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This paper examines responses to the trend for increasing participation in tertiary education, linking developments in higher education with those in apprenticeship systems, in Australia and the United Kingdom. In both sectors, expansion proceeded for several decades, but was robustly criticised in both countries. The expansion of access to these two forms of tertiary education, therefore, was contested and potentially precarious. The paper finds, through analysis of official data, that participation in higher education and in apprenticeship was actually almost static, or fell, in both countries in the 2010s. Yet criticism of expansion continued in media commentary during this decade. The paper both explains and takes issue with the arguments against expansion, which have been influential in both sectors. It discusses some ways forward to understand the phenomenon better, and also the need to address the problems caused by the restriction of opportunities. Comparative analysis between the two sectors has not previously been undertaken. It is argued in the paper that such analysis enriches the theoretical lenses through which expansion of access may be viewed, and that it may suggest avenues for future research, and perhaps, for advocacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper evaluates a recent study on rural ministry emerging from the USA and assesses its relevance for the rural Church more widely, with specific reference to the UK. The study has the challenging subtitle, 'moving from anecdotal assumptions to data-derived opportunities'. It is the work of someone who grew up in the farming community and worked as a farmer before becoming a rural minister and then undertaking serious academic research into the connections between rural living and rural ministry. The paper argues that there are two groupings of lessons to be learned from this study. It is worth giving serious attention to research conducted in other cultural contexts and it is worth encouraging others to invest in research of this nature. The rural Church needs such research and the rural Church can benefit from it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Following the 2001 Research Assessment Exercise (RAE), details from the submissions of each institution were made available to the public for the first time via the Internet, thus facilitating a greater degree of scrutiny of the results than had hitherto been the case. The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the literature on the publishing patterns of UK academics by examining the accounting education submissions to the RAE 2001. The paper begins by discussing the RAE process in the UK and the findings of prior literature on publication patterns within accounting research in the UK in order to contextualise the examination of the RAE submissions in accounting education. In particular, the dominance of refereed journals over other publication outlets, the increasing prevalence of co-authorship and the characteristics of publishing academics are examined. The paper then reports on the methods used to analyse accounting education research submitted to the RAE 2001 and discusses the main findings. The implications of these findings are discussed in the concluding section. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper presents qualitative research findings from the evaluation of a Parkinson's Dance well-being venture in the UK. Methods: Qualitative data was gathered to see how bespoke dancing sessions helped people with Parkinson's (PwP) to manage their conditions and improve their lives and prospects. Principles of a participatory approach were incorporated and methods included semi-structured interviewing, researchers participant observation and an elicitation-based activity. Nineteen PwP, six carers, four dance artists and seven helpers participated in the study. Results: Participating in Parkinson's Dance sessions meant that PwP could experience the possibilities to dance, develop a "can do" attitude, experience fun, enjoyment, social connection, exercise, movement to music, improvement and/or maintenance of their balance, suppleness, coordination and confidence with movement, symptoms being pushed back and ability to learn new things. Conclusions: Our findings add to the evidence-base about the benefits of dance for people experiencing Parkinson's and through novel application of the Life-world based well-being framework of K. T. Galvin and Todres (2011) we propose a theoretical basis for Parkinson's Dance as a resource for well-being. There is scope to consider application of the well-being framework to other arts activities and as the basis of an arts and well-being evaluation tool. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the Dementia Enquirers approach to dementia research, and the 10 local projects which have been funded in the first wave of the programme. The paper is written by six people with dementia with expertise by experience, supported by a traditional academic with expertise by research. This co-production enables the voices of people with dementia to be heard, and expands the field of disability studies. The authors discuss problems with traditional academic research, and the different ways that people with dementia go about research. Two examples of research projects led by people with dementia are discussed. The paper explores difficulties people with dementia have had with formal research ethics procedures and how they propose to do things differently. In conclusion, the authors challenge mainstream dementia research to do things differently, and to understand the potential contributions of people with dementia. People with dementia can conduct research People with dementia understand ethics and can come to considered judgements about capacity, consent and the risk of harm. People with dementia may sometimes enjoy advantages in their ways of working Mainstream research and research governance needs to adapt, if people with dementia are to be included. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates alcohol consumption within cultures of football fandom through the innovative combination of theories of the carnivalesque and Bourdieu's concepts of habitus, field, and capital. Focus groups (n = 79) were conducted with football supporters in England and Scotland. Semi-structured interviews (n = 15) were also conducted with key organizational stakeholders. Research explored the importance and role of alcohol consumption for supporters when watching or attending matches.. Participants confirmed the cultural significance, perceived normalcy and historical links between football and alcohol consumption. Supporters highlighted the importance of the sociability, friendship, and social capital aspects of alcohol consumption. Participants believed football supporters are perceived differently in comparison with supporters of other sports, arguing that legislation surrounding alcohol consumption at other sports allowed supporters to enhance the carnivalesque by drinking alcohol, whereas football fans were more restricted. Participants agreed the habitus of excessive drinking and violence associated with football supporters led to a bad reputation, however, this view was outdated. Participants also recognized a growing drug culture in football. The findings draw attention to the alcohol-sport relationship and the contested relations, and diverging interests and influences, within the social field of football. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Researchers in sport have claimed that reflective practice is important for competent practice. Evidence supporting this claim is sparse, highly theoretical and located within a variety of domains. The aim of this study was to assimilate and analyse the last 12 years of reflective practice literature within the sport domain in order to identify new areas of inquiry, emerging trends with regard to findings or methodology, and to identify implications for future research and practice. A sample of 68 papers published between 2001 and 2012 was examined, and investigated for the research locations, data collection methods utilised, and the professions and communities involved. The paper concludes with some suggestions for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper presents findings from a small-scale pilot evaluation of the Silver Stories programme. Silver Stories involves school-age children reading to older people in the community and is a way of addressing literacy and emotional difficulties, as well as enhancing wellbeing. The authors collected and analysed questionnaire and interview data after a school term of programme implementation, across five schools in England and Wales, during the period of the third lockdown. The main finding was that participants experienced the programme as an opportunity for relationship-building between generations, highlighting the relational nature of reading as a 'literacy event' and wellbeing as a product of social interaction rather than an individual attribute. The pilot also indicated that school priorities might have shifted due to COVID-19 from academic attainment to a focus on social and emotional support. Although this was likely a temporary phase, it is also an opportunity to build back better. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In programmes of assessment with both high and low-stakes assessments, the inclusion of open-ended long answer questions in the high-stakes examination can contribute to driving deeper learning among students. However, in larger institutions, this would generate a seemingly insurmountable marking workload. In this study, we use a focused ethnographic approach to explore how such a marking endeavour can be tackled efficiently and pragmatically. In marking parties, examiners come together to individually mark student papers. This study focuses on marking parties for two separate tasks assessing written clinical communication in medical school finals at Southampton, UK. Data collected included field notes from 21.3 h of marking parties, details of demographics and clinical and educational experience of examiners, examiners' written answers to an open-ended post-marking party questionnaire, an in-depth interview and details of the actual marks assigned during the marking parties. In a landscape of examiners who are busy clinicians and rarely interact with each other educationally, marking parties represent a spontaneous and sustainable community of practice, with functions extending beyond the mere marking of exams. These include benchmarking, learning, managing biases and exam development. Despite the intensity of the work, marking parties built camaraderie and were considered fun and motivating. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the decision-making processes involved in giving physiotherapy students responsibility on clinical placement and the impact on their developing professional autonomy. The qualitative study, using semi-structured interviews, involved physiotherapy students and clinical educators (CEs) from two higher education institutions, one in Australia, and the other in the United Kingdom (UK). Findings led to the development of a heuristic framework of 'graduated supervision,' a process of progressively less direct observation and monitoring of students as clinical proficiency improved. By focusing on the measured exposure of students to increasing complexity and inverse levels of supervision, the framework captures tacit practices, and consistent, yet varied facilitation strategies adopted across specialties, and evident in clinical education settings in both countries. The framework formalizes, for the first time, assumptions and expectations previously unacknowledged. Factors identified as affecting students' progress toward autonomy include the student/CE relationship, the development of mutual trust through ongoing dialogue, and the importance of formal discussions at the commencement of a clinical placement to establish learning goals, preferred supervision styles and learner responsibilities. Insights have significance for the CE community, and students who at times have to second-guess what is required of them and how they might excel on clinical placement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is a reflective and critical review of research relating to widening participation (WP) in higher education (HE). The motivation for undertaking this was the twentieth anniversary of the Dearing Report Higher Education in the Learning Society (1997); a document that ignited a wide range of WP activity and policy. Dearing's report was published in the United Kingdom and represents one of the most significant reviews of higher education in this country since the Robbins' Report of 1963. His vision for HE included a "compact" between local and regional communities and their universities, and emphasised WP and greater student diversity. I draw on my own research in WP since Dearing, compare with other research projects, and compare with my experiences as a practitioner and researcher in various contexts, including most recently in a post-1992 university known for being a WP institution. This paper identifies several core themes that emerged from WP activities over the last 20 years and leads to the development of an added dimension in WP research. It calls for more consideration of the complex and heterogeneous identities of WP students today. It then returns to some of Dearing's original themes and considers how WP is situated in the current neoliberal climate affecting HE; it presents a set of ideas for discussion with respect to the future of WP research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

CreST is the Creative Speech Technology Network, a research network which brought together people from a wide variety of backgrounds spanning arts technology and beyond. The papers in this volume represent some of the outcomes of that collaboration. This editorial introduces the background of the network and each of the papers. In conclusion we demonstrate that this work helped to realize many of the objectives of the network. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports a structured review of the service development and organisational (SDO) research literature focused on prisoners with mental disorders. A large number of databases were searched, using a combined free-text and thesaurus approach. Papers were included if they had been published since 1983, were written in English, and contained research findings. Commentaries or descriptions of local service innovation were excluded. In all, 103 papers were identified that met all criteria; these were divided into 13 categories (e.g. screening, 18 papers; professional roles, 13 papers). The paper concludes that there is a clear need to consider commissioning SDO research for offenders in England and Wales in a coherent programme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents evaluations of research related to the professional development of healthcare providers in Great Britain. The critic says that the article "The Training Service Continuum: Exploring the Training Service Balance of Senior House Officer Activities" was an interesting paper, however, it has flaws. In the article "Cross-Cultural Medicine," the critic states that it contains a number of resources. "Teaching Professionalism Artfully" used different media to teach professionalism.

The article presents information on the various papers published in the 2006 issue of the periodical "Studies in the Education of Adults." In one of the papers the author presents information on how academics participating in the Research Assessment Exercise in Great Britain have been much exercised by the possible use of metrics, including citations and journal ranking, as a proxy for the objective measure of the quality of research. Another paper explores critically a number of popular discourses of pedagogy in adult education theory and practice. A papers presents information on a recent email survey of professors of education in the United States and in Great Britain. A paper reports on a research with archaeologists working in the Yucatan in Mexico to try and create an archaeology that is less damaging to local environments, cultural resources and local communities than many archaeological projects. A paper presents information on activity theory and situated learning perspectives in education.

This paper tells the story of how a group of teacher educators in a university education department used action research to examine their research situation, and what conclusions they reached. Some recent historical background puts the study in context, identifying tensions between university expectations and time-heavy teaching demands that operated as obstacles to research activity. This context is shared by many academics who provide training for practitioners in UK universities that seek substantial funding through their performance in national research quality assessments. The project was initially organised in Spring 2007 by new research staff who had investigated staff perceptions of and interests in research through semi-formal interviews, observations and documentation. An invited group turned to action research as a possible way forward. They asked the question 'What kind of research culture do we want, and how can we get it?' Over a year, all participants gathered at semi-formal meetings for collaborative reflection and discussion, engaged in a diversity of micro-researches that experimented with ways of researching around the barriers, and wrote a collaborative paper about what they had learned. This gave rise to a series of national and international conference presentations that drew several of the group members into the wider research community. The group members grew to realise that the kind of research that they perceived the institution to value was not necessarily a kind that was readily built into their identities as teacher educators. But this realisation itself was empowering, exposing previously opaque assumptions that had left a felt irreconcilability that had been difficult to articulate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article comments on the October 2005 issue of the periodical "Research in Learning Technology" which provides a valuable snapshot of current thinking and research activities. The articles were inspired by keynote and theme speaker presentations at electronic learning conferences in Great Britain. The papers reflect on key issues involved in electronic learning research and development. The role of learning objects and the purpose of reuse cuts across a number of the papers. Evidently present is the move towards more of a component-based approach to development.

This paper reports on the background, context, design, and findings of a collaborative research project designed to develop a future roadmap for strengthening an Australian research-rich and self-improving education system. Building on the BERA-RSA Inquiry into the role of research in the teaching profession in the UK (Furlong, 2013), the Australian Teacher Education Association (ATEA), Australian Association for Research in Education (AARE) and Australian Council of Deans of Education (ACDE) initiated a national study across education systems and jurisdictions to identify ideas, issues, challenges and opportunities to strengthen teacher education and education policy development through research. The mixed-method study, inclusive of focus groups and an on-line survey collected data from pre-service teachers, teachers, academics and leaders across schools, universities and education departments. A set of recommendations highlight the need for research literacies to be embedded at all stages of a teachers' career and that the profession would benefit from professional learning strategies where teachers are positioned as both critical and discerning consumers and active producers of research. The importance of teachers being able to respond to data within their own set of contextual factors was a key message. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper contains a plea for the greater use of numeric secondary data as a routine part of all studies, whatever their primary method. It starts with a rehearsal of the current poor public image of UK educational research, and some of the possible reasons for that. This rehearsal includes consideration of the limitations in some examples of influential work by established researchers. The paper continues with a summary of the reasons for using secondary data, and one example of a project based solely on secondary data. It concludes that the purportedly poor quality of some UK educational research, allied to the potential of secondary data, might actually empower novice researchers, enabling them to critique established work and to conduct powerful and informative analyses of their own. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper privileges thevoicesof British social anthropologists examining their perceptions of how their research expertise was acquired. Reference is made to the case of education research in Britain, which, by comparison with social anthropology, reveals limited capacity as measured through performance audits of scientific research quality. The paper endeavours to facilitateknowledge transferby uncovering and theoretically classifying the origins of research capacity. Life history interviews provide the data which illuminate the grounded nature of symbolic capital. The intellectual formation of the sample is characterised through Pierre Bourdieu’s theorisation of symbolic capital. The results indicate that research capacity can be characterised in terms of a transmission of symbolic capital, including that gained in the field through institutional affiliations whose reputational assets enhance the power of academics to play the game. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper reports on the findings of an ESRC-funded Knowledge Exchange project designed to explore the contribution of an innovative approach to supervision to social work practitioner's assessment and decision-making practices. The Cognitive and Affective Supervisory Approach (CASA) is informed by cognitive interviewing techniques originally designed to elicit best evidence from witnesses and victims of crime. Adapted here for use in childcare social work supervision contexts, this model is designed to enhance the quantity and quality of information available for decision-making. Facilitating the reporting of both 'event information' and 'emotion information', it allows a more detailed picture to emerge of events, as recalled by the individual involved and the meaning they give to them. Practice supervisors from Children's Services in two local authorities undertook to introduce the CASA into supervision sessions and were supported in this through the provision of regular reflective group discussions. The project findings highlight the challenges for practitioners of 'detailed looking' and for supervisors of 'active listening'. The paper concludes by acknowledging that the CASA's successful contribution to decision-making is contingent on both the motivation and confidence of supervisors to develop their skills and an organisational commitment to, and resourcing of, reflective supervisory practices and spaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Online spaces are increasingly important for our collective consciousness and provide an opportunity to document changing ideas, subjectivities and experiences surrounding new reproductive technologies. This paper reports on the first study of egg donation and online discussion boards in UK-based forums. Using thematic analysis, we investigated how donors use online forums and explored how they present themselves as possible donors in online spaces. Three major themes were identified: 'using online forums to exchange knowledge and experiences', 'egg donation as a gift' and 'having a drive to donate'. Findings from the study reveal how donors enter online spaces looking for advice, presenting themselves as available and weaving themselves into an online community. There exist multiple ways in which donors construct and narrate their own participation in the process of egg donation. Presenting a donor identity in these online forums is not a straightforward matter of helping by giving but also involves a specific drive. While more research is needed on the range of possible motivations, this study gives a better understanding of the available online information and the co-construction of donor identities on discussions boards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The first cases of Coronavirus (COVID-19) were reported in Wuhan, China in December 2019. Globally millions of people have been diagnosed with the virus whilst thousands have died. As the virus kept spreading health and social care frontline workers (HSCFW) were faced with difficulties when discharging their duties. This paper was set out to explore the challenges faced by different frontline workers in health and social care during the COVID-19 pandemic. The research utilized an explorative qualitative approach. A total of forty (N = 40) in-depth one-to-one semi-structured interviews were undertaken with HSCFW who included support workers (n = 15), nurses (n = 15), and managers (N = 10). Health and social care workers were drawn from domiciliary care and care homes (with and without nursing services). All the interviews were done online. The data were thematically analyzed, and the emergent themes were supported by quotes from the interviews held with participants. Following data analysis the research study found that lack of pandemic preparedness, shortage of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), anxiety and fear amongst professionals, challenges in enforcing social distancing, challenges in fulfilling social shielding responsibility, anxiety and fear amongst residents and service users, delay in testing, evolving PPE guidance and shortage of staff were challenges faced by frontline health and social care workers during COVID-19 pandemic. The results of the current study point to a need for adequate pandemic preparedness within the health and social care sector to protect both frontline workers and the individuals they look after. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the effects of anxiety and depression on infertile people as they undergo infertility investigations and treatments, and explores what nurses may do to assist them to cope with this anxiety. There is an extensive literature on the psychosocial effects of infertility on couples, women and men separately and their children, but the nursing and midwifery literature lacks an in-depth exploration of the psychological and emotional consequences of infertility for infertile people. The paper concludes by arguing that nurses and midwives need to undertake research into their practice in fertility care, that is, caring for infertile people as they undergo assisted reproductive technologies and, to this end, suggests sources of research funding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we engage with some fundamental questions about the focus and conduct of academic research and its potential influence on policy in relation to social problems. We use the example of public housing and social-spatial disadvantage as a basis to advance an analysis of the housing researcher's role in informing and framing the policymaking process and its links to research evidence. Although our paper uses the example of Australia, the arguments presented are also applicable to other nation states, such as the UK and US, that have an under-funded public housing stock. The paper proceeds in three stages. First, we detail the role and function of public housing in Australian cities and the politics surrounding public investment in welfare provision. Second, we discuss a series of models developed around the kind of research narratives that have been linked to policy on public housing and neighbourhoods from the academy, arguing that the social composition and management of 'place' has been emphasised at the expense of structural imperatives. Third, we examine some of the more abstract concerns raised by the linkages we make, and the potentially delimited role of academic research on social problems such as poverty and locational disadvantage. We conclude the paper by arguing that the weak position of housing research has fuelled an internalised narrative-driven pragmatic realism that has occluded more useful accounts about the nature of social problems. It is therefore incumbent on researchers to challenge, in a more vigorous way, the narratives underpinning this self-restraining form of policy-realism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper has been prompted by the challenges created by recent proposed reforms to social care services in the UK services which are being 'modernised', a term ubiquitous in policy documents but difficult to define with confidence. Government modernisation and e-government programmes highlight with renewed urgency the need for social care practitioners on the front line to have up-to-date, reliable information. Yet the rise in the rate and volume of information published (over new and old channels) has, paradoxically, made it increasingly difficult for them to keep up with new developments. How can higher education institutions best contribute to the social care community through a period of profound ideological and structural change? In particular, the paper discusses the key challenges of keeping abreast of research; changes in the social/organisational/professional context of social care; how social care practitioners learn; and effectively integrating practice, research and education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From 2007 to 2008, CILT (Centre for Information for Language Teachers) developed a set of National Occupational Standards for Intercultural Working in the UK. This paper reports on three questions arising from the development project: how these standards are distinctive from others, how they realise intercultural competence and how they meet workplace expectations. Drawing on the directly relevant published evidence-base, the paper argues that these standards are distinctive in their relationship with other suites, the range of their application, and the ways in which personal attributes are exemplified and embedded within performance outcomes. The standards also reflect a multi-dimensional approach to competencies which include personal qualities such as reflection, self-development, critical thinking and ethics; and the standards are described in a way which is credible and achievable in the workplace. For example, one pivotal unit of the standards focuses on self-exploration and performance improvement around the areas of inclusive working practices, effective communication and challenging stereotypes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports on capacity building in teacher education research. It notes that the journal is concerned on the aspect of capacity and capacity building. It mentions that capacity may be taken to relate the range of skills available, the research infrastructure, and the number of researchers. Also mention is that several attempts are considered to support the development of research capacity in education throughout the Great Britain. Capacity building strategies are concerned in the need to improve the quality of educational research, to make it more productive and to ensure its infrastructure is strong and sustainable. Reasons on why teacher education research is important in education research is also mentioned.

Within education, the term 'research' is used in a multiplicity of ways. This paper draws on my own reflection of how educational practitioners experience shifting relationships to research. It suggests that within the further education (FE) sector, professionalism in teaching is measured through observation in the form of the Ofsted inspection. In this case, the lecturer becomes an agent of research, i.e. a 'body' to be assessed and scrutinised according to a defined set of criteria. In contrast, in higher education (HE), an academic becomes the creator of research and is expected to generate new knowledge through research output. This paper therefore examines the relationship between theory and practice with specific reference to how different discourses of research are used to either assess or demarcate professionalism within UK post-compulsory education, depending in which sector practice is based. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Social & Cultural Geography is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In this paper we combine the findings from two recent studies relating to participation and attainment in school science -- a re-analysis of existing official data for England and a review of wider international research evidence in the literature relevant to the UK. Although the secondary data are drawn mainly from England, the comprehensiveness of these datasets, together with our inclusion of a review of international studies on maths and science participation provides a useful reference point for an international audience. The research was prompted by concerns over a reduction in the uptake of the physical sciences post-16 and especially in higher education and interest in ways of encouraging the study of science by students from less prestigious socio-economic status backgrounds. Such concerns are not unique to the UK. Using large-scale official datasets we show that participation and attainment in science are stratified by socio-economic status. Students from poorer families arc less likely to take sciences at post-16 than many other subjects and those who do are then less likely to obtain grades high enough to encourage further study of the subject. No conclusive evidence has been found to explain this satisfactorily. Plausible reasons suggested in the literature include the relative scarcity of local opportunities putting off those who do not wish to study away from home or the perceived time demands of studying science, and so the difficulties of combining part-time study and part-time work for those needing to continue earning while studying. Direct support from professional parents may also lead to greater participation in post-16 science for students from higher SES. Perhaps the simplest explanation is that participation in science at any level is often predicated upon success at the previous educational stage. There are clear differences in science attainment at age 16 between students of differing backgrounds, which could explain the subsequent differential participation. However, these differences arc not dissimilar to those for all subjects. The largest gap presented in the paper is between students eligible and not eligible for free school meals. We also show that these patterns appear early in the life of children. At ages 7 and 11, attainment in the three core subjects (English, maths and science) is negatively related to living in an area of deprivation. The paper ends with a discussion of suggestions for research, policy and practice emerging from this review of the evidence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the potential for conducting collaborative and critical research in higher education which problematises the role and practices of the academy in maintaining exclusion. It begins with a brief discussion of UK government discourse on widening participation, and contrasts this with the research literature which indicates the persistence of exclusionary practices in higher education, particularly in relation to social class. It then utilises a retrospective account of a small-scale participatory research study undertaken between 1996 and 2003 with a group of adult students from working class and minority ethnic backgrounds, to explore the possibilities for research which seeks the collaboration of those who, in other traditions, are constituted as research 'objects'. The paper discusses some of the lessons from the research process and explores the challenges for academics conducting research within the academy - challenges arising from their social positioning and their location in the academic field, but also from the 'scholarly gaze' which they 'cast upon the social world'. The paper advocates research which shifts the focus from deficit discourses around students, turns a critical and reflexive gaze towards academia and academics, and directs its efforts towards challenging existing power structures within higher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes the use of Grounded Theory (GT) for the analysis of collated data on organizational change within a large UK manufacturing company. The paper illustrates how analysis was carried out on the large volume of data gathered during the research. The data was collected through triangulation of observation, interviews and company documentation over a four year period. The description of 'how' this data was approached, assembled and then condensed is the contribution this paper makes. The paper describes in detail the steps taken and specifically how the thousands of words were transformed into focused conclusions and recommendations, ultimately generating a grounded model. It emerged that, amongst other benefits tied to the use of 'partial' GT, the overlap of data analysis with data collection allowed a head start with the interpretation process. GT was ideally suited to dealing with the qualitative data collected (thousands of pages of field notes, interview transcripts, company documentation). The overall intent of this paper is to add a level of detail to the data analysis stage, specifically when employing GT within a change management research project. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents the authors' comments in response to the paper entitled "Distinguishing surveillance from research," by G. Sherman and J. Campione-Piccardo. They say that the paper analyzes the methodological and conceptual differences between surveillance and research projects, and argue that the difficulty in distinguishing the types of activity for the Great Britain National Health Service Research Ethics Committees' review is highly expressed. They likewise address the need to clarify the definitions of research and audit so that investigators will be clarified. Moreover, they suggest the importance of clarifying the distinction between surveillance and research in a published debate.

Copyright of Social & Cultural Geography is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The article presents a neurophysiological research, which specifically examines the biological mechanisms that cause fatigue and its treatment, by a group of researchers in Great Britain. The study found out that after a brain injury, fatigue is the common complaint of patients. Several factors had contributed to the indepth discovery and investigation of the disorder. There is a need for a collaboration among researchers who are interested in the physiology and the psychology of fatigue.

The paper examines aspects of the relationship between teaching and research in higher education in social science research methods, with particular reference to the subject area of Education. There are three main themes: reflections on how social science research methods should be (or are) taught; a review of current debates about the relationship between teaching and research, both in higher education and for school teachers; and finally, reporting how a group of educational practitioners (mainly school teachers) studying at Masters level experience learned about research methods. The paper is illustrated by qualitative data from a case study of student experiences of research methods teaching on a Masters degree in Education in a research-intensive UK university. It is suggested that studying the journey embarked upon by taught postgraduate students inexperienced in research is helpful in understanding how learning about research methods takes place, which in turn can assist future research methods teaching. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reports on how research activity helped describe and analyse ASW (Approved Social Worker) learning experience as well as acting as a catalyst for change and development in policy and practice in Northern Ireland. The paper contextualizes the study by outlining the legislation, the main features of the ASW role and the approach to ASW training in Northern Ireland, and by reviewing the literature on the efficacy and value of competence‐based learning. While the findings do not provide conclusive evidence that a competence‐based approach is inherently more effective than previous courses, they do indicate that candidates who were trained in this way were moderately more satisfied than those who had participated in non‐competence based programmes. The research also highlights the importance of the interrelationship between training, practice experience and support in developing and sustaining competence. The paper concludes with a review of the recommendations arising from the study and an analysis of the developments in training and regulations relating to practice experience and re‐approval of ASWs since publication of the research. The study is of contemporary interest given the proposed changes to the role of ASWs/Mental Health Officers in the context of the reviews of UK mental health law. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the impact of productivity on pay within academia, drawing upon a detailed dataset of academics from five old established universities. Results outline the importance of publication; grant receipt and teaching quality in the determination of pay. A large financial penalty to time out of the profession is revealed, which, with productivity variables, explains away the gender salary gap. The relationship between teaching and research is investigated, and we find some evidence in support of the hypothesis that productive researchers are successful teachers. Results on reservation salary suggest that the best academics are willing to stay within the profession. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Formal research training is integral to research degrees in human geography completed in UK higher education institutions today. The Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) has been the driving force behind the formalization of research training. Arguably less well known among the ESRC research training recommendations is the stipulation that postgraduate research students complete advanced research training. This paper will draw upon the authors' experiences of the collaborative ESRC/Royal Scottish Geographical Society Advanced Research Training for Scottish Postgraduate Human Geographers. A detailed account of the advanced research training provision will be given, followed by staff and student reflections on the training. The paper concludes by considering what advanced research training offers to the PhD process and future developments in advanced research training. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents an overview of several evidence-based medicine and patient information studies conducted across the UK health service over a 4 year period, investigating clinicians', managers', and patients' perceptions of digital resources (primarily digital libraries) in hospitals, Primary Care Trusts, NHS Direct (patient call centre) and patient groups. In-depth interviews and focus groups are analysed using grounded theory methodologies and through content analysis used to produce quantitative finding. The perceived impacts of three different methods employed for delivering health informatics are presented. The findings highlight some generic issues relevant for health informatics in the UK health sector as well as some specific issues for medical digital libraries. This paper reviews in more detail the issues of medical technology implementation (traditional implementation, on the wards, and intermediaries within in communities). A breakdown of the clinicians' and patients' information journey (information initiation, facilitation and interpretation) is also presented with regard to medical digital libraries and online resources. Broad guidelines derived from these findings are provided for health-informatics deployment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years the annual cycle of war remembrance in Britain has been punctuated by major anniversaries and the inauguration of new war memorials. This paper explores whether time and forgetfulness are gradually eroding the power of twentieth century war memorials as traces of memory in the everyday landscape. It finds that at least some war memorials are retaining their significance and even evolving new significance as time passes. The paper considers how the sensuous and spectacular nature of war remembrance has contributed to this process and draws attention to the centrality of sight, sound and touch to remembrance activities. Case studies are then used to explore how war memorials in specific localities provide a locus for making sense of remembrance in the twenty-first century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many UK cities that experienced industrial decline during the 1980s and 1990s have turned increasingly to the cultural industries and the production of consumer culture in an effort to diversify local economies and rebuild local communities. This paper attempts to synthesize a range of academic literature addressing the role of the cultural industries in delivering sustainable regeneration. Literature from geography, leisure studies, tourism studies and cultural studies is reviewed in relation to the wider policy context of urban regeneration, neighbourhood renewal and social inclusion. This paper then evaluates three specific policy issues that have given rise to previous debate. First, the issue of linking national and local policy agendas is discussed; second, the role of the cultural industries in generating and integrating economic and social capital is assessed; and third, the place of "flagship' projects and the role of public-private partnerships is explored. Drawing on and developing guidance from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, the paper then proposes a series of 11 principles that can be seen as forming the basis of potentially sustainable cultural projects that can contribute positively towards regeneration, renewal and inclusion. These principles are examined in relation to the case study of The Pop Factory, a recent cultural project developed in South Wales with explicit regeneration, renewal and inclusion objectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A constructionist approach to the study of social problems and housing policy provides a theoretically informed means of analysing the ways in which housing policy is formulated and implemented. Yet despite a strong commitment by housing researchers to policy relevance, constructionist studies of how specific social problems are generated and deployed have so far made only a limited impact on housing research. The paper addresses this lacuna by first discussing important literature and the key conceptual issues in this field of study. This is followed by a discussion of two examples from recent UK housing policy (the shift in the 1980s from defining lone mothers as the victims of housing shortages to a morally questionable group subverting needs-based allocation policies and the re-emergence of anti-social behaviour as a problem on housing estates). The paper's conclusion is that the 'construction of problems' provides a rich source of new material as well as offering significant opportunities to develop a more critically informed housing research agenda. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Questions about the values of practice as research have steadily risen up the research agenda of the creative arts in British universities since the early 1990s. As American practitioner-scholar Richard Schechner writes: 'the relationship between studying performance and doing performance is integral' (Schechner 2002: 1). Yet, where are the differences between thinking and doing, interpreting and making, conceptualization and creativity located? Are there special conceptual spaces for practice as research per se or do we need rather to consider more broadly the terms 'writing' and 'research'? What kind of academy do we wish to create? This paper focuses on the work of PARIP during the past two years. It introduces the project and contextualizes it with a number of observations on the intellectual directions the project is taking, in consultation and collaboration with the range of artist-scholars in the UK and selected EU institutions. Jointly prepared by PARIP Director Baz Kershaw and postdoctoral Research Associate Angela Piccini this paper is characterized by dialectical interventions that we hope point to the range of thinking both within the project itself and beyond to the various PARIP communities in dance, film, television and drama. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although there is there is a shared assumption among the research community that response rates are lower in areas of deprivation, few studies have reported on the difficulties of recruiting disadvantaged respondents for the purposes of research. Where these issues are raised the focus is usually on why particular respondent groups may be more or less disposed to participate in research. This paper draws on two separate research projects on smoking which drew their respondents from overlapping areas of disadvantage in Edinburgh. Although informed by different research paradigms and employing different strategies of respondent recruitment, the two studies obtained a similar response rate. Although respectable, the response rate (approximately 60%) was achieved only at the expense of an enormous under-anticipated effort on behalf of the respective research teams. The greatest problem associated with respondent recruitment was in both cases linked to the high level of ineligible addresses and non-contacts, rather than with refusal to participate. The paper highlights the crucial importance of respondent recruitment strategies and reflects on the implications of recent data protection legislation for the requirements of research ethical committees. Neither of the studies discussed in the paper used 'opt-in' recruitment strategies, which are becoming more popular with ethics committees following the Data Protection Act. However, it is extremely likely that such strategies would have had a detrimental affect on the response rates achieved. This is problematic not least because a major aim of public health research targeting areas of deprivation is to provide marginalized or socially disadvantaged individuals with a voice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Health and welfare practitioners in the United Kingdom have experienced and continue to experience considerable turbulence as services and occupational boundaries undergo restructuring. To a significant extent such turbulence is driven by policies that promote interprofessional agendas. This paper reports on an evaluation of a higher education programme that adopted a social policy approach to the analysis of interprofessional working. The retrospective views were sought of nursing, midwifery, social work and community and youth work post-qualifying students with use of semi-structured questionnaires and focus groups. Although difficulties were encountered with the political science focus to the programme, overall the participants very positively evaluated the opportunity to engage in policy analysis in a shared learning environment. Given the highly politicised, complex and shifting environment of interprofessional working, it is suggested that the study lends support to the argument that 'policy acumen' is a central skill for contemporary health and welfare practitioners. The paper, therefore, starts to explore issues of particular relevance for educationalists involved in developing frameworks for interprofessional programmes particularly in higher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although not fully established, the National Grid for Learning (NGfL) initiative is already being presented by both government and industry as offering students, teachers and school extensive freedom and autonomy in their day-to-day work. However, this paper argues that the official discursive construction of the NGfL in this way, as a ‘panacea’ to educational problems, obscures vital issues of power and control that may only become apparent once the initiative is fully integrated at the classroom level. Drawing initially on the work of Foucault, and then Poster’s more recent conception of the electronic ‘SuperPanopticon’, this paper re-examines the basis of the NGfL and its role in extending and reinforcing existing power configurations in education. The paper concludes by considering directions for future research into the NGfL, and educational use of the Internet in the light of this analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes research undertaken as part of an MA study in leadership. It draws on interviews with six high profile leaders at the fore front of end of life care sector in the UK. Its findings and emerging themes offer insights about the opportunities for social work leaders in palliative care in the future and how the profession and palliative care sector address current barriers to taking advantage of such opportunity. The main focus of this paper is leadership related to palliative care social work. However, it relates to much broader themes including the history, politics and culture of this profession and the requirements for leadership on the part of social work in the broader contexts of health and social care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article aims to contribute to the development of frameworks for evaluating student voice projects in higher education by offering a critically evaluative account of two student voice projects. Although both projects had been underpinned by the principles of participatory (inclusive) research, one appeared to be more successful than the other in engaging students in a productive or meaningful way. In order to confirm and explain these perceived differences, this paper draws on both student voice and participatory research literature to identify two potentially useful evaluation criteria: reach and fitness for purpose. These criteria are applied to three project factors: aims and assumptions, processes and outcomes to produce an amplitude framework for evaluating student voice in higher education. It is argued that this framework has the potential to enable a rich account of the relative successes and failures of student voice initiatives in higher education. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]