Future Secondary Schools for Diversity: Where are we now and where could we be? A "futures thinking" approach to planning for diversity and inclusion, informed by an investigation of the current over-representation of secondary aged students in special schools in England

In 2011, 65% of the 76,900 pupils aged between 5 and 16 in special schools in England were of secondary age. When this population is broken down further, a constant rise in pupil numbers is seen; from just under 3,500 pupils at age 5, to more than 10,000 at age 15, with a large leap in numbers between the ages 10 and 11. This thesis views these patterns as demonstrations of disproportionality and as indications that inclusion in mainstream secondary schools is not being achieved. The thesis fills a gap in the literature exemplified by the paucity of studies on this phenomenon. It is distinctive in not only exploring a problem and then suggesting ways of overcoming it, it also tests these suggestions. The thesis is in two parts, the first is a standard empirical enquiry, using a survey methodology, the second uses futures studies methodologies and evaluation techniques to create and develop a vignette of a future school that successfully includes those children currently placed in special schools. A critical realist perspective is adopted, acknowledging that explanations are contingent and influenced by personal experience and bias (at the level of researcher and participants). Hence a range of stakeholder views are sought, along with the involvement of groups of practitioners and experts in the refinement of a vignette of a future school. The thesis employs a mixed methods approach, in order to base findings on as many sources as possible. It also involves a futures thinking aspect, in the design of a preferable, transforming, normative image of a future education system. In part one explanations about why the phenomenon of over-representation occur are sought through a literature review, then a questionnaire of key stakeholders (those involved in school placement decisions). Factors that are commented on most frequently are school level factors and within child factors. These findings point to limitations of current models used to understand disability and special educational needs, the thesis posits that an extended multi-dimensional model is needed, and suggests a number of existing models that could be developed. In part two a vignette of a future school is created by considering how problems and issues raised in part one of the study could be circumvented. This vignette is evaluated by experts who have experiential and theoretical knowledge of the field of special educational needs and inclusion. The evaluation contributes to the further refinement of the vignette. This thesis highlights the unexplored phenomenon of secondary over-representation in special schools in England and presents an in-depth analysis of the reasons that stakeholders give to explain this over-representation. Uniquely, this analysis is then translated into an imaginary design of a possible future inclusive school, the evaluation of which in turn highlights some of the persistent issues about the purposes and design of schools in a diverse society

Reflecting on the meaning of academic life

No abstract available

The Evaluation of Enhanced Academic Instruction in After-School Programs: Findings After the First Year of Implementation

This report presents one-year implementation and impact findings on two supplemental academic instruction approaches developed for after-school settings -- one for math and one for reading. Compared with regular after-school programming, the supplemental math program had impacts on student SAT 10 test scores and the supplemental reading program did not --although the reading program had some effect on reading fluency

Informative and decorative pictures in health and safety posters for children

Health and safety (H&S) campaigns for children are often aimed at six to twelve year olds, with the same materials targeted across this age range despite their developmental and cognitive differences. We conducted a study to examine whether three different visual approaches to H&S posters influenced children’s engagement with and ability to elaborate from the poster content, and preferences for the posters. The study was conducted with children from two age groups (7-8 and 10-11 years of age). The posters were designed with the same verbal information but we varied the presented pictorial information: Poster 1 had informative pictorial information; Poster 2 had decorative pictorial information; poster 3 had no pictorial information. The study consisted of a written activity and a discussion. The results suggest children from each age group have different responses to the different kinds of posters tested, and particularly age-related preferences for informative or decorative pictures. We describe four responses tendencies that should be considered for further research

The Evaluation of Enhanced Academic Instruction in After-School Programs: Final Report

This report presents two-year implementation and impact findings on two supplemental academic instruction approaches developed for after-school settings -- one for math and one for reading. It addresses whether one-year impacts are different in the second year of program operations and whether students benefit from being offered two years of enhanced after-school academic instruction

What's new in the management of osteoporosis and prevention of fragility fractures?

Peer reviewe

The Potential for Restoration of Tan Brook, an Urban Headwater stream in Amherst, Massachusetts

The goal of the Tan Brook Student Conservation Group is to educate undergraduate students at the University of Massachusetts Amherst about freshwater sustainability. to accomplish this, the group will act to provide opportunities in original research, applied field and laboratory methods, and outreach. The initial goal for the group will be a collaborative project describing the ecological, historical, and social significance of the Tan Brook, which will result in an informative website and educational signage located at several locations in the town of Amherst and on University property where the Tan Brook enters campus. Ultimately, the group will contribute to multidisciplinary projects on applied and basic research about the sustainability of freshwater resources using the Tan Brook as the focus

Seasonal Variation in 25(OH)D at Aberdeen (57°N) and Bone Health Indicators- Could Holidays in the Sun and Cod Liver Oil Supplements Alleviate Deficiency?

Vitamin D has been linked with many health outcomes. The aim of this longitudinal study, was to assess predictors of seasonal variation of 25-hydroxy-vitamin D (25(OH)D) (including use of supplements and holidays in sunny destinations) at a northerly latitude in the UK (57°N) in relation to bone health indicators. 365 healthy postmenopausal women (mean age 62.0 y (SD 1.4)) had 25(OH)D measurements by immunoassay, serum C-telopeptide (CTX), estimates of sunlight exposure (badges of polysulphone film), information regarding holidays in sunny destinations, and diet (from food diaries, including use of supplements such as cod liver oil (CLO)) at fixed 3-monthly intervals over 15 months (subject retention 88%) with an additional 25(OH)D assessment in spring 2008. Bone mineral density (BMD) at the lumbar spine (LS) and dual hip was measured in autumn 2006 and spring 2007 (Lunar I-DXA). Deficiency prevalence (25(OH)

Reducing the drag: creating v formations through slow scholarship and story

Every seed destroys its container, or else there would be no fruition (Scott-Maxwell, 1979). We are three women working across two Australian universities. Frustrated at the deadening, withering nature and containment of the neoliberal university, and inspired by the wisdom of slow scholarship and the cooperative reciprocity inherent in the V formations adopted by groups of flying birds to boost vital energy, our chapter encapsulates our efforts to ‘care for self and others’ and ‘count what others don’t’. It follows our attempts to resist the insidious, diminishing drag of metric-based audits and managerialism. Having joyfully discovered we have ‘outgrown’ narrow academic containers of measurement, comparison, and productivity, we are responding to our longing to connect and to ‘be’ differently in academia. Our resistance is characterised by efforts to listen and converse in meaningful ways, ways that speak our lives into the academy. For over a year we have been initiating conversations with a trusted group of colleagues and acquiring responsive, personal and aesthetic ways to address and reconcile our personal/professional lives. Inviting the reader into our deliberate storying and de-storying of our lived experience whilst practicing a politics of care, collaboration and authenticity, we are subverting what it means to be productive and accountable and what it means to be an academic. And in so doing we are seeding new and fruitful ways of working. We are unearthing our individual and collective voice, and creating and expanding safe spaces for scholarly, professional and personal disclosure and meaning-making

The concept of the mandate of heaven in the political thought of Wang Fu-chih, 1619-92 (including an annotated translation of part of his "Sung Lun")

Abstract Not Provided