Statutory Assessment of the class? Supporting the additional needs of the learning context

This paper considers issues of funding of support for students facing difficulties in learning, and the role of assessment and labelling within this process. It explores the tensions within this process using a Foucauldian framework, and from the key perspectives of social justice and rights. Drawing on a range of literature it identifies the focus upon the individual within assessment processes around the world, and then considers in detail the strengths and weaknesses of the current form of Statutory Assessment of Special Educational Needs within England. The paper proposes an alternative funding system that resolves shortcomings within the individual approach and the English system. It suggests that a Class Funding Approach could build on a notion of justice for all, reduce the opportunities for wide variations in provision, and minimise the negative impact of current dividing practices

Changes in health related quality of life 3 months after an acute coronary syndrome

BACKGROUND: The aim of the study was to identify the changes in Health Related Quality of Life (HRQL) 3 months after discharge from hospital, in patients who have had an acute coronary episode, and to determine the clinical and sociodemographic variables that explain those changes. METHODS: HRQL was assessed in 132 patients while they were admitted to the hospital and at 3 months after discharge, using the SF-36 health questionnaire. To identify the variables associated with the change, multiple linear regression models were constructed for two summary dimensions of the SF-36 (PCS and MCS) taking the change in the score of the dimension as dependent variable. RESULTS: There were no significant differences between the patients who completed the monitoring (n = 76) and those who were dropped out. After three months, a significant decrease was observed in the dimensions of physical functioning, general health, vitality, and Physical Summary Component (PCS). The variables revascularisation, age, and the interaction between previous history of coronary heart disease (CHD) and the presence of one or more risk factors explained 16.6% of the decrease in the PCS. The decrease in the PCS was 6.4 points less in the patients who had undergone revascularisation, 0.2 points less for each year of age, and 4.7 points less in the patients who had antecedents of the illness as well as one or more risk factors. CONCLUSION: The dimensions most affected at three months after an acute coronary episode were those related to the physical component. Undergoing revascularisation improved the PCS in patients, but in the younger patients and those without personal antecedents or risk factors, the PCS was affected more, perhaps due to greater expectations for recovery in these patients

'Instead of "closing down" at our ages… we’re thinking of exciting and challenging things to do': older people’s microadventures outdoors on (e-)bikes

This paper explores how people aged 50 and over, who were returning to cycling as part of an eight-week health and wellbeing trial, created their own cycling microadventures. Applying a stage model of the process of adventure to qualitative data generated from personal diaries and focus groups, we examine how older people anticipated and prepared for their microadventures, the challenges and discoveries they experienced, the benefits they gained and how electrically assisted ‘e-bikes’ can provide further opportunities for adventure. We conclude that cycles are a mode uniquely placed to facilitate microadventures and that e-bikes, in particular, offer further potential to enable older people to (re-)connect with place and other people. But, while this type of activity can provide benefits in terms of health and wellbeing, we argue that more supportive physical and social infrastructure is required to provide opportunities for more people to undertake microadventures close to their homes

A strategy to discover new organizers identifies a putative heart organizer

Organizers are regions of the embryo that can both induce new fates and impart pattern on other regions. So far, surprisingly few organizers have been discovered, considering the number of patterned tissue types generated during development. This may be because their discovery has relied on transplantation and ablation experiments. Here we describe a new approach, using chick embryos, to discover organizers based on a common gene expression signature, and use it to uncover the anterior intestinal portal (AIP) endoderm as a putative heart organizer. We show that the AIP can induce cardiac identity from non-cardiac mesoderm and that it can pattern this by specifying ventricular and suppressing atrial regional identity. We also uncover some of the signals responsible. The method holds promise as a tool to discover other novel organizers acting during development