Cooperative bank efficiency in Japan: a parametric distance function analysis

This study examines the relative performance of Japanese cooperative banks between 1998 and 2009, explicitly modeling non-performing loans as an undesirable output. Three key findings emerge. First, the sector is characterized by increasing returns to scale which supports the ongoing amalgamation process within the sector. Second, although restricted in product offerings, markets and their membership base, Japanese cooperatives secured both technical progress (a positive shift in the frontier) and a decrease in technical inefficiency (distance from the frontier). Third, the analysis highlighted that regulatory pressure to reduce non-performing loans will have an adverse impact on both output and performance. 

Cooperative traits of technology adoption: Website adoption in Irish credit unions

The purpose of this paper is to examine website adoption and its resultant effects on credit union performance in Ireland. Credit union specific factors influence adoption as does the socio-economic profile of the population from where the credit union draws its membership. Website adoption results in a reduction in the spread between the loan and dividend rate with this primarily driven by a fall in the loan rate. Given that the adoption of a website, albeit with limited functionality, translates into cost benefits this augurs well for the current restructuring process underway for Irish credit unions which has as one of its objectives the upgrade of credit union ICT sophistication.

Simultaneous and cooperative gas storage and gas production using bifunctional zeolites

Nitric oxide can be stored in and produced from zeolites in a simultaneous and cooperative process

Cooperative Learning in Science: Follow-up from primary to high school

This paper reports a two-year longitudinal study of the effects of cooperative learning on science attainment, attitudes towards science, and social connectedness during transition from primary to high school. A previous project on cooperative learning in primary schools observed gains in science understanding and in social aspects of school life. This project followed 204 children involved in the previous project and 440 comparison children who were not as they undertook transition from 24 primary schools to 16 high schools. Cognitive, affective, and social gains observed in the original project survived transition. The implications improving the effectiveness of school transition by using cooperative learning initiatives are explored. Possibilities for future research and the implications for practice and policy are discussed.

Student teachers' experiences of initial teacher preparation in England:Core themes and variation

Drawing on data generated via large-scale survey and in-depth interview methods, this article reports findings which show that being a student teacher in early-twenty-first-century England is a demanding personal experience which requires considerable engagement and commitment in the face of built-in challenges and risks, and which engenders, for many, highly charged affective responses. Student teachers are centrally concerned during this time with their (changing) identities, their relationships with others and the relevance of course provision. Findings also indicate that, in some respects, student teachers’ accounts of their experiences are systematically differentiated according to a number of factors, notably the initial teacher preparation route being followed, their age, and their prior conceptions and expectations of teaching and of learning to teach. These findings are situated in the broader literature on teacher development and some implications for teacher educators are discussed. © 2008 Taylor & Francis

Language Teacher Education in Ireland, North and South

The European Union considers modern languages among the basic skills or key competencies required by all its citizens and is concerned to promote excellence in the teaching and learning of languages as well as greater diversity in the range of languages available to learners in the Member States, as witnessed by the recent European Commission Action Plan, Promoting Language Learning and Linguistic Diversity: An Action Plan 2004-2006. This consideration, the changing socio-cultural demography of Ireland, the need for more joined-up thinking in the context of language teaching in schools, and in the context of language teacher education in particular, form the back-drop to the paper. Among the challenges facing modern/world languages’ education in Ireland identified in the paper are, lack of a languages’ policy, lack of a languages’ strategy, and lack of an integrated language curriculum and by implication, a whole school approach to language teaching and learning. The paper refers to positive signs that are occurring in this context as well, e.g. official recognition to Irish as a working language in the European Union and in the Official Languages Act in Ireland (2003). The paper reports on the recent first ever all Ireland cross-border conference in the context of language teacher education. It outlines the background, aims, and content of the conference that includes findings from a study about the impact of autonomous language teaching and learning supported by the European Language Portfolio in the context of post-primary language teacher education in Ireland. The paper shows data from the first ever survey on language teacher education provision, policy and practice across colleges in Ireland, North and South. Initial teacher education is on the cusp of change. This paper highlights several key issues facing language teacher education. This paper has implications for Irish as well as international readers, and is aimed at supporting all those who want to bring about improvement in this important area.