Scaling the Heights of Heaven: Sister M. Rosalia Walsh and the Use of Story in the Adaptive Way

The work of Sister M. Rosalia Walsh and the Mission Helpers of the Sacred Heart gave impetus to the reemergence of the use of story in catechetical materials designed and published in the United States during the first half of the twentieth century. Focused on catechetical needs of Catholic children who did not attend Catholic schools, The Mission Helpers' Adaptive Way method also systematically addressed the training of the catechists who would teach them. This article examines Sister M. Rosalia Walsh's contributions against the historical backdrop of the catechetical renewal movement that began in Europe in the late nineteenth century and made its way to the United States in the early decades of the twentieth century. It is in this transitional period that a wider use of story returns to Roman Catholic religious education following a centuries-long hiatus. Sister M. Rosalia Walsh was a pioneer in catechist training, bringing to light once again the power of the use of story in the Christian formation of children.     

Behaviour and adjustment problems of young developmentally delayed children

ABSTRACT

As part of an ongoing longitudinal study of developmental delay (DD), 35 six‐year‐old children with delays of unknown aetiology were assessed with measures of cognitive, language and educational competence. Their parents provided detailed information about their self‐help and personal‐social competencies, behaviour problems and temperament. As a group, the DD children evidenced high rates of behaviour problems, but there was considerable within‐group variability in intensity and pattern of problems. Low relationships were found between the intensity of behaviour problems and children's chronological age (CA), IQ, language level and self‐help competencies. The child variable most strongly associated with behaviour problems was temperament, or behavioural style.     

A broken paradigm? What education needs to learn from evidence-based medicine

ABSTRACT

The paradigm of evidence-based education continues to inform the development of policy in a number of countries. At its simplest level, evidence-based education incorporates evidence, often that provided by randomised controlled trials, into classroom practice. England’s Education Endowment Foundation is in the process of exporting evidence-based school education, promoted as a medical approach, to other countries, including Australia. Australia is in the process of establishing an Education Evidence Base, informed by the government’s 2016 Productivity Commission report. While the literature around evidence-based education is explicit in identifying its basis in medicine, there has been little medical input into its development. Interdisciplinary examination of the medical literature reveals the contested nature and troubled state of evidence-based medicine and what policymakers need to consider to maximise the benefits of this translation into education.     

The fetish of the lens: persistent sexist and ableist metaphor in education research

The scientific metaphor of the lens remains widely used in qualitative education research, despite critiques of positivism. Informed by two recently completed empirical doctoral studies relying on Metaphors We Live By, we propose that the attachment to the lens is a fetish. We argue that this fetish, evident even in purportedly feminist, post-positivist and inclusive education research, emerges from fascination with masculinist and ableist power predicated on the othering of the feminine, and those with disabilities. Recourse to the language of power proves irresistible, if dangerous, for academics. We call for caution in the casual use of the lens and for new linguistic research repertoires that produce reality differently.     

Curriculum as colour and curves: a synthesis of Black theory,design and creativity realised as critical curriculum writing

This article looks to three inspirational Black women, bell hooks, Stacey McBride-Irby and Patricia Williams, in the pursuit of radical curriculum. While today curriculum is critiqued as racialised, gendered, sexualised and classed, the formats of curriculum documents such as text books, units of work and lesson plans have changed little. These documents are often conceived as linear sequences of steps leading to outcomes, and their voices are distanced and ‘neutral’. Drawing on a doctoral study of curriculum design in Australia, this article embraces a different approach by opening up a unit of work on girls’ popular culture to hooks’ invocations to teach to transgress, so that curriculum might be experienced as colour and curves, rather than a monochrome route to a pre-determined end point. Through this, along with hooks, I invite teachers to live pedagogy, rather than to deliver it.     

Blunted Myoglobin and Quadriceps Soreness After Electrical Stimulation During the Luteal Phase or Oral Contraception

Purpose: Acute muscle damage after exercise triggers subsequent regeneration, leading to hypertrophy and increased strength after repeated exercise. It has been debated whether acute exercise-induced muscle damage is altered under various premenopausal estrogen conditions. Acute contraction-induced muscle damage was compared during exogenous (oral contraceptive, OC), endogenous (luteal phase, HI), or low (menses, LO) estrogen in healthy young women aged 21 to 30 years old. Methods: Women (OC, n = 9; HI, n = 9; LO, n = 8; total N = 26) performed 1 neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES) bout. Soreness, measured via visual analog scale and the Likert Scale of Muscle Soreness for Lower Limb (LSMSLL), quadriceps strength, and plasma myoglobin (Mb), interleukin (IL)-6, IL-8, and granulocyte-colony stimulating factor were measured before and after NMES. Results: NMES performance was similar across groups. Meaningful within-group increases in Mb (effect size [ES] = 1.12) and IL-8 (ES = 0.38) occurred in LO; ES for HI and OC were trivial. ES of the between-group difference in change was moderate for Mb (LO vs. HI = 1.15) and IL-8 (LO vs. HI = 0.86; LO vs. OC = 0.73). 17-β estradiol correlated moderately and negatively with Mb relative change (r = –.52, p < .05). LO had ~5% greater strength loss than OC and HI. The mean change score for the LSMSLL 2 days post-NMES was clinically greater in LO than OC or HI. Conclusions: Acute NMES-induced indicators of muscle fiber damage and qualitative muscle soreness may be attenuated during the luteal phase or active OC pill consumption compared with the menstrual phase.     

Women and academic workloads: career slow lane or Cul-de-Sac?

Career progression for women academics to higher levels is not in proportion to their representation within the profession. This paper looks at theories about this and relates them to current practices within universities for allocating work. The management of workloads can disadvantage women through a number of interactive factors. Interruptions in continuity of employment and fractional contracts can work to exclude or hinder research activity, an area pivotal for higher progression. The issue that many models for allocating work exclude research from their calculations exacerbates this. Additionally this feeds off expectations that research work is conducted after hours at home, a feature that women may find more difficult. Lastly a lack of transparency can allow areas of, often unwitting, discrimination to go undetected through the skewed allocation of types of work not strongly associated with promotion. The paper suggests a series of measures that might improve this situation.     

Gender Discrimination in Korean Newsrooms

This study is the first to focus on gender discrimination of women journalists working in Korean newspapers. It tries to identify the extent and types of discrimination, and to identify factors associated with it. Virtually all respondents experienced gender discrimination and felt it is prevalent in the industry. In particular, women experienced discrimination for story and beat assignments, promotions, and training opportunities. They were excluded from receiving important information from managers within the newsroom and from sources. They also encountered verbal and physical sexual harassment and age discrimination.