Metapher als Intervention

The main means trainers and consultants have is language. What they can reach very much depends on the choice of the “appropriate words”. So to find them – what to say and how to say it – plays a key role for the quality of interventions. In contrast to other possible conceptions we understand intervention as the establishment of a self-reflective distance of a system towards itself. So the main purpose of an intervention is to bring a system to a better understanding of itself and the situation the system is in. This concept of intervention is a precondition for the self-steering abilities of systems. The concept is culturally limited, for self-steering to some extent always means questioning the ruling principles and authorities. The article investigates the consciousness raising power of metaphors. It discusses the use of the rhetoric figure of the metaphor and connects this to general considerations concerning the anthropologic function of language. Giving things names contains pretty much emotionality, has a magical component and follows a mimetic principle. The allegedly rational terms themselves turn out to be metaphors, their semantic field is wider than one might expect which can be shown by the recourse to the etymology. The value of using metaphors for describing situations lies in their openness to collective emotions and in the widening of horizons. The article underlines the importance of a sense of language as part of the professional skills.     

Exploring South African mathematics teachers’ experiences of learner migration

This paper focuses on patterns of post-apartheid learner migration between schools previously segregated along racial lines. South Africa’s shift away from cultural and linguistic isolationism and the ways this has impacted educational arrangements in this country, most particularly in relation to the language of learning and teaching, affects mathematics teaching and learning in complex ways. We focus on how changes in the demographic make-up of some schools have affected the teaching and learning of mathematics by drawing on two case study vignettes in historically different schools. The vignettes are used to illuminate our discussion and to raise key questions requiring further research.     

Economies of scale for large school districts: A national study with local implications

Beginning in the 1930s American school districts began to consolidate under the premise that larger school districts would achieve better performance at a lower cost due to economies of scale and specialization. Before significant evidence emerged contradicting this assumption, many American school districts had transitioned from small adaptive affiliations to large sluggish bureaucracies. The purpose of this paper is to assess the economies of scale in large school districts using cost and production functions along with linear regression. Based upon the benefits proposed by modern supporters of consolidation, the analysis assumes that larger school districts result in reduced costs per student and improved academic achievement. The analysis uses cross-sectional data from the 99 largest school districts in America for the 1999–2000 school year. The results of the analysis indicate that none of the hypotheses proposed are valid. Instead, the data indicates that significant inefficiencies exist in large districts. While the results confirm the findings of most previous research, they are unique in that they are based upon a nationwide sample.     

Ein Experiment zum Einfluss der Situation auf physische und psychische N?he

Zusammenfassung In einem Experiment (N = 90) wurde der Einfluss situativer Bedingungen auf den Sitzabstand und auf die per Fragebogen erfasste subjektiv erlebte N?he zu einer anderen Person überprüft. Es wurden eine Kooperationsbedingung, eine neutrale Bedingung und eine Wettbewerbsbedingung realisiert. Es zeigte sich, dass die neutrale Bedingung die geringste r?umliche N?he hervorrief, w?hrend die Kooperationsbedingung die h?chste emotionale N?he ausl?ste. Zur Interpretation wird die Annahme vertreten, dass die neutrale Bedingung sich von der Wettbewerbsbedingung darin unterscheidet, dass sie von den Probanden als irrelevant empfunden wird und dadurch keine Aufmerksamkeitszuwendung auf die andere Person ausl?st. Weiterhin wird angenommen, dass emotionale N?he das Ergebnis von positiver Atmosph?re und Relevanz der Interaktion ist. Eine weitere Fragestellung bezog sich auf den Zusammenhang zwischen (geringem) Sitzabstand und emotionaler N?he, der in übereinstimmung mit Studien zur Einstellungs-Verhaltens-Konsistenz relativ gering ausfiel.

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The influence of the social situation on the physical distance and, as measured by a questionnaire, emotional intimacy between participants was experimentally studied (N = 90) in a cooperative, a competitive, and a neutral social situation. Results indicate that the physical distance was greatest under neutral conditions. The cooperative condition produced the strongest feeling of intimacy. It is argued that the neutral condition is irrelevant to the participants’ behaviour and level of attention to other persons. Further, intimacy can only arise if an interaction is both positive and relevant. The correlation between physical and emotional distance turned out to be relatively small, in accordance with the range usually given for attitudebehaviour correlations.

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PD Dr. Ina Grau, Dipl. Psych., Universit?t Bielefeld, Fakult?t für Soziologie, Lehrstuhl Sozialpsychologie, Prof. Dr. Hans-Werner Bierhoff, Dipl. Psych., Ruhr-Universit?t Bochum, Fakult?t für Psychologie, Lehrstuhl Sozialpsychologie     

Women and men's use of coercive control in intimate partner violence

This study examined the relationship between coercive control and intimate partner violence (IPV) for men and women and for targets and perpetrators. One hundred and seventy-two participants (85 men, 87 women) recruited from three samples reported on their own and their partner's behavior. IPV was measured using the Revised Conflict Tactics Scale (CTS2). Coercive control was measured using modified items from the Psychological Maltreatment of Women Inventory (PMWI). Coercive control was associated with IPV, and this relationship was similar for men and women across the three samples. In fact, coercive control was predominantly reciprocal in nature, with women and men reporting both receiving and perpetrating controlling behaviors. Overall, coercive controlling behaviors were characteristic of individuals within violent relationships, regardless of their physical abuse status. The experience of violence, rather than gender, was the best predictor of coercive control.     

A controlled case study of supervisor training to optimize response to injury in the food processing industry

The role of supervisors to aid injured workers, access health care, and provide reasonable accommodation may prevent prolonged disability among workers reporting musculoskeletal pain. Although supervisor training has been a common element of broad-based ergonomic interventions to prevent injuries, the impact of supervisor training alone to improve injury response has not been studied. In a controlled design, 11 supervisors in an intervention group and 12 supervisors in a delayed intervention control group from the same plant were provided a 4-hour training workshop. The workshop emphasized communication skills and ergonomic accommodation for workers reporting injuries or health concerns. Workers' compensation claims data in the 7 months before and after the workshop showed a 47% reduction in new claims and an 18% reduction in active lost-time claims versus 27% and 7%, respectively, in the control group. Improving the response of frontline supervisors to employees' work-related health and safety concerns may produce sustainable reductions in injury claims and disability costs.     

Restoring "Regional" History Education: A prerequisite in promoting respect for other European and world histories

History teaching in the universities of the larger nation states of 19th- and early-20th-century Europe has often colluded in the repression of regional identities, the exacerbation of hostility between major powers and the neglect or even dehumanisation of non-European cultures. As European integration and regionalisation proceeds in the 21st century, and as smaller Eastern European states adjust to the disintegration of the former Soviet and Yugoslavian blocs, there will be increased interest in the role of historical education in helping to reconstruct national (small nation) or regional identities. It will be of crucial importance for democracy in Europe and beyond that these processes of group identity reconstruction adopt sophisticated and inclusive models, which do not simply replicate the simplistic and exclusive models once held in the larger nation states within which they have gained a measure of autonomy or from which they have seceded. As a first step, it will be necessary for regions or re-established nation states to develop histories which revisit and value local development. Establishing self-respect should confer the confidence to go on to recognise internal diversity and to acknowledge indebtedness to other cultures, including those from beyond Europe. Through teacher education, such histories may contribute significantly to the development of self-confident pluralist societies that welcome the human, economic and cultural exchange essential to the present and future well-being of Europe. At the end of the 20th century, there were signs in Europe's "regions" or former nation states, such as Scotland, of the development of positive and inclusive models. In this paper, Scotland is used as an example to illustrate general issues in such development.