Staff training in autism: The one-eyed wo/man….

Having well-trained staff is key to ensuring good quality autism services, especially since people affected with autism generally tend to have higher support needs than other populations in terms of daily living, as well as their mental and physical health. Poorly-trained staff can have detrimental effects on service provision and staff morale and can lead to staff burn-out, as well as increased service user anxiety and stress. This paper reports on a survey with health, social care, and education staff who work within the statutory autism services sector in the UK that explored their knowledge and training with regards to autism. Interview data obtained from staff and service users offer qualitative illustrations of survey findings. Overall, the findings expose an acute lack of autism-specific training that has detrimental impacts. At best, this training was based on brief and very basic awareness raising rather than on in-depth understanding of issues related to autism or skills for evidence-based practice. Service users were concerned with the effects that the lack of staff training had on the services they received. The paper concludes with a discussion of policy routes to achieving quality staff training based on international best practice. The focus is on improving the quality of life and mental health for services users and staff, as well as making potentially significant cost-savings for governments

Birth, Death and Survival: an Arendtian analysis of pre-service teacher identity on the PGCE route

This research focuses on the identity development of pre-service teachers on a one-year, university-based teacher education route (PGCE) in England. In the English education system, concerns have been raised about many aspects impacting pre-service teachers during their PGCE and beyond: a neoliberal, market-driven education system; high levels of performativity and accountability within the teaching profession, and the lack of attention to the process of identity formation within teacher education. This study is significant in that it provides a rationale for pre-service teacher identity formation to be considered in its own right. By bringing an Arendtian framework to the research, it offers pre-service teachers an opportunity to think about themselves, and the influences that act upon their professional identity, in a new way. As a result of this research, it is intended that pre-service teachers will be better able to deal with the challenges that face them as beginning teachers, and that teacher education will embed identity development as an evolving process in their programmes. This study is situated within a theoretically enriched empirical approach. The methodology was driven using Arendtian theory, specifically the use of Arendt’s ‘conditions’ related to the concepts of birth, death, survival, worldliness, plurality and self-development. This qualitative research gathered data from three PGCE pre-service teachers as they ‘became’ teachers. Over the period of their PGCE year, this included an online introductory life story to gather insights into their awareness of a teacher identity, a face-to-face semi-structured interview to explore pre-service teachers’ awareness of their developing teacher identity, and a critical incident interview, reflecting on the key episodes that impacted on how they viewed themselves as teachers. The data was analysed using Arendt’s ‘conditions’, and presented as the story of three pre-service teachers. The outcomes of this study are that pre-service teachers felt that the research methodology allowed them to become more aware of, and interrogate, their identity; the Arendtian framework was an ‘identifier’ that denoted the depth of emotion, the impact of events faced during their teaching experience, and how they successfully resolved these issues. Arendt’s ‘conditions’ were interpreted slightly differently by each pre-service teacher but, combined with the critical incident timeline, acted as a driver for an emergent, dialogical and relational approach to pre-service teacher identity

Ion-acoustic envelope modes in a degenerate relativistic electron-ion plasma

A self-consistent relativistic two-fluid model is proposed for one-dimensional electron-ion plasma dynamics. A multiple scales perturbation technique is employed, leading to an evolution equation for the wave envelope, in the form of a nonlinear Schr\"odinger type equation (NLSE). The inclusion of relativistic effects is shown to introduce density-dependent factors, not present in the non-relativistic case - in the conditions for modulational instability. The role of relativistic effects on the linear dispersion laws and on envelope soliton solutions of the NLSE is discussed.Comment: Submitted to Physics of Plasma

From single cells to tissues: interactions between the matrix and human breast cells in real time.

International audienceMammary gland morphogenesis involves ductal elongation, branching, and budding. All of these processes are mediated by stroma--epithelium interactions. Biomechanical factors, such as matrix stiffness, have been established as important factors in these interactions. For example, epithelial cells fail to form normal acinar structures in vitro in 3D gels that exceed the stiffness of a normal mammary gland. Additionally, heterogeneity in the spatial distribution of acini and ducts within individual collagen gels suggests that local organization of the matrix may guide morphogenesis. Here, we quantified the effects of both bulk material stiffness and local collagen fiber arrangement on epithelial morphogenesis. The formation of ducts and acini from single cells and the reorganization of the collagen fiber network were quantified using time-lapse confocal microscopy. MCF10A cells organized the surrounding collagen fibers during the first twelve hours after seeding. Collagen fiber density and alignment relative to the epithelial surface significantly increased within the first twelve hours and were a major influence in the shaping of the mammary epithelium. The addition of Matrigel to the collagen fiber network impaired cell-mediated reorganization of the matrix and increased the probability of spheroidal acini rather than branching ducts. The mechanical anisotropy created by regions of highly aligned collagen fibers facilitated elongation and branching, which was significantly correlated with fiber organization. In contrast, changes in bulk stiffness were not a strong predictor of this epithelial morphology. Localized regions of collagen fiber alignment are required for ductal elongation and branching suggesting the importance of local mechanical anisotropy in mammary epithelial morphogenesis. Similar principles may govern the morphology of branching and budding in other tissues and organs

Birth, Death and Survival: Exploring Pre-service Teacher Identity and How To Think Differently About Teacher Education Using the Work of Hannah Arendt

This presentation is the result of a doctoral research project into preservice teacher identity development on a one-year university based teacher education route. In English education system, concerns have been raised about many aspects of impacting preservice teachers during the PGCE and beyond: a neo- liberal, market-driven education system; high levels of performativity and accountability within the teaching profession, and the lack of attention to the process of identity formation within teacher education. This study brings an Arendtian philosophical framework to offer preservice teaches an opportunity to think about themselves, and the influences that act upon their professional identity, in a new way. As a result of this research, it is intended that preservice teachers will be better able to deal with the challenges that face them as beginning teachers, and the teacher education Will embed identity development as an evolving process in their programmes. This study is situated within a theoretically in reached empirical approach that uses Arendt’s ‘conditions’ that are related to the concepts of birth, death, survival, worldliness, plurality and self-development. This qualitative research gathered data from three pre-service teachers as they ‘became’ teachers. Over the period of their PGCE year, this included an online introductory life story to gather insights into their awareness of teacher identity, a semi-structured interview to explore preservice teachers’ awareness of their developing teacher identity, and a critical incident interview, reflecting on episodes that impacted on how they viewed themselves as teachers. The outcomes of this study are that preservice teachers felt that the research methodology Americans become more aware of, and interrogate their identity; the Arendtian framework was an ‘identifier’ that denoted the depth of emotion, the impact of events ceased during teaching experience, and how they successfully resolved these issues. Arendt’s ‘conditions’ were interpreted slightly differently by each preservice teacher but, combined with the critical incident timeline, acted as a driver for an emergent, dialogical and relational approach to preservice teacher identity. This presentation calls for reform of teacher education; by moving away from ‘machinised’ and neo-liberal education, we can begin to reconsider the value of education in itself. In taking such a stance, it allows teacher education to move forward philosophically and places the preservice teacher at the heart of it