The University of Buckingham Press Journals
Not a member yet
1038 research outputs found
Sort by
RATIONALISM, RISK AND RIDICULE – EXPERTS, SCEPTICS AND THE MARK OF THE ‘BLOB’
Get PDFThis article offers a perspective on the debate about experts and their value. It considers why expert claims for attention are often regarded as suspect. It does so by reflecting on the work of Arendt, Oakeshott, and Scruton. It notes that decision makers can easily find themselves in a bind - sometimes railing against experts, like those presumed to inhabit an education ‘Blob’ in the UK - and at other times seemingly becoming dependent upon them, as in ‘the Science’ and public health. It draws attention to the character of the distaste for scepticism about experts within education, and to the intellectual origin of that scepticism itself. It highlights the alleged contradictions in the minds of sceptics especially where they want to conserve or draw strength from inherited social norms, and yet at the same time regard them as a dehumanising trap. It suggests that the contradiction can be overcome by distinguishing between their concerns about the dangers of rationalism, and their rooted attachment to reason and reasonableness. It invites practitioners to take a principled interest in risk and in its resistance to elimination. It suggests that ridicule can be healthy in so far as it deftly challenges complacency amongst experts and practitioners alike
MICHAEL GOVE 2010–2014
Get PDFThe article provides an overview of the extensive and fast-moving reforms initiated by Michael Gove as the Secretary of State for Education in the years 2010–2014. These include the rapid acceleration of the academisation programme and the development of free schools.
There is a more extensive exploration of the reform of the curriculum and the reformation of examination structures. This latter review is set in the context of university advice and against the backdrop of international performance.
Much of the focus of the article considers the implementation of the intentions of a minster who had been in waiting for three years before taking office. However, consideration is also given to the unexpected, yet significant, issues which intersect a politician’s tenure of office. The Birmingham based ‘Trojan Horse Schools’ situation is considered both as an issue of accountability but also its implications for the nature of schooling, state funding and societal values
‘Not My Employee, Not My Liability’: A Review of the Law of Vicarious Liability, Its April 2020 Supreme Court Airing, and Its Relevance to the Equestrian Industry and Other Small Businesses
Get PDFIn April 2020, the Supreme Court in WM Morrison Supermarkets plc v Various Claimants [2020] and Barclays Bank plc v Various Claimants [2020] overturned the decisions of the Court of Appeal in applying the law regarding vicarious liability of employees and others (and deciding in both cases that the defendant companies were not liable for the acts in question). The scope of responsibilities which the employment relationship brings, together with an awareness among many businesses of the classification worker, along with the more familiar employed/self-employed status, makes an examination of the outcomes and potential impact of these cases of wide, practical interest for those running businesses, large or small. The review concluded that there had been no dramatic change in the law but that the cases provide a measure of comfort to employers in something of a common-sense view being taken as to the scope of vicarious liability. They also add to the body of case law, helping to ensure that future issues can more clearly be reasoned out of court, with the detailed steer on the application of legal principles which a Supreme Court judgment provides
What Are the Legal Mechanisms for Seeking Solutions to Disparities in the Delivery of Care in the NHS and Where Does Liability Lie?
Get PDFThis review deals with the potential role of Commissions and Inquiries into delivering a just service to patients from ethnic minorities. It takes as an example the experience of people with inflammatory bowel disease and the National Health Service in the United Kingdom. Although there are many legal safeguards, the avenues open to groups of patients who experience discrimination, are limited and generally ineffective. Government inspired responses such as Commissions and Inquiries are inadequate and not fit for purpose
Apologies and the Legacy of an Unlawful Application of Terra Nullius in Terra Australis
Get PDFThe use of the legal fiction, terra nullius, as it was erroneously applied to Terra Australis, Australia, as a legal doctrine, supported the British colonial power’s right to settle that territory. Since then, many unspoken (as well as acknowledged) acts of structural and direct violence have been perpetrated against the First Nations population in Australia via the imposition, and later ‘reception’, of the legal system and laws of England, as well as the dominant socio-political system, that represented the British Crown
The Pedagogy Which Underpins a Personal Curriculum for Pupils with Severe Physical Disabilities, Complex Medical Difficulties and a Diverse Range of Learning Needs
Get PDFThis article considers an appropriate pedagogy for learners with severe physical disabilities, sensory difficulties, complex medical difficulties and a diverse range of cognitive abilities in one particular school. In turn it discusses the curriculum which was designed around that pedagogy. As we consider an era when many of these children would not have survived to attend school, or would have been deemed ineducable, and move to a time in which medical interventions have improved and their right to education is now protected. It discusses how we find ourselves faced with the questions ‘how’ do we teach children such as these? What do we need to take into consideration in order to do so? It is clear that the field of special education has to change in response to a different cohort of students. Finally it suggests that the most appropriate curriculum is one that follows the pedagogy of these particular learners and is personal to them both in terms of the curriculum and assessment due to their diverse difficulties and learning needs
Assessing the Effectiveness of Schools to Safeguard Their Pupil’s Use of Social Media Through an Analysis of School Inspection Reports
Get PDFWhile social media remains a facet of life that many children and young people happily engage in, its use comes with some recognised risks and dangers. Parents can feel ill-equipped to support their children with this and there is consequently a reliance on schools to teach children how to use these platforms appropriately. To evaluate the effectiveness of secondary schools in teaching pupils about social media, this study makes use of evidence from Ofsted school inspection reports. Exploiting techniques developed in computer science, the Ofsted web portal was automatically scraped for reports and the content searched for reference to social media. This identified 317 reports which referred to the platforms. The report’s texts were coded through content analysis and subsequently revealed that over 90% of the references to social media contained in inspection reports were positive in reporting that pupils both understood the risks and knew how to describe how to manage their online activities. The results suggest that schools are effective in addressing these safeguarding issues although pupils are not always putting their knowledge into practise
A Multilevel Mixed Effects Model to Evaluate Effectiveness of Treatment for Problem Gambling
No full textProblem gambling treatment is a challenging present-day topic. This paper proposes an empirical model for evaluating the effectiveness of treatment for problem gambling using a sample of problem gamblers treated by a set of Spanish associations dedicated to gambling addiction issues. Data consists of multiple levels of nested groups (individuals and problem gambling recovery centres). A multi-level, mixed-effects logistic regression is used which permits controlling for unobserved heterogeneity across different problem gambling associations. The results seem to indicate that individual aspects such as age, family history, marital status or work situation, but also behavioural factors (previous dropouts, relapses during treatment, or consumption of other substances) are found to affect the effectiveness of treatment for gambling disorders. The analysis of the predictors for treatment efficacy may help treatment techniques to be adapted depending on the characteristics of individual patients and to evaluate programmes designed by treatment centres
Impact of the Coronavirus Pandemic on Las Vegas Strip Gaming Revenue
No full textThe coronavirus epidemic or Covid-19 started in Wuhan, China in December 2019 and has severely impacted all aspects of life worldwide. It has resulted in 216 million infections and 4.5 million deaths so far globally, and In the present article, the impact of coronavirus on gaming revenue of the state of Nevada will be investigated. Gaming revenue time series data for the period January 1988 – November 2020 was obtained from the Gaming Control Board of Nevada. In addition to the trend and seasonality components, the terrorist attack of September 2011, the recession of 2008, and the coronavirus pandemic are also included in the Machine Learning (ML) prediction models for gaming revenues. The goals of this study are to estimate the effect of the coronavirus pandemic on gaming revenue of the Las Vegas Strip casinos, and to forecast gaming revenue and predict time to recovery. The results of this analysis show that the impact of coronavirus has been drastic, but the economic recovery has been rather fast
