Theoretical perspectives on mathematics teacher change

In this review essay we critically examine issues raised by authors whose work is published in the two Special Issues of JMTE (Part 1, 13.5 and Part 2, 13.6) on Mathematics Teacher and Mathematics Teacher Educator Change—Insight through theoretical perspectives. While the authors have drawn on a wide range of theories and approaches, we have chosen to view their articles through a single socio-cultural lens to explore responses to the two questions that motivated these Special Issues: (1) How are opportunities created for teachers to change themselves? (2) What do (university-based) researchers learn from working with teachers?     

Bivariate functional principal components analysis: considerations for use with multivariate movement signatures in sports biomechanics

Sporting performance is often investigated through graphical observation of key technical variables that are representative of whole movements. The presence of differences between athletes in such variables has led to terms such as movement signatures being used. These signatures can be multivariate (multiple time-series observed concurrently), and also be composed of variables measured relative to different scales. Analytical techniques from areas of statistics such as Functional Data Analysis (FDA) present a practical alternative for analysing multivariate signatures. When applied to concurrent bivariate time-series multivariate functional principal components analysis (referred to as bivariate fPCA or bfPCA in this paper) has demonstrated preliminary application in biomechanical contexts. Despite this, given the infancy of bfPCA in sports biomechanics there are still necessary considerations for its use with non-conventional or complex bivariate structures. This paper focuses on the application of bfPCA to the force-angle graph in on-water rowing, which is a bivariate structure composed of variables with different units. A normalisation approach is proposed to investigate and standardise differences in variability between the two variables. The results of bfPCA applied to the non-normalised data and normalised data are then compared. Considerations and recommendations for the application of bfPCA in this context are also provided.     

Building bridges: towards integrated library and information services for mental health and social care

This research focuses on identifying the information needs of health professionals, social workers and staff from voluntary agencies, who work together in the provision of services for people with a mental illness. The aim is to provide a fully integrated library and information service for mental health and social care. A number of recent government reports have prompted this research. These have culminated in the publication of the National Service Framework for Mental Health. It was decided to conduct a qualitative study using 17 semi‐structured interviews with individuals and multi‐professional groups. A thematic analysis highlighted a number of key themes including: information need, information seeking behaviour and information flows. Results have indicated that because of the dispersed nature of mental health services, across primary and secondary care, and from statutory and non‐statutory organisations, information technology is viewed as the only realistic vehicle to provide the required information. As specialist mental health trusts are configured, covering wider geographical areas, this can only increase the reliance on information technology, for information access and information sharing.