Agency in action: young Muslim women and negotiating higher education in Australia

This article draws on an analysis of the narratives of Australian young Muslim women to explore their higher education experiences and aspirations. The article aims to explore the notion of agency employed by Muslim female university students in relation to the ways they discover their own capabilities along their deployment of available financial, cultural and social resources under cultural and structural constrains. The women’s accounts suggest that pursuit of higher education is highly perceived as a key to girls’ success and economic independence in the present precarious neoliberal environment yet concerns over Islamophobia and gender and racial discrimination which may curtail employment opportunities are present. The research findings also suggest that educational outcomes entail complex forms of negotiation, bargaining and resistance, stressing the ways in which class, gender, ethnicity and religion interrelate.     

The involvement of migrant mothers in their children’s education: cultural capital and transnational class processes

This paper analyses the kinds of capital, practices and investments that are implicated in the participation of migrant mothers in the educational careers of their children, drawing on a Bourdieusian framework. We present findings of a study of Muslim Iraqi mothers with school-aged children in Australia, based on 47 interviews with 25 participants. The study identifies different modes of involvement in children’s education and connects these to mothers’ cultural and social capital. Involvement, and its effectiveness, is analysed through the analytical categories of (i) high capital-high involvement; (ii) low capital-high involvement; and (iii) low capital-minimal direct involvement. The paper contributes to the theorisation of family–school relations in the context of migration, and develops a more nuanced perspective for studying social class positioning and repositioning.     

The use of audio-visual aids in intermediate stage schools for girls in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

This paper decribes an investigation into the use of audio-visual aids in teaching in the intermediate stage schools for girls, which are run by the General Presidency for Girls'Eudcation. Questionnaire data were collected and analysed and various factors were found to influence the use/non-use of audio-visual aids. It makes recommendations, which, if adopted, would increase the use of audio-visual aids in Saudi intermediate schools for girls, and stimulate the teaching-learning process.     

The mediating effect of trust on the dimensionality of organisational justice and organisational citizenship behaviour amongst teachers in Malaysia

Abstract

The swelling discourses on organisational citizenship behaviour (OCB) have diffused into areas of management and organisational research. The existing literature encapsulates that trust will mediate the relationship between the three dimensions of organisational justice: procedural justice, distributive justice and interactional justice and OCB. Based on the literature discussions, several hypotheses were proposed and conceptual framework was formulated. A total of 411 teachers had responded and participated in the survey. The collected data were analysed using Smart Partial Least Square software. Vigorous two-stage analytical procedure was adopted. The statistical results indicated that trust significantly mediates the relationship between organisational justice and OCB as well as the dimensions of organisational justice and OCB with various degrees of mediating effects. These findings have provided new insights in the organisational behaviour discipline and shed light on trust’s mediation in the relationship of organisational justice and OCB.     

Mapping the Trajectory of Socioeconomic Disparity in Working Memory: Parental and Neighborhood Factors

Working memory (WM) is positively correlated with socioeconomic status (SES). It is not clear, however, if SES predicts the rate of WM development over time or whether SES effects are specific to family rather than neighborhood SES. A community sample of children (n = 316) enrolled between ages 10 and 13 completed four annual assessments of WM. Lower parental education, but not neighborhood disadvantage, was associated with worse WM performance. Neither measure of SES was associated with the rate of developmental change. Consequently, the SES disparity in WM is not a developmental lag that narrows or an accumulating effect that becomes more pronounced. Rather, the relation between family SES and WM originates earlier in childhood and is stable through adolescence.     

Guidance and counseling in the Hashemite kingdom of Jordan: Some observations

This study traces the development of guidance and counseling movement in Jordan. Two phases of guidance movement are described. The study focuses on the need for counseling, counseling settings, counselors training and problems of guidance and counseling programs and services. Finally, suggestions for overcoming existing limitations are presented.This research was supported by a grant from the Deanship of Research and Graduate Studies at Yarmouk University, Jordan.     

Item difficulty in the evaluation of computer-based instruction: an example from neuroanatomy

This article reports large item effects in a study of computer-based learning of neuroanatomy. Outcome measures of the efficiency of learning, transfer of learning, and generalization of knowledge diverged by a wide margin across test items, with certain sets of items emerging as particularly difficult to master. In addition, the outcomes of comparisons between instructional methods changed with the difficulty of the items to be learned. More challenging items better differentiated between instructional methods. This set of results is important for two reasons. First, it suggests that instruction may be more efficient if sets of consistently difficult items are the targets of instructional methods particularly suited to them. Second, there is wide variation in the published literature regarding the outcomes of empirical evaluations of computer-based instruction. As a consequence, many questions arise as to the factors that may affect such evaluations. The present article demonstrates that the level of challenge in the material that is presented to learners is an important factor to consider in the evaluation of a computer-based instructional system.     

Dendritic cell therapy with improved outcome in glioma multiforme-a case report

Malignant gliomas are the most devastating tumors in clinical practice and nave poorest survival, Immunological treatment of such patients may likely increase the survival and quality of life. Dendritic cells （DCs）, most potent antigen presenting cells in combination with oral chemotherapeutic agents may be tried for patients giving consent to such treatment. We have successfully combined the two therapies in an adult male patient who was on downhill course after being operated on once with post operation chemotherapy and radiotherapy for glioma in the left parietal area. He received five dendritic cell therapy vaccines in combination with oral chemotherapy and responded dramatically having near normal quality of life for an additional five months with this regime, increasing the survival after operation to 11 months. This therapy is continuing with radiological betterment of the lesion. The DCs are matured with antigen extracted from wax embedded tissue at 6th day of culture. We feel that the treatment can be given to more number of patients to establish its efficacy for the dreaded cancer glioblastoma multiforme.