THE ESSENCE AND STRUCTURE OF EDUCATIONAL ENVIRONMENT IN THE CONTEXT OF THE FORMATION OF PARTNERSHIPS OF ADOLESCENTS

The successful formation of partnerships of adolescents is conditioned by certain factors and elements of educational environment, contributing to the formation of motivational-value, cognitive and operational-activity components of personality development of children of this age category. The peculiarities of the influence of this environment have a certain specificity associated with the conditions of formation of its structural components. Due to the action of these elements of the educational environment, certain age characteristics of adolescents are formed, which are necessary to ensure the effective principles of partnership, which will affect personal development and further development of academic achievement. Taking into account the importance of considering the theoretical aspects of determining the characteristics of the educational environment of adolescents, which determines the formation of their partnership, the study of this issue is considered relevant and will ensure the development of scientific thought. The purpose of the article is to systematize the approaches to defining the essence of the concept and structure of the educational environment of adolescents as a sphere of development of their partnership. Research methods applied: a systematic approach, which is used to systematize the provisions of scientific views related to the evaluated issues; comparative method used to compare the approaches of scientists. The study presents a systematization of approaches to defining the essence of the concept and structure of the educational environment of adolescents, which contributes to the development of their partnerships. It is proved that the main essential features of the concept of educational environment of adolescents, which contributes to the development of their partnerships include: structural feature (in the interpretations of the authors, mainly determined by reference to certain components of this phenomenon), performance feature (emphasis on areas of influence - behavior, development of value beliefs, etc.), organizational feature (indication that the subjects of the environment provide active assistance in the development of certain skills, qualities of adolescents), subject-oriented feature, which involves the formation and development of the educational environment of adolescents in the context of subject-subject direction (humanistic approach ). The composition of the conditions for the formation of this phenomenon is determined, which include general categories, in particular: objective, specially (artificially) created, static, dynamic. The interpretation of the studied concept is formulated, which is based on taking into account the list of basic essential features and categories of conditions of formation of the educational environment, which promotes the development of their partnership.

Master Limited Partnership Research in Accounting, Economics, and Finance

I review the research on master limited partnerships (“MLPs”) in the accounting, economics, and finance literature. I begin by outlining the scope of the review and providing a brief background on the structure, taxation, and governance of master limited partnerships. Next, I describe the various sources from which MLP data is derived. I then review the research, aggregating it into four broad categories: (1) taxes and organizational form; (2) taxes, capital structure, and payout policy; (3) valuation; and (4) governance research. Within each section, I present possible avenues for future research in accounting, economics, and finance.

Organizational Change and Development

This chapter first discusses the complexities of change in organizations and why so many OCD programs fail and makes the case for change agents to become evidence-based in their change agency practice. The author then offers a definition of evidence-based organizational change and development (EBOCD) and outlines the types of “best evidence” that can be used to inform and shape the formulation and implementation of OCD strategies and to critically evaluate the associated processes and change agency practices. Various distinctive evidence-based initiatives for OCD are discussed and several case examples from the United Kingdom are presented. The chapter closes with a discussion of the specific merits of “design science,” “professional partnership” research, and “replication” research.

‘The Best Way to Predict the Future is to Create It' -- P. Drucker

This final chapter begins with a section on the history of professional development school partnerships and the current need to advance PDS and partnership research through the development of a collaborative national research agenda. The second section outlines a working framework for a core national research agenda seen as an inventive vision and tool for future empirical partnership work between researchers and teachers. The agenda is adaptable to other partnerships and involves multi-site and cross-regional partnership studies for strengthening evidence and claims of effectiveness. The focus is on the four-part K-20 partnership model: preparing new teachers, enhancing professional development, conducting meaningful collaborative research, and advancing student learning and achievement. Examples of newer research questions and a conceptual model for a research study using a quasi-experimental research approach are offered to researchers and teachers who are collaborating with one another for “re-inventing” American education and impacting policy during this new era of change.

Reciprocal Learning as a Comparative Education Model and as an Exemplar of Schwab’s The Practical in Curriculum Inquiry

The field of curriculum studies has long been tormented by a disputatious literature over theory and practice and the proper way to pursue curriculum inquiry. Roughly in the middle of the last century standard practical pursuits came into question with a dizzying array of postmodern critiques. Countering both the practical pursuits under criticism and the postmodern reconceptualist critical literature, Joseph J. Schwab advanced a theory of The Practical. Schwab’s writing remains relevant, and theoretical debates on curriculum inquiry regularly reference Schwab. These debates are driven by fundamentally different philosophical views on theory and practice and their place in curriculum studies. Although the reconceptualist literature has become theoretical orthodoxy in the field of curriculum studies, the debate is kept alive by writers who draw on Schwab’s theory of The Practical. However, little progress in mutual understanding has resulted because debate is focused on theoretical parameters, assertions, and positions at the expense of the practice of inquiry. We believe that turning attention to what people do in curriculum inquiry rather than pursuing theoretic prescriptions of how people should think in curriculum studies would help move the field forward. Our “Practical” Schwab-based work in personal practical knowledge and in narrative inquiry over the years, culminating in our current large-scale, seven-year-long longitudinal comparative education study, Reciprocal Learning Partnership Research between Canada and China, is illustrative. Using a commonplaces of inquiry framework developed by Schwab, we detail practical research qualities of The Practical and of the Reciprocal Learning Partnership Project. We discuss the situational starting and end points of curriculum inquiry in the Reciprocal Learning Partnership with special reference to the moral quality of practical situations studied. We further describe the nature of qualified knowledge outcomes in inquiry, qualities of the researcher agent, method and its relationship to a flexible, shifting database, and the understanding that inquiry and situations studied are the outcomes of narrative histories. This Schwab-based comparative education work begins with a moral position on a practical international situation and builds cross-cultural reciprocal learning strategies and outcomes using diverse theoretical positions and methodologies. In so doing Schwab’s “The Practical” is demonstrated by a new model of comparative curriculum studies. There is much to criticize in this work but there is also, we believe, much in which to take pride. Canadian and Chinese educators and their practices are enhanced through reciprocal learning. Improving practice has its own theoretical, and personal, rewards apart from the security achieved by theoretical consistency pursued by The Theoretic. Our hope is that something new in the contentious arena of curriculum studies may emerge if deliberation revolved around competing curriculum inquiry practices rather than around competing theoretical ideas on the nature of curriculum inquiry. Should this hope be unrealized, we nevertheless believe that Reciprocal Learning as an exemplar of The Practical provides useful direction for comparative curriculum studies.

Mental, Neurological and Substance Abuse Disorders in Guyana’s Jails: a multi-disciplinary introduction

An introduction to this LIAS Working Paper special issue, presenting early findings from the University of Leicester and University of Guyana’s partnership research on mental health, neurological disorders, and addiction in Guyana’s jails.

Foundations for the Canadian Humanities and Social Sciences Commons: Exploring the Possibilities of Digital Research Communities

This paper introduces the Canadian Humanities and Social Sciences (HSS) Commons, an open online space where Canadian HSS researchers and stakeholders can gather to share information and resources, make connections, and build community. Situated at the intersection of the fields of digital scholarship, open access, digital humanities, and social knowledge creation, the Canadian HSS Commons is being developed as part of a research program investigating how a not-for-profit, community-partnership research commons could benefit the HSS community in Canada. This paper considers an intellectual foundation for conceptualizing the commons, its potential benefits, and its role in the Canadian scholarly publishing ecosystem; it explores how the Canadian HSS Commons’ open, community-based platform complements existing research infrastructure serving the Canadian HSS research community.

Advancing Health Services Collaborative and Partnership Research Comment on "Experience of Health Leadership in Partnering with University-Based Researchers in Canada – A Call to ‘Re-imagine’ Research"

Bowen et al highlight the trend towards partnership research to address the complex challenges currently facing healthcare systems and organizations world-wide. They focus on important strategic actors in partner organizations and their experiences, views and advice for sustainable collaboration, within a Canadian context. The authors call for a multi-system change to provide better conditions for research partnerships. They highlight needs to re-imagine research, to move beyond an ‘acute care’ and clinical focus in research, to re-think research funding, and to improve the academic preparation for research partnerships. In this commentary we provide input to the discussion on practical guidance for those involved in research partnerships based on our partnership experiences from ten research projects conducted within the Swedish healthcare system since 2007. We also highlight areas that need attention in future research in order to learn from approaches used for collaborative and partnership research.