A National Profile of Research Degree Awards: Innovation, Clarity and Coherence

In 1993 the Government expressed its concern that:'the traditional PhD is not well-matched to the needs of careers outside research in academia or an industrial research laboratory' (OST, 1993, p. 3).
This government concern appeared to encourage innovation in developing the doctorate to meet a wider range of career needs.
By contrast, in 1996, the Harris Committee Report recommended that standardisation of the forms and nomenclature of postgraduate courses, including research degree courses, 'could bring national coherence and hence clarity in an international marketplace' (Harris, 1996, p. 38).
In this article we have developed a national profile of research degree awards using data from individual universities. This profile allows us to explore empirically issues of variety and standardisation in research degrees and seek ways of reconciling the need for innovation with the need to protect coherence and clarity.     

Primary Teachers’ Recommendations for the Development of a Teacher-Oriented Movement Assessment Tool for 4–7 Years Children

To inform the development of a teacher-oriented movement assessment tool, this study aimed to explore primary school teachers’ perceptions of assessing fundamental movement skills (FMS) within Physical Education (PE) lessons. Thirty-nine primary school teachers of PE, located in the United Kingdom, participated in an individual or group in-depth interview. Findings signify that teachers perceive a need for a movement assessment tool that is simple for them to use, quick to administer and provides valuable feedback to guide future teaching and learning. This is vital as teachers indicated a lack of appropriate resources and a shortage of curriculum time restricts their use of assessment within PE. A movement assessment tool that was integrated on a digital technology platform could increase teachers’ understanding of assessing FMS and enhance children’s learning of FMS.     

National identity and sporting mega-events in Brazil

Soft power is a two-step process. First, countries need to possess national cohesion and international credibility. Second, they can then project certain marketable images to other countries. When transferred into a discussion of sports, it can be argued that sporting mega-events have become important arenas through which to exercise aspects of this soft power matrix. This article considers Brazil’s hosting of the 2014 FIFA World Cup and 2016 Olympics Games. I seek to understand whether they successfully promoted national cohesion by renewing a Brazilian national identity and healing social divisions. The result, I argue, is largely negative. Neither the World Cup nor the Olympics spread the message of national cohesion hoped for by the political establishment that successfully bid for the events. Instead sporting mega-events in Brazil provided a unity of protest and only the hope, that in time, the periphery can be heard over the centre.     

School teachers' control and involvement in their own evaluation

Summary For the technical, sociological-psychological, and political benefits of teacher participation in evaluation to occur, new structures and policies concerning evaluation must be put into place. Teachers must be given stagewise support in developing increased involvement and control. But finally, those policy makers, evaluation program designers and researchers who plan for teacher evaluation must act to more completely include teachers in their own evaluation. A great deal of good is at stake in the opportunity to increase teacher participation in teacher evaluation.     

Reading Wars: A Brief History and An Update

The term “reading wars” is a way of describing the intensity of the debate that has raged over the last 20 years between the major theorists of the whole language approach, Kenneth Goodman and Frank Smith, and their critics, particularly Philip Gough. It has been a dead‐serious debate, though to an outsider it may have seemed like a series of pitched battles, with no prisoners taken. This review describes in detail the positions taken by both sides in the debate, and concludes that the Goodman/Smith theoretical position has not stood the test of time.     

Aspects of mathematics education in some third world universities

Information on principal aspects of the present state of mathematics education in 18 third world universities is presented. The principal tool used in collecting the information was a questionnaire which was widely distributed. Analysis of the information reveals important variations and similarities in the programs and structures of responding institutions. Some weaknesses are identified.This is an extended version of a paper presented to the Symposium on the State of Physics and Mathematics in Africa, held at ICTP, Trieste, Italy, 8–13 October, 1984.