Abstract In many countries agriculture is in a process of rapid change,
- it has to meet a growing demand for food in a sustainable way,
- the international competition is increasing,
- the increase in labour productivity is decreasing the employment opportunities in agriculture,
- agricultural research is offering many new opportunities to increase productivity,
- government price support for agricultural products in industrial countries is decreasing.
These changes have many implications for agricultural extension, such as:
- the knowledge and capabilities of farmers has become a major factor in their ability to compete in national and international markets,
- advice is not only needed on the adoption of new technologies, but also on many other decisions farmers have to make, such as the choice of their farming system and the decision whether or not to earn an income from outside agriculture,
- this requires a change in extension methods and in the information sources extension agents use,
- agricultural development demands painful changes in the way of farming and of living for many farm families. It is a challenge for extension agencies to help farm families to realise this,
- a major task for leaders of extension organisations is to manage a process of change in agricultural extension. Often the role extension has to play in agricultural development can not be performed by one extension organisation, but only by a pluralistic extension system.
Agricultural extension is often expected to contribute to a reduction of poverty among farmers and farm labourers. One has to think seriously how one can realise this objective. 相似文献
Miteinander Reden: Kommunikationspsychologie für Führungskräfte (Talking with another: Communication psychology for leaders). by F. Schulz von Thun, J. Ruppel and R. Stratmann (2000), Reinbek, RoRoRo Sachbuch 60687, ISBN 3 499 60687 9, DM 16.90. 相似文献
Defining ‘success’ in sexuality education solely in terms of quantitative outcome measures is woefully inadequate. All too often, such measures presuppose and perpetuate a narrow and overly instrumental view of sexuality and education. Research and evaluation favouring quantitative measures of effectiveness tend to amplify short‐term results and mediocre ends at the expense of more substantive insight into the complexities and nuances of human action and good practice. The paper begins with a true story involving a teenager and high‐risk behaviours. This story serves as a basis for an allegorical exploration of programme development, goals and vision. The allegory offers a context for thinking about the importance of research and evaluation methods that focus on expressive action, agency and symbolic metaphorical thinking as opposed to measurable behaviours and linear logical thinking. 相似文献
Following the economic reforms in the early 90's, most of the south-eastern European countries (SEE) made efforts to establish agricultural extension services. However, a number of factors including tight governmental budgets, lack of experience, and the existence of vested interests have constrained the development of extension services. This paper examines the rationale for public funding of extension programs and evaluates the incentive structure for private and public provision of agricultural extension service in the SEE countries. It suggests a medium and long-term approach with a primary focus on institutional design. Two groups of factors that affect the private sector supply of extension are analyzed: (i) demand and supply-side factors that affect the profitability of the service and (ii) factors arising from the public-good nature of extension output, externalities, and moral hazards that affect the appropriation of returns of the service. The main conclusion is that the SEE countries should try to achieve a public-private extension balance by following a gradual approach toward privatization of the agricultural extension service. However, the paper advocates a continued important role for the public sector to correct for potential undesirable effects of private advisory services. 相似文献
Homosexuality is now accepted as a normal variant of human sexuality, but homophobia among healthcare professionals is well documented. Establishment of trustful doctor–patient relationships is impossible in the presence of homophobia. We were interested to examine the extent of homophobia among medical students, the future doctors. This article aims to study attitudes of medical students of the University of Hong Kong towards homosexuality and to identify significant factors affecting their attitudes. A cross‐sectional study was performed on students of the University of Hong Kong. Attitudes towards homosexuality were compared between medical and non‐medical students. More than 25% of the medical students agreed with the statement ‘homosexuality is a psychological disorder that requires therapy’. More than 15% would avoid any physical contact with homosexuals to minimise the chance of contracting diseases, especially AIDS. Comparison between the medical students and non‐medical students showed that the attitudes of the medical students were significantly more homophobic. Factors explaining the difference included the importance of religion in the formation of moral values, gender, experience of working closely with homosexual friends, sexual orientation, experience of the heterosexual sexual act, acquaintance of homosexual friends, and experience of homosexual love relationships. In conclusion, there appeared to be a certain level of homophobia among the medical students. This could possibly be explained by their lack of experience of working closely with homosexual friends. Relevant curriculum modification and development are urgently needed, to provide ongoing opportunities for students to realise their own values that could unconsciously affect their clinical judgements. 相似文献
This article explores the possible contribution to Jewish education found in the resources of Judaica scholarship. It begins by exploring the complex and often uneasy connection between the world of the university and the world of education and then offers an alternative to this tension by suggesting ways that Jewish subject matter scholarship might both help expand Jewish educational research and improve the actual practice of education. Four models are offered as means of implementing these ideas. These models are explored through specific examples and analysis of the potential advantages and challenges embedded in each. 相似文献
According to the temporal-coding hypothesis (TCH; Savastano & Miller, Behavioural Processes 44:147–162, 1998), acquired associations include temporal information concerning the interval between the associated elements. Moreover, the TCH posits that subjects can integrate two independently acquired associations that share a common element (e.g., S2–S1 and S1–US), which results in the creation of a third association with its own temporal relationship (S2–US). Some evidence has suggested that such temporal integration occurs at the time of testing (Molet, Miguez, Cham, & Miller, Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes 38:369–380, 2012). Here we report two fear-conditioning experiments with rats conducted to identify the associative structure of the integrated temporal relationship. The goal was to distinguish between two possible associative structures that could exist following an initial test on which temporal integration occurs: (1) Conditioned responding to S2 on subsequent tests could be the result of recurring successive activation of two independently learned temporal maps that remain independently stored in memory (i.e., S2–S1 plus S1–US). (2) Temporal integration at the moment of initial testing could result in the formation of a direct S2–US (or S2–response) temporal map. Integration was found to occur at test and to produce a new association that was independent of associations with the common element (S1). However, the associative status of S1 appeared to modulate whether or not the new association with S2 was US-specific (S2–US) or directly activated a fear response (S2–response). 相似文献
As new media proliferate, professors need to be particularly attentive to the ways by which students learn—in and out of the classroom—and how scarce classroom time can be organized. This article argues that professors' comparative advantage lies as an exemplar of discipline‐based thinking. Effective training in how to think about problems (the essence of any discipline) demands that professors embrace the classroom as theater, where business drama and the story it tells can capture the hearts and minds of the student participants. The article talks through a case as theater. 相似文献