The importance of the personal element in collaborative research

This account draws on the experience of five final-year students of human communication and one tutor from the Manchester Metropolitan University who conducted collaborative research into life stages. The research was personally developmental for all those involved and resulted in an increased sense of personal power. The authors discuss the use of their personal development as a research tool, using the models of cooperative inquiry and heuristic inquiry. Ultimately, they consider how their ‘therapeutic’ process can be termed ‘research’, and how their approach can be utilised in research that is personally and socially educational.     

Coloured overlays,visual discomfort,visual search and classroom reading

Forty-six children aged 12–16 were shown a page of meaningless text covered in random order by different plastic overlays, including seven that were various colours and one that was clear. By successive pairwise comparison each child selected the overlay that provided the greatest perceptual clarity of the text. The children with below-average reading ability were more likely to chose a coloured overlay, and they reported more perceptual difficulty on tasks devised by Irlen (1983). In separate sessions with and without the overlay of their choice, the children read for 15 minutes and performed a visual search task. The overlay had little effect on reading initially, but after about 10 minutes the children who chose a coloured overlay read more slowly without the overlay than with it. These children reported more symptoms of visual discomfort and showed signs of tiring when they read without the overlay. The visual search performance of the children who chose a coloured overlay was initially impaired but improved to normal levels when the overlay was used. Fourteen children aged 8–16 acted as chronological or reading age-matched controls, and undertook the reading and visual search tasks using a clear overlay which had no effect on performance.     

An Assessment of the Quantitative Literacy of Undergraduate Students

Quantitative literacy (QLT) represents an underlying higher-order construct that accounts for a person's willingness to engage in quantitative situations in everyday life. The purpose of this study is to retest the construct validity of a model of quantitative literacy (Wilkins, 2010). In this model, QLT represents a second-order factor that accounts for the interrelationship among three first-order factors: mathematical beliefs, mathematical disposition, and mathematical cognition. Using data from two samples of undergraduate students (n = 186 and n = 184), a series of confirmatory factor analyses were conducted. Results supported the hierarchical three-factor structure and confirmed its factorial invariance across multiple groups of students. Latent QLT scores from the model were used to compare and rank student QLT by gender and class standing.     

Translations of new public management: a decentred approach to school governance in four OECD countries

Despite the prevalence of corporate and performative models of school governance within and across different education systems, there are various cases of uneven, hybrid expressions of New Public Management (NPM) that reveal the contingency of global patterns of rule. Adopting a ‘decentred approach’ to governance (Bevir, M. 2010. “Rethinking Governmentality: Towards Genealogies of Governance.” European Journal of Social Theory 13 (4): 423–441), this paper compares the development of NPM in four OECD countries: Australia, England, Spain, and Switzerland. A focus of the paper is how certain policy instruments are created and sustained within highly differentiated geo-political settings and through different multi-scalar actors and authorities yet modified to reflect established traditions and practices.     

Establishing international branch campuses: a framework for assessing opportunities and risks

At the start of 2016, there were 230 international branch campuses operating worldwide, but of the campuses that were established since the mid-1990s, around 10 per cent have failed. The purpose of this article is to propose a framework that the strategic decision makers in higher education institutions can refer to when evaluating opportunities to develop branch campuses in foreign countries. The framework derives from empirical evidence that was the product of a rigorous search of the literature and other secondary sources, and it has drawn upon business management theories such as institutional theory, Porter’s industry-based view, and Barney’s resource-based view. Thematic analysis was used to identify the following themes, or influencing factors, in the data: environmental, industry, and organisational. The framework provides higher education managers with an analytical tool to guide a process of systematic data collection and analysis, which includes reflection on institutional objectives, resources, and competencies. It is likely that the systematic, data-driven approach promoted by the framework will in future reduce the number of international branch campus failures.     

The effect of a school-wide inclusion training programme upon teachers' attitudes about inclusion

This study compared survey responses of teachers from a reform‐based programme focused on promoting inclusion‐based classrooms, namely Project WINS (Winning Ideas Network for Schools) schools, with teachers from non‐Project WINS schools with regard to their attitude about inclusion in the classroom. Surprisingly, the results of this study revealed no differences between the two groups of teachers on most facets of inclusion. The one significant difference found a greater preference for inclusion by non‐Project WINS teachers with regard to classroom climate. The study also revealed a higher preference for inclusion for teachers with higher self‐reported expertise in special education regardless of what group the teacher was surveyed from. Findings from this study indicate the need for further research and improvements in training methods for Project WINS and similar programmes that attempt to change teachers’ attitudes towards inclusion as an important first step in improving practice in inclusion‐based classrooms. As the movement for more inclusion in schools increases, administrators, special educators and teachers are caught in the midst of the tide. Proponents of inclusion believe change is needed now, but those not in favour of such changes recommend not implementing inclusion without further research ( Snyder, 1999 ). In addition, schools need assistance in developing and implementing policies and practices that will lead to an effective inclusion experience for all parties involved ( Johnson, 2000 ). The primary purpose of this study was to further this research by examining attitudes related to inclusion of teachers participating in a programme implemented in middle schools with the explicit goal of fostering effective inclusion‐based classrooms. Second, we tested the relationship between perceived expertise in special education and attitudes towards inclusion. Below we briefly describe some of the factors that research has shown to influence teachers’ level of acceptance of inclusion‐based classrooms.     

The resilience of the MBA in emerging economies: student motivations for wanting an MBA in China and the United Arab Emirates

In recent years, domestic demand for MBAs has fallen in most major Western markets but has increased or remained stable in emerging economies such as China and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which are the two countries globally that host the largest numbers of international branch campuses. Thus, this research aimed to discover why students in China and the UAE still want an MBA. A survey questionnaire was completed by a total of 354 MBA students, at two universities in China and two universities in the UAE. Some of the results were surprising and unexpected. For example, recognition, prestige and networking – all key features in Chinese and Emirati societies – were found not to be key motivators for wanting an MBA. Instead, the desire to acquire knowledge and skills was the strongest motivator among respondents, accounting for 32.4 per cent of variance. This was followed by reasons associated with intrinsic benefits. The findings have implications for institutional strategy, curriculum design, program delivery and the marketing of programs.     

Diagnostic Profiles: A Standard Setting Method for Use With a Cognitive Diagnostic Model

This article introduces the Diagnostic Profiles (DP) standard setting method for setting a performance standard on a test developed from a cognitive diagnostic model (CDM), the outcome of which is a profile of mastered and not‐mastered skills or attributes rather than a single test score. In the DP method, the key judgment task for panelists is a decision on whether or not individual cognitive skill profiles meet the performance standard. A randomized experiment was carried out in which secondary mathematics teachers were randomly assigned to either the DP method or the modified Angoff method. The standard setting methods were applied to a test of student readiness to enter high school algebra (Algebra I). While the DP profile judgments were perceived to be more difficult than the Angoff item judgments, there was a high degree of agreement among the panelists for most of the profiles. In order to compare the methods, cut scores were generated from the DP method. The results of the DP group were comparable to the Angoff group, with less cut score variability in the DP group. The DP method shows promise for testing situations in which diagnostic information is needed about examinees and where that information needs to be linked to a performance standard.