Tanzanian teacher’s constructions and perceptions of ‘inclusive education’ for girls and girls with disabilities

The benefits of the inclusion of girls and girls with disability in mainstream education in Tanzania have been well documented, yet it is this demographic which remain the most at risk of exclusion (Lewin and Little, 2011). Quantitative research has demonstrated some success for the government’s target of all children to be enrolled in primary education, regardless of gender or disability. However, qualitative research “is recommended to complement, confirm and contradict statistics” (Okkolin, Lehtomäki, Bhalalusea, 2010) in order to divulge and analyse contributory factors to inequalities in the education of girls and girls with disabilities. The research aims to expand this current state of knowledge by employing Action Research as a qualitative methodology, interviewing a sample of Tanzanian teachers to seek their constructions and perceptions of ‘inclusion’, ‘girls’ and ‘girls with disability’. The analysis of these constructions will contribute to a context sensitive, socio-cultural understanding of disability, inclusion and gender issues. This understanding will raise contributory factors to inequalities and promote informed inclusive action in the contexts in which it is conducted. It will also contribute to the wider analysis of the success of the inclusive agenda for girls and girls with disabilities in Tanzania schools

Applying Solution Focused Approaches as a participatory method to amplify student voice in a Higher Education context.

This paper reports an evaluation of the application of participatory method Solution Focused Approaches (SFA) to develop student voice within a HE setting. The work of Seale (2010; 2015; 2016) and their call to ‘amplify’ student voice processes through the trialing of participatory methods was responded to. SFA was positioned as a participatory method that would allow for students to be treated as equal partners in student voice processes. The research evaluation gathered qualitative data through focus groups with staff (course leads) and student representatives (course reps). Thematic analysis was used to develop five themes; SFA is active and involved, relationships are important, student apathy and disengagement from feedback, course rep experience, and feedback systems. The research was instigated due to difficulties with meaningful collaboration that existed within student voice work and has proceeded to provide a potential solution to those problems. Outcomes are discussed in light of recommendations for further research and HE practice

Young social beings: an investigation into the social interactions and relationships of a Year Five class

The research study employed a mixed methods research design to investigate the social interactions and relationships of a Year Five, mainstream Primary School class. The first strand of the research empirically evaluated an adaptation of the Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA) intervention 'The Good Behaviour Game' (TGBG), which aimed to increase the positive social behaviour of the Year Five class. TGBG is a dependent group contingency, behaviour management intervention which is implemented at the whole class level. The research employed a single case, ABAB reversal design to evaluate its efficacy for promoting behaviour change for the target social behaviours of working as a team, supporting peers and positive social interactions with a peer. Observation data was also collected for a focus participant to explore the effects of a universal intervention at the targeted level of an individual participant. The second strand of the research utilised Personal Construct Psychology (PCP) to explore participants' construing of their social interactions and relationships with others. The repertory grid interview method was used to interview 8 participants. The PCP strand to the study was perceived to add an illuminative addition to the ABA strand, which incorporated a constructivist approach to understand the unique perceptions and views of the child

An adaptation of the Good Behaviour Game to promote social skill development at the whole-class level

Social skill interventions are utilised by educational psychologists (EPs) to promote positive social behaviour amongst pupils. These have predominantly occurred for target populations, rather than at the whole-class level. Research into evidence-based, whole-class interventions for social skill development is warranted. The Good Behaviour Game (GBG) is a contingency management intervention for promoting positive behaviour at the whole-class level. The current study evaluates an adaptation of the GBG to target engagement in social skills in a mainstream primary school classroom setting. An ABAB reversal design was used to evaluate teacher implementation of the GBG. The GBG was shown to be effective in promoting engagement in targeted social behaviour of positive social interactions and working as team. No change in behaviour was observed for the targeted social behaviour of supporting peers. The paper discusses the implications of the findings, limitations, relevancy to EP practice and impetus for further research

Utilising personal construct psychology and the repertory grid interview method to meaningfully represent the voice of the child in their social relationships

Since the ratification of the 1981 United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989) the role of Voice of the Child (VoC) in education has gained significance. Despite various VoC models and methods existing to collect and understand it, it is often critiqued for being tokenistic, rather than meaningful. Personal Construct Psychology (PCP) is a relevant psychological theory which provides a range of methods for exploring VoC. Previous PCP research has utilised art methods to explore primary school pupil’s views about various aspects of their educational experience. The current research sought to extend the application of PCP to explore VoC by employing the repertory grid interview method to represent and understand a sample of Year Five pupils’ opinions and perspectives on their social relationships. The repertory grid interview method was proposed as a method that would lead to meaningful rather than tokenistic VoC. The findings demonstrated that participants had a strong sense of self in relation to others and reported positive social relationships. Relationships with family members were found to be the most reported and hypothesised to be the most important relationships in participant’s social worlds. Participants predominantly utilised the construct categories of ‘extroverted/introverted’, ‘pleasant/unpleasant’ and ‘sympathetic/unsympathetic’ with regards to their social relationships and interactions. These findings are discussed in relation to the argument that repertory grid interviews offer a meaningful rather than tokenistic method for engaging in VoC. Limitations and implications for future research and professional practice are also discussed

Voice Practices to Support LGBTQIA+ Educators and Pupils

Contribution to chapter 8 titled: 'Voice Practices to Support LGBTQIA+ Educators and Pupils' - in Sewell, A. (ed) Diverse voices in educational practice: A workbook for promoting pupil, parent and professional voice. This chapter explores the implications of testimonial injustice in limiting the capacity of LGBTQIA+ educators, children, and young people as knowers and testifiers. Both LGBTQIA+ educators and pupils are subjected to this form of epistemic injustice. Testimony is a unique human experience; to speak our truth. We can view educational voice work as having undergone a process of initial theoretical understanding and practice embedding in the early twenty-first century, with the next developmental phase being a collected discussion of arising complexities and future-oriented solutions. Voice work and voice practices in educational contexts are arguably a nascent phenomenon. The development of meaningful voice practices will arguably only arise if educators take time to consider the role of classification by type and constructions of perceived social norms that voice practice activities may reinforce and/or create. The chapter concludes with some further considerations for the future of meaningful voice practices in educational contexts

Neuroleptanalgesia for acute abdominal pain: a systematic review

Background: Acute abdominal pain (AAP) comprises up to 10% of all emergency department (ED) visits. Current pain management practice is moving toward multi-modal analgesia regimens that decrease opioid use. Objective: This project sought to determine whether, in patients with AAP (population), does administration of butyrophenone antipsychotics (intervention) compared to placebo, usual care, or opiates alone (comparisons) improve analgesia or decrease opiate consumption (outcomes)? Methods: A structured search was performed in Cochrane CENTRAL, CINAHL, Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effects, Directory of Open Access Journals, Embase, IEEE-Xplorer, Latin American and Caribbean Health Sciences Literature, Magiran, PubMed, Scientific Information Database, Scopus, TÜBİTAK ULAKBİM, and Web of Science. Clinical trial registries (ClinicalTrials.gov, World Health Organization International Clinical Trials Registry Platform, and Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry), relevant bibliographies, and conference proceedings were also searched. Searches were not limited by date, language, or publication status. Studies eligible for inclusion were prospective randomized clinical trials enrolling patients (age ≥18 years) with AAP treated in acute care environments (ED, intensive care unit, postoperative). The butyrophenone must have been administered either intravenously or intramuscularly. Comparison groups included placebo, opiate only, corticosteroids, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, or acetaminophen. Results: We identified 7,217 references. Six studies met inclusion criteria. One study assessed ED patients with AAP associated with gastroparesis, whereas five studies assessed patients with postoperative AAP: abdominal hysterectomy (n=4), sleeve gastrectomy (n=1). Three of four studies found improvements in pain intensity with butyrophenone use. Three of five studies reported no change in postoperative opiate consumption, while two reported a decrease. One ED study reported no change in patient satisfaction, while one postoperative study reported improved satisfaction scores. Both extrapyramidal side effects (n=3) and sedation (n=3) were reported as unchanged. Conclusion: Based on available evidence, we cannot draw a conclusion on the efficacy or benefit of neuroleptanalgesia in the management of patients with AAP. However, preliminary data suggest that it may improve analgesia and decrease opiate consumption

Pathogen and human NDPK-proteins promote AML cell survival via monocyte NLRP3-inflammasome activation

A history of infection has been linked with increased risk of acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) and related myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS). Furthermore, AML and MDS patients suffer frequent infections because of disease-related impaired immunity. However, the role of infections in the development and progression of AML and MDS remains poorly understood. We and others previously demonstrated that the human nucleoside diphosphate kinase (NDPK) NM23-H1 protein promotes AML blast cell survival by inducing secretion of IL-1β from accessory cells. NDPKs are an evolutionary highly conserved protein family and pathogenic bacteria secrete NDPKs that regulate virulence and host-pathogen interactions. Here, we demonstrate the presence of IgM antibodies against a broad range of pathogen NDPKs and more selective IgG antibody activity against pathogen NDPKs in the blood of AML patients and normal donors, demonstrating that in vivo exposure to NDPKs likely occurs. We also show that pathogen derived NDPK-proteins faithfully mimic the catalytically independent pro-survival activity of NM23-H1 against primary AML cells. Flow cytometry identified that pathogen and human NDPKs selectively bind to monocytes in peripheral blood. We therefore used vitamin D3 differentiated monocytes from wild type and genetically modified THP1 cells as a model to demonstrate that NDPK-mediated IL-1β secretion by monocytes is NLRP3-inflammasome and caspase 1 dependent, but independent of TLR4 signaling. Monocyte stimulation by NDPKs also resulted in activation of NF-κB and IRF pathways but did not include the formation of pyroptosomes or result in pyroptotic cell death which are pivotal features of canonical NLRP3 inflammasome activation. In the context of the growing importance of the NLRP3 inflammasome and IL-1β in AML and MDS, our findings now implicate pathogen NDPKs in the pathogenesis of these diseases

Innocent strategies as presheaves and interactive equivalences for CCS

Seeking a general framework for reasoning about and comparing programming languages, we derive a new view of Milner's CCS. We construct a category E of plays, and a subcategory V of views. We argue that presheaves on V adequately represent innocent strategies, in the sense of game semantics. We then equip innocent strategies with a simple notion of interaction. This results in an interpretation of CCS. Based on this, we propose a notion of interactive equivalence for innocent strategies, which is close in spirit to Beffara's interpretation of testing equivalences in concurrency theory. In this framework we prove that the analogues of fair and must testing equivalences coincide, while they differ in the standard setting.Comment: In Proceedings ICE 2011, arXiv:1108.014

ORCC UKRN Primer on Working in Research Data Management

This is an introductory guide for those working and considering working in the area of research data management. It was drafted by members of the Open Research Competencies Coalition. Research Data Management (RDM) refers to the storage, access, and preservation of data produced by a given investigation. Data management practices cover the entire lifecycle of a project, from planning the investigation, conducting it, backing up data as it is created and used, to long term preservation of data deliverables after the research investigation has concluded