Variational QMC study of a Hydrogen atom in jellium with comparison to LSDA and LSDA-SIC solutions

A Hydrogen atom immersed in a finite jellium sphere is solved using variational quantum Monte Carlo (VQMC). The same system is also solved using density functional theory (DFT), in both the local spin density (LSDA) and self-interaction correction (SIC) approximations. The immersion energies calculated using these methods, as functions of the background density of the jellium, are found to lie within 1eV of each other with minima in approximately the same positions. The DFT results show overbinding relative to the VQMC result. The immersion energies also suggest an improved performance of the SIC over the LSDA relative to the VQMC results. The atom-induced density is also calculated and shows a difference between the methods, with a more extended Friedel oscillation in the case of the VQMC result.Comment: 16 pages, 9 Postscript figure

Transitions and progress: teachers' views of progress in attainment of pupils age 5-10

There has been a longstanding concern in England and Wales with the year on year progress made by pupils, but particularly at times of change, such as transfer from primary to secondary school at age 11. In Coalton, a former mining town in the North of England, a five year UK government funded initiative known as Charter for Transition has been put in place to try to overcome some of these difficulties and improve the learning opportunities for pupils aged 5-16. The programme takes place over a 5-year period in various stages, but in this paper we make use of data from the first two years. The research team examines the viewpoints of teachers from schools that were receiving additional support in their efforts to raise achievement in phase one and the pilot phase of the project about what they saw as the main benefits of this work. We present the beginnings of our exploration of teachers’ judgements of this work, and what they saw as the difficulties with associating the project with pupil attainment.</p

Active social location in schools: professional development for the whole school workforce?

The workforce in English schools has changed over recent years; there are more categories of staff to be found in English schools and the relative sizes of the categories have altered. Alongside these changes, the Every Child Matters reform programme implies the need to pay attention to the importance of all categories of staff to the welfare of children. However, there has not hitherto been an adequate characterisation of the nature of the practice of workers other than teachers . This paper attempts to characterise the position of school workers other than teachers to better understand the distinctive nature of their practice. We focus on Teaching Assistants, Caretakers and Lunchtime Supervisors as three groups which are sufficiently different to enable us to develop a richer theoretical account of identity in the school workforce than has hitherto been available. We have argued elsewhere (Coldron and Smith, 1999) that a teacher’s practice and his or her development of that practice can best be understood as a process of active social location. In this paper, we apply the same theoretical understanding of practice to the work identities of these three groups of school staff. By better understanding the identities that their different positions and associated resources make available, we aim to provide a richer picture and a way of thinking of the work identities of staff in school who are not teachers, one that is not colonised by the ways of thinking about the higher status teacher group.</p

Silicon material task. Part 3: Low-cost silicon solar array project

The feasibility of a process for carbon reduction of low impurity silica in a plasma heat source was investigated to produce low-cost solar-grade silicon. Theoretical aspects of the reaction chemistry were studied with the aid of a computer program using iterative free energy minimization. These calculations indicate a threshold temperature exists at 2400 K below which no silicon is formed. The computer simulation technique of molecular dynamics was used to study the quenching of product species

The development of the secondary vocational curriculum in a northern local authority in England

This paper reports on the findings from the evaluation of two projects directed at improving the vocational provision in a Northern Local Authority in England during 2006. The two projects are: Pathways to Success - partly funded by the European Social Fund and Rotherham Ready - with the evaluation funded by the Regional Development Agency, Yorkshire Forward. The evaluation of the two projects had different but overlapping intentions that reflect each project's contribution to the development of the vocational curriculum 14-16 in the local authority. Rotherham Ready has been characterised as a Learning-oriented evaluation whereas Pathways to Success has followed a more traditional evaluation model with more attention given to outputs and the achievements of pupils. However ultimately both investigate the change in culture within schools as they promote a more vocational curriculum for 14-16 year old students</p

Evaluating teachers' and trainers' development in a large scale curriculum development project in South Yorkshire

The evaluative research upon which the paper is based focuses on the first three years of a six-year project “Pathways to Success” (PW) currently taking place in South Yorkshire and funded by the European Social Fund (ESF) as part of the Objective 1 programme from 2001-2007. Matched funding has been provided by schools, colleges and LEAs. The PW project is concerned with developing innovative curricula to raise achievement and improve youngsters' employability skills. The project is set in the context of regional regeneration in an area where unemployment is higher than the European (and national) average, due to the decline of traditional steel and coal industries and where the gross domestic product is less than 75% of the European average. South Yorkshire is also an area where overall achievement in schools at all stages is lower than the national average and participation in post-16 education and higher education is persistently below national figures. Although employment is slowly rising due to reorientation from manufacturing towards a service and knowledge-based economy, pockets of severe unemployment and deprivation remain and are among the ten worst in the country.</p

Bridging the gap? The role of transition advisers in the move from compulsory education

The quality and impartiality of careers advice has been in question for as long as it has been provided, with numerous studies (see Morris, 2004 for a summary of NfER research in this area) pointing to the efficacy of impartial guidance, but also pointing to gaps in provision for particular groups. It is possible to distinguish three areas of educational policy - although this is not exhaustive - which have had a clear effect on young people's experience of advice and guidance over recent years. The first area is in provision of careers advice itself. The second area is the 14-19 learning environment. Linked to this shift in the 14-19 environment is the third area, the impact of market-driven reforms starting with the Education Reform Act in 1988.</p

New Pathways: evaluating the implementation of a major work- related programme in Northern England

The evaluative research upon which this paper is based is focussed on the implementation of a three-year programme “Pathways to Success” (usually shortened to “Pathways”) in South Yorkshire, England. It is part of a much larger regional regeneration project funded by the European Social Fund (ESF) from 2001-2004. The Pathways programme is concerned with developing innovative curricula for the 14-19 age range in four Local Education Authorities (LEAs)1 and is taking place in 76 secondary (high) schools. A team from Sheffield Hallam University was responsible for evaluating the success of the Pathways programme and our findings reported here refer to the first year of implementation.</p

Pupil, Teacher and Parent views on secondary education in an economically deprived former coal mining town in the UK

In this paper, we discuss views of pupils, parents and teachers in a deprived area, Coalton, in the North of England. Funding to regenerate the area was used to improve educational attainment, and as part of the work to assess its success a large scale, longitudinal survey was conducted. In this paper, views of 12 year olds on transfer to secondary schools and views of 16 year olds on leaving school, as well views of their parents and teachers, are presented. In addition, we examine differences in attitudes to school between the 12 year olds and 16 year olds. We conclude that pupil attitudes appear to deteriorate throughout the years of secondary education, and that projects aiming to tackle this problem should be supported. We briefly report on one such project in Coalition.</p