Power Struggles,Regulation and Responsibility

This article explores the relationship between the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) and government during the implementation of the Video Recordings Act (VRA). It considers the public Parliamentary debates about the VRA, and places them alongside private correspondence between the Home Office and the BBFC, and internal BBFC material from the recently catalogued James Ferman papers held at the BFI. As well as exploring the introduction of the VRA, this article also aims to briefly consider its implications for the BBFC, how they set about interpreting and implementing its stringent recommendations and how this impacted upon the organisational working practices of the Board. While the VRA was without doubt one of the most significant pieces of legislation within the history of film regulation in Britain, the time is ripe for its reappraisal and with it a re-evaluation of the role played by the BBFC in securing statutory regulatory powers.     

Peirce and Rationalism: Is Peirce a Fully Semiotic Philosopher?

While Peirce is a seminal figure for contemporary semiotic philosophers, it is axiomatic of a fully semiotic perspective that no philosopher or philosophy (semiotics included) can provide any final answer, as signs are always interpreted and the context of interpretation always varies. Semiosis is evolutionary: it may or may not be construed as progressive but it cannot be static. While Peirce offers a way out of the mind‐body divide that both permeates and separates classical rationalism and empiricism, he himself is read in this article as closer to the rationalist tradition exemplified by Kant and Hegel that he critiques than to either thoroughgoing empiricism or post‐Nietzschean relativism. From a contemporary perspective, Peirce thus falls short of qualifying as a fully semiotic thinker, notwithstanding his key role in the development of semiotic philosophy.     

In Physics Education,Perception Matters

Student difficulties in science learning are frequently attributed to misconceptions about scientific concepts. We argue that domain‐general perceptual processes may also influence students' ability to learn and demonstrate mastery of difficult science concepts. Using the concept of center of gravity (CoG), we show how student difficulty in applying CoG to an object such as a baseball bat can be accounted for, at least in part, by general principles of perception (i.e., not exclusively physics‐based) that make perceiving the CoG of some objects more difficult than others. In particular, it is perceptually difficult to locate the CoG of objects with asymmetric‐extended properties. The basic perceptual features of objects must be taken into account when assessing students' classroom performance and developing effective science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) teaching methods.     

In Search of the Environmentalist Way: Beyond Mending the Machine

In this essay, Andrew Stables notes that philosophies such as existentialism, humanism, and environmentalism come in either exploratory or active forms: that is, one can study the nature of existence or the human, or one can ascribe to a way of life in an attempt to improve the world. Among the major influences on active environmentalist thought are (forms of) humanism, socialism, posthumanism, and post‐ (or pre‐)colonialism. In many cases, however, such ways of thinking can be as damaging or unsuccessful as they may be ameliorative and successful. The search for an environmentalist Way, Stables maintains, must transcend entrenched binaries, oppositions, and ideologies without lapsing into thoroughgoing antirealism or willfully ignoring current realities. Here, he explores the valuable contributions that Daoist and Buddhist texts and practices have to offer in this search.     

Factors affecting attitudes and intentions towards knowledge sharing in the Dubai Police Force

This study contributes to the limited research base on knowledge sharing in public sector organisations, specifically police forces, and organisations in the Middle East through a case study investigation into the factors that affect knowledge sharing in the Dubai Police Force. A questionnaire-based survey was conducted with staff in key departments in the Dubai Police Force. Informed by the literature and by interviews conducted in a previous phase, the core of the questionnaire was a bank of Likert-style questions covering the dependent variables intention to knowledge share, and attitude towards knowledge sharing, and the independent variables, trust, organisational structure, leadership, reward, time, and information technology. Data was analysed using structured equation modelling, in order to test the measurement model using confirmatory factor analysis, and to test the structural model. The structural model suggests a strong relationship between attitude to knowledge sharing, and intention to share knowledge. Hypotheses regarding the influence of leadership, trust, organisational structure, time, and information technology on attitude to knowledge sharing were upheld. Rewards did not to influence attitude to knowledge sharing. Recommendations are offered for practice and further research.     

The unsustainability imperative? Problems with ‘sustainability’ and ‘sustainable development’ as regulative ideals

Normality is imminently catastrophic. Climate change is a contemporary instantiation of the perpetual sense of crisis that characterises the human condition, and concepts such as sustainability and resilience serve as regulative ideals (cf. beauty, perfection, and truth) in the fight against ubiquitous unsustainability. Unsustainability is an aspect of time, and is thus, in Kantian terms, a fundamental schema underlying the categories of human understanding. Current growth will decay, therefore only as yet unforeseen adaptation and innovation can give humanity more time to encounter the next set of crises. On this account, the arts and humanities operate as a collective memento mori, reminding us of our fragility and fallibility. Only thus reminded can we act with the greatest possible care in the world, but this can never ensure ‘sustainable development’, which remains an inherently paradoxical policy slogan.     

Pupils’ Subject Preferences at Key Stage 3 in South Wales

The perceptions of pupils towards the foundation subjects of English, mathematics, science and technology were determined by structured interviews. The pupils were selected by their responses to a Likert‐type attitude scale previously administered; pupils were banded from the results of the scale into one of three bands: those with positive attitudes, neutral attitudes and negative attitudes towards the subjects under study. Approximately 48 pupils per subject were interviewed for each of the subjects, representing 4.5% of the original survey sampled in the previous research. The results of the research showed a marked predilection for English and games and a lack of enthusiasm for modern foreign languages. There was also little positive response for subjects which occupy a small amount of curriculum time—music and religious education—with art being an exception to this. There were indications that mathematics and science were more ‘love‐hate’ subjects than others. It was found that girls were more forthcoming with criticisms whereas boys were more forthcoming with praise. Overall, there was no evidence that the National Curriculum had either improved or damaged attitudes towards subjects. However, this research indicates that the National Curriculum had removed some of the pre‐existing gender divisions, such as those relating to the separate sciences.     

核心自我评价:教师心理幸福感的重要影响因素

采用因素分析、回归分析等方法,分析了663名中小学教师核心自我评价概念与心理幸福感之间的关系.结果表明:(1)教师核心自我评价概念是一个二阶结构模型,具体由积极因子、消极囚子以及"现实-宿命"因子构成模型的二阶因子;经删除项日后,核心自我评价量表具有良好的信、效度指标.(2)在心理幸福感的"个人成长"维度,女教师的得分显著高于男教师;小学教师心理幸福感的六个维度得分均显著高于中学教师.(3)核心自我评价的积极因子与消极因子能很好地预测心理幸福感.     

The role of assessment feedback in developing academic buoyancy

This research focuses on the everyday challenge in academic learning of assessment, and argues that academic buoyancy is a key factor in academic success. To scaffold students’ learning and effectively support academic buoyancy, there is arguably a need for a better understanding of: (i) what students find most and least useful in their assessment feedback; (ii) how students use feedback to approach future assessments; and (iii) how students respond to feedback in terms of what they think, feel and do. Key findings from survey responses of 91 undergraduate students were that students use their feedback more than anticipated and look for specific information to help their future performance. In addition, five indicators of academically buoyant behaviour were identified: an internal locus of control, understanding the grade, being forward looking, being improvement focused and being action orientated. These indicators suggested a distinction between students who were academically buoyant because they were constructive in their response to feedback, and those who appeared less so because they were not action orientated, but more focused on their emotional response. These findings have implications for the provision of assessment feedback in higher education and offer insight into opportunities for the development of academic buoyancy.