Motivating Continuing Professional Development : Factors Influencing University Academic Staff And The Implications For Management

This is a study about a specific aspect of educational practice and the relationship between relevant theories and that practice. It focuses on educational management in higher education and, in particular, the management of continuing professional development (CPD) for academic staff. The research question that this study seeks to answer is ‘what factors are influencing university academic staff to engage with CPD?’ The study then goes on to determine the implications for managers of the research findings and makes recommendations to university managers that will enhance the motivation of staff to engage with CPD. In pursuing this research, the study uses educational management concepts and models to explore how higher education institutions are managed, with particular reference to how the appraisal aspect of CPD is managed and how this might affect the motivation of academics to engage with CPD. It includes an examination of the external environment of higher education and attempts to explain where the pressures for change are coming from and how these pressures are influencing working practices in higher education institutions (HEIs). The concepts of CPD and motivation are analysed in this context, as well as the concept of the learning organisation and how this relates to CPD for higher education personnel. The management of CPD within HEIs is considered with particular reference to appraisal processes. In addressing these issues, qualitative data on the perceptions of CPD and how it is currently being managed have been gathered from academics and their line managers in three universities and analysed in relation to theoretical models of educational management. Cultural tensions were found within universities in the areas of strategic implementation, performance management and ‘middle’ management development. These appear to derive primarily from two sources. The first is the conflict between senior management rationality and the collegial decision making approach favoured by academics. The second is related to academic autonomy and the issue of accommodating individual as well as institutional needs in development activities. The link connecting these two sources is the existence of conflict between individual and institutional needs exemplified by appraisal processes in HE. Suggestions for organisational development to reduce conflict and resistance to change are given. However, there are other environmental factors, which need to be addressed by the wider academic community that will influence any development. One is a curriculum development issue centred on the acceptability by academics of professional development as a core higher level educational aim, and another is the current narrow focus of the Institute of Teaching and Learning (ILT) as a professional body for academics

The Place of the Gospel of Philip in the Context of Early Christian Claims about Jesus’s Marital Status

It has long been recognized that one of the main topics of the Gospel of Philip is ritual, including ‘the bridal chamber’, and numerous studies have discussed what practices and attitudes toward sexuality and marriage are implied by this imagery. This article will build on these studies to argue that the Gospel of Philip portrays the incarnate Jesus as actually married (to Mary Magdalene) and it represents that marriage as a symbolic paradigm for the reunification of believers with their angelic (spiritual) doubles in Christian initiation ritual, a ritual which effectively transforms initiates into members of the body of Christ and also enables ‘undefiled marriage’ for Christian partners by freeing them from demonic influences. The article aims to show that this distinctive position on Jesus' marital status was catalyzed by reading Ephesians 5 in conjunction with Valentinian incarnational theology

Factions, Variety, Diversity, Multiplicity: Representing Early Christian Differences for the 21st Century

Abstract Early Christians largely understood their differences in terms of factionalism, articulated in terms of discourses of orthodoxy and heresy. Contemporary historiography has troubled those discourses with talk of the “diversity” or “variety” of early Christianities, but without entirely displacing either the logic or the functions of the orthodoxy-heresy bifurcation. This essay examines the limits of current historiographical modes of treating early Christian diversity, and suggests an understanding of religion and methods of analysis usable for a history of difference beyond orthodoxy and heresy

Reading Sex and Gender in the Secret Revelation of John

The Secret Revelation of John is replete with imagery of the divine Mother alongside the Father God and his Son Christ. It boasts of powerful female saviors—and even identifies Christ among them. Eve is not the cause of humankind’s fall, but of its redemption. The sexual intercourse of Adam and Eve marks not original sin, but a step toward salvation. Yet readers find, too,an idealized divine world in the pattern of the ancient patriarchal household,and a portrait of another female figure, Sophia, whose bold and independent action leads to a fatherless world headed by a sexually violent and deviant bastard. The complexity of this imagery, nestled in a story that operates with oppositional strategies and parody, ensures that no single monolithic perspective on sex/gender will rule—and indeed it opens up a crack where it is possible that the wise-fool Sophia is more completely the hero of the story than one might think. This essay aims to explore the complexities of SRJ’s representation of gender and the implications of their strategic deployments

Church, chapel and clergy in Margaret Oliphant\u27s Chronicles of Carlingford

This thesis examines the fictional works of Magaret Oliphant’s Chronicles of Carlingford in order to explain her understanding of the significance of Church and Chapel communities and their clergymen within an insular and atypical provincial community in mid-nineteenth century England. By drawing on a variety of examples in the novels and in real life, the thesis argues that Oliphant was a serious commentator on religious matters and controversies and not just a teller of tales. The thesis will address the significance of Oliphant’s engagement with a range of religious and social matters concerning the Church of England with a qualified reference to Nonconformity, given that Oliphant’s depiction of this group was limited to Congregationalists and did not portray other Nonconformist groups of their religious issue

Latinized Black

I was new. I was black in a white school in a white country. The only black. Unique. I was filled with Enid-Blyton-boarding-school-expectations. Life would be dorm feasts at midnight. I would save the school hockey team from ruin at a choice moment. I would win the deportment badge and I would, I would .... It was Miss Twist, the house mistress

Linking the hydrological, geomorphological and sociological aspects of wetlands in rural areas : a case study based in the Craigieburn wetland microcatchment in the Sand River catchment.

Thesis (M.Sc.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2004.In many of the rural areas of South Africa local communities rely on wetland resources for daily living. For a symbiotic relationship to exist between these communities and the wetlands, the wetlands must be utilised in a manner sustainable to both parties. To prevent exploitation thereof, a comprehensive understanding of the processes and functions of wetlands, of the values and needs of rural community members, and of the interactions between these entities is essential. This study focuses on research at three scales; the plot scale (10m\ the microcatchment scale (lkm2 ), represented by the Craigiebum wetland and microcatchment, and the catchment area upstream of the gauging weir X3H008, all of which exist in the Sand River catchment in the Mpumalanga and Limpopo Provinces of South Africa. Relationships between the geomorphological properties of the Craigiebum microcatchment, the wetland management practices of the local communities, and the hydrological properties of the microcatchment have been investigated. Various hydrological models, but in the main the ACRU model, have been adopted as tools to facilitate this research. Possible scenarios of changes in land use, rainfall and soil texture were performed at the plot scale and at the scale of the microcatchment, and changes in wetland extent were simulated and analysed at the scale of the catchment. Results of the modelling exercises simulating the effects of differences in soil texture higWight the positive effects of retention of fine particles within a wetland in a sandy environment. These results also depict greater rates of hydraulic conductivity, erosion and desiccation within coarse-textured soils than fmer textured soils. Low levels of fertility can also be attributed to the lack of fine particles present in the soils of the Craigiebum microcatchment wetland. Results of the modelling exercises that investigate the likely hydrological effects of a variety of land uses within the Craigiebum microcatchment verify accepted hydrological theory, as they highlight that more impervious areas produce more stormflow and lose more water to evaporation, and that the natural vegetation of the area contributes to streamflow regulation more than other land uses do. The exercises performed at the scale of the Sand River catchment do not provide conclusive evidence of the effects of changes in wetland extent, as the hydrological effects that other land uses in the area have appear to override the effects of the simulated wetland areas. Analysis of the sociological data captured highlights the great extent to which the local community depends on the Craigieburn wetland resources for a variety of livelihood strategies. Furthermore it illustrates the degree to which a reduction in wetland health negatively impacts upon the community. Viewed in conjunction, the hydrological, biophysical and sociological results highlight the degree to which changes in one aspect of the environment affect other aspects thereof, thereby highlighting the degree to which these aspects of the Craigieburn microcatchment are inextricably linked

Interdisciplinarity on campus: how the publishing world is responding

Purpose—The purpose of this article is to explore how the publishing world is responding to library collection development challenges posed by the growth of interdisciplinary studies programs. Design/methodology/approach—The first step in this study was a survey of the websites of selected ARL and all Oberlin Group university and college websites to determine those institutions that have a clearly identified Interdisciplinary program or majors. The authors then investigated the status of interdisciplinary collection development practices at these institutions. Finally the websites of reviewers, publishers, and vendors were surveyed to explore what tools are available to help librarians identify new interdisciplinary monographs. Findings—Rather than supplying formal interdisciplinary collection development support, most librarians rely on external resources to help identify interdisciplinary materials. As technology evolves publisher/vendor websites can provide librarians with the tools needed to conduct in-depth searches of their catalogs, thus aiding in the identification of interdisciplinary monographs for purchase. Originality/value—Building on previous scholarship about the growth of interdisciplinary studies and libraries, this paper extends the research by examining the tools available to help librarians bridge the gap created by new disciplinary formations and offers suggestions for publishers to enhance interdisciplinary selection