The findings indicate that it removes one of the significant barriers to greater take‐up of aural presentation.     

Approaches to dispute resolution in additional support needs in Scotland

The Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2004 aimed, among other things, to increase parents’ rights in relation to the education of their children. In addition to the creation of the Additional Supports Needs Tribunals for Scotland, parents were given new rights to challenge local authority decisions through mediation and independent adjudication. In line with the wider social policy thrust of encouraging proportionate dispute resolution, low‐level resolution of disputes at school and local authority level was also encouraged. This paper uses key informant interviews to explore the views of new dispute resolution arrangements, and whether the balance of power has indeed tipped in favour of parents. Local education authority officers expressed some concerns about the new measures, and were particularly critical of the tribunal on the grounds that it was expensive and stressful, although the role it might play in tightening up procedures was also recognised. Advocacy groups and parents’ organisations, on the other hand, welcomed the new measures but were concerned about the rules restricting access to the tribunal and the fact that the outcome of mediation and adjudications were not legally binding. They were also concerned about limited access to information and advocacy. Overall, key informants believed that the new measures had advanced parents’ rights to some extent, although further changes were needed to achieve a radical shift away from the post‐war dominance of bureaucracy and professionalism in Scotland.