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Open Access
Article
Publication date: 2 September 2021

Heather L. Rogers, Susana Pablo Hernando, Silvia Núñez - Fernández, Alvaro Sanchez, Carlos Martos, Maribel Moreno and Gonzalo Grandes

This study aims to elucidate the health care organization, management and policy barriers and facilitators associated with implementation of an evidence-based health promotion…

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Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to elucidate the health care organization, management and policy barriers and facilitators associated with implementation of an evidence-based health promotion intervention in primary care centers in the Basque Country, Spain.

Design/methodology/approach

Seven focus groups were conducted with 49 health professionals from six primary care centers participating in the Prescribing Healthy Life program. Text was analyzed using the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR) focusing on those constructs related to health care organization, management and policy.

Findings

The health promotion intervention was found to be compatible with the values of primary care professionals. However, professionals at all centers reported barriers to implementation related to: (1) external policy and incentives, (2) compatibility with existing workflow and (3) available resources to carry out the program. Specific barriers in these areas related to lack of financial and political support, consultation time constraints and difficulty managing competing day-to-day demands. Other barriers and facilitators were related to the constructs networks and communication, culture, relative priority and leadership engagement. A set of six specific barrier-facilitator pairs emerged.

Originality/value

Implementation science and, specifically, the CFIR constructs were used as a guide. Barriers and facilitators related to the implementation of a health promotion program in primary care were identified. Healthcare managers and policy makers can modify these factors to foster a more propitious implementation environment. These factors should be appropriately monitored, both in pre-implementation phases and during the implementation process, in order to ensure effective integration of health promotion into the primary care setting.

Details

Journal of Health Organization and Management, vol. 35 no. 9
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1477-7266

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 July 2007

Edric C. Johnson

This study looks at the development of critical literacy for three pre-service teacher participants, relevant support systems, and pedagogies. It considers how pre-service teacher…

Abstract

This study looks at the development of critical literacy for three pre-service teacher participants, relevant support systems, and pedagogies. It considers how pre-service teacher participants construct knowledge on critical literacy within the methods course. The participants started with their own literacy histories in order to began developing internalization and critical consciousness within the methods and field experience course. Throughout the course, the participants took social action by using some of the critical literacy approaches that were presented as instructional strategies in the methods course. However, the participants were still internalizing two essential components of critical pedagogy in their own teaching: problem posing and dialogue. They acknowledged the value of problem posing and dialogue in their own learning but had some difficulty using these methods in their own teaching. The implications from this study suggest that teacher educators and future teachers take a stance on critical education and push for structural changes in common teaching practices and school curriculum mandates.

Details

Social Studies Research and Practice, vol. 2 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1933-5415

Article
Publication date: 20 November 2017

Heather Rogers Haverback

The majority of states and school systems within the USA have implemented the Common Core State Standards, but with this implementation and focus on language arts and mathematics…

Abstract

Purpose

The majority of states and school systems within the USA have implemented the Common Core State Standards, but with this implementation and focus on language arts and mathematics, many believe that social studies education has lagged. The purpose of this paper is to investigate preservice teachers’ social studies self-efficacy, experiences, and beliefs. Participants were preservice teachers in a required education course. During this course, preservice teachers were required to complete a 20-hour practicum within a school. Participants completed a teacher social studies self-efficacy scale, as well as a reflection questionnaire and course discussions. Results showed that preservice teachers reported that they did not have social studies experiences within the practicum. Implications of this study support preservice teachers having additional social studies education and C3 Framework mastery experiences.

Design/methodology/approach

With regard to the teacher’s sense of efficacy scale, descriptive statistics (means, standard deviations) were calculated. Following qualitative tradition (Glaser and Strauss, 1967; Miles and Huberman, 1994), the author used a constant comparative method to code the reflection questionnaire and group discussions. This included calculating answers and coding themes across the sources. These data gleaned insight into the participants’ experiences within the course and practicum regarding the domain of social studies education.

Findings

To answer research question 1, means and standard deviations were calculated. Using the social studies teacher’s sense of efficacy scale, participants reported M=6.4, SD=1.25. Research question 2 concerned whether or not participants were given a mastery experience (practicum/tutoring) in social studies. Moreover, if they were not given such an experience, in what domain did they work? Results indicated that a few participants (19 percent) stated that they had an opportunity to tutor in social studies. Most reported that the majority of their tutoring is in reading (58 percent) or mathematics (24 percent).

Research limitations/implications

The findings from this study inform social studies research as it focuses on teacher social studies self-efficacy and mastery experiences within a practicum. First, preservice teachers in this study had relatively low self-efficacy beliefs in the domain of social studies. Second, the participants had very few mastery experiences in social studies. Finally, preservice teachers seem to feel that they will enjoy teaching social studies, and they did learn social studies within their schools.

Practical implications

Teacher educators are constrained in the time that they have to impart knowledge, pedagogy, and efficacy beliefs on preservice teachers. While evolving legislative mandates are at the forefront of many aspects of teaching, a teacher’s belief in his or her ability to teach may be what leads to perseverance in the classroom. Experiences within social studies classrooms and a use of the C3 Framework will help to highlight teachers’ and students’ growth within the domain of social studies. This study highlights the need for more mastery experiences in social studies as a way of strengthening new teachers’ content knowledge.

Social implications

The future of social studies education within the classroom seems to be a dire situation. The consequence of the marginalization of social studies within the classroom is twofold. First, students to do have direct social studies instruction. Second, preservice teachers do not have an opportunity to observe or teach within this domain. As stated earlier, legislation is guiding classroom instruction. However, if teachers and schools are informed, social studies education does not have to disappear from student’s classroom time. School systems and teachers who have not yet done so should begin to consider using the C3 Framework.

Originality/value

The need to understand preservice teachers’ social studies self-efficacy beliefs is of importance given the constraints that they will most likely be facing once they enter the classroom. In other words, if preservice teachers are expected to teach children social studies, teacher educators should understand their learning of and beliefs about teaching in this domain. This study focused on preservice teachers’ self-efficacy and social studies beliefs. This study highlights the need for more mastery experiences in social studies as a way of strengthening new teachers’ content knowledge. Today, there are limitations wherein preservice teachers do not have many experiences with social studies. Future approaches should focus on offering more mastery experiences to preservice teachers.

Details

Social Studies Research and Practice, vol. 12 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1933-5415

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 April 1991

HEATHER J. ROGERS and PETER WILLETT

An increasing volume of historical text is being converted into machine‐readable form so as to allow database searches to be carried out. The age of the material in these…

Abstract

An increasing volume of historical text is being converted into machine‐readable form so as to allow database searches to be carried out. The age of the material in these databases means that they contain many spellings that are different from those used today. This characteristic means that, once the databases become available for general online access, users will need to be familiar with all of the possible historical spellings for their topic of interest if a search is to be carried out successfully. This paper investigates the use of computational techniques that have been developed for the correction of spelling errors to identify historical spellings of a user's search terms. Two classes of spelling correction method are tested, these being the reverse error and phonetic coding methods. Experiments with words from the Hartlib Papers Collection show that these methods can correctly identify a large number of historical forms of modern‐day word spellings.

Details

Journal of Documentation, vol. 47 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0022-0418

Book part
Publication date: 6 April 2018

Rhonda Baynes Jeffries

This chapter explores the alignment of teacher leadership and student learning in a professional development school (PDS) by reporting on a successful teacher-initiated PDS…

Abstract

This chapter explores the alignment of teacher leadership and student learning in a professional development school (PDS) by reporting on a successful teacher-initiated PDS project at a southeastern United States high school. De-tracking efforts using teacher collaboration and efficacy in ninth grade Algebra I College Prep courses were examined for effectiveness to improve the achievement in mathematics of students who enter high school without pre-algebra skills. The chapter critiques the lack of democracy inherent in educational tracking as a default system of student grouping because it perpetuates inequities, particularly for students most likely to experience challenges with academic achievement.

Details

Teacher Leadership in Professional Development Schools
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78743-404-2

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 21 November 2022

Njoki N. Wane, Madrine Kingéndo and Sein A. Kipusi

Women of Power Revisited: African Women in Leadership through the Ages, Space, Time, and Governance chapter provides an overview of what Africa has witnessed as the world's…

Abstract

Women of Power Revisited: African Women in Leadership through the Ages, Space, Time, and Governance chapter provides an overview of what Africa has witnessed as the world's greatest civilizations through the stories of four of her Queens. The chapter examines women in leadership positions in ancient Africa: namely, Makeda, referred to as Queen of Sheba; Queen mother of Ejusu, Yaa Asantewaa of Ashanti; Queen Nzinga of Angola; and Hatshepsut. Africa has an indomitable spirit that consists of different forms of texts representing the rich diversity that constitute the great civilizations and empires the world has ever had. The chapter challenges the perpetuated notion that Africa is mostly jungle and uninhabited except for Egypt. It is this stereotyped image of Africa that prompted us to write about the four African Queens to illuminate salient features of African Indigenous women in leadership and how it can be applied in contemporary institutions.

The discussion is anchored on spirituality and womanism as our discursive frameworks. We also evoke creation stories which provide the essence of beginning of settlements of humans on our planet earth with particular focus on African Indigenous women's contribution to leadership. In addition, the chapter highlights the colonial oppression, and the current colonial legacies that she is struggling to deal with, including political and economic leadership. The emphasis is to disavow the Eurocentric and colonial fallacy that Africa is without history, without structure, and without kings and queens. This cannot be done without understanding the beginning of African-centered leadership. It is with this understanding that chapter embarked on the journey or path of decolonizing leadership models in our institutions.

Details

Decolonizing and Indigenizing Visions of Educational Leadership
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-83982-468-5

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 2 May 2006

Nancy J. Cooke

UAVs or unmanned (or the more politically correct, “unpiloted” or “uninhabited”) Aerial Vehicles and the broader class of remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) have attracted much…

Abstract

UAVs or unmanned (or the more politically correct, “unpiloted” or “uninhabited”) Aerial Vehicles and the broader class of remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) have attracted much attention lately from the military, as well as the general public. Generally, ROVs are vehicles that do not carry human pilots or operators, but instead are controlled remotely with different degrees of autonomy on the part of the vehicle. The role of UAVs in the military has rapidly expanded over the years such that every branch of the U.S. military deploys some form of UAV in their intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance operations. Recent U.S. military successes include a USAF Predator UAV operating in Iraq, but piloted by a team at Nellis AFB (now Creech AFB) in Las Vegas, Nevada, which successfully aided in finding Saddam Hussein (Rogers, 2004). Another more recent example took place in August 2004 when a Predator UAV armed with Hellfire missiles, also controlled from Nellis AFB, rescued a group of U.S. Marines pinned down by sniper fire in Najaf, Iraq (CNN, 2005). The value of UAVs is recognized by other nations as well who have active UAV programs including, but not limited to, Germany, England, China, France, Canada, South Africa, and Israel.

Details

Human Factors of Remotely Operated Vehicles
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-0-76231-247-4

Book part
Publication date: 20 July 2022

Paul Tosey, Heather Cairns-Lee and James Lawley

In this book the terms ‘clean language’ and ‘clean language interviewing’ are written using lower case, according to the convention of the American Psychological Association…

Abstract

NB

In this book the terms ‘clean language’ and ‘clean language interviewing’ are written using lower case, according to the convention of the American Psychological Association (sixth edition). ‘Clean language interviewing’ is sometimes abbreviated to CLI.

Book part
Publication date: 22 November 2012

Susan E. Parker

The Morgan Library at Colorado State University in Fort Collins suffered catastrophic flooding as the result of a historic rain storm and flood that swept through the town on July…

Abstract

The Morgan Library at Colorado State University in Fort Collins suffered catastrophic flooding as the result of a historic rain storm and flood that swept through the town on July 28, 1997. This study examines this single library's organizational disaster response and identifies the phenomena that the library's employees cited as their motivation for innovation.

Purpose – This study provides an example of a library where a pre-disaster and post-disaster organizational environment was supportive of experimentation. This influenced the employees’ capacity and motivation to create a new tool meant to solve a temporary need. Their invention, a service now called RapidILL, advanced the Morgan Library organization beyond disaster recovery and has become an effective and popular consortium of libraries.

Design/methodology/approach – This is an instrumental case study. This design was chosen to examine the issues in organizational learning that the single case of Morgan Library presents. The researcher interviewed employees who survived the 1997 flood and who worked in the library after the disaster. The interview results and a book written by staff members are the most important data that form the basis for this qualitative research.

The interviews were transcribed, and key phrases and information from both the interviews and the published book were isolated into themes for coding. The coding allowed the use of NVivo 7, a text analysis software, to search in employees’ stories for “feeling” words and themes about change, innovation, motivation, and mental models.

Three research questions for the study sought to learn how employees described their lived experience, how the disaster altered their mental models of change, and what factors in the disaster response experience promoted learning and innovation.

Findings – This study investigates how the disruptive forces of disaster can influence and promote organizational learning and foster innovation. Analysis of the data demonstrates how the library employees’ feelings of trust before and following a workplace disaster shifted their mental models of change. They felt empowered to act and assert their own ideas; they did not simply react to change acting upon them.

Emotions motivate adaptive actions, facilitating change. The library employees’ lived experiences and feelings influenced what they learned, how quickly they learned it, and how that learning contributed to their innovations after the disaster. The library's supervisory and administrative leaders encouraged staff members to try out new ideas. This approach invigorated staff members’ feelings of trust and motivated them to contribute their efforts and ideas. Feeling free to experiment, they tapped their creativity and provided adaptations and innovations.

Practical implications – A disaster imposes immediate and often unanticipated change upon people and organizations. A disaster response urgently demands that employees do things differently; it also may require that employees do different things.

Successful organizations must become adept at creating and implementing changes to remain relevant and effective in the environments in which they operate. They need to ensure that employees generate and test as many ideas as possible in order to maximize the opportunity to uncover the best new thinking. This applies to libraries as well as to any other organizations.

If library leaders understand the conditions under which employees are most motivated to let go of fear and alter the mental models they use to interpret their work world, it should be possible and desirable to re-create those conditions and improve the ability of their organizations to tap into employees’ talent, spur innovation, and generate meaningful change.

Social implications – Trust and opportunities for learning can be central to employees’ ability to embrace change as a positive state in which their creativity flourishes and contributes to the success of the organization. When leaders support experimentation, employees utilize and value their affective connections as much as their professional knowledge. Work environments that promote experimentation and trust are ones in which employees at any rank feel secure enough to propose and experiment with innovative services, products, or workflows.

Originality/value – The first of its kind to examine library organizations, this study offers direct evidence to show that organizational learning and progress flourish through a combination of positive affective experiences and experimentation. The study shows how mental models, organizational learning, and innovation may help employees create significantly effective organizational advances while under duress.

An original formula is presented in Fig. 1.

Details

Advances in Library Administration and Organization
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78190-313-1

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 21 August 2015

Fran Amery, Stephen Bates, Laura Jenkins and Heather Savigny

We evaluate the use of metaphors in academic literature on women in academia. Utilizing the work of Husu (2001) and the concept of intersectionality, we explore the ways in which…

Abstract

Purpose

We evaluate the use of metaphors in academic literature on women in academia. Utilizing the work of Husu (2001) and the concept of intersectionality, we explore the ways in which notions of structure and/or agency are reflected in metaphors and the consequences of this.

Methodology/approach

The research comprised an analysis of 113 articles on women in academia and a subanalysis of 17 articles on women in Political Science published in academic journals between 2004 and 2013.

Findings

In the case of metaphors about academic institutions, the most popular metaphors are the glass ceiling, the leaky pipeline, and the old boys’ network, and, in the case of metaphors about women academics, strangers/outsiders and mothers/housekeepers.

Usage of metaphors in the literature analyzed suggests that the literature often now works with a more nuanced conception of the structure/agency problematic than at the time Husu was writing: instead of focusing on either structures or agents in isolation, the literature has begun to look more critically at the interplay between them, although this may not be replicated at a disciplinary level.

Originality/value

We highlight the potential benefits of interdependent metaphors which are able to reflect more fully the structurally situated nature of (female) agency. These metaphors, while recognizing the (multiple and intersecting) structural constraints that women may face both within and outwith the academy, are able to capture more fully the different forms female power and agency can take. Consequently, they contribute both to the politicization of problems that female academics may face and to the stimulation of collective responses for a fairer and better academy.

Details

At the Center: Feminism, Social Science and Knowledge
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78560-078-4

Keywords

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