Trust schools and the politics of persuasion and the mobilisation of interest

This paper sets out the theoretical and methodological approach of a study of the politics of persuasion and the mobilisation of interest in relation to the Trust schools initiative in England. Drawing on the discourse theoretical approach of Laclau and Mouffe the paper argues that the politics of consensus associated with New Labour reconfigures the field of politics, closing down legitimate democratic space. Building on this approach and that of policy sociology the paper outlines how the researchers seeks to address the following questions – if the space for legitimate democratic debate is so severely constrained then how does a social democratic government deal with the kind of opposition that Labour faced in relation to Trust schools? How do governments persuade dissident citizens to support unpopular policies? How are citizens mobilised to support such policies? This also raises questions about how, in such a restricted political space, do those questioning or resisting such policies, engage in the politics of persuasion and the mobilisation of interests? The reconfiguration of the field of politics and what this means for the constitution of legitimate democratic debate is the object of study of the research.     

ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS AFFECTING TEACHING IN COMMUNITY COLLEGES: AN ABUNDANCE OF FEELINGS AND LIMITED FACTS

The primary objective of this study was to evaluate outcomes of the Virginia Community College System's (VCCSs) Professional Development Initiative, specically to determine the extent to which documented professional development needs of faculty members had been addressed and the extent to which student learning had been enhanced. Results of a five-year follow-up survey and the qualitative research techniques applied to peer group conferences and research grants revealed that specific professional development needs of faculty members were being met through the VCCS Professional Development Initiative. More faculty members were attending conferences or professional meetings their professional activity of choice than five years earlier as a result of increased funding for this development activity, particularly through peer group conferences and other VCCS sponsored workshops and meetings. Peer group conferences effectively addressed the problem of professional isolation, bringing together faculty members from every discipline to address significant professional issues and learn from each other. Research grants supported and encouraged faculty scholarship in every major area of development. Both peer group conferences and research grants provided faculty members with opportunities to keep abreast of the rapid technological changes affecting teaching and learning. Most importantly, the research findings indicated that the VCCS Professional Development Initiative had succeeded remarkably well in achieving its overarching goal enhancing student learning.     

Free agent learners: the new career model and its impact on human resource development

Changes in the job market are affecting how employees view their current positions and careers leading to more employees (so-called ‘free agents’) developing portfolio careers. To maintain their long-term employability, free agents need to continually enhance and expand their expertise, knowledge-base, reputation and networks, and it has been argued that this will influence how employees view and approach their workplace learning. This article reports the findings of qualitative research aimed at exploring the free agent concept, the implications for workplace learning and the implications for human resource development (HRD) functions in organizations. The research used a convenience sample of 11 organizations from three continents, with data collected from senior HRD executives through telephone and face-toface interviews and e-mails. The results highlighted how some employees are changing their attitudes towards workplace learning, particularly those considered ‘high potential’ or working in ‘high tech’ positions. The research also identified how organizations are increasingly viewing learning as a means of attracting and retaining high quality employees, with implications for HRD functions in terms of a greater emphasis on delivery methods for learning beyond traditional training and greater emphasis on career development activities.     

Childhood emotional maltreatment and later psychological distress among college students: The mediating role of maladaptive schemas

ObjectiveTheoretically, exposure to experiences of emotional abuse (EA) and emotional neglect (EN) in childhood may threaten the security of attachment relationships and result in maladaptive models of self and self-in-relation to others. The purpose of this study was to explore the extent to which EA and EN treatment by parents contributed uniquely to young adult maladaptive long-term outcome with respect to symptoms of anxiety, depression, and dissociation. The extent to which the relationships between EA and EN and later symptoms were mediated by specific internalized maladaptive interpersonal schemas was also explored.MethodsQuestionnaires completed by 301 college men and women (52% female) assessed perceptions of experiences of childhood abuse and neglect, exposure to parental alcoholism, current symptoms of psychological distress, and endorsement of maladaptive interpersonal schemas.ResultsHierarchical regression analyses revealed that perceptions of childhood EA and EN each continued to exert an influence on later symptoms after controlling for gender, income, parental alcoholism, and other child abuse experiences. Both EA and EN were associated with later symptoms of anxiety and depression and were mediated by schemas of vulnerability to harm, shame, and self-sacrifice. Only EN was related to later symptoms of dissociation; this relationship was mediated by the schemas of shame and vulnerability to harm.ConclusionThe findings are discussed from an attachment perspective, focusing on how early interactions with parents contribute to the development of internal working models of self and self-in-relation to others that influence later cognitive schemas and psychological adjustment.Practice implicationsAlthough emotional abuse and emotional neglect are the least studied of all forms of child maltreatment, they may be the most prevalent. The current findings suggest that how college students have evaluated and internalized these experiences may be even more important than the events themselves in determining the extent to which these experiences exert a long-term impact. For this reason, early intervention might be particularly important in helping to modify internal working models of the self as worthless, others as abusive, or the world as threatening and dangerous as a result of past abuse experiences. This study underscores the need for counselors to actively elicit and explore experiences of emotional abuse and neglect in clients, in addition to inquiring about other abuse experiences and types of family dysfunction.The results of this study also support existing data suggesting that internalized representational models of self and others are a key mechanism underlying the relationship between emotional maltreatment and later psychopathology. Young's schema questionnaire proved to be quite sensitive in detecting specific maladaptive schemas that mediated later difficulties with depression, anxiety, and dissociation. Targeting these negative schemas in therapy may help to ameliorate such symptoms. The therapeutic relationship provides a particularly effective context for developing more positive models of self and others, as well as providing a context to explore core relationship themes across different relationship contexts (e.g., intimate partner, parent, friend, and work relationships). In particular, if the assessment of the client reveals that dissociative symptoms are present, counselors can acknowledge the adaptive function that this strategy once served, while also addressing potential limitations to over-reliance on this coping strategy.     

Governing the (un)healthy child-consumer in the age of the childhood obesity crisis

In recent years, multinational food and drink corporations and their marketing practices have been blamed for the global childhood obesity ‘crisis’. Unsurprisingly, these corporations have been quick to refute these claims and now position themselves as ‘part of the solution’ to childhood obesity. In this paper, I examine how and why corporations fund, devise and/or implement ‘healthy lifestyles education’ programmes in schools. By using a critical ethnographic research approach alongside Foucault’s notion of governmentality, I interrogate what those with the ‘will to govern’ (such as corporations) wanted to happen (e.g. fight obesity, change marketing practices and increase consumption), but also what actually happened when these corporatised education programmes met their intended targets in three New Zealand primary schools. I critically examine these programmes by focusing on the ways in which three technologies of consumption – product placement, transforming children into marketers and sponsorship – attempt to govern children to be lifelong consumers of the corporate brand image and their allegedly ‘healthy’ corporate products. Although students were not necessarily naïve and easily coerced into becoming mindless consumers of corporate products, students and their teachers readily accepted that sponsorship, product placement and marketing in schools were normal, natural, necessary and mostly harmless. Healthy lifestyles education programmes represent a new ‘brand’ of health, health education and corporation. The child-citizen is governed to become the child-consumer. Corporations’ anxieties about being blamed for childhood obesity are fused with technologies of ‘healthy consumption’: the consumption of corporate products, corporate philanthropy, the corporate brand and corporate ‘education’.     

The acute angiogenic signalling response to low-load resistance exercise with blood flow restriction

This study investigated protein kinase activation and gene expression of angiogenic factors in response to low-load resistance exercise with or without blood flow restriction (BFR). In a repeated measures cross-over design, six males performed four sets of bilateral knee extension exercise at 20% 1RM (reps per set?=?30:15:15:continued to fatigue) with BFR (110?mmHg) and without (CON). Muscle biopsies were obtained from the vastus lateralis before, 2 and 4?h post-exercise. mRNA expression was determined using real-time RT–PCR. Protein phosphorylation/expression was determined using Western blot. p38MAPK phosphorylation was greater (p?=?0.05) at 2?h following BFR (1.3?±?0.8) compared to CON (0.4?±?0.3). AMPK phosphorylation remained unchanged. PGC-1α mRNA expression increased at 2?h (5.9?±?1.3 vs. 2.1?±?0.8; p?=?0.03) and 4?h (3.2?±?0.8 vs. 1.5?±?0.4; p?=?0.03) following BFR exercise with no change in CON. PGC-1α protein expression did not change following either exercise. BFR exercise enhanced mRNA expression of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) at 2?h (5.2?±?2.8 vs 1.7?±?1.1; p?=?.02) and 4?h (6.8?±?4.9 vs. 2.5?±?2.7; p?=?.01) compared to CON. mRNA expression of VEGF-R2 and hypoxia-inducible factor 1α increased following BFR exercise but only eNOS were enhanced relative to CON. Matrix metalloproteinase-9 mRNA expression was not altered in response to either exercise. Acute low-load resistance exercise with BFR provides a targeted angiogenic response potentially mediated through enhanced ischaemic and shear stress stimuli.