Creating communities of learners:supporting and informing those on articulation routes into higher education

The numbers of students entering higher education via articulation routes has increased in recent years. Articulation involves students studying Higher National (HN) qualifications at college and then using these qualifications to start at university in second or third year. Articulation has become a central issue for higher education institutions, especially with regard to the support in place for those students who move from college to university. This paper explores the development of a pedagogic model in this context by looking at the role of the HN Degree Advisor who supports students studying on articulation routes. Drawing upon the work of Freire and feminist theorists, this paper emphasises the importance of creating a sense of community in order to provide a supportive and positive environment for learners so they feel more confident about starting at university

Creating communities of learners:supporting and informing those on articulation routes into higher education

The numbers of students entering higher education via articulation routes has increased in recent years. Articulation involves students studying Higher National (HN) qualifications at college and then using these qualifications to start at university in second or third year. Articulation has become a central issue for higher education institutions, especially with regard to the support in place for those students who move from college to university. This paper explores the development of a pedagogic model in this context by looking at the role of the HN Degree Advisor who supports students studying on articulation routes. Drawing upon the work of Freire and feminist theorists, this paper emphasises the importance of creating a sense of community in order to provide a supportive and positive environment for learners so they feel more confident about starting at university

Critiquing the response to the Ebola epidemic through a primary health care approach

BACKGROUND: The 2014/2015 West Africa Ebola epidemic has caused the global public health community to engage in difficult self-reflection. First, it must consider the part it played in relation to an important public health question: why did this epidemic take hold and spread in this unprecedented manner? Second, it must use the lessons learnt to answer the subsequent question: what can be done now to prevent further such outbreaks in the future? These questions remain relevant, even as scientists announce that the Guinea Phase III efficacy vaccine trial shows that rVSV-EBOV (Merck, Sharp & Dohme) is highly efficacious in individuals. This is a major breakthrough in the fight against Ebola virus disease (EVD). It does not replace but may be a powerful adjunct to current strategies of EVD management and control. DISCUSSION: We contribute to the current self-reflection by presenting an analysis using a Primary Health Care (PHC) approach. This approach is appropriate as African countries in the region affected by EVD have recommitted themselves to PHC as a framework for organising health systems and the delivery of health services. The approach suggests that, in an epidemic made complex by weak pre-existing health systems, lack of trust in authorities and mobile populations, a broader approach is required to engage affected communities. In the medium-term health system development with attention to primary level services and community-based programmes to address the major disease burden of malaria, diarrhoeal disease, meningitis, tuberculosis and malnutrition is needed. This requires the development of local management and an investment in human resources for health. Crucially this has to be developed ahead of, and not in parallel with, future outbreaks. In the longer-term a commitment is required to address the underlying social determinants which make these countries so vulnerable, and limit their capacity to respond effectively to, epidemics such as EVD. CONCLUSION: The PHC approach offers an insightful critique of the global and regional factors which have compromised the response of health systems in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone as well as suggesting what a strengthened EVD response might involve in the short, medium and long-term.Web of Scienc

Girl talk: feminist phonocentrism as act of resistance in the musical, Hair

In response to Wollman’s assertion that ‘despite its left-leaning approach to the many social and political issues it tackles, Hair is jarringly old-fashioned in its depictions of women’, this article instead proposes that Hair’s sung moments function as acts of resistance against the hegemonic, patriarchal values of musical theatre in both form and content. By adopting Annette Schlichter’s proposition of a ‘feminist phonocentrism’ which positions the voice as a ‘metaphor of agency and self-representation [...] thereby allowing for an authentic self-presence’, the analysis presented illustrates a rejection of historical discourses that persistently link the female voice to an absence of social and cultural authority. With specific reference to songs from the score and their interpretations, this article celebrates ‘girl talk’ forming at the margins.University of Wolverhampto

Parental sensitivity and family conversation:A naturalistic longitudinal study with both mothers and fathers across three time-points in early infancy

Parental verbal sensitivity is known to promote child language skills, but few studies have considered: (a) links between global (i.e., verbal, behavioural and affective) measures of parental sensitivity and infant-initiated conversations, an important precursor to language development; (b) whether maternal and paternal sensitivity show similar links with infant-initiated conversation; or (c) the transactional role of infant conversation for later parental sensitivity. Addressing these gaps, this study of 186 British first-time parents (93 families) examines the developmental dynamics between parental sensitivity and infant communication across the first year of life. We explore; (i) the role of maternal and paternal sensitivity (assessed during structured home observations at 4 months post-partum) for parent-infant conversational interactions at 7 months (indexed by day-long naturalistic recordings), and (ii) whether these mother-infant and father-infant conversations at 7 months shape maternal and paternal sensitivity at 14 months (also assessed via structured home observations). For both male and female infants, maternal (but not paternal) sensitivity at 4 months predicted infant vocalisations and conversational initiation at 7-months. By contrast, neither index of infant talk predicted maternal or paternal sensitivity at 14 months. Together these findings refine understanding of theoretical models of social development and suggest new possibilities for future research

The Stable Exotic Cuntz Algebras are Higher-Rank Graph Algebras

For each odd integer $n \geq 3$, we construct a rank-3 graph $\Lambda_n$ with involution $\gamma_n$ whose real C*-algebra $C^*_\mathbb{R}(\Lambda_n, \gamma_n)$ is stably isomorphic to the exotic Cuntz algebra $\mathcal E_n^\mathbb{R}$. This construction is optimal, as we prove that a rank-2 graph with involution $(\Lambda,\gamma)$ can never satisfy $C^*_\mathbb{R}(\Lambda, \gamma)\sim_{ME} \mathcal E_n^\mathbb{R}$, and the first author reached the same conclusion in previous work. Our construction relies on a rank-1 graph with involution $(\Lambda, \gamma)$ whose real C*-algebra $C^*_\mathbb{R}(\Lambda, \gamma)$ is stably isomorphic to the suspension $S \mathbb{R}$. In the Appendix, we show that the i-fold suspension $S^i \mathbb{R}$ is stably isomorphic to a graph algebra iff $-2 \leq i \leq 1$