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Through historically oriented critical discourse analysis this article considers how the messages regarding the purpose of higher education, as presented in prospectuses of four case study institutions, have been impacted by massification and marketisation in England between 1977 and 2018. The prospectuses of four higher education institutions of different status were analysed to trace how discourses relating to the value of an undergraduate degree could be identified in the prospectuses. The findings suggest that while the prospectuses presented multiple rationales as to why students should undertake degrees, there was a significant increase in focus on graduate transitions to employment and a parallel hollowing-out of information relating to course content. The study found that over the period the vocabularies drawn on to present the value of a degree have become homogenised, yet the rationales given for undertaking tertiary study became more numerous and complex, making diversity of institutional offers difficult for prospective students to differentiate.

Based on the life and educational histories of sixteen high-achieving, working-class girls applying to high-tariff universities, this paper rekindles debates about the role of agency within the decision-making process of young people who might not otherwise be expected to apply to such institutions. It draws on Margaret Archer's theorising to tease out the interplay between structure and agency in the form of reflexivity and show how this shapes the girls' educational trajectories, rather than pre-determining them. The paper highlights how social class powerfully influences working-class applicants' university plans, in the form of constraints and enablements, but also argues that the girls in this paper are not simply passive young women to whom things happen. As active agents, they are instead becoming increasingly skilled in reflexively navigating their own pathways through education and advance their applications to high-tariff universities in strategic and deliberative ways.

Chinese students studying abroad have been increasing rapidly in the past decades and become a significant financial contribution to receiving countries. Accordingly, understanding their enrollment choice is essential to facilitate college marketing and admission strategies. Though the decision process is believed to be different from domestic students, empirical analysis of Chinese students' enrollment choices is still lacking. This paper fills the void by examining the influential factors of Chinese students' enrollment choice with novel student-level data. We find that in addition to factors domestic students typically consider, such as financial aid and academic quality, Chinese students particularly emphasize college ranking, reputation, and location in their decision process. Furthermore, unlike domestic students who usually prefer colleges with proximity to home, Chinese students' location preference is linked to job prosperity. We also find that the impact of the factors varies for students from different regions of China, which can be attributable to uneven economic development within the country.

Research in the UK is increasingly regulated by ethics review committees (RECs) which require researchers to seek ethics approval before commencing research. These RECs routinely expect researchers to anonymise data as part of standard ethical research practice. However, the anonymisation of data may sit in tension with participatory approaches to research which prioritise shared ownership of the research. In particular, the need to make decisions relating to ethics prior to the start of research makes it difficult for researchers to meaningfully share decision-making power with their participants--a fundamental principle of participatory approaches. This paper uses a participatory research study as a case study to explore this tension. In the study, the decision to anonymise data was made as part of the ethics approval process. However, over the course of the study, the researcher questioned whether this was the correct decision for this study. In order to afford researchers the flexibility required to involve participants in decision making, this paper argues for a dialogic and situational approach to ethics regulation. Allowing researchers to delay key decisions would mean that researchers could involve participants in the decision-making process rather than purely informing them of the results of decisions made on their behalf.

This paper examines the importance of educational psychology influence on UK Government education policy and school practice between the 1930s and the present time. It focuses on: the lead up to the 1944 Education Act; the 1967 Plowden Report on primary education; the 1973 Bullock Report on literacy; the 1978 Warnock Report on special education; the 1989 Elton Report on behaviour in schools; Every Child Matters, 2003; and on the 2007 Social and Emotional Aspects of Learning (SEAL). The paper considers the extent that research by educational psychologists may have influenced both the decisions of Governments but also school practice. It concludes that, despite the small size of the profession, EPs' influence has been considerable.

This paper examines the PhD by publication in the humanities and social sciences in US, UK, Canadian and Australian universities. A set of PhDs by publication from each of these countries were collected for the study. The theses were analysed to see to what extent they fitted, or not, with discussions of thesis types described in previous research into the PhD by publication. Interviews with students and supervisors were carried out to investigate the choices that students made in their writing. University rules for the submission of PhDs by publication and related policy documents are also examined. The study found that there seems to be a preference for different types of PhD by publication in each of the countries. In the US they were all prospective PhDs with the work being especially written for the thesis. In the UK, by contrast, retrospective PhDs, the PhD by published work, largely dominate. Canada was similar to the US, at least in the area of study where the data were collected for the paper, Education. In Australia, both prospective and retrospective PhDs were found, although it was the former, the prospective PhD, which dominated.

This paper aims to stimulate debate and prompt further research regarding the training, development and Higher Education (HE) of aspiring adventure professionals (AP's). The design of the paper draws on 10 years of observations and trends within the HE outdoor degree teaching sector, in tandem with the authors' own extensive professional outdoor careers. Initial findings indicate the role and significance of Professional Judgement and Decision Making (PJDM) in professional practice within adventure sports (AS) coaching and leadership. Consequently, PJDM is found to be a vital element of the education of the AP. The training and practice of these PJDM skills is a situated cognition that is conspicuous in its absence within many coach and leader education programmes where the AP is required to balance pedagogical and welfare demands in consequential environments. A cognitive apprenticeship approach is advocated which builds on recent articles highlighting the importance of PJDM in such domains.

Purpose: This paper aims to stimulate the nascent research agenda on the environmental sustainability of the ongoing mushrooming of international student mobility (ISM). The higher education (HE) system in the UK and elsewhere is increasingly predicated upon the hosting of international students. Whilst this drive towards internationalisation undoubtably has multiple benefits, little attention thus far has been paid to its potentially very considerable environmental impact. The drive for internationalisation within HE thus potentially sits at odds with ambitions and strategies to promote sustainability within the sector and beyond. Design/methodology/approach: In-depth interviews with 21 students and representatives of 14 university international offices offer insights into how the environment features in the decisions that young people and HE institutions make with regards to partaking in and promoting education-related mobility. Findings: The results find that students take environmental considerations into account when undertaking education-related mobility, but these aspirations are often secondary to logistical issues concerning the financial cost and longer travel times associated with greener travel options. At the institutional scale, vociferously championed university sustainability agendas have yet to be reconciled with the financial imperative to recruit evermore international students. Originality/value: This paper identifies a thus far neglected contradiction within HE whereby the sustainability agenda that it so rightly espouses is potentially undermined by the drive towards internationalisation. The paper uses the anthropause concept to consider the future environmental sustainability of ISM.

The last 25 years have witnessed the emergence of the International Branch Campus (IBC) as a means of providing Transnational Higher Education (TNE). The growth in the number of IBCs has not been without examples of failure and in some cases controversy, necessitating informed decision-making on the part of university leaders contemplating such a venture. Based on a systematic review of literature concerning the motivations for establishing IBCs; the drivers of sustainability and longevity; and case studies of successful and unsuccessful ventures by UK universities, this paper identifies key characteristics of successful IBCs. It proposes a framework -- combining strategic, leadership, academic, financial and operational factors -- for use by decision-makers in determining whether to establish and how to manage an IBC.

In recent years, increased interest in the Professional judgment and Decision Making (PJDM) of outdoor instructors has focused on experts. This paper builds on earlier work, exploring the components and development of PJDM in mid-career outdoor instructors. The study conducted and thematically analysed semi-structured interviews with nine senior instructors working for Outward Bound Trust (the Trust) in the UK. Findings included two over-arching themes: (1) a Hahnian approach to development, in line with the philosophies that underpin the Trust's work; and (2) practical wisdom: the synergy of contextual comprehension and appropriate options. We conclude that these mid-career outdoor instructors' decision making is dependent on high levels of situational awareness, situational demands, and availability of appropriate options as a course of action. We further identify a philosophical chain between the Trust's ethos, instructor development, and adaptive expertise. These skills develop through a process akin to a cognitive apprenticeship within the Trust's community of practice.

The approach that students take in their studies at university is critical not only for their academic success but is equally important in life-long learning for their career and professional development. Heutagogy is the study of self-determined learning and it is important that we appraise how students in higher education are developing their metacognitive awareness in how they learn and study effectively. Cognitive science is an interdisciplinary research area that involves the scientific study of the human mind. It helps provide new knowledge in relation to areas such as memory, problem solving, knowledge transfer and understanding of complex topics. Cognitive science has demonstrated that re-testing oneself on material when learning, enhances and promotes greater retention of knowledge compared to re-reading the material. Learning that is distributed or spaced out over multiple study sessions also allows for greater retention of knowledge in the longer-term compared to 'cramming' of information. To evaluate the use of effective study approaches and habits across three different levels of study in an undergraduate pharmacy programme, a survey study was employed. A paper-based survey was completed by first-, second- and third-year undergraduate pharmacy students (n=192) during class sessions. Although there was some evidence of metacognitive awareness such as using testing (retrieval practice) with practice problems; across all years, suboptimal study approaches such as rereading, copying notes and cramming were endorsed. A schedule of deadlines shaped the organisation of study and time management for most students. Self-testing was predominantly used to test learning rather than an approach used during learning. There was evidence of a difference between the cohorts in relation to decisions for prioritizing studying, returning to review course material and re-reading. The evidence from this study demonstrates that learners would require training on metacognitive awareness and effective study strategies to enable their self-determined learning capabilities to evolve. The linear progression through a programme of study alone will not achieve this. There is a need to embed and emphasize effective strategies for learning into curricula and for faculty to utilise metacognitive awareness in their teaching.

Background: There has been little applied learning from organisations engaged in making evidence useful for decision makers. More focus has been given either to the work of individuals as knowledge brokers or to theoretical frameworks on embedding evidence. More intelligence is needed on the practice of knowledge intermediation. Aims and objectives: This paper describes the evolution of approaches by one UK Centre to promote and embed evidence in health and care services. This is not a formal evaluation, given the lack of critical distance by authors who led work at the Centre, but a reflective analysis which may be helpful for other evidence intermediary bodies. Conclusions: We analyse the founding conditions and theoretical context at the start of our activity and describe four activities we developed over time. These were filter (screening research for relevance and quality); forge (engaging stakeholders in interpreting evidence); fuse (knowledge brokering with hybrid teams); and fulfil (sustained interaction with implementation partners). We reflect on the tensions between rigour and relevance in the evidence we shared and the way in which our approaches evolved from a programme of evidence outputs to greater focus on sustained engagement and deliberative activities to make sense of evidence and reach wider audiences. Over the lifetime of the Centre, we moved from linear and relational modes towards systems type approaches to embed and mobilise evidence.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate how COVID-19 impacted overseas students' decision to apply for an undergraduate degree at UK universities. Design/methodology/approach: This study compares the number of university applications from overseas students in summer and autumn 2020 with those in the period 2011-2019. Multivariate analysis techniques are used. Findings: The results show that the pandemic has led to a drop in university applications from foreign students by 11-14%. Such decline has been driven by a reduction in the number of applicants from high-income countries as opposed to those from middle-lower income countries. Two explanations may account for this finding. First, students from affluent countries, compared to those from poorer countries, may be more likely to find a good alternative to the UK where to carry out their studies (including their home country). Second, the option of deferring study abroad plans due to the pandemic may be more affordable for applicants from high-income countries. Originality/value: While understanding how COVID-19 has impacted international student mobility is an emerging issue in the literature, not only are there few studies providing evidence on this, but these are based on qualitative analysis. This paper uses quantitative methods that allow to separate the effect of COVID-19 from that associated with other factors affecting the flow of international students.

Over the course of the previous two decades, successive governments have attempted to attract students from diverse backgrounds as part of an overarching ambition to widen participation in Higher Education (HE). As part of those efforts, there has been a proliferation of Further Education Colleges (FECs) utilised to meet those ends. In 2021, approximately 10% of -- or c.137,000 -- Higher Education (HE) students were enrolled at FECs which represents an important research area under the broad umbrella of UK HE. Based on semi-structured interviews with prospective first year student-participants, this paper sought to examine the reasons behind students' decisions to study College Based Higher Education (CBHE) so as to better-understand and inform student recruitment, retention and success in this area. Twelve participants were selected from two FECs where those students were intent on studying for their HE. The findings revealed that students place substantial value in teaching standards and in the lecturers with whom they build relationships. These features are inextricably linked with broader feelings of community, belongingness and accessibility on the part of students which attracts them to study CBHE.

Student voice in governance and decision-making has become ubiquitous in higher education, evolving from buzzword to orthodoxy. Student engagement measures have become instruments of quality control, with students expected to take an active role in shaping institutional policy and practice. In this paper, we argue that this ubiquity of demands for student engagement has served to hollow-out and depoliticise student voice practices--drawing upon Cooke and Kothari's seminal (2001) work in development studies we ask whether student voice has become a new tyranny of participation? In developing this argument, we identify how students are expected to be both strategic, instrumental consumers and active citizens of their university. This results in the paradox of the strategic active student-citizen.

Young people are key stakeholders in the future, but their stake is rarely considered in decision making and policy development. In this paper we explore how climate change education can allow the voices of young people to be listened to and help young people imagine desirable futures and develop agency to address the steps, both personal and policy based, that are needed to achieve this. Initially reporting on the findings of a survey of 985 young people (aged 7-18 years from across the UK), we explore what young people currently know about climate change. Informed by this data, we then present a creative approach to backcasting, using a participatory action pedagogical approach to explore the desired futures that 150 young people aged 8-11 years have about the fast fashion industry. We suggest that within the context of fast fashion and other climate related industries, such a methodology could enable educators to address climate change without provoking eco-anxiety and provide a way that decision makers in industry and government can listen to young people's voices.

This paper attends to the educational narratives of South Asian Muslim women who grew up in an inner city area. Using walking interviews, each individual took me around the neighbourhood where they grew up, identifying places of educational encounter on the way. There was a pertinent sense of a past that was in many ways, still present. Their memories transcended a place abandoned by the state and its residents by adopting a hauntological perspective and decolonial feminist inquiry. The work of "rememory" illuminates narratives that uncover some unsettling truths about how the intersection of race, gender and migratory settlement have provided more than voice and agency. Despite deficit stereotyping, a notable and rooted choice prevails from participants. There is a will to remain in what is externally framed as a place of social and economic deprivation. There follows a critique of how adult and community education has anchored and provided a foundation for agency, creativity and a commitment to future forming an informed community.

This paper investigates the role of interpreters in addressing cultural differences in the context of a cross-cultural collaborative teacher professional development project. Based on positioning theory, this study employed interpreter-mediated interactions and interviews to reveal the complex roles that interpreters played when interpreting culture-related terms. Findings revealed that interpreters' roles were shifting between those of transmitters of information, cultural insiders and constructors of shared understandings between interlocutors. Notably, the lack of training in this specialised field obliged interpreters to rely mainly on their personal experiences to judge which role they should play in the face of cultural differences.

Background: Co-creation in policymaking is of increasing interest to national governments, and designers play a significant role in its introduction. Aims and objectives: We discuss instances from our fieldwork that demonstrated how UK Policy Lab used design methods to gain insight into the design-oriented methods introduced to policymakers' practices, and how these may influence conventional policy design processes. Methods: This paper reports on the learnings from a two-month participant observation at UK Policy Lab conducted in early 2019. Findings: We found that, beyond human-centred and future-oriented practices, the designers working at this unit appropriate "design as a reflective practice" for the context of policymaking. We discuss how the use of visual and creative methods of design are utilised by "policy designers" to facilitate co-creative reflective practices, and how these make a valuable contribution to policymaking practices in UK Government. Discussion and conclusions: As deliberation and decision making is influenced both by "what is thought about" as well as "who" is doing the thinking, reflective practices allow notions and assumptions to be unpicked. Moreover, when done as a group activity, reflection leads to a co-production of a deepened understanding of policy challenges. Consequently, we argue, the reflective practices introduced by Policy Lab are an essential contribution to developing a co-creation tradition in evidence-informed policymaking processes.

Background: Liver disease is an increasing cause of morbidity and mortality in the United Kingdom and can be challenging to live with in the advanced stages. There has been little research exploring the healthcare experiences of UK individuals with decompensated disease when the liver cannot carry out its functions properly. A PhD research project was developed with people who have liver disease to explore care experiences in decompensated advanced liver disease. Public involvement (PI) is an essential aspect of meaningful health research, and this paper reports on the progression of our PI approach in this ongoing study. Objective: To embed PI throughout the research project to ensure that the study is meaningful to individuals with liver disease and the people who support them. Methods: The research adopts a Constructivist Grounded Theory methodology to develop a theory of care experience. Various PI approaches were considered in developing the PI strategy for this qualitative study. Initially, Embedded consultation was the preferred model, which has evolved to include aspects of collaboration and coproduction. A PI group was set up to oversee the project through the national public engagement website VOICE, and reflections on PI from three members of the group are included in this paper to illuminate the PI process. Results: Six individuals with liver disease and three carers from across the United Kingdom are part of an ongoing PI group. Their role includes commenting on the findings of the systematic literature review for this project and contributing to decisions about recruitment, data collection and data analysis. Additionally, they had a direct impact on changing the focus of the research. The PI group will continue involvement until the completion of the project. Conclusion: Successfully embedding PI into doctoral research, as demonstrated in this project, requires commitment, planning and dedication to reciprocal working for the benefit of PI contributors as well as the research. This approach could be adopted by other postgraduate researchers. Patient or Public Contribution: This project is overseen by the PI group, whose contribution is described throughout, including reflections from three PI group members. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a constructivist grounded theory on the decision-making process that UK home and alternative educators undertake and the related influencing factors. Twenty-one participants from a diverse range of backgrounds were interviewed between one and three times over a two-year period. Some were current home and alternative educators and others were undecided, or had changed their minds about home educating. The core process is entitled 'Stepping out of the system?' It was constructed from three main categories: attitudinal direction, surveying the landscape and negotiating obstacles. Parents have opinions of school that developed before they began to consider how to educate their child; attitudes which are affect laden and guide the process of information gathering. The surveying the landscape stage involves both formal research and informal methods such as hearing the views of others and acting upon their own feelings. The final stage, negotiating obstacles, involves finding practical solutions to barriers they may face. The grounded theory is enriched and deepened by Reddy's (2010) concept of emotional refuges.

Conceptually and practically, feedback typically sits within a pedagogical, rather than a philosophical, framework. Drawing on a longitudinal study with student teachers seeks, this paper seeks to critically reframe feedback beyond the pedagogical by considering the moral tensions and ethical dilemmas within feedback, thereby revealing an inherent duality in feedback as a phenomenon. Specifically, the study followed a group of student teachers through their three-year teacher education programme in order to explore their experiences and conceptions of feedback as these developed during their degree. Key to the study is the unique situation of student teachers as givers and receivers of feedback; but it also arises from their unique exposure to the neoliberal policy climate, as a consequence of the penetration of initial teacher education by high stakes regulatory mechanisms that may be at odds with the student teachers' emerging professional judgement. As such, what we are calling the 'double indemnity' of feedback is partly informed by the participants' dual and conflicted experiences as a learner and teacher but also by losses of innocence, optimism and sense of efficacy they experience as part of their development within the moral economies of feedback.

In the high-stakes accountability English educational system, decisions made by government and agencies about curriculum, pedagogy and assessment drive school planning and actions. This paper analyses the drivers for the recent change to French German and Spanish GCSEs and highlights particular areas of the new specification which may damage the experience of language learners in the secondary school environment. After describing the context for the revisions we question why GCSE subject content has been revised when there is no evidence that a revision would improve uptake or grades. Our detailed comparison of the 2015 and 2022 subject content shows how the emphasis has shifted considerably from the requirement to demonstrate skills needed in realistic, authentic contexts, to demonstrating productive knowledge of a tightly prescribed list of vocabulary, grammar and phonics. We then identify the likely impact on schools of the new subject content. While the ostensible justification of change is to make more accessible and motivating, our view is that it will demotivate and will not reward broader skills which the whole spectrum of ability could demonstrate. We conclude by suggesting the real reason for the changes is part of a concerted government policy to reorientate the teaching of languages.

Formal consent for children's research participation legally resides with adults, and guidelines typically recommend consulting children about their participation only from 7 years of age. How can researchers support younger children's informed decision-making about their research participation, particularly in larger-scale studies without extended researcher-participant engagement? In this paper, we share our experience of four studies (270 children) using drawings, observations, interviews, and biological and anthropometric measures and the visual information booklets we devised to support young children's informed agreement. Critically evaluating the notion that 'evolving capacities' necessarily increase with age, we consider young children's contextualised decision-making capacity. Reflecting on process and outcomes, we conclude that simple visual information booklets benefit not only children but all actors in the research process, functioning as material artefacts that remind adults as well as children of young children's right to choice about research participation.

Suellen Shay's work on higher education curricula foregrounds the importance of professional curricula which face inwards to disciplines and outwards to practice. This paper builds on her framing of professional curricula, distinctive in the differentiated knowledge base and the social relations which legitimate them. I extend Shay's work deeper into the internal governance structures underpinning curriculum decisions in engineering. Two dimensions of governance are explored: central control from the Faculty of Engineering over its departments; and the authority of individuals in department-level curriculum and accreditation roles over their colleagues. The empirical focus is on curricula reform towards 'graduate attributes' in engineering education, through a comparative study of eight universities in the United Kingdom, South Africa, Singapore, and Australia. The findings show that research-intensive universities are shielded from the full implications of accreditation requirements, while teaching-intensive universities are more likely to invest in developing the governance processes and systems demanded by professional bodies.

Researching ethically is an institutional requirement and cornerstone of good everyday practice in conducting research, adopting a mindful consideration for participants and resisting the temptation to use methodological approaches which may exploit participants or their trust in the research process or researcher. In the context of outdoor studies and framed by Kantian ethical and moral principles, this paper describes the "procedural ethics" of Institutional Review Boards (IRBs) and how our own moral and ethical positioning influences the planning for the opportunities, dilemmas and challenges of fieldwork, shaping the "ethics in practice" during research and in post-study reporting. From a sail training study, I describe the ethical and methodological dilemmas and the decisions made in respect of audio recording and the use of photo-elicitation; and the sense of uncertainty and unease stimulated by reflective and reflexive practice.

Aim: Rapidly evolving roles in nursing require exploration and description. This review aims to examine the role of the clinical nurse specialist (CNS) in stoma care from the UK perspective. Design: A scoping review was undertaken using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines. Data were synthesised using content analysis to derive meaning units and themes. Data sources: Three electronic databases were used to conduct the search: Embase, AMED and Ovid Medline. Additional sources identified through the reference lists of included studies and guidelines were also included. Methods: Two reviewers undertook the search for articles that described the role of the stoma care CNS in the UK. Any disagreements were to be resolved through discussion. Results: Seven papers met the eligibility criteria. Analysis resulted in 184 unique meaning units. Meaning units were grouped into themes reflecting the four pillars of advanced practice: advanced clinical practice; leadership; facilitation of education and learning; and evidence, research and development. The fewest meaning units were attributed to the evidence theme (n=13) and the most related to advanced clinical practice (n=107) such as having specialist knowledge and skills to manage complications. Conclusion: The stoma care CNS role reflects the four pillars of advanced practice. These practitioners are valuable, carrying out a complex role that involves high-level, specialist decision-making skills. The results from this scoping review could be useful in service development; they will be used to inform the Association of Stoma Care Nurses UK modified Delphi consensus to examine the views of stoma care CNS practitioners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Virtual fracture clinics (VFCs) have become widely adopted, aiming to improve efficiency, standardise patient care and reduce clinic appointments for injuries that can be managed conservatively. A variety of means exist to manage VFC referrals and assessment, including paper-based and digital methods. This study assesses VFC referral quality and outcomes before and after implementation of a digital VFC referral and management system. Methods: A retrospective analysis was conducted of all VFC referrals and assessments from July 2017–March 2020 in a large UK district general hospital. All referrals and assessments were analysed for quality and completeness of referral information, grade of assessor, outcome of assessment, referral-to-assessment time, and assessment-to-surgery time (for those requiring operative management). Results: 3038 paper and 9,228 digital referrals were analysed by 2 separate reviewers. Quality and completeness of referral information showed significant improvement in 11 predetermined key data points with the digital referral system (p < 0.001). Date and mechanism of injury were the most commonly missing data criteria (67.5% and 68.2%, respectively) with paper referrals. Significant improvements were noted in the proportion of Consultant delivered VFC assessments (84.2% vs 71.0%; p < 0.001), VFC discharge rate (20.8% vs 13.1%; p < 0.001) and patients recalled for urgent review (6.2% vs 0.8%; p < 0.001) with digital referrals. Mean referral-to-assessment (31.2 vs 49.9 h; p < 0.001) and assessment-to-surgery (9.2 vs 13.0 days; p = 0.01) times also reduced significantly with referral digitisation. Conclusion: Improvements in virtual referral quality and completeness directly lead to facilitation of more thorough, detailed and appropriate virtual assessments; improving timely decision-making, reducing unnecessary appointments, and permitting better prioritisation of workload and earlier surgery for patients requiring operative treatment. Purpose-built digital solutions are an excellent means of achieving these aims. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Employment subsidies are important active labour market policy (ALMP) tools, suited to a variety of labour market challenges. This paper engages with recent ALMP categorisation debates by appraising Cronert's (2019) recent typology of employment subsidies. It uses empirical material to assess the typology's explanatory power and produce insights to inform further typological development. The illustrative case of the British ' Wage Incentive' (2012-2014) is used to assess the typology's analytical purchase. Cronert's typology helpfully identifies key distinctions in the distributional profiles of employment subsidies, but further understanding of the category is impeded by the practice of defining them as demand-side interventions. The paper argues for a reappraisal of their supply-side characteristics, maintaining that the (potential) worker should be included in the analysis, and that employment subsidies' relationship with training and job creation should be acknowledged. It proposes a redefinition of employment subsidies reflecting their real-world use, and suggests a framework for further exploring varieties of employment subsidy design from the perspective of beneficiaries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This study aims to critically examine the effects of COVID-19 social discourses and policy decisions specifically on older adult volunteers in the UK, comparing the responses and their effects in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, providing perspectives on effects of policy changes designed to reduce risk of infection as a result of COVID-19, specifically on volunteer involvement of and for older adults, and understand, from the perspectives of volunteer managers, how COVID-19 restrictions had impacted older people's volunteering and situating this within statutory public health policies. Design/methodology/approach: The study uses a critical discourse approach to explore, compare and contrast accounts of volunteering of and for older people in policy, and then compare the discourses within policy documents with the discourses in personal accounts of volunteering in health and social care settings in the four nations of the UK. This paper is co-produced in collaboration with co-authors who have direct experience with volunteer involvement responses and their impact on older people. Findings: The prevailing overall policy approach during the pandemic was that risk of morbidity and mortality to older people was too high to permit them to participate in volunteering activities. Disenfranchising of older people, as exemplified in volunteer involvement, was remarkably uniform across the four nations of the UK. However, the authors find that despite, rather than because of policy changes, older volunteers, as part of, or with the help of, volunteer involving organisations, are taking time to think and to reconsider their involvement and are renewing their volunteer involvement with associated health benefits. Research limitations/implications: Working with participants as co-authors helps to ensure the credibility of results in that there was agreement in the themes identified and the conclusions. A limitation of this study lies in the sampling method, as a convenience sample was used and there is only representation from one organisation in each of the four nations. Originality/value: The paper combines existing knowledge about volunteer involvement of and for older adults. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Health and care research involving people who lack capacity to consent requires an alternative decision maker to decide whether they participate or not based on their 'presumed will'. However, this is often unknown. Advance research planning (ARP) is a process for people who anticipate periods of impaired capacity to prospectively express their preferences about research participation and identify who they wish to be involved in future decisions. This may help to extend individuals' autonomy by ensuring that proxy decisions are based on their actual wishes. This qualitative study aimed to explore stakeholders' views about the acceptability and feasibility of ARP and identify barriers and facilitators to its implementation in the UK., Methods: We conducted semi-structured interviews with 27 researchers, practitioners, and members of the public who had participated in a preceding survey. Interviews were conducted remotely between April and November 2023. Data were analysed thematically., Results: Participants were supportive of the concept of ARP, with differing amounts of support for the range of possible ARP activities depending on the context. Six main themes were identified: (1) Planting a seed - creating opportunities to initiate/engage with ARP; (2) A missing part of the puzzle - how preferences expressed through ARP could help inform decisions; (3) Finding the sweet spot - optimising the timing of ARP; (4) More than a piece of paper - finding the best mode for recording preferences; (5) Keeping the door open to future opportunities - minimising the risk of unintended consequences; and (6) Navigating with a compass - principles underpinning ARP to ensure safeguarding and help address inequalities. Participants also identified a number of implementation challenges, and proposed facilitative strategies that might overcome them which included embedding advance research planning in existing future planning processes and research-focused activities., Conclusions: This study provides a routemap to implementing ARP in the UK to enable people anticipating impaired capacity to express their preferences about research, thus ensuring greater opportunities for inclusion of this under-served group, and addressing the decisional burden experienced by some family members acting as proxies. Development of interventions and guidance to support ARP is needed, with a focus on ensuring accessibility., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Using a rich new data source, we explore the selection of economics lecturers into the last UK Research Excellence Framework (REF) exercise. Only some one‐in‐two (54%) of these lecturers were submitted to REF2014; 57% of men and 46% of women. The decision making of institutions is found to be well approximated by a simplified selection approach; focusing on working papers and higher quality journal publications. Our results also reveal sizeable conditional differences in the probability of selection, especially so in departments with higher research rankings. More than half of the variance in selection probability remains unexplained, revealing considerable idiosyncrasies in the management of submissions and uncertainty across the discipline in this research assessment process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Dysmenorrhoea affects many adolescents with significant impacts on education and well-being. In the UK, most of the adolescents who seek care (and many never do), will do so through general practice (primary care). Knowing how best to care for adolescents reporting menstrual pain is an area where UK general practitioners would like better guidance and resources. Methods: This mixed-methods narrative synthesis collates community and specialist evidence from 320 papers about adolescent dysmenorrhoea, with a UK general practice community health perspective. Results: We report a narrative summary of symptoms, cause, consequences and treatments for adolescent dysmenorrhoea. We highlight areas of tension or conflicted evidence relevant to primary care alongside areas of uncertainty and research gaps identified through this synthesis with input from lived experience advisers. Discussion: There is little evidence about primary care management of adolescent dysmenorrhoea or specific resources to support shared-decision making in general practice, although there are evidence-based treatments to offer. Primary care encounters also represent potential opportunities to consider whether the possibility of underlying or associated health conditions contributing to symptoms of dysmenorrhoea, but there is little epidemiological evidence about prevalence from within community health settings to inform this. The areas where there is little or uncertain evidence along the care journey for adolescent dysmenorrhoea, including at the interface between experience and expression of symptoms and potential underlying contributory causes warrant further exploration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a review of the existing qualitative research literature concerning people's experience of communicating using augmentative and alternative communication (AAC). The aims of conducting this review were to find out more about the values and outcomes that are important to people about the AAC they use to support their communication. This review was conducted to provide a deeper understanding of these experiences to inform the development of a patient-reported outcome measure (PROM). A qualitative evidence synthesis of existing qualitative research literature was undertaken to explore and appraise current knowledge about the experiences of people who use AAC. From 115 qualitative research reports 19 papers were identified that responded directly to the research question and aims of the review. Data were identified that could be organized within an a priori framework consisting of the constructs of values, outcomes, and context. The review has resulted in a deeper, analytical understanding of the experiences of people who require AAC. The results indicate a set of concepts that can be used to inform the development of a PROM. A PROM can be used to assist clinicians and researchers to better understand the perspectives of people who require AAC and evaluate interventions. The results also encourage professionals to reconsider the terminology and methods used when working alongside people who require AAC and to reflect on the multidimensional factors that influence people's experience of communication. Patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) can be useful tools to support clinician-patient communication, facilitate shared decision making and establish priorities for rehabilitation. It can be difficult to engage people who have complex communication difficulties in decisions about the important outcomes to them from using augmentative and alternative communication (AAC). This qualitative evidence synthesis provides a deeper understanding of the experiences and perspectives of people who use AAC. The results will be used to inform the development of a PROM which can be used to facilitate shared decision-making, and evaluate AAC interventions from the perspective of the people who use these technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper investigates how individuals' decision-making approach and perceptions of a game's cognitive realism affect the performance of virtual businesses in a web-based simulation game. Design/methodology/approach: Survey data are collected from 274 business simulation game users and is analysed using the fsQCA technique. Findings: The study identifies three alternative pathways to high and low performance in a business simulation game. Results indicate that a flexible decision-making approach exists in all high performance pathway solutions. Where a game is perceived to be realistic, a more focused decision-making approach is associated with high performance. However, where perceived cognitive realism is absent, a less focused experimental decision-making approach is employed, which increases the chances to achieve low performance. Finally, perceived cognitive realism and an experimental decision-making approach are found to be mutually exclusive for achieving high performance. Originality/value: Whilst the learning benefits of web-based simulation games are widely acknowledged, the complex interplay amongst factors affecting performance in games is under-researched. Limited research exists on how perceptions of a game's cognitive realism interact with user decision-making approaches to affect performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Major trauma centre (MTC) care has been associated with improved outcomes for injured patients. English ambulance services and trauma networks currently use a range of triage tools to select patients for bypass to MTCs. A standardised national triage tool may improve triage accuracy, cost-effectiveness and the reproducibility of decision-making. Methods: We conducted an expert consensus process to derive and develop a major trauma triage tool for use in English trauma networks. A web-based Delphi survey was conducted to identify and confirm candidate triage tool predictors of major trauma. Facilitated roundtable consensus meetings were convened to confirm the proposed triage tool’s purpose, target diagnostic threshold, scope, intended population and structure, as well as the individual triage tool predictors and cut points. Public and patient involvement (PPI) focus groups were held to ensure triage tool acceptability to service users. Results: The Delphi survey reached consensus on nine triage variables in two domains, from 109 candidate variables after three rounds. Following a review of the relevant evidence during the consensus meetings, iterative rounds of discussion achieved consensus on the following aspects of the triage tool: reference standard, scope, target diagnostic accuracy and intended population. A three-step tool comprising physiology, anatomical injury and clinical judgement domains, with triage variables assessed in parallel, was recommended. The triage tool was received favourably by PPI focus groups. Conclusions: This paper presents a new expert consensus derived major trauma triage tool with defined purpose, scope, intended population, structure, constituent variables, variable definitions and thresholds. Prospective evaluation is required to determine clinical and cost-effectiveness, acceptability and usability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Those supporting children and young people who use augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) contribute to ongoing complex decision‐making about communication aid selection and support. Little is known about how these decisions are made in practice and how attributes of the communication aid are described or considered. Aims: To understand how communication aid attributes were described by those involved in AAC recommendations and support for children and young people, and how these attributes were described as impacting on AAC use. Methods & Procedures: A secondary qualitative analysis was completed of interview and focus group data from 91 participants involved in the support of 22 children and young people. Attributes of communication aids described by participants were extracted as themes and this paper reports a descriptive summary of the identified software (non‐hardware) attributes. Main Contribution: Decisions were described in terms of comparisons between commercially available pre‐existing vocabulary packages. Attributes related to vocabulary, graphic representation, consistency and intuitiveness of design, and ease of editing were identified. Developmental staging of vocabularies, core and fringe vocabulary, and vocabulary personalization were attributes that were described as being explicitly considered in decisions. The potential impact of graphic symbol choice did not seem to be considered strongly. The physical and social environment was described as the predominant factor driving the choice of a number of attributes. Conclusions & Implications: Specific attributes that appear to be established in decision‐making in these data have limited empirical research literature. Terms used in the literature to describe communication aid attributes were not observed in these data. Practice‐based evidence does not appear to be supported by the available research literature and these findings highlight several areas where empirical research is needed in order to provide a robust basis for practice. What This Paper Adds: What is already known on the subject: Communication aid attributes are viewed as a key consideration by practitioners and family members in AAC decision‐making; however, there are few empirical studies investigating language and communication attributes of communication aids. It is important to understand how those involved in AAC recommendations and support view communication aid attributes and the impact different attributes have. What this paper adds to existing knowledge: This study provides a picture of how communication aids are described by practitioners and family members involved in AAC support of children and young people. A range of attributes is identified from the analysis of these qualitative data as well as information about how participants perceive these attributes as informing decisions. What are the potential or actual clinical implications of this work?: This study provides a basis on which practitioners and others involved in AAC support for children and young people can review and reflect on their own practice and so improve the outcomes of AAC decisions. The study provides a list of attributes that appear to be considered in practice and so also provides a resource for researchers looking to ensure there is a strong empirical basis for AAC decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents an original approach to assessing cyclical fluctuations in the share of high-tech products in the foreign trade of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and the Northern Ireland. This approach can serve as a foundation for decision-making at a state level regarding issues of regulating Ukrainian development in innovation, science, and technology. It also reveals the economic content and distinguishes the influence of separate structural components (linear, accelerated, and cyclical growth) on the changes in the share of high-tech products in the foreign trade. Further, the analysis also determines two important relative indicators: share of high-tech exports in total U.K. manufactured exports and share of high-tech exports in the country's GDP. The dynamics cycles of hightech exports in the United Kingdom with periods of 4.2 and 4.3 years are determined and the extent of the cyclical component's influence on the overall trend is calculated. This paper is part of a research project that uses the same original approach to analyze various countries with significant high-tech exports on the global scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Efficiently allocating scarce healthcare resources requires nuanced understanding of individual and collective interests as well as relative concerns, which may overlap or conflict. This paper is the first to empirically investigate whether and to what extent self-interest (SI), positional concerns (PC) and distributional considerations (DC) simultaneously explain individual decision making related to access to healthcare services. Our investigation is based on a stated choice experiment conducted in two countries with different healthcare systems, the United States (US) and the United Kingdom (UK). The choice experiment is on allocation of medical treatment waiting times for a hypothetical disease. We carry out the investigation under two different perspectives: (i) in a socially inclusive personal perspective decision makers were asked to choose between waiting time distributions for themselves and (ii) in a social perspective decision makers were asked to make similar choices for a close relative or friend of opposite gender. The results obtained by estimating a variety of advanced choice models indicate that DC, SI and PC, in this order of importance, are significant drivers of choice behaviour in our empirical context. These findings are consistent regardless of the choice perspective and the country where decision makers live. Comparing the results from different choice perspectives, we find that US respondents who chose for their close relative or friend attach significantly larger weight to their close relative's or friend's waiting times as well as to the overall distribution of waiting times than US respondents who chose for themselves. Looking at differences between countries, our results show that UK respondents who made choices for themselves placed significantly larger weight on SI and DC than US respondents, while US respondents, in turn, displayed relatively stronger but not significantly different positional concerns than UK respondents. In addition, we observe that UK respondents who chose for their close relative or friend put a larger weight on DC than their US counterparts. We conclude that the methodological (data collection and analysis) approach allows for disentangling the relative importance of the three motivations and discusses the potential implications of these findings for healthcare decision making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the planning of virtual ward (VW) capacity including the remote monitoring of frail and elderly patients. The main objective is to optimize VW hub locations across a region in the United Kingdom. Furthermore, assigning the optimal number of clinicians to different regions needs to be considered. We develop a mathematical model that minimizes the setup and travel costs of VW hubs and staff. Our experimental analysis evaluates different levels of demand considering postcode areas within different Trusts, also known as Health Boards, in the National Health Service (NHS). Furthermore, our experiments provide insights into how many hub locations should be deployed and staffed. This can be used to individually find the number of remote monitors and clinicians for each facility as well as the system overall. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper answers calls for further theoretical work into types of pictures used in health information. Pictures influence message reception, interpretation, and retention, making this an important area for research in health communication. A content analysis was used to produce a systematic and theory-orientated assessment of the use of pictures in cancer screening information materials (N = 44) produced for invitees to either cervical, breast or bowel screening in the United Kingdom. The main categories investigated in this study were function, content and style of the pictures. Pictures used in cancer screening information materials were twice as likely to be used to demonstrate what something looked like or depict a situation (display pictures) than to convey a specific cancer screening message (message pictures). The messages being conveyed were predominantly related to screening procedures (51%) or outcomes (38%) rather than screening experiences (6%) or decisions (9%). Pictures were rarely used to portray a narrative in the materials (n = 12). The paper brings conceptual clarity to the ways pictures can be, and have so far been used, to communicate cancer screening information. This study identifies that pictures conveying a cancer-related message, and pictures in the format of a narrative, should be used more often in print cancer screening communications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this paper is to determine if fair value measurement for inventories is value‐relevant. Inventories are measured at historical cost and investors will have to estimate the fair value for themselves. For a sample of firms listed in the UK and reporting from 2009 to 2018, multivariate regression results show that the historical cost component of inventories on the balance sheet is value‐relevant, but that the fair value component is not. By contrast, both historical cost earnings and changes in the fair value of inventories are value‐relevant. Results therefore imply that investors need both historical cost earnings and fair value movements to make decisions. By extension, fair value measurements complement, rather than replace, historical cost information. Summary at a Glance: This paper considers if fair value measurement for inventories is value‐relevant and finds that investors need both historical cost earnings and fair value movements to make decisions. By extension, fair value measurements complement, rather than replace, historical cost information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The regulatory protection of credit consumers, in general, is paramount due to the considerable use of credit, the imbalanced bargaining positions of the contracting parties and the adverse effect of over-indebtedness on individuals and society alike. These concerning factors are worsened in the case of High-Cost Short-Term Credit (HCSTC) consumers owing to their disadvantaged financial position and other recognised vulnerabilities. In this respect, the paper argues that direct regulatory intervention, despite its importance, is not always a silver bullet. Through the analysis of the overhauling of the UK HCSTC regulatory framework, this paper demonstrates the shortfalls of these regulatory changes. Accordingly, the paper shifts the argument towards improving the decision-making mechanisms of HCSTC consumers, ie the role of 'libertarian paternalism'-based interventions. By using a bespoke experimental survey, the paper demonstrates the type of behavioural interventions that can assist in this endeavour and which the regulator could possibly mandate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Public Inquiry is an established process for effective testing and scrutiny of plans in terrestrial planning and is regarded as a means of providing credibility and accountability. Independent Investigation is its marine equivalent and was included as a provision in the UK marine planning regime and subsequent legislation since its inception. However, it has been noticeably absent in practice. This paper investigates the reasons behind this situation within the context of the proposed and actual role of II in the marine planning process in the UK. It additionally considers the future use of II in enhancing the quality and effectiveness of the marine planning system. This paper concludes that as the use of the marine resource of the UK becomes increasingly contested and controversial, II could be utilized to enhance marine plans and marine planning decisions and thus warrants further investigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inclinometer probes are devices that can be used to measure deformations within earthwork slopes. This paper demonstrates a novel application of Bayesian techniques to real‐world inclinometer data, providing both anomaly detection and forecasting. Specifically, this paper details an analysis of data collected from across the entire UK rail network. Inclinometers are a standard tool of geotechnical site monitoring. Data from these instruments is often used in risk analysis and decision‐making. However, discerning anomalous data points and forecasting future behaviour from inclinometer data requires significant 'engineering judgement' (subjective appraisal). This is because the observational data is derived from complex physical phenomena and contains complex spatio‐temporal correlations. Additionally, the practical demands of data collected from remote sites over several years tends to introduce systematic errors. These issues make the interpretation of inclinometer data challenging. Practitioners have effectively two goals when processing monitoring data. The first is to identify any anomalous or dangerous movements, and the second is to predict potential future adverse scenarios by forecasting. In this paper we apply Uncertainty Quantification (UQ) techniques by implementing a Bayesian approach to anomaly detection and forecasting for inclinometer data. Subsequently, both costs and risks may be minimised by quantifying and evaluating the appropriate uncertainties. This framework may then act as an enabler for enhanced decision making and risk analysis. We show that inclinometer data can be described by a latent autocorrelated Markov process derived from measurements. This can be used as the transition model of a non‐linear Bayesian filter. This allows for the prediction of system states. This learnt latent model also allows for the detection of anomalies: observations that are far from their expected value may be considered to have 'high surprisal', that is they have a high information content relative to the model encoding represented by the learnt latent model. We successfully apply the forecasting and anomaly detection techniques to a large real‐world data set in a computationally efficient manner. Although this paper studies inclinometers in particular, the techniques are broadly applicable to all areas of engineering UQ and Structural Health Monitoring (SHM). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the UK, following the enactment of the Communications Act 2003, amending the Enterprise Act 2002, the assessment of mergers involving broadcaster and/or newspaper enterprises is subject to – alongside the regular competition standard under the 'substantial lessening of competition' (SLC) test – a public interest standard. Under this standard, certain media mergers need to be assessed pursuant to the following considerations: media plurality, broadcasting standard objectives and free expression of opinion grounds. While the statute defines these terms ambiguously, it does provide guidance to the Secretary of State, the competition authority and the courts to decide how the statute is intended to be applied consistently. The paper will analyse how the media plurality test has been applied, some of the considerations of the CMA and OFCOM, and in doing so it will touch on the discretion of the decision making stakeholders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research in the UK is increasingly regulated by ethics review committees (RECs) which require researchers to seek ethics approval before commencing research. These RECs routinely expect researchers to anonymise data as part of standard ethical research practice. However, the anonymisation of data may sit in tension with participatory approaches to research which prioritise shared ownership of the research. In particular, the need to make decisions relating to ethics prior to the start of research makes it difficult for researchers to meaningfully share decision-making power with their participants—a fundamental principle of participatory approaches. This paper uses a participatory research study as a case study to explore this tension. In the study, the decision to anonymise data was made as part of the ethics approval process. However, over the course of the study, the researcher questioned whether this was the correct decision for this study. In order to afford researchers the flexibility required to involve participants in decision making, this paper argues for a dialogic and situational approach to ethics regulation. Allowing researchers to delay key decisions would mean that researchers could involve participants in the decision-making process rather than purely informing them of the results of decisions made on their behalf. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]