Enhancing Student learning and development in cooperation with our alumni.

Enhancing student learning in cooperation with our alumni is a piece of action research that has been ongoing for five years, this paper reports on the process of research and the key findings from this research. The starting point was an audit of the various relationships we had with our alumni, then a cycle of review and reflection to develop and fine tune strategies over five years as we continue to enhance the student experience. The area that has developed the furthest has been the mentoring system using alumni. Each cycle of research has led to the need for further research, the next cycle of research focusing on the effectiveness of intra-generational mentoring. We would suggest that the methodology offers a potential structure for other action researchers in Higher Education and it is now the method we use in reviewing and enhancing the student experience on a number of fronts in hospitality

Does quality drive employee satisfaction in the UK learning sector?

The purpose of this paper is to provide empirical evidence to assess the nature and extent of the link between employee satisfaction and organisational performance. This paper examines the link between staff satisfaction and organisational performance, presenting findings from 21 colleges of Further Education that have participated in both a survey of staff satisfaction (covering over 2,600 staff from these colleges) and in a diagnostic benchmarking exercise using the “Learning PROBE” methodology. The results suggest that whilst each of the measured aspects of work are regarded as being important by a majority of survey respondents, the level of “satisfaction” displayed in each of these attributes is indicated by only a minority of those surveyed. The findings support the existence of a link between staff satisfaction and organisational excellence. Staff satisfaction levels are most strongly associated with the leadership and service processes indices, and even more so with the overall organisational diagnosis. This suggests that colleges that are implementing “good practices” covering a range of managerial aspects, and who are achieving corresponding organisational results, are likely to be closer to satisfying their staff. Practices relating to people, performance management and organizational results also show association with staff's satisfaction gap, although not as significantly as above. The results suggest an holistic approach to implementing business practices appears to be more effective than concentrating only on deploying good practices in only a single area of the managerial process. The value of the paper is to the UK Further Education Sector in that it identifies those organisational practices, which improved, can in combination address to some extent the work satisfaction levels of their employees

Sustainable Change: Education for Sustainable Development in the Business School

This paper examines the implementation of education for sustainable development (ESD) within a business school. ESD is of growing importance for business schools, yet its implementation remains a challenge. The paper examines how barriers to ESD's implementation are met through organisational change as a sustainable process. It evaluates change brought about through ESD in a UK-based business school, through the lens of Beer and Eisenstat's three principles of effective strategy implementation and organisational adaptation, which state: 1) the change process should be systemic; 2) the change process should encourage open discussion of barriers to effective strategy implementation and adaptation; and 3) the change process should develop a partnership among all relevant stakeholders. The case incorporates, paradoxically, both elements of a top-down and an emergent strategy that resonates with elements of life-cycle, teleological and dialectic frames for process change. Insights are offered into the role of individuals as agents and actors of institutional change in business schools. In particular, the importance of academic integrity is highlighted for enabling and sustaining integration. Findings also suggest a number of implications for policy-makers who promote ESD, and for faculty and business school managers implementing, adopting and delivering ESD programmes

The Group Employed Model as a Foundation for Health Care Delivery Reform

Outlines group employed models, with salaried primary and specialty care physicians and quality of care- and satisfaction-based incentives as high-quality, low-cost alternatives to fee-for-service; elements of success; and implications beyond Medicare

A critical perspective on stigma in physiotherapy: the example of weight stigma

"Manipulating practices is the first ever collection of critical physiotherapy studies and comes at a time of unprecedented change in the profession. Written as a collaboration between 20 authors, many members of the Critical Physiotherapy Network (CPN), the book uncovers the growing body of critical thinking now emerging in physiotherapy. From topics as diverse as 21st century education, ethics, evidence-based practice, touch, and equine therapy; and approaches as varied as disability and performance studies, feminism, logic, narrative theory, new materialism, and phenomenology, the book explores ways of thinking ‘otherwise’ about physiotherapy. Over 16 chapters written by authors from six different countries, Manipulating practices offers insights from some of physiotherapy’s most radical thinkers. The book is also an innovative venture into open source publishing, making it entirely free to download and read. In keeping with the objectives of the CPN, the chapters expose a range of concepts, ideas and practices to critical scrutiny, and reflect the profession’s growing interest in critiquing taken-for-granted ways of practicing and thinking. Manipulating practices will be of interest to clinicians, lecturers, policy-makers, researchers and students, and will provide new impetus to help physiotherapists imagine how the profession might grow and develop into the future.""«Manipulating practices» er den første vitenskapelige antologien som samler kritiske studier innen fysioterapi, og lanseres i en tid der profesjonen er preget av store forandringer. Antologien representerer et samarbeidsprosjekt mellom 20 forskere, hvor majoriteten er medlemmer av Critical Physiotherapy Network (CNP) – et internasjonalt nettverk av forskere og klinikere fra hele verden. Antologien synliggjør den økende tendensen til kritisk tenkning som er i ferd med å vokse frem innenfor fysioterapi. Gjennom å fokusere på varierte tema som utdanning, etikk, evidensbasert praksis, berøring og terapiridning, samt en bred tilnærming som inkluderer funksjonshemming, performance-studier, feminisme, logikk, narrativ teori, ny materialisme og fenomenologi, utforsker antologien nye og annerledes tanker om fysioterapi som fag og profesjon. Antologiens 16 kapitler er skrevet av forskere fra seks ulike land og gir innsikt i forskningen til noen av de mest radikale forskerne i det internasjonale fysioterapimiljøet. Boken er også innovativ gjennom at den publiseres som open access, hvilket betyr at den kan lastes ned og leses gratis og dermed gjøres allment tilgjengelig. I tråd med ambisjonen for CPN, utforskes en rekke ulike begreper, ideer og praktiske tilnærminger relatert til kritisk tenkning innenfor fysioterapi. Slik gjenspeiles også profesjonens økende interesse for å kritisere etablerte måter å praktisere og tenke på, som tidligere har vært tatt for gitt. «Manipulating practices» vil være av interesse for forskere, klinikere, forelesere, politikere og studenter. Antologien vil forhåpentligvis bidra med nye impulser med henblikk på hvordan fysioterapiprofesjonen vil vokse og utvikle seg fremover.

An acute bout of cycling does not induce compensatory responses in pre-menopausal women not using hormonal contraceptives

There is a clear need to improve understanding of the effects of physical activity and exercise on appetite control. Therefore, the acute and short-term effects (three days) of a single bout of cycling on energy intake and energy expenditure were examined in women not using hormonal contraceptives. Sixteen active (n = 8) and inactive (n = 8) healthy pre-menopausal women completed a randomised crossover design study with two conditions (exercise and control). The exercise day involved cycling for 1 h (50% of maximum oxygen uptake) and resting for 2 h, whilst the control day comprised 3 h of rest. On each experimental day participants arrived at the laboratory fasted, consumed a standardised breakfast and an ad libitum pasta lunch. Food diaries and combined heart rate-accelerometer monitors were used to assess free-living food intake and energy expenditure, respectively, over the subsequent three days. There were no main effects or condition (exercise vs control) by group (active vs inactive) interaction for absolute energy intake (P > 0.05) at the ad libitum laboratory lunch meal, but there was a condition effect for relative energy intake (P = 0.004, ηp2 = 0.46) that was lower in the exercise condition (1417 ± 926 kJ vs. 2120 ± 923 kJ). Furthermore, post-breakfast satiety was higher in the active than in the inactive group (P = 0.005, ηp2 = 0.44). There were no main effects or interactions (P > 0.05) for mean daily energy intake, but both active and inactive groups consumed less energy from protein (14 ± 3% vs. 16 ± 4%, P = 0.016, ηp2 = 0.37) and more from carbohydrate (53 ± 5% vs. 49 ± 7%, P = 0.031, ηp2 = 0.31) following the exercise condition. This study suggests that an acute bout of cycling does not induce compensatory responses in active and inactive women not using hormonal contraceptives, while the stronger satiety response to the standardised breakfast meal in active individuals adds to the growing literature that physical activity helps improve the sensitivity of short-term appetite control

Older People Have Their Say! Survey of Older People’s Needs in Westgate Ward, Canterbury

Although a lot of effort in the last few years has been made to address the needs of people in old age, surprisingly not much is known about the views of this age group in the Canterbury City Council area. To address this lack of knowledge, the Canterbury and District Pensioners’ Forum was funded by the Canterbury City Council to explore the needs of older people living in this area. Our Forum decided to collaborate with the University of Kent to produce a survey on the needs of older people within the District of Canterbury. During the process of the project, we decided to base the survey on the Westgate Ward in Canterbury because we felt that older people living in this area represent a good example for highlighting needs that involve ‘ordinary’ older people. This ward is quite diverse in many ways; it spreads from a semi-rural area through to town dwelling. It is not seen as an area of deprivation, thereby has not generated any special money from the Government to help with social problems in the provision of social centres, community learning, social activities etc. Yet we know from our own experience that what may appear in many parts as fairly affluent is quite deprived of places for people to meet; and has large public housing areas with no amenities at all. The present Government put through legislation, which said that public services should be surveyed, and the part of that legislation that we are particularly interested in is “The National Service Framework for Older People”. That framework asks that older people are treated with dignity by NHS and Social Care organisations; and that Councils –County and District, examine existing services- housing, leisure and transport – to identify opportunities to promote health and well-being. We felt that Westgate Ward would be representative of many other areas within our District that had not received any special investment. The work that has been done in producing this survey has been done by members of the Canterbury & District Pensioners’ Forum with help from the University of Kent. It is a survey of older people, carried out by older people. It is our work. Information generated by this project will be assisting the Forum’s work to promote important issues related to older people’s quality of life and access to health and social care services. A comment from J.F. Kennedy we believe sums up the approach that we took at the start of this survey: “It is not enough for a nation to have added years of life. Our object must be to add new life to those years