‘Building Schools for the Future’: ‘transformation’ for social justice or expensive blunder?

This article is based on research undertaken between 2009 and 2012 into the former Labour government's extremely ambitious ‘Building Schools for the Future’ (BSF) Programme and its withdrawal by the Coalition government. The project, which utilises analysis of policy documents, case studies in six local authorities (LA) and semi‐structured interviews with national and local policy actors, is being funded by Roehampton's Centre for Educational Research in Equalities, Policy and Pedagogy and the British Academy (SG100363). The focus of this article is the implications for social justice of BSF and its subsequent withdrawal. The structure of the article comprises an introduction to BSF and a summary of some of the main issues arising from it. We then move on to explore the social justice dimension of BSF as it is expressed in LA documents and in relation to the social policy aspirations of the former Labour government. In July 2010 the Coalition government discontinued the BSF programme and we track events and policy from that time, particularly focussing on the radical shift away from Labour's transformational and communitarian agenda in favour of criteria based on efficiency and value‐for‐money. We present data from our interviews with local actors on the equality and social justice impacts of this re‐orientation of policy. We conclude by arguing against the view that Labour abandoned social justice suggesting that BSF was one of a number of policies through which equality was pursued, albeit by stealth.     

To Sign or Not to Sign? The Impact of Encouraging Infants to Gesture on Infant Language and Maternal Mind‐Mindedness

Findings are presented from the first randomized control trial of the effects of encouraging symbolic gesture (or “baby sign”) on infant language, following 40 infants from age 8 months to 20 months. Half of the mothers were trained to model a target set of gestures to their infants. Frequent measures were taken of infant language development and dyadic interactions were scrutinized to assess mind‐mindedness. Infants exposed to gesture did not differ from control conditions on language outcomes; thus, no support was found for previous claims that encouraging gesturing with infants accelerates linguistic development. Microgenetic analysis revealed mothers in the gesture training conditions were more responsive to their infants' nonverbal cues and encouraged more independent action by their infant.     

Education recoded: policy mobilities in the international ‘learning to code’ agenda

Abstract

Education policy increasingly takes place across borders and sectors, involving a variety of both human and nonhuman actors. This comparative policy paper traces the ‘policy mobilities,’ ‘fast policy’ processes and distributed ‘policy assemblages’ that have led to the introduction of new computer programming practices into schools and curricula in England, Sweden and Australia. Across the three contexts, government advisors and ministers, venture capital firms, think tanks and philanthropic foundations, non-profit organizations and commercial companies alike have promoted computer programming in schools according to a variety of purposes, aspirations, and commitments. This paper maps and traces the evolution of the organizational networks in each country in order to provide a comparative analysis of computing in schools as an exemplar of accelerated, transnationalizing policy mobility. The analysis demonstrates how computing in schools policy has been assembled through considerable effort to create alignments between diverse actors, the production and circulation of material objects, significant cross-border movement of ideas, people and devices, and the creation of strategic partnerships between government centres and commercial vendors. Computing in schools exemplifies how modern education policy and governance is accomplished through sprawling assemblages of actors, events, materials, money and technologies that move across social, governmental and geographical boundaries.     

Fear of Falling and Older Adult Peer Production of Audio-Visual Discussion Material

A growing body of work suggests that negative stereotypes of, and associations between, falling, fear of falling, and ageing, may mean that older adults reject falls information and advice. Against a widely accepted backdrop of demographic ageing in Europe and that alleviating the impacts of falls and fear of falling are pressing health care matters, this is a critical issue. This paper describes a recent peer learning and sharing strategy that set out to iteratively produce a series of short audio visual discussion programs on falling and fear of falling. Key outcomes included older adults appreciating peer group sharing as an acceptable way of opening up the silence surrounding falls incidences, enjoying participating in a problem solving strategy, and emphasizing that falls prevention is not just their responsibility. Outcomes suggest that peer learning and sharing are valuable falls and fear of falling support strategies.     

核心稳定性在人体运动中的作用

在体育运动中,核心的主要作用是稳定身体、是肌肉发力的基础,这一点日益得到公认。从跑步到投掷等各项体育运动中,稳定的核心是有效发挥人体生物力学功能的关键因素,从而使肌肉发力最大化并最大限度减小关节负荷。我们将核心肌群的功能理解为中枢神经系统预设的程序,这个程序整合局部的、单关节和多个关节上的肌群活动,在保持整体稳定的同时完成体育动作。近端的稳定性是远端灵活性的基础,在这个基础上可以建立从近端向远端的发力模式,并且可以通过肌群的协同作用力在完成远端动作的同时保护远端关节。评估动态核心能力是一项重要任务,其中包括对躯干特定功能和三维运动能力的评估。运动康复训练计划应该包括核心能力的重建,并且应该将核心视为远端肢体运动的基础。     

牛膝中植物甾酮类成分的研究进展

植物甾酮类成分是怀牛膝的主要有效成分,具有调节糖代谢、抗脂质过氧化、保护内皮细胞、调节基因表达、影响细胞繁殖等作用。本文综述了近几年对怀牛膝中植物甾酮类成分的研究情况,就其结构性质、分离分析和药理作用作一概述。     

Solid-state intramolecular motions in continuous fibers driven by ambient humidity for fluorescent sensors

One striking feature of molecular rotors is their ability to change conformation with detectable optical signals through molecular motion when stimulated. However, due to the strong intermolecular interactions, synthetic molecular rotors have often relied on fluid environments. Here, we take advantage of the solid-state intramolecular motion of aggregation-induced emission (AIE) molecular rotors and one-dimensional fibers, developing highly sensitive optical fiber sensors that respond to ambient humidity rapidly and reversibly with observable chromatic fluorescence change. Moisture environments induce the swelling of the polymer fibers, activating intramolecular motions of AIE molecules to result in red-shifted fluorescence and linear response to ambient humidity. In this case, polymer fiber provides a process-friendly architecture and a physically tunable medium for the embedded AIE molecules to manipulate their fluorescence response characteristics. Assembly of sensor fibers could be built into hierarchical structures, which are adaptive to diverse-configuration for spatial-temporal humidity mapping, and suitable for device integration to build light-emitting sensors as well as touchless positioning interfaces for intelligence systems.     

网络环境对图书馆人才的新要求

论述了２１世纪图书馆在信息网络环境下运行成为必然，并从六个方面概述了网络环境下图书馆人才应具备的素质与知识结构。     

以综合实践活动促物理课堂转型——以“比较材料的隔声性能”教学为例

综合实践活动是苏科版物理教科书编写的特色之一,它具有很强的自主性、综合性、开放性。开展综合实践活动旨在让学生通过简单的活动,形成物理观念,在体验科学探究的基本过程时训练科学思维,逐步学会运用物理方法研究、解决较为复杂的生活、生产问题,逐渐形成解决社会问题的责任感和使命感。综合实践活动的开展对推动课堂转型、提升学生物理核心素养具有积极的促进作用。