Valerie Wilson

The Lothian Birth Cohort 1936: a study to examine influences on cognitive ageing from age 11 to age 70 and beyond.

BackgroundCognitive ageing is a major burden for society and a major influence in lowering peoples independence and quality of life. It is the most feared aspect of ageing. There are large individual differences in age-related cognitive changes. Seeking the determinants of cognitive ageing is a research priority. A limitation of many studies is the lack of a sufficiently long period between cognitive assessments to examine determinants. Here, the aim is to examine influences on cognitive ageing between childhood and old age.Methods/DesignThe study is designed as a follow-up cohort study. The participants comprise surviving members of the Scottish Mental Survey of 1947 (SMS1947; N = 70,805) who reside in the Edinburgh area (Lothian) of Scotland. The SMS1947 applied a valid test of general intelligence to all children born in 1936 and attending Scottish schools in June 1947. A total of 1091 participants make up the Lothian Birth Cohort 1936. They undertook: a medical interview and examination; physical fitness testing; extensive cognitive testing (reasoning, memory, speed of information processing, and executive function); personality, quality of life and other psycho-social questionnaires; and a food frequency questionnaire. They have taken the same mental ability test (the Moray House Test No. 12) at age 11 and age 70. They provided blood samples for DNA extraction and testing and other biomarker analyses. Here we describe the background and aims of the study, the recruitment procedures and details of numbers tested, and the details of all examinations.DiscussionThe principal strength of this cohort is the rarely captured phenotype of lifetime cognitive change. There is additional rich information to examine the determinants of individual differences in this lifetime cognitive change. This protocol report is important in alerting other researchers to the data available in the cohort.

Focus Groups: a useful qualitative method for educational research?

Abstract During 1994‐95, a small team of researchers at the Scottish Council for Research in Education (SCRE) undertook a commissioned study of adults’ perceptions of their lifestyle options within a Scottish region. The findings of the research were intended to inform initiatives in health education and promotion. Two methods of data collection were employed: in‐depth interviews and focus group meetings. In this article, the researcher reflects on one of those methods — focus groups — which has been used extensively in market research, and explores (a) what focus groups are, (b) how they have been utilised by researchers and (c) some of the practical and theoretical implications for incorporating focus groups in the design of educational research projects, paying particular attention to issues of data generation.

‘Bunking off’: the impact of truancy on pupils and teachers

There is widespread interest in the impact of unauthorised absence on pupil attainment, links with disaffection, exclusion from school and criminality. However, little is heard about what those who take unauthorised absence from school think that the effect has been on them; nor do we hear the voices of other pupils and their teachers. This article presents evidence from a one‐year study of absence in seven local authorities in England funded by the Department for Education and Skills. It defines ‘truancy’, explores some issues from existing literature on pupil non‐attendance, and presents evidence to show the impact that absence from school has on truants, other pupils and teachers. Finally, it suggests that although the greatest impact is on the academic and socio‐psychological development of persistent absentees, the attitudes and learning of other pupils and the workload and morale of teachers are also affected.

Crossover regions in foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) recombinants correspond to regions of high local secondary structure

SummaryThe RNA genome of foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) was analysed for the degree of inverted complementarity and thus potential secondary structure using the procedure of Pustell and Kafatos [Nucleic Acids Res (1982) 10: 4765–4782]. Regions of crossover in 42 FMDV recombinants [King et al. (1985) Virus Res 3: 373–384; Saunders et al. (1985) J Virol 56: 921–929] and regions lacking crossovers were assigned an average secondary structure score against which the number of observed recombinants was plotted. In general it was found that the mean value of potential secondary structure is significantly higher in crossover zones than in recombination-free zones. Recombination increased much more steeply with increasing secondary structure in the part of the genome coding for non-structural proteins than in the 5′ third of the genome coding for structural proteins.

An ‘Extra Pair of Hands’?: Managing Classroom Assistants in Scottish Primary Schools

What do classroom assistants do? How are they deployed and how do teachers manage and liaise with them? These are some of the questions, which an evaluation of the Classroom Assistant Initiative in Scotland sought to answer. In this article the authors, first, set the context by describing the growing use of non-teaching staff. Second, they show how headteachers and class teachers actually deployed and managed assistants in ways that impacted on teachers’ time and classroom organisation. Finally by way of a conclusion, issues related to the use of classroom assistants are highlighted. In particular, despite the generally positive response to the Initiative, many schools were finding it difficult to make sufficient time available for teachers and classroom assistants to plan their work together. Without planning and liaison time, the authors suggest that the benefits from an ‘extra pair of hands’ in the classroom will be limited.

Childhood IQ and social factors on smoking behaviour, lung function and smoking-related outcomes in adulthood: Linking the Scottish Mental Survey 1932 and the Midspan Studies

OBJECTIVE To investigate the associations of childhood IQ and adult social factors, and smoking behaviour, lung function (forced expiratory volume in one second; FEV(1)), and smoking-related outcomes in adulthood. DESIGN Retrospective cohort study. METHOD Participants were from the Midspan prospective studies conducted on Scottish adults in the 1970s. The sample consisted of 938 Midspan participants born in 1921 who were successfully matched with their cognitive ability test results on the Scottish Mental Survey 1932. RESULTS Structural equation modelling showed that age 11 IQ was not directly associated with smoking consumption, but that IQ and adult social class had indirect effects on smoking consumption via deprivation category. The influence of IQ on FEV(1) was partly indirect via social class. Gender influenced smoking consumption and also IQ and social class. There was a 21% higher risk of having a smoking-related hospital admission, cancer, or death during 25 years of follow-up for each standard deviation disadvantage in IQ. Adjustment for adult social class, deprivation category, and smoking reduced the association to 10%. CONCLUSION Childhood IQ was associated with social factors which influenced lung function in adulthood, but was not associated directly with smoking consumption. In future studies, it is important to consider other pathways which may account for variance in the link between childhood IQ and health in later life.

Managing Change in Small Scottish Primary Schools Is There a Small School Management Style

This article reports the findings from a Scottish Office funded two-year study of the management of change in small primary schools undertaken by the Scottish Council for Research in Education. Although 38 percent of primary schools in Scotland are small, it is also an issue affecting numerous other countries with sparsely populated areas, such as Wales, Ireland, Norway, New Zealand and Australia. The objectives of the paper are twofold: first, to identify the management activities and strategies used by the 863 heads of small schools in Scotland to implement four major national initiatives (5–14 Curricular Guidelines, School Development Planning, Staff Development and Appraisal and Devolved School Management) launched by the Scottish Office during the past 10 years; and, second, to pose the question: is there a particular small school management style which is more than simply school management ‘writ small’?

Who Gets Ahead?: The Effect of Age, Disability, Ethnicity and Gender on Teachers' Careers and Implications for School Leaders.

This article reports the results from a 12-month study of teachers’ career progress in schools in England and the ways in which headteachers and teachers perceive that age, disability, ethnicity and gender affect teachers’ career prospects. Many teachers thought that they had been promoted because of their personal traits, such as drive, confidence and ability, and there was little evidence of direct discrimination. However, certain groups of teachers, for example part-time and supply staff, mature entrants to teaching, members of minority ethnic groups, teachers with disabilities, older male and female teachers, female teachers with children, all believed that their personal characteristics had disadvantaged their career progression. The study offers some insight into the structural constraints that hinder teachers’ careers and how greater diversity among promoted staff in schools might be achieved. The implications for school leaders are highlighted.

Childhood IQ of parents related to characteristics of their offspring: Linking the Scottish Mental Survey 1932 to the midspan family study

The objective of the study was to investigate the relationship between childhood IQ of parents and characteristics of their adult offspring. It was a prospective family cohort study linked to a mental ability survey of the parents and set in Renfrew and Paisley in Scotland. Participants were 1921-born men and women who took part in the Scottish Mental Survey in 1932 and the Renfrew/Paisley study in the 1970s, and whose offspring took part in the Midspan Family study in 1996. There were 286 offspring from 179 families. Parental IQ was related to some, but not all characteristics of offspring. Greater parental IQ was associated with taller offspring. Parental IQ was inversely related to number of cigarettes smoked by offspring. Higher parental IQ was associated with better education, offspring social class and offspring deprivation category. There were no significant relationships between parental IQ and offspring systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, cholesterol, glucose, lung function, weight, body mass index, waist hip ratio, housing, alcohol consumption, marital status, car use and exercise. Structural equation modelling showed parental IQ associated with offspring education directly and mediated via parental social class. Offspring education was associated with offspring smoking and social class. The smoking finding may have implications for targeting of health education.

Headteachers of Small Scottish Primary Schools: Still a Match for the Job?.

This article is based on a follow-up study of headteachers of very small Scottish primary schools conducted in 2006. Evidence was collected from a postal survey of 100 headteachers and interviews in nine case study schools. The aim is twofold: first, to provide a ‘snapshot’ of the headteachers, their qualifications, routes to headship and career aspirations; and second, to highlight the ways in which these have changed in the intervening 10 years since the original research was reported. By way of a conclusion, the article poses the question: Are small-school headteachers still a match for the job?