A comparison of genetic variants between proficient low- and high-risk sport participants

Athletes participating in high-risk sports consistently report higher scores on sensation-seeking measures than do low-risk athletes or non-athletic controls. To determine whether genetic variants commonly associated with sensation seeking were over-represented in such athletes, proficient practitioners of high-risk (n = 141) and low-risk sports (n = 132) were compared for scores on sensation seeking and then genotyped at 33 polymorphic loci in 14 candidate genes. As expected, athletes participating in high-risk sports score higher on sensation seeking than did low-risk sport athletes (P < .01). Genotypes were associated with high-risk sport participation for two genes (stathmin, (P = .004) and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (P = .03)) as well as when demographically matched subsets of the sport cohorts were compared (P < .05); however, in all cases, associations did not survive correction for multiple testing.     

Beyond the power of one: redesigning the work of school principals

There is mounting international research evidence that the work of school principals is increasingly difficult, time consuming and more unattractive to prospective applicants. We suggest that the solution to this situation lies in redesigning the work that principals do. Using the New London Group’s (1996) definition of design as both process and product and as a hybrid of existing resources, we offer five cases of redesign: distributed pedagogical leadership, co-principalship, shared principalship, multi-campus principalship, and community-based principalship. We argue that these examples show that redesigns that focus on the school, rather than on the work of the principal, have more far-reaching effects, but are also much more vulnerable to context. We propose three emerging principles for redesign viz. developing a strong warrant for redesign, attending to infrastructure and building organic relations between school and community.     

Educational reform in North Cyprus—Towards the making of a nation/state?

The Turkish Republic of North Cyprus (TRNC) aspires to take its place in Europe and the global ‘knowledge economy’. In order to do so, it needs not only to be politically recognised as legitimate and to develop the kinds of economic and governance structures that signify a functional state, but also to produce a cultural imaginary of itself as a nation. In this paper, we mobilise Appadurai's theorisation of deterritorialisation, flows and context generation in order to examine the ways in which the implementation of educational reforms in TRNC might contribute to this ambition. We show that the ethnoscape and financescape combine to make education reform difficult, with specific challenges arising from the mixed commitment of the workforce, the capacity of the education bureaucracy to align support with policy mandates, and the ‘fit’ between the policy and local needs. We conclude by suggesting that TRNC faces the dilemma of working with cultural heterogeneity: Appadurai identifies this as a key ideoscape challenge for all nation/states.     

Sensitivity to rhythmic parameters in dyslexic children: a comparison of Hungarian and English

It has been proposed that sensitivity to the parameters underlying speech rhythm may be important in setting up well-specified phonological representations in the mental lexicon. However, different acoustic parameters may contribute differentially to rhythm and stress in different languages. Here we contrast sensitivity to one such cue, amplitude envelope onset (rise time), in dyslexic and normally-developing children in two languages, Hungarian and English, ages from 7 to 11. Dyslexic and control children received phonological tasks, reading and spelling tasks and auditory processing tasks. While sensitivity to rise time was related to phonological representation in both languages, clear differences were found between languages. It is suggested that these differences may reflect differential language-specific weighting of different acoustic cues to rhythm and stress.

The effects of choice in the classroom: Is there too little or too much choice?

Motivation is a subject that is constantly discussed in the field of education. Teachers are taught not only to teach their students, but to motivate them to want to learn. As students get older, intrinsic motivation tends to decrease; therefore it becomes more difficult for teachers to motivate students (Ryan and Deci, 2000a). According to self‐determination theory (Ryan and Deci, 2000a, 2000b), students' needs for autonomy, competence and relatedness must be met in order to experience positive social development and growth. When these needs are met, students experience high levels of self‐motivation. Offering choice in the classroom is one way to increase student motivation by appealing to students' needs for autonomy and competence. In the fields of marketing, economics and social psychology, decision‐making research is examined as a way to shape consumers' preferences. This literature review will aim to utilise and possibly translate some of these findings to an educational setting. By examining the aspect of choice in separate fields, it can be seen that there is still much to be researched in the field of education. Recommendations for future research on choice in the field of education are made.     

Parental history of positive development and child behavior in next generation offspring: A two-cohort prospective intergenerational study

This study examined whether positive development (PD) in adolescence and young adulthood predicts offspring behavior in two Australasian intergenerational cohorts. The Australian Temperament Project Generation 3 Study assessed PD at age 19–28 (years 2002–2010) and behavior in 1165 infants (12–18 months; 608 girls) of 694 Australian-born parents (age 29–35; 2012–2019; 399 mothers). The Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Parenting Study assessed PD at age 15–18 (years 1987–1991) and behavior in 695 preschoolers (3–5 years; 349 girls) and their New Zealand born parents (age 21–46; 1994–2018; 363 mothers; 89% European ethnicity). In both cohorts, PD before parenthood predicted more positive offspring behavior (β_range = .11–.16) and fewer behavior problems (β_range = −.09 to −.11). Promoting strengths may secure a healthy start to life.     

Looked After Children: Non‐local authority placements and meeting educational needs

Research consistently reports an educational disadvantage of being looked after. There is a lack of literature pertaining specifically to young people who are placed out of their local authority. The following research reports on an investigation of educational psychologists’ views on the educational implications of non‐local authority residential placements for 12 young people. The findings show that non‐local authority residential placements were usually precipitated by care crises and tended to have a negative impact on the extent to which educational needs were met. One non‐local authority residential placement which allowed continuation of the local authority educational placement had positive educational implications. Action implications for local authorities and educational psychology services are given regarding casework, working with other agencies, local commissioning of establishments and areas for further research.