The status of literature: English teaching and the condition of literature teaching in schools

Although the curriculum subject of English is continually reviewed and revised in all English speaking countries, the status of literature is rarely questioned i.e. that it is of high cultural value and all students should be taught about it. The concerns of any review, in any country, are typically about what counts as literature, especially in terms of national heritage and then how much of the curriculum should it occupy. This article reports on three inter-related pieces of research that examine the views of in-service, and pre-service, English teachers about their experiences of teaching literature and their perceptions of its ‘status’ and significance at official level and in the actual classroom; it draws attention to how England compares to some other English speaking countries and draws attention to the need to learn from the negative outcomes of political policy in England. The findings suggest that the nature of engagement with literature for teachers and their students has been distorted by official rhetorics and assessment regimes and that English teachers are deeply concerned to reverse this pattern.

Calciferols and bait shyness in the laboratory rat

Rodenticides with delayed action are generally more effective than fast-acting compounds because of the phenomenon of bait shyness. Calciferols have a stop-feed effect quite soon after dosing, and physiological effects are measurable within one day of dosing. We investigated whether bait shyness might result from these fairly rapid effects in the laboratory rat. We found evidence of bait shyness following recovery from sub-lethal dosing with two forms of calciferol. Use of intubation as well as feeding showed that the response was to the bait carrier rather than to detection of calciferols per se.

History education in comprehensive schools: using school level data to interpret national patterns

This paper reports the findings from two large scale national on-line surveys carried out in 2009 and 2010, which explored the state of history teaching in English secondary schools. Large variation in provision was identified within comprehensive schools in response to national policy decisions and initiatives. Using the data from the surveys and school level data that is publicly available, this study examines situated factors, particularly the nature of the school intake, the numbers of pupils with special educational needs and the socio-economic status of the area surrounding the school, and the impact these have on the provision of history education. The findings show that there is a growing divide between those students that have access to the ‘powerful knowledge’, provided by subjects like history, and those that do not.

Attitudes to reading in English primary schools

This article reports on a two-year research project investigating attitudes to reading held by teachers and pupils in a sample of English primary schools. The project draws on international and national surveys of reading engagement and the findings of previous research, but seeks to provide more detailed data relating to the attitudes of individual children and the strategies used by individual schools and teachers whose pupils demonstrate positive attitudes to reading. Written questionnaires for teachers and pupils and oral interviews with teachers are used, generating both quantitative and qualitative data. Results are related to previous research literature in this area which shows a link between reading motivation and attainment, and to motivational theory. In conclusion, it is argued that teaching strategies which promote positive attitudes to reading need to be used alongside the teaching of reading skills in any effort to raise attainment.

Water vapour foreign-continuum absorption in near-infrared windows from laboratory measurements

For a long time, it has been believed that atmospheric absorption of radiation within wavelength regions of relatively high infrared transmittance (so-called ‘windows’) was dominated by the water vapour self-continuum, that is, spectrally smooth absorption caused by H2O−H2O pair interaction. Absorption due to the foreign continuum (i.e. caused mostly by H2O−N2 bimolecular absorption in the Earth's atmosphere) was considered to be negligible in the windows. We report new retrievals of the water vapour foreign continuum from high-resolution laboratory measurements at temperatures between 350 and 430 K in four near-infrared windows between 1.1 and 5 μm (9000–2000 cm−1). Our results indicate that the foreign continuum in these windows has a very weak temperature dependence and is typically between one and two orders of magnitude stronger than that given in representations of the continuum currently used in many climate and weather prediction models. This indicates that absorption owing to the foreign continuum may be comparable to the self-continuum under atmospheric conditions in the investigated windows. The calculated global-average clear-sky atmospheric absorption of solar radiation is increased by approximately 0.46 W m−2 (or 0.6% of the total clear-sky absorption) by using these new measurements when compared with calculations applying the widely used MTCKD (Mlawer–Tobin–Clough–Kneizys–Davies) foreign-continuum model.

A laboratory study of an inactivated bivalent iron restricted Salmonella enterica serovars Enteritidis and Typhimurium dual vaccine against Typhimurium challenge in chickens

A commercial inactivated iron restricted Salmonella Typhimurium and Salmonella Enterifidis vaccine was used to vaccinate chicks at I day and again at 4 weeks of age, with challenge by a high and a low dose of S. Typhimurium given either orally or by contact with seeder birds inoculated orally with a high dose of S. Typhimurium. In all three challenge regimes, the shedding of challenge strain was reduced significantly (p < 0.05) in vaccinated birds compared with unvaccinated controls. Vaccination reduced colonisation of internal organs after challenge by contact seeder birds. However, no effect of vaccination upon colonisation of internal organs after either high or low oral challenge was apparent. In conclusion, the data indicate that the vaccine should be a useful tool in the control of S. Typhimurium infection in chickens. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Assessment of potential climate change impacts on peatland dissolved organic carbon release and drinking water treatment from laboratory experiments

Catchments draining peat soils provide the majority of drinking water in the UK. Over the past decades, concentrations of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) have increased in surface waters. Residual DOC can cause harmful carcinogenic disinfection by-products to form during water treatment processes. Increased frequency and severity of droughts combined with and increased temperatures expected as the climate changes, have potentials to change water quality. We used a novel approach to investigate links between climate change, DOC release and subsequent effects on drinking water treatment. We designed a climate manipulation experiment to simulate projected climate changes and monitored releases from peat soil and litter, then simulated coagulation used in water treatment. We showed that the ‘drought’ simulation was the dominant factor altering DOC release and affected the ability to remove DOC. Our results imply that future short-term drought events could have a greater impact than increased temperature on DOC treatability.

Peaceful coexistence? The role of religious schools and NGOs in the growth of female secondary schooling in Bangladesh

Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC), a non-governmental organisation (NGO), runs a large number of non-formal primary schools in Bangladesh which target out-of-school children from poor families. These schools are well-known for their effectiveness in closing the gender gap in primary school enrolment. On the other hand, registered non-government secondary madrasas (or Islamic schools) today enrol one girl against every boy student. In this article, we document a positive spillover effect of BRAC schools on female secondary enrolment in registered madrasas. Drawing upon school enrolment data aggregated at the region level, we first show that regions that had more registered madrasas experienced greater secondary female enrolment growth during 1999–2003, holding the number of secular secondary schools constant. In this context we test the impact of BRAC-run primary schools on female enrolment in registered madrasas. We deal with the potential endogeneity of placement of BRAC schools using an instrumental variable approach. Controlling for factors such as local-level poverty, road access and distance from major cities, we show that regions with a greater presence of BRAC schools have higher female enrolment growth in secondary madrasas. The effect is much bigger when compared to that on secondary schools.

Method of determining a geophysical-scale sea ice rheology from laboratory measurements

We present a methodology that allows a sea ice rheology, suitable for use in a General Circulation Model (GCM), to be determined from laboratory and tank experiments on sea ice when combined with a kinematic model of deformation. The laboratory experiments determine a material rheology for sea ice, and would investigate a nonlinear friction law of the form τ ∝ σ n⅔, instead of the more familiar Amonton's law, τ = μσn (τ is the shear stress, μ is the coefficient of friction and σ n is the normal stress). The modelling approach considers a representative region R containing ice floes (or floe aggregates), separated by flaws. The deformation of R is imposed and the motion of the floes determined using a kinematic model, which will be motivated from SAR observations. Deformation of the flaws is inferred from the floe motion and stress determined from the material rheology. The stress over R is then determined from the area-weighted contribution from flaws and floes

Educating integrated catalysts: transforming business schools toward ethics and sustainability

Joining the sharpening critique of conventional University-based business school education, we argue that educating integrated catalysts is necessary to meet current sustainability challenges. The key feature of moving toward the integration required at the individual level is focusing on developing students' capacity for moral and cognitive maturity. Practically, this makes the practice of genuine dialogue focal as core interpersonal method for educating management students. In supporting such education, business schools must however first transform themselves. Acting as transformative social enterprises, they can demonstrate being a part in critically questioning and improving the impact and relevance of management on the flourishing of wider society and the practice of an ethically oriented economy. We offer practical suggestions and implications for future business education reform.