Succession planning in England: new leaders and new forms of leadership

There are concerns about the supply of head teachers in many countries. In England, this problem arises from demographic changes and the perceived difficulty of the job. The National College responded to this problem by initiating a Succession Planning programme. This article reports the main findings from the external evaluation of the programme and links them to the wider literature.     

Theory of mind,executive function and social competence in boys with ADHD

Abstract

Twenty-two boys with a diagnosis of ADHD were com-KEYWORDS pared with 22 typically developing boys on an advanced theory of mind task and on two tasks measuring aspects of executive function. Parents completed rating forms measuring general social competence, as well as mentalizing and non-mentalizing social behaviours. There were no differences between the groups on the advanced theory of mind measure.The children with ADHD scored more poorly than controls on an inhibition task but not on a planning task once age and IQ had been covaried. Ratings of social competence were correlated with theory of mind and executive function ability for the typically developing controls but not for the children with ADHD. The results are discussed in terms of inhibitory and social information processing accounts of ADHD.     

CHILDREN'S PLAYGROUND BEHAVIOUR ACROSS FIVE YEARS OF BROADCAST TELEVISION: A NATURALISTIC STUDY IN A REMOTE COMMUNITY

3‐ to 8‐year‐olds’ free‐play behaviour was video‐recorded in two playgrounds before broadcast TV's availability in the South Atlantic island of St. Helena. Similar aged children's behaviour in the same playgrounds was recorded five years after television's arrival. Recorded behaviours were then coded for pro‐social and anti‐social acts. Out of sixty‐four pre‐lpost‐TV comparisons only nine significant shifts were found. Five revealed decreases in pro‐social behaviour (boys and girls), two showed increases in pro‐social behaviour (boys only), and the remaining two showed decreases in anti‐social behaviour (for boys only). In the discussion, particular environmental factors are highlighted which may help determine whether learned aggression (from TV and elsewhere) is enacted.     

TV‐VIOLENCE EFFECTS: EXCEPTIONALLY VULNERABLE VIEWERS?

From time to time, studies of links between youngsters’ television viewing habits and their social behaviour suggest pointers which may help identify those prone to ill‐effects from exposure to television programming.

This article refers to some of this research, before linking these pointers to the viewing habits of exceptional children (especially those with significant difficulties in their social and emotional behaviour). The article then makes cursory reference to initiatives designed to help safeguard young viewers from deleterious effects of television‐viewing.     

“It's not as if we've been teaching them…” reflective thinking in the outdoor classroom

Abstract

Research undertaken during a six week mountaineering expedition to Iceland in July 2003 set out to investigate approaches to facilitating the reflective process in 20 participants aged between 14 and 18. A number of models were examined to help determine the educational philosophy underpinning the expedition. The research methods involved documentary searches, observations and semistructured interviews. Findings suggest that the approach of expedition leaders accorded with the ‘mountains speak for themselves’ model as the leadersmade little or no attempt to encourage, facilitate or enable reflection on the part of participants. With few exceptions the participants did, however, engage in reflective thought both about the activities they had been involved in and the holistic benefits of the expedition. The findings suggest that whilst the facilitator/interventionist model and the Kolb cycle do little to explain the pedagogy within this expedition, there was evidence of much reflective learning from the participants.     

Are Integrated Learning Systems Good For Teachers Too?

ABSTRACT

The formal evaluation of Integrated Learning Systems (ILSs) in United Kingdom schools has raised questions about the professional development of teachers as they worked with pupils using the system. In this paper we will present evidence to show that by encouraging the use of information technology for more effective management of learning, and through the use of diagnostic material provided by the system about students, the use of ILSs can encourage the professional development of individual teachers.     

Images of the future for education? Videoconferencing: a literature review

In the past two decades, as new capabilities for video communication have emerged, their use in educational contexts has steadily increased. Initially located in higher education, the use of videoconferencing for a broad range of learning purposes is now established in many schools. Although a considerable body of literature exists that describes the experience of videoconferencing using traditional pedagogies, much less has been published on the contextual factors that lead to effective learning outcomes and innovative uses of videoconferencing. The purpose of this review is to establish a baseline for researchers interested in the area. In focusing on educational uses in both higher education and mainstream schooling, the review examines the affordances and barriers to effective teaching and learning, with what are increasingly robust and easy‐to‐use technologies. The paper concludes with a call for further research into the more innovative possibilities of videoconferencing.     

Film Directors

Alexander Sesonske, Jean Renoir: The French Films, 1924-1939 ( Cambridge: Harvard University Press -- $25.00 cloth/ $9.95 paper)

Martin Williams, Griffith: First Artist of of the Movies (New York: Oxford University Press -- $12.95)

Tony Rayns (ed.), Fas sbinder ($8.25 paper/$17.50 cloth)

Peter Baxter (ed.), Sternberg ($9.50 paper/$17.50 cloth)

G. K. Hall "Reference Publications III Film" series (Boston: C.K. Hall, 1979 except 1980 for Penn volume -- at prices shown below)     

It Is Not Just a Matter of Taste: 19th-Century Psychophysics and 21st-Century Sensory Evaluation Surveys of Food and Beverages: A Brief Review with Illustrative Readings

ABSTRACT

Virtually all major food and beverage processing companies employ professional taste-testing panels or conduct consumer preference surveys for appearance, aroma, and texture as well as taste. The literature and procedures underlying this sensory evaluation of foods have a strong basis in the specialty within experimental psychology called psychophysics. Founded in the late 1800s in Germany, psychophysics continues to flourish today in university departments of psychology and teaching hospital departments of neurology and psychiatry. While greatly aided by advances in chemical detection and medical imaging, sensory evaluation is actually still based mostly on eliciting human subject responses to physical and chemical sensations from novel food and beverage products, or from new formulations of familiar products, and then statistically analyzing the respondent's reactions as entered on questionnaires. This article reviews some of the terminology and concepts of psychophysics as applied to the contemporary sensory evaluation of commercially important foods and beverages, and lists selected classic or current research readings related to several enduring questions of test and questionnaire reliability in these intertwined fields.