Multi-agency training and the artist (Sharing our experience, Practitioner-led research 2008-2009; PLR0809/032)

The Multi-Agency Team Project approached issues of multi-agency training indirectly by using an artist as a catalyst in a group exercise examining movement and sound in relation to early childhood. The aim of the research was to run an experiential non-traditional training programme based on using an artist as a catalyst to promote inter-agency dialogue in one setting, Woodlands Park Nursery and Children’s Centre, and to analyse the findings. Eleven participants used this common experiential focus to frame collective research both as a focus group and as individual fieldworkers. The research demonstrated shared professional discourse but also collected judgements relevant to policy issues based on collaborative professional reflection triggered by the exercise. The findings are presented theoretically in terms of critical discourse analysis using the interpretation-supporting software ATLASti. We next take a further look at the role play exercise in which the group constituted itself as a ‘House of Commons Select Committee’ before summarizing what theoretical insights might be brought to bear and attempting to draw some provisional conclusions. Some evidence is presented suggesting there is a degree of tension and ambiguity between alterative models of multi-agency working

Why focus on the primary humanities now?

Editorial. No abstract. This is a special issue of the journal coordinated by the four authors named above

The future of the humanities in primary schools – reflections in troubled times

This article reflects on the implications for practitioners, researchers and policy makers of the future of the humanities in primary schools, in the light of the challenges facing future generations. There is wide divergence in the four jurisdictions of the UK. The humanities are perceived as important, in principle, though curriculum frameworks differ. However, the status of the humanities is often uncertain, in practice, given the current emphasis on outcomes in literacy and numeracy. There is a lack of robust research on how and by whom the humanities are taught. The more theoretical articles suggest that the humanities, broadly conceived, are an essential aspect of young children’s education, to enable a deeper understanding of human culture and identity and develop the qualities and values needed in a diverse world. Curricular breadth is needed and that a focus on propositional knowledge is limiting. While this has implications for the whole curriculum, History, Geography and Religious Education have key roles in meeting these aims and in engaging and motivating young children. A stronger policy steer to ensure that schools give more priority to humanities education, with greater investment in professional development in Initial Teacher Education and beyond

Possible physical and thermodynamical evidence for liquid water at the Phoenix landing site

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/95444/1/jgre2665.pd

The astrobiology primer: An outline of general knowledge - Version 1, 2006

Peer reviewe

Habitability of the Phoenix landing site

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/95488/1/jgre2706.pd

Formation of an Hesperian-aged sedimentary basin containing phyllosilicates in Coprates Catena, Mars

The extensive light-toned deposits in canyons and troughs in Valles Marineris provide evidence of formation through water-related processes. As such, these deposits offer a window to past conditions on Mars. We study a small outcrop of light-toned deposits in a closed trough in Coprates Catena, a chain of collapse pits to the south-east of the main Valles Marineris system. A well-exposed sequence of deposits on the base of the north wall of the trough offers a 220 m section for geochemical and morphologic analysis. Using CRISM data we identify the presence of both phyllosilicates and sulfates and/or opaline silica in the light toned deposits, which vary in relative strength with elevation. We observe a trend in the dominant mineralogical signal, with Al phyllosilicates occurring near the base of the deposits, both below and above a band of Fe/Mg phyllosilicates, before a transition to more sulfate- or opaline silica-rich material near the top of the section. This trend likely reflects a change in the chemistry of the water in which the deposits formed. Using a HiRISE Digital Elevation Model, we find that the layers in the light-toned deposits on both sides of the trough dip gently towards the center of the trough, with a dip direction that aligns with the strike of the trough, suggesting that the light-toned deposits formed after the trough. Our general morphologic and mineralogical observations fit well with significant amounts of water in the trough. The deposits are too small to be dated using crater counting techniques, however, our crater analysis suggests that the plains in which the trough formed are probably Late Hesperian in age. If the chemistry of the light-toned deposits reflects the primary depositional mineralogy, then this and other small troughs in Coprates Catena might provide evidence of limited phyllosilicate formation in this region towards the end of the Hesperian era on Mars

European Skipper Butterfly (Thymelicus lineola) Associated with Reduced Seed Development of Showy Lady’s-slipper Orchid (Cypripedium reginae)

It has been suggested that European Skipper butterflies (Thymelicus lineola) trapped in the lips of the Showy Lady’s-slipper orchid (Cypripedium reginae) may interfere with pollination. This could occur through blockage of the pollinator pathway, facilitation of pollinator escape without pollination, and/or disturbance of the normal pollinators. A large population of the orchid at an Ottawa Valley site provided an opportunity to test the interference hypothesis. The number of trapped skippers was compared in 475 post-blooming flowers with regard to capsule development and thus seed development. The presence of any skippers within flowers was associated with reduced capsule development (P = 0.0075), and the probability of capsule development was found to decrease with increasing numbers of skippers (P = 0.0271). The extent of a negative effect will depend on the abundance of the butterflies and the coincidence of flowering time and other factors. Counts of skippers trapped in flowers were found to follow closely a negative binomial distribution (P = 0.8656)

Please show you're working: a critical assessment of the impact of OFSTED inspection on primary teachers

Education policies introduced in the past two decades necessitated the adoption of a managerialist discourse in the restructuring, running and inspection of schools. In this paper, we critically review the nature of such discourse and outline the historical conditions that contributed to the establishment of OFSTED. Having set the scene, we report on the experiential impact of managerialist discourse on the lives of primary school teachers in the period running up to, including, and in the year following OFSTED inspections. Exploring the accounts of teachers, we draw attention to the effects of intensified control on the overall well being of teachers and, by implication, the quality of classroom experience for children. Foucault's notions of the 'disciplinary regime' and 'normalizing judgement' prove useful in framing teachers' descriptions of themselves feeling professionally compromised, intimidated and stressed by the inspection process. Despite the evident intensity of the OFSTED experience, teachers in our study uniformly indicate that, 1 year after inspection, it has had no lasting impact on what they do in the classroom. If OFSTED has questionable direct influence on teaching practice outside nominal compliance with its formal procedures in the run-up to and during the inspection visit, we are left to question what purpose it actually serves. Our conclusion is that, just as teachers 'stage manage' a performance for the visiting inspectorate, the whole OFSTED apparatus itself is little more than a grand political cipher created and maintained to satisfy the imagined scrutinising gaze of a wider public. In short, OFSTED is stage-managed public 'accountability'