National Devolution in Swedish Higher Education -- A Quest for New Local Leadership. The Case of Leadership Development at Göteborg University

In 1993 a new national form for governance was introduced in Swedish higher education. The new regime, best described in terms of deregulation and decentralisation, among other things, required a new individually based leadership at universities.The paper describes the development of one particular 10-day interfaculty leadership training course for heads of departments, directors of study and other local managers, its content and methods and some implications for strategic management in higher education institutions.Four such implications are covered: constructing a new social identity as leaders, getting leadership acceptance in an individualistic academic-freedom culture, training academic leaders in accordance with professional values, and dealing with accountability in a collegial decision-making environment.     

Tracking of Gross Motor Coordination From Childhood Into Adolescence

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to analyze tracking and stability of motor coordination in children from age 6 years to ages 9 and 13 years. Method: Data were from the Copenhagen School Child Intervention Study. Motor coordination (MC) was measured using the körperkoordinationstest für Kinder (KTK) test. The crude performance score on every item was converted into a standardized “score” based on the original German reference study, which was used to generate a total standardized motor coordination (MQ) score. The MQ scores, which represented children's level of gross MC, were classified as low (MQ score < 85), normal (MQ score = 85–115), or high (MQ score>115). Pearson correlation was used to calculate the tracking coefficients of each KTK element and MQ score, and weighted kappa was used to analyze maintenance in MC classification groups. Mixed-effects logistic regression analyses were performed to examine the odds of remaining in the low MC group over time based on body mass index (BMI), weight, and height tertiles. Results: Tracking coefficients among the MQ score and each KTK element at different ages were moderate (r>.35). Children in the highest BMI and weight tertiles had a 5.44 and 5.15 times greater chance to be in the lower MC classification group during the 7-year follow-up, respectively, in comparison with children in their lowest tertiles. Conclusion: MC tracked moderately through childhood to early adolescence. Because heavier children had a greater chance to be in the lower MC group at older ages, intervention may be useful at earlier ages for those with lower MC and disadvantageous weight status.     

Virtual Patriot Games: American Football in The Times of London, 1888–1910

Abstract

This study examines the American football press coverage in the Times of London from 1888 to November 1910. The time span covers the paper’s first mention of the game to the first game played in England. This period also coincides with increasing anxiety about the strength of the British Empire and unwanted American influences. During this time, athletic contests between the two nations turned into sites for the construction of national identities. Adapting the sport scholar Emma Poulton’s concept of ‘mediated patriot games’, the author argues that the American football coverage of the Times of London could be considered ‘virtual patriot games’, as the absence of domestic American football teams did not allow for direct competition. Two related narrative elements. The stories in the Times framed gridiron football as the pastime of the ‘other’, including translating rules and comparing the merits of rugby and American football. The reports also focused on the American game’s violence, confirming older traditions in British imaginations of America. Advancements in communication technologies, especially the telegraphic wire, were critical for the immediacy with which British readers consumed American sporting news. Contrary to current scholarship, British interpretations of American culture through gridiron football developed much earlier than the post-1970s information age.     

Sports activity patterns and cardio-metabolic health over time among adults in Germany: Results of a nationwide 12-year follow-up study

BackgroundPhysical activity is favorable for health, and vigorous sports activity is particularly beneficial. This study investigates the association between changes in sports participation patterns over time and cardio-metabolic and self-perceived health outcomes.MethodsData from 3752 adults (18–79 years of age) who participated in 2 national health interview and examination surveys in 1997–1999 and 2008–2011 were included, with a mean follow-up time of about 12 years. A change in self-reported sports activity was analyzed with respect to the incidence of type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease (CHD), hypertension, obesity, dyslipidemia, metabolic syndrome, and poor self-perceived health. Participants with pre-existing disease or risk factor of interest at baseline were excluded from the analysis. Being sufficiently active in sports was specified as doing sports for at least 1–2 h per week, and 4 activity categories were defined: 1) inactive at both time points (inactive–inactive), 2) inactive at baseline and active at follow-up (inactive–active), 3) active at baseline and inactive at follow-up (active–inactive), and 4) active at both time points (active–active). Associations between sports activity engagement and health outcomes were estimated by logistic regression models with different stages of adjustments.ResultsNot engaging in any regular sports activity at both time points (inactive–inactive) was associated with higher rates of type 2 diabetes (odds ratio (OR) = 1.82, 95% confidence interval (95%CI): 1.08–3.08), CHD (OR = 1.82, 95%CI: 1.16–2.84), hypertension (OR = 1.36, 95%CI: 1.03–1.81), metabolic syndrome (OR = 1.58, 95%CI: 1.08–2.32), and poor self-perceived health (OR = 2.54, 95%CI: 1.83–3.53) compared to doing regular sports for a minimum of 1–2 h per week over time (active–active). In case of change from inactivity to any regular sports activity (inactive–active), the rate of risk factor occurrence was not statistically different from the active–active reference group except for poor self-perceived health, but it was higher for type 2 diabetes (OR = 2.15, 95%CI: 1.12–4.14) and CHD (OR = 1.77, 95%CI: 1.03–3.03). Being active at baseline but inactive at follow-up (active–inactive) was not associated with higher disease incidence of type 2 diabetes (OR = 0.70, 95%CI: 0.25–1.97) or CHD (OR = 1.20, 95%CI: 0.49–2.99), but was associated with higher rates of hypertension (OR = 1.61, 95%CI: 1.11–2.34), obesity (OR = 2.34, 95%CI: 1.53–3.57), metabolic syndrome (OR = 1.70, 95%CI: 1.11–2.63), and poor self-perceived health (OR = 2.16, 95%CI: 1.53–3.07) at follow-up.ConclusionEven a low weekly quantity (1–2 h) of regular sports activity is partly associated with health benefits. Being formerly but not currently active was not associated with an increased disease incidence, but was associated with a higher risk-factor development compared to the reference group (active–active). Becoming active was preventive for risk-factor development but was not preventive for disease incidence, which probably means that the health benefits from sports activity are not sustainable and disease incidence is only shifted to a later period in life. For this reason, the promotion of and commitment to regular sports activity should be addressed as early as possible over the lifespan to achieve the best health benefits.     

Conceptions of mentoring: An empirical study of conceptions of mentoring during the school-based teacher education

This article discusses the mentoring given by the mentor (cooperating teacher) during the practical part of teacher training. This mentoring is empirically described by studying and describing how it is conceived of by a group of mentors and student teachers. The differences in conceptions found concerning the functions are discussed in terms of a reflecting and a taken-for-granted perspective of professional knowledge of teachers. As regards conceptions of the content, it is discussed whether student teachers' practice teaching is an object of reflection or an occasion for practice. Conceptions and patterns of behaviour as regards the form of mentoring are discussed in terms of a principle-oriented strategy and an episode-oriented strategy. The variation described in this way in terms of the disparate perspectives could reflect different types of theoretical awareness of the phenomenon of mentoring that exist among mentors and student teachers.     

Preschool‐Age Problem Behavior and Teacher–Child Conflict in School: Direct and Moderation Effects by Preschool Organization

The hypothesis was tested that the new open‐group Norwegian day‐care centers would more than traditionally organized centers negatively affect (a) current and (b) future teacher–child relationships, and (c) the developmental legacy of preschool problem behavior. The focus was on eight hundred and fifty 4‐year‐olds from 153 centers who were followed up in first grade. Results of this natural quasi‐experiment revealed that children from open‐group centers (a) experienced less teacher–child closeness in preschool and (b) more teacher–child conflict in first grade, and (c) that high levels of preschool problem behavior forecast especially high levels of future teacher–child conflict, but only for children from open‐group centers. Results highlight the importance of spatial and social organization of day care and their translational implications.     

Managing a strategic source of innovation: Online users

The purpose of the paper is to develop a framework of management competences related to the effective management of three types of online innovation tools. The framework highlights the development of three types of management competences and related practices: (a) disclosure competence in order to find, direct and motivate users to contribute, (b) appropriation competence in order to appropriate users’ contributions, and (c) integration competence in order to direct, transfer and integrate user contributions to the relevant parts of the organization. The study provides a managerially relevant view of the complementarities between external sourcing of knowledge and necessary internal competences to reap the benefits of involving users through an online innovation tool.     

Learning in non-formal education: Is it “youthful” for youth in action?

This article offers insights into the practices of a non-formal education programme for youth provided by the European Union (EU). It takes a qualitative approach and is based on a case study of the European Voluntary Service (EVS). Data were collected during individual and focus group interviews with learners (the EVS volunteers), decision takers and trainers, with the aim of deriving an understanding of learning in non-formal education. The research questions concerned learning, the recognition of learning and perspectives of usefulness. The study also examined the Youthpass documentation tool as a key to understanding the recognition of learning and to determine whether the learning was useful for learners (the volunteers). The findings and analysis offer several interpretations of learning, and the recognition of learning, which take place in non-formal education. The findings also revealed that it is complicated to divide learning into formal and non-formal categories; instead, non-formal education is useful for individual learners when both formal and non-formal educational contexts are integrated. As a consequence, the division of formal and non-formal (and possibly even informal) learning creates a gap which works against the development of flexible and interconnected education with ubiquitous learning and mobility within and across formal and non-formal education. This development is not in the best interests of learners, especially when seeking useful learning and education for youth (what the authors term “youthful” for youth in action).     

Local government allocation of cultural services

In the present paper, we analyse the allocation process for cultural services in Norwegian municipalities. The cultural sector at this administrative level is decomposed into the following eight subcategories: children’s and youth activities, libraries, cinemas, museums, arts dissemination, cultural heritage, cultural schools, and other cultural services. By means of budget shares for these eight cultural services and a residual sector consisting of all other municipal services, we estimate a system of demand relations which are interdependently linked to each other by a budget restriction. Our analyses are based on data from 409 out of 429 Norwegian municipalities during the period 2002–2010. In the empirical analyses, we mainly focus on the effects of income variation for the cultural services. We estimate effects of free income, matching grants to each sector, and user fees and other sector-specific income for each sector. We also estimate crowding-out effects for the cultural sectors of demographic variables indicating higher demand for services such as education, childcare, and health services. Our results confirm previous results. There are interesting differences within the group of cultural services, and these are partly related to different levels of national standardisation and regulation among the cultural services.     

Dissonance and Polyphasia as Strategies for Resolving the Potential Conflict Between Science and Religion Among South Africans

Minerva - A majority of South Africans agrees that when science and religion conflict, religion is always right. Is this an indication the public is anti-science or does the question wording hide a...