Developing board strategic capability in sport organisations: The national–regional governing relationship

It is well established that the strategic function is a central role of the non-profit sport board. Little is known, however, about board strategic capability in any context. This study investigated how boards of national sport organisations might develop their strategic capability. “Interpretive” action research focusing on the case of Tennis New Zealand (TNZ) found that the board's strategic role is significantly impacted by its inter-organisational relationships. In particular, the board's ability to enact its strategic priorities could be enhanced by creating a more collaborative partnership with its regional entities and engaging in a power-sharing approach that seeks to develop regional capability.     

Little Women, Good Wives: Victorian Constructions of Womanhood in the Girl's Own Annual 1927

The Girl's Own Annual 1927 displays a distinctly Victorian construction of womanhood which was at odds with the views of modern girls in the 1920s. This article examines the tensions created by these differing social expectations and focuses on the intergenerational debate about the role of women in work and marriage. It suggests that the magazine's aim was consistent with government policy at the time and represents a last ditch effort to influence and control the behaviour of a rebellious generation, in an attempt to restore the prewar social order.     

Looking for Professor Right: mentee selection of mentors in a formal mentoring program

Finding a suitable mentor is crucial to the success of mentoring relationships. In the mentoring literature, however, there is conflicting evidence about the best ways to support the pairing process in organisational mentoring programs. This paper presents a detailed analysis of the pairing process in an academic mentoring program that has implications for building a mentoring culture in higher education. The program which began with a pilot and has continued for five years with one hundred and twenty one participants, was conducted with mentees selecting their own mentor from a pool of mentors who volunteered to be part of the program. In the pilot program, where mentors and mentees first met as one group, some mentees reported that the process of selecting and approaching a mentor was uncomfortable and intimidating. Nine of twenty-three potential mentees did not form mentoring relationships. Analysis of subsequent program evaluation data pointed to the importance of two factors in the pairing process: personal connections and facilitation of the selection process. This study at a research-intensive university demonstrates that when the pairing process is tailored to individual mentees, they are comfortable selecting a mentor and to then develop a successful mentoring relationship.     

The concerns and interests of expectant and new parents: assessing learning needs

Antenatal education is an important component of antenatal care in the developed world, but research indicates that it may not be meeting consumer needs. This article provides an overview of a needs assessment that aimed to determine the concerns and interests of expectant and new parents and how they prefer to learn during the periods of pregnancy and the early weeks of parenthood. The findings could be used to develop an innovative approach to antenatal education in order to prepare expectant and new parents for the birth experience and the early weeks of parenthood. The current study's results identified that expectant and new parents' concerns and interests during pregnancy, childbirth, and new parenting fall within five interrelated conceptual areas: 1) perceiving achievement or failure; 2) taking on "risk"; 3) riding an emotional "roller coaster" of joy, anxiety, and uncertainty; 4) needing to "know...what is normal"; and 5) needing help to "perform well."     

Figuring “Success” in a Bilingual High School

Using the concept of figured worlds, this article demonstrates how the faculty, staff, and students of Gregorio Luperón High School in New York City figured “success” by prioritizing the students’ linguistic and cultural resources. “Success” was constructed specifically through granting Spanish high status, developing positive teacher–student relationships, and relying upon the cultural artifact of the opportunity narrative. This qualitative ethnographic study focuses on the school-related social interactions that took place among students, teachers and staff, to explore the socially and locally constructed model of success within this bilingual high school for newly arrived, Spanish-speaking immigrant youth. Ali Michael is a PhD candidate in Teaching Learning, Curriculum and Society at the University of Pennsylvania. Her academic and research interests include whiteness studies, multicultural education and anthropology of education. Norma Andrade is the Language and Latin American Coordinator and Advocate for a non-profit organization, Refugee Women’s Alliance, located in Seattle, Washington. She advocates for the immigrant and refugee communities in Washington State. Lesley Bartlett is an assistant professor at Teachers College, Columbia University. Her research and teaching interests include anthropology of education, comparative and international education, sociocultural studies of literacies, transnationalism, and schooling across the Americas.     

Case studies of learning disabled students with deficient syntactic control in English as a foreign language

This paper discusses a mini‐experiment; an exercise was devised to investigate the effects of repeated articulation on the acquisition of syntax. The main participants of the experiment are two Hebrew‐speaking students, one formally assessed as having reading disabilities, one female age 14 (Q) and one dyslexic male age 16 (W). Q has been learning English at school for 4 years; she is in eighth grade. She is in the group for weak learners of English and does not show signs of a reading disability. She has taken private tuition once a week for approximately 5 months. She had not previously studied the target structure in the experiment. The results are discussed in light of the literature review findings, and some applied implications and conclusions were drawn for learning disabilities (LD) teaching.     

Developing partnership with parents in special schools: parental perspectives from Northern Ireland

From the 1960s, the development of home–school relationships in special schools has become increasingly important, culminating in the current official understanding of parents as partners. This paper traces the development of the relationship, setting out the challenges to partnership development from professional perspectives within education. A professionally located investigation was undertaken into parental experiences and perspectives to identify factors inhibiting and promoting effective partnerships. Using a mixed-methods approach, the views were explored of parents with children attending a special school in Northern Ireland. Findings strongly indicated the need for educators to pursue and engage with the views of parents, and to recognise the emotional context of these relationships at an interpersonal and organisational level, so that home–school relations can be realigned to support partnership. Implications are set out that will be instrumental in achieving this reconfiguration between the current official understanding of parents as equal partners and actual practice in some schools.