The Influences of School and Home Factors on the Career Development of Secondary School Students

This study examined the level of career maturity of 324 secondary school students and the impact of career guidance and parental involvement on the career development of these students. The results showed that students who had been exposed to some form of career guidance in school scored higher on the Career Attitude Scale. Those who had received home support in the form of parental involvement in career planning and availability of career role models also showed a higher level of career maturity in terms of career planfulness and work orientation. Although career attitude was found to mature with age, there was no significant sex differences in the career development of these students. Such findings highlighted the importance of career guidance in school and home support in enhancing the career maturity of our students.     

Tablet computers in Philippine public schools: school-level factors that influence technology management and use

Many developing countries are investing in large-scale initiatives to deploy information and communications technology in schools. However, merely equipping schools with hardware and software does not guarantee that the technology is used effectively to improve learning outcomes. This study aims to identify factors that influence the use of technology in schools in a developing-country context. It investigates this through a multiple-case study of the Australian AID tablet computer programme in the Philippines, in which 1000 tablets were given to nine public schools for student use. Focusing specifically on the impact at a whole-school level, the study revealed factors affecting outcomes that were specific to a developing-country context, as well as confirming the relevance of more general factors identified in the literature. The study also brings to light tablet-specific benefits and issues in this context. These results have implications for the effective school-level implementation of technology programmes in developing countries. Recommendations that proceed from these are presented for policy-makers and school administrators looking to use these devices in schools.     

Instrumentalism amongst students: a cross-national comparison of the significance of subject choice

Both educational policies and academic literature assume that students take an instrumental approach to their studies at university. However, despite wide-ranging discussions in the academic literature about contemporary arrangements and practices in higher education, empirical examinations of these conditions are notably scarce. This article reports on a comparative qualitative study into undergraduate students’ accounts of studying business or sociology at universities in Britain and Singapore. Drawing on Eric Fromm’s distinction between learning as ‘having’ and ‘being’, the article demonstrates that – regardless of national context – those studying business displayed many elements of passive, instrumentalised, or ‘having’ orientations to learning, whilst those studying sociology showed clear signs of the more active and less instrumental ‘being’ mode of learning. By examining subject allegiance across national borders, this article underscores the importance of recognising subject choice, alongside other important contextual factors, in moving towards a nuanced understanding of student dispositions.     

The academic research-teaching nexus in eight advanced-industrialized countries

The purpose of this study is to examine the internationalcomplexities of the research-teaching nexus in higher educationalinstitutions. The Carnegie International Survey of the Academic Professionis employed to compare teaching and research activities in eight countries.These countries include the former West Germany, United Kingdom, Sweden, TheUnited States, Australia, Israel, Japan, and South Korea. Findings revealthat teaching and research are not mutually exclusive activities in thework/life of faculty. Research oriented faculty are more likely to viewtheir research commitments as being competitive with teaching. Research isfound to positively affect teaching, but attributes of teaching (e.g.,course load, student demand, etc.) negatively impact research. In addition,the paper finds academic orientation and the number of articles publishedduring the past three years to be the most important factors in determiningthe number of weekly hours spent on research and teaching activities.     

A Methylome‐Wide Association Study of Trajectories of Oppositional Defiant Behaviors and Biological Overlap With Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

In 671 mother–child (49% male) pairs from an epidemiological birth cohort, we investigated (a) prospective associations between DNA methylation (at birth) and trajectories (ages 7–13) of oppositional defiant disorder (ODD), and the ODD subdimensions of irritable and headstrong; (b) common biological pathways, indexed by DNA methylation, between ODD trajectories and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD); (c) genetic influence on DNA methylation; and (d) prenatal risk exposure associations. Methylome‐wide significant associations were identified for the ODD and headstrong, but not for irritable. Overlap analysis indicated biological correlates between ODD, headstrong, and ADHD. DNA methylation in ODD and headstrong was (to a degree) genetically influenced. DNA methylation associated with prenatal risk exposures of maternal anxiety (headstrong) and cigarette smoking (ODD and headstrong).     

Regret for Complaint Withholding

This study examines regret for withholding relational complaints. The study sample of 393 participants completed measures of irritant frequency, irritant importance, relational intimacy, emotional distress from withholding, and regret for withholding. Irritant frequency mediated the positive relationship between length of withholding and irritant importance. This process predicted less intimacy and more emotional distress from withholding, the latter of which related to regret. Alternative paths were also found between length of withholding and regret. Results offer important implications for the role of regret management in hurtful confrontations and may inform other avoidance forms.     

On our way to the European higher education space A proposal for a teaching guide for the management control course in the business management and administration degree

In order to adapt curricula to the new European system of credits, ECTS （European Credit Transfer System）, it is necessary to previously elaborate a teaching guide. The teaching guide clarifies the subject syllabus making it easier for learners to understand, sets objectives related to the competencies and skills to be acquired, plans activities that should be developed according to new objectives and analyzes the learner workload that involved in these activities. This paper proposes a teaching guide written by the lecturers of management control, a fifth year subject in the Business Management and Administration Degree. For its elaboration, we followed the guidelines in the White Book sponsored by the Spanish National Agency for the Evaluation of Quality and Accreditation, as well as the guidelines for specific curricula used in the institution, together with the lecturers＇ experience and knowledge in this field.