Gamesmanship for internal evaluators: Knowing when to “hold 'em” and when to “fold 'em”

This article discusses the ethical conflicts between an internal evaluator's altruistic social reform motivation and an organization's practical survival motivation. The internal evaluator might encounter (a) pressure to downplay negative and emphasize positive findings; (b) reinforcement for nonthreatening, routine evaluation activities; (c) greater interest in making the evaluation unit visible than in using evaluation results; or (d) reduced access to privileged information.     

Reviews

Abstract

The chronological entries in Weblogs or blogs record musings, opinions, news or other information supplied by individuals or groups. The nature of blogs is ephemeral in that the content is closely tied to the time period of the posting. The author examines the library and information science blogs listed on Susan Herzog’s “BlogBib: Select Librarian/Library Blogs” to see if they were being updated thirteen months after Herzog stopped maintaining the Web site.¹ Active, inactive, ceased, and blogs with changed URLs were recorded. Extra content was noted.     

Mothers and work–life balance: exploring the contradictions and complexities involved in work–family negotiation

This article presents data from a project exploring women's experiences of work and care. It focuses primarily on work–life balance as a problematic concept. Social and economic transformations across advanced post-industrial economies have resulted in concerns about how individuals manage their lives across the two spheres of work and family and achieve a work–life balance. Governments across the European Union have introduced various measures to address how families effectively combine care with paid work. Research within this area has tended to focus on work–life balance as an objective concept, which implies a static and fixed state fulfilled by particular criteria and measured quantitatively. Qualitative research on women's experiences reveals work–life balance as a fluctuating and intangible process. This article highlights the subjective and variable nature of work–life balance and questions taken-for-granted assumptions, exploring problems of definition and the differential coping strategies which women employ when negotiating the boundaries between work and family.     

The artistry of leadership: An exploration of the leadership process in voluntary not-for-profit organizations

Recent efforts in research on leadership in voluntary not-for-profit organizations, research that has influenced the education and training of leaders, have been concentrated on identifying the behaviors or competencies of effective leaders. This article, while recognizing the value of competence typologies, questions the dominance of that approach and proposes that more research attention should be paid to the wisdom, creativity, and insight of leaders of voluntary organizations, focusing on their theories-in-use, which they use to create the meaning of their own and others' experience and action.     

Teacher training and multiculturalism in a transitional society: the case of the Slovak Republic

The authors explore a number of issues surrounding multicultural education in “societies in transition”, emerging from their experiences during a TEMPUS project that took place in the Slovak Republic. The TEMPUS project entailed the development of a multicultural education curriculum for teacher trainers, as a response to the conditions for entry into the European Union. The paper provides background information on the position of ethnic minorities in Slovakia, in particular the Hungarian and Roma population and the development of policies, especially in education, for combating racism. In examining the challenges to educators in developing a more open system than the command education of the recent past, issues such as the predominance of traditional pedagogies, multiculturalism and antiracism, the problems of “other isms” and of giving voice to minorities are considered.     

Short-term Residential Therapy for the Family: The Eastling Parentcraft Centre Project

This paper describes a short-term residential family therapy project which has been developed at the Eastling Parentcraft Centre, Christchurch, New Zealand. The Eastling Parentcraft Centre provides a community based residential programme for families who have difficulties in family relationships and child management, and with parental self-esteem. The problems may concern bonding, separation, neglect and risk of abuse, lack of social support, and feelings of isolation. The Centre's project is described together with an evaluation of the work with families during the second year of the project's operation. Some aspects of this type of residential work with families are also discussed.     

Establishing the R&D agenda for twenty-first century learning

An infusion of twenty-first century skills into American public education necessitates a plan for research and development to further such reform. While the nation agrees that students must obtain critical thinking, problem-solving, and communication skills to succeed in the current global marketplace, this chapter puts forth a long-term, proactive agenda to invest in targeted research to propel and sustain this shift in education. The authors examine the impact such an R&D agenda would have on pedagogy and assessment and the implications for institutions of higher education. As the United States struggles to maintain dominance in the international economy, it faces a great challenge in keeping up with European and Asian competitors' strategies for preparing youth for the global marketplace. The authors hope the global reality will help contextualize the debate around American education--the current trend toward basics and accountability needs to be broadened. Building on frameworks created by the Partnership for 21st Century Skills, this chapter proposes questions to guide research around teaching, professional development, and assessment significant to twenty-first century skills. Knowing that educational change depends on providing teachers with the tools, support, and training to make fundamental changes in their practice, the authors argue for extensive research around best practices. In addition, if assessments are created to measure the desired outcomes, such measuring tools can drive reform. Furthermore, large-scale changes in teacher preparation programs must take place to allow teachers to adequately employ twenty-first century teaching and assessment strategies.     

Perspectives on Job Stress in the Serials Information World

Abstract

Adam Chesler describes his experiences and observations of job stress in the serials publishing industry. While stresses, such as the challenges of supervision have always existed, others are new, such as serial publishers scrambling to adapt service and pricing models for providing Internet content. Advice is offered on coping with these stresses.