The learned helplessness hypothesis is criticized and reformulated. The old hypothesis, when applied to learned helplessness in humans, has two major problems: (a) It does not distinguish between cases in which outcomes are uncontrollable for all people and cases in which they are uncontrollable only - for some people (univervsal vs. personal helplessness), and (b) it does not explain when helplessness is general and when specific, or when chronic and when acute. A reformulation based on a revision of attribution theory is proposed to resolve these inadequacies. According to the reformulation, once people perceive noncontingency, they attribute their helplessness to a cause. This cause can be stable or unstable, global or specific, and internal or external. The attribution chosen influences whether expectation of future helplessness will be chronic or acute, broad or narrow, and whether helplessness will lower self-esteem or not. The implications of this reformulation of human helplessness for the learned helplessness model of depression are outlined.

This longitudinal study of 105 economically disadvantaged children examined the relation between reading problems and internalizing behavior in 3rd- and 5th-grade assessments (8- to 12-year olds). The variable-centered results showed that reading problems predicted change in internalizing behavior in the context of child and family predictors. The person-centered results showed that children with reading problems in both grades had higher internalizing scores in 5th grade but not in 3rd grade than children with reading problems in 3rd grade or no problems. Child-reported negative emotion experiences varied similarly across grade. The results tie reading problems to emotional distress in school and support conclusions about the direction of effects and the internalization of academic difficulty for disadvantaged children.

The study examined the moderating influence of emotional intelligence on the link between academic self-efficacy and achievement among university students. The participants in the study were 300 undergraduate students at the University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria. Their age ranged between 16.5 years and 30 years with mean age of 19.4 years. Two valid and reliable instruments were used to assess emotional intelligence and academic self-efficacy while participants’ first semester result was used as a measure of academic achievement. Descriptive statistics, Pearson Product Moment Correlation and hierarchical regression analysis were used to analyse the data. The result demonstrated that emotional intelligence and academic self-efficacy significantly correlated with academic achievement. The moderating effect of emotional intelligence on the relationship between academic self-efficacy and achievement was also established. On the basis of the findings, it is suggested that emotional intelligence should be integrated into undergraduate curriculum. The study further advocated for the promulgation of educational policy on emotional intelligence and academic self-efficacy.

Metacognition is a structure that is referred as fuzzy by many scholars and has very diverse meanings. Much research has been conducted for more than 30 years in order to access the inner side of this structure, which is really hard to grasp. In this paper, the review of literature aims to reveal the theoretical and educational structure of the concept of metacognition chiefly on the basis of the relevant research. Then, an attempt will be made to determine the difference between cognition and metacognition. Finally, difficulties that are encountered in the measurement of metacognition and the methods and tools that will be used in the measurement of metacognition will be determined.

The purpose of this study was to provide information on the structural dimensions of the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Self-Efficacy (MSPSE) and compare the level of general self-efficacy between college students with and without disabilities. The study involved the collection of data from the MSPSE and a demographic questionnaire for 137college students with and without disabilities. This study compared MSPSE scores between college students with and without disabilities. The analysis showed that the MSPSE could be used to assess self-efficacy with this sample population and that there was no statistically significant difference in the level of self-efficacy between college students with and without disabilities.

Research into how dyslexics cope and the effects of their coping has received little attention in the 100 years since dyslexia has been recognized. Why is this? Well it is not an easy area to investigate, partly as most qualitative studies have looked only at coping strategies of specific dyslexics. These are individual and are unsuitable for generalizations to larger populations. This study takes a different approach to the problem. By using three standardized tests for self-esteem, coping and depression, a picture is painted of how teenage dyslexics cope and whether this affects their self-esteem and depression. Results strongly suggest gender differences, with females using more emotional and avoidance-based coping, resulting in lower percentile scores in general and academic self-esteem and moderate depression. Males tend to use more task-based coping resulting in normal percentile self-esteem levels and minimal depression. This study takes the view that coping and the effects of coping by dyslexic children at school should not be underestimated. It also suggests that such issues will aid educationalists in the remedial process.

This paper reports on a reflective qualitative/quantitative study of 29 adult dyslexics and their perceptions of success. It compares depressive (N=22) to non-depressive dyslexics (N=7), with gender, age of diagnosis and academic success variables. Interpretive Phenomenology Analysis was used to investigate dyslexia and perceptions of success. The study uses both quantitative and qualitative data to understand how dyslexic adults perceive any life success, and whilst many were degree educated, this was not seen by many as enough to herald themselves as successful. Many talked about reaching one’s potential, but this was seen as a personal goal-setting exercise, with those who felt themselves as unsuccessful creating unrealistic goals. Whilst many were seen by others as successful, again they dismissed this and denied themselves such attributes.
From the quantitative data, overall the whole sample felt more successful than unsuccessful (65.4% to 30.8%). Males felt more unsuccessful (45.5% to 36.4%), but females felt significantly more successful (72.2% to 16.7%). The secondary questions gave a number of reasons for this: compared to females, males felt rejected by peers, felt inadequate, frustrated and self-blamed, with the strongest differences in terms of feelings of inadequacy in over 50% of both the depressed and non-depressed males.

This paper reports on a qualitative/quantitative adult dyslexic study of 22 dyslexics who presently or have in the past suffered from a depressive disorder, and 7 control dyslexic adults. It compares depressive to non‐depressive dyslexics, with gender and academic success variables. Interpretive Phenomenology Analysis was used to investigate dyslexia and stigma. Many perceived dyslexia as positive and gave them unique skills, but made them feel different. This difference was perceived to come from having to work harder than their non‐dyslexic peers to achieve in life, as dyslexia affected many aspects of their daily life. Interestingly most would not seek a cure if it was offered ‐ suggesting they perceived their dyslexia to be integral to whom they were, and losing their dyslexia would be as great as losing a limb. Evidence suggested that dyslexics experience discrimination due to their disability, whether they perceive it as a disability or not. They felt there was a lack of public domain information on dyslexia and its effects, as many of their peers perceived it being negative. Recent legislation in the US and the UK aims to protect dyslexics in the workplace, however to gain protection they need to disclose their hidden disability to the world., making them vulnerable. Many dyslexics have survived the last twenty, thirty or more years in the workplace and school without their difficulties being highlighted, one participant noted that they had felt successful in hiding for so long, with many feeling unhappy about disclosing their difficulties as they may fear this would firstly go on their record and secondly it might have a negative effect on promotion and career prospects. Many felt dyslexia was a disability when they were children, as school was seen as an inflexible environment with no escape from reading and writing, along with unfair comparison with age appropriate peers ‐ 'I'm only disabled by my dyslexia when you put me into a classroom' (Natasha). It was felt as an adult there was more flexibility to choose professions that play to a dyslexic's strength and use supportive technology (e.g. computers and spell‐checkers). However, a minority withdrew from a society when they felt ill‐equipped to function effectively within it. Stigma due to dyslexia was highlighted as many camouflaged their difficulties at work, attributing their difficulties to quirkiness (positive) rather than being disabled (negative). Implications for the Asia Pacific area are discussed.

Social exclusion is a key policy theme for the NewLabour government, and has been closely associated with education policy. The emphasis is on the need to combat social exclusion by creating a globally competitive economy through the education system, and through responsible individual attitudes. However, this dominant discourse is interpreted differently at various levels of policymaking that provide alternative conceptualizations of the problem, and suggest different roles for education. This paper draws upon a research project that explored the links between education governance and social exclusion, and seeks to illustrate different approaches to social exclusion and education, as these are articulated by politicians and civil servants involved in policy making, or policy implementation in England.

In recent years, the Cattell–Horn–Carroll (CHC) theory has had a significant impact on the measurement of cognitive abilities and the interpretation of intelligence test performance. The purpose of this chapter is to summarize the most salient ways in which CHC theory has influenced the field of intellectual assessment. The chapter begins with a brief summary of the evolution of CHC theory. Next, the specific ways in which current CHC theory and research have influenced test development are presented. Finally, the CHC cross-battery approach is described as one mechanism through which practitioners in the field of psychoeducational assessment have embraced CHC theory, particularly as it applies to test interpretation.

The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between type of confidence inducing stimulus, academic self-confidence and cognitive performance among engineering students. The study samples consisted of two groups of engineering students from a Malaysian polytechnic. The type of confidence inducing stimulus (positive or negative) was the independent variable, cognitive performance was the dependent variable and ASC was the hypothesised mediating variable. An ACS questionnaire and a cognitive test were used to gather data on ASC and cognitive performance respectively. The results indicate that the positive group has statistically significantly higher ASC level (3.08) compared to the negative group (2.67) and the positive group also demonstrates a statistically significantly higher cognitive performance compared to the negative group; 71% and 54% respectively. It is concluded that boosting the ASC of engineering students can enhance their cognitive performance.

Academic confidence cultivated within the context of learning communities may be an important key to student success. This study examined the structural relationships of four constructs on academic performance and persistence for summer bridge learning community (SBLC) and non-SBLC members. Constructs included: 1) student background; 2) academic confidence;3) desire to finish college; and 4) intent to transfer. SBLC participants ended their freshman year with significantly higher GPAs and returned the following year at greater rates than non-SBLC members. Even though it was found that none of the constructs directly influenced persistence for either group, a significant direct effect of academic confidence on academic performance was found for SBLC members. This study demonstrates clearly that in spite of budgetary constraints, learning community models work; students in SBLCs generally show more positive outcomes (i.e., first year GPA and persistence to year two) than non-SBLC students. The statistical power of structural equation modeling is demonstrated and policy implications are discussed.

The aim of this pilot study was to investigate the profile of working memory and sustained attention skills in adults with dyslexia. Measures of verbal and visuo-spatial working memory functioning and sustained attention with stimulus presentation times of 1000– 2000 ms were used. The findings indicated that the adults with dyslexia performed similarly to the control group in working memory tests. However, a gender difference was found within the dyslexic group: males performed significantly better than females on both working memory tests. With respect to the sustained attention test, there was a switching cost in moving from one block of trials to another. However, both the dyslexic adults and the controls exhibited similar rates of accuracy and response times. This pattern of findings is interpreted in light of an automaticity deficit previously reported in dyslexia.

According to the logic of the attribution reformulation of learned helplessness, the interaction of two factors influences whether helplessness experienced in one situation will transfer to a new situation. The model predicts that people who exhibit a style of attributing negative outcomes to global factors will show helplessness deficits in new situations that are either similar or dissimilar to the original situation in which they were helpless. In contrast, people who exhibit a style of attributing negative outcomes to only specific factors will show helplessness deficits in situations that are similar, but not dissimilar, to the original situation in which they were helpless. To test these predictions, we conducted two studies in which undergraduates with either a global or specific attributional style for negative outcomes were given one of three pretreatments in the typical helplessness triadic design: controllable bursts of noise, uncontrollable bursts of noise, or no noise. In Experiment 1, students were tested for helplessness deficits in a test situation similar to the pretreatment setting, whereas in Experiment 2, they were tested in a test situation dissimilar to the pretreatment setting. The findings were consistent with predictions of the reformulated helplessness theory.

The field of dyslexia has often been subject to controversy and contradictions, whether this has been through media reports of reported cures or through the ongoing debate about whether dyslexia exists. There are numerous official definitions that attempt to clarify an increasingly complex condition, such as this one provided by the International Dyslexia Association's Board of Directors in November, 2002. “Dyslexia is a specific learning disability that is neurological in origin. It is characterized by difficulties with accurate and / or fluent word recognition and by poor spelling and decoding abilities. These difficulties typically result from a deficit in the phonological component of language that is often unexpected in relation to other cognitive abilities and the provision of effective classroom instruction. Secondary consequences may include problems in reading comprehension and reduced reading experience that can impede growth of vocabulary and background knowledge.”...

A complex view of learning recognises that learning cannot be pre-determined by teaching, but is as much defined by circumstances and context as pre-defined learning objectives. Learning designs that accept uncertainty help us to envision classrooms and curricula that are open, dynamic and innovative. Architect Christopher Alexander’s patterns and pattern language offer a means for researchers, practitioners, learners, and technologists to capture and share the emergent processes of complex learning. This paper examines the unique properties of patterns that support complex design tasks and suggests a design-based research framework for operationalising its practice. Through the thoughtful explication, mining and construction of patterns, all participants can contribute to a richer learning system.

The increase in numbers of international students who have English as a second language (ESL) and are studying in English-medium universities has renewed the emphasis of English language development in higher education, particularly concerning academic writing. Much of the discussion has concentrated on developing best practices in providing support via Language and Academic Support (LAS) programs. However, the main challenge in recent years has focused on integrating disciplinary and language learning. What has been largely missing from the discussion are the views of lecturers and students regarding the strategies they use to develop academic writing in the discipline. This paper addresses this issue. The analysis reveals that academic writing within the disciplines is largely an individual endeavor for both lecturers and their students. Lecturers focus on explaining what skills students are required to demonstrate in their assignments, but students are more concerned with understanding how they can develop these skills. The implications are discussed concerning the development of a whole institutional approach for integrating language and disciplinary teaching.

Research into the psychological consequences of receiving a diagnosis of dyslexia during adolescence is a newly emerging field. In this article, David Armstrong, senior lecturer in education at Edge Hill University, and Neil Humphrey, senior lecturer in the psychology of Education at the University of Manchester, report on a qualitative study which explored this issue with a group of 20 students with dyslexia in a large college of further education in the north-west of England. Drawing on the outcomes of individual interviews and focus groups, analysis of student responses led to the development of a provisional ‘resistance–accommodation’ model that seeks to explain the psycho-social processes involved in ‘living with the label’ of dyslexia, and how such processes might impact upon later outcomes. The ‘resistance–accommodation’ model and the data contained in this study are discussed in the light of wider aspects of psychological theory and research. The authors also take account of recent literature exploring how students with dyslexia assess self in relation to the label.

What are students like as learners as they approach the end of compulsory education? The answer matters greatly, not only because those with stronger approaches to learning get better results at school but also because young adults able to set learning goals and manage their own learning are much more likely to take up further study and become lifelong learners. The OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) provides a unique opportunity to look at how students approach learning, alongside how well they perform in key subject areas. This report analyses the results, focusing on aspects of students' motivation, self-belief and use of various learning strategies that together make it more likely that a student will become a confident and self-regulated learner. The results confirm strong links between such student approaches to learning and measurable student outcomes. For example, students showing strong interest in reading and those who are more confident of their ability to solve problems that they find difficult are more likely to perform well. The report also shows particularly strong links between students' tendency to control their own learning, by consciously monitoring progress towards personal goals, and their motivation and self-belief. This suggests that effective learning cannot simply be taught as a skill but also depends heavily on developing positive attitudes. This report offers policy-makers a fine-grained analysis of which particular learner characteristics are prevalent in different countries. It also identifies differences between the approaches to learning of various groups, including male and female students, and those from more and less advantaged social backgrounds. The results point to ways in which education systems can focus efforts to help different groups of students become more effective learners. PISA is a collaborative effort, bringing together scientific expertise from the participating countries, steered jointly by their governments on the basis of shared, policy-driven interests. Participating countries take responsibility for the project at the policy level through a Board of Participating Countries. Experts from participating countries serve on working groups that are charged with linking the PISA policy objectives with the best available substantive and technical expertise in the field of international comparative assessment of educational outcomes. Through participating in these expert groups, countries ensure that the PISA assessment instruments are internationally valid and take into account the cultural and curricular contexts of OECD Member countries, that they provide a realistic basis for measurement, and that they place an emphasis on authenticity and educational validity. The frameworks and assessment instruments for PISA 2000 are the product of a multiyear development process and were adopted by OECD Member countries in December 1999. This report is the product of a concerted effort between the authors Cordula Artelt, Jürgen Baumert, Nele Julius-McElvany and Jules Peschar, the countries participating in PISA, the experts and institutions working within the framework of the PISA Consortium, and the OECD. The report was prepared by the OECD Directorate for Education under the direction of Kooghyang Ro and Andreas Schleicher. The development of the report was steered by the Board of Participating Countries, chaired by Eugene Owen of the National Center for Education Statistics in the United States. Annex E of the report lists the members of the various PISA bodies as well as the individual experts and consultants who have contributed to this report and to PISA in general.

The emotional lives and difficulties of people with learning disabilities are much neglected. This paper reviews accounts of research and therapy and makes an assessment of the current state of knowledge. Very little research actually exists when compared to the non-learning disabled, and so, studies of psychotherapy, child development, parent-infant bonding, psychological assessment and emotional disturbance in people with learning disability are examined. The review finds that there is evidence to suggest the presence of a significantly higher level of emotional developmental problems and disturbance in people with learning disability. This problem requires multidisciplinary attention if progress in improving quality of life is to be maintained.

The role of generational status (first-generation vs. continuing-generation college students) as a moderator of the relationship between psychological factors and college outcomes was tested to determine whether generational status acts as a risk factor or as a sensitizing factor. The sample consisted of 322 undergraduate students who completed online measures of self-esteem, locus of control, and academic adjustment and provided self-reports of GPA. Generational status significantly moderated the relationship between psychological factors and academic outcomes. Generally, it was found that the relationship between psychological factors and academic outcomes were strongest among first-generation students. Further, it was found that for the majority of the interactions with locus of control, first-generation status acted as a sensitizing factor that amplified both the positive and negative effects of locus of control. In contrast, for self-esteem, first generation status acted as a risk factor that only exacerbated the negative effects of low self-esteem. These results are interpreted as reflecting motivational differences between first and continuing-generation students and are discussed with respect to the social/cultural capital hypothesis that is most frequently presented in the existing literature.

With the increasing number of disabled students entering the higher education sector, much research work has focused on the support services arena and the elimination of barriers that the disabled students have encountered. Whilse producing useful advice on meeting the needs of disabled studetns, this line of research has done little to locate disability issues within the mainstream learning and teaching debate. By adopting a socio-educational model of 'learning difficulty', the study upon which this artivle draws examined through a suervey the issue of 'learning support' for the whole student population of one university. The survey employed the Learning for All Questionnaire, a newly developed instrument that aimed to operationalize a holistic view of learning support. The analysis of the collected data provided directions for developing university policies and practices through a significant reformulation of the existing support provision. The article concludes by exploring the concept of 'institutional habitus' as a tool for understanding institutional practices, and effecting change to enhance learning and promote inclusion.

Some UK academics have declared that they do not want higher education to become part of the social welfare system. In this article we review aspects of policy and practice that suggest that this has already happened. Explicit encouragement of people with mental health problems to undertake courses has proceeded alongside a number of initiatives to make higher education institutions better able to support students in difficulty, and new responsibilities are being unfolded for the staff. There is growing evidence that students’ mental health problems are increasing. To make sense of the transformations in the topography of policy and in the consciousness it encourages, we make use of theoretical frameworks such as Bourdieu’s notion of field and the generative work of Foucault and Rose, to examine the implications this has for the conceptualization of politics under New Labour and the implications this has for a newly recapitalized notion of responsible individuals.

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• Exercise of personal and collective efficacy in changing societies -Bandura, A.
• Life trajectories in changing societies - Elder, G.H.
• Developmental analysis of control beliefs - Flammer, A.
• Impacat of family processes on control beliefs - Schneewind, K.A.
• Cross-cultural perspectives on self-efficacy - Oettingen, G.
• Self-efficacy in stressful life transitions - Jerusalem, M., Mittag, W.
• Self-efficacy and educational development - Zimmerman, B.J.
• Self-efficacy in career choice and development - HAckett, G.
• Changing risk behaviours and adopting health behaviours: The role of self-efficacy beliefs - Schwarzer, R., Fuchs, R.
• Self-efficacy and addictive behaviour - Marlatt, G.A., Baer, J.S., Quicley, L.A.

The present experiment tested the hypothesis that self-motivation through proximal goal setting serves as an effective mechanism for cultivating competencies, self-percepts of efficacy, and intrinsic interest. Children who exhibited gross deficits and disinterest in mathematical tasks pursued a program of self-directed learning under conditions involving either proximal subgoals, distal goals, or no goals. Results of the multifaceted assessment provide support for the superiority of proximal self-influence. Under proximal subgoals, children progressed rapidly in self-directed learning, achieved substantial mastery of mathematical operations, and developed a sense of personal efficacy and intrinsic interest in arithmetic activities that initially held little attraction for them. Distal goals had no demonstrable effects. In addition to its other benefits, goal proximity fostered veridical self-knowledge of capabilities as reflected in high congruence between judgments of mathematical self-efficacy and subsequent mathematical performance. Perceived self-efficacy was positively related to accuracy of mathematical performance and to intrinsic interest in arithmetic activities.

The present research tested the hypothesis that self-reactive influences exert differential impact on motivation as a function of the level and direction of discrepancy between a comparative standard and attainments. Subjects pursued a challenging standard in a strenuous activity and received preselected feedback that their effort fell either markedly, moderately, or minimally short of the standard, or that it exceeded the standard. They then recorded their perceived self-efficacy, self-evaluation, and self-set goals, whereupon their motivational level was measured. In accord with prediction, perceived self-efficacy contributes to motivation across a wide range of discrepancy conditions. Self-evaluation operates as an influential motivator only when attainments fall markedly or moderately short of a comparative standard. Selfset goals contribute to motivation at all discrepancy levels except when attainments are markedly discrepant from the standard. The relevant self-influences operating in concert at particular discrepancy levels explain a substantial amount of the variance in motivaion.

This study tested the hypothesis that different patterns of social comparison would affect performance attainments in a simulated organization through their impact on mediating self-regulatory mechanisms. Ss served as organizational decision makers under prearranged comparative feedback that they performed as well as their comparators, consistently surpassed them, achieved growing mastery, or experienced progressive decline. Progressive mastery enhanced perceived self-efficacy, efficient analytic thinking, challenging goal setting, aidful affective self-reaction, and organizational performance. Relative decline undermined these self-regulatory factors and produced a growing deterioration of organizational performance. The similar and superior social comparative patterns of influence had a supportive self-regulative and performance effect. Path analyses revealed that perceived self-efficacy, quality of analytic thinking, personal goal setting, and affective self-reactions operated as significant determinants of performance attainments.

In this article I review the diverse ways in which perceived self-efficacy contributes to ccognitive development and functioning. Perceived self-efficacy exerts its influence through four major processes. They include cognitive, motivational, affective and selection processes. There are three different levels at which perceived self-efficacy operates as an important contributor to academic develoment. Students' beliefs in their efficacy to regulate their own learning and to master academic activities determine their aspirationsl level of motication and academic accomplishments. Teachers' beliefs in their personal efficacy to moticvate and promte learning affect the types of learning environments they create and the level of academic progress their students achieve. Faculties' beliefs in their collective instructional efficacy contribute significantly to their schools' level of academic achievement. Student body characteristics influence school-level achievement more strongly by altering faculties' beliefs in their collective efficacy than through direct affects on school achievement.

In social cognitive theory human behaviour is extensively morivated and regulated by the ongoing exercise of self-influence. The major self-regulative mechanism operates through three prinicpal subfunctions. These include self-monitoring of one's behaviour, its determinants and its effects; judgements of one's behaviour in relation to personal standards and environmental circumstances; and affective self-reaction. Self-regulation also encompasses the self-efficacy mechanism, which plays a central role in the exercise of personal agency by its strong impact on thought, affect, motication and action. The same self-regulative system is involved in modal conduct although compared to the achievement domain, in the moral domain the evaluative standards are more stable, the judgemental factors more varied and complex, and the affective self-reactions more intense. In the interactionist perspective of social cognitive theory, social factors affect the operation of the self-regulative system.

The article presents an integrative theoretical framework to explain and to predict psychological changes achieved by different modes of treatment. The theory states that psychological procedures, whatever their form, alter the level and strength of self-efficacy'...

The recent years have witnessed burgeoning research on the development and modification of human behavior. But comparatively little attention has been devoted to the mechanisms by which different modes of influence produce their effects. There is much to be gained from theoretical clarifications of operative mechanisms. A theory inspires and sharpens empirical investigations that have the potential of deepening our understanding of human behavior. It provides a common conceptual framework within which to integrate diverse sets of findings. Additionally, it offers guidelines for developing effective methods of psychological change. Without such knowledge, the search for promising modes of treatment relies on a fortuitous process of trial and error in which failures typically far exceed successes. Self-efficacy theory postulates that different modes of influence alter coping behavior by creating and strengthening expectations of personal efficacy. According to this formulation, perceived efficacy can affect behavior in several ways. It influences choice of activities and environmental settings. Any factor that helps to determine choice behavior can have profound effects on the course of personal development. Individuals .who shun enriching activities and environments fail to develop their potentialities and shield their negative selfconceptions from corrective change. Self-percepts also determine how much effort people will expend and how long they will persist in the face of obstacles or aversive experiences. Because knowledge and competencies are achieved through sustained effort, any factor that leads people to give up readily can have personally limiting consequences. I Before addressing the various issues raised to the invited commentaries on the efftcacy mechanism proposed in the Psychological Review( Bandura, 1977), I should like to remove two possible sources of confusion. First, the central thesis that different types of experiences alter coping behavior' through their effects on self-efficacy is presented in the article under discussion as a proposition not as an empirical claim. Second, self-efficacy is regarded as an influential, though obviously not the sole determinant of behavior. The social learning theory of causdity, in which the efficacy subpostulate is imbedded, deals with multiple determinants operating as reciprocally interlocking factors in the acquisition and regulation of behaviour.

The capacity to exercise control over the nature and quality of one's life is the essence of humanness. Human agency is characterized by a number of core features that operate through phenomenal and functional consciousness. These include th e temporal extension of agency through intentionality and forethought, self-regulation by self-reactive influence, and self-reflectiv e ness about one's capabilities, quality of functioning, and the meaning and purpose of one's life pursuits. Personal agency operates within a broad network of sociostructural influences. In these agentic transactions, people are producers as well as products of social systems. Social cognitive theory distinguishes among three modes of agency: direct personal agency, proxy agency that relies on others to act on one's behest to secure desired outcomes, and collective agency exercised through socially coordinative and interdependent effort. Growing transnational embeddedness and interdependence are placing a premium on collective efficacy to exercise control over personal destinies and national life

Includes some annotated comments by ad1281
Perceived self-efficacy is concerned with people’s beliefs in their capabilities to produce given attainments (Bandura, 1997). One cannot be all things, which would require mastery of every realm of human life. People differ in the areas in which they cultivate their efficacy and in the levels to which they develop it even within their given pursuits. For example, a business executive may have a high sense of organizational efficacy but low parenting efficacy. Thus, the efficacy belief system is not a global trait but a differentiated set of self-beliefs linked to distinct realms of functioning. Multidomain measures reveal the patterning and degree of generality of people’s sense of personal efficacy.

This commentary addresses the functional properties of perceived self-efficacy in the context of a set of studies contending that belief in one's capabilities has debilitating or null effects. It encompasses four theoretical orientations. These include social cognitive theory rooted in an agentic perspective, control theory grounded in a cybernetic model, and trait self-efficacy theory and Big Five theory based on a decontextualized trait model. Critical analyses of the studies in question document their failure to fulfil key theoretical, methodological, analytical, and construct assessment requirements. The article extends beyond critical analyses of the published studies. It specifies the theoretical, methodological, and analytical requirements essential to the advancement of knowledge on the role that perceived self-efficacy plays in human self development, adaption, and change at both the individual and collective levels.

The authors address the verification of the functional properties of self-efficacy beliefs and document how self-efficacy beliefs operate in concert with goal systems within a sociocognitive theory of self-regulation in contrast to the focus of control theory on discrepancy reduction. Social cognitive theory posits proactive discrepancy production by adoption of goal challenges working in concert with reactive discrepancy reduction in realizing them. Converging evidence from diverse methodological and analytic strategies verifies that perceived self-efficacy and personal goals enhance motivation and performance attainments. The large body of evidence, as evaluated by 9 meta-analyses for the effect sizes of self-efficacy beliefs and by the vast body of research on goal setting, contradicts findings (J. B. Vancouver, C. M. Thompson, & A. A. Williams, 2001; J. B. Vancouver, C. M. Thompson, E. C.Tischner, & D. J. Putka, 2002) that belief in one’s capabilities and personal goals is self-debilitating.

This research analyzed the network of psychosocial influences through which efficacy beliefs affect academic achievement. Parents' sense of academic efficacy and aspirations for their children were linked to their children's scholastic achievement through their perceived academic capabilities and aspirations. Ghildren's beliefs in their efficacy to regulate their own learning and academic attainments, in turn, contributed to scholastic achievement both independently and by promoting high academic aspirations and prosocial behavior and reducing vulnerability to feelings of futility and depression. Ghildren's perceived social efficacy and efficacy to manage peer pressure for detrimental conduct also contributed to academic attainments but through partially different paths of affective and self-regulatory influence. The impact of perceived social efficacy was mediated through academic aspirations and a low level of depression. Perceived self-regulatory efficacy was related to academic achievement both directly and through adherence to moral self-sanctions for detrimental conduct and problem behavior that can subvert academic pursuits. Familial socioeconomic status was linked to children's academic achievement only indirectly through its effects on parental aspirations and children's prosocialness. The full set of self-efficacy, aspirational, and psychosocial factors accounted for a sizable share of the variance in academic achievement.

Attributions can have a significant effect on academic achievement and students with learning difficulties are more likely to display negative attributions than their peers. In this article, the attributions of students identified as having learning difficulties are compared with those of other non-labelled low achievers, and non-labelled average achievers. Margaret Banks, MSc research methods student, and Dr Lisa Woolfson, Reader in Educational Psychology, both at the University of Strathclyde, involved 26 low-achieving students (15 identified as having learning difficulties and 11 without any such label) and 27 averagely achieving students in their exploratory study. The students attempted to solve two sets of puzzles that, unknown to the participants, were actually impossible. They then gave a reason for their failure and rated the stability and controllability of their failure. Participants were also asked to give a self-rating of academic achievement. It was found that teacher and student perceptions of academic achievement were not synonymous. In terms of attributions, Margaret Banks and Lisa Woolfson argue that teachers’ perceptions of student achievement may not be as important as students’ self concept. They suggest that low self-perception of achievement and negative attributions are both associates of low self-esteem.

Much has changed over recent years with regard to disability and higher education. Until the 1990s, most British universities were virtually inaccessible to disabled students and staff (Barnes, 1991; Leicester & Lovell, 1994). Disability and related issues were perceived almost exclusively as an individualistic medical problem and the exclusive preserve of university-based medical schools and those involved in the education and training of what Finkelstein (1999) referred to as ‘professionals allied to medicine’. However, as we move ever further into the twenty-first century there are more disabled students in higher education, more support services for students with particular access needs (Riddell et al., 2005) and disability is increasingly regarded as a socio/political issue by many social scientists and researchers. Consequentially there is now a burgeoning literature on the complexities of the disablement process from a variety of academic disciplines.

The controversy with regard to using reverse or negativelyworded survey stems has been around for several decades; it is a practice of questionable utility intended to guard against acquiescence or response set behaviors. A 2 3 design in which item stem direction and item response pattern direction were crossed was used to determine effects on internal consistency reliability as measured by Cronbach's alpha. The condition having the highest alpha was when all directly worded stems were used with bidirectional response options. Alphawas higher and accounted for at least 10%, and in one case 20%, higher internal consistency as compared with any of the three conditions in which negatively worded stems were used. This would indicate that the use of all directly worded stems and half of the response options going in one direction and half going in the other direction may be a better way of guarding against acquiescence and response set behaviors than the use of items with negatively worded stems.

Although Howard Gardner's theory of Multiple Intelligence was conceived in the 1980s and has been put into practice by some primary and secondary schools, it has received scant attention in higher education, apart from debates on whether or not the theory can be applied to students in tertiary education.1 In this paper, I want to ask why this is so, and I will argue that since universities are undergoing rapid change, both in clientele and demands by society, Multiple Intelligence could be a vehicle by which some of these demands are met. I will also report on a survey of academics who attended workshops on Multiple Intelligence, and whether they viewed the ideas as useful pedagogical tools for higher education. After my introduction I will brie¯y outline the theory of Multiple Intelligence and explain why it can be considered an inclusive pedagogy. I then discuss the changes that are occurring in higher education, especially with regard to diversity of the student body and suggest that universities have been slow to accommodate this diversity in their teaching/learning strategies. I argue that Multiple Intelligence Theory could go a long way to bridging the gap.

Despite an increased national focus on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) instruction, students with disabilities continue to struggle with STEM content at both the K-12 and postsecondary levels. As a result, very few students with disabilities pursue STEM careers. The universal design for learning (UDL) framework can be utilized to engage students and increase the usability of STEM curricular materials. Understanding efficacious instruction and assessment strategies can help teachers provide effective instruction for a wide range of learners.

Summary—Self-esteem has become a household word.
Teachers, parents, therapists, and others have focused efforts on boosting self-esteem, on the assumption that high self esteem will cause many positive outcomes and benefits—an assumption that is critically evaluated in this review.
Appraisal of the effects of self-esteem is complicated by several factors. Because many people with high self-esteem exaggerate their successes and good traits, we emphasize objective measures of outcomes. High self-esteem is also a heterogeneous category, encompassing people who frankly accept their good qualities along with narcissistic, defensive, and conceited individuals.
The modest correlations between self-esteem and school performance do not indicate that high self-esteem leads to good performance. Instead, high self-esteem is partly the result of good school performance. Efforts to boost the self esteem of pupils have not been shown to improve academic performance and may sometimes be counterproductive....

This article argues that we need richer conceptions of students as affective and embodied selves and a clearer theorisation of the role of emotion in educational encounters. These areas are currently under-researched and under-theorised in higher education. The first part of the article explores the literature on emotion. The second reports on a casae study which aimed to map students' emotional journeys over their first year at university. These data highlight the importance of relationships, students' changing emotions over the year, their perceptions of their academic studies and understandings of life at university. The article concludes that it is important to understand the affective dimension in pedagogic encounters and the lifeworld of students, and that it is possible to do so without a collapse into therapeutic discourses.

Counselors, faculty, and student personnel specialists are often unaware that college students are experiencing serious academic or adjustment difficulties until it is too late to rectify the problem. Most universities would benefit from an early warning system that detects at-risk students before performance or social problems jeopardize their college careers. This investigation demonstrated that scores from the Survey of Academic Orientations (SAO) were predictive of first-semester freshmen grades. Subsequent analysis showed that the SAO significantly improved the prediction of grade point averages, after taking the effects of Scholastic Assessment Test scores and high school percentage rank into consideration. The SAO gives educators a new early warning device, a way to identify those undergraduates most at risk of receiving poor grades...

The sociotechnical context for learning and education is dynamic and makes great demands on those trying to seize the opportunities presented by emerging technologies. The goal of this paper is to explore certain theories for our plans and actions in technology-enabled learning. Although presented as a successor to previous learning theories, connectivism alone is insufficient to inform learning and its support by technology in an internetworked world. However, because of its presence in massive open online courses (MOOCs), connectivism is influential in the practice of those who take these courses and who wish to apply it in teaching and learning. Thus connectivism is perceived as relevant by its practitioners but as lacking in rigour by its critics. Five scenarios of change are presented with frameworks of different theories to explore the variety of approaches educators can take in the contexts for change and their associated research/evaluation. I argue that the choice of which theories to use depends on the scope and purposes of the intervention, the funding available to resource the research/evaluation, and the experience and philosophical stances of the researchers/practitioners.

Some resilient students with LD succeed 'against the odds' and reach college. The goals of the study are to explore their resources and barriers during their studies. The relationships between academic self-efficacy (ASE) and personal resources (sense of coherence (SOC) and hope) among college students with learning disabilities (LD) will be examined. The sample consisted of 438 college students divided into two subgroups: 149 students with LD and 289 Non-LD students. Results indicated that college students with LD reported lower levels of ASE, as well as lower levels of hope subscales and SOC. Persistent challenges of early learning distress experienced by those students during school periods continue to be prevalent during their college years. The ASE was predicted by the personal resources, and the risk factor (tiredness lost its significance). The importance of personal resources (SOC and hope subscales) was further emphasised by the mediation model (PROCESS). They mediated the relationships between LD and ASE. These outcomes call for empowering interventional programmes in order to promote hopeful thinking and personal coherence.

Practitioners and teachers should be able to justify their chosen techniques by taking into account research results: This is evidence-based practice (EBP). We argue that, specifically, statistical practice and statistics education should be guided by evidence, and we propose statistical cognition (SC) as an integration of theory, research, and application to support EBP. SC is an interdisciplinary research field, and a way of thinking. We identify three facets of SC—normative, descriptive, and prescriptive— and discuss their mutual influences. Unfortunately, the three components are studied by somewhat separate groups of scholars, who publish in different journals. These separations impede the implementation of EBP. SC, however, integrates the facets and provides a basis for EBP in statistical practice and education.

This article considers higher education `widening participation' policy and practice, focusing upon attempts to widen access in relation to applicants from under-represented socio-economic groups and educational backgrounds. Some key United Kingdom approaches are described and discussed in the light of the concept of affirmative action. The article also examines the legal support for widening participation.

Drawing from critical disability narratives, including disability studies works, autobiographies and school age students’ commentaries, explored is how discussions of school inclusion might be expanded to reflect disability voices. The analysis focuses on inclusion primarily as it concerns students with developmental disabilities such as autism, cerebral palsy, and Down syndrome, and how, in light of lessons from critical disability narratives, students with these disabilities might experience fuller academic as well as social inclusion. Speci® cally, presented are four themes drawn from disability narratives: (1) resisting static understandings of disability; (2) creating and ® nding contexts for experiencing competence; (3) learning to recognize and resist normate narratives of disability; and (4) honouring the experience of disability. The paper includes a series of assumptions and principles for practising inclusion that arguably can be derived from critical disability narratives.

The present study used multiple calibration indices to capture the complex picture of fifth graders’ calibration of feeling of confidence in mathematics. Specifically, the effects of gender, type of mathematical problem, instruction method, and time of measurement (before and after problem solving) on calibration skills were investigated. Fourteen classes (N ¼ 389 fifth graders) were randomly selected from two school mathematics programs, namely the gradual program design and the realistic program design. Students completed two different types of mathematical problems (a set of computation problems and a set of application problems) and reported their feeling of confidence (that they would find the right solution) when first reading the problem statement and again after they had produced the solution of each of the problems. Students’ calibration skills were measured using three indices of calibration. Effects on the calibration of feeling of confidence due to gender, instruction method, type of mathematical problem, and time of measurement were found and are discussed.

In this article, problems in current academic motivation research and their solutions are discussed. From a theoretical standpoint, it is argued that the field suffers from a lack of comprehensive models that are capable of capturing the full dynamics underlying observed behaviors. Different theoretical orientations among researchers often result in a rather arbitrary inclusion or exclusion of variables which leads to the misspecification of models. A lack of discriminant validity among motivational constructs exacerbates the problem. Furthermore, the issue of motivational influences on specific phases of information-processing and their interaction with different types of knowledge has largely been neglected...

Bong, M. 1996 Academic motivation researchers sometimes struggle to decipher the distinctive characteristics of what appear to be highly analogous constructs. In this article, we discuss important similarities between self-concept and self-efficacy as well as some notable differences. Both constructs share many similarities such as centrality of perceived competence in construct definition; use of mastery experience, social comparison, and reflected appraisals as major information sources; and a domain-specific and multidimensional nature. Both predict motivation, emotion, and performance to varying degrees. However, there are also important differences. These differences include integration vs. separation of cognition and affect, heavily normative vs. goal-referenced evaluation of competence, aggregated vs. context-specific judgment, hierarchical vs. loosely hierarchical structure, past vs. future orientation, and relative temporal stability vs. malleability. We argue that self-efficacy acts as an active precursor of self-concept development and suggest that self-concept research separate out its multiple components and subprocesses and invest more effort toward making students less preoccupied with normative ability comparisons in school.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the field of learning, learning style, meta-cognition, strategies and teaching by classifying different levels of the learning process. The paper aims to present an attempt to identify how students’ awareness of learning style and teachers’ matched instruction might affect students’ learning and motivation.
Design/methodology/approach – The paper is a conceptual paper in which a theoretical framework built on empirical research was identified by connecting and systemizing different parts ofthe learning process.
Findings – The paper finds that teaching based on individual learning styles is an effective way to ensure students’ achievement and motivation. Awareness of learning styles, it is argued, influences meta-cognition and choice of relevant learning strategies. Consciousness of own improvement provides students with new perspectives of their learning potential. Such positive academic experiences may enhance self-efficacy.
Originality/value – The paper provides useful information on unraveling concepts, methods and effects which can aid students, teachers and researchers in understanding, evaluating and monitoring learning, thus having practical implications for promiting lifelong learning, self-efficacy and salutogenesis.

How people learn chunks or associations between adjacent items in sequences was modelled. Two previously successful models of how people learn artificial grammars were contrasted: the CCN, a network version of the competitive chunker of Servan-Schreiber and Anderson [J. Exp. Psychol.: Learn. Mem. Cogn. 16 (1990) 592], which produces local and compositionally-structured chunk representations acquired incrementally; and the simple recurrent network (SRN) of Elman [Cogn. Sci. 14 (1990) 179], which acquires distributed representations through error correction. The models’ susceptibility to two types of interference was determined: prediction conflicts, in which a given letter can predict two other letters that appear next with an unequal frequency; and retroactive interference, in which the prediction made by a letter changes in the second half of training. The predictions of the models were determined by exploring parameter space and seeing howdensely different regions of the space of possible experimental outcomes were populated by model outcomes. For both types of interference, human data fell squarely in regions characteristic of CCN performance but not characteristic of SRN performance.

Labelling in special education is not new and identification (or diagnosis) is usually sought by various parties whether that be the school, parent, or even the proposed recipient him or herself. Professor Leo Kanner, a Child Psychiatrist in the USA, writing in 1967 provides an interesting historical account of the beginnings of special schooling around the world. In the USA there was The Institution for the Feebleminded Youth in Ohio, (1857), in Belgium there was an asylum created for 270 children who were deemed to be idiots and epileptics and who were divided into 'improvables' and 'nonimprovables'(1892). In Italy the first school was created for 'mental defectives' (1889) and in 1898 there was the creation of the National League for the Protection of Backward Children, which indicates an interest in child welfare (Kanner, 1963). Nowadays the language may not be seen to be as severe but the question of labelling in special education is ever present. In Chapter 4.1 of this book Nancy Hansen comments that 'disability is rarely referred to or described in positive terms' thus highlighting the disparity in the reasoning for labelling.

This article considers the contributions of people with learning difficulties to an undergraduate degree programme in Learning Disability Studies at the University of Manchester. It begins with an evaluation of models of disability and their implications for the study and production of knowledge about learning disability. It then goes on to explore the role of people with learning difficulties—and the place of their experiences and knowledges—both on the Learning Disability Studies programme and within the academy. Drawing on the experience of the Learning Disability Studies programme, it argues for the inclusion of people with learning difficulties in learning, teaching and research.

Hans Eysenck had a long-established interest in the influence of individual differences on educational attainment, noting that typically personality traits and cognitive abilities are ignored in debates regarding educational policy and practice. Eysenck's general scientific approach emphasized the importance of applying an experimental approach to answering social questions. Inspired by this perspective, in this article,we conducted ameta-analysis of the literature on (largely quasi) experimental intervention studies (N = 47, with 49 independent samples) aimed at enhancing mainly self-efficacy and self-confidence in order to influence a range of academic outcomes in university students (N = 5771). Results revealed small-to-moderate, but statistically significant, positive effects across all the outcome domains examined. There was little evidence for moderation of these effects, with quality of the study intervention the only one statistically significant (lower quality studies showing the largest effect sizes). Although our analysis shows the paucity of purely experimental studies in higher education research, the results are sufficiently clear to suggest that the study of individual differences variables are relevant in educational design and instruction. This is something Hans Eysenck told us to expect.

The present experiment tested the hypothesis that learned helplessness can be induced through modeling and that the effects are mediated by perceived similarity in competence. Male college students observed a model fail at anagram tasks under variations in perceived similarity. Subjects who perceived the unsuccessful model to be of comparable ability and those given no competence feedback persisted less throughout the tasks than subjects who perceived the model as less competent than themselves and control subjects who did not observe a model. The latter two groups did not differ in their initial level of persistence, but their performances diverged on succeeding trials, with subjects who perceived themselves as more competent than the model showing higher persistence. A similar pattern of results was obtained for the effects of perceived similarity on subjects' expectations of self-efficacy. A microanalysis revealed that regardless of treatment condition, the higher the subjects' expected efficacy, the longer they persisted. The strength of this relationship increased over trials, suggesting that subjects came to rely more heavily on their judgments of self-efficacy in regulating their expenditure of effort as the experiment progressed.

Question: Many people have asked me this seemingly simple question: Are “Likert-scale” questions on questionnaires nominal, ordinal, interval, or ratio scales? Answer: In preparing to answer this seemingly easy question, I discovered that the answer is far from simple. To explain what I found, I will have to address the following sub-questions: 1. What are scales of measurement? 2. What does the literature say about Likert items and scales of measurement? 3. What does common sense tell us about Likert items and scales of measurement?

Between 2001 and 2005 the Universities and Colleges Information Systems Association (UCISA) and the Joint Information Systems Council (JISC) conducted surveys into issues relating to the acquisition, use, management, and support of Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs). A number of other studies provide information on these issues during this period. Together they provide a substantial body of evidence that allows an analysis of the factors that enhance or inhibit institutional take-up and support provision for VLEs within the UK higher education sector.
There is clear evidence of increasing use of VLEs but not of widespread change in pedagogic practice. VLE management is increasingly centralized in all matters considered strategic, with dedicated devolvement occurring for a range of support activities. Differences in practice exist between old and new universities. There is in general negligible interest in standards or in institutional collaboration.

Robert Burden and Julia Burdett interviewed 50 boys, aged between 11 and 16, attending an independent special school for pupils with dyslexia. The research tools explored the pupils' attitudes to learning and their sense of personal identity. The general levels of depression and 'learned helplessness' revealed were low in sharp contrast to the positive feelings of self-efficacy, locus of control and commitment to effort as an essential learning strategy reported by the pupils. Burden and Burdett explore the consequences of such cognitive self-appraisal for successful learning outcomes in pupils with dyslexia and speculate about the influence of specialist provision upon the positive self-image of the pupils in their study. They state their intention to take their research further with pupils in mainstream settings.

In 2002, Neil Humphrey and Patricia Mullins published their research into personal constructs and attribution for academic success and failure in dyslexia in B J S E’ s‘ Re s e a rch Section’. Their work suggested that pupils with dyslexia, in a range of settings, ex p e r i e n c e real challenges to their self-esteem and that dyslexia leads to ‘negative consequencesfor their self-development’. This article by Robert Burden, Professor of Applied Educational Psychology at the University of Exeter, and Julia Burdett, an ex p e r i e n c e d teacher and part-time research assistant, challenges those findings.
Robert Burden and Julia Burdett interviewed 50 boys, aged between 11 and 16, attending an independent special school for pupils with dyslexia. The research tools explored the pupils’attitudes to learning and their sense of personal idenitity. The general levels of depression and ‘learned helplessness’ revealed were low in sharp contrast to the positive feelings of self-efficacy, locus of control and commitment to effort as an essential learning strategy reported by the pupils. Burden and Burdett explore the consequences of such cognitive self-appraisal for successful learning outcomes in pupils with dyslexia and speculate about the influence of specialist provision upon the positive self-image of the pupils in their study. They state their intention to take their research further with pupils in mainstream settings.

Research and practice involving children and adults with dyslexia has tended to focus on identifying difficulties in developing literacy skills and associated cognitive variables. Comparatively few investigations have focused on affective factors or on finding ways of enabling those with dyslexia to express their own attitudes, thoughts and feelings about these difficulties. As part of an intensive investigation into the self-concepts of pupils attending a residential special school for boys with dyslexia, Robert Burden, Professor of Applied Educational Psychology at the University of Exeter, together with his research assistant, Julia Burdett, carried out semi-structured interviews with 50 boys. One element of the interview was a request to each interviewee to construct a mind picture or image of what dyslexia represented to him. The results revealed a number of powerful images illustrating both surmountable and insurmountable barriers to learning, together with feelings of confusion and inadequacy. The conclusion is drawn that metaphors provide a potentially helpful means of exploring the deep-rooted thoughts and feelings of children and young people diagnosed with dyslexia. The authors conclude by discussing some possible implications of this form of investigation for future research and intervention with those experiencing dyslexia and a wide range of other disabilities.

This paper describes group work developed to enhance pupil self-esteem. The intervention was originally developed in response to an identified need that arose in a resourced provision for pupils identified as having dyslexia, attached to a mainstream secondary school. However, more recently the same intervention has been found to be beneficial for pupils in mainstream provision. Feedback from pupils indicated that they found participating in a group very enjoyable, and that it had been useful to work with others who had similar difficulties. The staff involved reported a variety of beneficial outcomes for those who had taken part and requested that such groups become a regular feature of the psychology service to the school. A self-rating scale administered prior to and following one group showed a rise in self-esteem scores for the group as a whole over the course of the six-week intervention.

This article reports some of the results from an investigation into issues around inclusivity in assessment undertaken at the University of Northampton (2009-2010). The Assess4success research project was conducted within a framework provided by the Higher Education Academy Summit programme on inclusive learning and teaching, and sought to explore the extent to which inclusivity, (a high level commitment in the university's access and teaching policies), was embedded in students‟ experiences of assessment. Drawing on internal quantitative data across the institution suggesting specific groups were more likely to struggle with summative assessment in Year 1, and qualitative data exploring sample student experiences in relation to formative assessment tasks, a series of generic recommendations to enhance the inclusivity of assessment practice both in the host institution and across the sector are offered.

Background: Arithmetical skills are essential to the effective exercise of citizenship in a numerate society. How these skills are acquired, or fail to be acquired, is of great importance not only to individual children but to the organisation of formal education and its role in society. Method: The evidence on the normal and abnormal developmental progression of arithmetical abilities is reviewed; in particular, evidence for arithmetical ability arising from innate specific cognitive skills (innate numerosity) vs. general cognitive abilities (the Piagetian view) is compared. Results: These include evidence from infancy research, neuropsychological studies of developmental dyscalculia, neuroimaging and genetics. The development of arithmetical abilities can be described in terms of the idea of numerosity – the number of objects in a set. Early arithmetic is usually thought of as the effects on numerosity of operations on sets such as set union. The child’s concept of numerosity appears to be innate, as infants, even in the first week of life, seem to discriminate visual arrays on the basis of numerosity. Development can be seen in terms of an increasingly sophisticated understanding of numerosity and its implications, and in increasing skill in manipulating numerosities. The impairment in the capacity to learn arithmetic – dyscalculia – can be interpreted in many cases as a deficit in the concept in the child’s concept of numerosity. The neuroanatomical bases of arithmetical development and other outstanding issues are discussed. Conclusions: The evidence broadly supports the idea of an innate specific capacity for acquiring arithmetical skills, but the effects of the content of learning, and the timing of learning in the course of development, requires further investigation.

For languages other than English there is a lack of empirical evidence about the cognitive profile of students entering higher education with a diagnosis of dyslexia. To obtain such evidence, we compared a group of 100 Dutch-speaking students diagnosed with dyslexia with a control group of 100 students without learning disabilities. Our study showed selective deficits in reading and writing (effect sizes for accuracy between d = 1 and d = 2), arithmetic (d < 1), and phonological processing (d.0.7). Except for spelling, these deficits were larger for speed related measures than for accuracy related measures. Students with dyslexia also performed slightly inferior on the KAIT tests of crystallized intelligence, due to the retrieval of verbal information from long-term memory. No significant differences were observed in the KAIT tests of fluid intelligence. The profile we obtained agrees with a recent meta-analysis of English findings suggesting that it generalizes to all alphabetic languages. Implications for special arrangements for students with dyslexia in higher education are outlined.

Whitney and Cornelissen hypothesized that dyslexia may be the result of problems with the leftto- right processing of words, particularly in the part of the word between the word beginning and the reader's fixation position. To test this hypothesis, we tachistoscopically presented consonant trigrams in the left and the right visual field (LVF, RVF) to 20 undergraduate students with dyslexia and 20 matched controls. The trigrams were presented at different locations (from –2.5° to+ 2.5°) in both visual half fields. Participants were asked to identify the letters, and accuracy rates were compared. In line with the predictions of the SERIOL (sequential encoding regulated by inputs to oscillations within letter units) model of visual word recognition, a typical U-shaped pattern was found at all retinal locations. Accuracy also decreased the further away the stimulus was from the fixation location, with a steeper decrease in the LVF than in the RVF. Contrary to the hypothesis, the students with dyslexia showed the same pattern of results as did the control participants, also in the LVF, apart from a slightly lower accuracy rate, particularly for the central letter. The latter is in line with the possibility of enhanced crowding in dyslexia. In addition, in the dyslexia group but not in the control group the degree of crowding correlated significantly with the students' word reading scores. These findings suggest that lateral inhibition between letters is associated with word reading performance in students with dyslexia.

An increasing number of students with dyslexia register in higher education. As a consequence, information on their pattern of strengths and weaknesses is essential to construct adequate assessment and diagnostic protocols. In a sample of 100 first-year bachelor students with dyslexia and 100 control students, a large pool of cognitive skills were tested using a variety of tests. When we applied an exploratory factor analysis to scores, a model with ten factors fitted the data best. Effect sizes were used to express the processing costs of students with dyslexia. The factors related to reading, spelling, flashed orthography, phonology, naming, math, and reading fluency resulted in large effect sizes. A factor combining all measures for crystallized IQ had a medium effect size. The subtests for fluid intelligence were divided in two separate constructs. Relationships between all subtest scores are visualized and interpreted in a general theoretical and practical framework.

This study explores the lived experiences of three dyslexic university students as they negotiate a number of different learning spaces within their higher education institution. The students completed reflective diaries for a period of three weeks and were subsequently interviewed about the experiences they recorded. The transcribed data from the diaries and interviews were analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis. The following four themes were constructed following analysis: getting things out of my head; holding back – performance as risk; ever-present inner voices – effort of constant self-monitoring; and not belonging in academic spaces – metaphors of misfit. This study argues that attention to the everyday experiences of students with the dyslexia label is as important as knowledge of cognitive differences in the drive to create a more equitable learning environment in higher education.

Interest in dyslexia as a topic of discussion in education, and in the media, runs through peaks and troughs. Dyslexic students in higher education must navigate their way through the possible meanings attached to the label, appropriating some and rejecting others, yet needing the label as a means to access support. The aim of this article is to explore the ways in which dyslexic university students constructed dyslexia and being dyslexic as moral issues during two focus group conversations. These conversations were discursively analysed with reference to Gee and Willig. Three key themes emerged following analysis: the interaction between the power of the grade as a marker of worth and the status of the dyslexia label; the tensions between acknowledging difficulties with writing and the construction of high literacy as morally aspirational; and the uncertain, yet persistent, construction of dyslexia as a valuable label and a moral good.

There are different ways of theorising dyslexia and different ways of constructing meanings around dyslexia in different learning contexts. This paper considers the role of neoliberalist ideology in shaping conversations about dyslexia and 'fairness' during two focus group conversations analysed as part of a study into the discursive construction of dyslexia in higher education. Ideological analysis was undertaken with reference to Gee's discourse analysis and Willig's concept of the use of discursive resources in interaction. Investigation identified neoliberalist ideology as a powerful voice within the analysed texts, and as directive for identity and action. This paper argues that recognition of the ways in which neoliberalist ideology shapes everyday conversation about learning and learning differences is vital in the construction and maintenance of fairer higher education in the UK.

Background. The personal determinants of academic achievement and success have captured the attention of many scholars for the last decades. Among other factors, personality traits and self-efficacy beliefs have proved to be important predictors of academic achievement. Aims. The present study examines the unique contribution and the pathways through which traits (i.e., openness and conscientiousness) and academic self-efficacy beliefs are conducive to academic achievement at the end of junior and senior high school. Sample. Participants were 412 Italian students, 196 boys and 216 girls, ranging in age from 13 to 19 years. Methods. The hypothesized relations among the variables were tested within the framework of structural equation model. Results and conclusions. Openness and academic self-efficacy at the age of 13 contributed to junior high-school grades, after controlling for socio-economic status (SES). Junior high-school grades contribute to academic self-efficacy beliefs at the age of 16, which in turn contributed to high-school grades, over and above the effects of SES and prior academic achievement. In accordance with the posited hypothesis, academic self-efficacy beliefs partially mediated the contribution of traits to later academic achievement. In particular, conscientiousness at the age of 13 affected highschool grades indirectly, through its effect on academic self-efficacy beliefs at the age of 16. These findings have broad implications for interventions aimed to enhance children’s academic pursuits. Whereas personality traits represent stable individual characteristics that mostly derive from individual genetic endowment, social cognitive theory provides guidelines for enhancing students’ efficacy to regulate their learning activities.

This study assessed the construct validities and the relationships between Optimism [21], Hope [27], Self-Efficacy [18], and Locus of Control [12]. The validities and relationships between these scales were examined not only because they are to some degree rival constructs but also because there is an outstanding theoretical question in the literature of whether each of these variables is a state or trait variable or both. Synder’ Hope scale was the “know marker” trait-state scale in this study. Data were obtained on all scales from 78 at-risk university students and 22 regular (or normal) students, as all scales either make claims about or have existing data on these two different types of subjects. Other background data were also collected. A Manova on the 13 variables for which data were obtained found significant profile differences between the two groups of subjects as theory and the literature predicted at the 0.01 level. The trait-state two factor structure of Synder’s Hope scale was found except the structure was orthogonal in at-risk students as opposed to the oblique structure Synder found in normals. The same strong results were obtained for Schiever and Carver’s Optimism scale which additionally resolved an outstanding interpetability issue with this scale. Hypothesized factor structures were not obtained for the self-efficacy or the locus of control scales and both scales best fit the trait-sate model, which contradicts Bandura’s and other prevailing view of these two variables, but supports the results found by Bandalos et al. [2].

A recent article by Jamieson in Medical Education outlined some of the (alleged) abuses of “Likert scales” with suggestions about how researchers can overcome some of the (alleged) methodological pitfalls and limitations[1]. However, many of the ideas advanced in the Jamison article, as well as a great many of articles it cited, and similar recent articles in medical, health, psychology, and educational journals and books, are themselves common misunderstandings, misconceptions, conceptual errors, persistent myths and “urban legends” about “Likert scales” and their characteristics and qualities that have been propagated and perpetuated across six decades, for a variety of different reasons. This article identifies, analyses and traces many of these aforementioned problems and presents the arguments, counter arguments and empirical evidence that show these many persistent claims and myths about “Likert scales” to be factually incorrect and untrue. Many studies have shown that Likert Scales (as opposed to single Likert response format items) produce interval data and that the F-test is very robust to violations of the interval data assumption and moderate skewing and may be used to analyze “Likert data” (even if it is ordinal), but not on an item-by-item “shotgun” basis, which is simply a current research and analysis practice that must stop. After sixty years, it is more than time to dispel these particular research myths and urban legends as well as the various damage and problems they cause, and put them to bed and out of their misery once and for all.

How Likert type measurement scales should be appropriately used and analysed has been debated for over 50 years, often to the great confusion of students, practitioners, allied health researchers and educators. Basically, there are two major competing views that have evolved somewhat independently of one another and of the associated empirical research literature on this ‘great debate’. Most recently in this journal, Jamieson1 outlined the view that ‘Likert scales’ are ordinal in character (i.e., produce rank order data) and that they, therefore, must be analysed using non-parametric statistics. Non-parametric statistics, however, are less sensitive and less powerful than parametric statistics and are, therefore, more likely to miss weaker or emerging findings.

Background: Arithmetical skills are essential to the effective exercise of citizenship in a numerate society. How these skills are acquired, or fail to be acquired, is of great importance not only to individual children but to the organisation of formal education and its role in society. Method: The evidence on the normal and abnormal developmental progression of arithmetical abilities is reviewed; in particular, evidence for arithmetical ability arising from innate specific cognitive skills (innate numerosity) vs. general cognitive abilities (the Piagetian view) is compared. Results: These include evidence from infancy research, neuropsychological studies of developmental dyscalculia, neuroimaging and genetics. The development of arithmetical abilities can be described in terms of the idea of numerosity – the number of objects in a set. Early arithmetic is usually thought of as the effects on numerosity of operations on sets such as set union. The child’s concept of numerosity appears to be innate, as infants, even in the first week of life, seem to discriminate visual arrays on the basis of numerosity. Development can be seen in terms of an increasingly sophisticated understanding of numerosity and its implications, and in increasing skill in manipulating numerosities. The impairment in the capacity to learn arithmetic – dyscalculia – can be interpreted in many cases as a deficit in the concept in the child’s concept of numerosity. The neuroanatomical bases of arithmetical development and other outstanding issues are discussed. Conclusions: The evidence broadly supports the idea of an innate specific capacity for acquiring arithmetical skills, but the effects of the content of learning, and the timing of learning in the course of development, requires further investigation.

Dyslexia is a highly heritable learning disorder with a complex underlying genetic architecture. Over the past decade, researchers have pinpointed a number of candidate genes that may contribute to dyslexia susceptibility. Here, we provide an overview of the state of the art, describing how studies have moved from mapping potential risk loci, through identification of associated gene variants, to characterization of gene function in cellular and animal model systems. Work thus far has highlighted some intriguing mechanistic pathways, such as neuronal migration, axon guidance, and ciliary biology, but it is clear that we still have much to learn about the molecular networks that are involved. We end the review by highlighting the past, present, and future contributions of the Dutch Dyslexia Programme to studies of genetic factors. In particular, we emphasize the importance of relating genetic information to intermediate neurobiological measures, as well as the value of incorporating longitudinal and developmental data into molecular designs.

Background. It has long been hypothesized that children with learning disabilities, including dyslexia, may be highly vulnerable to emotional consequences such as anxiety. However, research has centred on school-aged children.
Aims. The present study aimed to clarify these findings with dyslexic students in higher education.
Samples. Sixteen students with dyslexia were compared with 16 students with no history of learning difficulties.
Methods. Students were asked to complete a written questionnaire concerning trait anxiety levels. They were then told that they would be given a timed reading test and their state anxiety levels were measured using the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI; Spielberger, Gorsuch, & Lushene, 1983). Finally, their reading was assessed using the Test of Word Reading Efficiency (TOWRE; Torgesen, Wagner, & Rashotte, 1999). Results. Dyslexic students showed slower reading speeds than controls. They also had higher levels of state anxiety and elevated levels of academic and social, but not appearance, anxiety.
Conclusions. Dyslexic students in higher education show anxiety levels that are well above what is shown by students without learning difficulties. This anxiety is not limited to academic tasks but extends to many social situations. It is proposed that assessment of emotional well-being should form part of the assessment of need for dyslexic students entering higher education.

Student progression and retention is an area of increasing social importance and concern around student non-completion rates is expressed in many arenas. Research suggests many reasons for student non-completion, including the balancing of social and academic integration into university life. The increasing diversity of the student body potentially militates against such integration. Discourse here has tended either to problematise the student (seeking to identify and remedy their alleged deficits and differences), or the teacher (adopting a narrowly ‘technological’, a-theoretical approach to teaching and learning). Both approaches de-contextualise the issue removing it from the social nexus which is at the heart of the learning and teaching environment. This article seeks to redress this by placing the social nexus at the core of its approach to progression and retention. Drawing upon group work theory we explore the role of small group learning in promoting social and academic integration.

Dyslexic university students can only be provided with support if their disability is identified. However, diagnosis is expensive and time consuming. Quality screening tools, which are generally short and easy to administer, provide robust indications of whether or not a person is likely to be dyslexic. Administering free screening to all students would allow those at risk to be identified and diagnostic testing to be provided in a cost-effective, targeted manner. However, HE students differ significantly from the general adult population: dyslexic students are highly intelligent and most have developed advanced compensatory strategies that effectively mask their disability on screening tests developed for use in the general adult population. Moreover, for a screening test to be made freely available to all students, it must be delivered in a computer-based format. Existing instruments have insufficient discriminatory power for the HE population, or are unsuitable for delivery to all students, which is only possible (due to resource implications) with a computer-based test. There is a pressing need for a test specifically targeted at students, which can be used for widespread, cost-effective dyslexia screening.

The impacts of the instructional environment (classroom vs. Web-based instructional environment—WBIE) and personality differences on students’ social participation were examined among 214 university students. Students reported their attendance, willingness to participate and actual participation in each instructional environment. Students’ personality traits were measured by the Big Five Inventory. It was found that despite of frequent attendance to both educational environments, the classroom seems to enhance students’ active participation whereas WBIE appears to inhibit it. Participants in class were more extroverted, open to new experiences and emotionally stable, relative to non-participants. Such differences were not found between WBIE participants and non-participants. Students who actively participated only in WBIE were more introverted and more neurotic than students who participated in both environments, students who did not participate in either instructional environment, or students who participated exclusively in class. These results point to the psychological impact of the two instructional environments, and suggest viewing social participation as a result of educational context while individual differences play secondary role.

The study investigated the association and relative influence of cognitive/ motivational and demographic factors on final degree grade point average (GPA) in a single undergraduate cohort. Although academic self-efficacy, approaches to learning, prior achievement and age all produced significant correlations with GPA, regression analysis identified prior achievement (R2 change ¼ .288), age (R2 change ¼ .201) and academic self-efficacy (R2 change ¼ .062) as the only significant predictors of GPA. Significant increases in academic self-efficacy (d ¼ .46), deep (d ¼ .43) and strategic (d ¼ .37) approaches to learning, and selfconfidence (d ¼ .33), and a significant decrease in internal academic locus of control (d ¼ .50), were also reported when comparing first and final year scores. Conclusions suggested that prior academic achievement, age and academic selfefficacy provide a partial explanation for academic achievement in higher education, that any measure of prior achievement must be relevant, that selfefficacy appears to be the most relevant perceived control construct in a learning context, and that further work focusing on age in the context of academic achievement in higher education is both necessary and warranted.

The technological revolution that global society has undergone during the last few decades has completely transformed the way in which people interact with each other and their environment. Digital technology has permeated every corner of the globe and has permanently changed the way in which we function. The importance of technology for individuals in our society is ever increasing and creating a scenario where people, institutions and organizations are forced to adapt or be left behind. As Marshall McLuhan, the eminent Canadian Sociologist and scholar famously wrote, “the message of any medium or technology is the change of scale or pace or pattern that it introduces into human affairs. The railway did not introduce movement or transportation or wheel or road into human society, but it accelerated and enlarged the scale of previous human functions, creating totally new kinds of cities and new kinds of work and leisure” (1968) ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMEC_HqWlBY&feature=related ). For education our medium is dynamic, vivid, flexible digital technology. Like the railroad, or the airplane before it, the world is not as it once was…

This research examined the effects of induced mood on personal standards for performance and judgments of one's performance capabilities, or self-efficacy judgments. In Experiment 1, standards and self-efficacy judgments were assessed on common social and academic tasks. In Experiment 2, these variables were assessed on 2 novel tasks. In both experiments, negative mood induced higher standards for performance. Induced mood had no effect on perceived self-efficacy. Negative mood Ss thus held minimal standards for performance that significantly exceeded the levels of performance they judged they actually could attain. A 3rd experiment provided support for the hypothesis that negative mood raises standards by lowering evaluations of prospective outcomes. Processes underlying the results and their relation to research on naturally occurring depressed mood and stringent personal standards are discussed.

While the number of students identified as dyslexic has risen dramatically in the last twenty years, dyslexia has become a grey area traversed by very disparate discourses – medical, social-constructionist, legal, technical, experiential, and pedagogical. These discourses arise out of different disciplinary and administrative cultures; focus on different aspects of the syndrome; and reveal different understandings about the nature and meaning of literacy. While each is helpful in some respect, they do not enable us adequately to address the obstacles that confront dyslexic students attempting to hold their own in a community that equates literacy with learning. This paper examines some of the problems with applying insights from competing discourses, and argues for closer communication among those responsible for current theory and practice in this area.

University students with Learning Difficulties (LD) undergo lengthy, expensive assessment by an educational psychologist to provide a detailed cognitive profile on which to base accommodations to enable each individual to study without disadvantage. However, reports are often hard for students to understand and, without trained LD tutors, this information remains underutilized. We trialed an alternative instrument based on the York Adult Assessment developed in the UK, hoping to enable university staff in disabilities and academic skills units to identify students with dyslexia quickly, easily and at no cost to the student and to recommend a limited range of appropriate accommodations based on the result. The trial produced significant group effects, but unacceptable false negatives; we cannot recommend the instrument, therefore, and the need for a reliable alternative remains. This article considers the problems surrounding the present method of assessment and discusses the methodological problems of devising an alternative.

The present paper explores the social model of disability and its significance for people with learning difficulties. The authors argue that, while the social model has been adopted as an explicit framework for analysis by many people with physical and sensory impairments, its impact on people with learning difficulties, and the nondisabled people who write about them or research with them has been much less marked. In the first part of the present paper, the authors examine why the social model appears to have neglected learning difficulty and why learning difficulty researchers have not utilized the social model as a means for understanding the experiences of people with learning difficulties. Drawing on research with selfadvocates, the second part of this paper discusses the way that many people with learning difficulties can be seen to engage with ideas inherent to the social model. However, the political nature of many of the everyday actions of people with learning difficulties, which impinges on the social model, is not recognized. Consequently, it has not been theorized.

Demographic, psychological and secondary level examination measures were obtained at the start of undergraduate courses in an attempt to predict first-year higher education (HE) withdrawal. As usual, withdrawal was greatest for males. Overall, intrinsic motivation and independent study expectations were better predictors of withdrawal than extrinsic motivation, lack of direction, and psychological health (anxiety and depression) variables. While 23% of the variance in continuance/ withdrawal was explained, only 13% of variance was explained when gender and faculty of study were controlled. It is concluded that prediction of withdrawal is easier once students' behaviours and performance within HE are apparent than it is at the outset of their HE careers. Nevertheless, some suggestions for interventions are made, centring upon the current findings for intrinsic motivation and independent study expectations.

A longitudinal study of lst-year university student adjustment examined the effects of academic self-efficacy and optimism on students' academic performance, stress, health, and commitment to remain in school. Predictor variables (high school grade-point average, academic self-efficacy, and optimism) and moderator variables (academic expectations and self-perceived coping ability) were measured at the end of the first academic quarter and were related to classroom performance, personal adjustment, stress, and health, measured at the end of the school year. Academic self-efficacy and optimism were strongly related to performance and adjustment, both directly on academic performance and indirectly through expectations and coping perceptions (challenge-threat evaluations) on classroom performance, stress, health, and overall satisfaction and commitment to remain in school. Observed relationships corresponded closely to the hypothesized model.

Researchers have suggested that general self-efficacy (GSE) can substantially contribute to organizational theory, research, and practice. Unfortunately, the limited construct validity work conducted on commonly used GSE measures has highlighted such potential problems as low content validity and multidimensionality. The authors developed a new GSE (NGSE) scale and compared its psychometric properties and validity to that of the Sherer et al. General Self-Efficacy Scale (SGSE). Studies in two countries found that the NGSE scale has higher construct validity than the SGSE scale. Although shorter than the SGSE scale, the NGSE scale demonstrated high reliability, predicted specific self-efficacy (SSE) for a variety of tasks in various contexts, and moderated the influence of previous performance on subsequent SSE formation. Implications, limitations, and directions for future organizational research are discussed.

The aim of the present study was to describe the characteristics of podcast users, compare uptake across courses, examine preferred modes of use and satisfaction, assess the impact of podcasts on lecture attendance, and evaluate reasons for use and non-use. Participants were 273 undergraduate students enrolled in six diverse courses at a large Australian university. Results suggested differences in uptake and satisfaction across courses, with later year students more satisfied than first year students. Although podcast users were older, worked longer hours in paid employment, and attended fewer lectures than those who did not use podcasts, results also suggest that users had more contact with staff and reported higher levels of academic self-efficacy than nonusers. Suggestions for improvements to current podcasting provisions are offered and directions for future research are provided. In particular the need to tap into the use of podcasts for examination revision is highlighted.

Increasing evidence suggests that providing students with both support and academic challenge is important to engagement, achievement, and retention. Effectively engaging and supporting first year students however is an ongoing tension, particularly when cohorts are large and diverse. This session describes a model of peer tutoring embedded in the curriculum addressing both social transition and academic engagement. The peer-to-peer (P2P) model brings later year students into first year classes with the explicit aim of working on key assessment tasks in a context of social support. Data will be presented from a randomised controlled trial evaluating P2P in three disciplines: Psychology, Civil Engineering, and Industrial Design. Results suggest the value of P2P in increasing retention, enhancing academic achievement and improving psychological adjustment in both Psychology and Civil Engineering, but not

Participation rates in higher education differ persistently between some groups in society. Using two British datasets we investigate whether this gap is rooted in students’ misperception of their own and other’s ability, thereby increasing the expected costs to studying. Amongst high school pupils, we find that pupils with a more positive view of their academic abilities are more likely to expect to continue to higher education even after controlling for observable measures of ability and students’ characteristics. University students are also poor at estimating their own test performance and over-estimate their predicted test score. However, females, White and working class students have less inflated view of themselves. Self-perception has limited impact on the expected probability of success and expected returns amongst these university students.

Acknowledging the power relations at play between researcher and participant is an essential element in 'doing' inclusive education research. This provides a starting point for recognising the difficulties in employing biographical approaches where reinterpretation of the personal can provide a powerful context for reading the implications of inclusive and exclusive educational practices. Taking a researcher/participant joint reading of a research text, this paper examines the ways in which our understandings of inclusionary/exclusionary educational experiences are made and re-made in light of particular power relations. Drawing on Paulo Freire's notion of 'praxis', the paper employs a dialogic approach where talk, reflection and action take the potentially inert research text and render it useful. What emerged from a joint or 'dialogic' reading was a reaffirmation of principal concerns about engagement with learning in relation to literacy that had been masked by an original emphasis on research questions relating to drawing practices and exclusive approaches to art education. Emerging from this reflection is an exploration of the links between literacybased educational experience and art education as a peripheral yet inclusive environment. The paper concludes with an exploration of the possibility for 'action' where biographical experiences of education are brought back into an educational context to create challenging and potentially transformative experiences.

The lack of cultural diversity in higher education is recognised by policy objectives and a current focus on the development of widening participation for a range of students, including those with disabilities. Amongst this group are those with dyslexia who might previously have been disenfranchised from formal education and under-represented within it. This paper explores the personal narratives and learner histories of six postgraduates and academics with dyslexia from their earliest memories of learning to their present experiences. It examines how literacy, as a dominant form of discourse, has defined concepts of academic ability resulting in the early exclusion of these learners from formal education. It is argued that this dominant discourse can be challenged by non-authorised, informal learning resulting in stories of resistance.

• The rise of new public management has seen the role of the social worker becoming increasingly administrative and less about face to face contact with service users.
• When commissioning managers seek to help people with learning disabilities plan their services, who actually makes the decisions?
• Direct payments are proposed as the answer for people with learning disabilities to take the lead, but is this a real shift in power from managers to service users? This paper examines what commissioning and contracting means for people with learning disabilities. It asks if the voices of service users are heard when it comes to planning their services and, more significantly, are their choices respected and acted upon by commissioners? The government believes the introduction of direct payments will change the way social care is administered, by placing both the decision-making and funding, firmly in the hands of people with learning disabilities. However, the question remains as to how far this can be successful, considering the complicated administration and financial processes involved. The paper explores new ground in terms of research by investigates the effects that new public management, in the form of commissioning and contracting, has on the lives of people with learning disabilities. It looks at the relationship between the service user, care manager and commissioner, and asks whether management structures help individuals or actually create further barriers to participation and inclusion

This article considers the importance of ownership of learning as a key component of college readiness. The article is organized around two conceptual models. The first is a four-part model of college readiness that includes key cognitive strategies, key content knowledge, key learning skills and techniques, and key transition knowledge and skills. The second is a five-part model of ownership of learning that consists of the following elements: motivation and engagement, goal orientation and selfdirection, self-efficacy and self-confidence, metacognition and self-monitoring, and persistence. Finally, the article concludes with a discussion of the role and importance of ownership of learning and makes the case that these elements can and should be taught to all students, and particularly in settings where an achievement gap exists.

Progressive educators are interested in forging social equality in our society. They seek to challenge institutional and individual practices that uphold inequities based on race, gender, homophobia, age, and so on. But where does disability appear in the picture? We often hear the phrases listed at the beginning of this article—as well as many similar derogatory comments—in everyday conversations among teachers, among students, and among teachers and students. Each of the statements contains a reference that reinforces the connection between disability and negativity, inferiority, undesirability, incompletion, and abnormality.

The pervasiveness of such tolerated verbal expressions indicates the larger, stereotypic perspective of our culture: Disability can never be a good thing. Within contemporary society, disability—unlike race, gender, sexual orientation, or age—is still somewhat of a free-for-all; a repository of bad associations and images; and a concept that people routinely look down on, devalue,. and ridicule. With the overwhelming negative connotations of disability, how can people ever see disability as a natural part of human diversify, merely another bodily attribute, and one that we can frame in positive terms? In brief, how can we view disability as simply another way of being?

The study investigated the incremental validity of Big Five personality traits for predicting academic criteria (college GPA, course performance) while controlling for academic ability (SAT). Results showed that conscientiousness incrementally predicted each criterion over SAT. Results also showed that behavior (attendance) incrementally predicted GPA and course performance and it mediated the relationship between conscientiousness and both academic criteria. Personality measures are promising predictors of academic outcomes and they may have usefulness in admissions and student development.

Many of the emerging national policy developments related to post-compulsory education and training were initially identified in the Government’s Green Paper on lifelong learning The Learning Age. Although many of the consequent initiatives will affect young people with special educational needs, some are developing so rapidly that by the time this article is published their details are likely to have changed. Milton Keynes Council (a unitary authority since 1997) is used to illustrate how the major developments affect local authorities.

This paper argues that post-industrial teaching and education systems cause the experience of dyslexia. The concept of ‘neurodiversity’ is a starting point for unravelling its social construction. Many of us considered ‘neurodiverse’ are beginning to reframe the concept and challenge the social construction of ‘specific learning difficulties’ (e.g. BrainHE website, DANDA website, Pollak, David 2009, Martin, Nicola 2011), and shift the debate away from a perceived ‘deficit’ towards identity politics. What is now required is an analysis of the process through which specific difficulties arise and how these are categorised as individual ‘deficits’. This then allow us to reframe and challenge the deficit model in favour of a social model of specific learning differences. However, this is about a great deal more than academic debate, it is really about how to change negative learning experiences into positive ones.

This paper seeks to describe a paradigm shift and articulate some of the implications for educationalists. Any paradigm shift will reframe what we think we 'know', providing new explanations for 'known' phenomena. The paper therefore begins by describing briefly what we think we 'know' about dyslexia, before relating this to the paradigm shift. This in turn leads to a brief exploration of the nature of different cognitive styles and how these relate to the experience of being 'dyslexic'. This brings us to a broader understanding of 'dyslexia' framed by 'neurodiversity' and the social model of 'disability' (Oliver 1990). Finally, this new understanding provides new directions in understanding, research and educational practice that reframes 'dyslexia' in terms of intellectual strengths and possibilities rather than simply as a set of 'difficulties'. This then questions the concept of 'compensatory strategies'.

The affects of dyslexia on one's self‐concept and self‐esteem have been well documented in an academic population. The current study investigated if the trends observed in previous literature are generalisable to a non‐academic, adult, dyslexic sample. The study used a dyslexic experimental group that was matched with a control group for age, sex and socioeconomic status. The study investigated the difference of satisfaction with life, positive and/ or negative affect on mood, self‐esteem and personality, between a dyslexic and a non‐dyslexic population and if there was a difference between gender and dyslexia for these factors. The results showed the two groups are similar in response to satisfaction with life positive and negative affect, self‐esteem and three of the five facets of personality measured. There was a significant difference between the two groups for extroversion and emotional stability. The findings from the current study supports that dyslexics' experience more extroversion and emotional stability as facets in their personality.

The diagnosis of developmental dyslexia (DD) is reliant on a discrepancy between intellectual functioning and reading achievement. Discrepancy-based formulae have frequently been employed to establish the significance of the difference between ‘intelligence’ and ‘actual’ reading achievement. These formulae, however, often fail to take into consideration test reliability and the error associated with a single test score. This paper provides an illustration of the potential effects that test reliability and measurement error can have on the diagnosis of dyslexia, with particular reference to discrepancy models. The roles of reliability and standard error of measurement (SEM) in classic test theory are also briefly reviewed. This is followed by illustrations of how SEM and test reliability can aid with the interpretation of a simple discrepancybased formula of DD. It is proposed that a lack of consideration of test theory in the use of discrepancy-based models of DD can lead to misdiagnosis (both false positives and false negatives). Further, misdiagnosis in research samples affects reproducibility and generalizability of findings. This in turn, may explain current inconsistencies in research on the perceptual, sensory, and motor correlates of dyslexia.

A statistically significant result, and a non-significant result may differ little, although significance status may tempt an interpretation of difference. Two studies are reported that compared interpretation of such results presented using null hypothesis significance testing (NHST), or confidence intervals (CIs). Authors of articles published in psychology, behavioral neuroscience, and medical journals were asked, via email, to interpret two fictitious studies that found similar results, one statistically significant, and the other non-significant. Responses from 330 authors varied greatly, but interpretation was generally poor, whether results were presented as CIs or using NHST. However, when interpreting CIs respondents who mentioned NHST were 60% likely to conclude, unjustifiably, the two results conflicted, whereas those who interpreted CIs without reference to NHST were 95% likely to conclude, justifiably, the two results were consistent. Findings were generally similar for all three disciplines. An email survey of academic psychologists confirmed that CIs elicit better interpretations if NHST is not invoked. Improved statistical inference can result from encouragement of meta-analytic thinking and use of CIs but, for full benefit, such highly desirable statistical reform requires also that researchers interpret CIs without recourse to NHST.

In the recent literature there has been considerable confusion about the three types of memory: longterm, short-term, and working memory. This chapter strives to reduce that confusion and makes upto- date assessments of these types of memory. Long- and short-term memory could differ in two fundamental ways, with only short-term memory demonstrating (1) temporal decay and (2) chunk capacity limits. Both properties of short-term memory are still controversial but the current literature is rather encouraging regarding the existence of both decay and capacity limits. Working memory has been conceived and defined in three different, slightly discrepant ways: as short-term memory applied to cognitive tasks, as a multi-component system that holds and manipulates information in short-term memory, and as the use of attention to manage short-term memory. Regardless of the definition, there are some measures of memory in the short term that seem routine and do not correlate well with cognitive aptitudes and other measures (those usually identified with the term “working memory”) that seem more attention demanding and do correlate well with these aptitudes.

What factors regarding partnership/collaboration on a statement of AT (assistive technology) need result in students obtaining AT that they use and are satisfied in using? This is one of the questions posited in a study, which investigated both quantitatively and qualitatively the impact of assistive technology on quality of life, self-esteem and satisfaction of AT use of students with disabilities. A mixed methods approach was used to gather data from 45 students with disabilities in their final year of second level education. Following data analysis clear groupings emerged signifying key characteristics which defined novice to power users of AT in education.

Replication is fundamental to science, so statistical analysis should give information about replication. Because p values dominate statistical analysis in psychology, it is important to ask what p says about replication. The answer to this question is ‘‘Surprisingly little.’’ In one simulation of 25 repetitions of a typical experiment, p varied from < .001 to .76, thus illustrating that p is a very unreliable measure. This article shows that, if an initial experiment results in two-tailed p 5 .05, there is an 80% chance the one-tailed p value from a replication will fall in the interval (.00008, .44), a 10% chance that p < .00008, and fully a 10% chance that p > .44. Remarkably, the interval—termed a p interval—is this wide however large the sample size. p is so unreliable and gives such dramatically vague information that it is a poor basis for inference. Confidence intervals, however, give much better information about replication. Researchers should minimize the role of p by using confidence intervals and modelfitting techniques and by adopting meta-analytic thinking.

A Personal Learning Environment or PLE is a potentially promising pedagogical approach for both integrating  formal and informal learning using social media and supporting student self-regulated learning in  higher education contexts. The purpose of this paper is to (a) review research that support this claim,  (b) conceptualize the connection between PLE, social media, and self-regulated learning, and (c) provide a  three-level pedagogical framework for using social media to create PLEs that support student self-regulated  learning. Implications for future research in this area are provided.

Although dyslexia was of. cially recognised as a disability in the 1995  Disability Discrimination Act, more widespread awareness of hidden disabilities has often  been and remains problematic. Comparatively little has been written about the experiences  of dyslexic adults; this paper aims to demonstrate that the non-recognition of dyslexia has  been inherently disabling for one group of adult learners who participated in focus group  research after attending a cycle of evening classes provided for adult dyslexic students. The  concept of recognition is analysed in detail in a number of ways: the of. cial recognition or  ‘diagnosis’ of dyslexia and the consequences of labelling in primary and secondary education;  the effects of non-recognition; recognition of dyslexia in wider society and the media;  and, . nally, the importance to them of recognition and understanding in their personal  contexts.

The changes that have occurred in accepted approaches to teaching and learning in recent years have been underpinned by shifts in psychological and pedagogical theory, cumlinating in moves towards a constructive view of learning. This paper looks at the consequences of these theoretical shifts for Computer Assisted Learning (CAL)/
Moshman has identified three interpretations of constructivism: endogenous constructivism which emphasises learner exploration, exogenous constructivism which recognizes the role of direct instruction but with an emphasis on learners actively constructing their own knowledge representations and dialectical constructivism which emphasizes the role of interaction between learners, their peers and teachers. This classification scheme provides a framework for looking at the various construcitivst approaches to CAL.
For example, constructivist CAL materials that draw on the endogenous view include hypermedia environments, stimulations and microworlds. Materials that draw on the exogenous view include learner controlled tutorials, cognitive tools and practice modules. Lastly, materials that draw on the dialectical view include Computer Supported Collaborative Learning (CSL) tools and support (or scaffolding) tools

There is a large body of empirical research on self-esteem, locus of control and academic achievement and how these factors affect a student's academic achievement. Study is based on the idea that self-esteem and locus control very likely to affect the academic achievement of adolescents. The aim of the present study was to study the role of self-esteem and locus of control on academic achievement of adolescents. Considering this view the data was collected from 120 adolescents from both the sexes. Self-esteem scale and locus of control scale were used to measure academic achievement. 2X2 ANOVA was used for statistical analysis of data. It was found that self-esteem and locus of control both have significant effect on the academic achievement of adolescents.

This article uses definitions provided by Cronbach in his seminal paper for coefficient alpha to show the concepts of reliability, dimensionality and internal consistency are distinct but interrelated. The article begins with a critique of the definition of reliability and then explores mathematical properties of Cronbach's alpha. Internal consistency and dimensionality are then discussed as defined by Cronbach. Next, functional relationships are given that relate reliability, internal consistency and dimensionality. The article ends with a demonstration of the utility of these concepts as defined. It is recommended that reliability, internal consistency and dimensionality each be quanitifed with separate indicies, but that their interrelatedness be recognized. High levels of unidimensionality and internal consistency are not necessary for reliability as measured by alpha, nor, more importantly, for interpretability of test scores.

This paper draws from our experiences of an EU Life Long Learning Programme Project: GATE Understanding Dyslexia Phenomena Between Pre-Primary And Primary (2009–2011) to discuss different conceptual positions concerning dyslexia. It compares medical notions of dyslexia with perspectives from childhood and disability studies to question the ways in which we encourage children, parents and professionals to understand dyslexia in educational settings. In so doing, it highlights a contrast between medical literature, social model perspectives and practical approaches among the contrasting work contexts of the partners of the GATE project. The paper indicates that the GATE partners found there was a lack of clarity concerning theory and policy on dyslexia across their countries. The paper compares different practices concerning dyslexia in Bulgaria, Spain, Italy, Turkey and Scotland and concludes there is a need to balance out impairment-specific approaches with those that are based on more political notions of inclusion, community and relationship-building.

To what extent does the number of response categories in a Likert-type scale influence the resultant data ? Surprisingly little attention has been paid to the issue of whether the response category format has any influence on data characteristics such as the mean, coefficient of variation, skewness and kurtosis. This issue is important for several reasons. The first is that decisions are made based on outcomes such as the mean score. For example, marketing organizations and research providers use Likert type scales to measure constructs such as customer satisfaction. In this situation a higher score is better. Could the score have been comparatively better if a different scale format had been used ? There is an absence of evidence on this issue. The second reason is that scale formats that are used in on-going market research projects such as tracking studies occasionally change. Can the old results be re-scaled or transformed to be comparable to data from a new scale format ? Again, little is known about this. The third reason concerns data characteristics such as variation about the mean, skewness and kurtosis. Analysis tools such as regression are often used on data of this type to explain the variation in certain variables. If there is little variance in the data, this is harder to do. How does scale format affect these characteristics ? The answers would be useful to both market researchers as well as academics. A literature review found that little work has been done on this issue. Therefore, this study set out to investigate the impact of scale format on data characteristics. It examined how using Likert-type scales with varying numbers of response categories affects the resultant data in terms of mean scores, and measures of dispersion and shape. Three groups of respondents were administered a series of eight questions (group n's = 300, 250,185). Respondents were randomly selected members of the general public. A different scale format was administered to each group – either a fivepoint, seven-point or ten-point scale. The surveys were conducted by a professional market research organisation via telephone interview. Data characteristics of mean score, standard deviation, skewness and kurtosis were analysed according to scale format. The five and seven-point scales were re-scaled to a comparable mean score out of ten. The study found that the five and seven-point scales produced the same mean score as each other, once they were re-scaled. However the ten-point format tended to produce slightly lower relative means than either the 5 or 7-point scales (after the latter were re-scaled). The overall mean score of the eight questions was 0.3 scale points lower for the 10-point format compared to the 5 and 7-point format. This difference was statistically significant at p=0.04. In terms of the other data characteristics, there was very little difference among the scale formats in terms of variation about the mean, skewness or kurtosis. Therefore each of the three formats appears comparable for the type of research project in which multiple-item scales are analyzed with multivariate statistical methods. This study is also 'good news' for research departments or agencies who ponder whether changing scale format will destroy the comparability of historical data. Five and seven-point scales can easily be re-scaled with the resultant data being quite comparable. In the case of comparing five or seven-point data to 10-point data, a straightforward re-scaling and arithmetic adjustment easily facilitates the comparison. Finally, it appears that indicators of customer sentiment – such as satisfaction surveys – may be partially dependent on the choice of scale format. A five or seven-point scale is likely to produce slightly higher mean scores relative to the highest possible attainable score, compared to that produced from a ten-point scale.

The Academic Procrastination Questionnaire, measuring procrastination and six possible patterns underlying it, was completed by 248 university students plus 17 counselling clients who sought help for procrastination. Thirty-two percent of the general sample were severe procrastinators, with the most common patterns being Socially-focused and Optimistic, or being Ambivalent and Independent-minded. The most common patterns for clients involved Evaluation Anxiety or being Discouraged/Depressed, or Dependent. However, all six patterns occurred for some students in each sample. The results are discussed as supporting individualized assessment and solutions for academic procrastination.

The main purpose of this study is to unravel the impact of the Big Five personality factors on academic performance.  We propose a theoretical model with conditional indirect effects of the Big Five personality factors  on academic performance through their impact upon academic motivation. To clarify the mixed results of  previous studies concerning the impact of neuroticism, we suggest a moderating role of self-efficacy. Hierarchical,  moderated mediation and mediated moderation regression analyses were performed on longitudinal  data collected from 375 students of a University college in Belgium. The findings revealed a positive indirect  effect of neuroticism on academic performance at higher levels of self-efficacy, complemented by a positive  direct effect of neuroticism at lower levels of self-efficacy. Finally, this study showed that conscientiousness  positively affected academic performance indirectly through academic motivation, but also that it is a condition  for the indirect impact of extraversion, neuroticism, and conscientiousness.

The aims of this research were: (1) Interdependence between academic confidence with approach to  learning and achievement, by gender; (2) Model the relationship between the confidence academic,  approach to learning and academic outcome. Data from 2429 psychology undergraduate students from  three universities (two in Spain and one in the UK) was analysed using parametric tests of difference  and structural equation modelling. Working with the ABC scale, the revised study process questionnaire  two factor (R-SPQ-2) scale and academic performance measured by grade point average (GPA). The  results showed that male students had higher levels of verbalising confidence. The female students  showed higher confidence in studying and attendance and a lower surface approach to learning. Higher  confidence was associated with a deep approach to learning but not directly with GPA scores. The  implications are discussed.

Introduction.
The 3P and DEDEPRO Models predict interactive relationships among presage, process, and product variables through teaching and learning of self-regulation. The DEDEPRO Model has established different possibilities for interaction between student characteristics of self-regulation and external characteristics of regulatory teaching. The aim of this investigation is empirical validate the model of four interaction types.
Method.
The sample included 765 undergraduate students from two universities in the south of Spain. Using an ex post-facto design, the date collection was obtained from three validated instruments: Self-regulation scale (SRQ), the Scales for Assessment of the Teaching-Learning Process (ATLP-S) and the Academic Behaviour Confidence (ABC) scales at two different points in time. Academic performance was evaluated through the final grade for each subject area. Multivariate Analyses were used and from Structural Equation Modelling was used to explore possible causal relationships. Results. Results offer evidence for a consistent, four-fold interaction typology and empirical causal model, thus giving significant confirmation of the proposed rational model. As predicted, the most significant of these interactions was the student's self-regulation with regulatory instruction.
Conclusion. The best type of interaction is high personal self-regulation with a highly regulated teaching-learning process, yielding high performance and academic confidence.

Efforts to ensure that graduates leave university with the skills needed for  career wide lifelong learning have been the focus of much activity at  universities both nationally and internationally for over a decade. In this  paper, we describe three projects aimed at developing student skills as part of  the discipline content in line with current theory and research. Projects  required instructors to reflect on their current practice and, where necessary,  to change learning environments from content to process oriented and from  teacher to student centred, and to align learning outcomes, learning activities  and assessment tasks. We describe each project and, using models of change  management and the findings from investigations of teaching and learning  innovations in Higher Education, identify the design features that supported  or constrained each project’s success. Based on the lessons learned from  these three projects and those of others reported in the literature, we make  recommendations for the design of projects that will have a good chance of  success in creating effective learning environments that support skill  development.

The chances that have occurred in accepted approaches to teaching and learning in recent years have been underpinned by shifts in psychological and pedagogical theory, culminating in moves towards a constructivist view of learning. This paper looks at the consequences of these theoretical shifts for Computer Aided Learning.
Moshman has identified three interpretations of constructivism: endogenous constructivism which emphasises learner exploration; exogenous constructivism which recognizes the role of direct instruction but with an emphasis on learners actively constructing their own knowledge representations and dialectical constructivism which emphasised the role interaction between learners, their peers and teachers…

Colored overlays, one type of tinted filter, are plastic reading sheets tinted with color and placed over text to eliminate or alleviate a wide range of reading difficulties such as low reading rate, accuracy, and comprehension. The effects of colored overlays on reading problems associated with dyslexia were investigated in this study via a multielement design. Reading fluency was assessed when participants read with and without colored overlays. Undifferentiated responding, or decreased accuracy, resulted across three participants, suggesting that colored overlays were ineffective and potentially detrimental to participants' reading abilities. As a result, empirically validated reading techniques were implemented across individuals. These findings are discussed and recommendations are made in regards to the use of research-based reading interventions.

How people learn chunks or associations between adjacent items in sequences was modelled. Two previously successful models of how people learn artificial grammars were contrasted: the CCN, a network version of the competitive chunker of Servan-Schreiber and Anderson [J. Exp. Psychol.: Learn. Mem. Cogn. 16 (1990) 592], which produces local and compositionally-structured chunk representations acquired incrementally; and the simple recurrent network (SRN) of Elman [Cogn. Sci. 14 (1990) 179], which acquires distributed representations through error correction. The models’ susceptibility to two types of interference was determined: prediction conflicts, in which a given letter can predict two other letters that appear next with an unequal frequency; and retroactive interference, in which the prediction made by a letter changes in the second half of training. The predictions of the models were determined by exploring parameter space and seeing howdensely different regions of the space of possible experimental outcomes were populated by model outcomes. For both types of interference, human data fell squarely in regions characteristic of CCN performance but not characteristic of SRN performance.

Based on a multidimensional definition of academic expectations (AEs), the authors examine students' AE component scores across countries and genders. Two samples (343 Portuguese and 358 Spanish students) completed the Academic Perceptions Questionnaire (APQ) six months after enrolling in their universities. Factorial invariance was ensured across countries and genders, allowing us to study AEs using the APQ for both genders and in both countries. No significant differences in factor means were found between countries, indicating that AEs are not an obstacle to student mobility. Gender differences were found in some AE factor means, Training for employment, Personal and social development, Student mobility, Political engagement and citizenship, and Social pressure, with males exhibiting higher scores. Because these differences are not supported by most literature in this domain, further studies are needed to clarify the causes of women's lower expectations and, therefore, risk of adaptation difficulties.

The purpose of the present study was to analyse the relationship between approaches to learning (deep, strategic, and surface), cognitive style, motives, and academic achievement. A sample of 192 undergraduate psychology students with a mean age of 21.7 years participated. Motives and styles were related to the three approaches to learning in theoretically meaningful ways. Moreover, approaches to learning were found to predict academic achievement, while styles and motives only had indirect effects on achievement. Among the approaches to learning, the deep approach unexpectedly did not predict achievement, while the surface and strategic approaches as expected significantly predicted achievement.

Dyslexia accounts for the largest proportion of UK higher education students identifying themselves as disabled, and recent widening participation initiatives mean that numbers are likely to rise. Static media (slides, books, handouts) cannot express the temporal aspects of computer programming concepts, and require narratives, which are difficult to follow, especially for dyslexic students. Code-memory diagrams show changes to memory that individual instructions make over time, and can facilitate deeper and quicker understanding. However, they are error prone and time consuming. An animation software tool could address this. Furthermore, inclusive design would be essential to ensure accessibility to the widest range of students. This paper focuses on inclusive design aspects of such a tool. The software helped enhance learning for all students, but dyslexic students to a greater degree. It showed that disabled people can identify subtle hidden aspects of human activity, that the target user population is unable to articulate.

Making the transition to higher education can present considerable challenges to learners, and these challenges are evident in the development of effective study, learning and meta-cognitive competencies. The development of such competencies represents an integral element of a more satisfying and effective learning experience for both learners and tutors. In 2005, UCD School of Business introduced two accredited academic skills modules that are embedded in the programme of study being undertaken. These programme-specific modules aim to help learners identify and develop the key study skills, habits and practices that contribute to a more effective learning experience. Through workshops, exercises, coursework and formative feedback, learners put into practice academic skills, such as note-taking, essay writing and reflective writing. While this paper is based upon the experience at UCD School of Business, the case is located within the broader discussion of academic skills development. Little has been written about such provision in the Irish context but the paper acknowledges an increase in evidence of such developments. Thus, the literature base regarding skills development and provision in the UK has been useful.

A model for an inclusive approach to the identification of challenges to blended learning as a means to identify educational accessibility issues is presented. By focusing on both the learner and teacher perspectives, the model encompasses a broad range of factors, including learner characteristics, learning and teaching environments, interactions and activities. The proposed model provides a starting point for the identification of challenges to learning from a socio-cultural perspective rather than a medical or rehabilitation perspective. This holistic perspective is key to moving ‘thinking’ towards a more inclusive learning approach that embraces the needs of all learners, regardless of a defined disability.

Purpose. To identify the types and mix of technology (hardware and software) provided to post-secondary students with dyslexia under the UK’s Disabled Student Allowance (DSA), and to determine the students’ satisfaction with, and use of, the equipment provided and to examine their experiences with training.
Method. A telephone survey of 455 students with dyslexia who had received technology under the DSA from one equipment supplier was conducted over in the period September to December 2005. The survey obtained a mixture of quantitative data (responses to binary questions and selections from a five-point rating scale) and qualitative data (participants identifying positive and negative experiences with technology). In addition, the equipment supplier’s database was used to determine the technology supplied to each of the participants.
Result. Technology provision is variable between students. The majority of students receive a recording device, text-tospeech software and concept mapping tools in addition to a standard computer system. Ninety percent of participants are satisfied or very satisfied with the hardware and the software that they receive. A total of 48.6% of participants received training, with 86.3% of those expressing satisfaction with the training they received. Of those that were offered training but elected not to receive it, the majority did so because they felt confident about their IT skills.
Conclusions. Students express satisfaction not only with the computer systems that they receive but also with the specialpurpose software provided to support their studies. Significan

Levels of student drop out have increased in the UK over recent years causing considerable concern to British universities, as they depend on students for funding. Furthermore, student attrition is of concern to the government, as policy is now aimed at high university completion rates. Research on student drop out is fairly extensive, but investigators often look at the roles of certain factors in predicting drop out, while neglecting others that have been studied elsewhere. This study is the first to examine a large proportion of the proposed predictors of student drop out at once, in terms of how they relate to measures of drop out intention. Participants studying psychology, law, English literature and biology from all years of study completed an on-line questionnaire. This measured the predictive variables of current and past residence, year of study, alcohol use/attitude, confidence in course choice, student self-esteem, academic and social integration in university, social integration outside university, social support, academic self-confidence, goal and institutional commitment, and the outcome variables of how much they have thought about changing course, their perceived likelihood of degree completion, and the likelihood of returning to university/college if leaving their present course. It was found that thinking about changing subject was significantly predicted by low academic integration, belief that course choice was not well informed, distance from Glasgow before starting university, and low social integration outside university. Perceived likelihood of degree completion was significantly predicted by year of study, goal commitment, low extraversion, belief that course choice was well informed, low conscientiousness, student self-esteem and a lack of understanding of the work-grade link. Finally, perceived likelihood of returning to university/college if leaving present course was significantly predicted by year of study, distance from Glasgow before starting university, openness, low understanding of the work-grade link, goal commitment, low extraversion, and social integration within university. It was also found that psychology students did not differ significantly from students who were not studying psychology in personality measures, thinking about changing subject, or intending to return to university if they left their current course, though they did consider degree completion significantly more likely. It appears that academic and goal related concerns influence students in making drop out decisions more than do social concerns. The findings are discussed in relation to the life-span theory of control (Heckhausen & Tomasik, 2002) and other recent theories on drop out, and suggestions for future research are proposed.

As I read the latest issue of the Learning Disability Quarterly, I was appreciative of the essay by King-Sears (2009) highlighting the value of universal design for learning (UDL) to the learning disability community. The allure of UDL has captured the imagination of many educators and policy makers. The recent reauthorization of the Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008 (Public Law 110-315, Section 202, I, A), for example, requires colleges of education that receive federal funding for teacher quality partnership grants to report on the outcomes of UDL training within their preservice preparation programs. King-Sears' efforts to encourage the learning disability community to dialogue about UDL are noteworthy and timely. Given that the King-Sears piece was featured as a "Commentary" article designed to spark conversation about contemporary topics, I would like to take this opportunity to extend the conversation and highlight nuances associated with translating UDL theory into practice. As someone who has been involved in helping individual teachers as well as schools, states, provinces, and policy makers translate UDL theory into practice, I am concerned about the ability of the profession to implement a construct that it cannot define..

This contribution explores the relationship between teacher-centred and student-centred learning environments from a student’s perspective. Three different views with respect to this relationship can be retrieved. The balance view suggests that the more teacher-centred a learning environment is, the less student-centred it is and vice versa. The transactional view stresses the continuous renegotiation of teacher- and student-roles. The independent view argues that teacher- and studentcentredness are independent features of learning environments. Results from three survey studies of higher education students’ conceptions of quality education are discussed. While the practiceoriented literature regularly seems to adopt a balance view, factor analyses did not reveal evidence for the balance view in any of these studies. In students’ minds student-centredness and teachercentredness seem to be mutually reinforcing features of high quality education. From a curricular point of view, and especially with regard to teacher training, the results warrant to argue for the development of so-called powerful learning environments rather than for the transition from teacher-centred towards student-centred learning environments.

In this paper we argue that attempts to distinguish between categories of 'dyslexia' and 'poor reader' or 'reading disabled' are scientifically unsupportable, arbitrary and thus potentially discriminatory. We do not seek to veto scientific curiosity in examining underlying factors in reading disability, for seeking greater understanding of the relationship between visual symbols and spoken language is crucial. However, while stressing the potential of genetics and neuroscience for guiding assessment and educational practice at some stage in the future, we argue that there is a mistaken belief that current knowledge in these fields is sufficient to justify a category of dyslexia as a subset of those who encounter reading difficulties. The implications of this debate for large-scale intervention are outlined.

Meares-Irlen Syndrome (MIS) is characterised by symptoms of visual stress and visual perceptual distortions that are alleviated by using individually prescribed coloured filters. Coloured overlays (sheets of transparent plastic that are placed upon the page) are used to screen for the condition. MIS is diagnosed on the basis of either the sustained voluntary use of an overlay or an immediate improvement (typically of more than 5%) on the Wilkins Rate of Reading Test (WRRT). Various studies are reviewed suggesting a prevalence of 20–34% using these criteria. Stricter criteria give a lower prevalence: for example, 5% of the population read more than 25% faster with an overlay. It has been alleged that MIS is more common in dyslexia, but this has not been systematically investigated. We compared a group of 32 dyslexic with 32 control children aged 7–12 years, matched for age, gender and socioeconomic background. Participants were tested with Intuitive Overlays, and those demonstrating a preference had their rate of reading tested using the WRRT with and without their preferred overlay. Both groups read faster with the overlay, and more so in the dyslexic group. ANOVA revealed no significant effect of group, but a significant improvement in WRRT with overlay ( p50.009) and a significant interaction between group and overlay ( p50.031). We found a similar prevalence of MIS in the general population to that in previous studies and a prevalence in the dyslexic group that was a little higher (odds ratio for 45% criterion: 2.6, 95% confidence limit 0.9–7.3). The difference in prevalence in the two groups did not reach statistical significance. We conclude that MIS is prevalent in the general population and possibly a little more common in dyslexia. Children with dyslexia seem to benefit more from coloured overlays than non-dyslexic children. MIS and dyslexia are separate entities and are detected and treated in different ways. If a child has both problems then they are likely to be markedly disadvantaged and they should receive prompt treatments appropriate to the two conditions. It is recommended that education professionals as well as eye-care professionals are alert to the symptoms of MIS and that children are screened for this condition, as well as for other visual anomalies.

Aim. To introduce how nursing students discursively construct their dyslexic identities.
Background. Identity mediates many important facets of a student’s scholarly journey and the availability and use of discourses play a critical part in their ongoing construction.
Design. A discourse-based design was used to examine the language employed by students in constructing their dyslexic identities.
Methods. Using narrative methods, 12 student nurses with dyslexia from two higher education institutions in the Republic of Ireland were interviewed during the period February–July 2012. Discourse analysis of interviews entailed a twostage approach: leading identity analysis followed by thematic analysis.
Results. Discourses used by students to construct their dyslexic identity correspond with positions on an ‘Embracer, Passive Engager and Resister’ continuum heuristic. The majority of students rejected any reference to using medical or disabled discourses and instead drew on contemporary language in constructing their dyslexic identity. Nine of the 12 students did not disclose their dyslexic identity in practice settings and drew on not being understood to support this position. In addition, a discourse linking ‘being stupid’ with dyslexia was pervasive in most student narratives and evolved from historical as well as more recent interactions in nurse education.
Conclusion. This study indicates variation in how students discursively construct their dyslexic identities, which, in turn, has an impact on disclosure behaviours. Policy leaders must continue to be mindful of wider sociocultural and individualized understandings of dyslexic identities to enhance inclusion prerogatives.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to introduce a selection of papers from the 10th Annual European Learning Styles Information Network Conference.
Design/methodology/approach – The paper looks at problems, developments in the application of style and potential styles for practice in the area of cognitive and learning styles in education and training practice, with a brief look at the papers within this issue.
Findings – The paper finds that each of the papers presented here raises a number of pertinent issues which are significant in the ongoing debate regarding the value of cognitive and learning styles in education and training practice. These are presented in the form of ten key messages.
Originality/value – The paper presents a useful insight into the problems, politicisation and potential of learning styles in education and training.

The study lookedatwhether teaching to the preferred learning styles of students with dyslexia can improve their performance and attainment. Exley worked with a sample of seven students, four boys and three girls in Years 7 and 8 in her school. Using both qualitative and quantitative methods she indicates that five of the seven students made significant progress in both spelling and number work. All the students, in interviews, reported improved feelings about and attitudes towards their school work.

Understanding the interrelations among students’ cognitive, emotional, motivational, and volitional processes is an emergening focus in educational psychology. A dynamical, component systems theory of emotions is presented as a promising framework to further unravel these complex interrelations. This framework considers emotions to be a process that is composed of cognitive, neurophysiological, motor expression, and motivational processes—as well as feelings—that mutually regulate each other over time and within a particular context. This comprehensive view of emotions provides a more complete understanding of the social and dynamical nature of emotions and the integration of emotions within learning processes. Using a dynamical, component systems view of emotional processes, interrelated with learning processes, involves a shift in research methodologies and instruments to adequately investigate the role(s) of emotions within learning contexts. But more importantly, it may provide a powerful framework that can clearly show teachers and parents the role(s) that emotions play in students’ acquisition of knowledge and skills.