1707 and a Nation Divided on Union

Assesses attempts to create a closer union between Scotland and England in the Union of Crowns period (1603-1717). Observes that those opposed to closer union insisted first on parliamentary, and then popular approval of any union proposal. The desire to resist union generated radical ideas about the political rights and power of the people, but ultimately the making of the union in 1706-7 ratified the concept of parliamentary sovereignty in the new United Kingdom

1707 and a Nation Divided on Union

Assesses attempts to create a closer union between Scotland and England in the Union of Crowns period (1603-1717). Observes that those opposed to closer union insisted first on parliamentary, and then popular approval of any union proposal. The desire to resist union generated radical ideas about the political rights and power of the people, but ultimately the making of the union in 1706-7 ratified the concept of parliamentary sovereignty in the new United Kingdom

Using multivariate logistic regression analysis to predict Black male persistence at a predominately White institution: an approach investigating the relationship between student engagement and presistence

This study examined the impact of student engagement on persistence decisions of Black males attending a predominately White public institution in the South. The phenomenon of Black male student persistence at predominately White public institutions is multifaceted and complex. Many Black males enter predominately White campuses lacking the requisite background and experiences deemed necessary and important to student success and persistence. The role of improving persistence is shared by many with much responsibility placed on the students and the institution. Upon entering a predominately White campus there are several institutional factors identified in research that play a critical role in student persistence. For the purposes of this study the factors influencing persistence are classified into Student Factors and Institutional Factors. Student factors are the dimensions of persistence over which the student has some degree of influence. Institutional factors are the dimensions of persistence over which the institution has control. This study was designed to empower Black males attending Kappa University and to encourage them to take more of a commanding role in their persistence. Persistence of Black males is multidimensional and requires support from family, community, faculty, peers and administrators. The findings of this study identified the importance of student engagement on persistence decisions of Black males attending Kappa University. The results provide Black male students, faculty, and administrators with practical advice on how to improve the chances of persistence for this group

A meta approach to texts in Religious Education: Researching teachers’ engagement with sacred text scholarship in English secondary schools

This article reports findings from a sacred text scholarship project in Religious Education / Religion and Worldviews (RE/RW) lessons. In the Texts and Teachers project secondary school teachers found that RE became more meta through a more scholarly treatment of texts, and led to leap moments with pupils who could accomplish multidimensional engagement with texts. This article contributes to an improved understanding of how classroom textual hermeneutics addresses concerns with teaching sacred texts

Bringing languages to life: a longitudinal study of the development of creative practice in student teachers of modern languages

Hulse, B. (2017). Bringing languages to life: a longitudinal study of the development of creative practice in student teachers of modern languages. Power and Education, 10(1), 25-29. https://doi.org/10.1177/1757743817748664 Copyright © 2018 SAGE. Reprinted by permission of SAGE Publications.This article reports the findings of a longitudinal study exploring the process of learning to teach modern languages in the changing landscape of teacher education. It employs a postmodern critical ethnographic methodology to examine the experiences of a group of student teachers over the course of a one-year postgraduate teacher education programme in England. The focus is on how experiences in university and in school encourage or discourage the development of creativity. The schools inspectorate, Ofsted, is critical of lifeless teaching which fails to inspire young people to learn languages. However, the pressures of ‘performative’ requirements act as a discouragement to creativity. The data indicates that whilst student teachers express a desire to be more creative, they find it difficult to implement their ideas in school. A post-structuralist analysis of Marx’s theory of alienation is employed to argue that the early formation of professional identity is a process of acquiescence to oppressive external structures over which individuals have no control. The study concludes that it is possible to create spaces where the temporary suspension of alienation can allow individuals to put life back into language learning

Nexus researching church toddler groups

The Headlines This unique research project revealed fascinating insights into the spiritual flourishing of very young children and how this is nourished within church toddler groups in England. The findings have uncovered evidence of very young children exploring self-understanding and the nurturing of relationships with others. We found that church toddler groups contribute to children’s spiritual flourishing through: • Providing an environment that fosters a non-threatening connection with spirituality and faith. • Nurturing and sustaining relationships with families. • Offering a safe place for young families to come together, play together, and feel supported in their spiritual well-being. • Enabling a sense of belonging to the church community through engagement in the church toddler group. However, we also found that: • There is a need for adults to have a deeper awareness of the significant role they play in enabling the spiritual flourishing of very young children. • A common misunderstanding of spiritual nurture in terms of faith development hampers focused attention on the spiritual nurture of very young children

Hidden Diversity—A New Speciose Gall Midge Genus (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae) Associated with Succulent Aizoaceae in South Africa

Aizoaceae (Caryophyllales) constitute one of the major floral components of the unique Greater Cape Floristic Region (GCFR), with more than 1700 species and 70% endemism. Within succulent Aizoaceae, the subfamily Ruschioideae is the most speciose and rapidly diversifying clade, offering potential niches for the diversification of specialized herbivorous insects. Nevertheless, insect diversity on these plants has not been studied to date, and knowledge of gall-inducing insects in the Afrotropics is generally scarce. Our recent observations indicate that succulent Aizoaceae in the GCFR support a rich and largely unstudied community of gall midges (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae). Here, we provide a first report of their diversity with a description of a new genus, Ruschiola Dorchin, and ten new species, based on morphological and molecular analyses of material collected during a three-year targeted survey across major GCFR vegetation types. A high degree of morphological uniformity in Ruschiola suggests recent diversification and necessitated the use of molecular data and laboratory rearing from host plants to verify species boundaries and host ranges

A fly in the buttermilk: Descriptions of university life by successful Black undergraduate students at a predominately white southeastern university

Although many predominantly white universities exert great effort to recruit minority students, statistics regarding retention and graduation for these students are disturbing. Previous research indicates that academic concerns are not paramount in the attrition of minority students, suggesting that greater attention must be given educational experiences of black students over and above academic matters. Using in-depth phenomenological interviewing, 11 graduating seniors from diverse majors were asked to describe salient incidents of their university experience. These interviews were transcribed verbatim and subjected to hermeneutic interpretation by an interdisciplinary research group. Dominant in student descriptions of their experiences were five themes: (1) It happens every day : Unfairness/Sabotage/Condescension; (2) You have to initiate the conversation ; (3) They seem the same; I\u27m the one who\u27s different ; (4) I have to prove I\u27m worthy to be here ; and (5) Sometimes I\u27m not even here/Sometimes I have to represent every black student : Invisibility and Supervisibility