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Looks briefly at theories underlying the correlation between company performance and executive compensation, develops a mathematical model and applies it to results which show a significant positive link between the highest paid director’s compensation and total shareholder returns, but not with earnings per share. Considers consistency with other research, notes the influence of company size on executive pay and calls for further research on this important issue of corporate governance.

The purpose of this paper is to report the findings from a case study of an action research project in the context of a secondary school in Kazakhstan where, for the first time in their teaching practice, three English as a Foreign Language teachers introduced student voice (Flutter and Rudduck, 2004) into their practice within the Lesson Study (LS) framework. The research aimed at conceptualizing Student Voice Space in LS as one of the valuable factors capable of triggering situations of disjuncture (disorienting dilemma, disruption) for teachers which could potentially lead to teacher’s transformative learning, educational beliefs change and improved practice.

The study adopts the qualitative research design and follows narrative inquiry methodology (Lyons and LaBoskey, 2002) with a series of narrative interviews (Bauer, 1996) as the main method of data collection within a single case study (Bassey, 1999) of an action research project. The data were analyzed as text following a general inductive approach (Thomas, 2003) where emerging themes were identified by means of data reduction.

The findings suggest that listening to student voice triggers teachers’ going through certain stages of Mezirow’s transformative learning theory including critical assessment of own assumptions, testing new options for behavior and reflecting critically on the teaching practice. Therefore, the authors suggest that Student Voice Space in LS is one of the important factors capable of triggering the teacher’s transformative learning. Moreover, it has an enormous potential not only to bring about positive changes in teachers’ practice but also challenge the ossified teachers’ educational beliefs, and thus, potentially, pave the way for a gradual change from “inappropriate beliefs” (Mayrhofer, 2019), or subconscious assumptions that lie in the core of teachers’ folk pedagogies (Torff, 1999), or taken-for-granted frames of reference (Mezirow, 2000) into true, justified or informed educational beliefs.

Further analysis of teachers’ narratives is required to elicit and categorize reported changes (shifts, transformations) concerning specific teachers’ educational beliefs, and draw a more clear line between student voice and its impact on the research lesson planning and its modification in LS. Finally, a supplementary study utilizing classroom observation methods is needed to explore if student voice intervention results in tangible (actual) changes in teachers’ classroom practice and educational beliefs, rather than potential transformations that are mainly reported in this study.

Carried out in the largely overlooked by the academic literature context of the Reform at Scale (Wilson et al., 2013) in Kazakhstan and building on the original combination of theoretical lenses, the research contributes to the academic literature aiming at illuminating “the black box of teachers’ learning” in Lesson Study (in Widjaja et al., 2017, p.358) since it is one of the rare studies attempting to connect teacher learning, student voice and Lesson Study (Warwick et al., 2019). Additionally, approaching teacher learning in Lesson Study from the transformative learning perspective combined with the literature on teachers’ educational beliefs and student voice, this study contributes to the further development of a shared vocabulary for discussing teacher learning in Lesson Study.

Learning styles are incorporated more and more in e‐education, mostly in order to provide adaptivity with respect to the learning styles of students. For identifying learning styles, at the present time questionnaires are widely used. While such questionnaires exist for most learning style models, their validity and reliability is an important issue and has to be investigated to guarantee that the questionnaire really assesses what the learning style theory aims at. In this paper, we focus on the Index of Learning Styles (ILS), a 44‐item questionnaire to identify learning styles based on Felder‐ Silverman learning style model. The aim of this paper is to analyse data gathered from ILS by a data‐driven approach in order to investigate relationships within the learning styles. Results, obtained by Multiple Correspondence Analysis and cross‐validated by correlation analysis, show the consistent dependencies between some learning styles and lead then to conclude for scarce validity of the ILS questionnaire. Some latent dimensions present in data, that are unexpected, are discussed. Results are then compared with the ones given by literature concerning validity and reliability of the ILS questionnaire. Both the results and the comparisons show the effectiveness of data‐driven methods for patterns extraction even when unexpected dependencies are found and the importance of coherence and consistency of mathematical representation of data with respect to the methods selected for effective, precise and accurate modelling.

The accuracy of severability measurements using the wetting balance depends on a number of parameters, some of which will be studied and discussed. Particular attention will be given to the influence of temperature, standard test pieces for measuring the wetting ability of fluxes, calibration of the measuring apparatus and the composition of the alloy used. Where necessary, tolerance limits will be given.

The article presents the construction of a conceptual framework, which is rooted in mathematics education and in dialogic analysis. It aims to analyse how dialogic interactions contribute to constructing teachers' mathematical problem-solving knowledge. The article provides one example of this analysis.

The networking between a content analysis framework (Mathematical Knowledge for Teaching Problem-Solving) and a dialogic analysis framework (Lesson Study Dialogue Analysis) is presented. This leads to the construction of indicators to quantitatively and qualitatively code our data: five meetings during one lesson study cycle of a group of eight Swiss primary teachers, working on the teaching of problem-solving.

This article does not present empirical findings. The developed conceptual framework is the result presented.

The presented framework allows modelling, on the one hand, the knowledge relating to the teaching and learning of problem-solving and, on the other hand, the analysis of interactions during a lesson study. The article does not contain the results of the research.

The use of our framework can contribute to teacher educators' and facilitators' training by highlighting which types of intervention are favourable to the development of knowledge.

Our analysis involves a “systematic coding” approach. It allows a fine-grained analysis of the interactions in relation to the evolution of knowledge. Such a systematic approach offers the possibility of questioning the coded data in various ways.

Shaped as an exploratory pilot case study, the purpose of this paper is threefold: to describe a case of how Lesson Study (LS) is implemented at a school in Kazakhstan; to identify if and in which ways teachers benefit from participating in LS and what barriers they encounter; and to discuss the possible implications for practice. Mainly, this research endeavors to produce knowledge that might serve as a base for further large-scale studies and interventions as well as inform policy makers and LS program developers and executors of the teachers’ perspective on the quality of assistance they require and, thus, stimulate reflection on the possible ways to overcome existing barriers.

This research adopts qualitative paradigm and utilizes a pilot exploratory case study framework (Gillham, 2000). The data were analyzed by means of what Thomas (2003) refers to as “general inductive approach” which “is intended to aid an understanding of meaning in complex data through the development of summary themes or categories from the raw data, i.e. data reduction” (p. 2). The data were analyzed as text and reduced by means of inductive coding. The text was read rigorously and systematically in order to identify emerging themes based on the recurrence of patterns (Thomas, 2003, p. 3).

LS is a growing phenomenon in Kazakhstan which, if systemically supported and organized properly based on the shared understanding, has a great potential to make a positive impact on teachers’ learning, knowledge sharing and collegiality as well as to become a powerful tool to help teachers overcome collaboratively the pressure of the nationwide reforms. It has profound potential to change teachers’ values and beliefs about the effective pedagogies applicable to students’ learning and developing skills, required in the twenty-first century.

The research is limited by the chosen methodology since there is a wide criticism in the literature related to inability of single case studies to provide generalizable data (Yin, 1994 in Woodside, 2010, p. 249). Another limitation, as the literature puts it forward, is that case studies are biased by researcher’s perspective and tend to report what the researcher “wants to find” (Gillham, 2000, p.28 ); thus, in its core, case study is subjective. However, Gillham (2000) proposes how these problems could be addressed by means of what he calls following the principals of “researcher of integrity” who is “constantly challenging and scrutinizing” himself and “detached honesty,” which implies acknowledging your own place in the scheme of things and striving to “decentre from yourself” (p. 28). Thus, the researcher tried her best to comply with the mentioned above principals.

The findings within this research could be used by researchers as a starting point for in-depth studies, the case studies of Lesson Studies practices in specific schools or regions of Kazakhstan as well as by the policy makers and school leaders as a thought-provoking source on how to effectively structure teachers’ professional development in schools.

This paper is the first academic source to shed light on LS as a means to in-school teachers’ professional development in the context of Kazakhstan.

Young people transitioning from child to adult mental health services are frequently also known to social services, but the role of such services in this study and their interplay with mental healthcare system lacks evidence in the European panorama. This study aims to gather information on the characteristics and the involvement of social services supporting young people approaching transition.

A survey of 16 European Union countries was conducted. Country respondents, representing social services’ point of view, completed an ad hoc questionnaire. Information sought included details on social service availability and the characteristics of their interplay with mental health services.

Service availability ranges from a low of 3/100,000 social workers working with young people of transition age in Spain to a high 500/100,000 social workers in Poland, with heterogeneous involvement in youth health care. Community-based residential facilities and services for youth under custodial measures were the most commonly type of social service involved. In 80% of the surveyed countries, youth protection from abuse/neglect is overall regulated by national protocols or written agreements between mental health and social services, with the exception of Czech Republic and Greece, where poor or no protocols apply. Lack of connection between child and adult mental health services has been identified as the major obstacles to transition (93.8%), together with insufficient involvement of stakeholders throughout the process.

Marked heterogeneity across countries may suggest weaknesses in youth mental health policy-making at the European level. Greater inclusion of relevant stakeholders is needed to inform the development and implementation of person-centered health-care models. Disconnection between child and adult mental health services is widely recognized in the social services arena as the major barrier faced by young service users in transition; this “outside” perspective provides further support for an urgent re-configuration of services and the need to address unaligned working practices and service cultures.

This is the first survey gathering information on social service provision at the time of mental health services transition at a European level; its findings may help to inform services to offer a better coordinated social health care for young people with mental health disorders.

It is well known that culture is a catalyst for change, helping economies respond to societal problems and demands and that culture is where people turn to in moments of crisis. In this case study around designing and implementing evaluation methodologies/frameworks for Coventry UK City of Culture 2021, it is suggested that in English public policy and within publicly invested arts there is a maturation of thinking around recognising/measuring the public value of culture including its social value. The purpose of this paper is to chart the recent policy of justifying cultural expenditure with social value claims and highlight challenges for evaluating activity within Coventry UK CoC 2021 as a change in wider policy is taking place.

This paper provides creative insights into the design and implementation of the evaluation methodologies/frameworks for Coventry UK City of Culture 2021. The authors of this paper as the collective team undertaking the evaluation of Coventry's year as UK City of Culture 2021 bring first-hand experiences of challenges faced and the need for a cultural mega-event to evidence its value.

The case study aims to address the concepts of measuring value within cultural events and argues that a paradigm shift is occurring in methods and concepts for evidencing the aforementioned value.

The case study within this paper focuses on the build-up period to the UK City of Culture 2021 year and the thinking and logic behind the creation of the evaluation/measurement framework and therefore does not include findings from the actual cultural year.

It is acknowledged that there are papers examining measuring and evidencing the “value” of cultural mega-events, the authors bring real-life first-hand experience of the concepts being utilised by them on the ground in the delivery and evaluation design of Coventry, UK City of Culture 2021.

An electrochemical polarisation technique was employed to measure the porosity of electroless nickel (EN) coating. The technique is based on the change observed in the electrochemical parameters with varying cathode and/or anode area on a bimetallic corroding surface. The nickel coating test samples were obtained from a hypophosphite plating bath in the presence of different complexing agents. This technique was used to estimate the effect of coating thickness on porosity and the influence of addition of different complexing agents to EN baths on porosity. The results suggest that, unlike other conventional methods, the electrochemical, a non‐destructive method, can detect the smallest pore in an EN‐coating and quantify its size in terms of pore area fraction.