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In the era of high student fees and intense market competition, many universities now buy books for their new students, and recently have incorporated student choice into the offer, enabling students to choose how to spend funds. Teesside University has successfully piloted such an approach with one academic School, the School of Social Sciences, Humanities and Law. The pilot has now been extended to all academic Schools, with all students receiving £100 per academic year to spend on reading list books. The scheme covers new full-time undergraduate students at the University, and is operated in collaboration with an external company, John Smiths. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the Teesside University Advance scheme against baseline data of book borrowing and reservation patterns of reading list titles. The paper explores the impact upon the student experience and student perceptions of the Library.

The project used a mixed methods approach. The quantitative strand analysed book borrowing and reservation patterns data from library systems and from book purchasing patterns data provided by the online store supporting the scheme. Students were also surveyed about the scheme. The qualitative strand, via one-to-one interviews conducted by the student researcher, gained an insight into why students select certain titles to purchase; and what their expectations of the university library are for the supply of reading list titles.

Analysis revealed an overall decline in book borrowing from the library of the titles selected for purchase by students via the scheme. Student perceptions of the library were positive and demonstrated a strategic use of library resources alongside book purchases and open web resources. At early stages of university undergraduate study, students need guidance on most appropriate resources to use and why, from either reading lists or book bundles.

Teesside University scheme is unique in the UK in covering all new full-time undergraduates and letting them choose which reading list titles to buy with the university funds provided.

The purpose of this paper is to outline the qualitative research findings of the effectiveness of Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service Programme Needs Assessment (PNA) in supporting decision making regarding selection onto high-intensity offending behaviour programmes.

Qualitative data analysis was used through the application of thematic analysis. Results were pooled using principles from meta-synthesis in order to draw conclusions as to whether the PNA was operating as designed.

Four overarching themes were identified, which have meaning in guiding decision making into, or out of high-intensity programmes. These were risk, need and responsivity, the importance of attitudes, motivation and formulation and planning.

The majority of data were collected from category C prisons. Generalisability of findings to high-intensity programmes delivered in maximum security prisons and prisons for younger people aged 18–21 years is limited. The research team had prior knowledge of the PNA, whether through design or application. Procedures were put in place to minimise researcher biases.

Findings suggest that the PNA is effective in guiding clinical decision making. Practitioners and policy makers can be assured that the processes in place to select into high-intensity programmes are effective, and aligned with the What Works in reducing re-offending.

This is the first evaluation into the effectiveness of the PNA designed to support clinical decision making regarding participant selection onto accredited offending behaviour programmes. Implications for practice have been discussed.

Client engagement increases substantially when staff teams implement active support. The impact of active support on challenging behaviour is less clear. There are grounds for believing that active support procedures could in some cases neutralise environmental conditions known to evoke challenging behaviour. We implemented a three‐phase clinical intervention to increase engagement and reduce passive and challenging behaviour. In phase 1 we trained staff to deliver inviting activity‐based instruction at eye level. In phase 2 we introduced activity support plans to increase client choice and control. In phase 3 staff used peer‐monitoring procedures to consolidate implementation. We measured staff behaviour and client outcome across the three phases of intervention and at follow‐up. Staff provided warm and inviting activity‐based instruction at eye level more frequently after participating in phase 1 on‐site training. The proportion of activity‐based interactions with choice increased when activity plans were introduced in phase 2. Engagement replaced passive and challenging behaviour. Staff observations suggested changes were maintained over the short run. Our own observations indicated decay at 22 months. Our data suggest that active support procedures can make challenging behaviour less likely by altering antecedent conditions that reliably evoke such behaviour. Without sustained effort, interventions are susceptible to decay.

The purpose of this paper was to describe the experiences of four children with autism spectrum disorder navigating around the corridors of an unfamiliar school and translate the findings into poetic format. Poetry could provide a more accessible format to a nonacademic audience and promote empathy and understanding about this population.

Each participant was shown a route from the start point to the destination by the researcher then asked to lead the way there. Post-study, participants were interviewed for their perceptions and feelings about navigating.

Participants' responses and behaviors differed, e.g. some were stimulated by colors, some noticed small details and some were distracted. Poetic translation vividly emphasized these behaviors and emotions.

Few studies have described how children with autism navigate the built environment or asked their opinion about navigating. None in the field have used poetic translation to explore data.

This chapter presents the multimodal-pedagogical model and initial teacher training organization aimed at preparing primary school teachers at the University of Bari “Aldo Moro.” The work centers on how the components of curriculum are balanced and how theory meets practice in school and university classrooms. We specifically focus on the epistemic function of didactic-disciplinary laboratories as experiences promoting and advancing multimodal learning essential to teacher preparation.

This paper aims to consider the experiences of people with intellectual disabilities in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdown restrictions.

This commentary reflects on the issues raised by Morris et al., and in the wider literature.

Although there have been some benefits to lockdown for people with intellectual disabilities, mainly they have experienced isolation, increased mental health and well-being challenges, difficulty in accessing services, support and adequate adapted information.

This commentary argues that it is important to continue to capture the experiences of people with intellectual disabilities now and over time to assess the long-term consequences of the pandemic and to design services which are respondent to their needs.

As our elderly population increases, scheduled to rise by 61 per cent in the next 20 years, a national panic has set in about what to do. Antidepressant use is on the rise, and the figures for loneliness and depression skyrocketing. So far, so normal and so very disheartening. The purpose of this paper is to make a radical plea to change our thinking about how the lives of our senior citizens are lived: bring on the health economists, and let us put some serious funding into studying the effects of participative arts on the lives of older people.

This year the author was awarded a Winston Churchill Fellowship to study participative arts for older people in the USA. The author interviewed Professor Julene Johnson of University of California San Francisco, about “Community of Voices” an ambitious, well-funded five year programme which is launching 12 one-year choirs with low income, non-singers, after which findings will be rigorously tested.

In the USA, proper evaluation of participative arts is being taken seriously as a means of whittling down massive Medicare costs. There is evaluation going on in the UK, but much of it is flawed, usually down to cost. Evaluations generally consist of questionnaires filled in by participants. Findings centre around the psychological arena, rather than physical aspects (balance, hospital visits).

It is imperative that one starts thinking about participative arts for seniors in a scientific and serious way. The alternative – roomfuls of elders on antidepressants (the UK's antidepressant use was up 23 per cent between 2010 and 2011) does not bear thinking about.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the nature of knowledge sharing and what is experienced as being shared as knowledge sharing unfolds. In particular, the paper explores affect as a key aspect of knowledge sharing in an organisational context.

A practice theoretical approach is applied to the study combined with a phenomenological research methodology that focusses on the “lived experience” of participants.

Knowledge-sharing practice was found to encompass cognitive, social, bodily and affective dimensions. Affect was found to be a significant component of the practice as revealed by participant emotion and the use of conversational humour.

In light of the findings, the researcher recommends a focus on participant sensings in practice theoretical research, in combination with sayings, doings and relatings.

The approach to the study is significant in that, in contrast to previous practice-based research in information studies, it applied a methodology adapted from phenomenology. This combination of approaches opened the investigation to the multi-dimensional experiential nature of knowledge-sharing practice highlighting the significant role of affect in knowledge sharing.