Issues in the Management of Social Science Research Centres1

Recent years have seen a marked increase in the number, size and importance of social science research centres. The Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), government departments and the universities have variously been responsible for this development, which has accompanied a greater emphasis on applied and multi-disciplinary research. The business-orientation of the centres has encouraged a new, managerial approach to research activity. Here, issues are discussed which relate to corporate development and performance control, finance, personnel, strategy and development, external relations, dissemination and utilisation. It is concluded that centres need to consolidate their role, and that this can only be achieved with the assistance of the sponsoring institutions.     

The Time Is Now

To supply our economy with the professional man-power it must have to meet the political, economic, and military challenges of the Soviet Union and to harvest for the benefit of all people the tremendous potential of the scientific age, America must provide an education that will permit all young people to realize their full potential for mental and intellectual development. These are challenges to man's capacity to know and to understand and to his capacity for disciplined and responsible intelligence. To meet these challenges, America must 1) devise a diverse, multilevel collegiate structure aimed at the development of individual talents and abilities rather than at the inculcation of a fixed body of knowledge; 2) conduct basic research into the educative process to find ways of improving our instruction while increasing its efficiency; 3) re-examine our methods of teaching to find means of emphasizing the development of creativity; 4) establish systematic methods of identifying our talented youth early in their school programs; 5) effect a change in general attitude toward scholarship in our country; and 6) find an equitable and satisfactory means of financing education in proportion to its value for America.     

Pre-service Primary Teachers' Perceptions about Principals in Hong Kong: Implications for teacher and principal education

This study aimed to explore pre-service teachers' perceptions and expectations of principals, how these perceptions may influence attitude and behaviour when they start in school and how pre-service teachers' perceptions of the principalship may have been formed. In general, pre-service teachers do not expect to receive assistance from the principal during their first months of teaching. Past experience of principals has resulted in clear expectations of principal support, particularly in respect to beliefs about the influence of hierarchy, school authority and principal's workload. Others, however, expect the principal to be receptive to and supportive of innovations. Some expect support from their colleagues whilst others believe they must rely on themselves. Furthermore, the sources of beliefs about the principalship are predominantly formed during pre-service teachers' experiences in school life and teaching practice. Many of their images of the principalship tend to be negative.     

Disenchanted Evenings: The social organization of talk in parent-teacher consultations in UK secondary schools

Parent-teacher consultations represent something of a 'black hole' in our understanding of educational practices. This study, based on audio-recordings, examines the structure and the fine detail of these brief encounters. We identify some similarities with doctor-patient consultations. Teachers are accorded the right to give an uninterrupted 'diagnosis'; and they maintain knowledge differentials through their use of specialist vocabularies and professional registers, while down-playing parents' deployment of their own 'privileged' knowledge of the student. However, we argue that teachers do not unequivocally have the upper hand: that issues of power, identity, competence and moral conduct are at stake for all involved. The complex negotiations and skirmishes that take place during these encounters testify to their precarious location on the boundary between the two institutions of home and school. In requiring homes to render themselves visible, schools also, fleetingly, expose themselves to the risk of critical scrutiny from those on the outside.     

Technology in the Hands of the Extension Officers‐‐Agricultural Extension in Jamaica and Ghana

This paper describes a technology‐based research pilot project currently being undertaken by The Commonwealth of Learning (COL) with Jamaica's Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA) and the Women in Food and Agricultural Development (WIFAD) in Ghana. A feasibility study undertaken concluded that the use of video with non‐linear field‐based video production equipment can be effective in demonstrating farming techniques. The premise is that video production can be done at the parish/regional level, allowing farmers and agro‐food processors to directly relate to the information relevant to their own agricultural contexts and situations. The paper describes the findings of the feasibility study and the mix of media that has been utilised for the pilot.     

Shaping a gender equality policy in higher education: which human capabilities matter?

South African institutions still confront gendered inequalities, irrespective of transformative national policies, compounded by the absence of a national gender equality policy for higher education. We therefore explore the potential of the capabilities approach (CA) to inform policy formation and argue for the development of a policy for higher education institutions based on opportunities for valuable functionings as the informational basis for gender equality. Using one university as our case study, data from 38 interviews with female and male students were analysed as part of a longitudinal study on Gender, Empowerment, Agency and Higher Education. The data reveal which opportunities these women and men find important for their personal development and directly and indirectly for gender equality. We conclude by discussing the implications of the data for stimulating public dialogues towards formulating a capabilities-based gender equality policy, as well as reflecting on the broader contributions the CA brings to policy development.     

An optically transparent membrane supports shear stress studies in a three-dimensional microfluidic neurovascular unit model

We report a microfluidic blood-brain barrier model that enables both physiological shear stress and optical transparency throughout the device. Brain endothelial cells grown in an optically transparent membrane-integrated microfluidic device were able to withstand physiological fluid shear stress using a hydrophilized polytetrafluoroethylene nanoporous membrane instead of the more commonly used polyester membrane. A functional three-dimensional microfluidic co-culture model of the neurovascular unit is presented that incorporates astrocytes in a 3D hydrogel and enables physiological shear stress on the membrane-supported endothelial cell layer.