Flip, feedback and fly: Using LOOP to Enhance the Professional Experience of Initial Teacher Education

The Australian Professional Teaching Standards require pre-service teachers to complete a minimum number of days of professional experience in order to graduate. Problems can arise, however, when the evaluation of their professional experience against the Standards shifts from the providers of teacher education programmes to school-based supervising teachers. The Lesson Observation On-line Platform (LOOP) begins to address these problems by utilising a secure, shared digital platform to facilitate evidence-based evaluation of the performance of pre-service teachers. In this research, we evaluated the potential of LOOP to assess pre-service teachers against the Standards as well as to enhance the professional development of both pre-service teachers and their supervising teachers. The responses from two pre-service teachers and their supervising teachers demonstrate that the methodological matters can be easily overcome. Nevertheless our findings indicate that there are several practical issues that need to be overcome if LOOP were to be fully successful

The Development of the Stereotypical Attitudes in HPE Scale

This study reflects that teacher education in Health and Physical Education (HPE) has long grappled with the challenge of how to disrupt pre-service teachers’ (PSTs) established attitudes about HPE that may limit their capacity to positively engage with a diverse student population. This paper describes the development, validation and interpretation of the Stereotypical Attitudes in Health and Physical Education scale (SAHPE) for use in teacher education institutions. The scale was developed as a means of exploring the extent to which PSTs perpetuate or reject discriminatory attitudes and stereotypes that have been identified as having some historical and cultural acceptance in Health and Physical Education. It was designed as a tool to generate data that can be used by teacher educators with PSTs to better understand and problematise stereotypical attitudes that ultimately impact diversity and inclusion in HPE classrooms. This paper details the design process and pilot research that enabled validation of the scale for use by Australian teacher educators. For the purposes of validation, the SAHPE scale was administered to 109 pre-service teachers at one Australian university. Rasch modelling and confirmatory factor analysis using AMOS version 20.0 was employed to determine the measurement properties of the instrument and the construct validity of factors. Results from the study showed that a 17-item factor structure of the SAHPE is a valid and reliable predictor of a construct related to stereotypical attitudes. The discussion addresses the future application of the SAHPE as an instrument for teacher educators to use in efforts to enhance inclusion in HPE

Forward with Dementia: process evaluation of an Australian campaign to improve post-diagnostic support

Background: Forward with Dementia is a co-designed campaign to improve communication of dementia diagnosis and post-diagnostic support. Methods: Webinars, a website, social and traditional media, and promotions through project partners were used to disseminate campaign messages to health and social care professionals (primary audience) and people with dementia and carers (secondary audience). The campaign ran between October 2021 and June 2022, with 3-months follow-up. The RE-AIM framework was used for process evaluation. Measurements included surveys and interviews, a log of activities (e.g. webinars, social media posts) and engagements (e.g. attendees, reactions to posts), and Google Analytics. Results: There were 29,053 interactions with campaign activities. More than three-quarters of professionals (n = 63/81) thought webinars were very or extremely helpful. Professionals and people with dementia and carers reported that the website provided appropriate content, an approachable tone, and was easy to use. Following campaign engagement, professionals planned to (n = 77/80) or had modified (n = 29/44) how they communicated the diagnosis and/or provided post-diagnostic information and referrals. Qualitative data suggested that the campaign may have led to benefits for some people with dementia and carers. Conclusions: Forward with Dementia was successful in terms of reach, appropriateness, adoption and maintenance for professionals, however flow-through impacts on people with dementia are not clear. Targeted campaigns can potentially change health professionals’ communication and support around chronic diseases such as dementia

The distribution of biodiversity richness in the tropics

We compare the numbers of vascular plant species in the three major tropical areas. The Afrotropical Region (Africa south of the Sahara Desert plus Madagascar), roughly equal in size to the Latin American Region (Mexico southward), has only 56,451 recorded species (about 170 being added annually), as compared with 118,308 recorded species (about 750 being added annually) in Latin America. Southeast Asia, only a quarter the size of the other two tropical areas, has approximately 50,000 recorded species, with an average of 364 being added annually. Thus, Tropical Asia is likely to be proportionately richest in plant diversity, and for biodiversity in general, for its size. In the animal groups we reviewed, the patterns of species diversity were mostly similar except for mammals and butterflies. Judged from these relationships, Latin America may be home to at least a third of global biodiversity

The anti-inflammatory peptide Catestatin blocks chemotaxis

Increased levels of the anti-inflammatory peptide Catestatin (CST), a cleavage product of the pro-hormone chromogranin A, correlate with less severe outcomes in hypertension, colitis, and diabetes. However, it is unknown how CST reduces the infiltration of monocytes and macrophages (Mϕs) in inflamed tissues. Here, it is reported that CST blocks leukocyte migration toward inflammatory chemokines. By in vitro and in vivo migration assays, it is shown that although CST itself is chemotactic, it blocks migration of monocytes and neutrophils to inflammatory attracting factor CC-chemokine ligand 2 (CCL2) and C-X-C motif chemokine ligand 2 (CXCL2). Moreover, it directs CX3CR1+ Mϕs away from pancreatic islets. These findings suggest that the anti-inflammatory actions of CST are partly caused by its regulation of chemotaxis

The victorious English language: hegemonic practices in the management academy

This study explores hegemonic linguistic processes, that is, the dominant and unreflective use of the English language in the production of textual knowledge accounts. The authors see the production of management knowledge as situated in central or peripheral locations, which they examine from an English language perspective. Their inquiry is based on an empirical study based on the perspectives of 33 management academics (not English language speakers) in (semi) peripheral locations, who have to generate and disseminate knowledge in and through the English language. Although the hegemony of the center in the knowledge production process has long been acknowledged, the specific contribution of this study is to explore how the English language operates as part of the “ideological complex” that produces and maintains this hegemony, as well as how this hegemony is manifested at the local level of publication practices in peripherally located business and management schools

Prevalence of alcohol-related attendance at an inner-city emergency department and its impact: a dual prospective and retrospective cohort study

Background: Alcohol-related hospital attendances at Emergency Departments (ED) are a potentially avoidable burden on National Health Services (NHS) resources. Understanding the number and type of patients attending EDs with alcohol intoxication is important in estimating the workload and cost implications. We used best practice from previous studies to establish the prevalence of adult alcohol-related ED attendances and estimate the costs of clinical management and subsequent health service use. Methods: The setting was a large inner-city ED in northeast England, United Kingdom. Data were collected via (i) retrospective review of hospital records for all ED attendances for four pre-specified weeks in 2010/11 to identify alcohol-related cases along with 12 months follow-up of the care episode, and (ii) prospective 24/7 assessment via breath alcohol concentration testing of patients presenting to ED in the corresponding weeks in 2012/13. Results: The prevalence rates of alcohol-related attendances were 12% and 15% for the retrospective and prospective cohorts. Prospectively, the rates ranged widely from 4% to 60% during the week, rising to over 70% at weekends. Younger males attending in the early morning hours at weekends made up the largest proportion of alcohol-related attendances. The mean cost per attendance was £249 (SD £1,064); the mean total cost for those admitted was £851 (SD £2,549). The most common reasons for attending were trauma-related injuries, followed by psychiatric problems. Conclusions: Alcohol-related attendances are a major and avoidable burden on emergency care. However, targeted interventions at weekends and early morning hours could capture the majority of cases and help prevent future re-attendance

‘You’re just chopped off at the end’: Retired servicemen’s identity work struggles in the military to civilian transition

Promoting positive transition to retirement and cultural adaption for ex-service personnel has been identified as a priority for both social-science research and for public health policy in the UK. The Royal British Legion (RBL) aims to provide support to service and retired service personnel, but to date the transition to retirement experiences of older (60-plus) ex- service personnel remain under-researched. In this article, we employ a symbolic interactionist theoretical framework to examine older servicemen’s experiences and identity challenges post-retirement from the British armed forces. Data were collected primarily through semi-structured, focus-group interviews with 20 former servicemen. Here, we focus specifically upon the challenges encountered by these ex-servicemen in the retirement transition from military to civilian life, a time of identity flux of sociological interest. To navigate this period of identity change and challenge, many participants constructed a ‘modified military self’ through involvement with the RBL as a key social support network. For many retired personnel the RBL offered a form of identification and group identity that resonated strongly with earlier experiences of comradeship in the military

Thinking about Later Life: Insights from the Capability Approach

A major criticism of mainstream gerontological frameworks is the inability of such frameworks to appreciate and incorporate issues of diversity and difference in engaging with experiences of aging. Given the prevailing socially structured nature of inequalities, such differences matter greatly in shaping experiences, as well as social constructions, of aging. I argue that Amartya Sen’s capability approach (2009) potentially offers gerontological scholars a broad conceptual framework that places at its core consideration of human beings (their values) and centrality of human diversity. As well as identifying these key features of the capability approach, I discuss and demonstrate their relevance to thinking about old age and aging. I maintain that in the context of complex and emerging identities in later life that shape and are shaped by shifting people-place and people-people relationships, Sen’s capability approach offers significant possibilities for gerontological research