Search results

Serious case reviews (SCRs) are one means of learning the lessons arising from adverse, salient incidents and tragedies. Adult Safeguarding Boards in England are expected to have an SCR policy and procedure, to commission SCRs, to abstract and act on the learning, and to monitor the resulting action plans.

Since SCRs reflect a wide range of processes, the authors undertook a general review, drawing on their experiences of conducting and contributing to SCRs. They chose to pose sets of question‐prompts regarding the commissioning process, the management of the process, the appointment of a chair and author, the terms of reference, information‐sharing, confidentiality, involving relatives and making findings public. The compliance of the process with human rights legislation is also considered.

Whilst the authors acknowledge the responsibility of organisations to promote continuous and cumulative professional learning, they do not promote SCRs as the sole means of learning about the ways in which professionals and agencies work together to safeguard adults at risk of abuse.

The paper challenges the perception that SCR can be streamlined, structured, codified, and constrained.

In reflective writing, students are encouraged to examine their own setbacks and progress. With a shortage of guidance in how to provide feedback to students on this type of writing, teachers are often left to figure it out on the job. The central hypothesis in this paper is that the lens of reflective practice can help focus teacher efforts and ultimately improve both feedback and instruction. The purpose of this paper is not to produce a universal prescription for assessing reflective writing but rather a protocol for teacher reflective practice that can apply to challenging grading and feedback-giving situations.

Student assessment is a chance for teachers to learn about their students’ abilities and challenges and to provide feedback for improvement. Assessment and grading sessions can also become opportunities for teachers to examine their own instructional and assessment practices. This self-examination process, a cornerstone of reflective practice (Schön, 1984), is challenging, but it may be especially valuable when guidelines for feedback and assessment are hard to come by. Such may be said to be the case in student-centered learning environments such as school Fablabs and makerspaces, where stated goals commonly include cultivating learner self-regulation and resilience. These hard-to-measure constructs are typically assessed through analysis of student reflective journals. This in-depth case study uses mixed-methods to examine how a semester-long intervention affected the grading, feedback and instructional practices of a teacher in a hands-on design classroom. The intervention involved 10 grade-aloud sessions using a computer-based rubric tool (Gradescope) and a culminating card-sorting task. The lens of reflective practice was applied to understanding the teacher’s development of their own reflective capabilities.

During the intervention, the participating teacher grappled with grading and feedback-giving dilemmas which led to clarifications of assessment objectives; changes to instruction; and improved feedback-giving practices, many of which persisted after the intervention. The teacher perceived the intervention as adding both rigor and productive “soul-searching” to their professional practice. Lasting changes in feedback behaviors included a comprehensive rubric and an increase in the frequency, specificity and depth of feedback given to student written work.

Significant prior efforts have been directed separately at the use of reflective practice for teachers, in general, and on the feedback and grading of student process journals. This work combines these lines of inquiry in the reflective classroom assessment protocol, a novel on-the-job professional development opportunity that fosters reflective practice in times of assessment to improve instructional and feedback practices.

The data used to present this case was collected from secondary data sources. These sources included media reports associated with Michael Jordan and his trajectory since entering the sport, as well as specific information published about his time at the Chicago Bulls. Another key source of information is the ESPN documentary conducted specifically on Jordan’s relationship with his National Basketball Association (NBA) team.

The case follows the story of Michael Jordan, who took his team, the Chicago Bulls, to fame in a rather controversial manner. To do so, Michael Jordan had to alter his leadership style over the years to be respected as a leader and motivate his team to win one NBA championship after another. On 20th April 2020, ESPN’s “The Last Dance”, a 10-part documentary about Michael Jordan and his time playing for the Chicago Bulls was released to much acclaim. The documentary became highly noted as Jordan himself, both directed and starred in the documentary. Jordan’s great achievements stood out, but so did the conflicts that the basketball star had with The Bulls’ management team and mainly, his teammates. Relationships between teammates were far from harmonious, which led to questions around whether Michael Jordan was as good a leader, as he was a star player. Cultural change within the organisation was primarily linked to the often-contested leadership of Jordan.

The case can be used at UG, MSc and MBA levels. It works for in-person teaching and for online teaching. It is most suitable in leadership, strategy and strategy in practice courses. However, it is critical to note that the case can shed light on the dynamics that leaders and teammates have within their teams. Therefore, this case may be valuable to students studying courses where they themselves must work in groups and oftentimes encounter challenges in managing their team. These challenges can arise at all levels of experience. As such, the case provides particularly useful reflection for decision makers who may be beginning to develop their leadership skill (UG), those who have already experienced working in teams (MSc) or leading teams themselves (MBA, Executive MBA). The case addresses the challenges associated with achieving high team motivation and performance. It also sheds light on the challenges associated with leading a cultural change within a team and the approaches of different actors involved. It may be best to introduce the case in the context of a (1.5–2 h) workshop once students understand the basic frameworks and tools used to analyse leadership styles and their characteristics.

To argue that in the knowledge economy, those who are expert in understanding intellectual property issues, such as librarians and information professionals, have a special responsibility for creating policy, encouraging understanding and resolving legal disputes and conflicts unique to this aspect of the information society. One way of achieving this is through the educational impact of systematic information literacy programmes which include intellectual property issues as part of the syllabus.

An overview of current practice and current opinion.

That the current culture, especially in higher education towards intellectual property rights, remains both confused and confusing, above all for the “information illiterate” starting out on degree‐level programmes. Attitudes and policies need to be clarified so that a coherent approach to a range of different but related intellectual property (IP) matters such as plagiarism, self‐archiving on research repositories and respect for commercially owned copyright material is uniformly developed. Debate must be differentiated from policy which in turn must be implemented via the information literacy (IL) syllabus.

This is a statement of opinion that could be tested by practical case study investigation.

Suggests that information literacy programmes be promoted as a way of enhancing students' understanding of intellectual property issues.

This paper brings together different IP issues which are not normally considered together, such as institutional research repositories, student plagiarism and commercial IP entitlements. It points out ways of unifying these in a single coherent philosophy of information society rights and ownership. This philosophy should form one of the mainstays of the information literacy syllabus.

This study aims to use a variant from the family of discrete choice models, i.e. the logit model, to analyse the relationship between the Y dependent and X explanatory variables. This model addresses the linear probability model's main drawback by constraining the probabilities of the Y outcome between 0 and 1. The logit model also offers an extra advantage, in that it can provide odd ratio estimations.

This is a compact case written specifically to teach statistics, econometrics and research method. It has an accompanying data set for the case-users to do hands-on statistical analyses. The data set has been collected from a questionnaire survey from the students enrolled in Attitune, i.e. the music school that the case protagonist founded.

The case revolves around a relatively new music school, Attitune Music, established in July 2017 in the heart of the capital city of a northern state in Malaysia. Michael Lee Wei-Pin was the founder of Attitune Music Sdn. Bhd. He was also one of the four music instructors of Attitune Music. His speciality instruments were the guitar and the piano. The case opens with the case protagonist, Michael, pondering over Attitune’s performance in terms of its music students’ enrolment. Attitune faced a major challenge – its student enrolment had remained more or less constant since its establishment. Low and/or constant number of students could ultimately translate into stagnant or even worse, shrinking revenues for Attitune. To attract more students, Michael had been toying with the idea of injecting new elements into Attitune’s music lessons, something different from what other music schools were offering and that could be unique selling points for Attitune. With this in mind, Michael surveyed Attitune’s students to gather information that could help him gauge the potential and feasibility of his idea.

This case is well positioned to be perhaps the pioneer Malaysian teaching case to be written to teach courses in statistics, econometrics and research methods. The case can be easily adapted to teach at either the introductory or at an advanced level.

This chapter describes a precollegiate course designed to encourage high school students of color to explore teaching and presents the findings from case studies on two Black male students enrolled in the course who are now preparing to pursue a career in teaching. The research questions guiding the two case studies include: (a) What factors influence Black males to consider teaching? (b) What roles do race, ethnicity, and school experiences play in Black males’ exploration of teaching? and (c) What aspects of the course are most influential in Black males’ exploration of teaching and related fields? The results of these case studies expose the complexity of effective recruitment of Black male teachers. The insights provided by these two teens can provide substantial guidance for the improvement of educational policy and practice in order to increase the recruitment and retention of Black male teachers.

The purpose of this paper is to examine how lesson study can lead to teacher learning and improvement of instruction by developing teachers’ mathematical-task knowledge and by supporting teachers’ selection, modification, and implementation of mathematical tasks. Mathematical-task knowledge includes knowledge needed to use tasks that require a high level of thinking and reasoning.

A qualitative case study design was used to explore the learning and instruction of three teachers as they went through the process of lesson study, developed knowledge around mathematics tasks, and made changes to their instruction. Methods included direct observation of lessons, semi-structured interviews, and participant observation.

This lesson study project supported teachers in developing mathematical-task knowledge and in making change to instructional practice. The teachers discussed in this paper added to their understanding of mathematical tasks and changed how they implemented tasks after lesson study. The teachers began to challenge students to go beyond memorizing or executing procedures to deepen the students’ understanding of mathematical concepts. Teachers developed key insights and understandings of mathematical tasks, triggering shifts in their thinking, and changes to instruction. Collaboration and reflection altered the selection, modification, and implementation of mathematical tasks.

This study reveals the connections between features of lesson study and the pathways that lead to learning and improvements to instruction. Limitations included the demands of the school district’s pacing guide and curriculum, and a limited number of interviews and observations were conducted after lesson study.

There are many different ways lesson study has been implemented in the USA, yet the effectiveness of many lesson study projects is still unclear. This study reveals more about the lesson study process, what features are important, and how these features lead to development of knowledge and practice. This study examines how teachers within the same lesson study group added to their knowledge and practice and how different features of lesson study prompt them to make changes.

Bureaucratic hierarchy, as the hallmark of the modern organization, has been remarkably resilient in the face of increasingly pervasive attacks on its fundamental value and usefulness. We investigate the reasons for this from a cultural, particularly psychoanalytic, perspective – one that sees hierarchy's perpetuation not in terms of the efficacy of its instrumental potential, but rather in the values that are culturally sedimented within it. We argue that hierarchy reflects longings for a pure heavenly order that can never be attained yet remains appealing as a cultural fantasy psychologically gripping individuals in its beatific vision. To tease out this cultural logic we examine two representations of it in popular culture – the U.S. television comedy The Office (2005–) and comedian Will Farrell's impersonation of George W. Bush (2009). These examples illustrate the strength of bureaucratic hierarchy as an affective cultural ideal that retains its appeal even whilst being continually the subject of derision. We suggest that this cultural ideal is structured through a ‘fantasmatic narrative’ revolving around the desire for a spiritualized sense of sovereignty; a desire that is always undermined yet reinforced by its failures to manifest itself concretely in practice. Our central contribution is in relating hierarchy to sovereignty, suggesting that hierarchy persists because of an unquenched and unquenchable desire for spiritual perfection not only amongst leaders, but also amongst those they lead.

This paper suggests that in the context of complex organizations, operating in complex environments, new ways need to be designed to develop effective management and organizational learning. Based on work conducted with middle managers in three large global corporations, the paper argues that management is largely concerned with sense making. The more managers feel and think that decisions made by “top management” do not make sense, the more difficult it is for them to make sense of these decisions as they affect their own area of complexity. The paper further suggests that by mapping the perceptions of managers organizations can better develop organizational learning.

The very contextual nature of most mitigating evidence runs counter to America’s individualistic culture. Prior research has found that capital jurors are unreceptive to most mitigating circumstances, but no research has examined the capital sentencing decisions of trial judges. This study fills that gap through a content analysis of eight judicial sentencing opinions from Delaware. The findings indicate that judges typically dismiss contextualizing evidence in their sentencing opinions and instead focus predominately on the defendant’s culpability. This finding calls into question the ability of guided discretion statutes to ensure the consideration of mitigation and limit arbitrariness in the death penalty.