Book reviews

H.R. Kells Self‐Study Processes: A Guide to Self‐Evaluation in Higher Education (4th Edition). Phoenix, AZ: The Oryx Press, 1995. Paperback. ISBN 0 89774 903 0 Price $34.95 (North America) 194pp

David Warner and David Palfreyman (eds) Higher Education Management, The Key Elements. Buckingham: The Society for Research on Higher Education and Open University Press, 1996. Paperback. ISBN 0 335 19569 5 Price £19.99. 239 pages.     

Mentoring in black and white: the intricacies of cross‐cultural mentoring

Cross‐cultural mentoring relationships can be sites of struggle around the issues of race, class and gender. In addition, the mentor/protégé relationship offers micro‐cosmic insight into power relations within western society. The authors of this paper, a black woman associate professor and a white male professor, use the example of their mentoring relationship to illustrate six common issues facing academicians involved in these relationships: (1) trust between mentor and protégé; (2) acknowledged and unacknowledged racism; (3) visibility and risks pertinent to minority faculty; (4) power and paternalism; (5) benefits to mentor and protégé; and (6) the double‐edged sword of ‘otherness’ in the academy. Literature is used for review and critique of mentoring in the academy while offering personal examples to illustrate the complexity and success of a 13‐year mentoring relationship between a duo who began their association as teacher/student.     

STS and comparative assessment of scientific theory

Comparative studies of science education can emphasise either student learning of school science in a competitive sense or the variety of science learnings that contemporary curricula for science expect. The Third International Maths and Science Study (TIMSS) is endeavouring to achieve a balance between these two different and psychometrically conflicting possibilities. The impact of STS on a number of countries' science curricula in the last few years is used to explore these tensions in the planning of TIMSS.     

Reviews: 8

O'Neill, Harold F & Perez, Ray ed (2003) Technology applications in education Erlbaum (Mahwah NJ (& Eurospan, London)) ISBN 0-8058-3649-7 372 pp $79.95 boards
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