Strengthening the special educational needs element of initial teacher training and education

In the academic year 2006–2007, the Training and Development Agency (TDA) set up a development programme to enable Initial Teacher Training and Education (ITTE) placements in specialist special education provision. The goal of the programme was to enhance the knowledge, skills and understanding of inclusive practice for special educational needs and disability among those joining and those who are relatively new to the teaching workforce. This article, by Gill Golder, Nicky Jones and Erica Eaton Quinn, all Senior Lecturers at the College of St Mark and St John in Plymouth, outlines one project related to this TDA programme. The authors explore the outcomes of their work on a three‐year BEd (Honours) Secondary Physical Education course in the south‐west against the TDA's objectives for both trainee teachers and the special schools to which they were attached. Results confirm the importance of preparing trainee teachers for a future career in more inclusive schools.     

Effects of pomegranate extract on blood flow and vessel diameter after high-intensity exercise in young,healthy adults

The effects of pomegranate extract (PE) supplementation were evaluated on high-intensity exercise performance, blood flow, vessel diameter, oxygen saturation (SPO₂), heart rate (HR), and blood pressure (BP). In a randomized, crossover design, nineteen recreationally resistance-trained participants were randomly assigned to PE (1000?mg) or placebo (PL), which were consumed 30?min prior to a repeated sprint ability (RSA) test and repetitions to fatigue (RTF) on bench and leg press. The RSA consisted of ten six-second sprints on a friction-loaded cycle ergometer with 30?s recovery. Brachial artery blood flow and vessel diameter were assessed by ultrasound. Blood flow, vessel diameter, SPO₂, HR, and BP were assessed at baseline, 30?min post ingestion, immediately post exercise (IPost), and 30?min post exercise (30minPost). With PE, blood flow significantly increased IPost RSA (mean difference?=?18.49?mL?min^?1; P?<?.05), and IPost and 30minPost RTF (P?<?.05) according to confidence intervals (CI). Vessel diameter increased significantly 30minPost RSA according to CI and resulted in a significant interaction IPost and 30minPost RTF (P?<?.05). With PE, according to CI, average and peak power output increased significantly in sprint 5 of the RSA (P?<?.05). There was no significant difference between PE and PL for bench (P?=?.25) or leg press (P?=?.15) repetitions. Acute PE supplementation enhanced vessel diameter and blood flow, suggesting possible exercise performance enhancement from increased delivery of substrates and oxygen. The acute timing and capsule form of PE may be advantageous to athletic populations due to ergogenic effects, taste, and convenience.     

Horse-Sense and Sensibility

Abstract

Sports historians are created in many ways. My path combined both personal experience and academic passion in tracing the development of equestrianism throughout history.     

Is It Time for a Sixth Dimension of Multicultural Education?: Resistance and Praxis in Challenging Times

The impact of the election of a new U.S. president and his far right ideology and agenda has reverberated across the entire world. This new reality calls for all critical equity-seeking educators; multicultural, social justice, culturally responsive, and others to be reflective and engage in deep thinking on ways to respond. Within a framework of advocacy and resistance, drawing on lessons of the past, my own experiences and research, this article offers some practical suggestions that others hopefully can build on. It seeks to connect a critical multicultural education framework to identifiable practices in schools and communities that challenges neoliberal approaches to education; xenophobia, racism, and other forms of structural oppression; argues that the actions and practices of multicultural educators must be explicit and generative in ways that make theory usable.     

Female Academics in a Knowledge Production Society

In the latter half of the twentieth century, the 'Professional Society' was, and continues to be, replaced by a 'Knowledge Society'. One of the characteristics of the 'Professional Society' was its masculine culture and hierarchies. This paper examines the effect that the shift from a 'Professional Society' to a 'Knowledge Society' has had on the careers of female academics. It considers the career paths of vice–chancellors and goes on to examine the effects of geographical mobility on promotions. In addition, the significance of high proportions of professors in highly–rated research departments, and the gender implications of that, is examined. In the concluding section it is argued that, while universities continue to support the hierarchies of the 'Professional Society', it is to the detriment both of women and of knowledge production.     

Personal and clinical exercise-related attitudes and behaviors of freshmen U.S. medical students

To determine personal and clinical exercise-related attitudes and behaviors of freshmen U.S. medical students, we surveyed 1,906 entering freshman medical students (response rate = 87%; average age = 24 years) in 17 U.S. medical schools. Students reported a median of 45 min/day of exercise, 80 min/week each of mild and moderate exercise, and 100 min/week of strenuous exercise. Nearly all students (97.6%) engaged in some moderate or vigorous exercise in a typical week. Sixty-four percent complied with U.S. Department of Health and Human Services exercise recommendations. Most freshmen (79%) believed it would be highly relevant to their future practices to counsel patients about exercise; predictors included intention to provide primary care, excellent health, prevention emphasis by their personal physician, and performing more strenuous exercise.     

Teaching to be American: the quest for integrating the Italian-American child

In the early years of the twentieth century, the great structural, social and cultural changes in American society included a growing number of immigrants arriving from the poorest regions of Europe. For the first time, the issues of immigration, assimilation and social integration became the most important problems facing American society. In the optimistic climate of the so-called progressive era, social reformers thought that these problems could be solved by the science of pedagogy, as applied to the educational needs of foreign immigrants. This essay centres on the pedagogical efforts of Italian-American educator Angelo Patri, who attempted to integrate Italian-American children into the fabric of American society through education. It starts by assessing Patri’s early writings, such as A Schoolmaster of the Great City, and his private and professional papers. In doing so, his work is situated in the debate on progressive education alongside pedagogue Maria Montessori, demonstrating his central role in the debate on integration through education. Within this analysis, particular attention is paid to the notion of learning by doing, and it is argued that both educators were influenced by this particular aspect of progressive education.     

Conquest or Reconquest? Students’ Conceptions of Nation Embedded in a Historical Narrative

This article focuses on university students’ understanding of the concept of nation. First an analysis of this concept from a historiographical point of view is presented. This allows for distinguishing between different conceptions of the nation related to 3 main approaches: the romantic, the modernist, and the ethnosymbolic approaches. Based on this analysis and also taking into account present research about history education and the construction of national identities, 5 different dimensions of the concept are presented: (a) historical subject, (b) identification, (c) territory, (d) legitimate claim, and (e) general concept scheme. Qualitative individual interviews were carried out with 31 Spanish college students about a Spanish foundational historical narrative, embedding the concept of nation, called the Reconquest (711 ad–1495 ad). Results indicated that although students showed tensions in their narratives, romantic conceptions dominated most of them. Possible reasons for the existence of these views are analyzed in terms of how the concept of nation is presented in and out of school. Also, implications for teaching and learning this concept are discussed, looking at learning strategies that could improve the understanding of this concept through its 5 analyzed dimensions.