Entrenching performativity or enhancing pedagogy: Addressing the challenge of assessment policy and practice

The focus of the South African Education Research Association’s Assessment and Testing Special Interest Group (SIG) is to contribute to current initiatives and debates pertaining to the development and implementation of assessment systems for improving learning and teaching. In particular, the SIG’s members aim to address dominant performativity discourses impacting schools and universities by (1) providing a common understanding of the purpose and use of assessment, (2) locating the different assessment applications across the broader system within which learning and teaching occurs, and (3) highlighting recent initiatives impacting on assessment policy and practices. We think it essential to highlight critical policy and practice questions, while simultaneously acknowledging ongoing challenges for implementing enabling assessment systems that support the specific pedagogical needs of learners, teachers, students, and lecturers. Notwithstanding the complexities ofeffecting change, increasing discourse on, as well as relevant critique of, policies and practices that fail to improve learning and teaching, enhances possibilities for implementing enabling assessment policy and practice that seek to address the elusive challenge of equity and quality within the education system.&nbsp

Social Participation and Social Adjustment: Implications for Adolescent Wardrobe Content

Clothing, Textiles, and Merchandisin

Questioning the Paddy Stereotype in Edna O’Brien’s “Shovel Kings”

« Rois de la pelle », la nouvelle d’Edna O’Brien, extraite du recueil Saints et Pécheurs, aborde le stéréotype de “Paddy”, le travailleur manuel irlandais en Angleterre qui a « tout dans les muscles mais rien dans la tête »… Dans un pub de Londres, la narratrice écoute le récit de Rafferty, ouvrier du bâtiment pour qui les travailleurs irlandais à l’étranger sont des « gladiateurs », des créateurs anonymes et éternels de civilisation tout au long de l’Histoire. Comme le suggère le titre de la nouvelle, ces travailleurs creusent les fondations d’empires, y compris ceux qui ont blessé leur propre nation. La nouvelle est ici analysée à partir de la réflexion de Mary J. Hickman et Bronwen Walter sur les stéréotypes relatifs aux Irlandais en Angleterre d’une part, et à partir de l’étude des exilés sous l’angle psychanalytique qu’élabore Julia Kristeva, d’autre part

Women's information needs, decision-making and experiences of membrane sweeping to promote spontaneous labour

© 2019 Objective: To explore and synthesise evidence of women's information needs, decision-making and experiences of membrane sweeping to promote spontaneous labour. Design: A systematic review following the Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) meta-aggregative approach to qualitative evidence synthesis. Relevant databases were searched for literature published in English between 2000–19. Study quality was assessed using the JBI quality assessment tool for qualitative studies. Setting: Qualitative research conducted in OECD countries describing women's information needs, decision-making and/or experiences of membrane sweeping to promote spontaneous labour. Findings: One article met the criteria for inclusion. This article describes the experience of a membrane sweep given without consent. Key conclusions and Implications for practice: There is a lack of evidence around women's information needs, decision-making and experiences of membrane sweeping. This is concerning, especially in the context of rising rates of formal induction of labour. Further research is needed to investigate how women are being offered membrane sweeping and what information women need to make informed choices about membrane sweeping to promote spontaneous labour

Molecular testing for the clinical diagnosis of fibrolamellar carcinoma.

Fibrolamellar carcinoma has a distinctive morphology and immunophenotype, including cytokeratin 7 and CD68 co-expression. Despite the distinct findings, accurate diagnosis of fibrolamellar carcinoma continues to be a challenge. Recently, fibrolamellar carcinomas were found to harbor a characteristic somatic gene fusion, DNAJB1-PRKACA. A break-apart fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) assay was designed to detect this fusion event and to examine its diagnostic performance in a large, multicenter, multinational study. Cases initially classified as fibrolamellar carcinoma based on histological features were reviewed from 124 patients. Upon central review, 104 of the 124 cases were classified histologically as typical of fibrolamellar carcinoma, 12 cases as 'possible fibrolamellar carcinoma' and 8 cases as 'unlikely to be fibrolamellar carcinoma'. PRKACA FISH was positive for rearrangement in 102 of 103 (99%) typical fibrolamellar carcinomas, 9 of 12 'possible fibrolamellar carcinomas' and 0 of 8 cases 'unlikely to be fibrolamellar carcinomas'. Within the morphologically typical group of fibrolamellar carcinomas, two tumors with unusual FISH patterns were also identified. Both cases had the fusion gene DNAJB1-PRKACA, but one also had amplification of the fusion gene and one had heterozygous deletion of the normal PRKACA locus. In addition, 88 conventional hepatocellular carcinomas were evaluated with PRKACA FISH and all were negative. These findings demonstrate that FISH for the PRKACA rearrangement is a clinically useful tool to confirm the diagnosis of fibrolamellar carcinoma, with high sensitivity and specificity. A diagnosis of fibrolamellar carcinoma is more accurate when based on morphology plus confirmatory testing than when based on morphology alone