Active social location in schools: professional development for the whole school workforce?

The workforce in English schools has changed over recent years; there are more categories of staff to be found in English schools and the relative sizes of the categories have altered. Alongside these changes, the Every Child Matters reform programme implies the need to pay attention to the importance of all categories of staff to the welfare of children. However, there has not hitherto been an adequate characterisation of the nature of the practice of workers other than teachers . This paper attempts to characterise the position of school workers other than teachers to better understand the distinctive nature of their practice. We focus on Teaching Assistants, Caretakers and Lunchtime Supervisors as three groups which are sufficiently different to enable us to develop a richer theoretical account of identity in the school workforce than has hitherto been available. We have argued elsewhere (Coldron and Smith, 1999) that a teacher’s practice and his or her development of that practice can best be understood as a process of active social location. In this paper, we apply the same theoretical understanding of practice to the work identities of these three groups of school staff. By better understanding the identities that their different positions and associated resources make available, we aim to provide a richer picture and a way of thinking of the work identities of staff in school who are not teachers, one that is not colonised by the ways of thinking about the higher status teacher group.</p

The role of whole-school contexts in shaping the experiences and outcomes associated with professional development

Review of the article 'The role of whole-school contexts in shaping the experiences and outcomes associated with professional development'. The study examined the in-service programme in relation to different school contexts (size, type, disadvantaged, status); collegiate ethos and leadership and middle-management structures in the school. A description and discussion of the evaluation is followed by an overview of the PCSP and the new primary curriculum

Analysing practice in preservice mathematics teacher education

This paper presents the case of a yearlong course based on fieldwork activities provided to secondary school mathematics preservice teachers, just before their student teaching practicum. The activities are a first experience in investigating professional practice—some concern the school as a whole, while others focus on the mathematics class. Using a qualitative and collaborative methodology, we discuss the implications of this work for preservice teachers’ education. We argue that such fieldwork activities may help prospective teachers in developing a professional discourse and in assuming a professional identity, acquiring new ways of expressing new educational ideas and assuming a new point of view about educational phenomena

Development of a sport specific anthropometric calibration model to estimate whole body density of professional football players

There are currently no calibration models that allow whole body density in professional footballers to be estimated. As such, there is a need to develop practical calibration models in order to make sound body composition judgements. The aim of this thesis is threefold. Firstly, to examine the measurement reliability of a range of anthropometric measures, residual lung volume, air displacement plethysmography and hydrostatic weighing. Secondly, to establish reliability and precision of body composition measures used within existing calibration models which estimate whole body density from the criterion of hydrostatic weighing. Thirdly, to develop and cross-validate new calibration models for professional footballers. Further details are given in the full abstract above

The rise and rise of non-medical prescribing

The reaction from some quarters of the medical profession to the extension of prescribing rights to extended formulary nurse prescribers and pharmacists encompassing the whole British National Formulary is likely to be seen by many as a visceral response to the inherent threat to powerful vested interests in what has been described as the professional monolith of medicine. Although individual nurses and pharmacists and their professional bodies may welcome this move as a just reward for long and hard-fought battles to be recognised as equal partners with the medical profession, the implications of such a profound policy change need to be examined in the cold light of the available evidence, expected positive benefits and potential negative consequences

How medical students demonstrate their professionalism when reflecting on experience

Objectives:  This paper aims to examine the discourses used by students in a formal assessment of their ability to demonstrate professional values when reflecting on their experiences. Methods:  We carried out a discourse analysis of 50 randomly selected essays from a summative assessment undertaken by all five year groups of students in one UK medical school. Results:  Students were able to identify a wealth of relevant examples and to articulate key principles of professional practice. They were also able to critique behaviours and draw appropriate conclusions for their own intended professional development. Detailed textual analysis provided linguistic clues to the depth of apparent reflection: recurrent use of rhetorical language with minimal use of first-person reflections, lack of analysis of underlying factors, and simplistic views of solutions may all indicate students whose ability to learn by reflection on experience needs further development. There were also areas in which cohorts as a whole appeared to have a limited grasp of the important professional issues being addressed. Conclusions:  Assessing written reflections is a useful way of making students link their experiences with professional development. The detailed analysis of language usage may help to refine marking criteria, and to detect students and course components where reflective learning competencies are not being achieved

What’s Love Got to Do with It?

The life and work of student life professionals provide the glue in the academy. Being attentive to students’ health, well-being, success, and leadership development is what we do. It is what keeps the heart of our institutions beating. While dedication to this field requires passion, it can also run us dry. Love for the profession and love for oneself are essential to be whole, resilient professionals and human beings. Professional development includes personal development. This article is both a scholarly personal narrative and a call to action. It weaves the voices of a young professional and her mentor through their own journeys of discovery with research in the importance of heart in higher education. This article offers insight about the need to integrate the essential inner work of self-love into our profession

FAMILY INVOLVEMENT IN MANAGEMENT AND FIRM PERFORMANCE: EVIDENCE FROM ITALY

Using Total Factor Productivity (TFP) as a measure of corporate performance, this study compares the performance of owner management to that of firms run by professional managers over the period 2004-2006. We consider the influence of owner management for the sample as a whole and for subgroups of firms. The findings demonstrate that family run firms are less productive than firms run by professional managers, but the difference between the two is small. Our results support the idea that in Italy there is not a genuine process of manager selection both for family and no-family firms.TFP, Family firms, Management

An Intelligent Tutoring System for Cloud Computing

Intelligent tutoring system (ITS) is a computer system which aims to provide immediate and customized or reactions to learners, usually without the intervention of human teacher's instructions. Secretariats professional to have the common goal of learning a meaningful and effective manner through the use of a variety of computing technologies enabled. There are many examples of professional Secretariats used in both formal education and in professional settings that have proven their capabilities. There is a close relationship between private lessons intelligent, cognitive learning and design theories; and there are ongoing to improve the effectiveness of ITS research. And it aims to find a solution to the problem of over-reliance on students' teachers for quality education. The program aims to provide access to high-quality education to every student, and therefore the reform of the education system as a whole. In this paper, we will use Intelligent Tutoring System Builder (ITSB) to build an education system on cloud computing in terms of the concept of cloud computing and components and how to take advantage of cloud computing in the field

Clinical governance : the next hype?

Clinical governance is to be the main vehicle for continuously improving the quality of patient care and developing the capacity to maintain high standards. The World Health Organisation has divided the approach into four principle aspects: professional performance; resource use; risk management; patient involvement. In this article the author seeks to explain the terms and their contribution to the whole scenario of Clinical governance. An overview of the local scene in the light of these concepts is also discussed.peer-reviewe