Comparative and international education: policy transfer, context sensitivity and professional development

This paper examines the intellectual and professional contribution of comparative and international studies to the field of education. It explores the nature of the challenges that are currently being faced, and assesses its potential for the advancement of future teaching, research and professional development. Attention is paid to the place of comparative and international education (CIE)-past and present-in teacher education, in postgraduate studies, and in the realms of policy and practice, theory and research. Consideration is first given to the nature and history of CIE, to its initial contributions to the field of education in the UK, and to its chief mechanisms and sites of production. Influential methodological and theoretical developments are examined, followed by an exploration of emergent questions, controversies and dilemmas that could benefit from sustained comparative analysis in the future. Conclusions consider implications for the place of CIE in the future of educational studies as a whole; for relations between and beyond the 'disciplines of education'; and for the development of sustainable research capacity in this field.

Description of a multifaceted strategy for recruiting general practitioners and community pharmacists to talk about medication errors

Objective: To describe the use of a multifaceted strategy for recruiting general practitioners (GPs) and community pharmacists to talk about medication errors which have resulted in preventable drug-related admissions to hospital. This is a potentially sensitive subject with medicolegal implications. Setting: Four primary care trusts and one teaching hospital in the UK. Method: Letters were mailed to community pharmacists and general practitioners asking for provisional consent to be interviewed and permission to contact them again should a patient be admitted to hospital as a result of a medication error. In addition, GPs were asked for permission to approach their patients should they be admitted to hospital. A multifaceted approach to recruitment was used including gaining support for the study from professional defence agencies and local champions. Key findings: Eighty-five percent (310/385) of GPs and 62% (93/149) of community pharmacists responded to the letters. Eighty-five percent (266/310) of GPs who responded and 81% (75/93) of community pharmacists who responded gave provisional consent to participate in interviews. All GPs (14 out of 14) and community pharmacists (10 out of 10) who were subsequently asked to participate, when patients were admitted to hospital, agreed to be interviewed. Conclusion: The multifaceted approach to recruitment was associated with an impressive response when asking healthcare professionals to be interviewed about medication errors which have resulted in preventable drug-related morbidity.

Recalled relationships with parents and perceptions of professional support in mothers of infants treated for cleft lip

This study examined whether individual differences in perception of the quality of professional support available at a time of stress may be associated with security of attachment. We developed a new measure of parents' perceptions of emotional and practical support provided by a wide range of professionals involved in the treatment of infants with cleft lip. it showed good internal reliability and stability over 4 months. Mothers of 102 infants with cleft lip, with or without cleft palate, completed the measure at 2 and 6 months, together with the Parental Bonding Instrument and the General Health Questionnaire. Mean scores reflecting how much they could trust or talk frankly, or share their worst fears, with professionals, and the extent to which they saw them as a source of useful information or practical help, were lower among mothers with recollections of low maternal care in childhood, or high control. This was the case at 2 and 6 months, and there were some indications of an increasing contribution of low maternal care from 2 to 6 months. The associations were not explained by current depression. Further research is needed to clarify the role of attachment processes in parents' responses to serious medical conditions in their children, and into the implications for the way professionals in paediatric services provide support.