What was it like for you?

Abstract

As LEAs and schools develop their inclusive policies and practices, arguments about how to provide the most effective education for pupils with EBD continue. Is it possible to provide high quality education for this group in mainstream schools whilst not adversely affecting the education of the other pupils? What are the consequences of placing the most disturbed pupils in special schools? What do the pupils themselves think? This article draws on findings from 26 interviews with former pupils of an EBD residential school. We were interested in their opinions about the quality of education and care they received at the school and the impact of the placement on their experiences as young adults. Overall, despite some concerns, the former pupils have very positive memories of the school and felt that it had helped them to overcome their learning and behavioural difficulties. The findings have key implications for the development of policy and practice.     

Other People's Money: Adapting Entrepreneurial Techniques to Build Capital in Challenging Economic Times

Drawing on the “predator” model of entrepreneurship put forward by Villette and Vuillermot in their 2009 book “From Predators to Icons,” this article argues that challenging economic times reveal that self-funded, collaborative information literacy models have in many cases unsustainably overstretched staff and budgets. In such circumstances, it is necessary for librarians to shift to an entrepreneurial approach that seeks profitable opportunities funded by parties other than the library in order to build capital for current and future instructional services. Following Villette and Vuillermot, the article seeks to refute a cultural myth that sees the entrepreneur as someone who is first and foremost a “do-gooder” or marketer of helpful products, and it also advocates that librarians adopt a view of the entrepreneur as one who preys on unexploited, low-cost/high-profit opportunities to leverage “other people's money” to build capital for later innovation. The article considers the economics of information literacy and library instruction programs, provides historical context for what has come to be known as the “collaborative imperative,” points to the economic shortsightedness of many collaborative and “embedded librarian” partnerships, and details six examples from information literacy programs that model successful entrepreneurship of the sort argued for.     

Oil,Maslow, and Competency: A Good Mix for Partnerships?

This article is a case study of a community college that received federal funding for two different projects involving welfare-to-work participants and local workforce development. Despite sounding good on paper, the partnerships did not finish on a high note for either the college or the local community. Social capital theory was used to analyze the study, and the goal is to engage in dialogue with the audience on the implications for policy and practice.     

Written expression performance in adolescents with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)

We examined written expression performance in a sample of adolescents with ADHD and subthreshold ADHD using two different strategies: examining performance on standardized measures of written expression and using other indicators of written expression developed in this study. We examined associations between standardized measures of written expression, cognitive processing measures (working memory, processing speed, language, fine motor ability, and reading efficiency) and behavioral ratings of ADHD by parents and teachers. We also developed a coding scheme for a writing sample to measure productivity and the ratio of self-corrections to errors. The results indicated that written expression performance was most consistently associated with cognitive processing measures and not behavioral ratings of ADHD, based on correlational and simultaneous regression analyses. These results were consistent in the analyses with both the standardized measures and the coding scheme measures of written expression. Findings generally remained robust, regardless of whether participants who met criteria for a learning disability were included or excluded in the analyses. The current results suggest that written expression difficulties in adolescents with ADHD are attributable to processing difficulties that may be associated with ADHD, not to ADHD reported symptoms. Implications for assessment and intervention are discussed.     

Towards a new emphasis in monitoring

In the Open University, a sample of each tutors marked assignments is monitored to assess the quality of teaching and grading. Sue Cole and Maggie Coats, Assistant Staff Tutors in Social Science in the East Midlands Region and Helen Lentell, Assistant Director, Regional Academic Services respectively, focus on the tutor‐monitor dimension, and present the case for viewing monitoring in terms of performance improvement, not just performance appraisal. The views of readers on this controversial subject are welcome.     

The offence of theory

Theory frequently offends. The paper argues that this is its strength: the value of theory lies in its power to get in the way. Theory is needed to block the reproduction of banality, and thereby, hopefully, open new possibilities for thinking and doing. However, I also note that theory has become somewhat disengaged from its objects, diminishing its power of productive interference. I argue for ‘exemplary’ practices, in which theory proliferates from examples. Caught in the minutiae of the example, yet also open to unexpected connections, theory might develop more productive ways of offending. Or to put it differently, of producing wonder.     

An Innovative Approach to Involving Parents in the Education of their Early Years Children

This paper describes and evaluates a project undertaken with parents from an inner city primary school in Hartlepool, UK, devised to help realise children's potential and raise standards. In order to achieve this, it was necessary to create a partnership between parents, school and the child in an environment characterised by the ‘core conditions’ (Rogers, 1957). It was hoped to increase the self‐esteem of the parents and to give them an understanding of the preschool curriculum in order to develop their skills, knowledge and confidence. It was also the intention of the project to involve these, and other parents, in school life and to enable them to take ownership of their own children's education. The multimedia approach involved video, photographs, word processing and press and radio interviews. The process encouraged the fulfilment of the objectives described above. The paper concludes by describing the successful outcomes of the project and indicates some possible developments.