Practical reason and the unity of agency: critical notice of Christine M. Korsgaard's 'Self-Constitution'

In her book Self-Constitution, Christine Korsgaard unfolds an impressive chain of reasoning intended to tie the normativity of the moral law at one end to the very idea of action at the other. In this paper I voice concerns regarding two key links in this chain. The first relates to her so-called 'argument against particularistic willing', an argument designed to derive the authority of the categorical imperative from the very idea of reflective action, by showing that one truly qualifies as an agent only insofar as one acts on a 'principle of choice'. The second concerns her attempted explanation of how bad action can be possible if principles of practical reason are, as she thinks they are, constitutive principles of action. I suggest that her attempt to deal with this problem by appeal to the idea that practical principles can be more or less agentially unifying is ultimately hindered by her employment of an insufficiently explicated notion of agential unity

Armed violence and poverty in El Salvador: a mini case study for the Armed Violence and Poverty Initiative

YesThis report on El Salvador is one of 13 case studies (all of the case studies can be found at www.bradford.ac.uk/cics). This research draws upon secondary data sources including existing research studies, reports and evaluations commissioned by operational agencies, and early warning and survey data where this has been available. These secondary sources have been complemented by interviews with government officers, aid policymakers and practitioners, researchers and members of the local population. The analysis and opinions expressed in this report are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views or policy of DFID or the UK government

Engaged in Learning: The ArtsSmarts Model

Approximately a dozen internal research studies into student learning and program effectiveness were conducted during ArtsSmarts' first eight years. In the spring of 2006, we compiled the results of those studies, along with a like number of reports by outside researchers, to create a synthesis of possible directions for future work. Although we used a small sample of available outside studies, it was immediately and glaringly evident that the arts and educational communities are hungering for research that will "help us understand what the arts learning experience is for children, and what characteristics of that experience are likely to travel across domains of learning" (Deasy, 2002:99). It was equally evident to all ArtsSmarts partners that, while future ArtsSmarts research could be taken in any number of directions, it made the most sense to identify and build from ArtsSmarts' own strengths and successes. We also felt the need to align the research direction and the methods of data collection with our intended audiences.Different groups would find different aspects of ArtsSmarts compelling, and distinctly different types of data would be required for each. Partners identified educators (teachers, administrators, and senior Board office personnel) as the audience they most wanted to reach.With that in mind, the decision was made to develop a theory of learning that would serve the dual purposes of explaining ArtsSmarts' impact in Canadian classrooms and framing the research work of the next few years. We felt that establishing an ArtsSmarts theory of learning would help to answer the question, "If ArtsSmarts didn't exist, what would be lost?" Further, a theory of learning would assist teachers, artists and partners in identifying key, essential components of the ArtsSmarts experience, and would also prevent ArtsSmarts from being viewed as a pleasant but unnecessary add-on to classroom activity. The paper that follows develops an ArtsSmarts theory of learning centred on the concept of student engagement

Ireland--The Healing Process

As you are aware, the quarrel on our island has gone on for several centuries. Looking at the example of the conflict in Ireland, there are two mentalities in our quarrel - the Nationalist and the Unionist. The real political challenge to the Unionist mindset occurred when Nationalist Ireland essentially said: Look, your objective is an honorable objective, the protection and preservation of your identity. Geography, history, and the size of the Unionist tradition guarantee that the problem cannot be solved without them, nor against them. If we can leave aside our quarrel while we work together in our common interest, spilling our sweat and not our blood, we will break down the barriers of centuries, too, and the new Ireland will evolve based on agreement and respect for difference, just as the rest of the European Union has managed to achieve over the years--the healing process. That is the philosophy that I hope, at last, is going to emerge in your neighboring island of Ireland. I look forward to our island being the bridge between the United States of America and the United States of Europe

Using collaborative CoRe design in chemistry education to promote effective partnerships between associate and student teachers

This article is a follow-up to my paper published in 2010 (Hume, 2010). In that paper I reported on the use of Content Representations (CoRes) in a chemistry education course to give student teachers insights into the professional knowledge of experienced practitioners: notably their pedagogical content knowledge (PCK), which is “… [the] understanding of how particular topics, problems, or issues are organised, represented, and adapted to the diverse interests and abilities of learning, and presented for instruction” (Shulman, 1987, p. 8). introduced by Shulman (1987) as an academic construct to describe a tacit category of teachers’ professional knowledge base, the exact nature of PCK has been extensively explored and debated. From this debate some agreement has emerged about the components that comprise a teacher’s PCK. This has been identified by Magnusson et al. (1999) as a teacher’s: • orientations towards science teaching (since teachers’ knowledge and beliefs related to their teaching goals and approaches will influence their classroom practice); • knowledge of curriculum; • knowledge of assessment (since what is to be assessed, how and why also influences a teacher’s practice); • knowledge of students’ understanding of science; • knowledge of instructional strategies

JAMAICA: A Famous, Strong but Damaged Brand

Image, brand and reputation are the new capital for nations in the twenty-first century. In this era of the global marketplace, nations, regions and cities are forced to compete with each other for tourists, investment, aid, students, for buyers of their products and services, and for talent. Scholars now agree that nations themselves have become brands, and are now obliged to manage their images in order to influence people’s decision in terms of purchasing, investing and traveling. Nations with unknown or poor reputations, including those enduring prolonged crises are thus likely to suffer marginalization and will not easily witness economic success (Viosca et al; Avraham and Ketter). In this article, I aim to explore the challenges confronting Brand Jamaica. I argue that positive global coverage of Jamaica’s outstanding brand achievements in sports, music and as a premier tourism destination, is being negated by its rival brands – economic instability (debt, poverty unemployment), crime, corruption and perceptions of declining human rights. The consequence is a contradictory, perplexing and problematic public image of Jamaica, with severe consequences for investment, tourism promotion as well as economic and social progress. The article points at the imperative for Jamaican authorities to evaluate the nation’s public image, manage the impact of prolonged crises on its brand and attempt to re-imagine Jamaica, in light of changing fortunes

Evaluating the effects of self-practice/self-reflection on cognitive flexibility, empathy, insight, self-compassion, self-monitoring, and stress in postgraduate cognitive behaviour therapy trainees : a thesis presented in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Psychology at Massey University, Albany, New Zealand

There is considerable evidence to suggest that cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) training programs can effectively enhance therapists’ CBT knowledge and skills. In response, research is now beginning to establish which specific training strategies are most effective in developing which CBT skills and competencies. Self-practice/self-reflection (SP/SR) is an experiential training strategy used to enhance CBT training and the ongoing professional development of CBT practitioners. Self-practice/self-reflection provides therapists with a structured experience of using CBT on themselves (self-practice) and reflecting on that experience (self-reflection). In order to build on previous SP/SR research, the aim of the current study was to explore the effects of SP/SR on six specific dimensions of CBT therapist competence: cognitive flexibility, empathy, insight, self-compassion, self-monitoring, and stress, among postgraduate CBT trainees. Seven students completing a SP/SR program as part of the Postgraduate Diploma in Cognitive Behaviour Therapy at Massey University were recruited to participate in the study. Quantitative data using six self-report measures of therapist competence was collected at five critical time points pertaining to the participants’ SP/SR program: baseline, pre-intervention, midpoint, post-intervention, and follow-up. Qualitative data was collected from participants’ written reflections. A mixed method design using descriptive quantitative and qualitative thematic analysis provided valuable quantitative (and some qualitative) support for the use of SP/SR as a CBT training and development strategy, particularly when targeting these six dimensions of CBT therapist competence

Investigating content representations (CoRes) as pedagogical tools for science teacher education

In this article Anne Hume discusses how use of scholarship and action research led me to introduce an intervention into my science education programmes called Content Representations (CoRes). My initial findings strongly indicate CoRes could be very useful tools for helping student teachers develop the professional knowledge base they need for teaching