Young people's views of multi‐agency working

This article outlines the findings from an Economic and Social Research Council funded research project that investigated the impact of multi‐agency working on children and their families. It explored the ways in which young people experience multi‐agency working and it investigated whether young people perceive any benefits from a coordinated approach to frontline service delivery. The in‐depth, qualitative study focused on a cross‐section of five local authorities and collected data through semi‐structured interviews with young people and their parents. The study found that where multi‐agency working is effectively integrated and where different professional services are streamlined, there is evidence of a positive impact on young people and their families.     

Young Cypriots on sex education: sources and adequacy of information received on sexuality issues

Introduction: In the absence of standardised sex education and because schools usually limit their teaching to the ‘health’ aspects of sexuality, young people in Cyprus rely on their peers and the media for information on sexuality. This study examines the sources and adequacy of the information received by young people from various sources on matters related to sexuality and sexual health.

Method: Twelve in‐depth interviews were conducted in Cyprus in 2005 with purposively chosen boys and girls aged 15–18 years using a semi‐structured discussion guide. The interviews focused on participants' knowledge of HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections, safer sex, contraception and abortion. They also explored attitudes and beliefs concerning relationships, homosexuality and mutual consent.

Results: Information about sexual health is primarily received from school in classes that interviewees considered dull or irrelevant. Television, and to a lesser degree magazines, were the main sources of information on sexual relationships, the sexual act, homosexuality and abortion. Sexually transmitted infection knowledge was limited and often erroneous, while attitudes towards contraception use, abortion and homosexuality suggest that negative stereotypes are widespread.

Conclusions: Because the information young people receive on sexuality appears to be inadequate, there is an urgent need to implement comprehensive, evidence‐based sex education in the public schools. It should also address the nature and content of the sexual and reproductive health messages received from peers and the media.     

'It's Just Really Hard to Come to Terms With': Young people's views on homosexuality

This article explores young people's views and beliefs about homosexuality. It is based on data from the Respect study, a multi-method project which involved over 1700 young people aged 11-16 in schools in various UK locations (including Northern Ireland), and from some marginal groups including a gay and lesbian group. Gendered patterns in attitudes to homosexuality and expressions of homophobia are described and examined, the latter generally expressed through the homosocial groups that most inhabit in the early and mid-teens. Some of the ways in which their views are constructed are suggested. Homosexuality for these young people appears to be more a label than 'real', allowing homophobic discourse to keep it distanced and denigrated. But despite strong expressions of homophobia amongst young people, emerging counter-currents were in evidence, often ill-informed and contradictory, but ones that are in urgent need of clarification and broadening out through information and discussion. The views and experiences of young people in the study who had struggled with the process of coming out as gay or lesbian demonstrate the impact of the cultural context of homophobia. These findings have several implications for sex education practice.     

Sources of sex education as a function of sex,coital activity,and type of information

Previous studies of the sources of sex education are reviewed and critically analyzed. Most previous studies have examined the limited issue of which source of sex education is most important, examined the sources of only a few sexual topics, or used inadequate methodology. In the present study, more adequate data regarding the relative contributions of parents, schools, reading, and peers to information about each of 35 different sexual topics were obtained from a sample of 232 male and female, coitally experienced or inexperienced, midwestern college students. Individual reading and peers were the highest rated sources overall and on most of the subcategories of items. Schools were highly rated sources for topics related to the anatomy and physiology of sex and venereal disease. Coitally experienced (CE) individuals reported receiving more information overall than coitally inexperienced (CIE) individuals. However, contrary to previous speculations, CE and CIE individuals did not differ in the amount of information received from parents. Instead, CE individuals received more information through reading and from peers than did CIE individuals. Consistent with previous findings, amount of information received from parents correlated negatively with performance on a sexual knowledge test. Comparison of the present results with previous research suggested a developmental hypothesis, namely, that as individuals develop from early adolescence to young adulthood and become more sexually active, individual reading becomes a more important source of sexual information.     

Pre-service teachers' views on their information technology education

Abstract

The concern that teachers are being inadequately prepared by their pre-service education to be confident and competent users of information technology remains, despite over a decade of computer availability in education systems. This paper examines the views of 234 pre-service teachers who experienced an information technology component in their teacher education course. It finds that many students have low computer self-efficacy and express negative feelings about information technology. These perceptions are gender and age related. It concludes that the need for information technology competency training remains important, but such programmes need to be specifically tailored to account for the wide range of experiences and attitudes of pre-service teachers.     

Young people's concerns about sex: unsolicited questions to a teenage radio talkback programme over three years

This paper describes a novel qualitative study that identified the concerns of young people about sex through a talk‐back segment from 2002 to 2004 on an Australian national radio popular music programme targeting 15–24 year olds. Two hundred and thirty‐one unsolicited callers (150 female and 81 male) went to air over the study period, and 212 (92%) of these asked questions relating to sexuality and sexual health. Content analysis was used to categorise the verbatim data. Four categories were identified: sexual development; sexual and reproductive health, sexual relationship issues and sexual practices. The findings suggest that young people have a wide range of concerns, many of which are very explicit. An important finding was the high proportion of questions related to concerns over relationships. The overall implication for health educators and professionals is that a broader approach to sex education is warranted.     

Understanding parental views of adolescent sexuality and sex education in Ecuador: a qualitative study

Parents' contribution to sex education is increasingly receiving research attention. This growing interest stems from recognition of the influence that parental attitudes may have both on young people's sexual attitudes and behaviour, and on school-based sex education. Studies regarding parental attitudes towards sexuality are, however, still rare. The two main objectives of this study were to explore parental views about sexuality and to understand parental attitudes towards sex education. Four focus group discussions were conducted with parents from high schools in Cuenca, Ecuador. Data were analysed using thematic analysis. The study revealed that parents held a restricted view about sex education, grounded in traditional religious ideas about sexuality, which led parents to understand it as a morally and physically dangerous activity. Although parents expressed a willingness to make good quality sex education available to their children, they reported having insufficient personal resources to fulfil that objective. The results of this study provide important information about the need to develop and adapt sex education to each specific cultural context, thereby confirming the importance of knowing about the cultural traditions and religious beliefs that may form obstacles to effective sex education for young people in Ecuador.     

Sense about sex: media,sex advice,education and learning

The media are widely acknowledged as important in sex and relationship education, but they are usually associated with ‘bad’ effects on young people in contrast to the ‘good’ knowledge represented by more informational and educational formats. In this paper we look at sex advice giving in newspapers, magazines and television in the UK, in sex advice books and in online spaces for sexual learning. We examine some of the limitations of the information provided, consider the challenges for sex advice in the contemporary context, and outline some of the opportunities for academics, researchers, therapists, sex educators and activists to contribute productively to sex advice giving and sexual learning more generally.     

三种知识观的比较以及它们对教育的影响

行为主义者认为知识是联系和各种技能成分的有组织的积累；认知的知识观强调理解不同学科领域中的概念和理论，强调推理、计划、问题解决、语言理解这些一般的认知能力。情境主义者的知识观认为知识分布于人群及其所处的环境中。它们对教育形成不同影响。     

In search of the new engineer: gender,age, and social class in information about engineering education

ABSTRACT

It is widely argued that engineering education needs to change in order to attract new groups of students and provide students with knowledge appropriate for the future society. In this paper we, therefore, investigate and analyse Swedish universities’ websites, focusing on what characteristics are brought to the fore as important for tomorrow’s engineers. The data consist of text and pictures/photos from nine different Engineering Mechanics programme websites. Using a critical discourse analysis approach, we identify three societal discourses concerning ‘technological progression’, ‘sustainability’, and ‘neoliberal ideals’, evident in the websites. These discourses make certain engineering identities possible, that we have labelled: traditional, contemporary, responsible, and self-made engineer. Our analysis shows that universities’ efforts to diversify students’ participation in engineering education simultaneously reveal stereotypical norms concerning gender and age. We also argue that strong neoliberal notions about the self-made engineer can derail awareness of a gendered, classed, and racialized society.     

Embodied [by] Dance: Adolescent de/constructions of body,sex and gender in physical education

Using developmental, sociological, feminist, and dance studies perspectives on the social construction of body, sex, and gender, the author discusses the functions of agency and performativity in the physical education curriculum with specific attention to the embodied performance of culture through dance and movement. Classroom examples of critical and feminist approaches to dance pedagogy are provided to deconstruct body/sex/gender through dance education. A dialectical approach to critical self-reflection is proposed that limits reproduction of the mind/body split, thus reinscribing the body as subject.     

Young children,gender and the heterosexual matrix

In this paper I consider the adult focus of current mainstream gender theory. I relate this to how the concept of the heterosexual matrix originates in a social contract which excludes children from civil society. I argue that this exclusion is problematic both for theoretical reasons and from the perspective of children themselves. I start by discussing the nature of the heterosexual matrix and its foundations. I consider the implications for participation which arise from being named as a child, how that affects children's attempts to claim participation in civil society, and how this is related to children's naming of themselves as gendered. I then briefly consider the possibility that, because of their exclusion, children might also be considered to be exempt from the heterosexual matrix. However, I argue, there is considerable evidence that children are actively sexual beings who also work hard to claim inclusion in local practices of heterosexuality. I end by suggesting that there are three key reasons for this: that the discourses of normative sexuality provide children with a language to express sexual feelings; that self-insertion in the heterosexual matrix is a way for children to claim rights to participation; and that taking up heterosexual formations is a means whereby children can experience the power of naming themselves as part of the social world.     

Young sexual citizens: reimagining sex education as an essential form of civic engagement

Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) pose a significant threat to the health and well-being of populations worldwide, and to young people in particular. Des]pite empirical evidence that comprehensive sex education is an important tool for prevention, the legitimacy and content of sex education in schools continue to be challenged by conservative narratives within society. This paper argues that sex education should be re-imagined as a form of civic training for children and recognised as an important corollary to public health efforts aimed at reducing the rate of STIs. The author's claim builds on notions of sexual citizenship, which consider sexuality to be an essential aspect of citizenship and a form of civic engagement. Sexual citizenship can make three important contributions to the advancement of sex education. First, the model can lead to greater acceptance of the idea of sex education by challenging conservative notions about children and sexuality, which are at the root of the classic objections to sex education. Second, it can help shape the content of sex education by eliciting parallels between civic participation and sex education. Finally, by emphasising how sex education can address some of the social phenomena underlying the spread of STIs, the model can be used to facilitate the incorporation of sex education into public health agendas. Although the author uses sex education in Canada as the principal case study, the paradigm may be equally helpful in other countries.     

From professional lives to inclusive practice: Science teachers and scientists' views of gender and ethnicity in science education

To provide insight into issues of gender and ethnicity in science education, we examine the views of approximately 60 secondary science teachers and university scientists from three different research projects. In each project, participants and researcher explored the intersection of professional and personal identities; views of the nature of science; beliefs related to students' experiences in science education; and kinds of curricular and instructional strategies used to promote access and equity for all students. Participants' interviews were analyzed qualitatively for patterns across these four dimensions of inclusive science education. Analysis of data revealed a wide range of beliefs and experiences along each dimension. From our findings, we argue for careful examination of the ways identities shape instructors' professional experiences and educational practices; critical, constructive conversations about feminist science studies scholarship between professional developers and science teachers or scientists; and reasoned reflection on how views of students can inform recommendations for inclusive content and instruction. We conclude with the call for increased sophistication in the conceptualization and implementation of solutions to the “problem” of women and ethnic minorities in science education, for balancing recognition of systematic gender and ethnic bias with sensitivity to instructors and students' diverse interests and experiences. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 37: 511–547, 2000