Improving attendance and behaviour in Wales: the action plan

The National Behaviour and Attendance Review (NBAR) Report for Wales was produced in 2008. Subsequently, its recommendations were accepted by the Welsh Assembly Government (WAG) which established an Implementation Group to prepare its response in detail. A year later in April 2009 this Group presented its findings and recommendations to WAG in the form of an Action Plan. The Action Plan was entitled Behaving and Attending: Responding to the National Behaviour and Attendance Review. The intention of the Action Plan is to help to shape the direction of future developments on the management of attendance and behaviour in Wales over the foreseeable future. The Action Plan’s recommendations are sub‐divided into three: short, medium and long‐term solutions. The Plan’s strategy is broken down into eight key areas. These are on: attendance, behaviour, children and young people’s rights, early intervention, literacy, multi and inter‐agency working, school effectiveness and finally, on training and development. This paper outlines and considers these ideas, places the work into a UK‐wide research context and the Welsh educational policy strategy. It also indicates areas where future pilot projects and research will be necessary.     

Evolving regimes of multi-university research evaluation

Since 1980, national university departmental ranking exercises have developed in several countries. This paper reviews exercises in the U.S., U.K. and Australia to assess the state-of-the-art and to identify common themes and trends. The findings are that the exercises are becoming more elaborate, even unwieldy, and that there is some retreat from complexity. There seems to be a movement towards bibliometric measures. The exercises also seem to be effective in enhancing university focus on research strategy.

Technology‐loving Luddites? Declining participation in high school computing studies in Australia

The research discussed in this article is based on an Australian Research Council‐funded study carried out over three years (2005–2007) in three states ¹ 1. New South Wales, Victoria, and South Australia View all notes in Australia. The study sought to understand students’ experiences and decisions at secondary school to ascertain why few girls choose to enter tertiary‐level Communication and Information Technology (CIT) courses, and what strategies could be implemented in schools to remedy this problem. The results suggest that while boys still tend to dominate the higher levels of CIT subjects in Australian high schools across the three states, there was also a general decline in participation at all levels. Drawing on qualitative and quantitative data, the article examines patterns and explanations regarding the nature of participation in CIT subjects. The article develops a Luddite analysis in order to understand the strong rejection of this area of study in the three Australian states.     

Resistance and discursive practice: Promoting advocacy in teacher undergraduate and graduate programmes

Building on previous work in the areas of resistance and discursive practice, we explore their interrelations, interactions, and possibilities for advocacy of/by and for diverse disabled students within the context of two teacher-preparation programs in the United States: Teachers College, and Michigan State University. Using these two approaches as examples, we propose a model of advocacy for teachers who have students with disabilities, as well as other diverse children and youth in their classrooms and schools. We conclude with some key recommendations for teachers to transform their practice and advocate for these students.     

Looking at Eye Gaze Processing and Its Neural Correlates in Infancy—Implications for Social Development and Autism Spectrum Disorder

The importance of eye gaze as a means of communication is indisputable. However, there is debate about whether there is a dedicated neural module, which functions as an eye gaze detector and when infants are able to use eye gaze cues in a referential way. The application of neuroscience methodologies to developmental psychology has provided new insights into early social cognitive development. This review integrates findings on the development of eye gaze processing with research on the neural mechanisms underlying infant and adult social cognition. This research shows how a cognitive neuroscience approach can improve our understanding of social development and autism spectrum disorder.     

A Task-Oriented Non-Interactive Evaluation Methodology for Information Retrieval Systems

Past research has identified many different types of relevance in information retrieval (IR). So far, however, most evaluation of IR systems has been through batch experiments conducted with test collections containing only expert, topical relevance judgements. Recently, there has been some movement away from this traditional approach towards interactive, more user-centred methods of evaluation. However, these are expensive for evaluators in terms both of time and of resources. This paper describes a new evaluation methodology, using a task-oriented test collection, which combines the advantages of traditional non-interactive testing with a more user-centred emphasis. The main features of a task-oriented test collection are the adoption of the task, rather than the query, as the primary unit of evaluation and the naturalistic character of the relevance judgements.     

Environmental Education Research as Profession,as Science,as Art and as Craft: Implications for guidelines in qualitative research

The view taken by any particular educational researcher of the desirability and potential usefulness of guidelines for qualitative research seems likely to depend upon the way in which the activity of 'doing educational research' is itself conceptualised. The implications of a number of possible positions on this question are examined. It is argued that the existence of such a range of positions is likely to continue, but that there may be, nevertheless, a limited role for generally applicable research guidelines if their purpose is appropriately defined.     

The one- and two-handed backhands in tennis

The study investigated differences in the one- (SH) and two-handed (DH) backhands when hit flat, across-court (AC) and down-the-line (DL), and with heavy topspin DL (TDL). The ability to disguise each of these backhands when hitting the above strokes was also assessed. Eighteen college-level male tennis players, identified as having a high performance topspin SH (n = 6) or DH (n = 12) backhand drive, participated in the study. Players were required to hit three AC, DL and TDL backhands from the baseline with their preferred technique, while being filmed with two high-speed video cameras operating at 200 Hz. The highest horizontal velocity backhand for each stroke was analysed. Results indicated that the sequential coordination of five body segments (hips, shoulder, upper arm, forearm, and hand/racquet rotations) was required for the execution of the SH stroke. The same number of segments were generally coordinated in the DH stroke (hips, shoulders, and varying degrees of upper arm and forearm rotations followed by hand/racquet movement). Mature players produced comparable racquet horizontal velocities 0.005 s prior to impact using either the SH or DH backhand technique. The SH backhand was characterised by a more rotated shoulder alignment than the DH stroke (SH: 119.1 degrees; DH: 83.4 degrees) at the completion of the backswing. At impact the ball was impacted further in front (SH: 0.59 m: DH: 0.40 m) and a similar distance to the side of the body (SH: 0.75 m: DH: 0.70 m). Players using the DH backhand technique delayed the horizontal acceleration of the racquet towards the ball (SH: 0.13 s: DH: 0.08 s prior to impact) and thus were capable of displaying a similar hitting motion closer to impact than players with a SH technique.