Theory of mind and social interest in zero-acquaintance play situations

Many studies have examined associations between children's theory of mind and social behavior with familiar peers, but to date none have examined how theory of mind might relate to behavior toward unfamiliar peers in a play setting. Forty-four 4-year-olds (21 girls, 23 boys) participated in standard theory-of-mind tasks and in a play session with 3 or 4 other children who were unfamiliar. Children were also tested on general vocabulary ability. No relations were found between theory of mind and social engagement. However, positive associations were found between theory of mind and time spent observing, but not interacting with, other children. Possible explanations of the links between theory of mind, temperament, and social interest are considered.     

The role of social protection programmes in supporting education in conflict-affected situations

This article examines the role of social protection in supporting education in conflict-affected contexts. In recent years, social protection has gained popularity as a mechanism to reduce poverty and vulnerability, in part by enabling households to better access and use basic services as a result of increased household income. In conflict-affected countries the costs of accessing services are significant and the direct and indirect costs of sending children to school can be the most substantial factor contributing to children’s exclusion from education. While social protection has the potential to play an important role in supporting greater access to education through a variety of instruments, they have not been widely implemented and education remains a secondary objective in the majority of social protection programming. A number of institutional and implementation challenges must be overcome if social protection is to be effective in conflict-affected contexts.     

试论农村家庭教育资源合理开发与运用

现今，农村教育非常薄弱，家庭教育也显不够，开发有创新性的教育资源是当今农村教师和家长的重要任务之一。农村拥有的家庭教育资源十分丰富，有一定的教育价值，我们如何有效地把农村家庭教育资源开发并且利用起来。这需要多方努力来实现。     

家庭和个人教育决策和选择中的风险和不确定性

在市场经济条件下,任何教育决策和选择都具有风险和不确定性,导致个人教育决策和选择出现风险和不确定性的因素有多方面,只要采取积极措施,就能降低不良结果发生的概率,减少风险,降低损失。     

重庆市中学教师社会支持的现状分析

采用“社会支持”量表对重庆市的400名中学教师进行了问卷调查,通过分析发现：重庆市中学教师社会支持在性别上不存在显著差异,在主观支持和对支持的利用上存在显著的城乡差异,在主观支持上存在显著文化程度差异,在社会支持和主观支持上存在显著的教龄差异,社会支持对心理幸福感有积极影响。     

百年来中国的大学自治与社会干预

中国现代高等教育制度自1904年确立以来,面临的重要命题之一就是调适大学自治与社会干预的关系。中国的大学自治经民国初年奠基之后,一直未能得到充分发展,社会干预尤其是政治干预始终保持着强劲态势。这既与中国现代化的特殊路径和背景有关,更有着深刻的教育的内部原因。但在新的时期、新的条件下,中国的大学自治与社会干预的关系出现了值得注意的新动向。     

Educational use of social networking technology in higher education

This study explored how social networking technology can be used to supplement face-to-face courses as a means of enhancing students' sense of community and, thus, to promote classroom communities of practice in the context of higher education. Data were collected from 67 students who enrolled in four face-to-face courses at two public universities in Taiwan. Findings indicated that the majority of participants developed strong feelings of social connectedness and expressed favorable feelings regarding their learning experiences in the classes where social networking sites were used as a supplementary tool. Learner difficulties and concerns of instructors about the educational use of social media are addressed with recommendations for future research and practice.     

The experiences of disabled pupils and their families

In this article, Ann Lewis, Professor of Education at the University of Birmingham, and Ian Davison, Jean Ellins, Louise Niblett, Sarah Parsons, Christopher Robertson and Jeremy Sharpe from the research team provide a summary of discussions and selected recommendations arising from four linked projects run between 2004 and 2006. The projects were funded by the Disability Rights Commission (DRC) and looked into the experiences of disabled pupils and their families across England, Scotland and Wales. A central aim of the research was to identify the key concerns and priorities in relation to their experiences of education for children and young people with special educational needs (SEN) or disabilities and their families in the UK. The research encompassed a UK-wide parent survey (N=1776); in-depth case studies of individual children and young people (N=36); group case studies (of, for example, school councils) (N=3); and a series of project advisory groups involving disabled people. Underlying these aspects was an emphasis on the importance and validity of hearing directly from (potentially all) children and young people themselves. Thus the work meshes closely with initiatives worldwide concerning the recognition of children's'voice'in matters that concern them. The authors are not aware of any comparable evidence which focuses in-depth on a wide cross-section of pupils with disabilities or special needs and their families in the UK-wide educational context and which is located alongside concurrent authoritative data concerning the views of parents and carers.     

Educational policies and social inequality in well-being among young adults

Inequalities in health and well-being are important contemporary public health issues. This article is the first to investigate the institutional causes of inequality in well-being among youth in a comparative perspective. Data from the European Social Survey are used to analyse how educational policies moderate the association between social background and well-being. Multilevel techniques are used to investigate cross-level interactions between social background and educational policies on life satisfaction. Four indicators of inclusive educational policies are analysed: age of tracking, costs of education, enrolment rates, and second-chance opportunities in the educational system. The results show that educational policies indeed moderate the association between social background and well-being: inequalities as measured by the father’s social class are smaller in countries where educational policies are more inclusive. Moreover, the analysis shows that the moderating impact of education policies is mediated by individual-level education, activity status, and income.     

Sexual maltreatment of unaccompanied asylum-seeking minors from the Horn of Africa: A mixed method study focusing on vulnerability and prevention

ObjectivesThe study described in this paper sought to identify the social, cultural, and political factors that effect African unaccompanied asylum-seeking minors’ (UASM) vulnerability to sexual maltreatment in England. It aimed to illuminate how child protection measures could be strengthened for this highly marginalized group.MethodsA mixed method approach was used. Former UASM from Ethiopia, Eritrea and Somalia who had been sexually maltreated in the UK were interviewed in-depth. Prior to the interviews they all completed a questionnaire which captured their biographical details as well as sensitive but factual information.ResultsOf the 53 (N = 53) former UASM who participated in the study only 2 were males. Most arrived in the UK aged 15–17. A range of sexual maltreatment, from sexual harassment to rape was reported. Three quarters experienced more than 1 incident. Most initial incidents happened in the first 12 months of their arrival in the UK. Two perpetrators were female carers. Many participants reported being groomed and sexually maltreated by people from their own country. Many described being seriously sexually maltreated, particularly by groups of young males living in the same accommodation or nearby, some reportedly also asylum seekers. Participants that had been warned of the dangers of sexual maltreatment were more likely to both disclose and to seek professional help.ConclusionsProfessionals should assume that UASM will suffer sexual maltreatment in their host country if not protected adequately, which they are unlikely to disclose. They are likely to need more protection from outside sources and help to develop their personal resources than many have received in the past.Practice implicationsPreventative measures include provision of safer environments, ideally single sex housing; more monitoring and supervision; more opportunities to develop trustworthy relationships and have emotional needs met; greater opportunities to develop language skills/access to interpretation; early information regarding the social system, culture, and sexual maltreatment; and improved professional awareness and competence in dealing with minors from other cultures.     

Social Movements in Brazil and their Educational Work

Using a distinction first proposed by Alain Touraine between historic and social movements, Ghanem's review of grassroots initiatives in Brazil argues that, despite differences in composition and aims, movements such as the landless rural workers, indigenous groups, and the women's movement in Brazil have attempted to shift the current socioeconomic order toward a new equilibrium – a process that is, however, not yet complete. In Ghanem's view, these movements are best described as historic movements. Addressing their educational aims, the author finds that they tend to fall into two types: (1) the self-provision of knowledge related to the set of problems that gave rise to their movement in the first place; (2) the striving for access to knowledge that is due to them as citizens and yet not given to them by the state. Often, social movements in Brazil are obliged to offer educational services through their own resources, services which are characterized by precarious conditions and which make the right to quality education still a distant dream.     

Educational technology and the social sciences in the University of Malaya

This paper examines the role played by educational technology in the four social science faculties of the University of Malaya. Some explanation of what is meant by educational technology is first given. This involves considering three approaches to educational technology found in the literature and these provide a convenient frame of reference for examining the situation in the four faculties. The prevailing conception of educational technology in the faculties is the least developed and least comprehensive of the three approaches. Reasons are advanced for changing the existing situation in order to improve the quality of teaching and learning. Recommendations in this direction are made and it is suggested that they are applicable not only to the University of Malaya but similar institutions of higher education as well.Paper presented at the Association of Southeast Asian Institutions of Higher Learning (ASAIHL) Seminar on Modern Technology in ASAIHL Universities, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, October 16–17, 1981.     

Student perceptions of support services and the influence of targeted interventions on retention in distance education

To improve student retention in distance education, Simpson suggested in 2003 that institutions analyse their own retention characteristics and ‘spot the leaks.’ In 2008 the Centre for Distance Learning at Laidlaw College, New Zealand, employed two part‐time academic support coordinators in an effort to improve student retention and success. This study compares the retention statistics for first‐time student outcomes across two semesters, one without and one with specific course retention interventions. Results are benchmarked across national data. Interviews with students who were retained revealed that students frequently attribute their success to their own efforts. Student support services in distance education might therefore be perceived by its beneficiaries as a ‘hygiene’ factor (Herzberg, 1968, 2008) in that their presence is not generally appreciated by students. However, their absence is noticed. The similarity of this finding with Shin’s institutional transactional presence (2002, 2003) is also explored.     

Regional lifelong learning policies and the social vulnerability of young adults in Girona and Vienna

ABSTRACT

This article explores the interface between lifelong learning policies and the definition of social vulnerability of young adults in two regions located within the European Union. Girona comprises a constellation of small towns with important industry, service and hospitality sectors. Vienna is a global city where many key international operators are based and employ a large number of highly qualified professionals. The article explores to what extent the meta-governance and the ‘causal narratives’ of lifelong learning policies contribute towards shaping the prevailing images of youth vulnerability in these regions. In Girona, bureaucratic governance patterns lifelong learning policies, which strongly rely on the potential of career guidance to encourage the youth to undertake further education. Correspondingly, policy designs and professional discourses emphasise that the beneficiaries previously failed at school. In Vienna, authorities govern lifelong learning by means of both bureaucracy and complex networks of employers and non-profit organisations. The ‘causal narrative’ of the policies straightforwardly claims that all youth must have an experience with employment, whether in apprenticeships or in transitional workshops that emulate real jobs. There, policies portray beneficiaries according to their capacity to undertake and finish apprenticeships.     

Influence of Callahan's vulnerability thesis on Thought and Practice in Educational Administration, 1962 to 1992

This article, a reconsidering of both the benefits and the consequences of the Brown v. Board of Education (1954; Davis and Graham, 1995) case, posits determinations as to the historical significance of the U.S. Supreme Court justices' decision. Carefully weighing the words of the justices renders a position that the decision of the Court and the intention of the Court do not fall in alignment with one another. And despite the rightness of the decision and all that has been reaped in the way of its benefits, still, the decision's unarticulated language has rendered a greater significance and has placed enduring consequences on the public education system, as well as in the greater context of race as a whole.