Permeating the social justice ideals of equality and equity within the context of Early Years: challenges for leadership in multi-cultural and mono-cultural primary schools

The ideology and commitment of social justice principles is central to Early Years practice, however, the term social justice in education is complex and remains contested. This paper explores the ideology of social justice through links between equality and equity and how it is embedded within Early Years, and what remain the potential challenges for leadership. Interviews in English multi-cultural and mono-cultural primary schools were conducted. Findings showed that the ideology of social justice, equality and equity was interpreted differently. Multi-cultural schools appear to use a greater variety of activities to embed social justice principles that involved their diverse communities more to enrich the curriculum. In mono-cultural schools leadership had to be more creative in promoting equality and equity given the smaller proportion of their diverse pupil and staff population. Tentative conclusions suggest that the vision for permeating equality and equity in Early Years, at best, is at early stages

Investigating if Dr. Pepper TEN is a \10\ for men

The objective was to investigate taste preference for Dr Pepper TEN and Diet Dr Pepper and consumers\u27 willingness to purchase Dr Pepper TEN after viewing the product\u27s commercial. A taste preference test was conducted using 168 students at Clemson University during fall 2013. An online survey developed using Qualtrics consisted of items for demographics, taste preference and consumer behavior after viewing a Dr Pepper TEN commercial. One and two sample proportion Z tests were performed and chi-squared tests were used for testing associations. The majority (overall, males and females) preferred the taste of Dr Pepper TEN (p-value\u3c0.001). There was no evidence of a difference in the proportion of males and females who preferred the taste of Dr Pepper TEN (p-value=0.2546). There was no evidence of an association between gender and likelihood of purchasing Dr Pepper TEN after seeing the commercial (p-value\u3c0.25). The results give doubt to the \just for women\ claim of the advertisements

Challenges of Early Years leadership preparation: a comparison between early and experienced Early Years practitioners in England

Leadership has been under-researched in the Early Years (EY) sector of primary schools in England, especially in leading change for professional development. The aim of this paper is to theorise what the leadership culture for EY practitioners looks like, and how Initial Teacher Training providers and schools are preparing practitioners for leadership. Using case studies of EY practitioners in different stages of their career in primary schools, we offer an insight into their preparedness for leadership in EY, the implication being that leadership training requires an understanding and embedding of the EY culture and context. Interviews with both sample groups allowed for deeper insight into the lived world. Interviews were also conducted with the head teachers to gain an overview of the leadership preparation they provided. The main findings suggest that newer EY practitioners are better prepared for leadership from their university training in comparison to more experienced EY practitioners

Conservation laws and symmetries of quasilinear radial wave equations in multi-dimensions

Symmetries and conservation laws are studied for two classes of physically and analytically interesting radial wave equations with power nonlinearities in multi-dimensions. The results consist of two main classifications: all symmetries of point type and all conservation laws of a general energy-momentum type are explicitly determined, including those such as dilations, inversions, similarity energies and conformal energies that exist only for special powers or dimensions. In particular, all variational cases (when a Lagrangian formulation exists) and non-variational cases (when no Lagrangian exists) for these wave equations are considered. As main results, the classification yields generalized energies and radial momenta in certain non-variational cases, which are shown to arise from a new type of Morawetz dilation identity that produces conservation laws for each of the two wave equations in a different way than Noether's theorem.Comment: Typos corrected in published version, 38 pages. Lagrangian functionals now include missing integration over the time variabl

Young children's research: children aged 4-8 years finding solutions at home and at school

Children's research capacities have become increasingly recognised by adults, yet children remain excluded from the academy, with reports of their research participation generally located in adults' agenda. Such practice restricts children's freedom to make choices in matters affecting them, underestimates children’s capabilities and denies children particular rights. The present paper reports on one aspect of a small-scale critical ethnographic study adopting a constructivist grounded approach to conceptualise ways in which children's naturalistic behaviours may be perceived as research. The study builds on multi-disciplinary theoretical perspectives, embracing 'new' sociology, psychology, economics, philosophy and early childhood education and care (ECEC). Research questions include: 'What is the nature of ECEC research?' and 'Do children’s enquiries count as research?' Initially, data were collected from the academy: professional researchers (n=14) confirmed 'finding solutions' as a research behaviour and indicated children aged 4-8 years, their practitioners and primary carers as 'theoretical sampling'. Consequently, multi-modal case studies were constructed with children (n=138) and their practitioners (n=17) in three ‘good’ schools, with selected children and their primary carers also participating at home. This paper reports on data emerging from children aged 4-8 years at school (n=17) and at home (n=5). Outcomes indicate that participating children found diverse solutions to diverse problems, some of which they set themselves. Some solutions engaged children in high order thinking, whilst others did not; selecting resources and trialing activities engaged children in 'finding solutions'. Conversely, when children's time, provocations and activities were directed by adults, the quality of their solutions was limited, they focused on pleasing adults and their motivation to propose solutions decreased. In this study, professional researchers recognised 'finding solutions' as research behaviour and children aged 4-8 years naturalistically presented with capacities for finding solutions; however, the children's encounters with adults affected the solutions they found

Correction: Mucosal Healing and Fibrosis after Acute or Chronic Inflammation in Wild Type FVB-N Mice and C57BL6 Procollagen α1(I)-Promoter-GFP Reporter Mice

BackgroundInjury and intestinal inflammation trigger wound healing responses that can restore mucosal architecture but if chronic, can promote intestinal fibrosis. Intestinal fibrosis is a major complication of Crohn’s disease. The cellular and molecular basis of mucosal healing and intestinal fibrosis are not well defined and better understanding requires well characterized mouse models.MethodsFVB-N wild type mice and C57BL6 procollagen α1(I)-GFP reporter mice were given one (DSS1) or two (DSS2) cycles of 3% DSS (5 days/cycle) followed by 7 days recovery. Histological scoring of inflammation and fibrosis were performed at DSS1, DSS1+3, DSS1+7, DSS2, DSS2+3, and DSS2+7. Procollagen α1(I)-GFP activation was assessed in DSS and also TNBS models by whole colon GFP imaging and fluorescence microscopy. Colocalization of GFP with α-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA) or vimentin was examined. GFP mRNA levels were tested for correlation with endogenous collagen α1(I) mRNA.ResultsMales were more susceptible to DSS-induced disease and mortality than females. In FVB-N mice one DSS cycle induced transient mucosal inflammation and fibrosis that resolved by 7 days of recovery. Two DSS cycles induced transmural inflammation and fibrosis in a subset of FVB-N mice but overall, did not yield more consistent, severe or sustained fibrosis. In C57BL6 mice, procollagen α1(I)-GFP reporter was activated at the end of DSS1 and through DSS+7 with more dramatic and transmural activation at DSS2 through DSS2+7, and in TNBS treated mice. In DSS and TNBS models GFP reporter expression localized to vimentin+ cells and much fewer α-SMA+ cells. GFP mRNA strongly correlated with collagen α1(I) mRNA.ConclusionsOne DSS cycle in FVB-N mice provides a model to study mucosal injury and subsequent mucosal healing. The procollagen α1(I)-GFP transgenic provides a useful model to study activation of a gene encoding a major extracellular matrix protein during acute or chronic experimental intestinal inflammation and fibrosis

‘Why haven’t I got one of those?’ A consideration regarding the need to protect non-participant children in early years research

It is widely documented that young children participating in research should be protected from harm and that ethical considerations should be applied throughout a research project. What this paper strives to assert, however, is that protecting these participants is insufficient. A research project into children’s speech and language development, using audio–-visual methods, highlighted that children who are non-participants, those on the periphery of research, can also be affected by the research process. It is acknowledged throughout this paper that although ethical procedures were adhered to whilst undertaking a specific research project, this was insufficient. It is therefore argued that all children within a research environment, whether participatory or not, should be given equal consideration with regards to ethical protection when undertaking research. It is asserted that ‘“why haven’t I got one of those’”, or the equivalent, is a phrase to be avoided at all costs when undertaking research with children

The Australian Early Years Learning Framework: learning what?

Early childhood education and care have assumed importance in many government policy agendas. This attention is often accompanied by calls for greater accountability regarding the anticipated learning outcomes for young children. In Australia, the expected learning outcomes for children aged birth to five years are outlined in the recently published Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF). In this article, the author examines the relationship between the EYLF’s outcomes and subject area or content knowledge. The article draws from post-structural and social constructionist understandings of knowledge as unfinished, contestable and contextual. The author concludes that it is not content knowledge itself that is problematic, but it is the way the child and teacher are often positioned in relation to that knowledge that constrains the potential for effective teaching and learning in the early years. The author suggests that revisiting traditional assumptions about content knowledge extends and develops many of the ideas about teaching and learning that are identified in the EYLF, and opens up new identity positions for both children and early childhood educators

Measurements of Branching Fractions and Polarization in B > K^* rho Decays

We present results of a study of the charmless vector-vector decays B^0 -> K^{*0} rho^0 and B^+ ->K^{*0} rho^+. The results are based on a 140 fb^{-1} data sample collected by the Belle detector at the KEKB asymmetric e^+e^- collider. We obtain the branching fraction B(B^+ -> K^{*0} rho^+)=(6.6 +- 2.2(stat.) +- 0.8 (syst.)) x 10^{-6}, and set upper limits on the branching fractions B(B^0 -> K^{*0} rho^0) f_0(980) K^{*0})<5.2 x 10^{-6}. We also perform a helicity analysis of the rho and K^* vector mesons in the decay B^+ -> K^{*0} rho^+, and obtain the longitudinal polarization fraction R_0(B^+ -> K^{*0} rho^+)=0.50 +- 0.19(stat.)+0.05-0.07}(syst.).Comment: 11 pages, 4 figures, submitted to ICHEP04, Beijing, Chin