PROBING STATISTICAL EDUCATION POLICY RESEARCH DATA

This article argues for a particular view of advanced statistical data analysis within an eclectic methodology for Education Policy research and is predicated on the notion that the function of such analysis is to identify higher-order relationships in quantitative research data. The article outlines the application of advanced statistical analysis in two less advanced countries with the aim of promoting such analysis among researchers and decision-makers in those countries.  Article visualizations

INSIDE A CASE OF NORTH-SOUTH COLLABORATION IN POLICY RESEARCH ABOUT TECHNICAL EDUCATION AND VOCATIONAL TRAINING

This article gives an insider account of the author’s involvement in a protracted educational research partnership with The Gambia, in the context of North-South Collaboration and with the policy-research interface in education at issue. The article ends with the author reflecting on the future for North-South Collaborative educational research in Developing Countries in the light of global trends in the formulation of educational policy.  Article visualizations

CONSULTANCY WORK ABROAD FOR POLICY RESEARCH IN EDUCATION

This article is based on the premise that recorded accounts of Policy Research in Education (in less advanced countries) are not sufficiently clear and /or detailed enough about the different Tiers and Stages of the Policy Process that they describe, and about the complexity and diversity of Policy Research. The aim of the article then is to increase awareness of the Policy Process and of Policy Research among researchers and to promote discussions about policy issues among policymakers and among sponsors of Policy Research. The article presents summaries of three Policy Research studies (in Turkey, The Gambia, and Mali, respectively) that draw attention to the above points.  Article visualizations

INSIDE A CASE OF NORTH-SOUTH COLLABORATION IN POLICY RESEARCH ABOUT TECHNICAL EDUCATION AND VOCATIONAL TRAINING

This article gives an insider account of the author’s involvement in a protracted educational research partnership with The Gambia, in the context of North-South Collaboration and with the policy-research interface in education at issue. The article ends with the author reflecting on the future for North-South Collaborative educational research in Developing Countries in the light of global trends in the formulation of educational policy.  Article visualizations

The contributions of selected personality and situational variables to variations in teachers' attitudes to curriculum innovation

The aim of the research was to estimate the contributions of selected PERSONALITY and SITUATIONAL variables to variations in teachers’ attitudes to curriculum innovation. A TWO-STAGE approach was adopted. At STAGE A, reliable measures of teachers' attitudes were developed by factor analysing the responses of 80 Polytechnic teachers to'an innovation in the Engineering Drawing curriculum for Technician students in TAMIL NADU (a state of South India). The contributions (partial correlations squared) of Dogmatism (a PERSONALITY variable) and of SITUATIONAL variables to variations in those teachers' attitudes were determined by Multiple Correlation Analysis. A similar correlation analysis was done in a group of 134 teachers made up of 54 teachers from three other States of South India (where the innovation was not implemented) together with the 80 teachers from TAMIL NADU. A "quasi-illuminative" study of the innovation was also undertaken. This included on-site observations of teacher classroom behaviours and a study of Pass Rates in Engineering Drawing examinations before and after the innovation. STAGE B consisted firstly in replicating (by "second-order comparison") the correlational study in a sample of 82 Secondary School teachers concerned with a New Mathematics curriculum in England. Secondly, the list of independent variables for the correlation analysis was extended to include two RESISTIVITY FACTORS which were derived by factor analysis from four personality variables (Dogmatism, Rigidity, Neuroticism and Extraversion). Overall, the results Indicated that there was a significant, negative correlation between RESISTANCE-within-PERSONALITY (mainly in the form of Dogmatism) and teachers' attitudes to curriculum innovation. Less clear-cut was the relationship between these attitudes and the teachers' "KNOWLEDGE" of curriculum innovation. However, Attendance on Courses of specific training for implementing innovation explained some of the variance in the teachers' attitudes and suggestions were made for the organization of such courses

My, What A Funny Little World This Is! / words by Lewis and Benett

Cover: a contemplative man ; photo inset of Carrie Reynolds; Publisher: Jos. W. Stern and Co. (New York)https://egrove.olemiss.edu/sharris_c/1013/thumbnail.jp

Supply Management and Price Ceilings on Production Quota Values: Future or Folly?

Since the inception of supply management in Canada during the 1970s, milk production quota has been used to regulate output and participation in the dairy industry. In recent years, milk quota values have increased dramatically, almost tripling in value since the mid-1980s. This led to the Dairy Farmers of Ontario intervening on the milk production quota exchange on two occasions: first, in November 2006 with a progressive transfer assessment and then in July 2009, replacing the former policy with a firm price ceiling – fixing the unit price of quota at $25,000. These policies represent a significant redistribution of economic benefits within the Ontario dairy community from milk producers approaching retirement and selling their quota to those remaining in the industry. The objective of this study is to first explore the reasons for the increase in production quota values; and second, to assess the welfare and distributional effects of each of the two quota policy schemes. Our results suggest that the increase in quota values were driven by basic economic factors expected to influence asset values and that the efficiency losses from intervention in the quota exchange are non-trivial. We conclude by suggesting there are several alternative policy options that could minimize efficiency losses while moderating the escalation in quota values.milk, quota, policy, risk, supply, management, Agricultural and Food Policy, International Relations/Trade, Political Economy,

The first lady geologist, or collector par excellence?

This is a PDF version of an article published in Geology Today© 2001. The definitive version is available at www.blackwell-synergy.com. The illustrations have been removed.This article discusses the life and career of the British geologist Etheldred Benett (1776-1845), one of the first female geologists and and expert on the early history of Wiltshire geology