Teacher knowledge and subject-specific pedagogy in technical and vocational education

This paper provides a critical analysis of conceptualisations of subject-specific pedagogy and their application to technical and vocational education, with particular reference to the English FE and Skills sector. Drawing on international literature on teachers’ pedagogical knowledge in different phases of education, the paper argues that there is currently no satisfactory account of subject-specific pedagogy or of the knowledge that technical and vocational teachers use in making pedagogical decisions. However, it proposes that a re-interpretation of Lee Shulman’s pedagogical content knowledge within sociocultural learning theory can provide a basis for a better understanding. The paper begins by reviewing briefly the context of subject-specific pedagogy in the English FE sector, where it has been a contested issue for over a decade. Although this debate has intrinsic academic interest, it has also been driven by external pressures from policymakers and inspection regimes based on regressive understandings of teacher knowledge. In recent years, the debate has been modified to some extent by emerging notions of vocational pedagogy and a tendency to privilege the immediate needs of employers over wider educational considerations. The paper continues by reviewing more fundamental issues related to subject-specific pedagogy, including critiques of disciplinary knowledge in general, which argue that such knowledge has decreasing relevance and authority; evidence that the formal acquisition of codified pedagogical knowledge plays a relatively limited role in the professional development of FE teachers; and a lack of more extensive empirical research on FE teachers and their subject-specific pedagogy. It then discusses the strengths and limitations of two key ideas: pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) and the multi-layered notion of recontextualisation. Although PCK has been extensively critiqued, the paper argues that it offers access to an extensive research tradition and valuable insights into the meaning of subject-specific pedagogy. However, interpretations of PCK which delocate it from a social and cultural context would be inadequate, particularly in the context of technical and vocational education. Two elaborations of PCK are required: firstly, to take into account the need for teachers and learners to recontextualise knowledge – both from the college to the workplace and vice versa – and secondly, to recognise that teachers’ professional learning is itself socially located, taking place in specific cultural and historical contexts and affected by hierarchies of power and status at local and societal levels. The paper concludes by proposing a model of subject-specific pedagogy as situated reasoning about teaching decisions

Evaluating the Cephalonia method of library induction

This is a PDF version of an article published in SCONUL Focus© 2007. SCONUL Focus is available online at http://www.sconul.ac.uk/publications/newsletterThis article discusses the results of a survey carried out at the University of Chester library into student feedback of the Cephalonia method of library induction

The "About Me" questionnaire: Factorial structure and measurement invariance

The "About Me" Questionnaire (AMQ) has been used to measure components of social identity, academic self-concept and self-worth in children and adolescents in the United Kingdom and abroad. Studies have reported simple reliability statistics but a comprehensive assessment of the scale's psychometric properties has not been conducted. Confirmatory factor analysis, using a sample of 5,082 children aged 6 to 18 years from combined datasets of five cross-sectional research studies, was used to establish the psychometric soundness of the 29-item AMQ. Analysis revealed generally adequate reliability with the seven-factor structure confirmed in a replication sample. Results provide evidence of adequate psychometric properties, optimized with the omission of reverse-coded item and selected items, suggesting it is suitable for assessing social identity and academic self-concept of children and adolescents in applied settings. Tests for measurement invariance showed that the assessment of parallel constructs was strongly supported across males and females and partially supported across primary and secondary school–age groups

The impact of read/write web approaches on the curriculum priorities of PG Cert HE participants

Whether the read/write web, or Web 2.0, can enhance learner engagement within higher education is a central focus of current e-learning research. The implications of the read/write web, for: the personalisation of learning; student motivation and participation with the learning process; and, the relationship between informal and formal learning contexts; are particular foci. In order to develop institutional understanding of these issues, one of the strands of the DMU e-Learning Pathfinder project focused upon the possibilities for extending dialogue with PG Cert HE participants and by extension, undergraduate and postgraduate learners. This paper scopes some of the emergent outcomes from the use of read/write tools and approaches with this cohort of learners. The voices of both learners and tutors are evaluated, drawing upon a triangulation of datasets, including questionnaires, focus groups and wiki-based action plans. The authors investigate ways in which these approaches can be used to enhance: the personalisation of learning; student motivation and participation with the learning process; and, the relationship between informal and formal learning contexts. These headline outcomes underpin recommendations for the development of PG Cert HE curricula, and highlight how read/write approaches open-up dialogues about curriculum design. A critical element of future work is, therefore, whether this strategy empowers those participants to be better placed to engage with their own learner

‘Can you recommend any good STI apps?’ A review of content, accuracy and comprehensiveness of current mobile medical applications for STIs and related genital infections

Objective Seeking sexual health information online is common, and provision of mobile medical applications (apps) for STIs is increasing. Young people, inherently at higher risk of STIs, are avid users of technology, and apps could be appealing sources of information. We undertook a comprehensive review of content and accuracy of apps for people seeking information about STIs. Methods Search of Google Play and iTunes stores using general and specific search terms for apps regarding STIs and genital infections (except HIV), testing, diagnosis and management, 10 September 2014 to 16 September 2014. We assessed eligible apps against (1) 19 modified Health on The Net (HON) Foundation principles; and (2) comprehensiveness and accuracy of information on STIs/genital infections, and their diagnosis and management, compared with corresponding National Health Service STI information webpage content. Results 144/6642 apps were eligible. 57 were excluded after downloading. 87 were analysed. Only 29% of apps met ≥6 HON criteria. Content was highly variable: 34/87 (39%) covered one or two infections; 40 (46%) covered multiple STIs; 5 (6%) focused on accessing STI testing. 13 (15%) were fully, 46 (53%) mostly and 28 (32%) partially accurate. 25 (29%) contained ≥1 piece of potentially harmful information. Apps available on both iOS and Android were more accurate than single-platform apps. Only one app provided fully accurate and comprehensive information on chlamydia. Conclusions Marked variation in content, quality and accuracy of available apps combined with the nearly one-third containing potentially harmful information risks undermining potential benefits of an e-Health approach to sexual health and well-being.The Electronic Self-Testing Instruments for Sexually Transmitted Infection (eSTI2) Consortium is funded under the UKCRC Translational Infection Research (TIR) Initiative supported by the Medical Research Council (Grant Number G0901608) with contributions to the Grant from the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, the National Institute for Health Research on behalf of the Department of Health, the Chief Scientist Office of the Scottish Government Health Directorates and the Wellcome Trust

On the Riemann Tensor in Double Field Theory

Double field theory provides T-duality covariant generalized tensors that are natural extensions of the scalar and Ricci curvatures of Riemannian geometry. We search for a similar extension of the Riemann curvature tensor by developing a geometry based on the generalized metric and the dilaton. We find a duality covariant Riemann tensor whose contractions give the Ricci and scalar curvatures, but that is not fully determined in terms of the physical fields. This suggests that \alpha' corrections to the effective action require \alpha' corrections to T-duality transformations and/or generalized diffeomorphisms. Further evidence to this effect is found by an additional computation that shows that there is no T-duality invariant four-derivative object built from the generalized metric and the dilaton that reduces to the square of the Riemann tensor.Comment: 36 pages, v2: minor changes, ref. added, v3: appendix on frame formalism added, version to appear in JHE

Potential effects of oilseed rape expressing oryzacystatin-1 (OC-1) and of purified insecticidal proteins on larvae of the solitary bee Osmia bicornis

Despite their importance as pollinators in crops and wild plants, solitary bees have not previously been included in non-target testing of insect-resistant transgenic crop plants. Larvae of many solitary bees feed almost exclusively on pollen and thus could be highly exposed to transgene products expressed in the pollen. The potential effects of pollen from oilseed rape expressing the cysteine protease inhibitor oryzacystatin-1 (OC-1) were investigated on larvae of the solitary bee Osmia bicornis (= O. rufa). Furthermore, recombinant OC-1 (rOC-1), the Bt toxin Cry1Ab and the snowdrop lectin Galanthus nivalis agglutinin (GNA) were evaluated for effects on the life history parameters of this important pollinator. Pollen provisions from transgenic OC-1 oilseed rape did not affect overall development. Similarly, high doses of rOC-1 and Cry1Ab as well as a low dose of GNA failed to cause any significant effects. However, a high dose of GNA (0.1%) in the larval diet resulted in significantly increased development time and reduced efficiency in conversion of pollen food into larval body weight. Our results suggest that OC-1 and Cry1Ab expressing transgenic crops would pose a negligible risk for O. bicornis larvae, whereas GNA expressing plants could cause detrimental effects, but only if bees were exposed to high levels of the protein. The described bioassay with bee brood is not only suitable for early tier non-target tests of transgenic plants, but also has broader applicability to other crop protection products

Disparities in outcomes of COVID-19 hospitalizations in native American individuals

ObjectivesThis study aimed to investigate COVID-19-related disparities in clinical presentation and patient outcomes in hospitalized Native American individuals.MethodsThe study was performed within 30 hospitals of the Banner Health system in the Southwest United States and included 8,083 adult patients who tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 infection and were hospitalized between 1 March 2020 and 4 September 2020. Bivariate and multivariate analyses were used to assess racial and ethnic differences in clinical presentation and patient outcomes.ResultsCOVID-19-related hospitalizations in Native American individuals were over-represented compared with non-Hispanic white individuals. Native American individuals had fewer symptoms at admission; greater prevalence of chronic lung disease in the older adult; two times greater risk for ICU admission despite being younger; and 20 times more rapid clinical deterioration warranting ICU admission. Compared with non-Hispanic white individuals, Native American individuals had a greater prevalence of sepsis, were more likely to require invasive mechanical ventilation, had a longer length of stay, and had higher in-hospital mortality.ConclusionNative American individuals manifested greater case-fatality rates following hospitalization than other races/ethnicities. Atypical symptom presentation of COVID-19 included a greater prevalence of chronic lung disease and a more rapid clinical deterioration, which may be responsible for the observed higher hospital mortality, thereby underscoring the role of pulmonologists in addressing such disparities