PhD researchers, pedagogy and primary education: A perspective piece on breaking barriers to Higher Education

Barriers to fair Higher Education access are often determined at an early age, particularly for students from working class backgrounds with no parental history of Higher Education and who live in some of the lowest socio-economic areas in the United Kingdom. But barriers can be broken. One such method is through The Brilliant Club’s Scholars Programme which mobilises PhD researchers by placing them in UK state schools to teach subjects which are not traditionally taught on the school curriculum such as human rights, contractual rights, and rights protected by the criminal law, amongst many other subjects and disciplines. The Brilliant Club’s Scholars Programme assists in increasing university awareness as well as developing the core skills necessary for academic success. Liberational pedagogy can also assist in breaking barriers as it encourages creativity, critical thought and awareness in students. Part I of this paper outlines what The Brilliant Club does in the context of social justice and breaking barriers to Higher Education. Part II explains my own experience working as a PhD tutor on the Scholars Programme with Key Stage 2 students and how I used liberational pedagogy in the context of problem-posing teaching methods to encourage critical discussion and to learn in dialogue with the students

Readmission Rates and Their Impact on Hospital Financial Performance: A Study of Washington Hospitals

This longitudinal study examines whether readmission rates, made transparent through Hospital Compare, affect hospital financial performance by examining 98 hospitals in the State of Washington from 2012 to 2014. Readmission rates for acute myocardial infarction (AMI), pneumonia (PN), and heart failure (HF) were examined against operating revenues per patient, operating expenses per patient, and operating margin. Using hospital-level fixed effects regression on 276 hospital year observations, the analysis indicated that a reduction in AMI readmission rates is related with increased operating revenues as expenses associated with costly treatments related with unnecessary readmissions are avoided. Additionally, reducing readmission rates is related with an increase in operating expenses. As a net effect, increased PN readmission rates may show marginal increase in operating margin because of the higher operating revenues due to readmissions. However, as readmissions continue to happen, a gradual increase in expenses due to greater use of resources may lead to decreased profitability

A Multimodal Intervention for Weight Loss in Primary Care

Obesity is a worsening pandemic that requires immediate action. It is recommended that primary care providers screen patients for obesity and provide multimodal behavioral interventions to their patients to treat and prevent obesity (USPSTF, 2018). The purpose of this evidenced-base practice (EBP) project is to implement a multimodal intervention for weight loss in adults within primary care. Five search engines were utilized, and 16 articles were ultimately selected as evidence. The evidence supported self-monitoring and close follow-up while in active weight loss. The Iowa Model for EBP to promote quality care was used as the framework to guide the project at a one-provider primary care clinic in Prescott, Arizona. This EBP project aimed to improve weight loss in participants through daily self-monitoring of caloric intake and physical activity via a smart phone application or paper entry. In-person and telephone follow-up alternated every two weeks for a timeframe of 12 weeks. Follow-up was provided by the nurse practitioner and the project leader. The intervention group consisted of seven participants and outcomes were measured as change in Body Mass Index (BMI). Data was collected preintervention and every four weeks until the end of the implementation period. The intervention group data was compared to change in BMI in the comparison group, which also consisted of seven participants. Key stakeholders included the nurse practitioner, medical assistant, the project leader, other students, as well as patients and their family members. To determine if implementation of the intervention was effective, a data analysis was completed. Implications for practice will be discussed

Third World Approaches to International Law: The Responsibility to Protect and Regional Organisations: An Overview

The Responsibility to Protect is administered through the United Nations Security Council, which is often criticised for being ineffective, too selective and for using its power to veto to the detriment of States in mass atrocity. Third World States within the international arena are often at the mercy of the Security Council and are excluded from decision making processes which may impact them. This research proposes that the Responsibility to Protect should be administered by regional organisations rather than the Security Council, owing to the comparative advantages regional organisations have to offer. For example, regional organisations who have proximity to conflict are likely to understand the culture and history of States and possess in-depth local knowledge. Neighbouring States within the region also have more at risk, such as bearing the burden of unwanted armed groups in their territory, disproportionate numbers of refugees and the impact conflict can have on the economy. Regional organisations are also best suited for addressing the structural and root causes of conflict. It will be argued that regional organisations could legally intervene within the parameters of their own region through ex post facto application of Article 53 of the Charter of the United Nations. A Third World Approach to International Law (TWAIL) will be applied throughout this research. TWAIL operates on a philosophy of suspicion which enables it to adopt a critical stance on International Law by pushing boundaries to expose injustice. TWAIL will be particularly useful in considering the Responsibility to Protect as it will assist in identifying any colonial origins, rhetoric and imperialism that is in both policy and law in this area. Doctrinal legal analysis is the method which will be applied as it will centre its focus on a comprehensive overview of the key literature in this area. A qualitative method is also used as the research involves analytical interpretation and analysis and uses TWAIL’s theoretical framework to provide legal reasoning. It is likely that this research shall conclude that if we do not fix a system that is broken, then the international community is failing and will continue to fail in its responsibility to protect. The way to fix this is through restricting the Security Council’s ability to exercise imperialism and to identify the colonialist structures surrounding the Responsibility to Protect. Therefore, regional organisations may offer a solution with their comparative advantages, lack of veto power and through including the voices of less developed States in the decision-making processes surrounding intervention

Residents of a domestic violence shelter: A needs assessment for post-shelter living

The project goal was to conduct a needs assessment concerning what factors were most important to survivors of domestic violence in terms of post-shelter living. A review of the literature on domestic violence research indicated a lack of studies focusing on long term stability planning. A survey was developed to be distributed among survivors living in a domestic violence shelter. The survey asked the survivors to rate how imp01iant different categories of services of post-shelter living were to them. These categories were: Housing, Education/Employment, Access to Community Services, Services for Children, and Healthcare. The survivors were then asked how important specific services within these categories were to them. While the survey was distributed to survivors at one domestic violence shelter, many barriers prevented any data from being analyzed. This thesis will explore those barriers and possible ways in which future research might overcome them

Printmaking in changing contexts

A presentation exploring how shifts in technology and production have changed the meaning and value of printmaking, particularly with regard to traditional/craft processes

Feminist Outdoor Leadership: Challenging Hegemonic Masculinity through Outdoor Education

Through an intersectional Marxist, Post-Structuralist, Eco-Feminist lens, this study responds to Humberstone’s query if outdoor activities can challenge and transform gender inequalities or if outdoor activities must maintain and reproduce these inequalities (2000). I begin by discussing hegemony and hegemonic masculinity in order to critically assess traditional sport, outdoor activities, and the hegemonic constraints in accessing leisure experienced by women. The examples and discussion I provide demonstrate that extraordinary constraints persist in the 21st century, especially in the form of sexualization, infantilization, marginalization, and delegitimization of female athletes. I argue that Outdoor Education, due to its unique goals and values, is an excellent venue for challenging hegemonic masculinity. I distinguish Outdoor Education as having different goals than other forms of activity in the outdoors; Outdoor Education is an experiential method of learning that aims to explore intrapersonal, interpersonal, ecosystemic, and ekistic relationships in outdoor environments (Priest 2005). Outdoor Education is capable of manifesting challenges to hegemony most when coupled with what I call ‘Feminist Outdoor Leadership.’ Feminist Outdoor Leadership shares power horizontally, acknowledges expressions of domination in space and language, invites participants to participate with their whole, emotional and relational selves, and is attentive to how gender role socialization affects technical skill development and confidence

Process and printmaking

The output is a curated project, Leeds Print Festival: Process and Printmaking, curated by Smith, 2014. Research process: The output is an archive of selected prints that showcases a range of processes and techniques from studios, collectives, and individuals regionally, nationally, and internationally. Process and Printmaking features traditional and contemporary printing processes such as collagraph, screenprint, letterpress, risograph, and woodcut. Research insights: There are creatives, on a global scale, that are reclaiming the press and embracing traditional methods of print. This is happening commercially, where the print work is produced on extended runs when the decision has been made to return to a print-based output opposed to working just digital for a client. Individuals are setting up workshops in their homes and garages with found or reconditioned presses or adapting presses that would have been once been originally used just for proofing such as the Adana. Design studios are also setting up printing spaces inside their agencies. They are challenging what print can do by introducing new technologies to traditional methods. Dissemination: The research was disseminated in Creative Review’s monthly publication, Monograph, in May 2014

Becoming a Home-Educator in a Networked World: Towards the Democratisation of Education Alternatives?

The internet is assumed to play a special role for Elective Home Education (EHE) in the UK and has anecdotally fuelled an increase in its prevalence. Yet little is known about the how the internet features in experiences of discovering EHE. This study reports on the ways in which a predominantly middle-class and highly educated faction have appropriated the internet to develop networks and communities to support the informational, social and emotional needs of new families. The research formed part of a mixed-method doctoral study that included: an online survey of 242 home-educators; 52 individual and group interviews with 85 parents, children and young people and a week-long participant observation with families. In the absence of any "official discourse" for them, initiating contact with existing home-educators online socialised prospective families into a normalised "Do It Yourself" education culture. However, access was a complex achievement that predicated the demonstration of allegiances and commitment. The modalities of power mirrored online left some families on the periphery indefinitely, while others used the internet to cultivate self-selecting communities elsewhere. The conclusions paint a paradoxical picture for the illusive promise of the democratisation of education