What Australian students say about transition to secondary school. Final report

Life Education Australia\u27s Being Healthy Being Active project involved the collection of student voice related to the concept of school transition and the move from primary to secondary school. Students from around Australia participated in 82 focus groups, or student forums, to discuss their own positive experiences, as well as perceived needs and challenges related to their move to secondary school. Section One of this report is a literature review and environmental scan on student transition from primary to secondary school. Section Two describes the methods used to design and administer the Student Forums. This includes a description of the target population and sampling methods as well as the details of the achieved sample: 82 forums with 444 students across 15 schools. Section Three outlines the findings of the Student Forums. Section Four offers conclusions and recommendations to inform the next stage of the project, designing a suite of resources and training for teachers aimed at assisting students with the transition from primary to secondary school

Just two Sides of the Same Coin? Ethical Issues and Discourses on COVID-19 and Ebola: A Comparative Literature Analysis

Infectious diseases pose a continuing threat to human life. In the case of pandemics, they can also grow into massive challenges for society as a whole - not only from a medical but also from an ethical perspective. This article takes the current COVID-19 pandemic as the occasion for an empirical medico-ethical analysis. It explores the ethical dimensions and discourses on COVID-19 and the Ebola epidemics (West Africa, Democratic Republic of Congo). Additional attention is paid to the question whether and to what extent the ethical issues raised differ and how the possible disparities can be explained. Using a methodological two-step approach (systematic literature review; qualitative content analysis), we were able to identify nine categories that map the ethical dimensions of recent outbreaks of these two diseases: (1) Prioritization of health, (2) Equitable access to resources, (3) Adequate information, (4) Health worker vulnerability, (5) Stigma and discrimination, (6) Research ethics, (7) Measures restricting freedom, (8) Global health justice, (9) Environmental ethics

Automation and discretion: explaining the effect of automation on how street-level bureaucrats enforce

A dominant assumption in the street-level bureaucracy literature is that bureaucrats’ discretion is curtailed by automated systems. Drawing on survey and factual data (n = 549) from Dutch inspectors, we test the effect of automation on enforcement style and whether this can be explained by discretion-as-perceived. Our results show that automation (1) increases bureaucrats’ legal and accommodation style; (2) discretion-as-perceived does not mediate this effect; but (3) automation does decrease discretion-as-perceived. The main implication is that we do not find empirical evidence for curtailment and future research should move beyond discretion to understand effects of digital systems on bureaucrats’ behaviour.The politics and administration of institutional chang

Automation and discretion: explaining the effect of automation on how street-level bureaucrats enforce

A dominant assumption in the street-level bureaucracy literature is that bureaucrats’ discretion is curtailed by automated systems. Drawing on survey and factual data (n = 549) from Dutch inspectors, we test the effect of automation on enforcement style and whether this can be explained by discretion-as-perceived. Our results show that automation (1) increases bureaucrats’ legal and accommodation style; (2) discretion-as-perceived does not mediate this effect; but (3) automation does decrease discretion-as-perceived. The main implication is that we do not find empirical evidence for curtailment and future research should move beyond discretion to understand effects of digital systems on bureaucrats’ behaviour

Building early care and education teachers' professional and emotional capacity to support preschoolers' social-emotional competencies

Early care and education (ECE) teachers play a significant role in creating the social and emotional learning climate in the classroom and promoting children’s socioemotional and behavioral health. However, ECE teachers often report feeling unprepared to meet the socioemotional needs of preschoolers who exhibit dysregulated emotions and behaviors. This is also evident in the persistent practice of suspending or expelling preschoolers from ECE settings across the U.S. To improve short and long-term developmental outcomes for children, ECE teachers’ professional and emotional capacity to provide quality care for children with emotion regulation difficulties deserve more attention and systemic supports. Bandura’s (1986) triadic reciprocal determinism and Jennings and Greenberg’s (2009) prosocial classroom model served as the theoretical basis for this mixed-methods study, which was conducted in collaboration with the Virtual Lab School (VLS) Momentum research team at the Ohio State University. Specifically, I investigated how the web-based Social-Emotional Learning for Teachers (SELF-T) course contributed to ECE teachers’ knowledge and use of strategies to promote their emotional well-being. I also explored whether the SELF-T course offered added value to ECE teachers’ learning in a comprehensive professional development program designed to promote their understanding and use of evidence-based teaching practices. Findings suggest SELF-T was regarded by participants to be a timely topic in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic that brought many physical, mental, and financial challenges to the ECE workforce. As expected, completion of the SELF-T course was associated with an increase in ECE teachers’ knowledge and use of strategies to promote their emotional well-being. Study participants’ interview responses further suggested that learning about teachers’ social-emotional well-being contributed to some degree to their overall increased sense of efficacy in managing the classroom effectively, teaching social-emotional learning skills, and maintaining positive teacher-child interactions. Collective findings are in support of Jennings and Greenberg’s (2009) hypothesized relationships in the prosocial classroom model and the claim that a “synergistic effect” (p. 515) occurs when professional training focuses on promoting both teachers’ and children’s social-emotional competence to bring about positive adult and child outcomes. Potential implications for professional practices, policies, and future research are discussed

The State of the American Public Administration Field

This paper describes and traces the modern thought and the state of public administration throughout the history of American Public Administration. The paper argues that logical positivism and instrumental rationality, which are the underpinnings of modern thought, have captivated public administration. The paper demonstrates the fact that public administration is a human science, set within a given social context, and, therefore, is imbued with human values. This attitude was ignored by positivism and tried to be treated by the new logic of inquiry of Postmodernism

Investigating the link between users’ IT adaptation behaviours and individual-level IT use outcomes using the coping model of user adaptation: A Case study of a work system computerisation project

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel UniversityThe benefits of new IT-induced organisational changes, such as new organisational information systems (IS), depend on the degree that system users adapt by proactively changing themselves, their work routines, and even the technology itself in order to reap its strategic capabilities and advantages. However, researchers are increasingly concerned that IS research has provided very little indication about how IS users’ IT adaptive strategies are formed and evolved over time and how such adaptive behaviours employed by IS users influence subsequent IT use and individual-level performance outcomes. This thesis investigates in-depth the evolution of IT adaptation behaviours towards disruptive IT events in the case study of a Medical Clinic attached to one of Iran’s elite Oil and Gas industry companies. The case study investigated the individual coping behaviours of the employees of this Medical Centre as a consequence of the introduction of a mandatory Work System Computerisation (WSC) initiative. Work System Computerisation project refers to both the replacement of manual work processes with computers as well as modernisation of the existing out-dated computerised work systems in the medical centre under investigation. According to the case study, each of the seven sub-units of the Medical Centre implemented a different WSC scheme and the consequences of the introduction of the scheme resulted in differing outcomes among the employees of those sub-units, such outcomes being related to a complex interplay of the individuals’ coping behaviours, appraisals and emotional responses and the environment. The term ‘Disruptive IT event’ in this study refers to any enhanced or completely new information technology in different units within the medical centre (i.e. Work System Computerisation schemes) that replaced and disrupted existing work processes/practices and had resulted in disruptive and unpredictable changes to users’ daily routines. The theoretical lens used in this study is the Coping Model of User Adaptation (CMUA) elaborated by Coping Theory, which also underpins the model. CMUA provides a useful theoretical basis for deeper understanding of users’ adaptive responses to a new work information system (IS) as well as direct analysis of the impact of such adaptive responses on system usage. The other theoretical concept used, which addresses issues not readily covered by the CMUA, was a typology of adaptive behaviours from Roth and Cohen (1986): avoidance vs. approach. This allows for further clarification of how different types of individual-level adaptation acts evolve over time and affect individual-level IT use outcomes. Furthermore, how these various adaptive acts enhance or hinder the extent to which the new IT is used can also be explained. The research questions guiding this thesis are as follows: (1) How do IS users’ adaptation tactics and strategies evolve over time when dealing with a disruptive IT event? (2) How do alterations in users’ coping strategies subsequently influence their IT use outcomes and overall performance? The study’s methodological approaches and underlying philosophical assumptions followed an interpretive research approach. A broadly interpretive approach was adopted in this study with the aim of understanding the complexity of human sense making and their IT adaptation behaviours as the situation emerges. The research was carried out in one state of Iran, Mashhad, and took place during the period of 2011-2012. The findings of this thesis have both theoretical and managerial implications. From a theoretical perspective, this study expands on the work of Beaudry and Pinsonneault (2005) who suggested that the process of user adaptation could be understood in light of coping theory. The results of this study and the additional identified perspectives and enhancements which are represented in the following ways could help to advance the field of user IT adaptation behaviours in IS research. This study contributes to the existing IT adaptation literature by providing rich insights into the phenomenon of user IT adaptation behaviours within the context of Iran. Adopting an interpretive approach through a longitudinal process-oriented perspective has provided a greater understanding of the patterns of user adaptation to IS, users’ psychological constructs, initial patterns of their coping strategies, the alterations in such coping efforts over time, and the consequences of these evolutions on IT use outcomes in different divisions within a healthcare environment. The appraisal of ‘challenge’ is an influential contributor to the users’ subsequent adaptation process that CMUA is mute about it. The findings indicate that since the challenge appraisal represents a ‘positive stress’, some levels of challenge are useful to mobilise IS users towards IT adoption and use. The correlated concerns identified in the research (i.e. a web of complex personal, social and technical concerns) play a vital role on users’ adaptation processes following the IT implementation and over time. This highlights the importance of feedback loop in the adaptation process (which represents users’ revaluation process), and how the direct and indirect impacts of such interventions affect users’ reassessments of the IT event and their subsequent efforts and outcomes. The concept of emotion that is missing from CMUA is influential especially where non-IT savvy users’ behaviours toward significant IT events may be influenced by extreme emotions. Outcomes of this study highlight the theoretical importance of preserving the distinction between approach-, and avoidance-oriented emotion-focused behaviours in exploring how emotion-focused behaviours may influence behavioural outcomes such as system usage. The consideration of parallel processes for users’ IS appraisal is another area of theoretical expansion. The findings also suggest implications for practice as well as directions for future research. Understanding how employees’ IS appraisals considerably affect coping efforts and ultimately their technology performance outcome is critical for successful IT implementations and use in work settings. The results could assist decision makers in assessing user adaptation concerns and the intensity of such apprehensions at each phase of the change process and hence address them more effectively

Dynamic Patent Governance in Europe and the United States: The Myriad Example

This Article examines the emerging elements of a new model for patent governance. It is divided into four parts. In Section One, we develop a model of dynamic patent governance. This model extends the theoretical framework of network governance, to explain the emergence of networks in the decisionmaking infrastructure for the public and private actors in the patent system. Dynamic patent governance widens this theoretical framework in two key ways. First, dynamic patent governance, within its formal dimensions, is based on the idea that heterogeneous administrative actors regulate the grant and enforcement of patents. This challenges a perspective that sees patent examination agencies as the sole actor of importance within the patent system. Second, dynamic patent governance, within its informal dimensions, highlights that the patent administrative regime is shaped by the fluid relationship of diverse actors to these heterogeneous administrative actors. Section Two explores the consequences of a more dynamic patent governance context. Section Three applies this model to explore the recent Myriad litigation in the United States and Europe. Section Four focuses on some particular challenges that dynamic patent governance poses to: (1) the impulse to centralize patent administration and litigation; and (2) the efficiency of the patent system