Case Study of a Cluster in the National Association of Head Teachers’ ‘Instead’ Peer Review in England

This chapter examines a case study of a cluster of three primary schools involved in the ‘Instead’ peer review programme, run by the National Association of Headteachers (NAHT). Interviews of the Headteachers and other school teaching staff were conducted and analysed alongside documentary evidence. We looked at the impact of the peer review network on participating Headteachers, their schools and on other local networks that the schools belonged to. We also examined the interplay between the peer review, the self-evaluation and school inspections. At school level a number of improvements were described to quality assurance, leadership development and other areas. Inspections were found to be a double-edged sword; on the one hand, they motivated schools to engage in peer review, as they would do so to prepare for inspections. On the other hand, inspections motivated a school-based focus instead of supporting schools to develop collective capacity

Ineffective Degradation of Immunogenic Gluten Epitopes by Currently Available Digestive Enzyme Supplements

Due to the high proline content of gluten molecules, gastrointestinal proteases are unable to fully degrade them leaving large proline-rich gluten fragments intact, including an immunogenic 33-mer from α-gliadin and a 26-mer from γ-gliadin. These latter peptides can trigger pro-inflammatory T cell responses resulting in tissue remodeling, malnutrition and a variety of other complications. A strict lifelong gluten-free diet is currently the only available treatment to cope with gluten intolerance. Post-proline cutting enzymes have been shown to effectively degrade the immunogenic gluten peptides and have been proposed as oral supplements. Several existing digestive enzyme supplements also claim to aid in gluten degradation. Here we investigate the effectiveness of such existing enzyme supplements in comparison with a well characterized post-proline cutting enzyme, Prolyl EndoPeptidase from Aspergillus niger (AN-PEP).Five commercially available digestive enzyme supplements along with purified digestive enzymes were subjected to 1) enzyme assays and 2) mass spectrometric identification. Gluten epitope degradation was monitored by 1) R5 ELISA, 2) mass spectrometric analysis of the degradation products and 3) T cell proliferation assays.The digestive enzyme supplements showed comparable proteolytic activities with near neutral pH optima and modest gluten detoxification properties as determined by ELISA. Mass spectrometric analysis revealed the presence of many different enzymes including amylases and a variety of different proteases with aminopeptidase and carboxypeptidase activity. The enzyme supplements leave the nine immunogenic epitopes of the 26-mer and 33-mer gliadin fragments largely intact. In contrast, the pure enzyme AN-PEP effectively degraded all nine epitopes in the pH range of the stomach at much lower dose. T cell proliferation assays confirmed the mass spectrometric data.Currently available digestive enzyme supplements are ineffective in degrading immunogenic gluten epitopes