Religion and modernity in Spain: religious experience in the novels of Ramón Pérez de Ayala

While Ramón Pérez de Ayala is widely regarded as a leading liberal with strong anti-Catholic and indeed anti-religious views, a close examination of his novels reveals a more ambivalent attitude to religious experience. Indeed, his liberalism could be said to embrace religion in its spiritual, as distinct from its temporal, dimensions. This article examines a number of Pérez de Ayala's major novels and discusses his views on, among other things, his knowledge of biblical criticism, his views on transcendence, pantheism, education, Church and State, scholasticism, neo-Thomist aesthetics, sexuality, women and marriage. Perez de Ayala makes extensive use of the Bible and religious texts in his works and, in his advocacy of a return to the values of early Christianity, could be said to show affinities with religious or theological modernism, which is conventionally held not to have any impact within Spain

Turbulence, Dilemmas and Leadership: A Case Study of an English School after Academisation

This thesis uses critical incident technique (CIT) (Chell, 2004) in a qualitative case study to show the responses of leaders in an English secondary school when faced with dilemmas arising from a transition into a multi-academy trust (MAT). The use of CIT interviews allowed for school leaders self-identification of dilemmas they had encountered. The case study school was transferred from local authority control to a local MAT because of a falling student roll and not because of a failed OfSTED inspection. The study addresses how leaders in a mainstream school adapt to UK Government policy (The Academies Act, 2010) on academisation and the subsequent dilemmas this process creates. The aim is to identify the impact on school leaders of change into a school within a MAT. The study includes an analysis of school leaders as street-level bureaucrats and their use of discretion (Lipsky, 2010) to navigate leadership dilemmas. The study addresses three research questions: 1. How do school leaders respond to turbulence and any subsequent dilemmas in the context of academisation? 2. To what extent are school leaders able to use discretion when dealing with dilemmas? 3. What patterns of school leadership are associated with school leaders’ responses to dilemmas? This thesis reveals how an apparent consensus of organisational priorities (improving results through emphasis on teaching and learning) can mask an underlying ‘blindness’ to the perceived realities of groups and of the individuals within them who function as street-level bureaucrats (Lipsky, 2010). Thus, the normal and expected turbulence of a major transition may be exacerbated, rather than mitigated, by decisions taken by leaders, unaware of the at times restrictive impact on the discretional freedom of their subordinates. This has the inadvertent outcome of cascading turbulence and undermining the ethos of distributed leadership (DL). The result is that often leaders are functioning as managers operationalising the head teachers’ diktats rather than leaders demonstrating leadership

Academic Ableism in Higher Education

In this piece, we argue that universities and by extension all educational establishments need to address inequitable systems and pedagogic practices to ensure they promote inclusive opportunities, where achievement and success are available to all students and staff. Part of this process includes reflecting to ensure we do not replicate cultural and societal norms concerning disability. ‘Disability is one of the most frequently forgotten forms of social, political and cultural oppression’ (Christensen, 1996, p. 63) Disability is a socially constructed term; it denotes a difference whereby specific groups are given unequal values. Sensoy & DiAngelo (2017) refer to this as a social stratifying strategy that societies adopt as norms; this creates oppression due to the way we organise specific groups of people. Our society is designed for/by, built for/by, and controlled for/by non-disabled individuals: this excludes disabled people (Swain et al. 2003). Consequently, people with disabilities have been unfairly and unjustly treated in our societies for centuries and there continues to be a lack of clarity on what is unjust (Rizvi & Christensen 1996)

La recepción de la literatura de la cultura inglesas en la Espana y del fin de siglo

Spanish language article on the response to English culture and literature within Spain. There is material for a serious and thorough study of the topic. Sources of this study are several, but rare. First, we must take into account the work of previous critical readings of individual artists based on their personal libraries or specific references or echoes in their writing. In the case of French literature there are numerous studies of this type. While in the Russian, Italian, English and Scandinavian literature, only partial or sporadic studies exist. Another major source are translations of the time that can indicate the degree of importance of the work by any author in the view of some, but not guaranteed conclusions about its spread and impact on the Spanish words

Investigation of three classes of composite materials for space vehicle application

Three classes of composite materials for space vehicle applicatio

Application of the Exlusionary Rule to Criminal Tax Fraud Investigations

In investigating criminal tax fraud matters, the Internal Revenue Service (I.R.S.) has operated under certain informal customs and practices to obtain taxpayers\u27 records from financial institutions and other third-party recordkeepers. These informal customs and practices often violate information-gathering procedures required by the Internal Revenue Code of 1954 (I.R.C.) and the Treasury Regulations. Therefore, taxpayers whose records have been obtained in violation of the I.R.C. and regulations may seek to suppress such evidence under the exclusionary rule3 by claiming violations of due process4 and the fundamental right of privacy. The focus of this article will be on the following three areas: (1) the formal procedures in acquiring such records as set forth in the I.R.C. and Treasury Regulations; (2) the informal customs and practices of the I.R.S. in obtaining a taxpayer\u27s records from third party recordkeepers; and (3) the appropriate application of the exclusionary rule and availability of civil remedies when the information gathering procedures have violated the I.R.C. or Treasury Regulations

School leaders communicating in complex organisations

In this paper I explore how communication is used within a Senior Leadership Team (SLT) in a London secondary school. Effective communication can impact upon the ability of the leadership team to be aware of developments both internally and externally. It is suggested that communication either includes others in a shared conversation (illocutionary) or downward and excludes participation (prelocutionary). This paper suggests an illocutionary approach is more effective for distributed leadership

Some gamma-ray shielding measurements made at altitudes greater than 115000 feet using large Ge(Li) detectors

A series of balloon-flight experiments at altitudes greater than 115,000 feet were conducted to gain information relative to the use of composite shields (passive and/or active) for shielding large-volume, lithium-drifted, germanium (Ge(Li)) detectors used in gamma-ray spectrometers. Data showing the pulse-height spectra of the environmental gamma radiation as measured at 5.3 and 3.8 gms sq cm residual atmosphere with an unshielded diode detector are also presented