ATTITUDES OF LITHUANIAN SERVICE PROVIDERS IN GERONTOLOGY EDUCATION PROGRAMS: A PRELIMINARY STUDY

Having regained independence from Russia in 1990, Lithuania is in the process of developing a social service system to meet the needs of its older citizens. This paper describes the current situation of older persons in Lithuania and the early stages of gerontology education and gerontological service provision in that nation. Future social service providers (n = 22) who participated in one of Lithuania's first gerontological education training programs completed the 17 items of Kogan's Attitudes Toward Old People Scale. Results indicate that future service providers hold generally neutral to positive attitudes toward older persons. The absence of negative attitudes toward older persons among the first generation of Lithuanian gerontological service providers bodes well for the development of gerontology education and services for older persons in Lithuania.     

Personal inquiry: innovations in participatory design and models for inquiry learning

This paper describes a participatory design approach to the development of inquiry‐based learning supported through a technology toolkit. The work is part of an interdisciplinary project – Personal Inquiry (PI). The paper focuses on the approach we adopted, concentrating in particular on the two mediating artefacts we used to guide and frame the design process during two design workshops. The first mediating artefact used was an inquiry framework developed as part of the wider PI project and the second was Kellett’s enquiry research bubbles, which is a framework to guide enquiry‐based thinking processes. The paper reports on data collected during the workshops and reflects on the value of the approach adopted. The paper also explores the PI‐team’s own reflections on the design process and its role in the overall project.     

SEEING WHAT IS NOT THERE YET: SOPHIA LYON FAHS,ENTELECHY, AND THE RELIGIOUS EDUCATION ASSOCIATION

This article offers a brief theological biography of Sophia Lyon Fahs, a religious educator whose life and work unfolded during the first seven decades of the Religious Education Association and reflected many of the identity-bearing modalities that continue to give shape and continuity to the organization. In 1972, Boardman Kathan, the General Secretary of the Religious Education Association, described Fahs as “one of the truly great pioneers of religious education in the 20th century, in the company of Harrison Elliott, Frank McMurry and George Albert Coe.” ^{2 2} Boardman Kathan, “A Pioneer Religious Educator: Sophia Lyon Fahs at 95, an interview,” UU World (February 1, 1972). Fahs anticipated many theological challenges to religious education that were ahead of her time. ^{3 3} Within the text of this article all quotes appear as they were originally written. No attempt has been made by the author to alter the quotes for the purpose of rendering them gender inclusive. Radically inclusive in all aspects of her theology and philosophy, it is evident that Sophia Lyon Fahs was following the literary style of her time and in no way intended gender exclusivity.

     

TOGETHER WITH QUESTIONING MINDS: SOPHIA LYON FAHS (1876-1978)

Abstract Sophia Lyon Fahs's legacy for religious education is a rich source for understanding the initial decades of the movement, its present situation and its possibilities for future growth. A theorist and practitioner, Fahs's long career in religious education witnessed the ebb and flow of evangelical, liberal, neo-orthodox, radical, and revisionist theologies. In a short section of her last full text on religious education, Fahs considered the fragmentation between the cognitive and affective aspects of religion in Western culture and put forth “some conditions for a new unity” in the form of four directives. Fahs understood these considerations to be part of a balanced pedagogy for religion, one in line with what she foresaw as challenges to religious education in seeking to harmonize classroom, worship and life experiences. The directives offer implications for the self-understanding of religious education today.     

Current Practice in the Allocation of Academic Workloads

Significant factors within UK higher education include explicit competition, regulatory demands and pressures to maintain student numbers despite tuition fee increases. Universities have responded by more actively managing finances and quality but seemingly not staff time. This paper sets out findings on the processes and practices surrounding academic workload allocation (WLA) in universities, based on 59 detailed interviews from a cross section of staff. The main findings from this research are that there are a huge variety of different practices surrounding WLA and much potential for improvement. The approaches observed can be seen to work in a continuum from informal to partial, to the more comprehensive. Although many felt the disciplinary context to be very important to the process chosen, the findings of the research reveal that this is not the case.