Search results

The purpose of this paper is to provide a dialectical framework for the examination of performance management in schools.

The paper is based upon a qualitative study of ten headteachers that involved in-depth semi-structured interviews.

The findings identified four dialectical tensions that underpin performance management in schools: the responsibility to teachers and the responsibility to pupils; external accountability and professional autonomy; discipline of teachers and support of teachers; fixed processes and improvisational practices.

This paper provides a means of examining the performance management of teachers from an alternative perspective, one that embraces tensions and contradictions and gives headteachers a richer understanding of how teachers are evaluated and judged.

This paper moves beyond the traditional perspective of performance management in schools as a means of subjugation and control and offers an original dialectical framework within which to examine the phenomenon.

THE aircraft industry in the past has always had to rely on the wind tunnel facilities of the Ministry of Supply for such testing as was beyond the scope of the individual firms' tunnels, which are usually small. The new tunnel of the Aircraft Research Association Ltd., opened by the Duke of Edinburgh on May 4, is the result of the first attempt at co‐operative action between firms in the industry.

In this paper we report on the outcomes of a scenario planning project in Melbourne's (Australia) inner northern suburbs, which was undertaken in the context of an extended lockdown during Melbourne's second wave of COVID-19 infections. In this project, the researchers sought to identify the ways in which young people and youth service providers understood the challenges that the pandemic was creating for young people and the provision of youth services, and through the 5 years up to 2025.

The project was shaped by a scenario planning methodology that produced three research informed scenarios of possible futures for young people in Melbourne's inner north in 2025. The project conducted a series of structured video interviews with young people, and semi-structured interviews with stakeholders that asked participants to reflect on the context of the pandemic, and what the future might hold in relation to young people's pathways and health and well-being, and the futures of their communities and the planet.

The scenario planning methodology revealed many concerns, uncertainties and anxieties that were shared, but which also varied between young people and stakeholders – both about the immediacy of the pandemic, and its aftermaths and intersection with future crises.

The scenario planning approach offers sociologies of education and youth a means to do the future-oriented, “hopeful” work that multiple crises for young people demand. Scenario planning is an “affirmative” exercise in hope by which sociologies can “stay with the trouble” that we find ourselves in, and that the pandemic has amplified.

The desirability of electronic document delivery systems has been argued for years and the reasons for the slow progress of the idea are discussed. An explanation of the technical background is provided followed by some examples of electronic means of information distribution such as facsimile and disc‐based systems. Some experimental projects are described and the article concludes with a description of document image processing systems used for business purposes which have a number of features in common with delivery systems.

One of the major developments of the post‐War years has been the rise of consumer protection ‘watchdog’ committees galore, a flood of legislation and completely changed enforcement methods by existing local authority officers who to all and intents have become a completely new service. Voluntary agencies, national and local, based on the local High Street, have appointed themselves the watchdogs of the retail trade; legislation and central departments, the larger scene. The new service has proved of inestimable value in the changed conditions; it continues to develop. When shopping was a personal transaction, with the housewife making her purchases from the shopkeeper or his staff on the opposite side of the counter; when each was well known to the other and the relationship had usually lasted for many years, often from one generation to the next, things were very different, complaints few, unsatisfactory items instantly replaced, usually without question. This continuing state of equanimity was destroyed by the retail revolution and new methods of advertising and marketing. Now, the numbers of complaints dealt with by consumer protection and environmental health departments of local authorities are truly enormous. We have become a nation of “complainers,” although in all conscience, we have much to complain about. Complaints cover the widest possible range of products and services, of which food and drink form an integral component. The complaints to enforcement authorities include many said to be unjustified, but from the reports of legal proceedings under relevant enactments, it is obvious that the bulk of them now originate from consumer complaints. Not all complainants, however, relish the thought of the case going before the courts. Less is heard publicly of complaints to the numerous voluntary bodies. Enforcement authorities see complaints in terms of infringements of the law, although their role as honest broker, securing recompense to the aggreived customer, has become important; a few departments being able to claim that they secured reimbursements and replacements of value totalling upwards of amounts which annually run into six figures. The broker role is also that adopted by voluntary bodies but with much less success since they lack the supporting authority of legal sanction.

Multicore Solders Ltd are pleased to announce that Jack Saw, Paul Salmon, Gordon Clarke and Tom Perrett have joined their commercial division. The decision of Billiton Solders, UK, to sell the assets of their profitable solder division to the Cookson group released the aforementioned personnel who will be pleased to maintain their contacts in the industry and offer the same personal service as is the Multicore tradition.

Difficulties which have for many years surrounded the interpretation of false descriptions of trade goods and services are emphasised in the discussions, in and out of Parliament, of the Protection of Consumers (Trade Descriptions) Bill, the new code of consumer legislation which although incorporating much that has gone before, does introduce a number of rather sweeping extensions. In the opening of the Committee stage in the House of Lords most of the debate ranged around the meaning of the term false description itself, and an amendment which defeated the Government, made it necessary for a description to be false in a material particular to be an offence. This is in fact the present law. The amendment has now little more than theoretical interest as the Bill with numerous others was jettisoned because of the General Election.

The authors draw selectively on theories of learning and knowledge, which currently have received little attention from knowledge translation (KT) researchers, and suggest how they might usefully inform future development of the KT literature. The purpose of this paper is to provide conceptual tools and strategies for the growing number of managers, clinicians and decision makers navigating this arena.

The authors conducted a narrative review to synthesise two streams of literature and examine evolving conceptual landscape concerning knowledge translation over the previous three decades. Conceptual mapping was used iteratively to develop and synthesise the literature. Iterative feedback from relevant research and practice stakeholder groups was used to focus and strengthen the review.

KT has been conceptualised along three competing frames; one focusing on linear (largely unidirectional) transfer of knowledge; one focusing on KT as a social process; and another that seeks to more fully incorporate contextual issues in understanding research implementation. Three overlapping themes are found in the management literature that inform these debates in the health literature, namely knowledge boundaries, organisational learning and absorptive capacity. Literature on knowledge boundaries problematizes the nature of boundaries and the stickiness of knowledge. Organisational learning conceptualises the need for organisational wide systems to facilitate learning processes; it also draws on a more expansive view of knowledge. Absorptive capacity focuses at the firm level on the role of developing organisational capabilities that enable the identification, assimilation and use of new knowledge to enable innovation.

The paper highlights the need to consider KT processes at multiple levels, including individual, organisational and strategic levels. These are important not only for research but also have practical implications for individuals and organisations involved in KT processes.

This review summarises and integrates two largely separate literature streams on knowledge translation – namely health services research and management scholarship. In addition to outlining and organising the conceptual landscape around knowledge transfer, the paper contributes by highlighting how management literature on knowledge and learning theories might inform health services research on knowledge translation.

One of the recommendations in process-based cognitive therapies suggests that functional analysis created by the clinician should be supported by empirical data collected through daily sampling. It enables the computing of a dynamic network of psychological processes and symptoms supporting clinical decisions but also therapeutic progress monitoring. However, the experience sampling solutions available in the market do not enable the automatic creation of this kind of network; thus, the use of this approach in clinical practice is practically impossible without advanced statistical skills and significant time investment. The purpose of the present paper is to describes a protocol of a research project based on a participatory approach aiming to create a solution enabling therapists not only to set up a personalized daily sampling for their patients and collect the data but also providing a fully automated visualization of the network adapted for therapeutic purposes.

The project will require creating a platform for therapists where they can set up monitoring and receive dynamic networks visualization, creating an experience sampling application for patients connected to the platform and creating an optimal data visualization system that will enable therapists to accurately and quickly interpret the network. A series of participatory workshops, qualitative and quantitative studies are described.

The presented studies will enable us to evaluate the ergonomy of use of both platform and app in laboratory and ecological settings along with the evaluation of network interpretation accuracy.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first participatory design protocol for creating a solution that might enable clinicians to use a dynamic network approach in their everyday clinical practice. The challenges and opportunities of creating this kind of mHealth solution are discussed.