Tandem Conceptual Progression (TCP): Pilot case study of a cognitively diverse student's use of adjacent problem-solving and answer checking schemes

Children experiencing difficulties learning mathematics often have a long-embedded coping mechanism of looking to others as authorities for the correctness of their solutions. In this pilot case study, we demonstrate ways in which promoting their checking of their own answers can empower their development. Specifically, we examine answer-checking schemes that a cognitively diverse 6th grader with difficulties learning mathematics used when solving additive tasks. We draw on constructivist scheme theory as a framework to analyze data from a year-long teaching experiment, demonstrating a rather rapid progress in his problem-solving schemes, from counting-all to break-apart-make-ten. Along with this rapid conceptual progress, we found that his answer-checking schemes developed in tandem with the problem-solving schemes, typically being one cognitive step behind the latter, that is, advancing from no answer-checking to a numerical count-on scheme. During problem-solving, he may have used schemes at either a participatory or anticipatory stage, whereas for answer-checking he mostly used schemes at the anticipatory stage. We discuss theoretical and practical implications of these novel findings about numerical progress in a cognitively diverse student

‘Go and Make Disciples of All Nations’: Challenges to Catholic School Leaders in Promoting Christian Values in a Secular Society

There are many lessons to be learned from the findings of research that would be advantageous in realising the potential of Catholic schools to contribute to the common good of a secular society. In summary, it is possible to highlight the following inferences, which were drawn from research undertaken by the writer: (1) From the perspective of Catholic school leaders, Catholic education faces considerable challenges and, sometimes, antagonism, within a secular society, which can impose significant pressures on the conduct of their work. (2) There is a need to disseminate information to individuals and groups within and outside Catholic schools of the Christian values that are promoted by the Church. (3) Catholic schools make a significant contribution towards the common good of society, which is not always generally appreciated and should be more widely publicised. (4) Catholic communities and their leaders would benefit from ongoing opportunities to engage in continuing professional development and formation that would nourish and nurture the enhancement of spiritual capital in their schools

Hypertonic Saline-Evoked Muscle Pain in the Quadriceps Reduces Neuromuscular Performance and Alters Corticospinal Excitability.

Muscle pain can alter corticospinal function, but the specific excitatory/inhibitory effects on the quadriceps across different levels of corticospinal neuron recruitment remain unclear. Furthermore, maximal force production is reduced with muscle pain, but how the rate of force development, a key component of neuromuscular function remains less-known. To investigate this, healthy participants completed an isometric maximal voluntary contraction (MVC) followed by submaximal, intermittent contractions after receiving a hypertonic saline injection into the vastus lateralis to cause quadriceps pain (HYP) or isotonic saline, a non-painful control (ISO). Peripheral nerve stimulation was delivered during and after MVCs to determine neuromuscular function. Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) was delivered at 120% and 150% of active motor threshold during submaximal contractions to determine corticospinal excitability/inhibition, along with paired-pulse TMS to determine short-interval intracortical inhibition (SICI). Results revealed a moderate effect size (ES) reduction in MVC force (ES = -0.68, = 0.020), early-phase rate of force development (ES = -0.57, = 0.029), and voluntary activation (ES = -0.66, = 0.008) in HYP compared to ISO. Corticospinal excitability increased in HYP compared to ISO (ES = 0.60, = 0.023), whereas corticospinal inhibition decreased in HYP at higher stimulation intensities only (ES = 0.63, = 0.017). Conversely, SICI increased in HYP compared to ISO (ES = 0.58, = 0.035). Our findings indicate that muscle pain induced by a hypertonic saline injection reduced quadriceps neuromuscular function due to centrally mediated mechanisms, potentially involving both excitatory and inhibitory effects on the corticospinal tract

Exploring the Barriers to Athlete Personal Development within UK Olympic and Paralympic Sport

Elite athletes face a range of challenges throughout their careers including injury, selection, funding status, and retirement. To support athletes to plan for and overcome these challenges, Career Assistance Programs (CAPs) have been developed to support personal and professional development, yet engagement with these services remains low. The aim of this study was to explore the perceived barriers to athletes’ engagement with personal development within the UK High-Performance sport system. Underpinned by ontological relativism and epistemological constructivism, 15 elite athletes who were on a funded UK Sport World Class Olympic or Paralympic Program participated in semi-structured interviews. The dataset was analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis. Three themes were developed: The Athlete Bubble, outlines the barrier of the performance-driven culture, Head in the Sand reflects the fear of retirement, and Bridging the Employment Gap highlights the tension of meeting training demands with work opportunities. Findings reveal how cultural expectations, elite sport environments, coach-athlete relationships and scheduling conflicts inhibit athlete engagement with personal development. This study contributes to a deeper understanding of the cultural and systemic barriers that shape how athletes interpret and navigate their development journeys and offers direction for developing more integrated, athlete-centered CAPs

Guidance for Mentors and PCMs Supporting International Trainees

Mentoring trainee teachers is a rewarding and vital role in building the next generation of great teachers. Mentors are experienced teachers who capture the enthusiasm of trainee teachers and build the trainees’ pedagogical confidence through modelling, coaching and providing expert feedback. St Mary’s vision for teacher training is school partners, including mentors’ experience, excellent professional learning, and development opportunities. With an increasing number of trainee teachers coming from all over the globe to gain qualified teacher status, there is inevitably a necessity to adapt our mentoring practice to allow international trainees to adjust and thrive

The Role of Burden of Disease Estimates in European Union Health Policymaking: A Systematic Analysis of EU Legislation

Background The use of burden of disease (BoD) metrics in policymaking is crucial for evidence-based decision-making. However, there is currently no information available regarding their utilisation in policies at the European level. Objective This study aimed to analyse the use of BoD metrics within the European legislation. Methods Systematic searches on EUR-Lex were conducted for documents published between 2004 and 2023, to account for European Union-25 (EU-25). Network and qualitative analyses of documents were conducted to assess the legislation content. Results In total, 2615 documents were found, of which 191 included BoD metrics. Among the selected documents, 131 (69%) were published after 2018. Ten were legally binding documents. The most prevalent EuroVoc (EU’s multilingual and multidisciplinary thesaurus) domains were social questions and environment. The most frequent EuroVoc terms were climate change policy (n=45), EU environmental policy (n=32) and pollution control measures (n=32). The most common EU institution responsible for the retrieved documents was the European Commission (n=152). As for the purposes of usage, argument (n=93) and impact assessment (n=50) were most common. Most BoD metrics were localized in the main text (n=122). Conclusion Despite growing recognition of BoD metrics in supporting policymaking, their use remains focused on environmental health topics. Further efforts in training policymakers, knowledge dissemination and policy-oriented research could enhance the uptake of BoD studies in EU policies

Injury, illness, and mental health problems during the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup

Our study aimed to describe the patterns and characteristics of injuries and illnesses incurred during the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 (FWWC2023). Team medical personnel recorded all injuries, illnesses, and mental health problems requiring medical attention, plus match and training exposure into a centralised FIFA database using recent consensus-based methodology. Of the 32 teams at FWWC2023, 26 teams participated in the study, including 536 of 742 players. A total of 161 medical-attention injuries (incidence rate (IR): 14.2 per 1000h [95% CI: 12.1 to 16.6]) and 59 time-loss injuries (IR: 5.2 per 1000h [CI: 4.0 to 6.7]) were reported. Time-loss match injury IR was 14.0 per 1000h [CI: 8.9 to 21.1] and training IR 2.2 per 1000h [CI: 1.3 to 3.3]. The knee and thigh were the most frequently injured locations, while the lower leg created the highest overall time-loss burden. Time-loss injuries were mostly reported from contact mechanisms (59%), particularly with an opponent. There were 41 medical-attention illnesses (IR: 4.2 per 1000 player-days [CI: 3 to 5.6]) and 8 time-loss illnesses (IR: 0.8 per 1000 player-days [CI: 0.3 to 1.6]) reported. Respiratory illnesses (16 medical-attention and 7 time-loss) were the most frequent, with a burden of 1.2 days lost per 1000 player days [CI: 0.4 to 2.2]. The IR of mental health problems was low (0.2 per 1000 player-days [CI: 0.02 to 0.7]). Compared to previous international tournaments of both sexes, injury incidence and burden at the FWWC2023 was low

Development, validation, and reliability of the Irrational Beliefs Scale for Sports Officials (IBSSO).

Application of Rational-Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) within performance environments is increasing, however measures that assess irrational beliefs in specific populations are encouraged. A population that may benefit from REBT is sports officials. This paper reports the development, validation and reliability of the Irrational Beliefs Scale for Sports Officials (IBSSO). Item development was drawn from original items of the Irrational Performance Beliefs Inventory (iPBI), then refined over three stages using an expert panel, novice panel and industry panel. Officials ( 402; 349 male, 50 female, 3 undisclosed) from 11 sports ( years' experience = 13.02; 10.24) completed the inventory, with exploratory factor analysis suggesting a 3, 4, and 5-factor model from 22 remaining items. A new sample of 154 officials (140 male, 12 female, 2 undisclosed) representing 9 sports ( years' experience = 14.61,  = 11.96) completed the IBSSO, along with 6 other related measures (e.g., Automatic Thoughts Questionnaire, Affective Reactivity Index) to assess criterion validity. A four-factor model showed acceptable fit, with self-depreciation, peer rejection demands, emotional control demands, and approval identified as subscales, as well as a three-factor model. The IBSSO was positively correlated with the additional measures and negatively correlated with age, demonstrating concurrent validity. To assess convergent validity, 94 new officials (83 male, 10 female, 1 undisclosed; 36.74 years,  = 15.03) completed the IBSSO and iPBI simultaneously. The IBSSO was positively correlated with the iPBI, indicating convergent validity. Furthermore, 29 officials (25 male, 4 female, years' experience = 14.57,  = 12.44) completed the IBSSO over three-time points, with a repeated-measures MANCOVA and Intra-Class Coefficients confirming test-retest reliability. The 16-item four-factor model was accepted based on statistical and theoretical fit. The paper presents a measure of irrational beliefs in sports officials, with investigation into the effectiveness of REBT with this population recommended. [Abstract copyright: Copyright © 2025 Carrington, Turner, North and Brady.

Finding room for creativity and authenticity in the MFL classroom

The pipeline of linguists at higher education is drying up fast. Despite a slight increase in 2025 (Collen and Duff, 2025), languages entries at A-level and higher education remain low (British Academy, 2024). The announced closures of the languages programmes at Cardiff (Ayres-Bennett et al., 2025) and Aberdeen universities reflect a national crisis in developing future linguists. Arguably, there are many reasons why students choose not to carry on with languages after GCSE, from the perceptions that languages are too hard, elitist or lacking in careers opportunities, to losing students to STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) subjects or to boredom (Bauckham, 2016). As languages teachers across the country continue to battle with their senior leadership teams to keep their A-level classes running, this article explores the place of creativity and authenticity in modern foreign languages and their role in supporting self-motivation and developing resilience, problem-solving skills, empathy and cultural capital within a squeezed curriculum. To understand the challenges and opportunities linked with creative methodologies in the MFL curriculum, our special interest group joined the School of Education at St Mary’s University, Twickenham and Queen’s College, Oxford in a small-scale research project on supporting creativity in the MFL classroo