2,295 research outputs found

    The protection of the consumers’ interests in the car distribution

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    The present study gives an overview primary of the private law rules of the miscellaneous regulations of the consumer protection on the example of car distribution, presenting its civil law and competition law regulations.

    The Language Exchange Programme: plugging the gap in formal learning

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    In the context of distance language learning, speaking is frequently perceived as the most challenging skill; this paper reports on a 12-week summer language exchange programme providing students with new ways of practising their oral abilities. Students who completed an undergraduate beginners’ language module took part in regular online, synchronous language exchange sessions with a partner.This paper analyses the impact of taking part in a language exchange task on the students’ motivation. The mixed methods research included an activity perception questionnaire (based on Deci, Eghrari, Patrick and Leone, 1994) to investigate the motivation of participants whilst undertaking a specific language exchange session, as well as qualitative data from both the questionnaire and the project discussion forum.The language exchange programme provides the opportunity for learners to take ownership of their learning and personalize it, and functions as a bridge between formal and informal learning. However, despite the enjoyment and interest provided by this type of experience, it is not without stress, and requires self-determination and autonomy to result in a positive and sustainable learning experience

    Political legitimacy and European monetary union: contracts, constitutionalism and the normative logic of two-level games

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    The crisis of the euro area has severely tested the political authority of the European Union (EU). The crisis raises questions of normative legitimacy both because the EU is a normative order and because the construction of economic and monetary union (EMU) rested upon a theory that stressed the normative value of the depoliticization of money. However, this theory neglected the normative logic of the two-level game implicit in EMU. It also neglected the need for an impartial and publically acceptable constitutional order to acknowledge reasonable disagreements. By contrast, we contend that any reconstruction of the EU's economic constitution has to pay attention to reconciling a European monetary order with the legitimacy of member state governance. The EU requires a two-level contract to meet this standard. Member states must treat each other as equals and be representative of and accountable to their citizens on an equitable basis. These criteria entail that the EU's political legitimacy requires a form of demoicracy that we call ‘republican intergovernmentalism’. Only rules that could be acceptable as the product of a political constitution among the peoples of Europe can ultimately meet the required standards of political legitimacy. Such a political constitution could be brought about through empowering national parliaments in EU decision-making

    Comparing teacher roles in Denmark and England

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    This article reports the findings of a comparative study of teaching in Denmark and England; its broader aim is to help develop an approach for comparing pedagogy. Lesson observations and interviews identified the range of goals towards which teachers in each country worked and the actions these prompted. These were clustered using the lens of Bernstein’s pedagogic discourse (1990; 1996) to construct teacher roles which provided a view of pedagogy. Through this approach we have begun to identify variations in pedagogy across two countries. All teachers in this study adopted a variety of roles; of significance was the ease with which competent English teachers moved between roles. The English teachers observed adopted roles consistent with a wider techno-rationalist discourse. There was a greater subject emphasis by Danish teachers whose work was set predominantly within a democratic humanist discourse, whilst the English teachers placed a greater emphasis on applied skills

    Enacting dialogue: the impact of promoting Philosophy for Children on the literate thinking of identified poor readers, aged 10.

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    The Philosophy for Children in Schools Project (P4CISP) is a research project to monitor and evaluate the impact of Philosophy for Children (P4C) on classroom practices. In this paper the impact of P4C on the thinking skills of you children aged 10 is examined. Standardised tests indicated the children had below-average reading ages. The pupils were video recorded while engaged in discussion of questions they had formulated themselves in response to a series of texts in preparation for a community of philosophical enquire. Group discussions were analysed, paying attention to verbal and non-verbal communication. We argue that reading scores do not necessarily indicate inability to engage in literate thinking. When dialogic approaches are used and pupils are given opportunities to work in small group to formulate their own questions and evaluate their potential for generating enquiry, they demonstrate their ability to use higher-order language skills. Dialogic approaches can challenge the hegemonic impact of standardised testing that dominates modern schooling A dialogic approach to teaching listens to pupil voice and has the potential to change how adults view children and contribute to an epistemological paradigm shift away from positivism towards dialogism

    Inclusive research and inclusive education: why connecting them makes sense for teachers’ and learners’ democratic development of education

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    Following pushes from the disability movement(s) and increased interest in children and young people becoming involved in research concerning them, inclusive research is growing within and beyond education establishments. Yet this arena is alive with interesting and largely unanswered questions. This paper discusses some of them: What do inclusive research and inclusive education have in common? Where have the moves towards inclusive (participatory and emancipatory) research happened and why? How viable are the claims to the moral superiority of inclusive research? What kinds and quality of knowledge does inclusive research produce? Finally the question is addressed of what all this means for inclusive education, arguing that inclusive research has under-explored potential to reinvigorate inclusive education and provide new connections to democracy and social justice in education

    Digital Inequality

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    Unpicking and understanding if and how the web is linked to inequality means: Recognising that the access divide is not over, Thinking beyond hardware, Thinking beyond demographic variables, Developing a conceptual and theoretical toolkit, Beyond technological determinism, Co-constitution, Intersectionality, Technical capita
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