This article presents findings from a qualitative study exploring parents' struggles over their children's education. Drawing on affective practice theory (Wetherell 2012) and feminist care ethics (Fisher and Tronto 1990), we offer insights into the affective practices of care driving parents' educational activism. We detail how parents' activism…

In some social situations, autistic people feel pressure to modify their innate social behaviour (i.e. camouflage), while in other social situations they feel free to engage in ways that feel authentic or true to themselves. To date, the latter aspect of autistic people's experience has rarely been explored. Using an online qualitative survey,…

This study utilised 2015 PISA data from the United Kingdom and Hong Kong to examine the relations between outside school ICT use for learning and science performance through a mediation model. The results uncovered three key findings: Firstly, ICT use for learning exhibited negative total effects on science performance in the United Kingdom,…

Although much parental mediation literature discusses restrictive mediation, less nuanced consideration has been given to the diverse nature of positive or instructional active mediation. The present study suggests family mediation of preschool children's digital media practices at home includes a more diverse range of positive or instructional…

Polymathy may be defined as the productive pursuit of multiple endeavors, simultaneously or serially, across a lifetime. As such, polymathic breadth of interest across knowledge domains characterizes Nobel laureates in the sciences, literature, economics, and peace, though interest patterns vary between groups. Economics laureates, like science…

The academic profession has been long recognized as a pivotal source of belief and identity alongside the discipline and the institution of belonging. However, the ways in which academics as a professional group organize themselves towards common objectives that possibly transcend systems, institutions and disciplines, has not been explored so…

Public engagement (PE) is habitually recognized and advocated across the higher education (HE) community--especially by regulator and funder constituencies--as an intrinsically good thing. In the UK, a number of initiatives focused on embedding a culture of PE within universities have sought to further this claim, yet have done so without…

The aim of this work investigated whether there is a need to incorporate the Internet of Things (IoT) into the Industrial Design curriculum. Initial research comprised a literature review into the origins, growth, challenges and enabling technologies for the IoT. Furthermore, literature around IoT within the current curriculum and for industrial…

Purportedly, there is a worldwide acceptance of diagnostic criteria for Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD); however, cultural differences in regards to what is considered normal development may affect the diagnosis despite the biological basis for the condition. The aim of the current study was to examine the differences in reports of symptoms of ASD…

Colleges, schools, and faculties at large universities form strong academic bonds with students. So is it any wonder they want a say in keeping these students engaged as alumni? To provide that input, many larger institutions are decentralizing their alumni operations, meaning that colleges, schools, and faculties have their own alumni staff…

The Coalition Government, building on the foundations laid by its Labour predecessor, aims to dismantle the local authority system and with it what remains of the accountability of schools to local elected government. In this article, a response to Stewart Ranson's in a recent issue of "FORUM," the author examines his claims for the…

Some higher functioning individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) are reported to produce perseverative talk, especially around "special interests". Topic perseveration is a form of pragmatic impairment captured in Prizant and Rydell's (1993) continuum of unconventional verbal behaviour in autism. Although widely reported, there…

This paper looks at the process of collaboratively creating and disseminating information resources, such as journals, books, papers, and multimedia resources in higher education. This process has been facilitated and encouraged by two relatively new movements, open-source and, especially, open access. The most definitive expression of the…

This article explores what is meant by "a balanced higher education system". It argues that the Clarkian "triangle of coordination" (Clark, 1983) and the more recent model of Martinez and Richardson (2003) should be replaced by one that distinguishes between "self" and "collective" interests in both the…

This paper analyses a collection of musical life histories, drawn from 71 British respondents who have maintained a lifelong interest in music as regular concert-goers, amateur performers and/or music educators. These respondents reflect on the influences and opportunities which have contributed to their lifelong engagement in music, and in doing…