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Spotlight on: Humanities in speech and language therapy
Get PDFIn this ‘Spotlight on: Humanities in speech and language therapy’, we argue the case for the arts and humanities to find its way into speech and language therapy (SLT) course curricula, clinical practicum, and other areas related to SLT professional practice. We have a long-held belief that the arts and humanities have much to offer the discipline of speech and language therapy. This review begins with a consideration of what is meant by health humanities, within the more traditionally termed ‘medical humanities’. Considerations for curricular inclusion are also presented. An example from a literary autobiographical work is used to illustrate the possibility and potential of integrating a humanities’ approach to a speech and language therapy curriculum in order to better understand and appreciate communication and communication breakdown. Finally, although the case is made in this review for the discipline of speech and language therapy to embrace the humanities, by implication, there is no reason why other healthcare programmes cannot consider the possibility, where better understanding of the human condition of health and illness is core to teaching and learning
Student Energy-Saving in Higher Education Tackling the Challenge of Decarbonisation
Get PDFPurpose:
This research aimed to explore students' sustainability attitudes and behavioural intentions and their relation to energy use, to promote energy saving and decarbonisation in higher education settings.
Methodology:
We used a validated energy literacy survey to assess undergraduate students’ attitudes and behavioural intentions towards energy-saving in two countries (Brazil and Belgium). The questionnaire, administered online, comprised 23 Likert scale questions and 3 questions eliciting socio-demographic information. Results were analyzed using a linear regression model and compared with previous research using the same energy literacy instrument.
Findings:
The research identified three dimensions of sustainable attitudes: Citizens’ role, Scientists’ role, and Government’s role, explaining 65.5% of respondents’ energy-related attitudes. Three dimensions of sustainable behaviours were identified, explaining 64.5% of energy-related behavioural intentions: Consumption of eco-friendly products, financially driven behaviours, and household energy saving. The linear regression model identified Scientists’ Role, consumption of eco-friendly products and financially driven behaviour as the key predictors of student energy use. Differences between the
two contexts also emerged.
Originality:
Student attitudes and behavioural intentions towards energy are an important element of campus decarbonisation and can act as a catalyst towards a carbon-free society. Although energy literacy research has been undertaken in the US and UK, this research is the first of its kind for Belgium and Brazil and the mode of analysis - using a linear regression model - differs from the earlier work, offering a novel methodological approach
Chapter 10: Best Practice Network lead provider overview: The Early Career Development Programme
No full textBPN is a training provider based in Bristol and has over 13 years of experience providing leadership development programmes and school improvement services. BPN’s mission is to help every child access an excellent education and it articulates this through the core values of ‘inspire learning’, ‘work together’, ‘act with integrity’ and ‘strive for excellence’.
As an organisation, it is home to the Outstanding Leaders Partnership (OLP) and places an emphasis on the importance of partnerships for effective professional development. On its website, BPN (n.d.) shares that its school partnerships are central to the development and delivery of its programmes and training and ‘work for good of the system’: Working closely with over 1500 of the very best schools in the country means that our programmes are forged from the expertise and the very latest thinking of leading current practitioners – who then go on to help deliver those programmes
Immersing Sport Education into an outdoor archaeological learning experience for pupils within one primary school
No full textEmbedding interdisciplinary learning into the first-year undergraduate curriculum: drivers and barriers in a cross-institutional enhancement project
Get PDFEngaging with interdisciplinary learning during higher education (HE) study can provide students with skills and modes of thinking informed by multiple worldviews. Opportunities for interdisciplinary learning in the English HE system are limited; associated primarily with postgraduate study or later undergraduate stages. This paper reports on an enhancement project that sought to engage first-year students with interdisciplinary learning. Drawing on data gathered from staff interviews, student focus groups and module enrolments, we examine drivers and barriers impacting on the planned curriculum transformation. Whilst drivers emerged from many directions (e.g. professional bodies, staff advocates), these were overwhelmed by the barriers – both administrative and ideological. Student responses were mixed. Some would have liked a wider choice of truly interdisciplinary modules, but it was clear many students did not understand the rationale for the modules and felt that they needed more support to participate
Golden Thread or Gilded Cage? An analysis of Department for Education support for the continuing professional development of teachers
Get PDFExecutive Summary
This report was developed over a ten-month period building on extensive consultation with over 50 professionals directly involved with CPD provision for teachers in England.
The report seeks to highlight the strengths, weaknesses and unforeseen impacts of the Early Career Framework(ECF) and National Professional Qualifications (NPQs), one year into the national roll-out of the ECF.
Particular strengths of the ECF include:
- Provision of a coherent programme of professional development over an extended period
- Recognition of the importance of mentoring and coaching in professional development
- An emphasis on wellbeing particularly in relation to introducing strategies to manage workload
- Different providers developing their own programmes based on the ECF has the potential to provide comparative learning opportunities across the sector.
In addition to these benefits, the NPQs offer a range of different pathways that help to map out opportunities for alternative career stages.
Concerns with the ECF and NPQ programmes are sub-divided into content and implementation.
Concerns with content include:
- A high level of repetition both between the initial Core Content Framework (CCF) and the ECF as well across the NPQs; this discourages learners and means content is missed
- A lack of progression from CCF to ECF through to NPQs; statements are repeated rather than reinforced in any meaningful manner
- A limited research base underpinning these programmes; alternative views that would serve to deepen teachers’ professional understanding are not presented
- Generic content that cannot be contextualised; a limited range of case studies are used rather than drawing on practice in the teacher’s own setting
- The place of Special Educational Needs and disability (SEND), particularly the ‘behaviourist’ approach taken to behaviour management which is counterproductive with many children
- The absence of any reference to the climate crisis and ecological emergency which represent the context within which our economy is developing.
Concerns with implementation include:
- The need for mentors to ‘backfill’ the programme with contextualised learning due to the uniform content; this can add significantly to mentor workload
- Providing mentors and support for their development places considerable strain on schools; this represents a huge risk to the programme
- Mentoring costs are such that some schools avoid recruiting newly qualified teachers; this is exacerbated by diminishing pay differentials between recruits and experienced teachers
- The ECF assumes a common starting point which is rarely the case; continuity from initial training to CPD is actually lost, despite the golden thread narrative
- The sequencing of material needs to be more flexible to reflect the experiences and concerns of early career teachers
- There is a misalignment between Ofsted requirements, the Teacher Standards and the ECF and NPQ frameworks; this needs to be addressed - ECF and NPQ facilitator training is prescriptive and often led by non-experts; this hampers the development of professionals in this role
- The critical role of the induction tutor within schools is underplayed or absent, yet this role is key to supporting early career teachers.
The ECF and NPQs represent a significant investment in teacher professional development; we hope that this paper will contribute to ensuring that this investment is effective in challenging and inspiring teachers in order to retain them in the long run.
There are welcome signs that feedback from schools on the ECF programme is being listened to and there is an opportunity here to respond further to feedback in order to build a more effective model.
Two survey-based reports on the ECF (IMS/BMG 2022; Ford et al 2022) highlight challenges faced in its implementation and the likely weak effect on teacher retention. This report provides details that can help to explain some of those survey results. It will be important to study the impact of the ECF and NPQs on the recruitment and retention of teachers and to ensure that the programme adapts to future feedback and the changing needs of the profession. We trust that our analysis will contribute to that process
Chapter 9: Capita lead provider case study: Working through partnership for contextualised professional development
No full textCapita is ‘a consulting, transformation and digital services business’ that offers specialist support services to over 3000 schools and academies (Capita 2021a). In March 2021 Capita was awarded a lead provider contract for the Early Career Framework (ECF). This was their first contract from the Department for Education in relation to the ECF. Capita is working in partnership with the University of Birmingham as its lead academic provider in the design and development of its early career full induction programme (ECFIP)
Evaluation of Educational Access: Final Report, March 2022
No full textIn October 2021, Ecorys was commissioned by Natural England to evaluate the current delivery of educational access
and draw comparisons with best practice in outdoor learning as explored in literature. Specifically, the evaluation aimed
to answer the following questions:
What curriculum subjects and topics and pedagogical approaches can be delivered within (non-residential)
outdoor learning?
What curriculum subjects and topics and pedagogical approaches are currently being delivered on educational
access sites?
How does the current approach to educational access compare to optimal approaches within (non-residential)
outdoor learning?
What are the facilitators and barriers towards the implementation of optimal approaches within (non-residential)
outdoor learning?
The mixed-method approach consisted of: (a) a literature review which examined best practice of curriculum content and
pedagogy within outdoor learning, (b) a survey of existing educational access providers to understand how visits are
currently delivered, and (c) in-depth interviews to explore examples of how providers tailored teaching and learning to
their farm or wildlife site. Findings from each work package were triangulated in order to answer the research questions
Optimising curve fitting techniques to look for standardisation of the analysis of defocus curves derived from multifocal intraocular lenses
Get PDFIntroduction: To establish the most appropriate curve fitting method to allow accurate comparison of defocus curves derived from intraocular lenses (IOLs).
Methods: Defocus curves were plotted in five IOL groups (monofocal, extended depth of focus, refractive bifocal, diffractive bifocal and trifocal). Polynomial curves from 2nd to 11th order and cubic splines were fitted. Goodness of fit (GOF) was assessed using five methods: least squares, coefficient of determination (R2 adj), Akaike information criteria (AIC), visual inspection and Snedecor and Cochran. Additional defocus steps at −2.25D and −2.75D were measured and compared to the calculated visual acuity (VA) values. Area under the defocus curve and range of focus were also compared.
Results: Goodness of fit demonstrated variable results, with more lenient methods such as R2 adj leading to overfitting and conservative methods such as AIC resulting in underfitting. Furthermore, conservative methods diminished the inflection points resulting in an underestimation of VA. Polynomial of at least 8th order was required for comparison of area methods, but overfitted the EDoF and monofocal groups; the spline curve was consistent for all IOLs and methods.
Conclusions: This study demonstrates the inherent difficulty of selecting a single polynomial function. The R2 method can be used cautiously along with visual inspection to guard against overfitting. Spline curves are suitable for all IOLs, guarding against the issues of overfitting. Therefore, for analysis of the defocus profile of IOLs, the fitting of a spline curves is advocated and should be used wherever possible
In it together! Cultivating space for intergenerational dialogue, empathy and hope in a climate of uncertainty
Get PDFThe urgent and interlocking social, economic and ecological crises faced by societies around the world require dialogue, empathy and above all, hope that transcends social divides. At a time of uncertainty and crisis, many societies are divided, with distrust and divides exacerbated by media representations pitting different groups against one another.
Acknowledging intersectional interrelationships, this collaborative paper considers one type of social distinction – generation – and focuses on how trust can be rebuilt across generations. To do this, we collate key insights from eight projects that shared space within a conference session foregrounding creative, intergenerational responses to the climate and related crises. Prompted by a set of reflective questions, presenters commented on the methodological resources that were co-developed in intergenerational research and action spaces. Most of the work outlined was carried out in the UK, situated in challenges that are at once particular to local contexts, and systematic of a wider malaise that requires intergenerational collaboration. Reflecting across the projects, we suggest fostering ongoing, empathetic dialogues across generations is key to addressing these challenges of the future, securing communities that are grounded as collaborative and culturally responsive, and resilient societies able to adapt to and mitigate the impacts of change