bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
A Deluge of Directives: conflict between collegiality and managerialism in the post‐ERA primary school
Authors: Webb Rosemary , Vulliamy Graham 
Published: June 2007

AbstractThe paper examines the impact of the plethora of innovations associated with the 1988 Education Reform Act (ERA) on the management of whole‐school change in the primary school. Based upon qualitative data from a national sample of 50 schools in England and Wales, it documents the growing tensions between collegial and top‐down managerial approaches. These are evidenced in the changing nature of working collaboratively in primary schools, in the creation of new management structures, in the me of school development plans and in the growth of quality assurance mechanisms, particularly in relation to preparation for Office for Standards in Education (OFSTED) inspections. There are conflicting interpretations of terms such as ‘collegiality’, ‘collaboration’, ‘teamwork’ and ‘whole‐school approaches’ and there have been subtle shifts in their meaning and in their realisation in practice in the pre‐and post‐ERA context.
Reflections on Youth Training: toward a new model of training experience?
Authors: Gleeson D. , Glover D. , Gough G. , Johnson M. , Pye D. 
Published: June 2007

AbstractThis paper draws on a study of trainee attitudes to youth training in the Central England region. It is part of an ongoing research project, the second stage of which analyses training provider and employers' attitudes. Drawing on a combination of quantitative and qualitative approaches, this paper critically examines the apparent paradox of young people expressing positive attitudes about what they see as an imperfect scheme. Following on such discussion, the paper considers more effective ways of improving the youth training experience. Our conclusion is that while youth training has come a long way since the bad old days of the Youth Opportunities Scheme and the Youth Training Scheme, there remains significant room for improvement within existing limitations of the scheme. The research team sought to add value to the study by making a film of the research to enhance dissemination with end users, including schools, colleges, training providers, employers, careers service. Training and Enterprise Councils and others.
Look Back in Angoff: a cautionary tale
Authors: Sizmur Steve 
Published: June 2007

AbstractThe Angoff procedure for setting cut‐scores for criterion‐referenced tests has generated considerable interest in the UK. The method offers a means of harnessing teachers' experience of children's performance at different National Curriculum levels to the problem of setting level boundaries in tests with a continuum of marks. The research reported here examines, from several perspectives, the appropriateness of a cut‐score derived from the Angoff procedure for a reading test for 7‐year‐old children. This shows the recommended cut‐score to have been too low, and it appears that this could have been due to teachers' lack of experience with the type of test concerned. Suggestions are made as to how standard setting might draw on a range of information to produce an appropriate and rationally defensible cut‐score.
Sound Field Amplification and Listening Behaviour in the Classroom
Authors: McSporran Eileen , Butterworth Yvonne , Rowson Vivienne J. 
Published: June 2007

AbstractThe acoustical environment in a classroom is an important variable in the listening and psychoeducational function, both of children with hearing loss and children with normal hearing sensitivity. The present pilot study was designed to look at the listening and attending behaviour of targeted children in two primary classes before and after installation of a sound field amplification system. Evaluation across different listening categories, together with qualitative data collected from children and teachers, indicate the potential benefit and importance of such classroom equipment for listening and learning.
Differential Secondary School Effectiveness: comparing the performance of different pupil groups
Authors: Thomas Sally , Sammons Pam , Mortimore Peter , Smees Rebecca 
Published: June 2007

AbstractThis article reports the results of an Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) funded study which focuses on the differential academic achievement of different groups of pupils. The paper describes the findings on the size and extent of school effects across 3 years (1990, 1991, 1992) for different groups of pupils (classified by gender, eligibility for free school means [FSM], ethnic group and by prior attainment). Pupils’ overall General Certificate of Secondary Education performance and their performance in selected subjects (English, English literature, French, history, mathematics and science) have been analysed using multilevel modelling, employing a total sample of 94 inner London secondary schools. A ‘value added’ approach is adopted, controlling for selected student background measures of prior attainment (at secondary transfer), gender, age, ethnicity and low income to provide statistical controls for differences between schools in the characteristics of their intakes. Differential school and departmental effects were identified for all pupil groups examined. However, the strongest evidence of differential effects was found for groups classified by prior attainment and ethnicity. Overall, the findings indicate that schools that appear to be more or less effective for a particular group of pupils, such as non‐FSM pupils, are likely to be more or less effective for all pupils. However, in some schools, substantial differences between groups were identified. The implications of these findings for the debate about the publication, presentation and interpretation of schools’ examination results and the extent to which the overall concepts of ‘effective’ or ‘ineffective’ schools can be applied, are discussed.
Gender Integration in the Infant Classroom: a case study
Authors: Jacklin Angela , Lacey Colin 
Published: June 2007

AbstractThis article is about gender association in the primary classroom and organisational strategies which may influence gender integration. It reports the findings of a small‐scale research project which explored the effects of a classroom innovation. Implemented by a class teacher, the innovation was designed to promote gender equality. The effects of strategies to increase gender integration in the infant classroom are discussed in relation to cross‐gender friendships as well as gender differentiation between subjects. The article argues that the way a teacher organises groups in the classroom can be an influential factor in the degree of gender integration which occurs.
Preparing Students for the New Work Order: the case of Advanced General National Vocational Qualifications
Authors: Helsby Gill , Knight Peter , Saunders Murray 
Published: June 2007

AbstractDrawing upon data from a recent empirical study, this article examines the extent to which Advanced General National Vocational Qualification (GNVQ) programmes fulfil the implied, and often contradictory requirements of the new post‐capitalist labour market. Arguing that the rhetoric of empowerment is employed in discourses surrounding both GNVQs and modern labour market needs, it suggests that this notion can be misleading and can mask practices which are in reality disempowering, encouraging conformity and self‐surveillance. In particular the atomisation of content encouraged by the GNVQ framework and specifications, coupled with the heavy workload and changing requirements, make it difficult for both students and teachers to plan coherently or to develop holistic understanding. Despite this, however, the article concludes that the programme is popular with both teachers and students and has the potential to provide a vehicle for meaningful learning and personal development.
The Myth of Rational Research
Authors: Thomas Gary 
Published: June 2007

AbstractIn its flight from ‘positivism’ educational inquiry still cleaves to a faith in the ordered and the rational. Educationists continue to believe in an order, accessible via rational inquiry and ordered reflection, governing human affairs and thought. This belief has three unwelcome consequences. First, it promotes the notion that certain rationalistic ingredients are obligatory in research: a technology of inquiry is thus constructed and maintained. Consequently, inquiry (even interpretative inquiry) is formulaic; it follows predictable ruts and leads often to uninteresting findings. Second, a belief in the ordered mind leads to a faith in certain models of mind, and in ‘personal theory’ which can be developed via particular and orthodox methods of finding out. Third, and partly because of this second belief, it leads to a notion of teaching as an explicitly articulated ‘know what’ rather than an implicitly understood ‘know how’ practice—leading, I argue, to a promotion of the notion that ‘know how’ can be enhanced via the technology of reflection. The result of all this is that education ignores and eschews less structured but arguably more productive methods of inquiry.
Families at a Disadvantage: class, culture and literacies
Authors: Tett Lyn , Crowther Jim 
Published: June 2007

AbstractThis paper addresses the issue of diverse literacies, and the problems of privileging a dominant form of literacy at the expense of those from non‐mainstream cultures. It uses data from a family literacy project to illustrate how the actual literacy practices of working‐class families and communities can be incorporated into learning programmes. It argues that whilst familiarity with the dominant forms of spoken and written language is a vital ingredient in adults’ and children's communicative functioning, it should not be the unchallenged objective of education. Instead opportunities to legitimate the vernacular literacies of the home and community should be sought. In so doing deficit views of families at a disadvantage can be replaced by views that positively value the home culture to the benefit of both the home and the school.
The Relative Importance of Class Size to Infant Teachers in England
Authors: Hall Kathy , Nuttall Wendy 
Published: June 2007

AbstractThis paper examines and compares the beliefs and attitudes of teachers of large and small infant classes in the north of England regarding class size with particular reference to its relative importance. Following an introduction which contex‐tualises the empirical study the details of the telephone and postal surveys are presented. The findings are analysed in relation to class size preferences, preferential treatment for some children and teachers, and the importance of class size relative to other factors, the latter being the main theme of the study. It seems that class size is not seen to be unidimensional in its influence on classroom events but that it interacts in complex ways with a range of other variables.
Professional Attitudes and Experience in Relation to Bilingual Children Attending Language Units
Authors: Crutchley Alison 
Published: June 2007

AbstractA large‐cohort study looking at children with speech and language difficulties attending ‘language units’ across England identified a small subgroup of the cohort who were bilingual. Interview data were collected to try to shed light on differences found between this ‘bilingual’ subgroup and the rest of the cohort. Head‐teachers and language unit teachers were asked about levels of involvement of bilingual parents in school or unit life, about the level of provision available for bilingual children in the local education authority (LEA) and about the adequacy of this provision. Qualitative analysis of ‘themes’ indicated that differences existed between head and unit teachers in patterns of answers in all of these areas. However, relating these qualitative results to quantitative data from a questionnaire survey of English LEAs revealed that attitudes and knowledge also varied according to the location of the school (in a Greater London, metropolitan or non‐metropolitan LEA). It is thus suggested that these differences in attitude may be linked to the experience that unit and headteachers have of bilingual children and their families.
Large Can — Not Many Worms: an evaluation of the role of age‐standardised scores in the presentation of assessment data
Authors: Schagen Ian 
Published: June 2007

AbstractAge‐standardised scores are a widely‐used method of reporting assessment results in a way that largely removes the effect of age on performance, and that presents scores on a fixed scale which can be easily understood and interpreted. Recent criticisms of age‐standardised scores are examined in this article, and found to consist either of points which are already well‐known and appreciated by test developers or which are invalid. Although there are issues which need to be explored carefully in this area, it seems clear that the use of age‐standardised scores is worthwhile, and that no other form of presentation is likely to replace them.
Assessing Effects of HIV Heterogeneity and Macrophage on the HIV Pathogenesis in HIV‐Infected Individuals
Authors: Tan Wai-Yuan , Ye Zhengzheng 
Published: June 2007

Model of HIV pathogenesis in HIV‐infected individuals under very general conditions. In this model, we have considered five different types of CD4(+) T cells, two different types of HIV (M‐tropic versus T‐tropic) as well as infected and un‐infected macrophage. This is a 9‐dimensional stochastic process. For this process, we have developed stochastic differential equations for different types of cells. By using these stochastic equations, we have generated some Monte Carlo data to study the stochastic behavior of the HIV pathogenesis and the HIV progression.Through Monte Carlo studies, we have revealed an acute infection stage in the early stage of the HIV infection and have confirmed the basic role played by lymph nodes and some long‐lived cells such as macrophage in serving as reservoirs of HIV to escape elimination by the immune system during the long asymptomatic stage of HIV infection. The Monte Carlo results have shown that the HIV heterogeneity and diversity may be a major factor to determine the time period since infection for uninfected T cells to drop to below 200/mm3 of blood. The numerical results have also confirmed our previous findings (see [1]) which concluded that the probability distributions of T cells and free HIV can be classified into three periods over time: The latent period, the transition period and the pseudo‐steady period.
Drug‐using mothers: social, psychological and substance use problems of women opiate users with children
Authors: POWIS BEVERLY , GOSSOP MICHAEL , BURY CATHERINE , PAYNE KATHERINE , GRIFFITHS PAUL 
Published: June 2007

AbstractThe present study looks at patterns of drug use and alcohol use, social and economic circumstances, criminal involvement and health problems among a sample of 66 women opiate users with children. Data were collected using a structured interview. The women reported a wide range of substance use and other problems including depression. Many were heavy and regular drinkers. Most of the women were in a relationship with an opiate user: one‐third reported that their partner had been physically violent towards them. Almost all of these women were living in a state of poverty. Many of the mothers were in conflict regarding their dependence upon drugs and their fears about their children being taken into care. The women who were most severely dependent upon both heroin and alcohol felt that if they sought treatment this might help them to avoid having their children taken into care. At the same time they were afraid that, by approaching treatment, this might increase the risk of their children being taken from them. Services should seek to reduce the barrier to treatment presented by the anxieties of women with children as well as improving facilities for the care of women with children.
Patterns and trends in alcohol‐related hospitalizations in Victoria, Australia, 1987/88–1995/96
Authors: HANLIN KIRSTEN , JONAS HELEN , LASLETT ANNE‐MARIE , DIETZE PAUL , RUMBOLD GREG 
Published: June 2007

AbstractThe objective of this study was to examine patterns and yearly trends in alcohol‐related hospitalization rates during the period 1987/88–1995/96 for men and women living in metropolitan and rural/remote Victoria. Alcohol‐related hospitalizations were extracted from the Victorian Inpatient Minimum Dataset (VMD) for the years 1987/88–1995/96 (public hospitals) and 1993/94–1995/96 (private hospitals), and adjusted by the appropriate aetiological fractions. Sex‐specific age‐adjusted rates we expressed per 10000 residents/year. During 1993/94–1995/96, alcohol‐related hospitalizations comprised 1.0% of all Victorian hospitalizations (about 12000/year), with men accounting for over two‐thirds of alcohol‐related hospitalizations. Approximately half of the alcohol‐related hospitalizations were for disease conditions and the other half for external cause (injury) conditions. About 80% of all alcohol‐related hospitalizations were to public hospitals, with the exception of alcohol dependence (63% to private hospitals). Alcohol‐related hospitalization rates were generally higher for people living in rural/remote areas compared to urban areas. During 1987/88–1995/96, the age‐adjusted alcohol‐related hospitalization rates in public hospitals did not change significantly for disease conditions (14.8–14.7 for men and 6.3–6.4 for women) or female external cause conditions (6.7–6.1), but decreased for external cause conditions (18.4–15.5). In private hospitals during 1993/94–1995/96, the age‐adjusted alcohol‐related hospitalization rates for disease conditions decreased (5.4–4.1 for men and 3.7–3.0 for women) but increased for external cause conditions (1.8–2.4 for men and 1.0–1.2 for women). These patterns and time‐trends in Victorian alcohol‐related hospitalizations reflect a combination of alcohol‐related morbidity levels, hospital admission practices and patterns and levels of service provision. They suggest a potential need to focus on services and programmes in rural/remote Victoria.
Assessment of the benefits of user involvement in health research from the Warwick Diabetes Care Research User Group: a qualitative case study
Authors: Lindenmeyer Antje , Hearnshaw Hilary , Sturt Jackie , Ormerod Ralph , Aitchison Geoff 
Published: June 2007

AbstractObjective  To assess the benefits of involving health‐care users in diabetes research.Design and participants  For this qualitative case study, semi‐structured interviews were conducted with researchers who had worked extensively with the group. During regular meetings of the Research User Group, members discussed their views of the group’s effectiveness as part of the meeting’s agenda. Interviews and discussions were transcribed, coded using N‐Vivo software and analysed using constant comparative methods.Results  Involvement of users in research was generally seen as contributing to effective and meaningful research. However, the group should not be considered to be representative of the patient population or participants of future trials. An important contributor to the group’s success was its longstanding nature, enabling users to gain more insight into research and form constructive working relationships with researchers. The user‐led nature of the group asserted itself, especially, in the language used during group meetings. A partial shift of power from researchers to users was generally acknowledged. Users’ main contribution was their practical expertise in living with diabetes, but their involvement also helped researchers to remain connected to the ‘real world’ in which research would be applied. While the group’s work fulfilled established principles of consumer involvement in research, important contributions relying on personal interaction between users and researchers were hard to evaluate by process measures alone.Conclusions  We demonstrated the feasibility, acceptability and effectiveness of this longstanding, experienced, lay‐led research advisory group. Its impact on research stems from the continuing interaction between researchers and users, and the general ethos of learning from each other in an on‐going process. Both process measures and qualitative interviews with stakeholders are needed to evaluate the contributions of service users to health research.
From neuroanatomy to gene therapy: searching for new ways to manipulate the supraspinal endogenous pain modulatory system
Authors: Tavares I. , Lima D. 
Published: June 2007

AbstractThe endogenous pain modulatory system is a complex network of brain areas that control nociceptive transmission at the spinal cord by inhibitory and facilitatory actions. The balance between these actions ensures effective modulation of acute pain, while during chronic pain the pronociceptive effects appear to prevail. The mechanisms underlying this imbalance were studied as to the role of two medullary components of the pain modulatory system: the dorsal reticular nucleus and the caudal ventrolateral medulla, which function primarily as pronociceptive and antinociceptive centres, respectively. Both areas are connected with the spinal dorsal horn by closed reciprocal loops. In the spino‐dorsal reticular nucleus loop, the ascending branch is strongly inhibited by spinal GABAergic neurons, which may act as a buffering system of the dorsal reticular nucleus‐centred amplifying effect. In the spino‐caudal ventrolateral medulla loop, the ascending branch is under potent excitation of substance P (SP) released from primary afferents, which is likely to trigger the intense descending inhibition detected in acute pain. During chronic pain, the activity in the lateral reticular formation of the caudal ventrolateral medulla changes, so that the action of the caudal ventrolateral medulla upon SP‐responsive spinal neurons shifts from inhibitory to excitatory. The mechanisms of this modulatory shift are unknown but probably relate to the decresed expression of µ‐opioid, δ‐opioid and GABAB receptors. Normalizing receptor expression in the caudal ventrolateral medulla or controlling noci‐evoked activity at the dorsal reticular nucleus or caudal ventrolateral medulla by interfering with neurotransmitter release is now possible by the use of gene therapy, an approach that stands out as a unique tool to manipulate the supraspinal endogenous pain control system.
Pyloric tonsil as a novel gut‐associated lymphoepithelial organ of the chicken
Authors: Nagy Nándor , Oláh Imre 
Published: June 2007

AbstractThe pyloric tonsil is a novel peripheral lymphoepithelial organ of the gastrointestinal tract in the chicken. It forms a complete lymphoid ring at the beginning of the duodenum, where crypts of Lieberkühn are transformed to tonsillar crypts with lymphoepithelial lining. The oesophageal (described previously) and pyloric tonsils are characteristic of the chicken, while they are absent in mammals. The lymphoid system develops from the middle germ layer, the mesoderm, and forms connections with the ecto‐ and endoderm, namely the skin and gut, respectively. These connections are based on the lymphoepithelial lining of the crypts, and provide gates for environmental antigens. Recent findings, taken together with the literature, suggest that in birds the lymphoid system forms connections with the endoderm‐derived organs that are anatomically and histologically more extensive than the ectoderm‐derived ones, which may be explained by the absence of regional lymph nodes, and the less developed lymphoid circulation of the skin.