The use of cost-benefit analysis in funding continuing education: steering the fifth wheel?

This article builds upon recent interest in models of funding Continuing Education (McGivney 1990, Berrell and Smith 1996, Matkin 1997). It is based on an EU-funded project which examined inter alia current funding models for Continuing Education (CE) within four European Union countries - France, Ireland, Italy and Scotland. The article firstly discusses the breadth of CE. It then investigates the existence of funding models by examining the use of cost-benefit analysis (CBA) in determining course provision in the relevant countries. We argue that while costs and benefits form part of providers' everyday thinking, expression of CBA was generally implicit and never articulated in technical terms. We suggest that providers' value-systems, or ideology, militate against simplistic use of CBA. We conclude by returning to the question of models of funding CE.     

Vergleichsarbeiten und schulische Personalentwicklung – Ausmaß und Voraussetzungen der Datennutzung

The introduction of comparative tests in a low-stakes system was carried out in the expectation that the data feedback to schools would act as a stimulus for the development of the schools and the standard of classroom teaching. By contrast with the use of data to develop teaching, the use of data for personnel development has not yet been studied in Germany. On the basis of an on-line survey of head teachers and a paper-and-pencil survey of teaching staff, the study examines for the first time the extent to which comparative test data is used by head teachers for personnel development and as a means to plan in-service training in subject conferences, and what factors influence whether the data is used in this way. Of the head teacher characteristics which were studied (attitude in relation to the perceived usefulness of the data, qualifications, organisation and age of the head teacher), usefulness is the only characteristic which has a positive effect on the use of the data. The use of comparative test data to plan in-service training in subject conferences is positively influenced by data-wise leadership by the head teacher and by collaborative evaluation.     

Film Reference Works

John M. Smith and Tim Cawkwell (eds.) The World Encyclopedia of the Film (New York: World, 1972 -- $25.00)

The Working Teacher's Personal Guide to Film Sources (Stanford, Ca.: ERIC Clearinghouse on Media and Technology, 1972 -- single copies free on request, paper)

D. Richard Bach (ed.) The Film Buff's Bible of Motion Pictures (1915-1972) (Hollywood, Calif.: Hollywood Film Archive, 8344 Melrose Ave., 1972 -- $24.00)

John Willis' Screen World: 1972 (New York: Crown Publishers, 1972 -- $8.95)

George Sadoul, Dictionary of Films, and Dictionary of Film Makers (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1972 -- $16.50/5.95 and $14.50/4.95 respectively)

Clifford McCarty's Published Screenplays: A Checklist (Kent, Ohio: Kent State University Press, 1971 -- $6.50)

James M. Salem, A Guide to Critical Reviews, Part IV: The Screenplay from the Jazz Singer to Dr. Strangelove (Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow Press, 1971 -- S30.00 for the set)

Cinema Catalog (Larry Edmunds Bookshop Inc., 6658 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood, California 90028 -- $2.95, paper)

Catalog of Film Literature (Cinemabilia, 10 Cornelia St., New York 10014 -- $2.50, paper)     

Logics of integration and actors’ strategies in European joint programs

This paper analyses how the interaction between social institutions on the one hand and actors’ strategies and interests on the other hand is shaping European integration in research policy. We specifically focus on the implications of the existence of different conceptions of European integration (logics) on the emerging landscape of research funding programs jointly managed by the European Union (EU) and National States (joint programs). Our results display the central role of the introduction of a logic of coordination by the EU; it created a breeding ground for a new generation of programs and, at the same time, allowed to make the integration model more flexible and acceptable to National States (as funding became only virtually integrated). Most newly created programs were characterized by largely symbolic commitments and very small budgets, while stronger commitments had to be constructed through successive steps of integration. This process was highly selective and dependent on the presence of strong interests from the research community; additional funding from the EU was critical to ensure stability of national commitments. Further, National States by large delegated to independent funding agencies the management of national participations: delegation allowed to achieve greater homogeneity among national participants, but also to decouple decisions to participate (driven by compliance to institutional pressures) from the level of resources to be committed (driven by national interests). While in the year 2000, the European Research Area (ERA) strategy of coordinating national research policies was largely an empty concept, our case study shows how in the following decade, it was filled in with specific experiences and practices, led to the redefinition of actors’ understanding of European integration and roles in European research policies and, ultimately, to the emergence of original models of integration.     

The Socio-Political Construction of a European Census of Higher Education Institutions: Design, Methodological and Comparability Issues

This paper reports on an experiment concerning the social construction of statistical definitions, where the first census of Higher Education Institutions in Europe has been developed. It conceptualizes the construction of indicators as a social process of definitions and boundaries’ negotiation, involving value judgments, social and political opinions, as well as practical interests and power strategies of actors. The paper exemplifies this process on three issues, namely the social demand for establishing a census, the controversy concerning the definition of a perimeter as well as the selection of indicators, and the nature of comparability judgments. We first conclude that the socio-political dimension has to be explicitly taken into account when designing statistical systems; second, that social scientists involved in this process need to openly recognize the conflicts around the definition of indicators; third, that the objectified and taken for granted status of indicators makes them a powerful instrument to influence policy decisions and, that indicator designers need to make their own value judgments and interests fully transparent.     

Student Attendance Patterns and Performance in an Urban Postsecondary Environment

Interest in student transfer/attendance patterns remains high. There is considerable evidence that the traditional perception of transfer from a single community college directly to university is becoming less the norm than in the past. In a continuation of a research consortium project begun in 1992, an urban university and three community colleges investigated the complex nature of student attendance/transfer patterns and their effects on student achievement in terms of credits transferred, GPA performance after transfer, degree completion, and time to degree. While previous research has documented the varied patterns of student attendance/transfer, the goal of this phase of the study was to identify what effects, if any, these varied patterns have on student performance.     

The thymus and its role

The thymus was first clearly described as long ago as 1522, by Berengario in his Isagoge, but its physiological significance has only very recently become apparent. It is now clear that this small organ plays a key role in organising the immunological defence mechanisms of the body. This article reviews current ideas in the action of the thymus, and the possible repercussions in medicine and our clearer understanding of its function.     

School Adoption by School-University Partnerships – an example from Germany

The partnership model ‘School Adoption’ was developed in Norway as a part of teacher education and in the meantime, is being implemented in several European countries as an internship concept. The core element is the so-called ‘adoption week’, during which student teachers teach all the lessons at a school, while the teachers attend a professional development course. University teacher educators work intensively together with student teachers and teachers. The student teachers who participate in the School Adoption experience their future professional field under increasingly real conditions and also in its entire complexity. How the complex internship is processed cognitively by student teachers, has not yet been examined. This study at the German University of Flensburg, is designed to evaluate student teachers’ concerns and stress experiences, and determine which factors are relevant for being able to deal with the high level of complexity. Content analyses show that student teachers’ biggest concerns are classroom management and recognition as a teacher, as well as an increase in the workload. The findings also indicate that internship settings with a high level of complexity, can be perceived as a positive challenge in the context of sufficiently structured preparation and support.     

Coordination modes in public funding systems

The aim of this paper is to look at public research funding systems from the perspective of their broader institutional arrangements, in order to observe how these shape the relationships between funding agencies and research actors. Accordingly, public funding is considered as a multilevel and multiactor system, where stable patterns are largely generated by the collective interaction among actors (beyond formal rules and structures) and where coordination between actors (especially funding agencies and performers) represents a key for the functionality of the systems. This drives to characterise the main organisational forms of public research funding in terms of their underlying coordination mode and to use this framework to evaluate them against a number of criteria. Further, the way how these organisational forms can be combined to yield national-level configurations is discussed, and some of their properties and conditions of functioning are derived from the previous discussion; this also leads to identification of three main configurations of funding systems - the project-based model, the mixed model, the vertically integrated model - which describe the variety of national systems and, to a large extent, underpin current discussion on European research policy.