Beneficial Bacteria Isolated from Grapevine Inner Tissues Shape Arabidopsis thaliana Roots

We investigated the potential plant growth-promoting traits of 377 culturable endophytic bacteria, isolated from Vitis vinifera cv. Glera, as good biofertilizer candidates in vineyard management. Endophyte ability in promoting plant growth was assessed in vitro by testing ammonia production, phosphate solubilization, indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) and IAA-like molecule biosynthesis, siderophore and lytic enzyme secretion. Many of the isolates were able to mobilize phosphate (33%), release ammonium (39%), secrete siderophores (38%) and a limited part of them synthetized IAA and IAA-like molecules (5%). Effects of each of the 377 grapevine beneficial bacteria on Arabidopsis thaliana root development were also analyzed to discern plant growth-promoting abilities (PGP) of the different strains, that often exhibit more than one PGP trait. A supervised model-based clustering analysis highlighted six different classes of PGP effects on root architecture. A. thaliana DR5::GUS plantlets, inoculated with IAA-producing endophytes, resulted in altered root growth and enhanced auxin response. Overall, the results indicate that the Glera PGP endospheric culturable microbiome could contribute, by structural root changes, to obtain water and nutrients increasing plant adaptation and survival. From the complete cultivable collection, twelve promising endophytes mainly belonging to the Bacillus but also to Micrococcus and Pantoea genera, were selected for further investigations in the grapevine host plants towards future application in sustainable management of vineyards

Looking from the inside out: reflecting on teacher agency within a performative context

Since the introduction of 1988 Education Act, the education system has seen major changes which continued to focus on policy and create a prescriptive performative culture among teachers. It was at this point that control within the classroom was perceived as ebbing away from the class teacher and moving more towards government and the rigours of policy There has been a drive for transparency which has meant an increase in the amount of data schools and teachers must produce about their pupils and this data is used to judge both the worth of the teacher and the school. Pupil achievement forms part of performance management meetings and now determines pay scales for teachers in the state education system. Critics of the education system have noted a rise in teachers leaving the profession and allude to a sense of teachers having to conform to policy in order to be deemed ‘good’ at their job. In recent years, stress and the mental health of teachers has been a widely discussed topic in the media, and it has been reported that the pressures of performativity are widely to blame. This thesis explores the impact of policy on teacher agency through interviews with four teachers at different stages in their professional careers, and also through my own experiences and reflective writing, in the context of a performative culture. It focuses on their narratives and my own, through the lens of Peshkin and his work relating to subjectivity and ‘Situational Identity’. It questions how and where teachers experience professional agency and the affect policy has on the assertion of agency and the development of their pedagogy. The analysis suggests that although policy causes tensions and contradictions with teachers’ values and preferred pedagogy, values still lie at the heart of what teachers do and they are not lost amongst the plethora of policy and paperwork. There may be times when their practice is not carried out in the way they had intended, but times of great tension can also elicit a stronger assertion of agency; difficult decisions can be made that focus on what is right for their pupils, and complicit conformation is not the only option. Agency lies within the tensions and contradictions certain contexts create and it is in the management of these tensions that agency becomes apparent