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1 – 10 of 34This essay engages with scholarship on history as a discipline, curriculum documents and academic and public commentary on the teaching of history in Australian, British and…
Abstract
Purpose
This essay engages with scholarship on history as a discipline, curriculum documents and academic and public commentary on the teaching of history in Australian, British and Canadian secondary contexts to better understand the influence of the tension between political pressure and disciplinary practice that drives the history wars in settler-colonial nations, how this plays out in secondary history classrooms and the ramifications this may have on students' democratic dispositions.
Design/methodology/approach
This article aims to compare secondary history curricula and pedagogies in Australia, Britain and Canada to better articulate and conceptualise the influence of the “history wars” over the teaching of national histories upon the intended and enacted curriculum and how this contributes to the formation of democratic dispositions within students. A conceptual model, drawing on the curriculum assessment of Porter (2006) and Gross and Terra's definition of “difficult pasts” has been developed and used as the basis for this comparison. This model highlights the competing influences of political pressure upon curriculum creation and disciplinary change shaping pedagogy, and the impact these forces may have upon students' experience.
Findings
The debate around what content students learn, and why, is fraught because it is a conversation about what each nation values and how they construct their own national identity(ies). This is particularly timely when the democratic self-identification of many nations is being challenged. The seditious conspiracy to storm the US Capitol on 6 January 2021, Orban's “illiberal democracy” in Hungary and the neo-Nazis in Melbourne, Australia are examples of the rise of anti-democratic sentiment globally. Thus, new consideration of how we teach national histories and the impact this has on the formation of democratic dispositions and skills is pressing.
Originality/value
The new articulation of a conceptual model for the impact of the history wars on education is an innovative synthesis of wide-ranging research on: the impacts of neoliberalism and cultural restorationism upon the development of intended curriculum; discipline-informed inquiry pedagogies used to enact the curriculum; and the teaching of national narratives as a political act. This comprehensive comparison of the ways in which history education in settler-colonial nations has developed over time provides new insight into the common elements of national history education, and the role this education can play in developing democratic dispositions.
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The purpose of this paper is to provide a sociological analysis of emergent sociospatial structures in a hot‐desking office environment, where space is used exchangeably. It…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to provide a sociological analysis of emergent sociospatial structures in a hot‐desking office environment, where space is used exchangeably. It considers hot‐desking as part of broader societal shifts in the ownership of space.
Design/methodology/approach
This analysis is based on an ethnographically‐oriented investigation, in which data collection methods used were participant‐observation and interviewing. The analysis uses Lefebvre's conceptualisation of the social production of space and draws on the urban sociology literature.
Findings
The analysis first indicates that, in hot‐desking environments, there may be an emergent social structure distinguishing employees who settle in one place, and others who have to move constantly. Second, the practice of movement itself generates additional work and a sense of marginalisation for hot‐deskers.
Research limitations/implications
The paper does not provide a generalisable theory, but suggests that loss of everyday ownership of the workspace gives rise to particular practical and social tensions and shifts hot‐deskers' identification with the organisation.
Practical implications
Official requirements for mobility may result in a new social structure distinguishing settlers and hot‐deskers, rather than mobility being spread evenly.
Originality/value
The paper contributes to the literature on organisational spatiality by focusing on the spatial practices entailed in hot‐desking, and by contextualising hot‐desking within the wider spatial configuration of capitalism, in which space is used exchangeability in order to realise greater economic returns. Rather than using the popular “nomadic” metaphor to understand the experience of mobility at work, it uses a metaphor of vagrancy to highlight consequences of the loss of ownership of space.
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Acknowledges that, for at least the last 30 years, both theoretical and practical definitions of career have emphasized structure, succession and status. Career has therefore been…
Abstract
Acknowledges that, for at least the last 30 years, both theoretical and practical definitions of career have emphasized structure, succession and status. Career has therefore been viewed as the sequence of attempts to move onward and upward through organizational hierarchies. Considers the development of career theory over a longer period, however, identifies a much wider range of interpretations of the concept. Taking these broader conceptions as a starting point, considers the career as a “vehicle” for the (continuous) realization of self. Drawing on examples of graduates’ own talk about their careers, argues that we can define the typical career as a sequence of developmental phases, each of which is delineated by a reported shift in the individual’s sense of self. Presents data which lend support to a theory of early career development in which this developing sense of self emerges. Discusses three meta‐level phases: adjustment/reality shock; career success/self affirmation; and re‐evaluation/congruence. Concludes with a consideration of both the theoretical and practical implications of this kind of approach to our understanding of organizational careers.
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Alison H. Parker, Jen A. Smith, Tania Verdemato, Jeanette Cooke, James Webster and Richard C. Carter
Effective menstrual management is essential for the mental and physical well being of women. However, many women in low-income countries lack access to the materials and…
Abstract
Purpose
Effective menstrual management is essential for the mental and physical well being of women. However, many women in low-income countries lack access to the materials and facilities required. They are thus restricted in their activities whilst menstruating thus compromising their education, income and domestic responsibilities. The paper aims to discuss these issues.
Design/methodology/approach
This study describes the menstrual management challenges faced by women in an emergency situation in Uganda. Totally, 50 interviews and focus group discussions were conducted with women from villages, internally displaced person (IDP) camps and schools so that the menstrual management of the host population could be compared with the IDPs.
Findings
This study showed that in IDP camps there was a significant lack of materials including soap, underpants and absorbing cloth, and facilities like latrines and bathing shelters. As a consequence women in IDP camps suffer with poor health and diminished dignity. There is also a lack of education about menstruation and reproductive health and practices are strongly influenced by cultural taboos.
Originality/value
This is the first time that the menstrual management of women in IDP or refugee camps has been studied.
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The balanced scorecard (BSC) is a management tool that helps to align behavior of all employees to the organization’s strategy. Research suggests that about half of large US firms…
Abstract
The balanced scorecard (BSC) is a management tool that helps to align behavior of all employees to the organization’s strategy. Research suggests that about half of large US firms have already adopted the BSC and many more are considering implementation. Organization‐wide implementation of a BSC requires IT support and numerous software vendors have taken the opportunity to build software solutions to support a BSC implementation. The problem executives face today is that there are over two‐dozen application‐providers to choose from, each of them claiming that their solution offers unique and important features. Selecting the wrong solution can undermine the entire BSC development effort and the credibility of the performance management system. This article addresses the issue of BSC software by (1) explaining why organizations might need software to support their implementation and (2) by developing a framework to assist organizations in this important decision process.
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This research aims to produce a “mile‐deep” study of the impact of using EIS on a small homogeneous group of undergraduate students during their entire undergraduate education, a…
Abstract
Purpose
This research aims to produce a “mile‐deep” study of the impact of using EIS on a small homogeneous group of undergraduate students during their entire undergraduate education, a period spanning three years.
Design/methodology/approach
This research uses a constructivist approach, focusing on 19 in‐depth, holistic case studies to produce “rich pictures”. Data collection is achieved using interviews, focus groups, student diaries, bibliography analysis and observation. The fieldwork lasted three years in order to investigate changing behaviour over time, and measure impact.
Findings
These rich pictures reveal a variety of ways in which access to EIS can provide valuable learning opportunities in higher education. This paper focuses on the cross‐case analysis of the change in perceptions and use of EIS over a period of three years and the nature of the intervention that impacted upon this perception and use.
Research limitations/implications
This research indicates that longitudinal studies can demonstrate the impact of resources on individuals. This was a very homogenous group of research participants, it would be very useful to apply this research design to other profiles in order to establish transferability.
Practical implications
Electronic information services provide students with opportunities to interact one another and with vast quantities of information. Research has indicated that learning and cognitive development are intricately linked to opportunities to process and interact with relevant information and the medium used to deliver this information may well have an impact on these opportunities.
Originality/value
The length and depth of this investigation is rare in performance measurement research, impact was measured over time and in depth, on an individual basis.
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Some twenty years ago, however, the realisation came that the economy of the animal body calls for the activities of substances with functions apparently akin, in many respects at…
Abstract
Some twenty years ago, however, the realisation came that the economy of the animal body calls for the activities of substances with functions apparently akin, in many respects at least, to those of the hormones, which the body itself is nevertheless unable to produce, and therefore must receive them in its food. The indispensable functions of these, like those of the hormones, are adequately fulfilled by extraordinarily small amounts of each one. These food constituents yield therefore no appreciable supply of energy, nor do they serve in any ordinary sense as structural materials. Their presence like that of the hormones is necessary rather for the normal progress of active events. They have dynamic functions. I am alluding, of course, to the vitamins.