Entry characteristics and academic performance of students in a master of pharmacy degree program in the United Kingdom

Objective. Evaluate the characteristics of a cohort of Master of Pharmacy (MPharm) students upon entry and examine any associations between entry qualifications, type of school attended, socioeconomic deprivation, age and academic performance in the MPharm programme. Methods. A retrospective cohort analysis of data recorded on Aston University’s central database for each individual exiting the MPharm programme during the five year period 2005-6 – 2009-10 (n=644). Results. Entrants were disproportionately drawn from socioeconomically deprived areas and independent (private) schools. Achievement prior to admission was related to the type of school attended but not to deprivation. Performance on the programme was not related to type of school or deprivation but was strongly correlated with prior achievements. Conclusions. Prior achievement is the most important predictor of performance on the MPharm programme but the superior prior achievement of independent school pupils is not seen at the point of graduation. This may have implications for admissions policies.

Decomposing school and school-type efficiency

This paper puts forward a Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) approach to decomposing a pupil's under-attainment at school. Under-attainment is attributed to the pupil, the school and the type of funding regime under which the school operates. A pupil-level analysis is used firstly on a within school and secondly on a between school basis, grouping schools by type such as state-funded, independent and so on. Overall measures of each pupil's efficiency are thus disentangled into pupil, school and school-type efficiencies. This approach provides schools with a set of efficiency measures, each one conveying different information. © 2001 Elsevier Science B.V.

School mathematics and dyslexia: aspects of the interrelationship

This investigation sought to explore the nature and extent of school mathematical difficulties among the dyslexic population. Anecdotal reports have suggested that many dyslexics may have difficulties in arithmetic, but few systematic studies have previously been undertaken. The literature pertaining to dyslexia and school mathematics respectively is reviewed. Clues are sought in studies of dyscalculia. These seem inadequate in accounting for dyslexics' reported mathematical difficulties. Similarities between aspects of language and mathematics are examined for underlying commonalities that may partially account for concomitant problems in mathematics, in individuals with a written language dysfunction. The performance of children taught using different mathematics work-schemes is assessed to ascertain if these are associated with differential levels of achievement that may be reflected in the dyslexic population few are found. Findings from studies designed to assess the relationship between written language failure and achievement in mathematics are reported. Study 1 reveals large correlational differences between subtest scores (Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, Wechsler, 1976) and three mathematics tests, for young dyslexics and children without literacy difficulties. However, few differences are found between levels of attainment, at this age (6 ½ - 9 years). Further studies indicate that, for dyslexics, achievement in school mathematics, may be independent of measured intelligence, as is the case with their literacy skills. Studies 3 and 4 reveal that dyslexics' performances on a range of school mathematical topics gets relatively worse compared with that of Controls (age range 8 - 17 years), as they get older. Extensive item analyses reveal many errors relating strongly to known deficits in the dyslexics' learning style - poor short-term memory, sequencing skills and verbal labelling strategies. Subgroups of dyslexics are identified on the basis of mathematical performance. Tentative explanations, involving alternative neuropsychological approaches, are offered for the measured differences in attainment between these groups.

School children's attitudes towards computers as a fucntion of gender, course subjects and availability of home computers

The attitudes of 328 British Secondary School children towards computers were examined in a cross-sectional survey. Measures of both general attitudes towards computers and affective reactions towards working with computers were examined in relation to the sex of the subject, courses studied (computer related/noncomputer related) and availability of a home computer. A differential pattern of results was observed. With respect to general attitudes towards computers, main effects were found for all three independent variables indicating that more favourable attitudes increased as a function of being male, doing computer courses and having a home computer. In contrast to this, affective reactions to working with computers was primarily related to doing computer courses, such that those doing computer courses reported more positive and less negative reactions. The practical and theoretical implications of these results are discussed.