Strategies for Achieving Gender Equality in Higher Education and Research in Norway

The vision behind the work of the gender equality advisors in Norwegian universities and the Research Council of Norway is that of full equality between women and men in all areas and at all levels of the sector of higher education. The Network of Gender Equality Advisors in Higher Education and Research was formed in 1994. Both good and less good news can be reported on the work accomplished so far. A double strategy is applied to tackle gender inequality: mainstreaming and special commitment.     

Physical activity,physiological, and psychomotor performance: a study of variously active older adult men

This research examined varying levels of physical activity and psychomotor and physiological function in variously active older men. Very active moderately active, and low active participants were tested on simple (SRT) and choice reaction time (CRT), coincidence-anticipation timing (CAT), and VO2max. No significant differences for age or height were found, although percentage of fat, and weight were statistically different. Active groups were leaner and lighter. VO2max was significantly different between groups, as physically active groups yielded geater values. SRT and CAT also yielded significantly different results with more active participants showing better performance. No between-groups significant differences resulted for CRT. Generally, increased levels of physical activity were related to superior physiological outcomes and improved psychomotor peformance.     

The Unbearable Insecurity of the Electronic Resources Librarian

The article will outline the Core Competencies for Electronic Resources Librarians (NASIG Core Competencies Task Force [July 2013]) and intersect them with the practical everyday working experiences of an e-resources and periodicals librarian. The aim of the article is to convey an understanding of working in a practical library office environment, while being aware of the complexity of the theoretical competencies that are desirable and recommended. While it is aimed mainly at librarians, it should also be of interest to publishers and other vendors as they gain an understanding of what it is that librarians (their customers) do all day.     

Three secondary school teachers implementing student-centred learning in Iraqi Kurdistan

In Iraqi Kurdistan, the educational system is going through significant changes. The educational system influences the students’ attitudes, and one wants the educational system to support the young democracy. In this study, student-centred learning (SCL) is seen as a first step to learning, but also to participation and engagement as a citizen. Three secondary school teachers worked with researchers from Norway and Kurdistan to implement SCL strategies in their daily teaching. Teachers experienced changes in their roles when emphasizing the importance of students’ participation in the learning processes. They could not lecture most of the time; they needed to make more space for the students’ activities and allow them to become more active. They acted more as mentors for their students. The content of the teaching also changed. When the teachers lectured it was about their subject. When the students were expected to be more active, the teachers also had to teach the students how to be more active. The traditional way of furnishing the classrooms in Kurdistan has been rows of benches and desks for the children and a desk by the board for the teacher. This way of furnishing was described as a hindrance when organising for students’ participation. The teachers’ experiences were of main interest in this action research project. Their responses to interview questions were validated by classroom observations. Also, a group of researchers with very different cultural and scientific background collaborated. This was in itself an interesting side effect in this action research study.     

Teacher-working-environment fit as a framework for burnout experienced by Finnish teachers

The purpose of this study was to explore the kinds of episodes that challenge comprehensive school teachers’ occupational well-being and cause burnout and how teachers perceive the relationship between themselves and their working environment in these episodes. Altogether, a selected group of 68 primary and secondary school teachers were interviewed. The narratives of burdening episodes were identified and analysed from the qualitative data. The results suggested that teachers’ working environment provides multiple contexts for burnout. Sources for teacher burnout varied between the working contexts provided by the single school. Moreover, the results showed that there was heterogeneity in the quality of the teacher-working-environment fit reported by the teachers while facing burdening situations or series of events in their work.     

Independence and obedience in the United States and Japan

Are some Americans and Japanese beginning to think more similarly about independence and obedience? Middle-class adult respondents from the suburbs of Chicago and Tokyo (U.S.: 43 males and 54 females: Japan: 71 males and 80 females) were surveyed about their sex-role values. This report focuses on two values which have been recognised as constituting fundamental differences between Japanese and Americans: personal independence and obedience. The survey used a metric multidimensional scaling technique called Galileo^®. Analyses of the data and results of other comparative studies suggest that any convergence taking place between the two societies is occurring primarily within American society. There is growing evidence, including the findings of this study, that Americans are moving away from their traditional stress on the importance of the individual in society. The Japanese respondents did show a more liberal conceptualization of the ideal woman with respect to obedience, however, there was no indication that this less traditional image of women extended to their other traditional roles in society.