1,720,963 research outputs found
Closing the Gap
No full textThis concluding chapter draws from the 14 chapters that have come before it to discuss their implications and findings towards understanding what we have achieved in gaining equality in education across the world. In doing so, the chapter highlights that there are numerous important projects taking place, with fervour, in different international locations. Many developing countries are recognising that equality and inclusion in education are important for strengthening infrastructure, which is necessary for a developing economy. Whilst barriers to this goal are identified, the positive approach is gaining traction, as seen in the fact that more and more people are gaining access to education. Marginalised groups are still experiencing difficulties but, as is acknowledged in this chapter and throughout the book, the difficulties are becoming fewer and access to education is becoming more recognised as essential for each national government to provide. With the widening of access to and the proliferation of available education, other issues have come to the fore, such as a necessity for ensuring that the quality of teaching and access to appropriate resources are also considered.Christopher Boyle, Hongzhi Zhang, Philip Wing Keung Cha
Opening Pandora’s Box
No full textEquality in education is a complex and controversial issue that transcends the field of education and is subject to unique political, economic and cultural factors. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) (2007) suggests that “a fair and inclusive system that makes the advantages of education available to all is one of the most powerful levers to make society more equitable” (p.10). This belief is generated from its mission, which is to “ promote the policies that will improve the economic and social well-being of people around the world ” ( OECD, 2014, par 1 ) . In 2007, the OECD put forward ten practical steps which, it was hoped, would reduce school failure and make society fairer. The report offers an important, comparative perspective on how different countries have handled equity in education. It identified three key areas essential to the delivery of equity in education: the design of education systems, classroom practices, and resourcing. All countries have unique features in their education system. It is important to explore equity issues from a ‘within country’ perspective as well as from a comparative perspective.Hongzhi Zhang, Philip Wing Keung Chan & Christopher Boyl
Prevalence of hypertension in healthy primary school children in the Klang Valley
No full textThe objective of the study was to determine the prevalence of hypertension in healthy primary school children. A cross-sectional survey by manual blood pressure measurement of healthy children aged 6-12 years attending a national type school was carried out. Children with previous renal, cardiac and endocrine disorders were excluded. Korotkoff 1 represented the systolic blood pressure (SBP) and Korotkoff 5 was taken as the diastolic blood pressure (DBP). Hypertension was defined as the SBP or DBP above the 95th centile according to age group and sex regardless of ethnicity. A total of 1756 children were studied with 895 boy and 861 girls. The results showed that 109 children (6.2%) were found to have hypertension and the incidence was similar in boys and girls (6.4% vs 6.0%, p = 0.69). Fifty-three (48.6%) children had an elevated SBP and the DBP was elevated in 43 (39.4%) children. Only 12 (12.0%) children had both elevated SBP and DBP. Children found to have hypertension were more likely to be Chinese (p = 0.009) and obese (p = 0.04). In conclusion the overall prevalence of hypertension in children aged 6-12 years based on a single blood pressure measurement was 6.2%. Hypertension was more likely to be found in Chinese children and those who were obese
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Get PDFThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Reimagining student equity and aspiration in a global higher education field
No full textNo abstract available
Variations on the Author
Get PDF“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Get PDFWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Take action or do nothing: The educational dilemma of the teacher
No full textIt is argued in this chapter that teachers could be regarded as being in a somewhat invidious position when it comes to the implementation, or enactment, of various education policies. Yes, teachers are agents of the state but they can have a large influence over the effectiveness or fidelity of government policies. This chapter considers the dilemmas, from a philosophical and practical point of view, that teachers (here we focus on the schooling sector) face in deciding whether to take action that may be in the interests of students or to implement policy, without question, as mandated. Of course not all policies arrive in schools directly from the minds of politicians unscathed. They pass through various other bureaucratic and political processes and mechanisms that create other policy conditions, especially related to implementation and these inflect the potential of its fidelity - how closely the policy can be made to fit the original intentions of the policy makers and how this will be measured. In the case of Australia this process is more complicated, as in the Federation, the States have ostensible responsibility for education, although the Australian (national) government has sought to assert its authority, especially since 2007 through National Partnership Agreements. Our argument is that teachers' responsibility is towards the students they teach, and that policy, in whatever condition, and from wherever, it 'arrives' at a school, must be reconditioned so that this responsibility may be met. How well or poorly such responsibility is carried out, is an important and broad question that current measures focused on accountability (for example high stakes standardised testing, such as the National Assessment Program - Literacy and Numeracy [NAPLAN]) do not adequately measure. With this in mind, we would like here to set out some of the ways that we might approach the policy dilemmas that teachers face, and how considering these might contribute to the fulfilment of teachers' educational responsibility, in spite of policy mandates and the current rise in accountability measures. © 2014 Sense Publishers. All rights reserved
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