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In January 2002, the government of Zimbabwe officially declared six official minority languages, namely, Kalanga, Nambya, Shangani, Sotho, Tonga and Venda as languages of instruction and subjects in primary schools in the areas where they are spoken as mother tongues. The government had planned for these languages to be introduced to a grade per year until they could be taught at grade 7 level by 2005 (Secretaryâs Circular Number 1 of 2002). Three of these languages (Venda, Tonga and Kalanga) under the auspices of the Venda, Tonga and Kalanga Association (VETOKA) were pioneers in advocating and lobbying for the introduction of marginalised local languages in education in the early 1980s. However, Kalanga and Venda have remained behind, despite having been the pioneers of this initiative. Long after 2005, only Tonga emerged as the first language to be examined in grade 7 in 2011. In current studies in language planning, policy and management, there have been strong suggestions that bottom-up approaches may be more successful than top-down approaches. Bottom-up approaches are said to be the most promising in terms of community commitment and sustainability (Alexander, 1992; Baldauf, 1994; 2005; 2008; Kaplan and Baldauf, 1997; Webb, 2002; 2009; 2010; Mwaniki, 2004; 2010b; Benson, 2005; Trudell, 2006; Lewis and Trudell, 2008; Liddicoat and Baldauf, 2008; Baldauf, Li & Zhao, 2008; Hatoss, 2008). The delay in the implementation of the 2002 policy development and success story of Tonga raises the questions: âWhy this delay? Why was Tonga first?â This study therefore examines the possible causes for the delay in the implementation of the 2002 policy development and the conditions and factors that led to the success story of Tonga. It is expected that an understanding of these causes could help explain the delay in the implementation of the other three languages and similar initiatives elsewhere. It is also hoped that this study will enhance our understanding of the dynamics of bottom-up approaches to language planning. In evaluating and examining the implementation of the 2002 policy development and conditions and factors that led to the success story of Tonga, I adopted the Language Management Approach (LMA) proposed by Mwaniki (2004). The LMA is used alongside Kaplan & Baldaufâs (1997; 2003) seven areas of policy development for language-in-education policy implementation; the ethnolinguistic vitality model advanced by Giles, Bourhis & Taylor (1977) as well as Webbâs (2010) factors and conditions that determine the success and failure of bottom-up and top-down policies. These three frameworks interrelate and overlap with one another, and also with some of the language management variables, methodologies and strategies. It emerged that the delay in the implementation of the 2002 policy development was due to the failure to secure and deploy the language management variables, methodologies and strategies at an optimal level. The failure to timeously develop the seven areas of policy development for language-in-education policy implementation also accounts for the delay. On the one hand, the Tonga group owes its success to the deployment of some of the language management variables, methodologies and strategies and the development of some of the seven areas of policy development for language-in-education policy implementation. The ethnolinguistic vitality of the three language groups in question and the conditions and factors that determine the success or failure of bottom-up and top-down policies also contributed to the delay in the implementation of the 2002 policy development. The success story of Tonga is as a result of the Tonga groupâs ethnolinguistic vitality and some of the conditions and factors that determine the success and failure of bottom-up and top-down policies.

Clinical reasoning research has concluded that experts use less, but more selective, knowledge in a more efficient way, based on the construction of schema, scripts and other representations of the relation between signs, symptoms and diagnoses, derived from their experience. However, this conclusion does not help Medical Schools to decide which pedagogical strategies should be adopted to foster clinical reasoning in undergraduates. This study aims to investigate how medical students, approach clinical cases and the impact of three types of curriculum upon their clinical reasoning. Two studies were carried out. The first analysed 60 hours of Problem-Based Learning sessions using electronic content analysis and corpus analysis. A second used a cross-sectional approach assessing and comparing students’ clinical reasoning in three different medical schools (Derby, Nottingham and Coimbra)based on a Clinical Reasoning Test (CRT) developed and validated for the purposes of this research. The clinical reasoning test prove to be a valid and reliable tool to assess clinical reasoning. The analysis of the PBL sessions indicated that early contact with clinical cases might favour students’ encapsulation of knowledge. First year students use more words, are more descriptive and make significantly more use of explanations. Second year students are more focused using less words, focusing more on the biomedical sciences aspect of the cases and engaging more in questions. The comparisons between different medical curricula show some differences between groups, at the entry to practice level in favour of the PBL and the integrated curricula. However, at the graduation level only small differences remain between the groups. Clinical exposure has a significant impact in improving students’ clinical reasoning, with differences in exposure time between curricula possibly accounting for such results. Additionally, differences in the strategies used to approach the cases were noted. Students from the traditional curriculum seem to be waiting until all information is displayed to make a decision, while their peers from other curricula seem to be more willing to make decisions based on initial patient’s information. No significant correlations with knowledge about the cases, or confidence on the diagnosis were found; possible reasons for these results will be discussed and implications for curriculum development and future research highlighted.

Background: The volume of empirical literature and national reports with accordance amongst findings suggests there is strong evidence for the proposition that established work-related factors for healthcare professionals may also be strong predictors of stress and associated adverse health outcomes for physiotherapists and occupational therapists employed by the NHS. The extent of published research specific to physiotherapists and occupational therapists is limited. Research targeting therapists is therefore, a prerequisite for improving knowledge and understanding the nature of therapists psychosocial work environment and work-related stress. Research objective: The objective of this research is to investigate the psychosocial work environment and nature of work-related stress of NHS physiotherapists and occupational therapists. And in doing so establish: a) how work-related stress is experienced by physiotherapy and occupational therapy employees in the NHS, and b) how we understand the determinants of stress and structural and social resources that counteract stress, and c) the implications of these for therapists' health. Research design: This programme of research is a multi-site, multi-method (quantitative and qualitative) design. It is composed of three studies each designed to make possible (in part) the overall research objective. The first study is a quantitative self-report survey of psychosocially determined work-related stress amongst NHS physiotherapists and occupational therapists. The second study is a qualitative exploration of therapists' experiences of the physical and psychosocial work environment and personal meanings prescribed to the experience of work-related stress. The third study; designed to shed light on anomalous results and findings from the first two studies, is a quantitative self-report survey of physiotherapy and occupational therapy managers' understanding and management of workplace stress. Results and findings: Study one and two suggest that the clinical psychosocial work environment of therapists is experienced as rewarding. Work-related factors, such as high work-related demands, have the potential to determine stress, but at the time of the research, were not reported to be experienced as stressful. The in-depth interviews revealed that rapid and ongoing organisational change, lack of effective top-down communication, together with issues relating to demands for heightened effectiveness were determinants of stress for NHS therapists interviewed. Results from the study one and findings from study two reveal differences in perceptions and reporting of supportive line management. Study one indicates that therapists' self-report high level of supportive line management, whilst the in-depth interviews (study two) exposed a lack of straightforward, regular, accessible instrumental and emotional line management support. Study three, found that line-managers have some or most of the knowledge required to identify, prevent and tackle stress at work. Importantly, they report an understanding of the critical role of line managers in tackling stress and appropriate line manager behaviours for minimising and managing employee stress. Conclusion: Conceptually integrated results and findings illustrate that whilst satisfied with their clinical role, therapists are experiencing work-related stress as a consequence of organisational aspects of their working environment.

This study examines the experiences of a small number of coaches who work on an exercise referral scheme for children with special health care needs (SHCNs) such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and autistic spectrum disorders (ASD). Children with SHCNs can face significant barriers to involvement with peers in extracurricular physical activity and sports. These barriers arise due to difficulties directly related to a condition, such as immaturity in motor skills, problems with concentration and impulsivity, and because of the social stigma associated with these difficulties.

Summary Background: Caring forms the core of nursing and midwifery. Despite caring being an important emotional aspect of midwifery and nursing, there are general public complaints about uncaring behaviour in midwifery. Therefore, there is a need to explore caring from midwives’ point of view with the hope of identifying solutions and recommendations for midwifery practice. Furthermore, the study aimed to stimulate debate and discussion about the caring behaviour of midwives. Objective: To explore caring during clinical practice as perceived and experienced by midwives. Method: The study was contextual, exploratory and qualitative. The participants were midwives working in state and private hospitals in Tshwane, South Africa where BTech II and III midwifery learners were allocated for work integrated learning (WIL). Data collection was carried out through self-report using a questionnaire and focus group. Questionnaires were distributed to 40 midwives at private and state hospitals in Tshwane. This was followed by two focus group sessions to ensure that data is enriched. The hermeneutic interpretive approach was used to analyse data, and analysis continued until saturation. Results: Themes of caring and uncaring related to patient care and midwives emerged. The findings illustrated that the midwives had excellent theoretical knowledge of caring, but some of them did not display caring behaviour during clinical practice. Conclusion: Some of the midwives did not display caring behaviour. Implication for practice was provided based on the research findings. Recommendations included measures of improving caring behaviours during midwifery practice.

Studien är baserad på intervjuer med praktiker som arbetar med user-experienceinom IT-projekt. Studiens mål är att identifiera potentiella hinder för praktiker medavseende på att tillämpa UX enligt sin egna tolkning av konceptet. För att undersökadetta har semi-strukturerade intervjuer utförts med fem UX-praktiker som arbetari UX-roller inom organisationer vars verksamhet är att producera webbsidor,mjukvara och andra typer av digitala system. Baserat på data från dessa intervjuerhar en tematisk analys använts för att sammanställa mönster i respondenternas svar.Resultaten indikerar att en praktikers egna förmåga att kommunicera innebördenav, och nyttan med UX är både en viktig och problematisk del i tillämpningenav UX inom IT. Vidare att denna förmåga härleds och är särskilt nödvändig tillföljd av en bristande förståelse och kunskap om UX, bland intressenter i ett projekt.Ytterligare framgår att den låga kunskapsnivån påverkas av en allmän uppfattningom att UX avser grafisk design och där med begränsas till pragmatiska aspekter ochkompetenser, snarare än holistik, användarcentrering och hedoniska aspekter. / This study is based on interviews with practitioners working with user-experiencewithin IT projects. The aim of the study is to investigate and identify potentialobstacles that hinders UX-practitioners to address UX in relation to their perceptionof the concept. To investigate this, semi-structured interviews were conducted withfive UX-practitioners in Sweden, working in UX-roles within organisations whoproduce IT-solutions such as websites, software and other types of digital systems.Based on these interviews a thematic analysis was used to investigate the topic.The result indicates that the practitioner’s ability to communicate the utility andbenefits that UX proposes, are essential for the application of UX. Further resultsindicate that this ability originates from a lack of knowledge and understanding forUX amongst stakeholders within a project, and that the experienced low level ofunderstanding for UX is affected by the general view of UX as being limited tographic design, and furthermore to pragmatic aspects and competencies rather thanacknowledging holistic, user-centered and hedonic aspects.

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This study empirically describes and analyzes the characteristics and functionality of the ―Communities of Practice (CoPs)‖ used within eXtension, a new initiative of the Cooperative Extension (CE) system. It also endeavors to lay the foundation for empirical analysis of CoP processes, which to date have been explained almost exclusively using qualitative case study methods. Land-grant universities were founded on the ideals that higher education should be accessible to all, that the university should teach liberal and practical subjects and should share the college's knowledge with people throughout their states. eXtension is an educational partnership of more than 70 land-grant universities. Its reported purpose is to help Americans improve their lives with access to timely, objective, research-based information and educational opportunities accessed through http://www.extension.org . This Web resource is customized with links to state land-grant university CE Web sites. This mixed-method, action research project applied to the virtual environment describes the extent to which people who became part of an eXtension Communities of Practice (XCoPs) reported that they engaged in purposeful cycles of continuous inquiry in dialog, decision, action, and evaluation (DDAE) and the attainment of eXtension‘s goals. An Internet survey obtained descriptive data of members‘ participation within the eight pioneer XCoPs to assess the extent to which each XCoP engaged in the DDAE cycles of inquiry. Analysis of the survey data resulted in the categorization of low-, medium-, and high-level functioning XCoPs. Members of three pioneer XCoPs representing each category (low, medium, high collaboration) participated in online interviews that revealed how CE‘s reward structure, XCoP membership composition, and leader/member skill sets impact XCoP performance in meeting eXtension goals. Two sets of ―best practices‖ for eXtension initiative staff and XCoPs emerge from the discussion of triangulated data.