Search

This article explores the extent to which students of different ethnicities, (dis)abilities, sexes, POLAR groups, and academic abilities undertake Year in Industry (YINI) placements and realise post-placement academic improvements, in comparison with non-YINI students. The benefits of work placements on student employability and graduate prospects are well-documented but less is known about which student groups gain access to placements. The study analyses secondary data relating to the sex, ethnicity, disability, POLAR group, grades, and degree classifications of 31,159 undergraduates graduating from a UK Russell Group university between 2016 and 2023, representing the largest study of its kind to date. The study found that students completing YINI programmes are significantly more likely to achieve first class (70.1% YINI, 28.5% non-YINI) and good degrees (97.7% YINI, 83.6% non-YINI). Importantly, the study found that YINI completion narrows awarding gaps found in the non-YINI population in relation to sex, disability, ethnicity, and POLAR group. The potential gains are greatest for male students, students with disabilities, Asian, Black and mixed ethnicity students, and students from low POLAR groups. However, access to placements is not proportionately distributed. Female students, students with disabilities, students from all ethnic minority groups and those of unknown ethnicity, and students from low POLAR groups are under-represented within the YINI population, suggesting placement access gaps in relation to sex, disability, ethnicity, and POLAR group. The paper concludes with strategies to encourage YINI participation amongst diverse student groups and calls for further research into lived experiences of YINI and non-YINI students.

Charities are facing a crisis in recruiting board trustees. Additionally, boards have been criticised for lacking diversity and being unrepresentative of society. The purpose of this paper is to propose a solution to the problem of trustee recruitment, by considering university business students as trustees. Through an analysis of advertised trustee jobs, the proposal is evaluated against degree subject benchmark statements. The findings identify some key person characteristics specified by charities when recruiting trustees. The generic criteria could be met by most students and many of the personal skills are developed by students while at university. However, to address some of the experience criteria, may require additional training and some yielding by charities. The paper offers originality in its proposition of appointing university business students as trustees and in its approach to examining the feasibility of that proposition through an analysis of trustee jobs.

Enhancing students' assessment literacy is essential in enabling all students to manage their learning successfully. Understanding of the assessment standards required and how to meet them impacts students' learning outcomes within higher education (HE). However, there are many different conceptions of what assessment literacy comprises, making it difficult to provide guidance on the most effective approaches to enhancing student and academic understanding of this complex and multifaceted concept. With this concern in mind, we investigated the psychometric properties of an assessment tool and its suitability for use within the context of implementing and evaluating pedagogical interventions aimed at enhancing students' and academics' assessment literacy skills. The validity of the tool was confirmed using exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses. Furthermore, the identified relationship between assessment literacy and feedback elements of the tool confirms the importance of an integrated approach to assessment. Drawing on extensive piloting of the tool across disciplines we highlight the importance of pedagogical co-construction approaches that promote shared understandings of assessment literacy between students and academics. Suggestions for further enhancement of this measure are proposed with the aim of supporting academics' and students' shared understandings and development of assessment literacy.

There is considerable variability in developmental outcomes of children whose mothers experience depression. Few longitudinal studies have examined contributions of paternal involvement in the association between maternal postnatal depression (PND) and offspring development. We examined pathways from maternal PND at 8 weeks (Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale; total score) to offspring emotional and behavioral development at 7 years (Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire; total score) through behavioral, affective, and cognitive dimensions of paternal involvement in a U.K.-based birth cohort (Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children; n = 3,434). Analyses were adjusted for baseline confounders and paternal PND (Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale; total score) as an intermediate confounder. Maternal PND was strongly associated with offspring development, but this association was not mediated by the combination of all indirect pathways through various dimensions of paternal involvement. Only father--child conflict emerged as a risk factor for adverse offspring development and as a mediator in the association between maternal PND and offspring development (albeit the effect size was small). If found causal, interventions that reduce father-child conflict may reduce the risk of adverse development in offspring of mothers with PND.

The COVID-19 pandemic reduced the availability of work placements in commercial organisations for university students and potentially changed the nature of placements in the future. Similarly, charitable organisations who were already suffering budget restrictions have been financially affected by COVID-19 due to reduced revenue on trading activities, with financial sustainability predicted to be an ongoing issue. The opportunity, therefore, for charities to entice university students to volunteer to support their work, with the lure of developing their employability skills, seems irresistible at this time. The purpose of this paper is to examine the content of job advertisements for volunteer positions to determine the extent to which they specify transferable skills desired of the candidates, or state that they can be developed once employed in the post. The underlying assumption is that, to attract student volunteers, job advertisements will need to explicitly state the transferable skills resulting from the post, since students will be focused on developing employability skills through the volunteering activity to support their graduate careers. The paper offers originality by conducting a content analysis of volunteer jobs and assessing the specified criteria against recognised employability skills. It concludes by challenging charities, students and universities to embrace the opportunity for students to develop transferable skills through volunteering by modifying current practices.

Drawing on the concept of the "literate environment," the authors conceptualise the numerate environment to explore the development of adults' numeracy. Numerate environments provide opportunities, supports, and demands for numeracy practices. Case studies of domestic energy bills in the UK and of the currency conversion process to the euro in the Slovak Republic from 2009 illustrate opportunities, supports, and demands on adults. We use the idea of affordances to understand inter-relations among these three key aspects. We show the importance of considering affordances at different levels of the environment, which we call here individual, mid-level, and societal or national levels. Implications for numeracy policy and learning are explored.

This article reflects on some influential theories, concepts and institutions that have shaped the nature and substance of international development since the mid-20th century. In particular, theories of modernisation and dependency are deployed to reflect on the ways in which the International Financial Institutions, such as, the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank have adopted a 'Washington Consensus' concerning the social and economic development of 'developing' nations. 'Soft power' national agencies, such as, the British Council and USAID are brought into consideration, especially, for their interests and influences over matters of learning for development. The multi-national Commonwealth of Learning's particular contribution to learning for development is discussed with suggestions made for developing member nations' capacities to produce new local knowledge and to bring their existing local knowledge to the fore to share as part of a (Lockean) 'commonwealth of learning'.

The Imitation Game is a new method and, as such, it is important to show that its results are plausible and replicable. We tested this by conducting Imitation Games on religion in a range of European countries, returning approximately 12 months later to repeat the research. The idea was that non-Christian members of strongly Christian countries would find it easy to pass as members of the practicing majority because Christian beliefs and practices would be ubiquitous. In more secular countries, the expectation was that non-Christians would find it harder to pass as Christian because religious practices are less visible. We show that, despite some anomalous results, the data are consistent with expectations derived from survey data and that the claim to have replicated the results can be supported. We also suggest that our experiences show that questions of replication in the social sciences cannot be resolved by statistical meta-analysis alone.

Given that a large proportion of Master's students in UK universities are from mainland China, we sought to quantify the extent to which their approaches to learning (AtL) and epistemological beliefs (EBs) differ from those of non-Chinese students, and how these differences affected first-semester grades. To this end, we surveyed a large cohort of Master's students (n = 564, 65.3% Chinese) at a UK Business School at the beginning of an academic year to minimise influences that might change attitudes towards AtL and EBs. Primary data on AtL and EBs were collected using two standard survey instruments, along with data on social class, prior attainment, and nationality. This unique combination of measures, controls and large sample size allowed for an analysis that was more comprehensive than previous studies. Our findings showed that achievement among Chinese students was unrelated to AtL but was associated with EBs and social background. For example, when controlling for other factors, Chinese students who had confidence in their learning ability achieved higher grades, while non-Chinese students who perceived knowledge as certain underperformed. Moreover, Chinese students whose fathers held lower status jobs achieved significantly higher grades when controlling for other characteristics.

Purpose: We develop a positive but critical appreciation of the nature and meaning of impact as current constituted as UK universities prepare for the government-led evaluation of research quality in REF2021. Methodology: We describe and then discuss impact (generally, and then specifically in relation to one recently completed project). That project was funded by the Leverhulme Trust and titled Youth activism, engagement and the development of new civic learning spaces (see:https://www.york.ac.uk/education/research/cresj/researchthemes/ citizenship-education/leverhulmeyouthactivism/). Findings: Currently, there is potential for corporate arguments about impact to have a negative effect on UK universities. It would be preferable to consider impact in relation to general arguments about strengthening societal culture by generating greater respect for knowledge and clarifying its relationship with society; and by knowledge based arguments in that a specific evaluation of impact would allow us to know more about the nature of the research-practice interface.

Teaching staff report poorer mental health and wellbeing than the general working population. Intervention to address this issue is imperative, as poor wellbeing is associated with burnout, presenteeism, and adverse student mental health outcomes. The Wellbeing in Secondary Education (WISE) intervention is a secondary school-based programme aimed at improving the mental health and wellbeing of teachers and students. There are three components: awareness-raising for staff; a peer support service delivered by staff trained in Mental Health First Aid (MHFA); and Schools and Colleges Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) training for teachers. A cluster randomised controlled trial with integrated process and economic evaluation was conducted with 25 secondary schools in the UK (2016-2018). The intervention was largely ineffective in improving teacher mental health and wellbeing. This paper reports process evaluation data on acceptability to help understand this outcome. It adopts a complex systems perspective, exploring how acceptability is a dynamic and contextually contingent concept. Data sources were as follows: interviews with funders (n = 3); interviews with MHFA trainers (n = 6); focus groups with peer supporters (n = 8); interviews with headteachers (n = 12); and focus groups with teachers trained in Schools and Colleges MHFA (n = 7). Results indicated that WISE intervention components were largely acceptable. Initially, the school system was responsive, as it had reached a 'tipping point' and was prepared to address teacher mental health. However, as the intervention interacted with the complexities of the school context, acceptability became more ambiguous. The intervention was seen to be largely inadequate in addressing the structural determinants of teacher mental health and wellbeing (e.g. complex student and staff needs, workload, and system culture). Future teacher mental health interventions need to focus on coupling skills training and support with whole school elements that tackle the systemic drivers of the problem.

Purpose: Many children have difficulties understanding speech. At present, there are few assessments that test for subtle impairments in speech perception with normative data from U.K. children. We present a new test that evaluates children's ability to identify target words in background noise by choosing between minimal pair alternatives that differ by a single articulatory phonetic feature. This task: (1) is tailored to testing young children, but also readily applicable to adults; (2) has minimal memory demands; (3) adapts to the child's ability; and (4) does not require reading or verbal output. Method: We tested 155 children and young adults aged from 5 to 25 years on this new test of single word perception. Results: Speech-in-noise abilities in this particular task develop rapidly through childhood until they reach maturity at around 9 years of age. Conclusions: We make this test freely available and provide associated normative data. We hope that it will be useful to researchers and clinicians in the assessment of speech perception abilities in children who are hard of hearing or have developmental language disorder, dyslexia, or auditory processing disorder.

Statistics is one of the important branches of mathematics taught in schools, colleges and universities. It is also an important tool in public policy discussions. This paper focuses on the use of statistics in the latter context, rather than its use in adult mathematics education research. I review the key characteristics of the statistical approach to constructing public knowledge, and give a very brief history of key points in its development. I discuss how what I call the "overt crisis of statistics," the apparent disenchantment of large sections of the public with the "expert" statistical methods, outputs and pronouncements, leads to dilemmas both for citizens and for democratic governments. Recently "Big Data" and data analytics seem to many to offer new solutions to problems resulting from the essential lack of certainty surrounding efforts to understand society, and from the need to make quick decisions in a rapidly changing world. These approaches have potential, but also limitations. This leads me to consider a second, "covert" crisis of statistics, resulting from a struggle between proponents of freely available public information and public argument, and those aiming to profit from the appropriation and sequestering of information for private ends. I finish by considering what can be done by ourselves, as citizens, as adult mathematics teachers, and as researchers.

In the 2012 PIAAC Survey of Adult Skills of 23 industrialised countries, the UK (England & NI) scored below average on adult numeracy. Several recommendations focus on the need for (some) individuals in the population to undergo training. Yet, even in "high-performing countries" like the Netherlands, many adults (1.5M) score at or below PIAAC Level 1 (sometimes designated as "functionally innumerate"). The question arises as to how all of these people manage in important domains of their lives. In this article we aim to consider the context of the exercise of numeracy by adults, drawing on earlier research in mathematics education. We examine a recent conception of an adult's "literate environment" (EU HLG on Literacy, 2012), and extend this to reflect on the idea of an adult's "numerate environment". We consider the range of practices that particular adults may engage in, and the demands that these may make on the adult, the affordances the practices may offer; the latter include the opportunities, and the supports and/or barriers produced within these practices, and in cultures more generally, that may foster or impede an adult's ongoing numerate development. We give examples of each of these aspects of adults' numerate practices, and consider implications for the teaching, learning and development of numeracy.

The value of students publicly sharing and discussing their solutions to unstructured problems is widely recognized. This can, however, be pedagogically challenging. The solutions may be partial, unclear and unpredictable. For many teachers, particularly those new to working with such problems with their students, the improvisation needed to orchestrate productive discussions can be unmanageably high. In this paper we present a pedagogical tool to help teachers. Specifically, teachers orchestrate discussions of "designed, worked-out solutions" to unstructured problems. The worked-out solutions have been carefully pre-designed for teachers to use in lessons. Knowing the range of distinct solutions students are to work with supports teachers' planning. The reduced need for improvisation means they are better placed to learn and practice new ways of probing students' reasoning. These acquired practices may then be applied to discussions of students' own responses to a problem. In the study we explore the question: for a teacher new to working with unstructured problems, how do discussions of worked-out solutions (called in this paper designed student responses) differ from discussions of students' own solutions? Our findings indicate that discussions of authentic student solutions tend to focus on procedural descriptions, whereas the discussions of designed solutions stimulated student explanation and evaluation. The work reported here represents the initial part of an on-going study.

Teaching and learning research in higher education, often referred to as the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL), is still relatively novel in many academic contexts compared to the mainstay of disciplinary research. One indication of this is the challenges those who engage in SoTL report in terms of how this work is valued or considered credible amongst disciplinary colleagues and in the face of institutional policies and practices. This paper moves beyond the literature that describes these specific challenges to investigate how 23 experienced SoTL researchers from five different countries understood the notion of credibility in relationship to their SoTL research and how they went about developing credibility for their work. Semistructured interviews were facilitated and analyzed using inductive analysis. Findings indicate that notions of credibility encompassed putting SoTL research into action and building capacity and community around research findings, as well as gaining external validation through traditional indicators such as publishing. SoTL researchers reported a variety of strategies and approaches they were using, both formal and informal, to develop credibility for their work. The direct focus of this paper on "credibility" of SoTL work as perceived by experienced SoTL researchers, and how they go about developing credibility, is a distinct contribution to the discussions about the valuing of SoTL work.

In recent years, questions about the purpose of higher education (HE) have come to the fore as HE tuition fees have escalated both in the UK and internationally. The extent to which universities provide students with opportunities for developing skills needed not only for future employment but participation in civic life has become an important contemporary issue. Drawing on interviews with 29 graduates from three distinct types of UK higher education institutions (HEIs) ('elite,' 'old' and 'new'), the paper explores the extent to which the pedagogical experiences provided by these different institutions offer students the sorts of experiences and skills needed for later civic participation. Our analyses suggest that the pedagogical arrangements in these institutions are highly differentiated and provide varying opportunities for developing civic skills. Whilst this potentially has significant implications for the cultivation of students' civic skills and participation in civil society, we argue that civic participation is not so much determined by pedagogic or disciplinary cultures but is located on the intersection of ranging personal and social circumstances and pedagogic experiences.

This article highlights an opportunity for teaching staff in universities to utilise students' part-time work experience to enhance learning, teaching and assessment activities. Increasing numbers of university students are working part-time while studying and, as a consequence, there have been several academic studies highlighting the adverse impact of this practice on academic performance. This has led to suggestions for changes in educational policy, seeking either to reduce students' term-time working or to eliminate it altogether. With a gearing to business management education, this viewpoint piece provides an argument for university lecturers to embrace students' part-time work experience and use it to enhance the learning, teaching and assessment experience. The use of students' own work experience extends the case study method, which is common in business teaching, to give greater control and therefore reassurance to students and so yield deeper learning. The approach also strengthens the relationship between higher education and industry in that it connects more cohesively students' work experience and university study.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore university students' perceptions about career development in relation to their part-time working and to examine whether students maximise opportunities arising in their part-time job in order to enhance their personal profile and career aspirations. Design/methodology/approach: Semi-structured interviews were held with 20 degree students at a UK university. The interview was based around 19 questions, split into three sections: general; career and the part-time job. Findings: The findings indicate that while students are aware that part-time work helps in developing personal skills, there is a lack of awareness on how part-time work can provide differentiation in the graduate jobs market and support long-term graduate careers. The conclusion discusses the implications of the findings suggesting greater awareness among students of how part-time work can drive work readiness and long-term career aspirations. It also recommends greater involvement of career advisors and university teaching colleagues in supporting this endeavour. Originality/value: While other papers on student working have included a small element regarding careers, this paper offers originality by focussing solely on the relationship between students' part-time work and career aspirations. Moreover, most works in this area have been quantitative studies, whereas this study is qualitatively-based.

The United States and the United Kingdom have used standardized high-stakes testing as a measurement of students' cognitive level to determine success in the 21st century. Standardized tests have given teachers guidance to help them determine what to teach students and how to teach to the test. With such increased emphasis on high-stakes standardized tests, students are being taught based on tested content. This study evaluates the frequency of higher-and lower-order items in the respective country's standardized test, and analyzes the teaching of higher-order thinking within classroom instruction.

The collaborative project UseMyAbility (UMA) sought to reduce discrimination and enhance disabled graduates' employability through equipping them with the skills to match employability skills and attributes. An outcome from the project, completed in 2011, was a web-based tool which gave students advice on how to improve their employability. Subsequently, an online self-audit questionnaire was developed, which allowed students to record and map their employability skills and attributes. This paper reports on two projects that used this UMA online questionnaire with undergraduate sports students at a UK University. The first group were students undertaking a second-year Physical Education (PE) module and the second were students undertaking internships in a variety of sporting contexts. Drawing on data gained from questionnaires and student and mentor interviews, the two projects sought to evaluate the effectiveness of the UMA questionnaire for the students in these two contexts. It aimed to enhance students' employability profiles, enable them to benchmark and track their development, provide practical help in preparing job applications, tackle interview questions and develop evidence-based curricula vitae. It is hoped that through identifying ways of adapting the use of the questionnaire to these contexts, learning from participant data from the completion of the questionnaires, and gaining a better understanding of students' and mentors' perceptions of its use, that insights may be gained that will aid the wider adoption of the online tool.

This paper focuses on how generic skills can be developed to enable young adults to best utilise them in making transitions into the labour market. Drawing on the literature and a Commercial Education Trust study of practices which encourage employer engagement in skills development, it is argued that 'putting skills to work' is not automatic or unproblematic. It is not simply a matter of 'skills transfer', but a 'continuous, contextually-embedded and transformative process' during which individuals, supported by partners, learn how to recontextualise skills to suit different activities and environments. It may be tempting to distil employability into a list of so-called 'soft skills', but context matters. It requires more than that which can be taught in Education. Support is needed in the workplace through mentoring, for example, to help recruits acquire knowledge of workplace culture, norms and practices, situational understanding, and apply metacognitive strategies for bringing together this knowledge and a range of different skills and personal attributes in productive application. Further research is needed to explore the inter-relationships between skills supply, demand and utilisation, including ways in which employers can better recognise young recruits' skills and provide 'expansive' working environments that maximise their capabilities and potential for development.

To develop the Chinese version of Clinical Outcomes in Routine Evaluation-Outcome Measure (CORE-OM) and examine its psychometric properties, we investigated a sample of 689 non-clinical and 309 clinical participants and found this measurement had good acceptability, internal reliability, test-retest reliability and convergent validity; it had moderate correlations with the Schwartz Outcome Scale and Symptom Check List-90, which showed an acceptable concurrent validity. Specifically, we explored the cut-off line of clinical criterion and found a g factor plus three-factor solution better than original four-domain model in Chinese context. The CORE-OM is a valid tool with referenced cut-offs to measure clinical outcomes, which can bridge the gap in routine clinical evaluation in China.

Considerable attention has been paid to the economic benefits of participating in higher education, particularly the 'economic premium' of graduates compared to non-graduates. Although the civic contribution of graduates has been widely acknowledged and discussed, there has been a dearth of empirical analysis that investigates this contribution. Furthermore, the massification of higher education in the UK, US, and many other countries, has had profound impacts on the higher education experience. But little is known about how changes to the form and function of mass higher education have impacted on the civic contribution of university graduates. This research attempts to address this by focussing specifically on associational membership of university graduates during their early adulthood. By calculating the 'civic premium' of UK graduates compared to their non-graduate peers over time we are able explore the relationship between associational membership and higher education participation following the massification of UK higher education.

We explore the potential drivers for and barriers to interdisciplinary education in design from the student learning perspective. To achieve this, a series of in-depth student interview studies were conducted at two interdisciplinary design schools in the Republic of Korea and the UK. Results indicated both awareness and synthesis of interdisciplinary perspectives across the two schools. However, these abilities appeared more heavily dependent upon individual student attitudes and interests, compared to the programmes of study themselves. Instructor bias and potential integration issues at school and institutional levels were further cited as challenges to interdisciplinarity. However, results also indicated application as a key driver for the acquisition and synthesis of disciplinary perspectives. Students, within the applied discipline of design, responded well to interdisciplinarity when accompanied by opportunities to integrate disciplinary knowledge through application within their own project works. Implications for interdisciplinary approaches to design education are finally discussed together with suggested avenues for future investigation.

This paper explores the perceptions of degree students at two UK universities regarding their work placement and part-time working activities, to assess if the two activities converge. The research comprises three stages: interviews for preliminary exploration of students' perceptions towards work placement and part-time work; interviews to examine how placement opportunities link with career aspirations; a survey of students who had completed a placement, and those currently on placement. Students acknowledged part-time working helped their placement activity, providing transferable skills beneficial to both study and career aspirations. A significant finding was with respect to time: the closer to the placement activity the data was collected, the stronger the impact of appreciating the value of placement. The paper therefore highlights the value of timing in the assessment of work placement. It also offers value for universities' by providing insight into students' perceptions regarding embedded external work activities that can enhance graduate employability and career prospects.

While research exists on the effectiveness of pedagogical methods in relation to the development of Chinese students' critical thinking (CT), there has been little research on Chinese students' experiences around CT in relation to their own contexts. This paper reports on the findings of a study that investigated the experiences of the use of CT by 29 Chinese postgraduate students studying in a range of contexts in China and the UK. All student participants were engaged in second language education at Master's level. Data were collected mainly through ethnographic interviews and analysed within the framework of positioning theory. The findings reveal that the students' use of CT skills was not only a demonstration of ability but also a consequence of their positioning. In the context of thesis writing, the students' positioning was exercised as perceived rights and duties regarding knowledge, directed by their own goals for personal development. The study has implications for research and teaching of CT in cross-cultural contexts.

Background: There is paucity in availability of valid and reliable measures of psychopathology that can be routinely applied with an intellectual disability (ID) population in clinical practice. The psychometric properties of the Clinical Outcome Routine Evaluation-Learning Disabilities 30-Item version (CORE-LD30) are examined. Method: The CORE-LD30 was administered to 271 sequential referrals to three National Health Service (NHS) ID services providing psychological support. A principal components analysis with oblique rotation was conducted with examination of convergent validity for extracted domains. Results: Three rotated factors were extracted with good levels of internal consistency reported for the overall measure (a = 0.92) and each of the domains, conceptually labelled Problems/Symptoms (a = 0.90), Risk to Self (a = 0.76) and Risk to Others (a = 0.71). Convergent validity is reported for two domains [Problems/Symptoms with the Glasgow Depression Scale for people with a learning disability (LD) and Risk to Others with the Health of the Nation Outcome Scale-LD], and support for the CORE-LD30 as a 'core' measure indicated. Conclusions: The CORE-LD30 is recommended as a useful broad ranging measure of psychopathology for use with an ID population. Domains may prove to be useful for research and clinical purposes. Further research is recommended to examine the ability to monitor clinical change associated with specific levels of presentation and different clinical presentations/cohorts.

This article considers the potential for a researcher to use their own creative practice as a method of data collection. Much of the published material in this field focuses on more theoretical positions, with limited use being made of specific PhDs that illustrate the context in which practice was undertaken by the researcher. It explores strategies for data collection and researcher motivation during what the author identifies as "researcher practice." This is achieved through the use of three PhD case studies. Methods of data collection focus on: (a) the use of output from practice for quantitative data collection (i.e., for comparative analysis), (b) the use of output from practice for qualitative data collection (i.e., reflection on new working practice), and (c) the use of output from practice for data translation (i.e., using research output to produce a creative design solution for a tool that can be used for further data collection and validation). The article discusses the methodologies employed in the case studies to identify themes which enable the definition of a generic researcher practitioner methodology. It notes the significance of creative practice in support of data collection and the differences between researcher practice and commercial practice, and emphasises the contribution of researcher practice towards personal motivation. (Contains 3 figures.)

What motivates research-focused academics, employed at a leading research university, to want to teach well--particularly considering that many of them admit to prioritising research above teaching? Why do they not simply settle for expending as little time as possible on their teaching planning and preparation, delivering run-of-the-mill, lack-lustre seminars and lectures that fail to inspire their students? These are the central questions addressed in this article, which revisits and re-analyses data from a 1993-4 case study of teaching and learning in a UK research-intensive university. Selected qualitative data from the original study are used to present an overview of the attitudes toward teaching of, and the teaching approaches used by, eighteen academics, and these data are supplemented by up-to-date follow-up data gathered in 2009. The picture is one of effective--often innovative--teaching carried out conscientiously. Yet the teachers are, by their own admission, first and foremost researchers. What, then, motivates their teaching? Applying what we call "feasibility-determined analysis", we hypothesise that the academics were motivated by self-esteem needs, which, in turn, were fed by self-efficacy beliefs and the pursuit of a sense of achievement. Finally, we briefly discuss the wider implications of this hypothesis for professional development in higher education contexts.

Internationally, the political appetite for educational measurement capable of capturing a metric of value for money and effectiveness has momentum. While most would agree with the need to assess costs relevant to quality to help support better governmental policy decisions about public spending, poorly understood measurement comes with unintended consequences. This article provides a comprehensive overview of the development of measures of learning gain in higher education, exploring political contexts, methodological challenges, and the multiple purposes and potential of learning gain metrics for quality assurance, accountability and enhancement, and most importantly, we argue, the enhancement of learning and teaching. Learning gain approaches should be integral to curriculum design and delivery and not extraneous to it. Enhancing shared understandings of concepts, measures, and instruments, transparency in reporting and investment in developing pedagogical research literacy, including effective use of data are essential in the pursuit of meaningful approaches to measuring learning gain within higher education.

This article explores the perceptions of international students studying in the UK regarding their transition from undergraduate to postgraduate study, the challenges they faced in the process and the factors that supported that transition. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 44 taught international postgraduate students at a UK university. It was found that students initially struggled with the academic demands of the course, particularly the ability to integrate critical thinking into written submissions. Consequently, students looked to develop peer support networks. The paper concludes by discussing the implications of the findings for universities, particularly concerning pre-course preparation and ongoing structured support.

This article draws on the philosophy of Deleuze and Guattari to reconceptualise transition to Higher Education. In doing so it contributes a new theoretical approach to understanding transition to Higher Education which largely remains under-theorised, uncritical and taken-for-granted. Drawing on data from two projects, the article activates Deleuze and Guattari's concepts of assemblage, rhizome and becoming to contest the established view of transition as a linear pathway or series of 'critical incidents.' The article illuminates how Deleuze and Guattari's concepts are of value both in theorising the multiplicity and heterogeneity of transition and in refocusing attention on the lived specificities of students' experiences within a complex web of institutional and affective practices. The article ends with a consideration of how Deleuze and Guattari recast understandings of transitions theory and practice.

Our discussion of social justice begins by embracing both "distribution" and "recognition" aspects of social relations (Vincent, 2003). The first aspect considers the way that goods, knowledge, skills, rights, etc. are distributed among social groups; the second aspect focuses on aspects of society structuring social encounters and relations--modes of communication, "treatment," respect. Our approach to social justice focuses not only on the dimension of gender, but also on social class and ethnicity: we consider that concern with these latter forms is crucial for a full appreciation of the structural and the interactional aspects conveyed by the concept (Arnot, 2002; Gillborn & Mirza, 2000). In methodological terms we argue that researching the questions posed by a social justice agenda, will require both "quantitative" and "qualitative" methods--within any substantial research programme, and even within individual studies. Our emphasis on the theoretical aspects of formulating a research problem points to the importance of a third facet of social justice, to do with "representation" and power. We discuss several examples of fruitfully combining different aspects of social justice and multiple methods of research. In particular, we argue that considerations of social justice, and a related "hybrid" methodology, will play a crucial role in our ongoing study of the (re)production of images of mathematics in popular culture, and in particular advertising.

The success of policies to attract adults back to the learning of mathematics, at various levels, is often linked to questions of motivation. However, motivations depend on relevant beliefs, attitudes and emotions about mathematics--which themselves reflect, together with experiences with maths in school and in the home, wider cultural discourses on mathematics. The work presented here is part of a larger study examining the complex relations between popular cultural products such as advertisements and films, the way that knowledge is portrayed by them, and possible consequences for people's affective responses. The initial phase of the project (Evans, 2003, 2004) analysed small "opportunistic" samples of advertisements and films. The advertisements portrayed mathematics as generally negative, whereas the films were more ambivalent. In the next phase, we produced larger samples of both advertisements and films. In this paper, we report on our search through a systematic sample of issues of UK daily newspapers for "mathematical" advertisements. A notable finding was the very small number of advertisements containing images of mathematics. Those few advertisements we found were most frequently for cars, or for services to businesses. Using a discourse theoretical perspective and a hybrid methodology, we categorise advertisements according to features such as their "appeal" to potential consumers--and we also produce semiotic readings of a sub-sample of advertisements, as to their "message", in particular their images of mathematics, and of people doing, using, or teaching mathematics. Here we find these images to be much more varied and subtle than in the initial phase. We end by discussing some of the consequences of our analysis for perceptions, teaching and use of mathematics in today's market economy societies.

Introduction: Older individuals and, in particular, individuals at risk of recurrent stroke, may be susceptible to thrombosis when participating in exercise, however, this aspect has not been well investigated. Methods : Clot microstructure and conventional markers of thrombotic risk were determined in twenty lacunar stroke patients and fifteen healthy age-matched controls before, immediately after and 1 h after a bout of moderate intensity cycling exercise. Data were analyzed using a linear mixed model approach. Results: At rest, clot microstructure (1.69 ± 0.07 vs. 1.64 ± 0.05, corresponding to a difference of ~ 50% in normalized clot mass; p = 0.009) and thrombocyte count (73%; p < 0.0001) were higher, and activated partial thromboplastin time was lower (18%; p = 0.0001) in stroke patients compared to age-matched controls. Acute exercise increased thrombogenic markers similarly in the two groups: incipient clot microstructure (1.69 ± 0.07 vs. 1.74 ± 0.05; p = 0.0004 and 1.64 ± 0.05 vs. 1.71 ± 0.04; p < 0.0001, for stroke and controls respectively), plasma fibrinogen (12%; p < 0.0001 and 18%; p < 0.0001, for stroke and controls respectively) and the combined coagulation factors II, VII and X (p = 0.0001 and p < 0.0001, for stroke and controls respectively). Conclusion: The results show that exercise transiently increases the risk of blood clot formation in both stroke patients and controls, however, due to the higher baseline thrombogenicity in stroke patients, the post exercise risk of forming blood clots may be higher in this group. Trial registration: Registered at ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT03635177). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reflects on the methodological complexities of producing emotionally-sensed knowledge about responses to family deaths in urban Senegal. Through engaging in 'uncomfortable reflexivity', we critically explore the multiple positionings of the research team comprised of UK, Senegalese and Burkinabé researchers and those of participants in Senegal and interrogate our own cultural assumptions. We explore the emotional labour of the research process from an ethic of care perspective and reflect on how our multiple positionings and emotions influence the production and interpretation of the data, particularly exemplified through our differing responses to diverse meanings of 'family' and religious refrains. We show how our approach of 'uncomfortable reflexivity' helps to reveal the work of emotions in research, thereby producing 'emotionally sensed knowledge' about responses to death and contributing to the cross-cultural study of emotions.

There is an established, if weak, inverse relationship between levels of English language proficiency and academic performance in higher education. In response, higher education institutions (HEIs) insist upon minimum entry requirements concerning language for international applicants. Many HEIs now also offer pre-sessional English courses to bring applicants up to the designated language requirement. This paper revisits the research into language proficiency and academic performance using data on all full-time students (17,925) attending a major UK HEI in the academic year 2011-2012, 4,342 of whom were non-native English speakers. The findings confirm that while higher International English Language Testing System (IELTS) marks at entry translate into higher grade point averages (GPAs), students who undertake pre-sessional courses do notably worse in GPA terms than students who arrive with acceptable (for the course) IELTS scores. These findings suggest HEIs (and, by extension, international students) could benefit from a review regarding the appropriateness of current pre-sessional English language proficiency programmes.

In the UK the title "professor" is generally applied only to the most senior academics--equivalent to North American full professors--and whom anecdotal evidence indicates to be often unprepared for the increasingly expansive academic leadership roles that they are expected to fulfil. The study reported in this paper was directed at exploring the reliability of such evidence, and the ways in which professors develop or prepare themselves, or are developed or prepared by others, for what are generally considered their professorial academic leadership roles. Data were gathered by questionnaires and interviews, revealing that excessive professorial workloads often result from confusion about what constitutes academic leadership and precisely what and how much is expected of professors. Yet despite an evident dearth of "official", designated, academic leadership preparation and/or development provision, professors were resourceful in drawing upon their experience, networks and intellectual capacity to develop ways of becoming and being effective members of the professoriate.

This article reviews the effectiveness of two projects: "NQT and Beyond; Developing Resilience in Learning and Teaching," and the underpinning conceptual framework (PLSP) in supporting early career teachers' (ECTs') development of their research literacy. Evidence of effective integration of research into practice is illustrated through reference to six articles each presenting an individual ECT project, alongside data from a total of 80 ECTs. Thematic analysis of ECTs products from the projects (critically reflective portfolios; resilience pedagogy implementation/analysis) identified three over-arching themes impacting ECTs' research literacy. These inter-related themes included: (i) adequacy of the pedagogic/project design (i.e. authenticity, relevance, manageability, accessibility, tools to support critical reflection/self-evaluation; focused incremental feedback; modelling research through investigation of beliefs and values); (ii) self (i.e. readiness; energy to effect change; confidence in being able to apply ideas; willingness to act as a broker/change agent; ability to identify and make use of opportunities); (iii) self-in-context (i.e. time and space to effect change; opportunities to use ideas in real contexts; support from pupils, colleagues and senior management; access to a range of support networks). The importance of sustaining ECT research literacy and reconfiguring school-higher education partnerships to facilitate this are emphasised.

Supporting early career teacher (ECT) research literacy is essential in promoting research-integrated professional practice, however it remains an area in much need of development. This article discusses the importance and process of developing ECTs' research literacy, through establishing strong collaborative links between universities and practising teachers in schools. It is located within an English policy and educational context in which the role of higher education and schools in teacher education has been substantially altered in recent times. Two programmes, the "NQT and Beyond and Developing Resilience in Learning and Teaching", are used to illustrate how ECTs can actively engage in and with research as they enter the teaching profession, and thus develop their research literacy. The design principles of these projects are used to demonstrate the potential of how a research-informed pedagogical framework based on the Personal Learning Styles Pedagogy, aspects of self-regulation and resilience, can facilitate research-informed learning and teaching. In supporting ECTs' research literacy, universities, in collaboration with schools, play an important role in supporting the sustainability of research and in enabling teachers to connect their own practice with the broader body of research knowledge. Teacher and pupil ownership of research is crucial in developing research-integrated learning.