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This article assesses the history of Jewish agricultural settlements created in Western Canada in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The first settlements were founded following the 1881 Russian pogroms, at which time Canada’s Jewish community tried to resettle refugees in Western Canada. The result was the establishment of over a dozen farming colonies at the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. By examining the documentation produced by the colonists and the organizations that facilitated their settlement, it is possible to reconstruct the lives of the colonists in each community. This study investigates documents available for twelve different communities that span the Prairies. Settlers report several impediments to their success, including inexperience, poor soil, natural disaster, anti-Semitism, poor administration, and financial hardship. However, the decisive factor which brought an end to the colonies was upward social mobility. They were victims of their own success, unable to maintain their numbers as younger generations moved away, and parents joined them when they retired. The analysis of the farm colonies reveals the causes of their decline and provides grounds for re-evaluating their legacy. (EW)

Over the past two centuries the Age of Modernity has dominated intellectual thought and related actions predominantly in the English-speaking world. It is now becoming increasingly recognized by academics and powerful organizations both nationally and internationally that the consequence of this mode of thinking has generated immense problems for the contemporary world. The level of social and economic inequalities that continue to increase has now become the concern of many, particularly those who identify with the thinking and ideas associated with the emerging Age of Post-Modernity. The challenge to Education is profound not least so in how young children’s awareness, knowledge and understanding about the society in which they live is transmitted, often unwittingly, initially in families and subsequently in kindergartens and schools. This paper first addresses the main social constructions of childhood that can be identified in democratic countries and then links these constructions to the three dominant ideologies that exert axiomatic influence on the education process in different countries. Emerging from this brief analysis the paper identifies three fundamental and important challenges to those with responsibility and influence on young children’s education be they in governments, educational institutions or families.

This paper explores the attitudes and practices of kindergarten teachers in Taiwan related to socio-emotional learning in children aged 3–6. Unlike in Western countries where socio-emotional learning is an important aspect of life in pre-schools, such learning has been given little attention in Taiwan until recently with the publication of new curriculum guidelines for kindergarten aged children. Based on an internationally recognised definition of socio-emotional learning, 1:1 interviews were conducted with 27 teachers in two urban areas in Taiwan. The study attempted to illuminate how teachers interpret their role in supporting children’s socio-emotional learning. Even in the public sector it was found that the relatively new curriculum guidelines were only casually referred to in the teachers’ professional practice though several teachers recognised that children’s socio-emotional learning in the kindergarten was now essential. However, in some pre-schools more attention was paid to developing other areas of the curriculum such as language and math, rather than to developing social and emotional skills. In the private sector, which provides two-thirds of Taiwan’s kindergarten places, the guidelines were almost completely ignored. Many teachers considered children’s socio-emotional learning in the kindergarten to be incidental even when children express negative emotions such as anger. In Taiwan’s traditional culture, the family is the dominant socialising unit for children’s early learning. Teachers hitherto have not regarded children’s socio-emotional learning as their responsibility. The authors maintain that this tradition now needs to be challenged and propose that programs of both initial and in-service training should be given priority to improve children’s socio-emotional learning and suggest ideas from an on-going initiative in the US.

A variety of etiologies are responsible for loss of vestibular function. These include aging, head trauma, ototoxic drugs, infection, inflammation, or tumors. Unilateral peripheral vestibular weakness affects a patient’s posture, oculomotor control, spatial perception, and navigation. Patients experience postural asymmetry and gait problems related to impaired vestibulospinal reflex, visual disturbances as a result of impaired vestibular-ocular reflex, and internal spatial disorientation. Most patients recover functionally over weeks and months through a process called vestibular compensation. In unilateral peripheral vestibular loss, vestibular compensation engages neuronal and behavioral plasticity in the central nervous system to overcome the loss of unilateral vestibular input. The time course and exact mechanism of vestibular recovery depend on the etiology of vestibular loss and cannot be generalized for all patients. However, knowledge of several processes of vestibular compensation can guide the treatment and rehabilitation for unilateral vestibular loss.

The present article is based on a qualitative evaluation of the use of digital technology in a remote secondary school in the Scottish Highlands. The attitudes of teachers and pupils to the use of digital technology and the underlying tensions between formal and informal educational practices are central concerns addressed in this paper. The project was for one-year and designed to facilitate the embedding of digital technology across the curriculum. Some of the benefits of participating in the project, according to the pupils, included an improvement in their ability to work successfully with others, independently from the teacher, and the development of their skills in creating moving images in both curricular and extra-curricular activities. Most participating teachers commented that they had improved their own ICT skills. In conclusion, some complex issues are raised in connection with schools in isolated communities.

BACKGROUND: British government Home and Health Departments have been consulting widely about service development for people with ' dangerous severe personality disorder' (DSPD). There has, however, been no consultation with service users, nor is there any user view literature in this area. METHODS: All people detained in one high security hospital under the legal classification of psychopathic disorder were eligible but those on the admission or intensive care wards were not approached. Views of service were elicited using a purpose designed semi-structured interview. The principal researcher was independent of all clinical teams. Confidentiality about patients' views was assured. AIMS: To establish views on services from one subgroup of people nominated by the government department as having 'DSPD'. RESULTS: Sixty-one of 89 agreed to interview. With security a given, about half expressed a preference for a high security hospital setting, 20% prison and 25% elsewhere, generally medium secure hospitals. Participants most valued caring, understanding and 'experience' among staff. An ideal service was considered to be one within small, domestic living units, providing group and individual therapies. Some found living with people with mental illness difficult, but some specified not wanting segregated units. Views were affected by gender and comorbidity. CONCLUSIONS: As the sample were all in hospital, the emphasis on treatment may reflect a placement bias. All but five participants, however, had had experience of both health and criminal justice services, so were well placed to talk with authority about preferences.

Larval stages of common marine invertebrates and their ecological roles within their respective communities are frequently ignored because they are hard to identify. Morphological characters are often insufficient to differentiate between genera, much less species. To overcome the obstacles associated with species identification of copepod larvae, we developed a microtiter plate-based hybridization assay. Species-specific probes based on rDNA sequences were bound to microplates and used to capture target DNA. A novel method of linking the probes to the plate with poly-T tail ensured the probes were positioned above the plate surface and available for hybridization; this significantly increased the sensitivity of the assay. Target DNA extracted from individual copepods was amplified with biotin-labeled primers. The labeled target DNA bound to the probe specific for that species and produced a colorimetric change in the assay. The assay can be rapidly performed on freshly caught or ethanol preserved samples and the results visually interpreted.

In preparation for the possible future introduction of a Scottish system of baseline assessment, a prototype scheme was trialled early in 1998 in samples of pre-school centres and Primary 1 classes, selected to reflect the range of such centres and schools throughout Scotland. The scheme invites teachers' judgements about their pupils' attainments in various areas of development, derived from appropriate official curricular descriptions. This article describes the scheme and the procedures used to trial it, offers principal findings in terms of the resulting pupil assessment data and considers the implications for scheme revision in the light of expected functions in large-scale application.

Introduction It is typically considered important in clinical practice to generate an understanding of the relationships and consequences of interaction patterns within the families of patients with serious interpersonal difficulties and histories of violent offending. Method Eight men on a dedicated treatment unit for patients with personality disturbance within a maximum security hospital participated in structured groupwork which focused on family awareness. Results Two measures of outcome were employed: their recollections of family life were assessed before and after the intervention, and their general progress in rehabilitation was followed up 12 months later. Summary scores of the participants' recall of feelings associated with familial figures indicate that the group reported changes in their feelings over the eight-month period. For the duration of the group, and during the subsequent year, the group members remained on the same ward; two had been transferred to medium security at follow-up. Discussion The inherent bias and the small numbers in the group prevent generalization. However, it seems that patients who participated in group work are likely to remain on the ward studied or be moved to lower security. The recollection and sharing experiences of family life may have reduced the patients' sense of isolation. Copyright © 2000 Whurr Publishers Ltd.

This paper reports on a study to investigate the relationship between practitioners’ descriptions of the curriculum and children s experiences in a range of nursery settings. Observations of children and adults in the playroom recorded the area of the curriculum in which they were engaged and descriptions of the activity or interaction. The data presented point to a gap between the rhetoric of formal documentation and espoused practice and the reality of the children's experience. Implications for practice and training are considered.

This paper reports an on‐going project concerned with quality assurance in the independent sector of pre‐five provision in Scotland. The work is set in current policy initiatives at national level and outlines the response of the Scottish Independent Nurseries Association to such initiatives. The paper outlines the development of a quality assurance scheme drawing on relevant literature. It presents a brief evaluation of the QA process and points to the way ahead.

This paper examines the functioning of an admissions policy to integrated pre‐five provision based on criteria of social need by a quantitative analysis of applications/admissions and a qualitative analysis of the decision making process. The results show that the nurseries were more successful in attracting and admitting children from families with defined social needs such as single parent families, special educational needs, low socio‐economic status and family stress than nursery schools despite a common policy. Admission panels operated an inter‐agency network to allocate places though some professional agencies e.g. health visitors were reluctant to share relevant information. The strengths and weaknesses of the policy are examined in the light of the findings.

This paper reports a comparative progress analysis of the formulation and implementation of the aims and objectives of two community nurseries and two nursery schools over a period of eighteen months. The analysis first focuses on the scope of the two types of provision then explores some of the processes whereby the objectives were realised (or otherwise). In full collaboration with nursery staff judgements were made about the perceptions of differential rate of progress in the nurseries highlighting the difficulties faced by innovators in this sector of education. On the whole the nursery schools were better organised and more successful in the delivery of their aims though the community nurseries achieved a great deal in their first two years of existence.

This paper raises a number of issues in the assessment of quality of provision for pre‐school children before comparing the quality of provision offered by community nurseries to that offered by traditional nursery schools. Quality at all locations was assessed using the Harms and Clifford Early Childhood Rating Scale and was found in each case to be at the good to excellent end of the range. Quality varied over time and between locations although all showed improvements by the third and final rating. It is possible to conclude that the community nursery model can provide an environment of comparable quality to that experienced in traditional nursery schools. It was also possible to conclude that quality is vulnerable to internal and external pressures and that monitoring quality can also have the effect of promoting quality when staff are able to respond to feedback from ratings.

The paper examines a number of theoretical issues in the provision of education and care for children under five in the UK, issues which are particularly critical in the context of integrated provision. Three principal strands of theory are explored: ideology, psychology and education/care. Whilst the extent of provision remains inadequate to meet demand, difficult choices have to be made with regard to the form of provision and allocation of places. The paper takes the position that present services are too rigid and outdated, uncoordinated and inequitable. It concludes by setting the context for the evaluation of integrated provision in Strathclyde Region, Scotland which is reported in this volume.

The success of integrated provision for pre‐fives is closely related to the nature of inter‐professional liaison. This paper rejects the notion that such liaison amounts to surveillance and control of families and adopts the view that effective liaison is essential to support families in times of crisis. With the current metamorphosis in family life in Britain, external support is vital at critical times especially when socially deviant behaviour in children becomes evident. The paper examines the extent and nature of inter‐agency liaison in the context of two community nurseries in very different socio‐economic environments and concludes that effective liaison can significantly reduce the number of young children taken into residential care but that organisational structures are necessary to promote effective liaison.

In the UK, as in the USA, early years services are characterized by the absence of any coherent national policy, low levels of provision, inegality of access, and fragmentation of services. Whereas there is a consensus that the State should provide for children deemed to be “in need”,there is less consensus over the provision of nursery education, and no perceived State obligation to provide daycare for children of working parents. The influence of the European Union and the work of the European Childcare Network in setting European targets for coherent development of services offers some possibility of change both in types and levels of provision. However, the example of Strathclyde illustrates that making changes at a local level without a national framework which addresses training and without a fiscal policy, is problematic; it further implies that at both a local and at a national level, process is as important as policy. The paper concludes by highlighting the areas for radical reform.

Services for the under‐fives more often than not provide a toy library. This paper identifies the various roles a toy library can fulfil for the service users and highlights the conflicts between what toy libraries aim to do and what they actually provide. The results reported are based on in‐depth interviews with organizers, runners and users of toy libraries in two Scottish cities. The study highlights the range of roles that a community resource can fulfil and identifies specific research issues which need to be tackled.

Summary. The development of children's understanding of the two logical properties of number—class and relation—is subject to debate (Piaget 1952; Brainerd, 1973, 1979). The study was designed to contribute to this debate by exploring the relative acquisition of “number as class” and “number as order”. This was one of several issues examined in a longitudinal study of the development of the understanding of number emerging in a group of 36 children during the first three years of primary school. A battery of Piagetian and neo-Piagetian tests was individually administered during each of the three years, together with a test of number skills. The study used operationally-defined concepts of “number as order” and “number as class”. Trends over the three cycles were analysed. For numbers less than six and small arrays of numbers, order and class were both in evidence. However, as numbers became larger and more numerous, ordination was in evidence sooner than cardination.