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Prior to the spring 2020, education in the United States looked very similar to how it had always looked … students attended brick-and-mortar schools, used technology in their classrooms and homes to supplement their learning, and relied on the support of teachers as needed or wanted. Parents, for their part, were involved in the traditional supportive roles of checking over homework, monitoring attendance, and providing encouragement as warranted, and worked to balance this role with professional and community obligations and responsibilities. The COVID-19 pandemic swept across the globe, and parents as well as teachers were suddenly thrust into different and less familiar roles, as teaching and learning transitioned to a virtual experience. In examining this transition, a team consisting of researchers from Florida and North Carolina sought to determine the effectiveness of the parent roles in schooling from the educator perspective. In this chapter, the findings of this study are explored and analyzed, with recommendations made for research moving forward in this area.

Studies of the marketing and distribution of fish have examined a declining industry, which, in response to trends in fish consumption and major developments in the food retailing industry, has undergone profound alterations. The shift in demand from fresh to frozen fish and the decline in the number of traditional fishmongers have been of particular importance in effecting changes in the distribution of fish. This article aims to remedy the neglect of the inland markets. By analysing their present roles and identifying their particular functions within the wider marketing system, it should be possible to offer a clearer perspective on their present and future roles.

Argues that public services modernization is dependent on a major shift of gender cultures in communities and in senior management and policy making. Highlights the need for transformational as opposed to transactional leadership, focusing on the critical roles of transforming managers and the gender cultures they work within. Concludes that gender balance is a euphemism for actually what is required, which is the transformation of both traditional male and female indentities.

The debate on public sector reform continues to be focused on policy, restructuring and targets rather than on the practical aspects of a new public framework that will support providers to implement change and transform public services. The challenge for government, as it has been since 1997, is how to create the conditions for innovation and service transformation. It is no longer enough to develop business models that will organise services more efficiently; public sector reform also requires an energising of people and democratic relationships. A reliance in government on centralised change levers and a faith in systems rather than people has led to modernisation becoming a technical process, detached from regional and local energies. The divide between national and local stakeholders has resulted in good policies being driven by a lack of concern for relationships across the public system, particularly between central and local players. It is government that sets the scene for reform through its policy, funding and performance management, yet too often Whitehall and politicians take themselves ‘out‐of‐the‐frame’ when conducting analysis. This article argues that modernisation levers are contested by many stakeholders, that government and its administration are critical stakeholders and that it is time to reconnect the local with the national in transformation.

From a recently published letter addressed to a well‐known firm of whisky manufacturers by Mr. JOHN LETHIBY, Assistant Secretary to the Local Government Board, it is plain that the Board decline to entertain the suggestion that the Government should take steps to compel manufacturers of whisky to apply correct descriptions to their products. The adoption of this attitude by the Board might have been anticipated, but the grounds upon which the Board appear to have taken it up are not in reality such as will afford an adequate defence of their position, as the negative evidence given before the Select Committee on Food Products Adulteration and yielded by the reports of Public Analysts is beside the mark. The introduction of a governmental control of the nature suggested is not only undesirable but impracticable. It is undesirable because such a control must be compulsory and is bound to be unfair. It would be relegated to a Government Department, and of necessity, therefore, in the result it would be in the hands of an individual—the head of the Department—and subject entirely to the ideas and the unavoidable prejudices of one person. It is impracticable because no Government or Government Department could afford to take up a position involving the recommendation of particular products and the condemnation of others. No Government could take upon itself the onus of deciding questions of quality as distinguished from questions merely involving nature and substance. A system of control, in order to be effective and valuable alike to the public and the honest manufacturer, must be voluntary in its nature in so far as the manufacturer is concerned, and must be carried out by an independent and authoritative body entirely free from governmental trammels, and possessing full liberty to give or withhold its approbation or guarantee.

Before leaving the subject of the relations of the Public Analyst to the Medical Officer of Health it is desirable to refer to a matter which sometimes gives rise to difficulties and to disagreements between the two officers. Apparently by a legal oversight the duty of looking after the water supply of a district is allotted to the Medical Officer—but there is nothing to show in what way and to what extent he is to be personally occupied in carrying out this task. It also happens that water is specifically excluded from the scope of the Sale of Food and Drugs Acts, and, in view of these circumstances, some Medical Officers have adopted the idea that their duties are not to be limited to administrative work in this connection, but that it is also incumbent on them to make the necessary analyses; while in other, and perhaps more frequent instances the local autherities, particularly in country districts, deliberately place that burden on the shoulders of the Medical Officer when arranging the conditions of his appointment.

Last month we introduced the advantages of new generation fire alarm systems. We ended our introduction on a cautionary note, however, by warning facilities managers to be wary of the indiscriminate claims of those selling ‘intelligent technology’, which is currently something of a fad in building services. Sound experience of analogue/addressable systems in use is not widespread: the potential for extra capital costs with this equipment and the opportunities for customised designs, means that care must be taken in comparing your needs with the varied facilities available. Some companies specialising in new generation systems accept that they are not the answer for all applications. Others do not Coping with this commercial bias, in the face of genuinely different design philosophies, will prove difficult; more so because of the absence of definite codes and standards (BS 5839 is currently being revised). This article hopes to present some useful information to help you procure the right system.