Family learning and the socio-spatial practice of ‘supportive’ power

Family learning has been an important mode of education deployed by governments in the United Kingdom over the past 20 years, and is positioned at the nexus of various social policy areas whose focus stretch beyond education. Drawing on qualitative research exploring mothers’ participation in seven different family learning programmes across West London, this paper looks at how this type of education is mobilised; that is, how mothers are ‘encouraged’ to participate and benefit from this type of programme. Framed by a neo-liberal policy climate and Foucauldian writings on governmentality and surveillance, we explore how participating mothers are carefully ‘targeted’ for this type of learning through their children and through school/ nursery spaces, and how programmes themselves then operate as a supportive social space aimed at facilitating social networks, friendship and personal development linked to positions of gender, ethnicity, class and migrant status. It is the socio-spatial workings of ‘supportive’ power and power relations that enable family learning to be mobilised that ensures its popularity as a social policy initiative.     

Society,individual, family,and school factors contributing to child mental health in war: The ecological-theory perspective

Mental health problems are common in war-affected areas, but children have different levels of vulnerability. Based on ecological theory (Bronfenbrenner, 2005), this study analyses how factors related to the child (cognitive capacity), their family (parental depression and parenting styles), and their school (teachers’ practices and peer relations) mediate the association between traumatic stress (traumatic war experiences and stressful life-events) and child mental health (posttraumatic stress and psychological distress symptoms). The participants were 303 Palestinian children (51.2% girls) of 10–13 years (M = 10.94 ± 0.50) and their parents from the Gaza Strip. The children filled in questionnaires during school classes and the parents did so at their homes. The results of structural equation modeling substantiated the hypothesis that parental depression, poor parenting and low-quality peer relations mediated between traumatic stress and children’s mental health problems. Contrary to the hypothesis, child-related factors did not mediate that association. To conclude, parents and peers provide important age-salient social resources for children in war conditions, and psychosocial interventions should therefore enhance their beneficial functions.     

Distress and Suicidality in Higher Education: Implications for Population-Oriented Prevention Paradigms

College students respond to stressful experiences along a continuum of distress and suicidality. This study investigated, from students’ perspectives, the contributors to stress, nature of stress, coping strategies used, and role of drugs and alcohol during stressful periods—all with particular relevance for suicidality. Undergraduate and graduate students were sampled on an online survey from 73 institutions, totaling 26,292 respondents. The pervasiveness of stressful experiences students endorse appears to be more than traditional clinical interventions can manage on their own. Recommendations are, therefore, made about how to utilize population-based prevention to reduce students’ distress and suicidality and improve their mental health.     

Links Between Coping Strategies and Depressive Symptoms Among Girls and Boys During the Transition to Primary School

This longitudinal study examined the association between Chinese children’s coping strategies and depressive symptoms within the context of the transition from preschool to primary school in Hong Kong. Research Findings: Principal component analyses of children’s strategies for coping with stress during the transition to school revealed three factors: negative coping, positive coping, and distraction. Children’s strategies were moderately stable over time, but the relationship between coping and depressive symptoms differed for boys and girls. Girls’ positive coping strategies at Time 1 predicted fewer depressive symptoms at Time 2, whereas girls’ use of distraction positively predicted later depressive symptoms. Boys’ depressive symptoms at Time 1 predicted negative coping strategies at Time 2. The present findings show that distraction may not always be an effective way to help young children reduce depressive symptoms, and that coping strategies may have a greater impact on reducing later depression risk for girls than for boys. Practice or Policy: Implications for future studies and practices are discussed at the end of this paper. This study provides information for educators and government and non-government organizations in developing programs to help children with effective coping strategies during their first year at school.     

Education,parenting and family: The social geographies of family learning

This paper explores the relationship between education, parenting and family through the prism and particularities of family learning. Family learning is an example of an educational initiative, primarily aimed at parents and linked to wider policy concerns, which can be explored through a mapping of its social geographies; family learning is played out across and productive of different sites, spaces and identities. Based on qualitative research undertaken in West London, this paper draws on individual and group interviews with mothers participating in family learning classes and interviews with family learning providers. The key argument we extend is that focusing on the social geographies of family learning ‐ of home, school, work, community and nation ‐ allows us to see how educational initiatives extend the state's reach in family life, producing particular normative versions of family and ‘good’ parenting operating at a range of interconnecting scales. Education remains a cornerstone of family policy in the UK and detailed analyses of specific initiatives at the point of implementation – how they are practiced and received – is vital for better understanding their diverse and varied effects in contemporary society.     

Caregivers of school children with epilepsy: findings of a phenomenological study

Epilepsy is one of the most frequently diagnosed neurological disorders among children. Epilepsy is continuously linked with academic underachievement and social challenges. Despite the implications that these difficulties have for a child's educational success, little is known of how children with epilepsy experience school. Understanding how to best support and accommodate these children can contribute to their positive adaptation and quality of life. The purpose of this phenomenological study by Jillian Roberts and Cheryl Whiting of the University of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, is to understand the school experiences of children with epilepsy. Data was gathered through open‐ended, semi‐structured interviews. The caregivers' narratives were transcribed and analysed to elicit the essential experiences of school children with epilepsy. Five categories were elicited from the families' narratives: (1) health‐related issues, (2) family coping, (3) academic experience, (4) social belonging, and (5) awareness. This information will be particularly useful for teachers and allied professionals serving the needs of children with epilepsy – as well as those with other chronic health conditions.     

Listening to children’s views of spiritual and metaphysical concepts: A new dimension to educational psychology practice?

Educational psychologists (EPs) have for many years been developing techniques for listening to children. The aim of the present research was to investigate ways of listening to the “spiritual” views of children in order to develop questions that educational psychologists might use as part of the assessment repertoire. The study explored children’s spiritual concepts such as their purpose for “being on the planet” and the “meaning of their life”. The findings suggest that primary and secondary school children from mixed religious backgrounds can respond to spiritual questions in a clear way. In addition, most children believed that spiritual views influence how children behave. Further research is required to explore whether children’s views of spiritual concepts are linked to learning and progress in school and in life.     

Teachers’ Social–Emotional Capacity: Factors Associated With Teachers’ Responsiveness and Professional Commitment

Research Findings: Early care and education has pronounced implications for young children’s social-emotional learning. Although program structural and classroom process quality indicators have been widely explored, teachers’ personal social–emotional capacity has only recently been recognized as an indicator of quality. This study reviewed and identified indicators of teachers’ social-emotional capacity and established a two factor structure of psychological load and coping abilities. We also explored correlational associations between teachers’ social-emotional capacity and their professional commitment and responsiveness to children’s negative emotions. The sample consisted of 1,129 teachers in center-based child-care programs and public preschools in the US. We found that teachers’ psychological load (depression, stress and emotional exhaustion) was associated with teachers’ negative reactions to children and teachers’ professional commitment after controlling for a wide range of teacher/classroom characteristics. Conversely, teachers’ coping abilities (reappraisal emotion regulation and problem-focused coping strategies) were related to their positive reactions to children’s negative emotions. Practice or Policy: The findings suggest further studies to identify training and professional development program components that might address early childhood teachers’ psychological difficulties and coping strategies. Child-care programs may also need efforts that support teachers’ social–emotional capacity as a way to improve teachers’ responsiveness and professional commitment.     

儿童早期学习品质的本质内涵、因素结构及学习效应

近年来儿童早期学习品质受到国内外学术界的广泛关注。对61个国内外实证研究及25份新修订政策文本的分析表明,学界对儿童学习品质最基本的理解是学习品质关注的是儿童如何学习,而不是儿童学到了什么,描述的是儿童在趋近学习的过程中和投入学习时表现出来的一系列行为、认知与态度倾向;就其构成因素来说,主动性、坚持性、专注力、好奇心、创新创造、灵活性是实证研究与政策文件共同反映的高频因素;学习品质与儿童的在园学习与入学准备显著相关,且能直接预测儿童未来不同阶段的学业成就;学习品质对儿童的同伴关系、社会能力的发展也有显著影响,并能显著降低行为问题与学业困难方面的风险;学习品质在儿童的学习与发展中起着重要的调节作用,如可以调节低质量学校教育或家庭贫困对儿童学习与发展的负面影响,可以降低个体行为问题对其学业成就的不利影响等。学习品质在儿童早期学习与毕生发展中都具有重要的奠基性作用,未来应进一步探索更为低龄儿童学习品质的因素结构及其发展规律,加强我国教育背景下学习品质对儿童学习效应的实证检验与纵向追踪,探索学习品质发展的个体差异及其增长轨迹,开展相关准实验研究以进一步明确学习品质与学习效应之间的关系。不仅要促进我国儿童早期教育实践领域高度重视和践行儿童学习品质的培养,而且应在宏观政策层面把儿童学习品质的发展纳入学前教育质量评价体系,建立儿童学习品质发展数据库,实施儿童学习品质发展监测。     

Stressors,Self‐Efficacy,Coping Resources,and Burnout among Secondary School Teachers in Spain

The relationships among teacher occupational stressors, self‐efficacy, coping resources, and burnout were investigated in a sample of 247 Spanish secondary school teachers. Concretely, two specific aims were formulated in order to examine the effect of teaching stressors on teacher burnout and the role of self‐efficacy and school coping resources as mediator or moderator variables in the stressor–burnout relationship. Teachers reported that when their pedagogical practice in the school setting was being interfered with or hindered by a set of factors from the multiple contexts involved in students’ learning, problems of burnout occurred. In addition, results revealed that teachers with a high level of self‐efficacy and more coping resources reported suffering less stress and burnout than teachers with a low level of self‐efficacy and fewer coping resources, and vice versa.     

‘You feel ashamed that you are not in the higher group’—Children’s psychosocial response to ability grouping in primary school

The impact of performative focused agendas on how teachers ‘do’ teaching and how children ‘do’ learning cannot be understated. While research continues to highlight the negative impact of ability grouping on children’s academic and social learning experiences in the classroom, policy imperatives (both global and local) continue to promote ability grouping as an ‘effective’ pedagogic tool for meeting the diverse needs of children, especially in the areas of numeracy and literacy. We argue that this is a symbolically violent process that negatively impacts the psychosocial positioning of children as they negotiate their identities within the figured world of the primary school classroom. This in turn influences their learner identities, as well as their perceptions of their ability to learn. Drawing on data collected with 100 children in three case study schools, we show how ability grouping evoked strong emotional and psychosocial responses characterised by feelings of ‘shame’, ‘upset’ and ‘inferiority’ for those in the low-ability groups. In contrast, children placed in higher-ability groups felt a sense of ‘pride’, ‘happiness’ and ‘confidence’. Ability grouping maps a geography of affect within the classroom demarcating not only how children ‘do’ learning, but also how they embody learning through a particular feeling of ‘being’ a learner in the classroom.     

Learning opportunities in the outdoor school–empirical findings on outdoor school in Germany from the children’s perspective

This article examines learning processes and learning opportunities in the outdoor school based on 13 focus-group interviews with children (ages 8–9) at three German elementary schools. For 1 year, cross-curricular teaching had taken place once a week outside the classroom—in natural settings, at cultural sites or on school grounds. The article discusses the learning potential of the outdoor school in terms of activities that the children perceive as dominant, i.e. playing, moving and social cooperation. It will discuss and reflect upon the learning opportunities that arise as well as on the limitations of learning in out-of-school settings and the role of learning in the children’s perception. The study reveals that the outdoor school as a place of teaching, play, exploration and experience offers formal and informal learning opportunities and encourages children to engage among themselves and within their social and inanimate surroundings by challenging them physically, cognitively, perceptually and socially. Learning processes initiated through play, activity and social cooperation are often not perceived by the children as ‘learning’ in the formal sense. Apparently, a significant proportion of the outdoor school’s potential lies in the combination of teacher-structured and informal learning processes that arise spontaneously.     

Social skills training with early adolescents: Effects on social skills, well-being, self-esteem and coping

This study discusses the educational effects of a social skills training on adolescents’ social skills, self-esteem, well-being and coping. A group of 14- to 16-year-old normal adolescents followed a social skills training based on social learning principles. A pre-test — experiment — post-test design was used and the group’s performance was compared with that of a non-intervention control-group. The training was given at school, and the data were collected by means of self-report measures. The results show that the training was successful in several respects: the adolescents’ social anxiety decreased, their social activity increased, their self-esteem improved, and they made more use of adequate coping-strategies. The implications of the results for different sub-groups of adolescents are discussed. Critical attention is also given to two other issues: the type of assessment used and the short-term nature of the evaluation.     

Bridging home and school: understanding immigrant mothers’ cultural capital and concerns about play-based learning

This article explores immigrant mothers’ experiences and perspectives on early learning to identify the underlying principles of parents’ learning theories and their concerns about pedagogic practices at school. It employs data from interviews with nineteen immigrant mothers that reveal a discord between learning beliefs and practices at home and school. The paper argues that mothers’ cultural capital may shape their perspectives on learning, which may subsequently influence their children’s cultural capital and interests. Supporting children’s learning at school requires examining home learning beliefs so that teachers can establish a two-way exchange of knowledge, ideas and perspectives with common objectives of respecting differences and exploring possible reconciliation of differences. This paper urges educators to bridge home and school through engaging in dialogue with parents so that parents’ cultural capital and their understanding about play-based learning work to their children’s advantage.     

Chinese children’s perceptions of aggression among peers at school

Recent research suggests that children may encounter aggressive behaviour during the transition from preschool to school. Yet, relatively few longitudinal studies have been conducted on children’s perceptions of aggressive behaviour in the transition from preschool to school. This study aims to fill a major gap in the literature by exploring Chinese children’s perceptions and experiences of aggressive behaviour, and their ways of coping with aggression, at three points in time: during the last month at preschool (Time 1), the first three months of Year 1 at school (Time 2) and the last month of Year 1 (Time 3). The present study also examines the role gender plays in 79 Chinese children’s perceptions of aggressive behaviour, as depicted in their drawings and accompanying narratives. The children mainly reported physical and verbal aggression rather than relational aggression. The findings provide robust data for understanding how children cope with aggression at school.     

Mothering in Families With and Without a Child with Disability

This paper describes some features of a study which compares and contrasts mothers’ perceptions of their family life in three different family environments, those without a child with disability and those families who live with a child with an intellectual or physical disability. All families have children in the middle childhood period allowing the mothers to reflect on earlier experiences and changes in their family life. Mothers’ psychological characteristics are explored in terms of the coping resources they utilise when meeting stressful life situations in their family and how their personal resilience and vulnerability is related to these individual coping resources.     

Inquiring into children’s experiences of teacher feedback: reconceptualising Assessment for Learning

Few previous studies have explored in detail how children respond affectively and cognitively to feedback in the normal interactions of the primary school classroom and how they relate feedback to their sense of autonomy. This paper reports on a longitudinal study of nine ‘profile’ children aged 9 to 10 years in a UK school. They were observed and video-filmed in threes, twos or individually during literacy and numeracy lessons across two terms from January to July 2010. The video-recordings were shown later the same day to the children who had been filmed, being stopped at frequent intervals to allow the participants to comment on specific feedback incidents. The children claimed that learning was frustrated by overly directive feedback and that their learning benefited when the teacher’s feedback included substantial but not burdensome detail. The children felt their learning was supported by feedback reminder cues and they noticed that negative and positive feedback provoked emotions which could interfere with or support learning. The article concludes by suggesting that Assessment for Learning might be conceptualised as a classroom conversation in which children as well as teachers assess how teacher feedback relates to children’s learning, which would itself constitute a major contribution to their autonomous learning.     

New insights into family learning for refugees: bonding,bridging and building transcultural capital

For over 20 years, researchers and evaluators worldwide have criticised the traditional formula of family learning courses for their narrow vision, and have emphasised their potential to provide a bridge between home and school experiences, building on resources that parents already have, but which are unknown or unacknowledged. This article argues that research into family learning can usefully be linked to Bourdieu's theory of ‘symbolic capitals’ to acknowledge the stores of wealth that refugee families may possess, which can be activated in the new environment to create ‘transcultural capital’– a relatively new concept in the area of migration studies. Putnam's notions of bonding and bridging capital are also helpful in the design of family learning programmes to consider how best to stimulate social cohesion at the present time. An ethnographic study of a family learning course for refugee parents in two South London schools highlights the need for an understanding of the specific strengths and needs of refugee parents. However, this can only be achieved by taking time to find out about their existing networks, the experience that they bring with them, involving them in course design and delivery, and engaging in discussion about their plans for the future.     

Different children’s perspectives on their learning environment

This article reports and discusses findings from an ethnographic case study, aiming to gain a deeper understanding of how different children perceive their learning environment in the first grade of primary school, with regard to social as well as academic aspects. The theoretical framework is based on an interactional perspective, where children’s learning and development are considered to take place in a dynamic and ecological system. The reported results are based on interviews with 16 children, and observed teaching situations during the first year of primary school. Research among children demands special ethical considerations, such as how to avoid questions and interest from the researcher affecting the position of children being vulnerable in some way. The findings show that, within a group of children, facing a similar learning environment, there are significant differences between the experiences expressed. The findings presented support the importance of listening to children when planning educational settings. Listening to and taking into account the children’s different voices is an essential part of research and education that strives for inclusion, learning and well-being of all children.     

Evaluating a method for eliciting children's voice about educational support with children with speech,language and communication needs

This article reports the development and evaluation of a toolkit‐based approach to eliciting children's experiences of educational support, where the children in question experience speech and communication needs. The ‘Your Voice Your Choice’ approach was evaluated using a cross‐case analysis methodology, which represents a novel approach to critical examination of the effectiveness of such resources. We explored seven case studies within a critical realist framework. We found that the toolkit was effective at supporting most (although not all) of the children with speech and communication needs to explore their school learning and support experiences through a scaffolded emotion‐based ‘dialogue’, which was corroborated by observations and other data sources. The toolkit facilitated access to children's voice as they revealed how they felt across a number of relational, learning and support areas, which could be used by services to focus provision and consider how to better support children's social and emotional needs.