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Literature suggests that whilst creativity is frequently seen as ubiquitous and taken for granted (Dawson, Tan, & McWilliam, 2011; Livingston, 2010) there is evidence that creative approaches in higher education can be seen as unnecessary work (Chao, 2009; Clouder et al., 2008; Gibson, 2010; McWilliam et al., 2008), and creative teaching is not always recognised or valued (Clouder et al., 2008; Dawson et al., 2011; Gibson, 2010). Forming part of a cross-cultural study of creative teaching (although reporting on only one part of it), the research explored student and lecturer perspectives in four universities in England, Malaysia and Thailand, using mixed methods within an interpretive frame. This paper reports on findings from the English University site. Key elements of creative teaching in this site were having a passion for the subject and for using sensitised pedagogical strategies, driven by an awareness of student perspective and relationship. Crucial goals were fostering independent thinking; striving for equality through conversation and collaboration; and orchestrating for knowledge-building. The lecturers' passion for the subject was a powerful engine for creative teaching across all academic disciplines spanning the arts, the humanities, and STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) subjects. © 2014 Elsevier Ltd.

Background: Assessing surgical competency in otolaryngology is challenging, and residency programs are now responsible for ensuring the surgical competency of their graduates. Therefore, more objective assessment tools are being incorporated into the evaluation process. Objective structured assessment of technical skills (OSATSs) tools have been developed for multiple otolaryngology procedures. These include tonsillectomy, endoscopic sinus surgery, thyroidectomy, mastoidectomy, direct laryngoscopy, and rigid bronchoscopy. The purpose of this study was to develop and test a new assessment tool for septoplasty surgery and ensuring its feasibility, reliability, and construct validity. This study was designed to develop and test a valid, reliable, and feasible evaluation tool designed to measure the development of trainees' surgical skills in the operating room for septoplasty surgery. Methods: A new OSATSs-based instrument form for septoplasty was developed. During the study period of 2 years, 21 otolaryngology - head and neck surgery residents (ranging from postgraduate year 2 to 5) were evaluated intraoperatively by one faculty member obtaining a total of 175 evaluations. Surgical performance was rated using a seven-item task-specific checklist (TSC) and a global rating scale (GRS). The TSC assessed specific septoplasty technical skills, and the GRS assessed the overall surgical performance. Results: Our tool showed construct validity for both components of the assessment instrument, with increasing mean scores with advancing clinical levels. Cronbach's α, a measure of internal consistency, was 0.911 for TSC and 0.898 for GRS. Strong correlation between the TSC and GRS was established (r=0.955; p < 0.01). Conclusion: This study proved our educational tool to be a valid, reliable, and feasible method for assessing competency in septoplasty surgery. It can be integrated into surgical training programs to facilitate direct formative feedback. Assessing trainees' learning curves enables insight into their progression, ensuring their appropriate development. Copyright © 2014, OceanSide Publications, Inc.

In recent years, there has been a renewed interest in measuring perceptions regarding different aspects of the medical educational environment. A reliable tool was developed for measuring perceptions of the educational environment as it relates to evidence-based medicine as part of a multicountry randomised controlled trial to evaluate the effectiveness of a clinically integrated evidence-based medicine course. Participants from 10 specialties completed the questionnaire. A working dataset of 518 observations was available. Two independent subsets of data were created for conducting an exploratory factor analysis (n=244) and a confirmatory factor analysis (n=274), respectively. The exploratory factor analysis yielded five 67-item definitive instruments, with five to nine dimensions; all resulted in acceptable explanations of the total variance (range 56.6-65.9%). In the confirmatory factor analysis phase, all goodness-of-fit measures were acceptable for all models (root mean square error of approximation ≤0.047; comparative fit index≥0.980; normed χ2 ≤1.647; Bentler-Bonett normed fit index ≥0.951). The authors selected the factorisation with seven dimensions (factor-7 instrument) as the most useful on pragmatic grounds and named it Evidence-Based Medicine Educational Environment Measure 67 (EBMEEM-67). Cronbach's α for subscales ranged between 0.81 and 0.93. The subscales are: 'Knowledge and learning materials'; 'Learner support'; 'General relationships and support'; 'Institutional focus on EBM'; 'Education, training and supervision'; 'EBM application opportunities'; and 'Affirmation of EBM environment'. The EBMEEM-67 can be a useful diagnostic and benchmarking tool for evaluating the perceptions of residents of the environment in which evidence-based medicine education takes place.

Introduction. - The aim of this study was to assess the feelings of residents in respiratorymedicine regarding the quality and organization of their training and towards their careerprospects.Methods. - A prospective survey conducted over the Internet among all the members of theFrench Young Pulmonologists Association (AJPO2).Results. - One hundred and thirty-two (71.5%) members responded. The rating given to theo-retical training was 6 [5-7] whereas the practical training was rated at 7 [6-8] out of 10. Themajority of the residents considered that the length of their course should be adapted (80.3%).Of them, 74.2% wanted to add a mandatory semester. The proposed mandatory semester was inbronchoscopy (40.3%). Seventy-two percent of the resident wanted to acquire a specialisation,the most common of which was in oncology (36.6%). Among the residents, 96.2% wanted toconduct a fellowship. The main reason for this was their feeling of inability to correctly handlepatients at the end of their residency. Of the residents, 55.3% were considering working in apublic hospital.Conclusion. - There are opportunities to improve the French respiratory residency training bothin its theory and practical aspects. The modalities of this training could also be adapted. Accessto a fellowship is a major concern for the residents. © 2013 SPLF. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

Objectives The study examined the course of neck and shoulder pain among a cohort of technical school students entering working life. We also aimed to identify work-related and individual risk factors for neck and shoulder pain during this transition period. Methods The study was designed as a prospective cohort study following 420 technical school students (167 student hairdressers, 118 student electricians, and 135 media/design students) from school, through their apprenticeship and into working life. Every 4thmonth over a 6.5 year period (2002-2009), the participant`s neck and shoulder pain for the preceding four weeks was assessed. Mechanical and psychosocial workplace factors as well as individual factors were evaluated at baseline and/or during the follow-up period. Data were analyzed by generalized estimating equations (GEE). Results We found a significant increase in neck and shoulder pain over time in the transition from technical school to working life. High mechanical workload was associated with neck and shoulder pain among women, while a high level of shoulder muscle endurance capacity was associated with lower rates of neck and shoulder pain among men. Perceived muscle tension and ethnicity were the most consistent predictors for neck and shoulder pain, found among both women and men. Conclusion Increased neck and shoulder pain was found in the transition from technical school to working life, and both work-related and individual factors were associated with pain development. © Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment & Health.

This chapter proposes an account of learning at and for work comprising the collective contributions of social and brute mediating factors and individuals’ processes of mediating those contributions, that is, an account of individuals’ learning and development accommodating both the inter- and intra-psychological contributions and the relations between them. It also seeks to redress the concern that in recent times, the mediation of individuals’ knowledge has become overly associated with proximal social influences on human cognition as well as those of signs, symbols and artefacts within Vygotskian-inspired social constructivism. Seemingly overlooked in this privileging are, firstly, the contributions of brute facts (i.e. nature) both within and beyond individuals and, secondly, how individuals themselves mediate the suggestions of social and brute factors (i.e. inter-psychological processes). Together, these mediating factors comprise the suggestions of the social and natural worlds can sometimes, but not always (e.g. maturation), be negotiated with. Then, there are the ways that individuals exercise their engagement with these suggestions and come to construe and construct what they know and do (i.e. personal mediations). Together, these factors prompt a more inclusive account for how intra-psychological or intra-mental contributions and processes mediate learning at and through work. Certainly, understanding processes of mediation more fully requires a consideration of both inter-psychological and intra-psychological processes and how their contributions are brought together in advancing workers’ learning and development. © 2014, Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht.

The development of learning programmes and courses, qualifications design and future curriculum development in Further Education and Training (FET) vocational education provision on a national level is at the heart of the college sector. It should respond to the technological needs of labour market conditions, sectors and industries they support and more importantly, to the current critical South African economy. In this regard, apprenticeships have a huge role to play. This study was undertaken to identify factors, which were perceived as important in determining the relevance of FET college engineering learning programmes within an apprenticeship context. The sample in this study was 200 training and development managers, skills development facilitators and training practitioners with apprenticeship training responsibility and representing employers in the metal and engineering industry. A probability sampling technique in the form of simple random sampling was used to recruit participants for the study. Data were collected through the administration of a questionnaire. Descriptive statistics were used to report on the demographic data and exploratory factor analysis was conducted to identify factors that were perceived as important in determining the relevance of FET college engineering learning programmes. Four factors, namely meeting industry needs, industry-college alignment, context-focused learning, and industry collaboration were identified. In South Africa, FET colleges are expected to play an important role in the acquisition of human resource development (HRD) priority skills that are required by government and business to deliver on major infrastructure development and to meet the needs of an expanding economy. © 2014, Mediterranean Center of Social and Educational Research. All rights reserved.

Background General practice supervisors are increasingly being expected to assess their registrars. Objective In this article we explore the issues this raises for supervisors, and discuss the literature, which suggests that global assessments are the most accurate and feasible. Discussion We suggest the following guidelines for supervisors: inform registrars at the beginning of the term about how and when they will be assessed; be clear that the aim is to decide if the registrars' practice is safe for patients and appropriate for their stage of training; observe registrars at work; make an initial judgement of registrars' performance; test the initial judgement on performance applying qualitative research methods to improve trustworthiness and reduce potential biases; use the working diagnosis of registrar performance to guide the level of support and clinical oversight needed and flag registrars who require further assessment by educational organisations for remediation decisions.

This study tackles the question, whether and to what extent labour market integration is achieved by young rehabilitants participating in an apprenticeship provided by the Federal Employment Agency. In order to identify salient determinants for the entry into as well as the sustainability of first employment, event history analyses are applied. After a relatively short period, first integrated rehabilitants mostly find unsubsidised employment. The entry into employment is determined by factors similar to those influencing the labour market transition of young adults without disabilities: higher educational achievements, a successfully completed apprenticeship at best within an establishment, high regional mobility and good structural conditions favour labour market integration. Furthermore, physically disabled graduates and those with shorter unemployment and sickness periods stay longer in first employment than graduates showing other disabilities and those with longer periods in unemployment and sickness. © Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart New York ISSN 0034-3536.

In this paper I ask how it is that women, despite being a significant part of the workforce in horseracing, are still only a minority of professional jockeys. I explore the relationship between social practices and the gender based inequalities and use Bourdieu's concepts of field, capital and habitus to analyze its classed and gendered nature. I draw on an ethnographic study of a racing yard, focusing particularly on the experiences of Anne Dudley, one of my female interviewees, who, unusually, had ridden as a jockey. She typifies the ways in which women's career trajectories within the racing field are shaped by access to physical and social capital. I argue that habitus can be used to illustrate how redirection(s) in practices or ideas are brought about within a patriarchal, masculine field of power. © 2014 human Kinetics, Inc.