Assessing the impact of information services in a regionalized health-care organization

Objectives: Assessment of the usage of medical library services before and after the implementation of several new services, as well as assessment of the clinical impact of the information provided by the medical library. Methods: A sample of employees, residents and physicians were surveyed using a stratified, random selection process in two surveys 4 years apart. The response rate for the first survey was 52% and the response rate for the second survey was 35.2%. Results: Differences in usage included increased overall use of the librarians and library services, decreased use of the Internet as a source of information, and direct and indirect impacts upon patient care. Information needs of respondents also increased to where 65% of employees and 94% of physicians require information at least once a week. Patient management was the main reason for needing information. The top two specific uses were to find out about a condition and determine a treatment plan. Conclusions: These findings parallel some of the findings of other researchers, and contradict the findings of others. Possible explanations for these findings and implications for future research are discussed.     

Assessing the SB‐V factor structure in a sample of preschool children

The purpose of this study was to examine the factor structure of the Stanford‐Binet Intelligence Scales, Fifth Edition (SB‐V), based on the Cattell‐Horn‐Carroll (CHC) theory of intelligence using a sample of 200 preschool children. The CHC framework uses three different models: one similar to Spearman's g, one similar to the Gf‐Gc model, and one representing the hierarchical three‐stratum CHC model. A confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), utilizing these three models, was conducted to determine which theoretical model best described the ability structure measured by the SB‐V. Results of the CFA revealed that, although the two‐stratum model provided the best fit statistics, a large amount of overlap existed among the broad CHC factors in this model. Therefore, these results suggested that a simple, overall ability model may be the best representation of ability for preschool children when using the SB‐V because the factors appeared to be indistinct with this age group. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Teacher learning communities and educational change in Scotland: The Highland experience

This article discusses the issue of the sustainability of educational change in the light of findings from research undertaken in tandem with a development project initiated by a Scottish Education Authority, The Highland Council. The paper reviews some of the key themes that have emerged from recent literature on educational change, before drawing on the project data to address two key issues: the factors that have helped to promote and sustain changes within the schools; and the barriers to innovation experienced in these schools. We conclude the article by identifying a range of considerations that should be taken into account by those seeking to innovate and we suggest that, while the Highland model for change has enjoyed a degree of success in inculcating change, more needs to be done to address systemic issues, such as the pervasive influence of a narrow attainment agenda in shaping classroom practice.     

Characterizing High School Students’ Written Explanations in Biology Laboratories

The purpose of this qualitative interpretive research study was to examine high school students’ written scientific explanations during biology laboratory investigations. Specifically, we characterized the types of epistemologies and forms of reasoning involved in students’ scientific explanations and students’ perceptions of scientific explanations. Sixteen students from a rural high school in the Southeastern United States were the participants of this research study. The data consisted of students’ laboratory reports and individual interviews. The results indicated that students’ explanations were primarily based on first-hand knowledge gained in the science laboratories and mostly representing procedural recounts. Most students did not give explanations based on a theory or a principle and did not use deductive reasoning in their explanations. The students had difficulties explaining phenomena that involved intricate cause–effect relationships. Students perceived scientific explanation as the final step of a scientific inquiry and as an account of what happened in the inquiry process, and held a constructivist–empiricist view of scientific explanations. Our results imply the need for more explicit guidance to help students construct better scientific explanations and explicit teaching of the explanatory genre with particular focus on theoretical and causal explanations.     

More? Great? Childcare? A discourse analysis of two recent social policy documents relating to the care and education of young children in England

This paper considers the overt and covert discourses in two contemporary policy documents in England and Wales, The Nutbrown Review: Foundations for Quality ([DfE] Department for Education Department for Education. 2012. ‘The Nutbrown Review: Foundations for Quality: The Independent Review of Early Education and Childcare Qualifications.' DFE-00068 2012. https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/175463/Nutbrown-Review.pdf.) and More Great Childcare (MGC) ([DfE] Department for Education. 2013. ‘More Great Childcare: Raising Quality and Giving Parents More Choice.' DFE-00002-2013. https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/219660/More_20Great_20Childcare_20v2.pdf.), which advocated a number of significant changes to Early Years provision. It employs Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) to ask questions about relationships between language and society, specifically how these are managed in policy documents. Drawing on Foucauldian analysis on the power behind the words and utilising [Fairclough, N. 2010. Critical Discourse Analysis: The Critical Study of Language. Harlow: Pearson Education Ltd.] CDA, indications of underlying values and assumptions, overt and covert agendas were explored. Findings suggest a significant shift in concepts of quality, professionalism and childcare that positions the child as an investment in the future as a strong feature of the discourse within MGC as well as an increase in top-down frameworks. Both documents assert that quality and professionalism will only occur with top-down regulation and inspection. They propose a consumer market based model of practice that has implications for professionalism of the workforce and quality of children's experiences.     

Risk,identity and change: Becoming a mature student

This article looks at the stories mature students tell about the risks of higher education, in terms of its effects on identity and the implications for relationships with their families and former friends. Two sources of risk are highlighted in their stories; firstly, risks stemming from challenges to established gender roles in the family, which are mediated by the effects of social class; and secondly, risks that accompany the movement away from working class habitus which is an inevitable consequence of being in higher education. To be 'educated' is to stake a claim to a new identity which can be threatening both to one's own sense of self or to others. This may be experienced either as being seen by others as superior, or as feeling superior to others, but in both cases, there is an implicit challenge to former relationships. In their accounts, students describe how they try to manage relationships with families and former friends in order to minimise the disruption to their lives. Whatever strategy they adopt has consequences for their self-identity, which is experienced as fragmented and compartmentalised. In this process of becoming a different person, gender and class interact to produce specifically gendered and classed experiences of this painful transition.     

Special educational needs support and consultancy in European schools

ABSTRACT

This article outlines the current state of development of special needs support and consultancy in four European countries: Holland, the Czech Republic, England and Wales, and Germany. Models of consultancy particular to the individual countries are also described. An attempt is made by the authors to determine the key features which allow for a common development in special needs support and consultancy work. They suggest that this might provide the basis for further critical