Performance-based credit trading

It is well established that - in the absence of market distortions - permit trading provides a cost efficient implementation mechanism for a range of different environmental policy issues where objectives can be set - either explicitly, or implicitly - in absolute terms (e.g. tonnes of carbon). However in many policy areas, objectives are formulated in relative terms (i.e. as rates). For example, objectives may be set for energy efficiency rates in certain industrial sectors (i.e. energy consumption per unit output), or for the mix of secondary and primary materials used in the manufacture of certain products. Furthermore, in a second-best setting with distortionary taxes, there may be significant social cost advantages to using rate-based instruments, even when the underlying policy objective is expressed in absolute terms. This paper extends the analysis of the cost efficiency of trading schemes to encompass a broader range regulatory rules. It is demonstrated that for a generic form of trading - performance-based credit trading (PBCT) - a market equilibrium will always exist, and that it will achieve the cost efficient outcome for any policy objective that can be expressed in the form of a linear perform-ance rule. The general formulation of this rule is very flexible, and it can incorporate both absolute performance targets, and rate-based targets. In the case of an absolute performance target, it is shown that while PBCT is functionally equivalent to permit (i.e. allowance) trading, it has different implications for property rights. In relation to rate-based regulation, an application of PBCT to an energy efficiency target for a particular sector is used to demonstrate how performance adjustment factors can be used to different-iate individual firm targets while ensuring that the overall sector constraint is satisfied

What do students know and understand about the Holocaust? Evidence from English secondary schools

This research report has been written under the auspices of the University College London (UCL) Centre for Holocaust Education. The Centre is part of the UCL Institute of Education – currently the world’s leading university for education – and is comprised of a team of researchers and educators from a variety of different disciplinary fields. The Centre works in partnership with the Pears Foundation who, together with the Department for Education, have co-funded its operation since it was first established in 2008. A centrally important principle of all activity based at the UCL Centre for Holocaust Education is that, wherever possible, classroom practice should be informed by academic scholarship and relevant empirical research. In 2009, Centre staff published an extensive national study of secondary school teachers’ experience of and attitudes towards teaching about the Holocaust (Pettigrew et al. 2009). This new report builds on that earlier work by critically examining English school students’ knowledge and understanding of this history. In both cases, research findings have been – and will continue to be – used to develop an innovative and ground-breaking programme of continuing professional development (CPD) for teachers and educational resources that are uniquely responsive to clearly identified classroom needs. The UCL Centre for Holocaust Education is the only institution of its kind, both within the United Kingdom and internationally, where pioneering empirical research is placed at the heart of work to support teachers and their students encountering this profoundly important yet complex and challenging subject in schools. The Centre offers a wide-ranging educational programme appropriate to teachers at all stages of their careers through a carefully constructed ‘pathway of professional development’. This provides opportunities for individuals to progressively deepen their knowledge and improve their practice. It offers a national programme of Initial Teacher Education in Holocaust education and a variety of in-depth and subject-specific CPD. In addition, the Centre also offers online distance learning facilities, including a fully accredited taught Masters-level module The Holocaust in the Curriculum. Through its Beacon School programme, Centre staff work intensively with up to 20 schools across England each year in order to recognise and further develop exemplary whole-school approaches and effective pedagogy. All of the courses and classroom materials developed by the UCL Centre for Holocaust Education are available free of charge to teachers working in England’s statefunded secondary schools. Further information can be found at www.ioe.ac.uk/holocaust

Unraveling multilingualism in times past. The interplay of language contact, language use and language planning

Descriptive and Comparative Linguistic

The challenge of enterprise/innovation: a case study of a modern university

In the prevailing economic and political climate for Higher Education a greater emphasis has been placed on diversifying the funding base. The present study was undertaken between 2012 and 2014 and addressed the implementation of an approach to the transformation of one academic school in a medium-sized modern university in Wales to a more engaged enterprise culture. A multimethod investigation included a bi-lingual (English and Welsh) online survey of academic staff and yielded a 71% response rate (n = 45). The findings informed a series of in-depth interviews (n = 24) with a representative sample of those involved in enterprise work (support staff, managers, senior managers), and those who were not. The results provided the platform for the ‘S4E model’ for effective engagement with enterprise: (1) Strategic significance for Enterprise, (2) Support for Enterprise, (3) Synergy for Enterprise, and (4) Success for Enterprise. The outcomes of the research and the recommendations from it have potential to inform practice in other academic schools within the university and, in a wider context, within other Schools of Education regionally, nationally and internationally. Its original empirical exploration of enterprise within education studies is a significant contribution to that body of knowledge

‘Privacy does not interest me’. A comparative analysis of photo sharing on Instagram and Blipfoto

Photo sharing online has become immensely popular and is a central aspect of modern visual culture. Yet it creates a number of privacy issues, both in relation to other individuals and corporate surveillance. The purpose of this study was to investigate users’ understanding of privacy issues in photo sharing, based on a comparative study of two contrasting platforms: Instagram and Blipfoto. The study combined netnography and in-depth interviewing. It was found that Instagram users had a greater awareness of how the platform might use their data, but saw this loss of privacy as inevitable in return for a free service. Blipfoto users were more trusting of what they experienced as a very community minded platform. Any concerns felt by both groups of users were out-weighed by the sense that photo sharing was highly meaningful and their fascination with watching and being watched. Both groups main approach to privacy was through restricting certain types of image of people and not revealing the location of certain personal spaces. Notions of privacy thus remained primarily personal and ignored corporate dataveillance

Transforming a methodological dilemma into a rewarding research opportunity

This article focuses on an investigation of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teacher (de)motivation in Spain which underwent a methodological transformation from mixed methods to a qualitative approach. Unexpected statistical results from the questionnaire in the piloting phase led to the creation of interview prompts, a dynamic data collection instrument based on reliable items from the questionnaire which was disregarded from the main study at a later stage. The interview prompts provided a card-based data collection method which engaged participants in reflective and challenging tasks. This paper will discuss an unsettling challenge in the research process, how it was seized and the positive outcome which emerged from this unpredicted pitfall. A research breakdown welcomed a methodological turn enabled by the researcher’s reflection on the research dilemma. Authors are encouraged to defy and embrace research obstacles while learning from them and sharing the solutions with the research community