Puritan Essay Example for Free

Puritan Essay During the 1630s to 1660s, Puritans to a vast extent powered the ideas and values on the New England colonies through the political, economical and social development with their belief in religion. Politcally, the did not divide the difference between the government and church. Economically, obtained a work ethic that allowed them to grow, and socially they expanded the knowledge of their religion and education. The Puritans had migrated to New England because they were unsatisfied with the Anglican Church in England and the forming of the Protestant religion. After immigrating to New England a majority settled in Massachusetts forming the Massachusetts Bay Colony along with many other Puritan colonies. They came here in hopes of creating a theocracy, a way to have a new form of government and society. They wanted to escape the Catholic influence they had in Great Britain. They did have some political involvement with town meetings for the townspeople which they did not have in England. The line between church and state was unclear. Many of the colony’s laws were based on the people’s behavior and the Puritan values. As Nathaniel Ward believed state laws should go together with the morals of the church. In the views of Puritans, the government should not have all the power because tribulations will occur and all order should be under the church. As Reverend John Cotton explicated, giving more power to man than is needed will only allow them to misuse it; therefore, they should only allow as much power that God gives to them by his word. God is seen to be the leader, so the church displayed religious rules of the church which the colonies willingly followed. They would not accept anything less from the people other than to serve God and be under his obedience for they lived life for Him. Puritans did not like the idea of freedom of religion. They wanted to be seen as only one religion because they believed having more than one religion would only cause conflict and disagreement. Puritans did not like the idea of freedom of religion; however, Roger Williams saw flaws in the Puritan views of the relationship with church and state. He believed that they should be separate which caused him to be expelled from the church. They did not accept anything other than the belief that church was more important. Politically, Puritans carried their faithful obedience to God and brought government under the church. As they began to settle, their towns began to grow. Churches and schools sprang up to expand the knowledge of their religion. Schools were built to teach the children about the Bible and the importance of it in their lives. The people promised to put all their knowledge of God into the children and servants to the best of their ability (Doc C). With the churches they wanted to expand their theocracy. John Winthrop, the leader in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, wrote that they must all work together as one and help each other so that the could be led to the right path by God. Winthrop says that they are the â€Å"city upon a hill. † With everyone eyes on them they needed to demonstrate the level of their Christianity. If they all have faith together and rejoice together, with the will to better their community God will present help for them. Puritans believed everyone should believe in God. They looked to advance the education in New England with learning because of the effect it would have. They wanted to educate their ministers to stress religion so they built Harvard, the first college. They wanted to stress religion so they tried to teach it to those in school. The Puritans used the educational level of society to influence others of their strong religious beliefs. Puritans believed that a greater outcome will come if they worked hard. They thought prosperity and success would only come if this was done. A hard working ethic was established due to this view and many gained determination. This allowed them to establish a strong commercial economy. They worked mostly on farms, which many were established in the colonies, and traded goods for other goods they did not obtain. Winthrop did fear that his people would have more satisfaction for the wealth rather than the â€Å"piety† that was presumed to bring financial plunder. Many built their economy with the trade of their goods and the farming techniques. Farming took months due to the hard work that came with it and the short growing season. The Puritan commercial economy grew and many gained wealth from this, but they still looked to work hard and for piety for their success. The ideas and values of the Puritans separated them from other forms of people. Their way of thinking and views set up for a religious society was drastically diverse. The political, social, and economical development structured their way of living and their prosperity.

The Pillars Of The Tourism Strategy Tourism Essay

The Pillars Of The Tourism Strategy Tourism Essay Definition of the World Tourist Organisation (WTO): Tourists are those who are travelling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes not related to the exercise of an activity remunerated from within the place visited In  other words: A tourist are those who goes to different place for private interest or who is sent there, but is not employed at this place. Business tourists may go to this place for meetings or further education. Private tourists may go there for adventure, recreation, pilgrimage or many other purposes. Eco-tourism stressed on local cultures, wilderness adventures, personal development and learning new methods to live. It is defined as travel to different areas where the flora, fauna, and cultural heritage are the major attractions. Responsible ecotourism includes practices that lessens the negative impacts of regional tourism on the natural environment, and flourishes the cultural integrity of local communities. Hence, in addition to evaluating environmental, social and cultural factors, initiatives by hospitality providers to positioning recycling, energy efficiency and the creation of economic opportunities for local people are an integral part of ecotourism. Historical, biological and cultural conservation, sustainable development etc. are some of the sectors closely linked to Eco-Tourism. Large number of professionals have been involved in formulating and growing eco-tourism programs. They come from the fields of Geographic data Systems, Wildlife authorities, Wildlife Photography, and Oceanography, National and State Park authorities, Environmental Sciences, Women in Development, and Archaeologists, etc. Ecotourism is widely considered as a nature-based type of alternative visitors that embodies the virtuous traits that tourism supposedly lacks. Therefore, the notion of mass ecotourism is often seen as a contradiction in means or oxymoron. This article, however, argues that ecotourism as both reality, an ideal can logically be perceived as a form of mass tourism, and not its opposite. The first sector provides a working definition of ecotourism, and the remainder of the paper then raise the rationale for the above contention, and considers its applications for the tourism industry and for ecotourism destinations. Meaningful travel to natural areas to understand the culture and natural facts of the environment, taking care not to change the integrity of the ecosystem, during the production of economic opportunities that make the preservation of natural resources profitable to local communities. Hence, ecotourism is a form of tourism to relatively undisturbed natural locations for the main reasons of admiring them and knowing more facts about their lives. Ecotourism also tries to decrease its effects on the locations visited. It also supports to the preservation of natural venues and the sustainable development of adjacent locations and communities, spreading further awareness among habitants and nearby populations and tourist. Although a relatively new part of the tourism sector, ecotourism has diffused vastly all over the world. The most popular ecotourism destinations are spread relatively evenly all over the world and involve sites in Central and South America and the USA and Australia. Another vital ecotourism area is Africa. For example, Kenya employs approximately 55,000 people in its wildlife tourism sector. The Kenya Wildlife Service recorded $24 million of profits from wildlife tourism in 1990. For 1995, it was about $54 million with 25% of earnings paid to people in destinations adjacent to parks and reserves. A latest study of Amboseli National Park in Kenya states that each lion there was worth $27,000 and each elephant herd as much as $610,000 in tourist profits per year. Cultural tourism tends to stress on the indigenous of an area and their customs, arts, crafts, architecture, religion and lifestyles or on visits to art galleries and temples Historical tourism mainly stress on the glories of the past in the form of monuments, museums, and historical sites There are number of different profits that can be derived from Ecotourism if local people use it as a tool rather than number of outside visitors.   However, the results are a direct image of the encouragement behind the program.   Since these motivations are mostly mixed it follows that the results are often mixed too. Sometimes called nature tourism or ecotourism and educational travel based on natural attractions is a promising way of flourishing social, economic, political and environmental objectives in developing countries. It offers countries new ideas for small-enterprise investment and employment and developing the national stake in conserving their biological resources. However, making ecotourism a strong positive economic and environmental tool needs activities that foster responsible nature tourism growth, broad-based and active local participation in its profits, and conservation of developing countries biological heritage. MAIN BODY The ecotourism circumstances are currently entering a significant phase of its development in Kenya. In the past five years, ecotourism has attracted important attention from consumers, conservationists, economic development specialists and others. However, they are entering a period during, which ecotourism will undergo more careful scrutiny to determine whether it provides as many benefits as its proponents suggest it should. For this to be done information has to be made available on nature, performance and characteristics of ventures operating under the ecotourism label. Ecotourism Society of Kenya is at this time working on a project to develop a national record of all existing ecotourism projects in the Kenya, with a view to establishing the extent to which ecotourism has contributed to improved livelihoods for local people and aided conservation. The first phase of this project involved reviewing existing literature on ecotourism enterprises in Kenya, both for existing and pot ential ventures. The second phase will involve a questionnaire survey of the listed projects and others that may be discovered during such visits. This is going help to, among other things, to verify facts, get people views, and fill- in gaps of information missing from writ ten. Kenya  is best known for its wide savannas teeming with lions and elephants, but most travellers dont know that its also home to mountains, lakes, rain forests, deserts and beaches, each with its own unique ecosystem and wildlife. Kenyas incredible natural diversity is protected in some 50 national parks and reserves across the country, from the virgin rain forests of the Kaka mega Forest Reserve to the wildebeests who migrate to the Maasai Mara National Reserve every July and August. On the coast, travellers can walk down pristine white beaches or go diving along colourful coral reefs. All tourism occurs under the watchful eye of Ecotourism Kenya, which works to protect the local environment through community outreach and education projects. The organization also rates lodges throughout Kenya based on their environmental policies. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18215130/ns/travel-active_travel/ Three Pillars of the Tourism Strategy In this term pillar means goals in combination with opportunities and strength. Therefore it is a plan with greater development than the term objectives which is conventionally used in the context of project formulation to detail the achievable aims of a project. For instance, one of the goals of this tourism strategy is to make stakeholders of the western region of Kenya to re-discover and advertise their wealth of natural and cultural heritage as things that bewilder other humans, and that cannot be missed by adventurous visitors and travellers coming to Kenya. Diversification in the context means strategic improvement of product development in order to gain a more competitive stance of tourism in the western region in regards to quality products and tourism amenities as compared to the competition in other regions. Given the above definition of terms, this strategy rests on three strategic pillars of tourism development for the western region of Kenya, namely: a. Product development and diversification b. Integrated promotion, marketing and institutional development from below c. Local tourism education and marketing as a tool of poverty eradication (a) Product Development and Diversification The abundance of unexploited tourism resources including nature, culture and infrastructure means there are many opportunities and options to improve the quality of old products and services or to develop new products. The highest priority, however, should be given to options for improvement of Mt. Elgon National Park and assistance for the community based ecotourism ventures. For example specific options for the improvement of Mt. Elgon National Park are given in a set of recommendations in Table1. They include opening of a second gate at Kaberwa, road improvement for specified park roads to all weather condition. Another priority product development option exists in the form of community based ecotourism ventures. (b) Integrated Tourism Promotion, Marketing and Institutional Development The following facts derived from interviews with top officials of tourism stakeholder organizations at national level illuminated a changing scenario and a new pattern of players for the key roles is emerging as can be seen from the following observations: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ KENYA WILDLIFE SERVICE will totally devolve marketing of its tourism products including handling of visitor services in national parks, national reserves, sanctuaries, etc, to the private sector and communities and concentrate on conservation of wildlife. KENYA WILDLIFE SERVICE will participate in community based tourism development in advisory capacities only. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ KATO, a membership organisation that was formed in 1974 and has 250 members, controls 90 per cent of the traffic and destinations of international tourists in Kenya. (c) Local Tourism Education and Marketing as Tool of Poverty Eradication At the beginning of this report it was mentioned that tourism is a strategic industry that has potential for eradication of poverty in the whole of Kenya. In view of the unexploited tourism potential in the western region of Kenya this vision should be taken seriously by sensitizing the entire population about the need to cultivate the right attitudes, hospitality skills and public relations in readiness for participation in viable tourism activities. National stakeholder organizations namely KENYA WILDLIFE SERVICE, KTB, KTDC, KTF, TD should be challenged to take the lead in popularizing tourism to the Kenyan population like KENYA WILDLIFE SERVICE has done in the last decade. According to this trend of thought, the government has two options to decide upon concerning the Mt. Elgon area: to support the communities of the Mt. Elgon ecosystem to participate in sustainable conservation and development of natural resources and environment; and to maintain vigilance as was done previously to evict the Elgoni people from the caves and forest. We recommend the former option, which implies willingness to support viable community based ecotourism ventures and to support the county council initiative of a conservancy and development of tourism activities based at the Chepkitale moorland. It is based on complementary inputs from two sources. The first input is derived from the empirical evidence collected by observations and discussions with local stakeholders during the field-work in the region and that has been presented and analyzed in chapters three and four. This group of stakeholders consists of private enterprises; local government authorities, NGOs and community based groups. Their main concerns are product development, marketing, sales and provision of services and infrastructure. The second input to the strategy is derived from consultations with the key national stakeholders of the tourism industry in Nairobi. This group of stakeholders comprises of Government of Kenyas parastatal agencies and departments namely KEN YA WILDLIFE SERVICE, KTDC, KTB, Tourism Department, and also Kenya Association of Tour Operators (KATO) representing the private sector. Their main concerns include product development, policy development and administration, international promotion and marketing and financing. Over the next five years or so, it is necessary to identify the feasibility and responsibility for tourism development in the western region. As already mentioned above, it is unlikely that KENYA WILDLIFE SERVICE will be playing any promotion or marketing of tourism in future. Therefore the foreseen main role of KENYA WILDLIFE SERVICE is to develop and improve Mt. Elgon National Park including the establishment of a second gate and an access road at Kaberwa in collaboration with the Forest Department and the Mt. Elgon County Council. Concerning the roads networks outside the national park it as assumed (but probably it required to be specified) that their development and improvements is the responsibility of the central Government of Kenya and local government authorities. The KTB and the Department of Tourism have an important role to play in development, promotion of globally marketable themes and packages for the new products to be developed. Such market-oriented themes are required for Mt. Elgon National Park itself and for the cultural attractions that will emerge from community ecotourism initiatives. Since both KTB and DoT are relatively new, in the field of destination marketing and operations at regional and grassroots level, new tourism oriented research and design and development capacities will be needed. General Recommendations Develop/promote an exclusive market for cultural tourism through services and appropriate linkages with individual tour operators, MENOWECTO and the KTB. Support diversification of high quality tourism products especially cultural products e.g. dancing, gift and curio products for sale by retail shops as well as bulk sales or consignments to major towns. Encourage participation of visitors in community services around Mt. Elgon National Park and in the nearby towns of Kapsokwony and Kitale. Assist Mt. Elgon County Council to initiate a conservancy for tourism development in the Chepkitale moorlands, including development of an access road through, and a gate at Kaberwa under a new partnership deal between KENYA WILDLIFE SERVICE, Forest Department and Mt. Elgon County Council. Develop institutional linkages for marketing of community based ecotourism through local home stay operators. Create general public awareness and popular support of tourism. Support training of community based dancing groups and tour guides in appropriate skills including: Technical names and skills for identification, handling of plants, animals etc. Camping, first aid and emergency techniques; and Public relations, public presentation, marketing, negotiation and packaging, Institutionalize community ecotourism groups and ventures for sustainability. Support the specified improvement and expansion of park infrastructure including making road circuit all-weather, camping site improvements, second gate at Kaberwa and supporting the Chepkitale conservancy. In order to increase local tourism and visitation to Mt. Elgon National Park in particular, KENYA WILDLIFE SERVICE should launch a lightly scheduled bus service to familiarize residents and visitors in Kitale with the availability of regular and reliable public transport to and from Mt. Elgon National Park on certain days of the week. CONCLUSION Kenya is known as an international tourist place, but the Western Region of this country has very little tourism activity. There is no particular factor that is well known to be the main hindrance to tourism in the region. The Lack of awareness of tourism by the local communities, negligence or mismanagement of tourist facilities, lack of technical knowledge and insecurity are commonly mentioned. Situated 30 km west of Kitale town and gazetted in 1968, Mt. Elgon National Park is an area of 169 sq. km and is managed by a staff of 75 persons including 9 officers, 45 rangers and 6 drivers. The park receives 3000 visitors yearly. According to Edin Kalla, the Regional Assistant Director, the main challenges of the park are security for wildlife and visitors, increasing human-wildlife conflict along the border with the former ADC farms around the park, now sub-divided and settled by formerly landless people and with non-residential cultivation in the forest reserves, as well as shortages of human and financial resources. Occasionally wild forest fire is a big threat. Ecotourism may seem to have a positive way to it, but in contrast, it has a very grim reality joining it. While having reaped economic benefits from ecotourism, there are instances where people are forced to leave their homes, instances of gross violations of fundamental rights, and increase in the number of environmental hazards. Eco tourism is held as important by those who taking part in it so that coming generations may experience exposure of the environment relatively untouched by human development, and by becoming a part of this brigade, you are doing your bit to keep the planet the way it should be. Hence to make our trip as nice as possible, look into all the aspects that seem significant to you. Duty is backbone on which eco-tourism is based, and performed in the right direction, can to make sure a guilt-free, remember able holiday. In this  Industry  in many countries or the regions big industrial sectors as well as the  Economic industry of today, eco-tourism as an ideal way, it has made some growth in our country and in many local societies and planning a unavoidable item. Nearly two series of ten, the industry at home and foreign, and scholars define the eco-tourism, and noted the need in according with the development strategy, highlighting on the long-term development of   bionomics tourism resources, and established a plan of development, supporting the plan of eco-tourism. In this paper, the original eco-tourism to further examines its definition, and the economic importance of eco-tourism to be.   Ecotourism is undoubtedly a key feature in Kenyas economy. However, this study reveals that the ecotourism sector faces several challenges which include the need to respond to local community development and aspirations, meeting visitors varied expectations, improving management and planning efforts as well as developing effective and efficient infrastructure and services. According to Gakahu (1992), Kenya has a policy that emphasizes those habitats and wildlife populations are to be maintained in a reasonably natural state while catering for economically important activities. This is important for the tourist industry because the naturalness of amenities is what attracts tourists and is what they pay for. Appropriate planning and management is necessary to redress past mistakes and ensure the future welfare of ecotourism. One cannot rule out the possibility that at some point, conservation and economic exploitation, through ecotourism, might become incompatible unless appropriate me chanisms of reconciling them are worked out. Today, the ecological integrity and attractiveness of the Amboseli and Mara conservation areas is being impaired by visitor use. In conclusion, immediate, short-term and long-term planning and management actions need to be taken in order to stop the current poor use and localized overuse of the Amboseli and Mara. The best use of visitor attitudes and use impacts outlined in this study could guide management. This study clearly demonstrates that simply calculating visitor figures is insufficient for management, planning and monitoring responses. If the management cannot deal with the identified problems, then there is need to establish visitor capacity. Visitor impact management programmes therefore can minimise visitor impacts before costly restoration and rehabilitation programs become necessary.

Forensic Science Work Placement Personal Development Essay

Forensic Science Work Placement Personal Development Essay The organisation I was introduced to for my work placement was the department of forensic science. Forensic science usually goes hand in hand with Law. It specialises in the application of a broad spectrum of sciences to answer questions of interest to legal systems. This may be in relation to crime, burglary or murder investigation. Simply put it usually involves the use of scientific techniques to retrieve crucial pieces of evidence which may be of utmost importance to an ongoing police investigation or court case. The Department of Forensic Science where I worked during my placement was situated in the green area of the Erasmus Darwin Building on the Clifton campus. Over the past few years the course itself has become quiet popular so much so that it now not only attracts students from across the United Kingdom but from all over the world too. The activities that are developed by the department are a combination of practical examples as well as theory in order for the students to understand some of the certain concepts that are involved in this particular field of science. On top of this the department works closely together with the Nottingham police. This is a huge advantage for the students as it enables them to get first hand information of how to go about certain methods when it comes to retrieving evidence. During my time in the forensic department I was working alongside senior technician Arthur Richards who was my supervisor and Paul Mason-Smith who was also part of the forensic technician team. The roles that we carried out ranged from setting up lab practicals to setting up different crime scenarios for the students to tackle in the crime scene house. Some of the things one needed in order to get the jobs done were a good sense of communication and the ability to work as part of a larger group. Some of the tasks that I carried out individually during my work placement were things such as collecting together the equipment that would be used in the lab practicals, charging the camera batteries as well as collecting new equipment from the downstairs store, organising them in order of their usefulness and storing them away in a suitable location. Other aspects of my tasks did not require setting up practicals or coming up with scenarios but rather to attend talks that were focusing on the health and safety viewpoints of the workplace. These talks placed a fundamental part of the placements as they showed the problems that could arise if one was not paying particular attention to the way they were carrying out their tasks. The information obtained from talks such as this one proved to be very useful during the placements. Not only did they enable my to mind my surroundings while executing my work but they also taught me how to optimise my working capacity by using a few simple examples that were provided during the talk. Skills and knowledge gained The tasks that I was undertaking over the 5 weeks of the work placement not only helped tremendously in further developing my practical skills, but they also help shape the key attributes that one needs in order to succeed in any workplace. In my particular workplace the skills that were required from me in order to work efficiently were a good sense of communication, teamwork and organisation skills. Fortunately for me, these were some of my better skills. During my time in the forensics department I also gained exceptional knowledge about some of the techniques that were involved in crime solving. During my placement I carried out two major practicals. One of the techniques that I remember carrying out was The Footwear and Tool mark Impression practical. This practical comprised of a sequence of 4 activities which together were intended to provide one with the opportunity to enhance their skills in examining tool mark evidence and collecting footwear evidence as well as identifying the characteristics of footwear sole patterns. Tool mark impressions are usually the marks that are left behind during a burglary. Lets take a house for example. If the point of entry is a locked door, the suspect would most definitely use some kind of tool to force entry to the premises. The imprint that is left behind in the door is the mark. The role of a forensic scientist is to find out what tool is compatible with the tool mark that was left on the do or. The same concept applies to the footwear impression which will be left behind in the house. Even if the footwear that is left behind is not visible to the naked eye there are certain techniques and equipment that are used in order to make these imprints visible. These however will be explained at a later stage. Upon successful completion of the practical one could: Demonstrate the competency in casting footprint impressions Show the ability to use of Electro-static lifting apparatus Correctly identify sole pattern characteristics Correctly eliminate sole print using inkless pad Safely prepare silicon cast of tool mark impression Apply theory of identification of impressions to practical scenario. Before the students could tackle the exercise I had to run through the practical in order to see whether everything the practical was going to work without any faults. Before the going through the practical however we had to create a suitable scenario that fitted with the practical. The scenario my supervisor and I came up with was as follows: Crime Number: NTU/221208 Location: 10 College Drive, Clifton Mr. Richard Sole Burglary at the above address overnight break entry gained via rear lounge window. Window forced using instruments. Climb in steal laptop and mobile phone. Exist as entry. There is footwear mark in flower bed below window and tool marks t scene. 2 suspects have been arrested and tools recovered from them. Their footwear has also been recovered for further examination. Once the scenario was in place my supervisor and I started the practical. The first activity was the casting of a footwear mark in damp sand. This activity was done as a team. It involved sketching the mark which was mentioned in the crime report with appropriate labelling. After this, the mark that was visible was coded using the letter coding system. This was necessary in order to identify the type of shoe that left behind the imprint. When the results of the mark came back from the letter coding system we prepared to cast the mark. For this we set casting frame around the mark and embedded it into the sand to prevent seepage of the plaster. This part had to be done as a team in order to ensure that the cast did not damage the mark and that the cast was evenly distributed. To cast the mark I had to: Take double bagged 2kg crownstone plaster and add 500mls of tap water to the bag, massage it well ensuring that the top of the bag remained closed. Add further water as necessary bearing in mind that the ideal consistency is runny (like pouring cream) without lumps. When the mixture is well mixed, snip off the corner at the bottom of the bad and using trawler pour plaster mix over the cast. During this step my supervisor pointed out that the mixture was not to be pour directly into the cast as this would destroy fine detail. Using the trowler gently tap the surface of mixture to ensure plaster settles into all of the impression and any air pockets are released. After 5 minutes using a craft knife inscribe suitable detail into the cast. This was not necessary in my case as I was just running the practical in order to see whether everything was going as intended however once the students started to do this activity they would have to inscribe their initials into the cast so they could distinguish between their casts. After the inscriptions the cast was left to take form for 45 minutes. Once the cast was dry I carefully tapped the edges of the casting frame to loosen and remove it. Then gently lifting the cast and keeping it over the tray brush off excess debris with brush so the details of the tread can be seen. At this point the cast was finished. I was told by a police officer how worked with us during the practical that in a real life crime scene the cast would not be cleaned. The cast plus soil would have been allowed to dry for at least 48 hours before they would be packaged and send intact to forensic scientist laboratory to be examined. The soil or debris attached to the cast may hold a small piece of evidence which could be crucial in solving a case or in the case of the above activity identifying the correct suspect which left the imprint behind during the burglary incident. The skills and knowledge that I took away from this activity was to pay attention to small details such as these which could really make a difference when it comes to solving a crime. The second activity was the Electro-Static Lifting Apparatus. This device is more commonly referred to as ESLA. ESLA consists of a high voltage power supply/control unit, a nickel-plated steel ground plane and a metalised lifting medium. It is used to lift impressions in dust from nearly any surface. It uses static electricity to attract the dust particles from the surface to a dark-colored lifting film, allowing for a clear and accurate photograph of the print. A grounding wire attaches to a grounded metal surface and a live wire attaches to a special metallic film. The unit is then activated. The film is statically attracted to the surface and dust particles are attracted to the black side of the film. A roller is provided to smooth the film over the surface. A flashlight is provided as an oblique light source to detect and photograph dust marks. This procedure ultimately produces the desired image which in my case was the footwear imprint. The activity was again carried out as a t eam however since this activity included the use of high voltage was done as a group of three to ensure that everything was cautiously done. The objective of this activity was to visualise a footwear print which was left behind on a clean surface using the dust particles that remained on the ground. The procedure went as followed: Using the crime light 80L ( a LED line light which is used for locating evidence such as fibers, hair or footwear prints in a crime scene) at a low angle we had to locate the area of shoe dust print to flooring sample. Using the Projectina Dustprint lifter my supervisor lifted the dustprint mark Following this I turned on ESLA and let the current run over the metal foil which was covering the of the shoe dustprint. After approximately 30 seconds ESLA was turned off to lift over the foil and using the crime light 80L I visualised the left to determine whether the electrostatic attraction drew the dust particle together to form the footwear mark. After confirming that it did I had the other colleague sketch the resultant lift on the crime report. This delicate procedure not only depended on precision but also accuracy. When the students carried out the activity, the sketch of the imprint was given a mark depending on the quality and accuracy of the sketch so one had to take extra care when placing the metallic foil on the dustprint not to destroy the arrangement of the particles and also while sketching the imprint. The third activity in the practical was the suspect shoe comparison. This activity differed from the other two I had done so far. Instead of retrieving footwear marks or dustprint marks my job was to examine 2 pairs of suspect shoes I received for comparison. After close examination I noted their code according to the FSS coding sheets. The FFS coding sheet holds the information of shoe types and patterns. Using the Bigfoot (a specialised set of equipment used to take footprints from shoes) I made a print of each shoe and labeled them appropriately then using a pen I had to highlight the areas of interest on the Bigfoot prints that were made. Finally I compared the Bigfoot prints against the Cast which we made during the first activity as well as the ESLA lift produced in the second activity to see whether any of the pairs were the ones which were found in the crime scene. I was told that in real life forensic scientists do this to point out the areas that overlapped with footwear evidence that was retrieved from the crime scene. Sometimes there are factors that help identify which shoe corresponded with the print that was left behind at the crime scene these include the size of the shoe. Some of the not so obvious features become more apparent following the completion of the Bigfoot analysis. The analysis tells you a lot about the sort of person which wore the shoes for example worn out soles indicate that the person wearing the shoes must have done a lot of walking. Distorted sole patterns arise due to the weight which is put on them. It is little clues such as these which narrow the number of suspects down. The final activity of this practical was the Tool Marks activity. What I had to do here was to examine the UPVC (a material used in manufacturing windows, gutters as well as doors) sections with the tool mark damage on them. Using silicon casting kit I made a cast of the marks and allowed them to dry for approximately 15 minutes before removing the from the wood. Once the silicon cast had dried I took it and compared it to the tools which were recovered from the suspects to see if any of the tools matched the cast. To identify the features and pattern of the tool mark and the cast I used a magnifier. This delicate procedure required a lot of patience and a steady hand as it took a while until align the tools with the cast however once this was done I was able to confirm which tool was used to make the tool mark. The final stage of this activity was to sketch and label the tool that made the tool mark. The information gathered from the practical was tabulated and filed away. The tabul ated results would then be used by the member of the teaching team to compare them against the results the students would gather. Following the completion of the practical I was asked by my supervisor to prepare a table of results using the computer. This table was to be used by the students to fill in their obtained results. The table also included a set of question which they had to answer. During my second week in the placement I was introduced to the crime scene house which was also situated on Clifton campus. The Crime scene house had been established very recently as It was formally an accommodation for postgraduate. It was now being used as a sort of training facility that simulated real life situation. The houses propose was for the students to hone their investigation and retrieval skills as well as get used to the idea of operating in a real life surrounding. The house itself was equipped with CCTV cameras in order to monitor the students while they were carrying out various scenarios. The forensic science department worked closely together with the Nottinghamshire police as stated earlier. The benefits of this was of course the fact that students would get advice from experienced officers on how to deal with murder investigation, burglary cases and drug searches. My role as an assistant technician was to prepare the house for the appropriate activity that was going to take place. The scenario that I was asked to set up was a Drug search activity which was scheduled to take place during the course of the week. I was working alongside my supervisor and a member of the Nottinghamshire police who told me that this activity was quiet complex in a real drug search. Sometimes the places the drugs were hidden were unimaginable thats why you had to think like a criminal in order to find them. For health and safety measures the items which were to be used for the exercise were not real drugs. Once the drugs were all placed away I went back to the offices and designed a table using Microsoft word which held the information of the different kinds of drugs and equipment that were used and the precise location they had been placed in the crime scene house. This was done in order to keep track of the items the students retrieved and to remember which items had been placed where in the house. On the following day while the students were undertaking the Drug search activity my supervisor and I went into the CCTV room in order to monitor the students progress. My supervisor familiarised me with the operating system and the different functions that were necessary in order to control each CCTV individually. After I was comfortable with operating the CCTVs I was left with the task of monitoring the actions of the students as they were doing the activity. During this I had to note down any action which went against the code of conduct they had been taught during their lectures. When entering a crime scene it is of utmost importance that one wears the appropriate equipment such as a protective suite which covers you from head to toe, gloves and a mask. This is to stop you from covering the scene with your fingerprints, hair strains or saliva traces. Some of the students made mistakes such as the ones mentioned and it was precisely these acts that I had to write done in the log b ook. While I was watching I noticed that some of the students were retrieving the items quicker but in turn they did not find all of them. The items they did not find or rather overlooked were the items which I placed in the more obvious locations such as under the carpet. The others were retrieving the items at a slower pace however they managed to find all of them. This highlighted the fact that patience really was a virtue. After they had retrieved everything the unknown samples of drugs were brought back to the lab for testing. The other activity which took place in the crime scene house towards the end of the week was the murder scene activity. The preparation of this activity involved using life size dummies which looked shockingly real. Depending on the scenario the dummy was either male or female. The dummy we used that week was the male dummy which had cut wrists as well as a slit throat. It was placed in the double bed room. During this activity the students had to examine the room the victim was found in for fibre traces, footwear and any DNA traces. Once the room was adequately searched the students would go back to the lab to observe one of the members of staff demonstrating how to properly transport a corpse. During the demonstration it became apparent to a lot of students including myself that the transport of a corpse from a crime scene was not as straight forward as it seemed. Before the corpse was put in a body bag the limbs had to be wrapped in forensic evidence bags as they may hold crucial pieces of evidence which could be uncovered during the autopsies which take place in the forensic labs. I mentioned earlier that as part of being an assistant technician I had to take place in a Health and safety talk in order to familiarise myself with the daily hazards which encompassed the workplaces. The talk raised some interesting points of about the dangers of carelessness during work or how the arrangements of items could cause serious problems during evacuation. The talks main focus was about maintaining a good workplace at all times. It showed how one could increase their work efficiency by rearranging their desk, prioritising the items they need in order of their usefulness at the time. The talk went on to explain the necessity of taking short breaks when working on the computer. The breaks would allow you to take your gaze away from the monitor thus easing the strain on your eyes. A general rule of thumb is to look into the distance as this relaxes your ciliary muscles. Moving about during these small breaks is also very useful as it gives you the chance to get up from your chair and stretch your muscles. These few simple roles proved to be a very useful set of skills even now as Im writing this report. Throughout the practicals and scenarios that my supervisor, colleague and I did, I felt that our teamwork and communication kept improving to the point were it was almost flawless. This in turn greatly enhanced the rate of completing various tasks and practicals as there was less mistakes. After a while I was even able to help the students with minor technical difficulties of the camera equipment. The other major practical that I prepared and tested was the Inked Fingerprint practical. Fingerprints are taken for several reasons some of them are: To establish an individuals identity. To find out whether someone has a criminal record. In the case of migration the home office takes fingerprints to identify whether a person is illegal in the country. To clear a suspect of committing a crime. Using fingerprints as evidence in a court case. The Police use them to find out whether an individual has had any previous convictions. This practical also involved several different stages which when tied together provided me with the chance to develop an understanding of the range of fingerprint pattern types. Also while doing this practical my supervisor introduced me to the procedure that is involved in taking fingerprints from actual crime suspects. Once I had completed this exercise I understood the nature of fingerprint characteristics and I was able to handle fingerprint equipment as well as taking fingerprints from individuals. Before starting the procedure however I was made aware of the health and safety aspects of this practical. Even though the risks that encompassed were minimal I had to wear a lab coat to ensure that no ink came in contact with my clothing. The first part of the practical required teamwork as such I worked with my supervisor. This part of the practical divided the groups into two roles. One person had to supervise and take the prints whereas the other had to assume the role of the susp ect who was having their fingerprints taken. For the sake of understanding the practical I assumed the role of supervision. The materials that were used included: National arrest form Fingerprint ink Copper plate Ink roller Card form holder Palm roller Wipes A4 paper Magnifying glass ID sheet Linen tester Russell Comparator In order for obtaining the best possible prints I had to ensure that my hands were thoroughly washed, dried and free from perspiration, the ink plate was clean and inked appropriately and my wrists and fingers were relaxed making sure not to assists the prints by adding pressure to the plate as this only leads to inaccuracy. Once the precautions were set we went into the preparation procedure which was as followed: Complete the details on the form Fold the paper along the lines indicated Place the form under the fingerprint card in such a way that it leaves the right hand impression visible. Dot 8 to 12 equally spaced out dots of ink on the plate. Once this has been done roll the ink out evenly until it has a semi mat finish. Take a test impression on the plain A4 paper. If too much ink is used on the paper clogging will form between the ridges if however too little is used the ridges will appear grey. The aim in each case was to produce a fingerprint which had sharp black ridges and white interspaces. The trick of removing excess ink from the plate was to lay a blank piece of paper over it and pass the roller over it until the plate had an even layer of ink. As part of the health and safety precautions I had to bear in mind to check for cuts, skin disease and the quality of the ridges. This was to make sure that the ink would go into the cuts and cause an infection or agitate the skin. Once the practical had been set up we went through the practical as followed: The rolled impressions were obtained by rolling the digit through 180 degrees from nail edge to nail edge in order for the complete area of rigid detail on the inner surface of the finger to be recorded. My supervisor indicated that it is recommended to do this slowly as it produces a better quality of fingerprint. Take the fingerprints starting with the right thumb and working your way across the form, taking each finger in turn to the right little finger making sure that the right digit appears in the suitable space. After completing the right hand adjust the fingerprint form in the holder in such a manner as to allow the left hand prints to be taken. Once it has been repositioned repeat the same steps with the left hand taking care to position the digits. The reason the plain impressions are taken before the rolled impressions is to certify that the rolled impressions have been taken in the correct manner on the fingerprint form. I was told that they may prove very useful to a fingerprint office therefore it is very important that they are recorded within the area chosen for them and do not overlap onto other lines or printing. When these were taken I had to move the form down in the holder to expose the plain expression section. As soon as this is done I took each of the suspects hands and pressed all four fingers together onto the ink plate, lifted them off and onto the appropriate space and pressed all four fingers down together. After this I took them of and used the same procedure to get the thumb prints. The final part of the practical was to take the palm prints. Using the ink roller I covered the whole palm and finger surface of my supervisor with a coating of ink. Finally I had done this I placed the heel of the palm onto the paper and drew the hand back over the over the roller to the fingertips, exerting a little pressure. Once the practical was complete I put away the equipment and prepared the lab for research students that were working on a project that involved the use of cameras and 80L crime lights. I realised that throughout the placement my organisation and communication skills kept improving. Thanks to this it made me a more reliable person. The various tasks that were allocated to me by my supervisor reflected this. Being responsible for setting up practicals, backing up CCTV footage for later use and preparing equipment for research students has also increased my confidence of managing tasks by my self. The health and safety speech has also helped as it made me aware of the hazards that I used to ignore before. Personal development Having completed my placement at the forensic department I must say that this has been a priceless experience for me. The placement has not only given me an insight in the day to day activities that encompass a forensic scientist but it has also helped in further developing the key attributes and understandings that one needs in order to excel in any given workplace. I believe that the way I carried out the tasks that were assigned to me had a direct influence on my personal development and of course vice versa. Judging by this I would like to think that I carried out my daily tasks and completed them to the best of my ability. My attitude also contributed to my development. Generally I was quiet content with my workplace. At the beginning it took a while to adjust to certain aspects of the placement such as timekeeping, sticking to the deadlines and schedules and bearing the responsibility of setting up practicals. These demands and responsibilities required that I had to learn quic kly and adapt in order to prevail in this workplace. I realised during the placement that one of my weaknesses was the accuracy and reliability of the practicals I had prepared. This is only natural as forensic science was not my area of expertise however since I applied for this placement it meant that I had to follow the same conduct and set up the practicals in the exact same manner as a forensic technician would do. My supervisor also gave me the advice of taking my time while setting up the practicals. In order to resolve this issue I paid particular attention to the other technicians while they were setting up practicals. As a result of this the reliability of my practicals improved immensely over the course of the placement. One of my stronger assets that my supervisor commended on was my organising ability and initiative. I was able to resolve an issue that occurred with the backing up of the CCTV recordings. The recordings were usually burnt on a CD however for some reason when they were empty even though the burning of the CC TV recordings was successful. I suggested the idea of uploading the recordings on an external hard drive. This had a number of benefits as it was capable of storing many more Giga bytes of CCTV recordings and in the long run would work out cheaper than to keep purchasing CD ROMs. Overall I would say that this placement has transformed me into a more responsible, reliable and punctual individual who is able to work as part of a team, as well as work individually in order to accomplish the task that is set out to the best of his ability.

Islam Essay -- essays research papers

Visiting a mosque for the first time for any non-Muslim can be quite a daunting and intimidating experience if one doesn’t know exactly what to expect. A mosque is the place of prayer for Muslims within the Islamic faith. It is a house of prayer, one very much like that of churches and cathedrals for Christians, Synagogues for Jews, and temples for Hindus and Buddhists, but with its own distinct rules, rituals, and services. Mosques are not only the center of religious prayer amongst Muslims, but rather also serve as the center of any Muslim community and society in the area. Muslims, however, don’t always have to pray in mosques, other than Friday, the Muslim holy day of the week, much like Sunday in Christianity. The reason why Friday is the holy day of the week for Muslims is because the Prophet Muhammad was born on a Friday. The Prophet Mohammed taught that prayers are obligatory at least five times a day, and subsequently, can be held anywhere as long as it is sin cere to Allah. The word â€Å"Islam,† in Arabic, means â€Å"submission to the will of Allah.† The Islamic Mosque, and or Masjid, as it is referred to in Arabic, is a place where Muslims bow before Allah declaring their obedience to His will. The history of the Islamic Mosque dates back to the time of the Prophet. Mosques usually contain a place for washing and cleansing oneself before prayer. This cleansing in Arabic is referred to as â€Å"Wudu,† a physical and spiritual purification of oneself before submitting themselves to Allah in prayer. I took a trip to a local nearby mosque in Miami two weeks ago with a Muslim friend of mine on Friday. His name was Ali, and he is a Pakistani-American. The mosque was called â€Å"Masjid AL Noor,† and is located in downtown Miami. It was a Sunni–Islamic mosque. Sunni Muslims comprise the worldwide majority of Muslim adherents, as opposed to Shi’ite Muslims, whom comprise the minority of Muslim adherents. However, the Sunni/Shi’ite schism within Islam is for the most part more political, rather than that of religious. My friend, whom I came with to the Sunni-Islamic mosque was actually a mainstream Shi’ite Muslim. He usually goes to this particular mosque because its closer to where he lives. According to him, a mosque is a mosque, and Muslims, all Muslims, are brothers in faith, regardless of sect. Friday prayers, also known as â€Å"Salat e Juma† in the Quran, is mandatory fo... ... keep up with their prayers, give alms (charity), pay their dues (zakat), the essence of modesty, as well as the frequent recitation of the Quran. The imam recited â€Å"ayahs,† which are passages from the Quran, and then gave an English translations of it. The mosque was comprised of a very diversified crowd of all backgrounds and ethnicities. One saw some Middle Eastern people, many Indians and other South Asians, people from the Far Pacific and Oriental looking, African Americans, as well as some Anglo Saxons. It felt like a tightly knit diversified community. My experience at the mosque was that of one of an extraordinary one. I didn’t feel like an outsider, nor uncomfortable at all, but rather, on the contrary, I felt quite welcomed. I find the Islamic religion very fascinating and unique. I am always keen and open to learning about new ideas, belief systems, and faiths. One acquires a greater understanding and perspective of others in how they think, and how they view the world and this life. Overall, I think that this was a rather rewarding experience because it broadened my horizons on the Islamic faith as a whole, something, which I had very little knowledge about prior to.

Life :: essays research papers

Life; A Work In Progress The average person has a grand total of 2 billion seconds to live out their existance. For those of us lucky enough to live out this time in relative health, or to exceed it, shouldn't we be trying for something more? It ends, people. Life ends. There is coming a time when your heart stops beating and you lie dead and cold on the floor somewhere--and that is it. No redo's, no timeouts, no second chances. Only the bittersweet what-ifs that you will have plagued yourself with for the remaining moments of life. 2 billion seconds doesn't seem nearly as long as my life feels, and I am still a kid. And yet we waste time bickering over the television, fighting over the computer, and resenting each-other over petty quarrels. A saying comes to mind when you consider how sad people can be; when you honestly consider that they would throw their time away on such things. It is a classic case of not being able to see the forest, through all the trees. When infact, those trees that you are so desperately trying to see around are the forest. You are trying to get past that next tree and then, then the forest will be in plain site. Only, it isn't there, and one more tree is in the way. First the tree of graduation is in your way and soon the tree of college jumps behind it. The tree of mediocre jobs blocks your view for years as you try and see around it it. The tree of midlife, or of retirement get in your way as you try and see the trees of contentment, happiness and fulfillment that affirm that 'yes, you have made a difference', and that when your two billionth second chimes to a close, and your eyes glaze over, you will not have been forgotten. That is all we want, people. That is it. One simple goal that will push every American until they die. That one goal of having meaning. Trying to hold on to the fact that, "if I make a difference in someone else's life, then mine will have mattered." So the question is, if making a difference to someone else's life is so important, and they are trying for the same goal you are, then why isn't making a difference in your own life just as important.

Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution, Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution Essay

Due Process of the law, a legal principle, is a guaranteed right that was provided to us by the Constitution and it simply means we have protections. These rights that are guaranteed to us are â€Å"life, liberty and property without a chance to defend them†; some also believe that we also have the right to a â€Å"pursuit of happiness†. (Bill of Rights). When we think about Due Process we need to think fair process or fair procedures. This practice is known as Procedural Due Process. â€Å"Standing by itself, the phrase â€Å"due process† would seem to refer solely and simply to procedure, to process in court, and therefore to be so limited that â€Å"due process of the law† would be what the legislative branch enacted to be† (Heritage.org/constitution) . The Fifth Amendment states that we have the right to due process. Which if you are accused of a crime it means that the accusers must show fair and reasonable circumstances. Due process means that you have the rights to show cause and be taken to court swiftly. This process is called an arraignment. This right is one of the guarantees of the Fifth Amendment. The Constitution clearly defined and separated federal and state powers. The Constitution also provides the protection of individual rights which include but are not limited to a trial by jury if it is a criminal case. Because of the fifth and the fourteenth amendment we have certain guaranteed due process of law simply means that we have protection against a chance deprivation of life, liberty or property. The fourteenth amendment is the actual key that opens the door for the federal government to make sure that the states laws are lining up with the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. The Clause In other words and basically means â€Å"fundamental fairness†.(Constitution and the Bill of Rights). The definition of fairness is the condition of being just and impartial. That is what is alluded to and a guaranteed of the federal and state laws and is inclusive. In 1787 a United States Constitution was drafted with a system of checks and balances by the creation of the executive, legislative and federal judicial branches of government. The Framers of the Constitution did not consider it a necessity to include a specific right in the bill of rights. At first when the Bill of Rights was put together it was not inclusive of  all people. Especially, people of color remembering they were slaves and owned by the framers of the Constitution. It wasn’t until the Civil War was won by the North was the Bill of Rights and the Constitution revised and amendments were added. The thirteenth amendment was the one that made sure that there was no longer slavery. By the end of the eighteenth century, citizens felt that a written constitution was an absolute must. The Constitution was not inclusive of certain rights. â€Å"There was an absence of specific guarantees of individual rights such as the right to free speech, freedom of religion, due process of law, and freedom from governmental search and seizure.† (Legal Dictionary,Due Process). Federalist and Anti-Federalist had very lively debates the Federalist was against and the Anti-Federalist were for the bill of rights. The leader of the Federalist was Alexander Hamilton, he was so opposed to including the bill of rights because he did not see the necessity. The federalist most of them were slave owners there was no need to list specific rights since the national government could execute only the limited powers authorized to it in the Constitution. (Samaha 31-32) The limitation of federal government powers ensured individuals from federal interference. James Madison, convinced the bill of rights was necessary to ensure acceptance of the Constitution, started to draft the original bill of rights. Hurtado v. California was decided in 188, this particular case rejected the idea of due process. This case involved Joseph Hurtado and Jose Estuardo what was so interesting about this case is that these two gentlemen were friend. Jose Hurtado was seeing Joseph Hurtado wife. When he asked him to leave town Hose simply replied that he would. He didn’t leave but continued to see Joseph wife. Joseph responded by shooting him once in the chest, then in the back,(Cortner 1981, 18,19). What makes this case a rejection of the due process is that the state of California refused to follow the process of a grand jury indictment by grand jury review. The prosecutors made the decision to indict Mr. Hurtado. This was a clear violation of the fifth and the fourteenth amendment. They indicted him using† charging by information† method. A long story short Hurtdo was sentenced to be hung by his neck by the judge. The decision was upheld by the state court. Hurtdo appealed to the United States Supreme Court and they decided to uphold the lower court decision. Their thought was that the state criminal procedure was a local matter and  none of the federal government business. Much to my surprise I thought they would overrule the state’s decision. This case was a clear violation of Joseph Hurtdo fifth and fourteenth amendment. The Supreme Court ruled in Griswold v. Connecticut, 381 U.S. 479, 85 S.Ct. 1678, 14 L.Ed.2d 510 (1965) the â€Å"intent† was to protect certain private areas from governmental interferences. The Supreme Court ruling in the Connecticut statue did prohibit the use of contraceptives was unconstitutional under the Due Process Clauses of the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments. Individual rights such as the right to marry, the right to choose whether to keep a child or to abort the child,(Roe vs. Wade), is the choice of the individual and not the government. Another case that I want to discuss is the Scottsboro Boys whose rights were taken advantage of. They were people of color who were accused of throwing so white boys off the train and also accused of raping two white girls. There were nine of them one was only twelve, another was blind in one eye and only had ten percent vision in the other eye. These gentlemen were tried and convicted to death by electrocution. There was popular support for the Scottsboro boys. A long story short it was ruled that denying a right in the Bill of Rights violates fundamental principles of liberty and justice which lie at the base of all our civil and political institutions† (Samah,33) It embraced within the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.† I think that it is so important that the fore fathers of our country put in place the Fifth Amendment and the fourteenth amendment guarantee us due process. Due process helps the citizens of the United States from being taken advantage of. By that I mean that the courts would do what they willed against the constituents of the United States, especially people of color. Due process helps to protect a person against unfair and false accusations. Federalist Paper: Federalist No. 84. New York: McLean’s Edition, 1787. Criminal Procedure: The meaning of Due Process

Distributed Leadership Essay

Leadership is the important activity that motivates an individual to achieve the predetermined objectives. This motivation nurtures inspiration that boosts us towards the goal. Now, comes the discussion of whether the leadership can be centralized or it can be distributed among various people. Once we start the discussion of distributed leadership, it should also be known whether it is a horizontal or vertical distribution. Horizontal distribution means distributing the leadership among the same level of people whereas vertical distribution again forks into top-down distribution and bottom-up distribution. Exploring these different approaches we identify two dimensions along which to consider the knowledgeable changes they raise about measuring how school leadership is distributed across school staff – data source and data focus. We should also observe the variations between schools and between activities that are adapted for distributing the responsibilities of leadership. Let us also consider different ways of studying how the work of managing and leading schools is distributed among people in schools and the methodological and philosophical pros and cons involved in this work. If we closely observe the daily lives of schools, we can think from a distributed perspective which has the potential to provide useful insight into how management and leadership unfold themselves. In the process of distributing the leadership, we can identify numerous entities in the school across which leadership can be distributed, including people in the aspects of the situation such as routines and imaginations. While there have been recent advances in articulating the conceptual frameworks for distributed school leadership, the empirical research base in this area is less developed. With a few exceptions, most empirical work has involved small samples of schools. While performing this study of distributed leadership, we come across two important observations to be made: Across which school actors do researchers hypothesize leadership and management is distributed? What aspects of leadership and management work are hypothesized to be distributed across people? These two questions lead to many sub questions like: Who should provide evidence of distributed leadership? Leaders, followers, or both? Among leaders, should researchers seek evidence on formal leaders, informal leaders, or both? Should the proof on distributed leadership come from self-reports or from more objective measurement plans such as the reports given by others through surveys? How do these various methodological choices about measuring the distributed leadership affect the validity of data? We can use multiple ways of identifying actors within schools among whom the work of leadership and management might be distributed. A distributed perspective serves as a new conceptual frame. It helps us understand leadership practice and how leadership practices might work more effectively in the context of schools. It is not a type of leadership or a style of leadership. It’s not a model of leadership. It’s not something you place on top of a school and say, ‘Now you are doing distributed leadership. ‘ A distributed perspective is thinking about the situation as an integral part of the leadership context; it is an integrated view of leaders’ thinking, their activity and behaviors, and the situation. The distributed perspective focuses on leadership activity. In an organizational context, leadership activity might be trying to sell a vision in the context of the school or trying to transform the instructional practice in particular classrooms within a school. It is the activity that we are trying to understand. Think about the constellation of people who are involved, how the context shapes what happens with that activity, and how artifacts might be an integral part of that activity. The distributed perspective is integrative thinking about all of those pieces and on leadership activity itself. The roots of distributed leadership is an outgrowth of activity theory and distributed cognition. Activity theory is about how an activity system works. Think of the cockpit of an airplane – the people in the cockpit, the instrument panel, the people who are trying to help the plane land – and try to think about the activity of landing the plane not as something an individual person does, not as something the instrument panel does without the people, not as something a pilot could do without the air traffic controller. Try to think about the whole activity system. This is comparable to what is meant by leadership activity. With distributed cognition, we are trying to think about how sense making is stretched over social interaction and artifacts in an environment. The context and social system matter. Distributed cognition suggests that people’s thinking and actions don’t happen in a vacuum. Thinking happens through social interaction and interaction with the environment. These impact how the leadership activity happens. Distributed leadership integrates these central ideas from activity theory and distributed cognition. We think of leadership as an influence relationship – the ability to influence the practices of others in ways that bring about a ‘major change in form, nature, and function of some phenomenon. But distributed leadership moves beyond trying to understand leadership through the actions and beliefs of single leaders. It is constituted through the interaction of leaders, teachers, and the situation as they influence instructional practice. Distributed leadership is a powerful way to understand leadership activity in schools in more complex and interconnected ways. Distributed leadership can also be called as ‘dispersed leadership’, ‘collaborative leadership’, ‘democratic leadership’ and ‘shared leadership’. ‘Dispersed’ appears to suggest leadership as an activity that can be located at different points within an organization and pre-exists delegation which is a conscious choice in the exercise of power. The idea of dispersed leadership is captured by David Green’s term ‘leaderful community’ which involves a community in which people believe they have a contribution to make, can exercise their initiative and can, when relevant to the task in hand, have followers. The Collaborative leaderships operates on the basis of ‘alliance’ or ‘partnering’ or ‘networking. ’ Network learning communities, sponsored by NCSL are an expression of collaboration across the boundaries of individual institutions. Collaborative leadership may also apply to an ‘inter-agency context’, expressed in schools’ joint work with community agencies, parents, teacher groups, and other external stakeholders. Leadership as ‘democratic’ is by definition antithetical to hierarchy and delegation. Elsbernd suggests four defining characteristics (i) a leader’s interaction with, and encouragement of others to participate fully in all aspects of leadership tasks (ii) wide-spread sharing of information and power (iii) enhancing self-worth of others and (iv) energising others for tasks. Democratic leadership can either take the form of consultative (where a leader makes a group decision after consulting members about their willingness) or participative decision-making (where a leader makes the decision in collaboration with the group members – often based on majority rule). Shared leadership is best understood when leadership is explored as a social process – something that arises out of social relationships not simply what leaders do. It does not dwell in an individual’s qualities or competencies but lies between people, within groups, in collective action, which defies attempts to single out ‘a leader’. A common message that runs through these definitions is that leadership is not the monopoly of any one person, a message that is central to the notion of distributed leadership. In distributed leadership, it is not only the headteacher’s leadership that counts but also the leadership roles performed by deputy heads, substantive teachers, support teachers, members of school councils, boards or governing bodies and students. Leadership is ‘dispersed rather than concentrated’ and does not necessarily give any particular individual or categories of persons the privilege of providing more leadership than others. In this light ‘distributed leadership’ cannot be said to be a new leadership technique but rather an intellectual label that seeks to re-enforce the fact that leadership needs to be a shared activity in schools. It should therefore be conceptualised, not simply as another technique or practice of leadership, but, just as importantly as a way of thinking about leadership in post-heroic terms rather than a heroic phenomenon. In this way, we can distinguish clearly between delegation – as a heroic phenomenon – in which distribution is initiated solely from the top (headteacher) and distributed leadership – as a post-heroic phenomenon – in which distribution does not solely depend on the headteacher’s initiative. Everyone in the schools should have the opportunity to exercise leadership from the youngest child through out and not just a selected few (Secondary head) and problems in the schools should be dealt openly and honestly with the involvement of other people (secondary head). Staff who have only been in the school for a short time could also be school leaders in that they show by their personality, by their vision, by their jobs, commitment, expectations and values that they have got the capacity to lead. In a sense, anyone can be a leader. It is a process that a lot of staff can demonstrate. Formally, the process of distribution is initiated by the headteacher who identifies and delegates leadership responsibilities to individual teachers. Schools, in some places are structured in terms of designated leadership and managerial roles through which the headteacher delegates responsibility. Such delegations may be driven by a headteacher’s recognition that others have expertise that he/she does not have. Distributed in this way, there is an expectation of delivery and the headteacher’s role is to ‘support and provide’. The formality characterising the distribution process gradually leads unto a less formal or informal approach as headteachers develop trust in their teachers and become more confident in teachers’ leadership capabilities. As headteachers become more comfortable with their own authority and feel more able to acknowledge the authority of others they are able to extend the compass of leadership and to ‘let go’ the more. This is evident in one headteacher’s comment: ‘I think initially from top-down through delegation and as it progresses it becomes both bottom-up and top-down. People who show willingness to take some levels of initiative from any direction are really encouraged. And I love to see it really happen and that’s when I become happy’.