Marie Sallé, a Wise Professional Woman of Influence

This study maps the extent of Sallé's influence while identifying her self agency in moulding her image and developing her career.

The efficacy of a CDIO based integrated curriculum as preparation for professional practice in product design and development

The School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Queen’s University Belfast started BEng and MEng degree programmes in Product Design and Development (PDD) in 2004. Intended from the outset to be significantly different from the existing programmes within the School the PDD degrees used the syllabus and standards defined by the CDIO Initiative as the basis for an integrated curriculum. Students are taught in the context of conceiving, designing, implementing and operating a product. Fundamental to this approach is a core sequence of Design-Build-Test (DBT) experiences which facilitates the development of a range of professional skills as well as the immediate application of technical knowledge gained in strategically aligned supporting modules.
The key objective of the degree programmes is to better prepare students for professional practice. PDD graduates were surveyed using a questionnaire developed by the CDIO founders and interviewed to examine the efficacy of these degree programmes, particularly in this key objective. Graduate employment rates, self assessment of graduate attributes and examples of work produced by MEng graduates provided positive evidence that their capabilities met the requirements of the profession. The 24% questionnaire response rate from the 96 graduates to date did not however facilitate statistically significant conclusions to be drawn and particularly not for BEng graduates who were under represented in the response group. While not providing proof of efficacy the investigation did provide a good amount of useful data for consideration as part of a continuous improvement process.

Conceptualising elder abuse across local and global contexts: Implications for Policy and Professional Practice on the island of Ireland.

Social policy and professional practice across the island of Ireland is dominated by the WHO (2002) definition of elder abuse and national and professional interpretations of what constitutes elder abuse. Top down, generalist knowledge of the abuse of older people have facilitated paternalistic and protectionist policies and services designed to protect older vulnerable adults across the Republic of Ireland (ROI) and Northern Ireland (NI). However a qualitative study involving 58 older people in six focus groups held across Ireland highlights an alternative understanding of elder abuse grounded in the subjective experiences of older people across urban and rural communities on the island. Indigenous ways of knowing offer a broader and more inclusive understanding of the experience of elder abuse (Lafferty 2012; Dow and Joosten 2012) together with opportunities for the prevention of ageism and the empowering of older people across the jurisdictions.

An Innovative teaching tool for students is it Appropriate?

Background: Clinical supervision takes place once the newly qualified nurse is employed in clinical practice. However, often the variety and diversity of nursing jobs can result in a hit and miss delivery of supervision training. By introducing training uniformly at undergraduate stage a more seamless transition may occur (McColgan K, Rice C. 2012).

There is an increased interest in higher education in the use of online learning resources for students. As part completion of a DNP an App. for training students in clinical supervision was developed.

Aim: The creation of a clinical supervision training App. for use in undergraduate nursing.

Objectives:
•To develop a teaching tool that is up to date, current and easily accessible to students.
•To introduce supervision training for undergraduate nursing students
•To motivate the undergraduate nursing student to identify examples from their clinical experience to encourage change and promote professional development.

Approach:
Stage 1
In 2010/11 informal inquiries with senior nurses regarding the introduction of supervision training in undergraduate nursing
Stage 2
A review of UK supervision training.
Stage 3
Template production of teaching tool.
Stage 4
Collaboration with a computer technician to transfer multimedia outputs onto an App.
Stage 5
App. piloted with lecturers (n=4) and post registration students (n=20).
Stage 6
Minor alterations made to App. design template
Stage 7
App. included in an experimental study looking at online learning versus blended learning June 2013 (n=61, n=63)

Conclusion: A collaborative approach to the development of any educational programme is essential to ensure the success of the final teaching product (McCutcheon 2013). The end result is that this App. could be:
•Made available to nurses in the UK.
•Adapted to suit other healthcare professionals and students.
•Used as a prototype for other healthcare related subjects.

McColgan K., Rice C. (2012) An online training resource for clinical supervision. Nursing Standard, 26(24) 35-39.
McCutcheon K. (2013) Development of a multi-media book for clinical supervision training in an undergraduate nursing programme. Journal of Nursing Education and Practice, 3(5) 31-38.

Effects of continuing professional development on group work practices in Scottish primary schools

The present study investigated the effects of a continuing professional development (CPD) initiative that provided collaborative group work skills training for primary school teachers. The study collected data from 24 primary school classrooms in different schools in a variety of urban and rural settings. The sample was composed of 332 pupils, aged 9-12 years old, and 24 primary school teachers. Results indicated that the CPD initiative had a significant impact on the attainment of pupils in science. In addition, data indicated that the CPD promoted effective discourse and pupil dialogue during science lessons. Pre-test and post-test observation scores were significantly different in terms of children giving of suggestions or courses of actions, offering of explanations, and telling someone to say something or carry out an action. Increases in effective dialogue were significantly correlated to increased science attainment, and teacher evaluations of the impact of the CPD were positive. Significant correlations were found between teacher evaluation of impact upon pupil learning and increased attainment in science. The design and structure of CPD initiatives and the implications for practice, policy and future research are explored.

Law and Society: Volume III: Legal Processes and Professional Groups within the Legal Field

The thriving and well-established field of Law and Society (also referred to as Socio-legal Studies) has diverse methodological influences; it draws on social-scientific and arts-based methods. The approach of scholars researching and teaching in the field often crosses disciplinary borders, but, broadly speaking, Law and Society scholarship goes behind formalism to investigate how and why law operates, or does not operate as intended, in society. By exploring law’s connections with broader social and political forces—both domestic and international—scholars gain valuable perspectives on ideology, culture, identity, and social life. Law and Society scholarship considers both the law in contexts, as well as contexts in law.
Law and Society flourishes today, perhaps as never before. Academic thinkers toil both on the mundane and the local, as well as the global, making major advances in the ways in which we think both about law and society. Especially over the last four decades, scholarly output has rapidly burgeoned, and this new title from Routledge’s acclaimed Critical Concepts in Law series answers the need for an authoritative reference collection to help users make sense of the daunting quantity of serious research and thinking.
Edited by the leading scholars in the field, Law and Society brings together in four volumes the vital classic and contemporary contributions. Volume I is dedicated to historical antecedents and precursors. The second volume covers methodologies and crucial themes. The third volume assembles key works on legal processes and professional groups, while the final volume of the collection focuses on substantive areas. Together, the volumes provide a one-stop ‘mini library’ enabling all interested researchers, teachers, and students to explore the origins of this thriving sub discipline, and to gain a thorough understanding of where it is today.

Towards optimal clinical and epidemiological registration of haematological malignancies: Guidelines for recording progressions, transformations and multiple diagnoses

Haematological malignancies (HM) represent over 6% of the total cancer incidence in Europe and affect all ages, ranging between 45% of all cancers in children and 7% in the elderly. Thirty per cent of childhood cancer deaths are due to HM, 8% in the elderly. Their registration presents specific challenges, mainly because HM may transform or progress in the course of the disease into other types of HM. In the context of cancer registration decisions have to be made about classifying subsequent notifications on the same patient as the same tumour (progression), a transformation or a new tumour registration. Allocation of incidence date and method of diagnosis must also be standardised. We developed European Network of Cancer Registries (ENCR) recommendations providing specific advice for cancer registries to use haematology and molecular laboratories as data sources, conserve the original date of incidence in case of change of diagnosis, make provision for recording both the original as well as transformed tumour and to apply precise rules for recording and counting multiple diagnoses. A reference table advising on codes which reflect a potential transformation or a new tumour is included. This work will help to improve comparability of data produced by population-based cancer registries, which are indispensable for aetiological research, health care planning and clinical research, an increasing important area with the application of targeted therapies.

(Re)-Introducing Themes of Religion and Spirituality to Professional Social Work Training in the Land of ‘Saints and Scholars’.

This chapter begins by alluding to Ireland’s historical reputation as the land of “Saints and Scholars” and then briefly charts its demise from this position. A parallel process in relation to religiously motivated provision of health and social care is outlined. The inclusion of themes of religion and spirituality within the current professional social work codes in the USA and Britain and the framework for social work training in Northern Ireland is noted. In this context the lack of any substantive inclusion of themes of religion and/or spirituality within the Bachelor of Social Work (BSW) degree at Queens University Belfast will be situated. A series of intersecting reasons for this lack of inclusion are proposed in terms of the experience of living through the recent troubled history of Northern Ireland and a variety of biases in academic thought.
A rationale for the re-introduction of inputs on religion and spirituality is articulated in terms of the widespread resurgence of these themes within health and social care and psychotherapy literature and the new emphasis on practicing in culturally sensitive ways in Britain. The first steps to re-introduce these themes under the higher context marker of “culturally competent practice” are described and an analysis of data from the students’ feedback presented along with illustrative quotations. The dissonance between the initial misgivings of staff and the overwhelmingly positive responses of students are highlighted. The chapter concludes with a discussion of lessons learned through the process with an emphasis on how the inclusion of these themes can result in better practice for service users, including those impacted by “the Troubles” in Northern Ireland.