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This article arose from a series of workshops with practitioners in early years teaching. The workshops addressed how history could be taught to very young children, three‐ to five‐years‐old. The authors were aware that there was a widely held belief that history was inappropriate for the very young child. The authors felt that this was because of a common view that history was solely concerned with facts. There was also a prevalent view that, as history was about chronology (time), it was too difficult a subject for very young children, for whom ‘yesterday’ and ‘tomorrow’ had little meaning. This article argues that successful teaching of history is possible with very young children if the teaching concentrates on interpretation and enquiry. Through using story, young children are able to interpret the behaviour, motivation and intent of the characters. The practitioners are able to question the child as to why s/he interprets the character’s actions in the way that s/he does. In other words the practiti...

Out of an interest in trainee teachers' perceptions of themselves as effective teachers we decided to research this area. We gave a questionnaire to the entire year 3 cohort in the BA in Primary Education teacher trainee course within our educational institution. We followed this with a series of focus group interviews. This paper analyses the perceptions held by this group. This group largely desired to co-construct their perceptions with their trainers and partners in schools. The researchers discuss the impact of such a view in the current national context of teacher training, given the trainees' perceptions that the current teacher training course is overly prescriptive. The paper concludes by articulating a model that delivers the accountability required by the Teacher Training Agency and leaves space for the teacher trainees to develop their individual understanding of what makes an effective teacher.

Alison Bishop and Phyllis Jones both work in the School of Education at Northumbria University where they teach on undergraduate and postgraduate programmes. Phyllis Jones specialises in disability issues and Alison Bishop focuses on early years education. For the project described in this paper, they combined their areas of expertise, devising a small–scale research project to explore the experiences of a group of early years science specialist student teachers as they took part in workshops with a group of early years children with severe and profound learning difficulties. The research explores the changing attitudes and perceptions of the students with regard to the learning and teaching of science with young children. It becomes clear that there is a realization for many students that science can make a significant contribution to the education of children with severe and profound learning difficulties in the early years. The authors also discuss the need for training to equip the students to meet the challenges and rewards of working with children with severe and profound learning difficulties in their future teaching careers.

Concern has been expressed over many years about the lack of time and attention given to the preparation and training of teachers to meet the diverse needs of all children. In this article, Alison Bishop and Phyllis Jones describe a small-scale research project designed to explore the attitudes and perceptions of a group of student teachers towards children with complex and profound learning difficulties. In this study, the students were interviewed before and after participation in structured workshop activities with children. The results suggest that many more student teachers would benefit from the further development of the approach described here.

This research sets out to examine the perceptions and attitudes of a cohort of early years specialist teacher trainees with regard to child protection issues as they prepare to enter the teaching profession. The trainees were at the end of a three‐year Primary Initial Teacher Training Course in the north of England. We had set out within the course to present a paradigm to the trainees of the newly qualified early years teacher as not only an effective agent in preventing child abuse but also the ‘advocates for the structural changes in society which would aim to eradicate child abuse’ (David, 1993, p. 84). We were particularly concerned with exploring whether our course had gone beyond the mechanistic and legal framework of the Standards [1] to produce reflective and effective early years practitioners able both to discuss their feelings and perceptions of child protection issues and to articulate their concerns (Braun & Schonveld, 1994, p. 92). The research found that the trainees feel anxious ...

The involvement of parents in early years education has increasingly been advocated as a strategy for meeting the needs of young emotionally disturbed children. We summarise the ideal of parental involvement in the early years as expressed within recent government initiatives. We also draw on a case study of a nurture group in a primary school situated in an inner‐city area of severe deprivation. Against this background, we explore notions of the involvement of parents as a partnership. We suggest that, in providing education for young children with emotional and behavioural difficulties, the nurturing of parental involvement is inherently problematic.

The provision of nurture groups has increasingly been advocated as a strategy for meeting the needs of young emotionally disturbed children (DfEE, 1998a, p.44). This article is based on a qualitative evaluation of a nurture group in a primary school situated in an inner‐city area of severe deprivation. Though criteria for success varied, the nurture group was viewed as effective from the different viewpoints of all involved, including teachers, parents and pupils. However, questions are raised about the group in terms of policies of inlcusion and teacher‐parent partnerships, suggesting that exclusion within mainstream schools may be fostered under the flag of inclusion.

Current policy in relation to special needs prioritises early intervention and inclusive education, at least as ‘good intentions'’ This article argues for a paradigmatic shift away from individualist models of learning and disability. The social context of play is emphasised as the crucial arena for realising such good intentions, as long as it is geared to responding to, and developing, the self-determination, control, and identity of young disabled children becoming disabled adults in a disabling society.

A cohort of 132 well-documented White Welsh non-insulin-dependent diabetic (NIDDM) subjects were genotyped for 5 restriction-fragment–length polymorphisms (RFLPs) at the insulin-receptor gene (IRG) locus and a polymorphic locus 5' to the insulin gene. There was no significant difference in RFLP frequencies between the NIDDM subjects and a group of 87 matched White control subjects. Paired haplotype analysis of the IRG RFLPs suggested a difference between NIDDM and control groups for the endonuclease combinations Bgl II-Rsa I and Bgl II-Xba I. Analysis of implied haplotypes defined by the endonucleases Bgl II, Rsa I, and Xba I revealed one haplotype to be more prevalent in the NIDDM group; whereas, another haplotype was associated with the control group (P < 0.02). Subset analysis within the NIDDM cohort compared the metabolic response of NIDDM subjects with the differing IRG haplotypes to a standard meal tolerance test. Both groups showed equivalent basal and postprandial glucose excursions, but one group revealed a significantly exaggerated plasma insulin response compared with the other (P < 0.05). This may reflect the influence of genetic variation at the IRG locus on insulin sensitivity in patients with NIDDM.

During the course of other work by two of us, on a considerable group of lemurs and lorisoids in captivity in New Haven, Connecticut, certain types of cyclical behavior have become apparent. Since it has been necessary to reconstruct the living quarters of some of these animals, the disturbance of which precludes further observations in the immediate future, the more remarkable aspects of this cyclical behavior are reported at the present time, largely in the hope of stimulating other workers who may have access to prosimians to watch for comparable phenomena. The animals observed consisted of a group of four (2 c e, 2 9 9 ) Lemur fulvus E. Geoffroy, a pair of Lemur albifrons E. Geoffroy, 3 9 9 and 1 S Galago senigalensis E. Geoffroy, one c? and one immature 9 G. crassicaudatus E. Geoffroy, and three pairs Perodicticus potto (P. L. S. Muller). These animals lived from three to twelve months, up to December 1, 1961, in a room at the top (fifth floor) of a low tower with windows on all walls. The most important animals, 2 ce ce of Lemur fulvus rufus Audebert, one 9 of L. f. rufus ("Calo"), and one of L. f. fulvus ("Sal") occupied a large section of the room, could reach windows looking north and east, could easily see out from windows looking south and less easily from one small window facing west. A pair of pottos and both G. crassicaudatus occupied a similar section; the L. albifrons and the G. senegalensis lived in smaller but naturally illuminated cages, the other two pairs of pottos in darker cages. These animals are referred to collectively as group 1. A pair of Lemur fulvus rufus kept in the kitchen of a dwelling house with a window facing west-north-west and with little view of the night sky has served as a control. These animals are designated as group 2. All these animals are reported to breed seasonally. The lorisoids breed biannually, producing young about April and October. lGestation lasts between 3 and 4 months for G. senegalensis2-4 to 6 months for Loris.' Lemurs have a single annual breeding period. Mating occurs in the southern hemisphere during April, May, and June and parturition from September through January.5 In the northern hemisphere the seasons become reversed with birth occurring about April and May.", 5 Pregnancy lasts about 4 months. , 5 Oestrous cycles of 4 to 6 weeks are well documented in G. senegalensis,4 6 in Loris,l and in the lemuriforms Microcebus and Cheirogaleus.5 8 However, there is no record of a 4to 6-week oestral cycle in Lemur, although periods of swelling and