Search results

This paper offers a reflection of a research process aimed at listening to young children's voices in their everyday school life through a play-based context in a Scottish school. Throughout the research process, the complexity of conducting this research was kept in mind as listening to children's voices presents methodological and conceptual difficulties and tensions. Reflecting on the research process after the data was collected, the process was critiqued using Deleuze-Guattarian ideas. The critique aims at opening and challenging each researcher, allowing them to think-again about the next research project aimed at listening to children's voices.

The research involved an observation study that took place over one week in a primary school in Central Scotland. As part of the educators' approach to play-based pedagogy, children had the opportunity to engage in free play throughout the day. Observations were chosen as the main approach to “capture” children's voices in their natural settings.

The empirical research brought forth two main ideas, that of children as agents, and how children amplify their voices through play. The reflective part offers the possibility of understanding the intensities and forces when conducting such research and the possibilities of engaging with these.

This paper offers a critique of research aimed at listening to children's voices. The aim is not to limit engagement in researching children's voices but to open, or make complex, such processes.

High school students are at an age where food handling may occur for themselves and as entry level workers in food service. An estimated 21 percent of food and beverage service workers are aged 16-19 years. The purpose of this paper is to determine baseline food safety knowledge and associated factors among high school students.

A convenience sample of 231 Chicago high school students was approached to participate in a 34-question survey to obtain information about their food safety knowledge, behaviors, and personal hygiene. Frequencies of correct answers to each knowledge question were examined to determine knowledge gaps. Bivariate analyses were performed to identify student variables associated with knowledge score and regression models were used to examine the associations between eligible factors and knowledge score.

Among the 195 participating students, 70 percent described themselves as Hispanic/Latino and 15 percent as non-Hispanic Black. In all, 12 percent of the students had restaurant employment experience. The overall student mean knowledge score was 37 percent. Students demonstrated substantial knowledge gaps regarding the temperatures for cooking, mechanisms for thawing food, cross-contamination, and vulnerable populations for foodborne disease. In the final linear regression model, Hispanic ethnicity and experience cooking seafood were significantly associated with lower knowledge score and experience cooking meat and cooking alone were significantly associated with higher knowledge score (p < 0.05).

Students demonstrated substantial knowledge gaps regarding the temperatures for cooking, mechanisms for thawing food, cross-contamination, and vulnerable populations for foodborne disease. In the final linear regression model, Hispanic ethnicity and experience cooking seafood were significantly associated with lower knowledge score and experience cooking meat and cooking alone were significantly associated with higher knowledge score (p < 0.05).

These data demonstrate substantial knowledge gaps in a predominantly minority high school student population. Given that high school students are a substantial proportion of the food service workforce, they are especially important to target for food safety education.

This paper seeks to demonstrate the value of adding links to freely available web content to the library catalog (OPAC). This aims to answer the research question: “Is there value to cataloging freely available Internet resources in the OPAC?”

Using a URL redirection system for tracking user access to freely available web publications, three years of click‐through use statistics were gathered by placing redirect URLs in the 856 field, tabulating the use data by project category, and redirecting the user to the desired resource.

Usage statistics over three years show that cataloging free resources is well worth the effort.

This is the first study to track use of free resources by click‐throughs to the OPAC.

Michael Holquist (1990), one of the commentators on Mikhail Bakhtin’s monumental work, stated flatly that “human existence is dialogue,” and Ivana Markova (2003) declared that “dialogism is the ontology of humanity.” Bakhtin (1985;1986) himself said that such dialogues are conducted by using “speech genres.” From another angle Kenneth Burke asked, “What is involved when we say what people are doing and why they are doing it?” and claimed – and showed – that this question can be best answered by using what he called the “grammar of motives,” which consisted of a hexad of terms: act, attitude, scene, agent, agency, and purpose. In this chapter, I examine, by using various examples, how the Burkean grammar is used in the construction of one speech genre or the other to achieve rhetorically effective dialogic communication.

This chapter considers the essential elements and processes in designing and building a computer-based tutor to instruct teams. In this chapter, the choices of authoring tools, the instructional context, the goal of the instruction, and the characteristics of the domain were evaluated in terms of their influence on the Intelligent Tutoring System (ITS) design in support of team learning and performance. While each team tutor may be unique in terms of its learning objectives, measures, selections of learning strategies and tutor interventions, there are some identified design decisions that need to be made. Considering the best decision for the specific tutor's design is intended to ease the authoring burden and make computer-based team tutoring more ubiquitous.

Regardless of changes in an organization′s environment, its mission, structure or culture, employee satisfaction and quality of worklife remain significant concerns for most organizational change and development efforts. While morale and motivation are not often the impetus for such change programmes, they are almost always tied inextricably to the problems that have manifested themselves. One of the most effective tools a practitioner has for understanding and diagnosing the issues involved, as well as for highlighting key levers for change, is the organizational survey. Describes an applied example of how survey feedback was used in conjunction with an organizational change effort in an international pharmaceuticals company to explore the relationships between managerial and work‐group member behaviours and employee outcomes (e.g. feelings of satisfaction, contribution and team spirit). After an overview of the consulting project leading up to the diagnosis, presents and highlights key findings of a survey of 1,428 employees. Discusses the results in terms both of the implications of these data for the organization involved in the consulting engagement and of the utility of survey‐based feedback and modelling techniques as tools for organizational development and change practitioners.

TO HAVE HER NAME PERPETUATED in the cocktail bar of a plush modern South African hotel may seem an odd fate for an eighteenth‐century Scottish poetess. You may not even be able to guess her identity. For there are certainly not many women's names to be found in the pages of Scottish literature before the twentieth century, and none in retrospect comparable in stature with George Eliot, Elizabeth Browning, Jane Austen or the Brontes south of the border.

Lack of opportunities in further education for people with mental health problems in the Borough of Rochdale prompted a small group of mental health workers from a range of agencies to develop an innovative partnership with the local further education college to research and create new education opportunities in 1997/1998. To date over 50 users of mental health services who hitherto would not have accessed mainstream further education services have participated in a range of newly established courses.

The objective of this article is to examine and conceptualise gender‐related boardroom dynamics that affect how women can make contributions on corporate boards.

Stories were collected from eight women directors about their experiences from more than 100 corporate boards. Narrative methods were used in the data analysis.

Women as well as men need to understand the power game inside and outside the boardroom. Their contribution depends on the ability and willingness to make alliances with the most influential actors, to spend time on preparations, being present on the most important decision‐making arenas, and to take leadership roles.

The study has implications for theory as well as practice. Process‐oriented theories should be included in studies of boards and governance, and the study showed that boardroom dynamics are not neutral to gender. Concepts and relationships are suggested that should be included in further theory development. The study has also given several practical examples and suggestions on how women can make contributions on corporate boards.

The study has value for developing the role of women directors.

The purpose of this paper, a qualitative study, is to explore service users’ experiences of attending clinical psychology within a public community adult mental health service.

Six individuals who had completed at least 16 sessions of psychotherapy participated in semi-structured interviews. Data were transcribed and analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis.

The results showed the following overarching domains: the relationship and its impacts, structure and focus, and participant factors – timing/readiness. The importance of the use of language was also identified. Participants appeared to value a sense of humanity within the relationship. Interestingly, the personal impact of therapy as perceived by the participants was not focussed on symptom reduction, but on broader changes. The results are discussed in relation to the relevant literature.

Suggested principles for practice include maintaining attentiveness to relational factors, to client factors such as readiness for change and to the use of structure and flexibility. The use of recovery focussed and alliance measures are recommended.

For clinical psychologists providing psychotherapy within the public system, there are valuable lessons we can learn from asking the service users directly about their experiences, in terms of focussing on the human element of the relationship, and striking a balance between professionalism and humanity.