Challenging the 'New Professionalism': from managerialism to pedagogy?

In recent years there have been changes made to the conceptualisation of continuing professional development for teachers in both the Scottish and English systems of education. These changes have been instigated by successive UK governments (and more recently, by the Scottish Executive), together with the General teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS) and the General Teaching Council for England (GTCE). This paper argues that these changes have not provided a clear rationale for CPD, but instead have introduced tensions between the concept of teacher education and that of training. The need for a less confused understanding of CPD and its purposes is underlined, as is the need for school based approaches to continuing teacher education. Arguably, teacher education must move from technicist emphases to a model which integrates the social processes of change within society and schools with the individual development and empowerment of teachers

Review of Survey activities 2012: A Baltic Ice Lake lowstand of latest Allerød age in the Arkona Basin, southern Baltic Sea

After the last deglaciation, the Baltic Sea underwent a complex salinity history and dynamic shore-level development with several lacustrine and marine stages: the Baltic Ice Lake, the Yoldia Sea, the Ancylus Lake and the Littorina Sea (Björck 1995). In connection with shallow seismic profiling in the south-western Baltic Sea, two marked and widespread erosional unconformities have been identified (Jensen et al. 1997, 1999; Lemke et al. 1998; Larsen 2004). The older unconformity occurs within sediments deposited in the Baltic Ice Lake, whereas the younger one separates Baltic Ice Lake sediments from Holocene lake and mire deposits. The latter unconformity is dated to the transition between the Younger Dryas and the Holocene, corresponding to c. 11.7 cal. ka BP and formed due to a sudden drop in the level of the icedammed Baltic Ice Lake of around 25 m, caused by ice recession from Mt. Billingen in south central Sweden

Miscanthus: Inter- and Intraspecific Genome Size Variation Among M. × Giganteus, M. Sinensis, M. Sacchariflorus Accessions

Since M. sinensis Anderss., M. sacchariflorus (Maxim.) Hack. and M. ×giganteus J.M.Greef & Deuter ex Hodk. and Renvoize have considerably the highest potential for biomass production among Miscanthus Anderss. species, there is an urgent need to broaden the knowledge about cytological characteristics required for their improvement. In this study our objectives were to assess the genome size variation among eighteen Miscanthus accessions, as well as estimation of the monoploid genome size (2C and Cx) of the M. sinensis cultivars, which have not been analyzed yet. The characterization of three Miscanthus species was performed with the use of flow cytometry and analysis of the stomatal length. The triploid (2n = 3x = 57) M. sinensis 'Goliath' and M. ×giganteus clones possessed the highest 2C DNA content (8.34 pg and 7.43 pg, respectively). The intermediate 2C-values were found in the nuclei of the diploid (2n = 2x = 38) M. sinensis accessions (5.52–5.72 pg), whereas they were the lowest in the diploid (2n = 2x = 38) M. sacchariflorus ecotypes (4.58–4.59 pg). The presented study revealed interspecific variation of nuclear DNA content (P<0.01) and therefore allowed for recognition of particular taxa, inter- and intraspecific hybrids and prediction of potential parental components. Moreover, intraspecific genome size variation (P<0.01) was observed in M. sinensis cultivars at 3.62%. The values of the stomatal size obtained for the triploid M. ×giganteus 'Great Britain' (mean 30.70 μm) or 'Canada' (mean 29.67 μm) and diploid M. sinensis 'Graziella' (mean 29.96 μm) did not differ significantly, therefore this parameter is not recommended for ploidy estimation