Schooling the 'other' : the representation of gender and national identities in Pakistani curriculum texts

Until relatively recently, educational research in developing countries has focused mainly on issues of access for addressing gender inequalities in education. This paper argues that challenging patriarchal relations in schooling and education requires moving beyond access to understanding the ways the curriculum acts as a set of discursive practices which position girls and boys unequally and differently constitute them as gendered and nationalised/ist subjects. Using curriculum texts from Pakistan, the paper explores how gender and national identities intersect in a dynamic way in the processes of schooling. The paper illustrates the ideological power of both curriculum and school experiences in fashioning the reciprocal performance and construction of gender and national identities in Pakistan. It contends that in its current form, education is a means of maintaining, reproducing and reinforcing the gender hierarchies that characterise Pakistan

The role of numeracy skills in graduate employability

Purpose – The purpose of this article is to explore the role and importance of numeracy skills in graduate recruitment within a diversity of employment sectors. Design/methodology/approach – The results of a mixed-methods study, involving three online surveys (including an employer survey), student focus group sessions and interviews with tutors, are presented. Findings – The results reveal the importance that employers attach to graduates’ numeracy skills and the extent to which employers use numeracy tests in graduate recruitment. They thus highlight the potential for poor numeracy skills to limit any graduate's acquisition of employment, irrespective of their degree subject; especially since numeracy tests are used predominantly in recruitment to the types of jobs commensurate with graduates’ career aspirations and within sectors that attract graduates from across the diversity of academic disciplines, including the arts and humanities. Research limitations/implications – Since participants were self-selecting any conclusions and inferences relate to the samples and may or may not be generalisable to wider target populations. Practical implications – The paper highlights what actions are necessary to enhance undergraduates’ numeracy skills in the context of graduate employability. Social implications – The vulnerability of particular groups of students (e.g. females, those not provided with any opportunities to practise or further develop their numeracy skills whilst in higher education, those with no (or low) pre-university mathematics qualifications, and mature students) is highlighted. Originality/value – The article is timely in view of national policy to extend the graduate employability performance indicators within quality assurance measures for UK higher education

Quantum Tunneling and Scattering of a Composite Object: Revisited and Reassessed

This work presents an extensive exploration of scattering and tunneling involving composite objects with intrinsic degrees of freedom. We aim at exact solutions to such scattering problems. Along this path we demonstrate solution to model Hamiltonians, and develop different techniques for addressing these complex reaction-physics problems, discuss their applicability, and investigate the relevant convergence issues. As examples, we study the scattering of a two-constituent deuteron-like systems either with an infinite set of intrinsic bound states or with a continuum of states that allows for breakup. We show that the internal degrees of freedom of the projectile and its virtual excitation in the course of reactions play an important role in shaping the S-matrix and related observables, giving rise to enhanced or reduced tunneling in various situations.Comment: 21 pages, 25 figure

Every student counts: promoting numeracy and enhancing employability

This three-year project investigated factors that influence the development of undergraduates’ numeracy skills, with a view to identifying ways to improve them and thereby enhance student employability. Its aims and objectives were to ascertain: the generic numeracy skills in which employers expect their graduate recruits to be competent and the extent to which employers are using numeracy tests as part of graduate recruitment processes; the numeracy skills developed within a diversity of academic disciplines; the prevalence of factors that influence undergraduates’ development of their numeracy skills; how the development of numeracy skills might be better supported within undergraduate curricula; and the extra-curricular support necessary to enhance undergraduates’ numeracy skills

A Comparative Study of the Impact of G-Stack Probes on Various Affymetrix GeneChips of Mammalia

We have previously discovered that probes containing runs of four or more contiguous guanines are not reliable for measuring gene expression in the Human HG_U133A Affymetrix GeneChip data. These probes are not correlated with other members of their probe set, but they are correlated with each other. We now extend our analysis to different3′GeneChip designs of mouse, rat, and human. We find that, in all these chip designs, the G-stack probes (probes with a run of exactly four consecutive guanines) are correlated highly with each other, indicating that such probes are not reliable measures of gene expression in mammalian studies. Furthermore, there is no specific position of G-stack where the correlation is highest in all the chips. We also find that the latest designs of rat and mouse chips have significantly fewer G-stack probes compared to their predecessors, whereas there has not been a similar reduction in G-stack density across the changes in human chips. Moreover, we find significant changes in RMA values (after removing G-stack probes) as the number of G-stack probes increases.</jats:p

Pedagogy, curriculum, teaching practices and teacher education in developing countries

This rigorous literature review focused on pedagogy, curriculum, teaching practices and teacher education in developing countries. It aimed to: 1. review existing evidence on the review topic to inform programme design and policy making undertaken by the DFID, other agencies and researchers 2. identify critical evidence gaps to guide the development of future research programme

Identification of rice blast disease-suppressing bacterial strains from the rhizosphere of rice grown in Pakistan.

Sixteen bacterial strains isolated from the roots and rhizosphere of rice plants growing in saline and non-saline soils from the Shorkot area of Pakistan were tested for their ability to promote plant growth and reduce the incidence of rice blast disease. When applied to the soil, many of the isolated rhizobacterial strains increased seedling growth and/or suppressed rice blast disease in greenhouse-grown plants of the cultivars Super Basmati and Azucena, but each cultivar responded to different subsets of the bacteria. In the cv Super Basmati, increased blast resistance was correlated with the production of siderophores by the rhizobacteria. Several strains inhibited the growth of the causative agent of rice blast disease, the fungal pathogen Magnaporthe grisea, in an in vitro dual culture assay. Direct bioantagonism was correlated with disease resistance in Super Basmati, but not in Azucena, and direct antagonism as a cause for the reduced disease incidence is also unlikely since no epiphytic colonisation of leaves was detected. Rhizosphere colonisation by the bacteria in plants grown in sterile sand was correlated with disease resistance in Super Basmati, but not in Azucena. As well as the differences in strains that protected each cv against blast disease, we also found that there were differences in the ability of some strains to protect plants against blast depending on soil type. Hence, there are complex interactions between rhizobacteria and rice plants with respect to biocontrol of rice blast disease, dependent upon both rice cv and soil type. The identity of strains that promoted high levels of disease protection, including three that performed well across all plant cultivars and growth conditions, was determined by 16S rRNA gene sequencing

Promotion Incentives in the Public Sector: Evidence from Chinese Schools

We provide evidence that promotion incentives influence the effort of public employees by studying China's system of promotions for teachers. Predictions from a tournament model of promotion are tested using retrospective panel data on primary and middle school teachers. Consistent with theory, high wage increases for promotion are associated with better performance, teachers increase effort in years leading up to promotion eligibility, and reduce effort if they are repeatedly passed over for promotion. Evaluation scores are positively associated with teacher time use and with student test scores, diminishing concerns that evaluations are manipulated