bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Effects of Group Composition on Group Interactive Processes and Pupil Understanding
Authors: Bennett Neville , Cass Allyson
Published: June 2007

Previous research has demonstrated the cognitive and affective benefits to be accrued from co‐operative group work. However this body of research has largely been limited to consideration of group products rather than group processes and as such has failed to provide explanations of how, or why, improved outcomes occur.

This study focused on group processes in order to throw light on the relationship between group composition, interactive processes and pupil understanding on a cooperative decision‐making task. More specifically it reports on the nature and type of talk in homogeneous, heterogeneous and mixed attaining groups, and their relationships to pupil retention and understanding.
Developing the Curriculum for Children with Learning Difficulties: towards a grounded model
Authors: Ireson Judith , Evans Peter , Redmond Patrick , Wedell Klaus
Published: June 2007

A purposive sampling strategy was used to select 10 primary, 10 secondary and 10 special schools that were recommended for their work in developing curricula for children experiencing learning difficulty. The process of curriculum development in these schools was examined through interviews and curriculum documentation. A systematic method of qualitative data analysis was developed, based on a category framework which incorporated the teachers’ conceptualisations. A model of the process of curriculum development, built up from the consideration of the inter‐relationships of these categories, is presented and discussed.
The Effects of Facial Expression and Posture on Children's Reported Responses to Teacher Nonverbal Communication
Authors: St Neill S. R. J.
Published: June 2007

The reactions of schoolchildren between 9 and 17 years to the facial expressions and postures/gestures of teachers were compared. The children were tested with still pictures of prosocial and hostile nonverbal behaviours, similar except for their facial expressions. Smiling and frowning facial expressions had strong effects on children's reactions; the effects of posture and gesture were weaker, touch and explaining gestures being seen positively and controlling gestures negatively. Leaning forward, a posture indicating involvement, was seen positively, but its effects were weak.
Exploratory Group Technique: an approach to sensitising school‐focused research
Authors: Brown Ron , Constable Hilary , Williams Ralph
Published: June 2007

A technique is described for sensitising normative school‐focused research by enabling the practitioner's perspective to be uncovered and systematically incorporated into research design. The procedure is based upon small group discussions, but involves specific procedures, sampling, timing and methods of recording. It is claimed that the approach not only permits teachers to articulate their views and practice in a manner which is relatively undistorted by received rhetoric, but also results in data which readily inform the design of normative research aimed at investigating the process of schooling. Two examples are given of the technique in operation, one concerned with investigating the ways that infant teachers value and use pictures and the other an evaluation of the implementation of GRIDS (Guidelines for Review and Internal Development in Schools) in a group of schools. In each case, the results of the exploratory group are shown to have substantially influenced the extent to which the related studies were able to address issues from the school perspective.
Starting Teacher Training—new PGCE students and computers
Authors: Summers Mike
Published: June 2007

This paper reports an investigation of students' experience of computers, and their feelings about computers, at the start of a one year secondary postgraduate teacher training course. The students' perceptions of their knowledge of computers and confidence when starting to learn how to use computers are also reported, along with their ratings of the importance of teachers knowing about computers. Gender differences in these areas are described, and some implications of the results of the research for teacher training are discussed.
Creationism, Scientism, Christianity and Science: a study in adolescent attitudes
Authors: Fulljames Peter , Gibson Harry M. , Francis Leslie J.
Published: June 2007

Both religious educators and science educators show concern for the development of positive pupil attitudes towards their respective curriculum areas, both as an educational objective in its own right and as a key predisposition for realising other educational objectives. While growing bodies of research have charted the personal, social, environmental and curriculum correlates of the development of attitudes towards science and religion, little attention has been given to the empirical relationship between these two attitudinal areas. This is surprising given the vast theoretical debate on the relationship between science and religion. In the present study attitude towards Christianity and interest in science are measured among a sample of 729 16‐18 year olds in Scotland. The data demonstrate a significant negative correlation between attitude towards Christianity and interest in science. Path analysis is then employed to explore the antecedents of this observed relationship. After taking into account sex differences, parental socio‐economic status, parental religious example and encouragement and the pupils' personal church attendance, two key factors which help to explain this apparent negative relationship are the perception of Christianity as necessarily involving creationism and the view that science attains to absolute truth (scientism). The implications of these findings for curriculum development in science and religion are discussed.
Using and Sharing Ideas from Information Books in the Context of a Primary School Project
Authors: Mallett Margaret
Published: June 2007

This article aims to bring together understandings about how children learn and to apply them to their reading of information books, particularly those organised on a non‐narrative principle. First, the nature of the challenge non‐narrative writing poses is considered. There follows an attempt to draw, from what is known in theory about how children learn, some factors which may help teachers nurture this kind of reading. Features of the texts which link with children's ability to learn from them are also examined. An analysis of a case study, project work on ‘Squirrels’, suggests how factors which appear to be important in making progress in this kind of reading might be built into everyday practice. It is argued throughout that it is spoken language which can reinforce a sense of purpose and audience in the context of children's collaborative effort to make sense of ideas in books.
Comparative and International Research in Education: scope, problems and potential
Authors: Crossley Michael , Broadfoot Patricia
Published: June 2007

Abstract This article argues that as the significance of national boundaries increasingly gives way to larger‐scale federations, so the potential salience of comparative and international research in education is dramatically increased. The relevance of such developments for researchers not familiar with the perspectives and literature of comparative and international education is explored in the light of the evolution of this specialist field. The discussion identifies how more researchers could usefully contribute to a strengthening of comparative and international studies, while considering what implications such wider involvement holds for research training. The latter issue is examined with reference to the rapidly increasing involvement of educational researchers in international consultancy work where sensitivity to cross‐cultural factors is especially important.
An Explication of a Path Model of Classroom Teaching: mediating effects of practical work on physics achievement
Authors: Cheung K. C.
Published: June 2007

This article seeks to examine how laboratory and practical work mediates the effects of school provision and teaching style, via students' opportunity to learn the subject matter, on students' physics achievement. As a result of careful composition of variable constructs, a causal model of classroom physics teaching at the sixth form (grade 12) level in Hong Kong was explicated with high explanatory power and parsimonious structural relationships. This study drew its data from the second IEA International Science Study. Replications of the analyses across school systems and grade levels will be valuable for comparing instructional effectiveness and locating exemplary teaching practices.
Learning to Learn: action research from an equal opportunities perspective in a junior school
Authors: Griffiths Morwenna , Davies Carol
Published: June 2007

The project described is action research into pupils’ learning in a (years 5 and 6) class of a primary school, which was carried out by the class teacher and an eduction lecturer, in partnership. While the focus of the research was on the processes of pupils’ learning, the overriding research question was the possibility of improving equality of opportunity for pupils in a socially and racially mixed classroom. The resulting innovative, participative methodology is discussed. It is argued that the pupils were empowered by their involvement in the setting up of the research and in drawing conclusions from it. This process is described, and the effects on the children's ability to learn and reflect on their own learning needs are reported. Finally, the question of how far research of this kind should be extended to an explicit focus on race, class or gender is raised.
Seating Patterns in Small Language Classes: an example of action research
Authors: Philpott Patrick
Published: June 2007

This article is a summary of a classroom research project carried out at a small English language school in southern Spain between December 1989 and April 1990. The object of the study was to look into possible relationships between the seating patterns of students in class and their observed attitudes towards class activities. The study was conducted in five stages (baseline picture, two intervention phases, the modified situation and a final questionnaire administered to the students). Simultaneous field notes were taken of the teachers’ and students’ reactions to the changing situation.
Defining Accountability in Education
Authors: Epstein Debbie
Published: June 2007

During the 1980s and 1990s we have seen major changes in the education system, many of which have appealed to the notion of ‘accountability’. This paper argues that one of the reasons for the success of these appeals in common sense has been the failure of anti‐racist and other radical educationists to consider issues of accountability. It is suggested that this has made it easier for the right to appropriate the language of accountability, defining it in fundamentally undemocratic ways which are inimical to education for equality and social justice. The paper deconstructs Conservative discourses of accountability. It is then argued that it is both possible and necessary for such notions to be challenged by radical educationists and that this will involve the development of left definitions of accountability. Some of the ways in which this might begin are outlined.
Management, ‘Race’ and Gender: an unlikely alliance?[1]
Authors: Burton Leone
Published: June 2007

Strategies used by ethnic minority women and men and white women to gain senior management positions within educational institutions were investigated using a life history approach. Participants were also asked to reflect upon institutional strategies that might operationalise equal opportunities policies. The report describes the experiences they recounted and identifies the themes, strategies and structures to which they drew attention.
Differential School Effectiveness: results from a reanalysis of the Inner London Education Authority's Junior School Project Data
Authors: Sammons Pamela , Nuttall Desmond , Cuttance Peter
Published: June 2007

The paper reports the results of a reanalysis of data from a major longitudinal data base (the Inner London Education Authority's (ILEA) Junior School Project). Multilevel models are used to examine the extent of differential school effectiveness for reading and mathematics at entry (year 3) and at year 5, and the impact of pupil background characteristics. Differential school effectiveness is investigated for prior attainment in the two areas and for selected background characteristics. The results reveal the existence of differential effectiveness (differential school slopes) for both measures of prior attainment. No evidence of differential effectiveness for pupils of different groups (sex, social class, ethnicity) is found. The presentation of schools' test results is also examined. Raw test averages are compared with school‐level residuals from multilevel analyses. Marked differences in schools' rank positions are found and the implications for the publication of ‘league tables’ of schools' examination and National Curriculum assessment results are discussed.
Teacher Perceptions of Their Needs as Mentors in the Context of Developing School‐based Initial Teacher Education
Authors: Williams Anne
Published: June 2007

Responses from teachers to a limited investigation of their perceived training needs as potential mentors are analysed in the context of a model which identifies different approaches to mentoring and different levels of operation. The diverse views presented by these teachers have implications for future initial teacher education programmes if students are to continue to have access to a wide range of aspects of support and advice.
Evaluating the Andhra Pradesh Primary Education Project: problems of design and analysis
Authors: Lacey Colin , Cooper Barry , Torrance Harry
Published: June 2007

This paper outlines the main features of the Andhra Pradesh Primary Education Project (APPEP) and goes on to describe some of the main problems encountered in the design and analysis of the Project's evaluation. Issues in the conceptualisation and conduct of the evaluation are discussed, with particular attention being given to problems of gathering valid and reliable data in a Third World context.
Problems of Gender in University Mathematics
Authors: Fraser E. J. P.
Published: June 2007

This article presents the findings of a series of surveys on attitude towards mathematics carried out at the University of Edinburgh, as well as the analysis of national data on women's participation and performance in university mathematics. The main goal of the study was to ascertain whether there were gender differences in mathematics students' attitudes and achievement, and to obtain some idea of the scale of such differences. While some results confirmed findings from previous research regarding women's observed tendency to view mathematics more negatively than men, the overall picture showed only weak evidence of important attitudinal gender differences among the students surveyed. In the course of the surveys, several assumptions regarding the interpretation of perceived gender differences had to be examined and re‐evaluated in the context of a framework which took into account the meanings of gender and gender‐identity development. The national data showed very small gender differences in final degree results, but there was a rather large difference in women's participation rates between the Scottish and English universities.
Individual Rights in Further Education: lost, stolen or strayed?
Authors: Dee Lesley , Corbett Jenny
Published: June 2007

In this paper we argue that the language of entitlement and empowerment is not always matched by correspondingly equitable actions but can sometimes be used to subvert equality of opportunity. We apply this argument to recent developments in the area of further education and the provision for students with disabilities and learning difficulties. Our concern is essentially with the rights of individuals rather than with institutional policy and practice.
Teaching the Holocaust: the relevance of children's perceptions of Jewish culture and identity
Authors: Short Geoffrey
Published: June 2007

The Holocaust is now part of the history curriculum for all 11‐14‐year olds in maintained schools in England and Wales. In this paper it is argued that for the Holocaust to be taught effectively, teachers will need to have some idea of how children within this age group perceive Jewish culture and identity. The empirical core of the paper attempts to go some way towards meeting this need. Seventy‐two children aged between 12 and 14 were interviewed in order to explore their knowledge of Judaism, the nature of any misconceptions they may have about the faith, the extent to which they appreciate the commonalities between Judaism and Christianity and their awareness of anti‐Semitism. The paper concludes with a discussion of the policy implications of the findings.
Small Scale Study of the Effects of Cross‐ethnic Tutoring on Inter‐ethnic Relationships
Authors: Datta Cecilia J. , Singh Basil R.
Published: June 2007

A study of a system of cross‐ethnic tutoring was undertaken in an inner‐city comprehensive school with the objective of fostering inter‐ethnic relationships. Thirteen pupils of mainly Bangladeshi origin who were learning English as a second language were paired with monolingual English speakers. They worked co‐operatively in English, mathematics, drama, geography, science or modular technology. Both the control group and the experimental groups were monitored by interviews pre‐, mid‐ and post‐experiment. Social gains were strongest for the experimental group, who after an initial hesitant ‘incubation period’, later entered a ‘co‐operation stage’ when they followed the teacher's instructions, and finally an ‘action stage’ in which they interacted most naturally. Results show improved friendships between paired pupils across the curriculum, the extension of friendship to siblings and a limited amount of out of school friendships. The control group made considerably less social progress in these directions.
Birth Date and Sex Effects on the Scholastic Attainment of Primary Schoolchildren: a cross‐sectional study
Authors: Borg Mark G. , Falzon Joseph M.
Published: June 2007

The aim of this study was to investigate the role of pupil age as a major cause of the birth date effect in scholastic performance. Sex differences in performance were also investigated. A sample of 4123 pupils in Grades III, IV and V was selected from 12 state primary schools in Malta. Since in this educational setting there is only one intake of pupils per scholastic year it ensured that all children within any given year group would have received the same length of formal schooling. Analyses based on a data set consisting of scores in Maltese, English and mathematics derived from the national end‐of‐year examinations showed a strong and consistent age effect in all three attainment measures at each of the three grade levels: the ‘oldest’ pupils performed better in Maltese, English and mathematics than the ‘youngest’ pupils. Results also showed that girls consistently outperformed boys in the three school subjects.
Explorations in Group Interviews: an evaluation of a reflexive and partisan approach
Authors: Denscombe Martyn
Published: June 2007

‘This article’ introduces and evaluates an innovative example of a group interview technique which has been used in research with young people in three Leicestershire secondary schools. The interviewing technique in this instance is shown to contrast with some of the conventional wisdoms about good practice (a) by acknowledging and using the intrinsically reflexive features of interviews and (b) by adopting an openly partisan approach to the topic under investigation. The potential limitations as well as the potential benefits of the approach are explored, particularly with reference to the prospects of empowering the research subjects.
How Does Children's Talking Encourage the Structure of Writing?
Authors: Conlan Kathleen
Published: June 2007

Action research is used in this article as a means of discovering the possibilities of extending language development opportunities for children of 4 and 5 years just beginning their education in ‘English’. It is a reflective and detailed account of the strategies used to encourage the children to talk firstly, and then to write in a fuller more comprehensive manner using extended phrases and sentences. Different methods are used but in particular the use of story telling, questioning and drama are employed. Issues that emerge from the situation are explored and actions are evaluated. The account is self‐critical and self‐evaluative and indicates the need for the teacher to be responsive to individual pupil needs.
The Christian Schools Campaign—a successful educational pressure group?
Authors: Walford Geoffrey
Published: June 2007

The Christian Schools Campaign was an educational pressure group which sought to obtain state funding for faith‐based schools. It successfully influenced both the 1992 Education (Schools) Act on inspection criteria and the 1993 Education Act. The latter now gives the possibility of faith‐based grant‐maintained schools, where existing faith‐based private schools may apply to be re‐established as grant‐maintained. This article charts the nature and activities of the Christian Schools Campaign, and begins to assess its effectiveness.
Researching Powerful People from a Feminist and Anti‐racist Perspective: a note on gender, collusion and marginality
Authors: Neal Sarah
Published: June 2007

Drawing on the fieldwork experiences of my ethnographic, doctoral research into equal opportunities and anti‐racism in higher education and the role of academic trade unions in the policy initiatives in the area, this paper is centrally concerned with the relationship between the researcher and the researched—when the researched are powerful. For me this meant Vice‐Chancellors, Pro‐Vice‐Chancellors, Deans, Heads of Services, senior/famous academics and union officials. The paper seeks to argue that there is a continuing paucity in social research on the powerful and questions, through autobiographical accounts, the extent to which feminist and anti‐racist methodologies/critiques have actually been able to provide a terrain in which this type of research can be conducted.
Ragged Edges: delivering quality tertiary teaching in post‐colonial times
Authors: Taylor Peter , McWilliam Erica
Published: June 2007

This paper focuses on practices about which many tertiary teachers are publicly silent and privately stumped—the thorny issue of equity for non‐English speaking background (NESB) international students, as it is to be enacted in higher degree teaching and evaluation practices. While there is no end to the amount of rhetoric about equity and NESB students to be found in educational ‘quality’ documents, the ethical and logistical problems raised by this issue for tertiary teachers are many. We wade into this murky water by documenting a struggle that a team of ‘equity‐conscious’ lecturers has had to bring our concerns about the potential failure of one such student to the attention of the institution in which we seek to do ‘quality’ teaching.
’Pagan Knowledge’: a case study of post‐modern theorising and youth work training
Authors: Rosie Anthony
Published: June 2007

Youth worker training has existed on a formal basis for many years but the training programme can be seen as conventional. There is an emphasis on participative activity where students are encouraged to work in groups, to develop learning opportunities and to use contracts to regulate their experience. A case‐study of a part‐time training route provides the focus for the paper. J‐F. Lyotard has developed a set of categories in his understanding of post‐modernity including the notions of pagan knowledge and the figural. Two scenes from the course are analysed through Lyotard's categories in order to reveal the distinctive discursive work that was taking place. Other accounts of such scenes have relied upon a clash between discourses, e.g. a discourse of oppression being countered by a different discourse. If Lyotard's ideas are developed, then the dominant discourse can be seen to contain its own oppositional practices and there is no need to search for further external discourses. The case‐study shows how the students in training used the dominant discourse of participation to bring about a series of different effects.
Linking the Cognitive and the Affective in Educational Research: cognitivist, psychoanalytic and post‐structuralist models
Authors: Evans J. , Tsatsaroni A.
Published: June 2007

This paper considers four different types of model for relating the affective and the cognitive in the study of mathematical performance and problem‐solving. The first two models are based on assumptions coming from a cognitivist framework. These are: A — ‘individual‐differential’ models, aiming to explain individual differences in, for example, performance scores or participation; and B — ‘constructivist’ models focusing on an individual's problem‐solving episodes. Models C and D are more innovative: C works with a psychoanalytic frame of analysis, and D draws on both psychoanalytic and post‐structuralist insights. These are compared in terms of: theorisation of the affective and the cognitive, methodology used to study the relationship, and recommendations for practice and pedagogy. Illustrations are drawn largely from mathematics education research, in particular from a study of adults’ numerate problem‐solving.
Informal Science Writing Produced by Boys and Girls: writing preference and quality
Authors: Levine Tamar , Geldman‐Caspar Zehava
Published: June 2007

Five informal science‐related writing tasks of 374 seventh grade boys and girls (ages 12‐13) from two US schools were analysed. Both differences and similarities were revealed between boys’ and girls’ preferences and performance. Almost 60% of the boys preferred to write about science‐related inventions, whereas girls’ preferences were distributed among the different tasks. Content differences revealed a more practical perception of science among girls as opposed to a more imaginative one among boys. The boys wrote more formally and concisely whereas the girls produced longer written works, provided more detailed information and seemed to adapt better to the style demand of the different tasks. The quality of boys’ and girls’ writing, as reflected by the scope of the contents and the depth of treatment, was relatively poor. Boys and girls alike revealed curiosity concerning the heart and the brain, its structure and functioning, a desire to find a cure for cancer and AIDS, and a great concern for the environment. The integration of science and writing reflects a new perspective on gender differences in both science and writing, where the gap seems to be narrower than that typically found when science and writing are examined separately. Authentic writing examples are provided and implications for classroom practices aimed at enhancing communication skills and minimising gender‐related difference in both science and writing are discussed.
Meanings and Consequences: a basis for distinguishing formative and summative functions of assessment?
Authors: Wiliam Dylan , Black Paul
Published: June 2007

The assessment process is characterised as a cycle involving elicitation of evidence, which when interpreted appropriately may lead to action, which in turn, can yield further evidence and so on. An assessment is defined as serving a formative function when it elicits evidence that yields construct‐referenced interpretations that form the basis for successful action in improving performance, whereas summative functions prioritise the consistency of meanings across contexts and individuals. Aspects of the interplay of meanings and consequences are explored for each of the three phases, and it is suggested that this interplay may be fruitful in distinguishing the two functions. Tensions between summative and formative functions of assessment are illustrated in the context of the National Curriculum, and although it is shown that such tensions will always exist, it is suggested that the separation of the elicitation of evidence from its interpretation can mitigate that tension.
Influences on Primary Teachers' Practice: some problems for curriculum change theory
Authors: Kyriakides L.
Published: June 2007

This paper presents findings concerning various sources of influences upon Cypriot primary school teachers. Questionnaires were distributed to a randomly selected sample of 10% of all Cypriot primary teachers. A response rate of 72% was obtained. Analysis was carried out using SPSS. Although a strong consensus among teachers' perceptions of teaching and assessment in mathematics was identified, there was little consensus about sources of influence on their practice. Cluster analysis (SPSS) revealed six relatively homogeneous groups of Cypriot teachers according to perceived influences on their practice. It is argued that the notion of a coherent set of teachers' attitudes to change is problematic and this has implications for curriculum reform policy.
Individual Autonomy and Comprehensive Education
Authors: Paterson Lindsay
Published: June 2007

The welfare states in developed societies have led to significant individuali‐sation of social experience. The relative success of the welfare state programme has mitigated the determining effects of social structure on life chances (even though not by any means eradicating these effects). In reaction to this, citizens of these states have sought to exercise greater agency in determining their social lives. The specifically educational aspects of the changing role of social structure are illustrated in detail for the instance of comprehensive education in Britain, a collective reform which has had as one of its main effects a strengthening of individual agency. The process of individualisation cannot, therefore, be interpreted as straightforwardly associated with either a conservative or a progressive politics: strengthening individual choice was an original aim of social democracy. A comparison of England and Scotland provides a particularly revealing instance of the complexity of the political debate, in that the New Right has been dominant in the one but almost entirely absent at a popular level in the other, and yet in both a similar new culture of education has developed, involving both individual autonomy and a continuing attachment to public provision to insure that autonomy.
Theory in Initial Teacher Education: students’ perspectives on its utility — a case study
Authors: Holligan Chris
Published: June 2007

The article reports a critical examination of the results of a Scottish Office Education and Industry Department sponsored research project, 1994‐96, ‘Students’ Perspectives on the Utility of Educational Studies’. Additional funding from the Open University supported the production of this article. It examines the ways in which students construe the value of educational studies. Data were gathered principally by semi‐structured interviews involving a sample of very able and average students as well as ‘mature’ and ‘young’ students. The results suggest that educational studies plays a variety of functions in facilitating teaching competence; different groups attach particular weights to these functions. Also, very able students, in terms of classroom teaching, were found to be significantly better than average students in terms of academic course performance. A detailed discussion of students’ comments, however, problematises the received terms within which controversies about initial teacher education have been debated. The article challenges the ‘New Right’ rhetoric that theoretical studies of education are dispensable and has implications for ‘on the job’ approaches to partnerships between higher education institutions and schools. Issues are raised about the implications of student teacher socialisation for the meaning of critical autonomy.
The Politics of History: some methodological and ethical dilemmas in élite‐based research
Authors: Phillips Robert
Published: June 2007

The last decade has seen a wide range of education policy reforms initiated at a macro‐level. In turn, these reforms have stimulated a rich, extensive literature describing qualitative educational research concerned with analysing macro‐education policy. In particular, education researchers have used élite interviews as a means of explaining education policy. This article shows the ways in which this literature was utilised to describe one of the most fiercely contested policies of the period, namely history in the National Curriculum. The article focuses upon the particular methodological and ethical challenges initiated by élite‐based research by considering the extent to which political influence was exerted over the policy‐making process relating to history in the early 1990s.
Which Mental Strategies in the Early Number Curriculum? A Comparison of British Ideas and Dutch Views
Authors: Beishuizen Meindert , Anghileri Julia
Published: June 2007

Mental arithmetic has recently gained a higher profile in primary mathematics. The question then arises whether mental strategies should be left to spontaneous development or should be taught in some didactic order? In reaction to a School Curriculum and Assessment Authority (SCAA) discussion paper and other publications a comparison is made between British ideas and Dutch views. In the Netherlands the Realistic Mathematics Education theory has, since the 1980s, inspired textbook design and teaching practice, but also discussions on mental mathematics. Better balancing between ‘mental recall and mental strategies’ led to an improved National Programme (1990) and a second generation of revised textbooks. A great difference is the radical choice for postponing (formal) place value and written algorithms and building first on pupils’ (informal) mental strategies. This principle of ‘progressive mathematisation’ is developed further with the empty number line as a new model for mental strategies up to 100. Some British experts have called for a similar curriculum change. Although current suggestions for everyday mental activities and for mental methods in relation to written procedures mark a beginning, they are analysed as not going far enough. The assumption is made that British pupils also develop informal mental strategies, which deserve more substantial attention.
A Review of Reviews: structure and function in reviews of educational research
Authors: Foster Peter , Hammersley Martyn
Published: June 2007

Reviews are one of the main means by which the findings of educational research are communicated to audiences outside the research community. In this article, we look at some aspects of the production of reviews in the light of this function. Attention is given to issues relating to the initiation of reviews, the definition of the field to be covered, the coverage and treatment of relevant research, and the drawing of conclusions. The discussion is illustrated by reference to some recent examples of reviews of educational research.
A Coherent Framework for the Application of Psychology in Schools
Authors: Miller Andy , Leyden Gerv
Published: June 2007

A coherent and integrated theoretical model for the application of psychology in schools will serve two major purposes. Firstly, it will allow practitioner educational psychologists (EPs) to represent the extent of the work they carry out with schools to research‐based psychologist colleagues. This in turn could reveal the rich research agenda that awaits creative combinations of practitioner experience and academic research skills. Secondly, a coherent framework will allow all those seeking to apply or draw on psychology when working in schools to explicate that psychology in order to promote a productive dialogue with professional colleagues, be they teachers, researchers or other psychologists. The framework proposed in this article draws mainly on practitioner‐directed research within educational and organisational psychology, supplemented by related university‐based research. In particular, the model highlights the need for those who seek to apply psychology in schools, to appreciate the relationships between both the formal and informal aspects of school staff, pupil, and family subsystems, and the ways in which different interventions impact upon different areas of this psycho‐social framework.
Making the University Fit for Critical Intellectuals: recovering from the ravages of the postmodern condition
Authors: Fuller Steve
Published: June 2007

The author observes that ‘postmodernism’ in its most widely used sense was born of disillusionment with the university's role in state‐driven attempts at social control. Specifically, Lyotard saw the teaching function impeding the natural proliferation of research trajectories. And while he may have correctly identified the reactionary social role of the university in his day, the use of the curriculum to curb, reorient and channel research is not itself reactionary. In fact, it has been a potent vehicle for democratising social life by inhibiting the emergence of new knowledge‐based forms of elitism. The author illustrates this point by considering the role of history across the academic curriculum today, singling out the humanities and ‘softer’ social sciences for their pedagogical attentiveness to the contingent character of research developments. If there is a role for critical intellectuals in academic life, it is in terms of spreading this ‘prolescience’ mentality in whatever discipline they happen to practise and resisting all attempts to sever the evaluation of research from that of teaching. This amounts to an extension of ‘affirmative action’ principles from disadvantaged groups to schools of thought.
Educational Research: pursuit of truth or flight into fancy?
Authors: Bridges David
Published: June 2007

This article observes the apparent determination of some educational researchers to distance themselves from any claim to the truth of their published work and poses the question: is educational research concerned in some sense with the truth in relation to the matter which is the focus of its enquiry or is it not? It argues that either it is so concerned or it probably collapses into incoherence. It explores, first the relationship between propositions (of the kind found abundantly in educational research reports) and truth claims, before exploring five classical theories of truth. Truth, it is pointed out is itself not a monolithic concept and it is possible to deny some notions of truth without necessarily denying all. It goes on to illustrate the way in which different theories of truth are associated with different paradigms of educational research and finally explores in more detail the senses in which truth claims persist in two influential pieces of writing (Guba & Lincoln's Fourth Generation Evaluation and Stronach & MacLure's expressly postmodernist approach to educational research in Educational Research Undone) even as their authors wrestle to deny it.
Death in the Countryside
Authors: Sainath P.
Published: June 2007

FIFTEEN YEARS OF HOSTILITY AND NEGLECT HAVE DEVASTATED THE WORLD OF THE INDIAN PEASANT. FARMERS’ SUICIDES STALK THE LAND
More Negative Than Positive
Authors: Steilen Daniel
Published: June 2007

FOREIGN NEWS AGENCIES ARE DRAWN INTO CHINA’S DRACONIAN MEDIA RESTRICTIONS
Let's get beyond community and practice: the many meanings of learning by participating
Authors: Edwards Anne
Published: June 2007

This article is an attempt to tease out what is so often termed learning through participation. Drawing on the analysis undertaken by the Learning Outcomes Thematic Group, the use of the participation metaphor in TLRP projects is discussed. The conclusion arrived at is that its use appears mainly to focus on behaviour and engagement in practices. After looking at the cognitive potential to be found in both cultural psychology and in the work that has its origins in interactionism and developmental psychology, the article cautions against simply seeing participation as another way of looking at behaviour and how it is shaped by context. It calls for a recognition of the cognitive elements in socio‐cultural and activity theory frameworks and their capacity to explain how we learn new practices. It argues that a focus on coming to know or sense making requires a discursive shift that allows a rethinking of what is meant by acquisition. The implications of these frameworks for assessment are also touched upon.
Education in Yugoslavia‐Slovenia : history and future development
Authors: Jaušovec Norbert
Published: June 2007

As is the case in many countries, education in Yugoslavia can be divided into three levels: elementary, secondary and university level. This paper will focus on the elementary school, trying to give an overview of the main school reforms which have taken place since the Second World War and their political background, and the developments to be expected in schools in the near future as a result of our changing society
Flow in an Elastic Tube Subject to Prescribed Forcing: A Model of Umbilical Venous Flow
Authors: Waters S. L. , Guiot C.
Published: June 2007

We investigate the fluid flow through a finite length, axisymmetric tube when the elastic wall is subject to either a prescribed external pressure or a prescribed motion. The prescribed wall forcing is assumed to consist of a forward travelling wave together with a reflected travelling wave. The dimensionless diameter variation of the tube is taken to be small and perturbation techniques are used to solve the weakly non‐linear problem. Particular attention is given to the steady streaming flow that is induced through the non‐linear convective acceleration terms. The results are applied to the flow of blood in the umbilical vein (UV), which has important physiological implications.
Effect of Allocated Radiotherapy after Breast Surgeries over Death Risk in Early Breast Cancer Patients: A Meta‐Analysis
Authors: Alba-Fernández V. , Ruiz-Fuentes N.
Published: June 2007

Meta‐analysis is a widely used tool to synthesize the results of a set of primary studies leading to more powerful conclusions than those provided by isolated ones. To evaluate the effect of allocated radiotherapy, types of breast surgery and other risk factors over death risk in early breast cancer patients, we carried out a meta‐analysis using logistic regression attending to the dichotomous character of the outcome.

Our findings suggest that the type of breast surgery is an effect modifier of the risk factors over death in early breast cancer patients. The effect of allocated radiotherapy is associated with a less risk of death only for patients who had mastectomy plus axillary sampling. The effect of a systemic treatment is not associated with death risk for patients who had breast conservation, on the contrary it is associated for those patients with mastectomy alone and with mastectomy with axillary clearance.
Multiscale Modelling of Tumour Growth and Therapy: The Influence of Vessel Normalisation on Chemotherapy
Authors: Alarcón Tomás , Owen Markus R. , Byrne Helen M. , Maini Philip K.
Published: June 2007

Following the poor clinical results of antiangiogenic drugs, particularly when applied in isolation, tumour biologists and clinicians are now turning to combinations of therapies in order to obtain better results. One of these involves vessel normalisation strategies. In this paper, we investigate the effects on tumour growth of combinations of antiangiogenic and standard cytotoxic drugs, taking into account vessel normalisation. An existing multiscale framework is extended to include new elements such as tumour‐induced vessel dematuration. Detailed simulations of our multiscale framework allow us to suggest one possible mechanism for the observed vessel normalisation‐induced improvement in the efficacy of cytotoxic drugs: vessel dematuration produces extensive regions occupied by quiescent (oxygen‐starved) cells which the cytotoxic drug fails to kill. Vessel normalisation reduces the size of these regions, thereby allowing the chemotherapeutic agent to act on a greater number of cells.
Multidrug Resistance and Its Reversal: Mathenatical Models
Authors: Michelson Seth
Published: June 2007

Classic multidrug resistance (MDR) is a phenomenon by which cells nonspecifically extrude noxious agents from the cutoplasm before lethal concentrations buils up. Some chemotherapeutically treated tumors exhibit these same dynamics. In tumor systems, the most common mechanism of facilitating MDR is the upregulation of the P‐glycoprotein pump. This protein forms a transmembrance channel, and agter binding the chemotherapeutic agent and 2ATP molecules, forces the noxius agent through the channel. Hydrolysis of ATP to ADP provides the energy component of this reaction. General mathematical models describing drug resistamce are reviewed in this article. One model describing the molecular function of the P‐glycoprotein pump in MDR cell lines is developed and presented in detail. The pump is modeled as an energy‐dependent facilitated diffusion process. A partial differential equation is linked to a pair of ordinary differential equations to form the core of the model. To describe MDR reversal, the model is extended by additing an inhibitor to the equation system. Equations for competitive, one‐site non‐competitive, and allosteric non‐competitive inhibition are then derived. Numerical simulations have been run to describe P‐glycoprotein dynamics both in the presence and absence of inhibition, and these results are briefly reviewed. The character of the pump and its response to inhibition are discussed within the comtext of the models.
Mathematical Modelling of the Response of Breast Cancer to Drug Therapy
Authors: Cameron D. A.
Published: June 2007

mathematical modelling of tumour response in breast cancer offers the potential for further understanding of the mechanisms involved in a tumour′s imperfect response to chemotherapy. Three different models of assessing response are studied; the simplest consisting of fitting a regression line to the logarithm of the tumour volumes; a study using exponential growth and an S‐shaped growth response curve; and one that assumes log cell‐kill and the possibilitu of primary tumour resistance to therapy. All thre can explain some facets of tumour biology, but it is the introduction of the possibility of resistance that appears to result in correlations with clinical outcome. The issue of Gompertz growth is discussed, since it is considered, although not without controversy, to best describe not only xenograft but also clinical tumour growth, and yet has not been used in any of the three models discussed. It appears that much of the data used to clinically validate Gompertz growth is before the period of maximum deceleratin, and thus the true relevance of this function to clinical tumour growth remains uncertain.
Social Conditions for Stress: Young people's experience of doing GCSEs
Authors: Denscombe Martyn
Published: June 2007

ABSTRACT This article describes and analyses the experiences of 15–16 year‐olds in the East Midlands of England in relation to the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE). In particular, it focuses on the way that GCSEs constitute a new and distinct source of stress in the already stressful lives of young people. Using data from Economic and Social Research Council funded research involving a large‐scale questionnaire survey, focus groups and interviews, it is argued that, when doing GCSEs in years 10 and 11 at school, the stress experienced by young people can be linked to the social conditions of late modernity. In this social context there is a tendency to approach GCSEs from a self‐centred and instrumental perspective, which emphasises the need for good results in terms of their utility for getting a job or continuing in education, and their value in relation to self‐identity and self‐worth. Seen in this light, the stress stems from the fact that GCSEs constitute a fateful moment in the life trajectory of the young people.