The impact of programme accreditation on Portuguese higher education provision

The paper analyses the impact of programme accreditation in Portugal further to the operations of the Agency for Assessment and Accreditation of Higher Education, which were initiated in 2009. Tracking the evolution of study programmes, the paper found that, out of the initial 5262 programmes on offer in 2009/2010, 40% have been either discontinued or not accredited as of July 2015. The analysis revealed differences between the private and the public sectors, with higher proportions of discontinuations and closures in the former. For the discipline with the highest percentage of non-accredited programmes (Law), the main reasons for denied accreditation were analysed. The identified reasons were related to a lack of academic quality, for example, the programmes’ lack of compliance with legal requirements regarding teaching staff qualifications and full-time employment, the blurred identity of programmes, undifferentiated between university and polytechnic sectors, or curricular inconsistencies. The paper suggests that the identified reasons are likely to be symptomatic of the quality shortcomings in the provision of higher education programmes in Portugal. The data provide evidence that programme accreditation has had a powerful impact, reducing the number of programmes, increasing the number of PhD holders among teaching staff and raising institutional awareness of quality.     

READING MATHEMATICS REPRESENTATIONS: AN EYE-TRACKING STUDY

We use eye tracking as a method to examine how different mathematical representations of the same mathematical object are attended to by students. The results of this study show that there is a meaningful difference in the eye movements between formulas and graphs. This difference can be understood in terms of the cultural and social shaping of human perception, as well as in terms of differences between the symbolic and graphical registers.

     

Introduction to the Non-Cooperative Approach to Coalition Formation: The Case of the Blu-Ray/HD-DVD Standards' War

The concepts of the theory of endogenous coalition formation have not been utilized much to analyze issues in the field of applied economics. In this paper, we show how these concepts make a relevant and innovative contribution to these issues. We first illustrate the fundamentals of this theory and we present the concept of internal and external cartel stability. We provide an illustration of this concept through a basic example of an oligopoly in a cartelization situation. Then, we show the relevance of these concepts by analyzing the battle between the high-definition DVD-player standards: Sony's Blu-Ray and NEC/Toshiba's HD-DVD.     

Expansion and social selection in education in England and Scotland

This paper examines trends in social class inequalities in young people’s educational attainment and HE entry between the mid‐1980s and the end of the 1990s in England and Scotland. Using time‐series data derived from the Scottish School Leavers Surveys and the England (and Wales) Youth Cohort Study, changes in both absolute and relative social class differences within and across the two countries were analysed through the use of a series of ordered logits. The results show that Scotland has higher educational attainment rates but also higher social class inequalities than England. Moreover, while in England social class inequalities at upper‐secondary and tertiary level have declined over time, in Scotland no evidence of such trend has been found. The conclusions highlight that possible explanations for these patterns reside in the different features of the two education systems and in the remarkable educational success of the Scottish middle class.     

Scottish higher education, 1987–2001: expansion through diversion

A pressing question about the expansion of higher education is whether it tends to be inclusive, in the sense of bringing in larger proportions of persons from disadvantaged backgrounds, or diversifying, in that higher education tends to differentiate as it expands, or both, by bringing more persons into an increasingly stratified system of higher education. This paper addresses the question with evidence on higher education expansion in Scotland. Data are drawn from six waves of the Scottish School Leavers Survey from the late 1980s to the start of the new millennium. Binary and multinomial logit models are estimated to examine changes in inequality during this period, which was characterised by substantial expansion in both secondary qualifications and postsecondary enrolment. The results show that, in contrast to the general pattern of stable inequality observed in most nations, overall social inequalities in Scottish higher education enrolment declined over time. However, this decline did not occur in all sectors but was limited to the lowest-status institutions. These findings illustrate how expansion can serve both inclusive and diversifying ends.     

Predictors of Alzheimer's Disease Caregiver Depression and Burden: What Noncaregiving Adults Can Learn From Active Caregivers

This study examined similarities and differences between active caregivers (adult children and spouses whose family member had Alzheimer's disease) and not-as-yet caregiving adults (adult children and spouses whose family members are older, but do not as yet suffer from Alzheimer's disease). The objective was to determine what factors predict depressed mood and caregiver burden. Findings indicated that there were both differences and similarities between active caregivers and not-as-yet caregivers. While personality (extraversion) and anxiety about their own aging were the major predictors of depression for active caregivers, perceptions of a lack of social support was the major predictor of depression for not-as-yet caregivers. Regarding caregiver burden, perceived lack of social support, internal attributions of causality, and anxiety about their own aging were predictors for both groups. These findings are not only in concert with past research on the well-being of active caregivers, but they also importantly provide would-be caregiving adults with important information regarding caring for a family member with Alzheimer's disease. These findings suggest that not-as-yet-caregiving adults could better prepare for potential caregiving distress by learning active self-care skills, identifying what is meaningful about both growing older and about caregiving, and building a social network of support, all in anticipation of active caregiving.     

Book Reviews

The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of intensive interaction during interactive play between a preschool boy with autism and his teacher and, as a consequence, improve the social interaction between the boy and a non-autistic girl in an inclusive class in Greece. A single subject ABA design was applied. Observed variables included changes in the frequency of initiations and responses of the two children. Results indicated significant improvement and post-training maintenance in the social interaction of the two children. Discussion of results in light of known research in autism is highlighted and implications are discussed.     

Do Spanish secondary school teachers really value different sorts of procedural skills?

The aim of teaching science at secondary school level is that of achieving the scientific literacy of all citizens. This must involve diverse objectives, among which may be found the development of procedural skills (thought, manipulative, communicative, etc.). The new curricula of many countries provide for these objectives. However, it is important to know to what extent the teaching staff consider them as true content to be taught. In this article, we analyse the opinions of secondary school teachers belonging to schools in north‐western Spain with regard to how they value different types of procedures. Our findings show that the surveyed teachers establish differences between various procedural skills as far as the recognition of their presence in the classroom and their evaluation are concerned, although it may be said that they generally value procedural skills highly. These findings are discussed. In addition, the persistence of traditional conceptions in the teaching of science, as well as the difficulty of assuming that the changes promoted by new curricular approaches are addressed, are highlighted.