Working-class women study social science degrees: remembering enablers and detractors

In this article, we report on a feminist memory work project conducted with 11 working-class women in Australia. Participants responded to the question: what helps and hinders working-class women study social science degrees? The women confirmed that to succeed at university, they needed opportunities, resources, support and encouragement. We called these enablers and considered the role of ‘enlightened witnesses’ [Miller, 1997. The essential role of an enlightened witness in society. Retrieved from http://www.alice-miller.com/index_en.php?page=2]. Hindering the possibility of university success were detractors of many forms including inadequate resources and social conventions that discouraged the women from study. We describe saboteurs as undermining people and forces that the women had to overcome. We found that enlightened witnesses, broadly conceptualised, go some way but not all, to mitigating detractors and saboteurs that continue to hamper fair and meritocratic access to tertiary education.     

“诚信”原则与修辞学的对象

修辞学的对象问题是修辞学科中的重要话题之一,曾在中国现代修辞学史上引起过几次大的讨论,看似早已解决问题的话题今天却遇到了现实社会生活的挑战与经验。究竟是坚持扩大研究对象和范围,还是收缩阵地,清理一些不合格的研究对象。在21世纪初,我们重提“对象”这一古老话题,相信是有其意义和价值的。     

Dealing with diversity in higher education: awareness-raising and a linguistic perspective on teachers’ intercultural competence

Higher education institutions around the world are educating an increasingly diverse student population. While this responds to government discourse around widening participation and the need to internationalise, and while it can make for a stimulating teaching-learning environment, it can also present teachers with certain challenges that demand greater intercultural competence. This article considers how, as part of their intercultural repertoire, teachers – and by extension, students – can benefit from developing an understanding of language, and, in particular, the general principles governing how we mean in language and the lingua-cultural variability that impacts upon the process of doing so. It proposes awareness-raising activities as a way of promoting such understanding.     

连续斜交空心板梁桥拼宽动力特性研究

以国家高速公路沈海线(G15)厦漳段凤山分离立交大桥拼宽为工程背景,设计制作了1:6.05三跨连续斜交空心板梁桥模型,进行了连续斜交空心板梁桥在刚性连接和铰接连接两种纵向接缝连接形式下的模型动力测试和空间有限元计算分析。结果表明:(1)斜交桥具有明显的弯扭耦合特征,铰接连接模型的实测频率总体上都小于刚性连接模型,表明铰接模型桥的整体刚度要小于刚接模型桥;(2)有限元计算结果与实测结果吻合良好,表明有限元模型能反映模型桥的实际情况,可用于后续的计算分析,对于斜交桥梁拼宽具有一定的参考价值。     

浅议邓小平关于扩大人民的民主权利的思想

邓小平认为,作为社会主义民主重要组成部分,扩大人民的民主权利包含两个方面：其一是要切实保障人民的民主权利;其二是要扩大党和国家的政治生活。扩大人民的民主权利需用“小民主”,不能用“大民主”。     

Art for a few: exclusions and misrecognitions in higher education admissions practices

In this article, we examine the policy and practice of admissions to art and design courses in the context of the UK widening participation (WP) agenda. We draw on our qualitative study of admissions practices funded by the National Arts Learning Network (NALN). To provide context and background, we outline and critique WP policy discourses, focusing on issues of admissions and access, followed by an analysis of our research data, drawing on the conceptual tools of subjectivity and misrecognition. In using this analytical approach, we attempt to expose the subtle and insidious workings of inequality and exclusion in processes of selection. We argue that admissions policy problematically conflates notions of ‘fairness’ and ‘transparency’ and fails to address complex socio-cultural inequalities in processes of recognition of the potential student-subject of art and design. We show how a focus on individual practices rather than on policy discourses and processes of subjective construction helps to hide the ways that ‘potential’ is constructed in ways that privilege and recognize particular student subjectivities, whilst excluding Others.     

Cultural capital and agency: connecting critique and curriculum in higher education

This paper explores some of the unresolved tensions in higher education systems and the contradiction between widening participation and the consolidation of social position. It shows how concepts of capital derived from Bourdieu, Coleman and Putnam provide a powerful basis for critique, but risk a deficit view of students from less privileged backgrounds. These students are more likely to attend lower‐status institutions and engage with an externally focused curriculum. The paper argues for greater attention to agency, and community and familial capital, in conceptualising the resilience of those from less privileged backgrounds. While the recognition of ‘voice’ is important, a curriculum that acknowledges the context independence of knowledge is essential if these students are not to be further disadvantaged.     

Are there delays in reporting dyslexia in university learners? Experiences of university learning support staff

The number of students entering higher education in the UK has increased over the last few years due to the previous Labour Government directives to widen participation to a range of socially disadvantaged and/or under-represented groups. Dyslexic students form the largest single group of minority students currently entering higher education. However, there are ongoing challenges in identifying and supporting dyslexic students as there no obligation for students to report specific learning needs before or after they enter higher education. In order to cast more light on this ongoing issue, a small-scale educational research study was undertaken in December 2012 to investigate whether there may be delays in the reporting of dyslexia in learners once they commence higher educational study. The day-to-day working experiences of four support staff based at a learning services department in one UK university were explored. Methodology involved adopting a qualitative exploratory design using digitally recorded semi-structured interviews and a snowball sample. Interview data was analysed using thematic analysis. The key findings of the study indicated that dyslexia was more likely to be reported in the second and third year of a student’s higher educational journey. Further analysis of the study findings indicated a myriad of reasons for delayed or late reporting of dyslexia. Such reasons included maintaining of a non-disabled student identity, financial and/or time constraints or consciously and strategically deciding when to disclose dyslexia to improve final degree classifications. A number of further recommendations are made to enhance inclusive learning and teaching practices.     

汉语比喻理论的基本特征

本文总结了汉语比喻理论的几个基本特征 ,认为比喻的运用与人类思维有着密不可分的联系 ,古代比喻理论具有明显的功用性、适应性、民族性和专题性 ,现代比喻理论除上述特征外 ,更注重将外部功能和内在形式结合起来进行研究 ,特别强调比喻研究内容的拓展和方法的革新。     

Expectation vs experience: might transition gaps predict undergraduate students’ outcome gaps?

Drawing on thematic analysis of one-to-one interviews with 85 undergraduate students, this paper offers initial, exploratory analysis of whether known outcome differentials may be partly attributable to students’ transition into university. The study is located in the English higher education sector, where fee increases have been accompanied by wider availability of metrics and outcome differentials have become a particular focus of attention. Specifically, this paper examines (in)congruence between students’ expectations of higher education and their experience while at university, tracking how recalled pre-arrival expectations correlate with socio-economic status and school type. In the case of students from ‘widening participation’ (WP) backgrounds, the effect of attendance on an intervention (access) programme is also considered. Findings point to a complex web of factors influencing the undergraduate experience of students within the same institution. For WP students, the widest gaps arise in relation to pedagogy, as the culture and curricula of higher education are initially found inconsistent with expectations. Intervention programmes make a small positive difference, primarily because social and academic confidence is enhanced. For students educated at independent schools, the widest gaps arise in relation to assessment, for which university-level support and guidance are felt to be less personalised than expected. On a structural level, findings question the reliability of output metrics as proxies for teaching quality given the extent to which they are predicted by students’ backgrounds and by the nature of their individual transition into higher education.