Early motherhood and harsh parenting: The role of human,social, and cultural capital

ObjectiveThis study examined the role of maternal human, social, and cultural capital in the relationship between early motherhood and harsh parenting behavior.MethodsThis study used data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing (FFCW) Study. Harsh parenting behaviors by mothers who were 19 years or younger at birth of the focal child (n = 598) were compared with that of adult mothers 26 years or older (n = 1,363). Measures included: For harsh parenting behavior, three proxies were created from the Parent to Child version of the Conflict Tactics Scales (CTS-PC) and self-reports of maternal spanking. For maternal human capital, education, employment, and depression were used. For maternal social capital, expected-social support, paternal support, and lone caregiver status were included. For maternal cultural capital, religious attendance and attachment to race/ethnic heritage were used.ResultsMultivariate analyses indicated that adolescent motherhood has a significant impact on all three harsh parenting behavior outcomes even after controlling for demographic and maternal capital characteristics. Working since the birth of the focal child, depression scores, paternal support, expected-social support, and attendance at religious services made independent contributions to the prediction of harsh parenting behavior.ConclusionsFindings emphasize the importance of the prevention of adolescent motherhood and suggest intervention strategies for reducing the risk of maternal harsh parenting behavior. Further study is necessary to examine the complicated relationships among maternal capital and parenting. One method may be to focus on the development of measures of maternal capital, notably measures of expectations regarding and perceptions of received capital.Practice implicationsFindings from this study have implications for social work practice, particularly for the prevention of adolescent pregnancy and intervention with adolescent mothers and their children. First, the study calls for more recognition of school social work and intervention programs in school settings as important components of prevention services. Second, the importance of identifying fathers and helping them become involved and connected with their young families are highlighted. Finally, practitioners should become more aware of the role of culture in young families as the effect of cultural capital on parenting behavior becomes better understood.     

Crisis in the transition from school to work: The Cross-River-State (Nigeria) lesson

Summary The Cross River State of Nigeria is rich, open, and to some extent its virgin fields of industrialization, its agricultural lands, the petroleum industry and allied business have not only provided employment opportunities for its citizens, but have also helped to boost its economy.At the same time, varied educational institutions have been opened for the education of young people. In 1976, many school age children were enrolled in the primary school because the universal primary education scheme was formally launched throughout the country. Although education in the secondary school level depends on one's ability to pay rather than on one's ability to learn, more parents are today able to pay for their son's and daughters' education than it was the case twenty years ago.While the cost of educating young people in recent times has been increasing substantially, the bad fit of schooling at almost every level has become one of the explosive issues in both the state and the national levels (Abdulatif, 1977). Today there has been an increasing concern about the future implications of: (i) the universal primary education scheme on local communities, state, and national governments, (ii) young adults leaving secondary schools for the world of work with the type of orientation that they have in the secondary schools. This concern is aggravated as school intake is outpacing the growth and the opportunities in the small, capital intensive modern sector of the state's economy to absorb the bulk of the increased in the labour force. This concern is felt more because more students are completing secondary education each year and about 70 percent of those attending some kind of formal secondary institution terminate their education at that level and start looking for some jobs.This report is strictly based on an unpublished doctoral dissertation written by the author at Teachers College, Columbia University, New York, 1977, the title, Secondary School Education and Employment in Nigeria-Implications for Career Guidance: A Study in the Cross River State. This study was conducted in the Cross River State of Nigeria which until February 4, 1976 bore the name South Eastern State.Ahmadu Bello University     

Status of Job Motivation and Job Performance of Field Level Extension Agents in Ogun State: Implications for Agricultural Development

Abstract

The field level extension agents (FLEAs) are the lifeline of the agricultural extension system in Nigeria. Their motivation and job performance are therefore important to achieving faster agricultural development in Nigeria. The study identified the factors motivating the FLEAs working with Ogun State Agricultural development programme (OGADEP) and associates the motivation factors with their job performance level. Eighty of the 126 FLEAs working with OGADEP were selected randomly. The study reveals that financial incentives, remuneration and salary and mobility of staff were the factors rated as the most important motivation factors. The rating also revealed a general low status of FLEAs motivation and job performance. Of the 14 factors identified, boss–subordinate interaction was the only significant predictor of job performance. None of the FLEAs personal factors related significantly with job performance. Policy action needs to consider the adequacy of financing of agricultural extension work in Nigeria in order to achieve sustainable agricultural development over time.     

Does public infrastructure affect human capital? The effect of improved transport connectivity on children's education in the Philippines

While the literature acknowledges the importance of transport infrastructure and improved connectivity to economic growth, a less explored aspect is how these investments impact human capital. This paper seeks to address this gap by evaluating the impact of the Roll-on/Roll-off (Ro-Ro) policy -a policy that allowed for a more efficient mode of inter-island transfer within the country -on school attendance in the Philippines. Using a difference-in-differences strategy, we compare the school attendance of children in municipalities near the Ro-Ro and the non-Ro-Ro ports over the span of ten years. Our results show consistent improvements in school attendance of males and females in the primary, secondary and tertiary level of education in areas near the Ro-Ro ports. We also observe a reduction in child employment, especially in males. Additional tests reveal that the Ro-Ro policy was able to affect children's education through increased household income in areas near the Ro-Ro ports.     

Open and distance education as a strategy for human capital development in Nigeria

The development of human capital has been identified as the most important component of all the factors employed in production economics. Since independence in 1960, Nigeria has placed great emphasis on training and education for human capital formation. However, the education process as the primary means of developing human resource has failed, in its conventional mode, to fulfil the needs of the country. This paper therefore examines the impact of open and distance learning on the human capital development processes in teacher education and other areas in Nigeria, presenting an overview of human capital development efforts in Nigeria with a focus on the tertiary education system. The study also maps out the potential benefits and logical justifications for the application of distance learning systems in the training and development of professionals for the industrial and corporate sectors of the economy. In conclusion, a proposal is made for the full‐scale adoption of open and distance learning as a fundamental strategy for human resource development in the country.     

Leadership and social capital: engaging small Australian communities in development and implementation of learning plans

ABSTRACT

The paper explores the processes by which two Australian rural communities established Community Learning Plans (CLPs). It acknowledges the role of CLPs as contributors to social and economic change through influencing employment rates, income equity, social cohesion and reduction in poverty. In addressing the research question: What factors contribute to the effective development and implementation of a CLP in a small rural community? The paper reveals the importance of evidence and clarity of vision such as improved social and economic outcomes as core rationales for triggering the development of CLPs. The analysis of leadership and social capital resources drawn upon from trigger for a CLP through initiation, development and reflection to sustainable embedding in community, reveals the interplay between formal community leadership structures such as Council, community members, education, business, training and social services, and external actors as a predicator of communities’ ability to enact CLPs. Maturity of social capital resources and leadership processes and resources influence the development and implementation of plans in alignment with community needs and aspirations. The paper advocates for reward and recognition frameworks to help connect, engage and sustain stakeholder groups into community learning initiatives through providing relevance to their business or activity.     

Postschool Engagement Predictors for Youth with Intellectual Disability: Results from South Carolina

ABSTRACT

Postschool outcomes of youth with intellectual disability (ID) continue to trouble practitioners and scholars. The purpose of this study was to analyze postschool engagement outcome data for 360 survey respondents with ID in South Carolina in the areas of employment and postsecondary education/training. Specifically, we examined the relationship of special education exit reason, as well as, student, school, and district variables to youth’s postschool engagement. We used logistic regression to estimate probability of engagement one year after exiting high school. Results indicated that special education exit reason, gender, school retention rates, district attendance rates, percentage of students with disabilities within a district, percentage of students within a district receiving free and reduced lunch, district retention rates, and district suspension/expulsion rates were significantly related to three postschool engagement outcomes. Implications for future research and practice are discussed.     

Blocks are educational: revealing discourses through early childhood policy illustrations

Abstract

In the course of a study on the impacts of changing early childhood policy in Aotearoa New Zealand since 1989, the illustrations accompanying three major government reports and policies stood out as encapsulating the changes in underlying discourses. This enabled the illustrations from these three policy reports to be used for a historical analysis of shifting discourses, which highlighted the trends towards human capital theory and an increasing educationalisation of early childhood as the basis for policy. It is noted that the latter two reports feature cover pictures with block play. The particular historic positioning of block play at the juncture between acceptable early childhood and school pedagogy is explored, suggesting a compromise between discourses of early childhood care and education for human capital development purposes, and for the holistic development of the child.     

Knowledge outside the box – sustainable development education in Swedish schools

Background: Sustainable development, as an area of knowledge, appears in several different places in the curriculum and does not fit neatly within the scope of traditional subject areas. In many countries, including Sweden, it has long been upheld as an important tool for increasing understanding of, and dealing with, environmental problems. It is not clear, however, what role education can actually have in the making of a more sustainable future. Even though there are several potential ways for sustainable development to be involved in education, the concept raises many questions when transferred to the school context.

Purpose: This paper investigates how teachers deal with the difficulty of defining and approaching sustainable development as an area of knowledge in Swedish schools.

Sample: This article is based on semi-structured interviews with 40 teachers, 13 of whom were lower secondary school teachers (pupil age 12–15) and 27 were upper secondary school teachers (pupil age 15–18). The study involves teachers in all subjects where sustainable development is a goal in the syllabus. The study is also based on participant observation in one upper secondary class. A total of 17 different schools were involved, from a wide range of locations in Sweden.

Design and methods: The paper builds on qualitative data and the analysis of transcribed interviews and group interviews with teachers in Swedish lower and upper secondary schools. Group interviews, involving three or more people, were conducted on eight occasions. The pupils at an upper secondary school were also observed while they were working on a course called ‘policy and sustainable development’. Data were transcribed and analysed thematically.

Findings: The analysis suggests that, according to the teachers’ experiences, the demands of equivalence and measurability in school have increased and that this affects how sustainable development is approached in teaching and learning. Three main categories of knowledge were identified. The study also presents two representations that model how teachers may approach knowledge about sustainable development – metaphorically termed ‘the Accountant’ and ‘the Adventurer’ – and their different effects on knowledge.

Conclusions: There is a tendency for complex knowledge areas such as sustainable development, which do not fit seamlessly into traditional curriculum subjects, to become oversimplified when translated into teaching situations. According to the representations that we described metaphorically, the teacher, as an accountant, is characterised by ‘knowledge instrumentalism’, which means that teachers administer knowledge and the pupils consume it. In this transactional model, the accountant is also very dependent on external governance and control. Alternatively, the teacher, as an adventurer, is characterised by authority, knowledge and self-control. In this model, knowledge sometimes grows in an unpredictable way in the meeting between people who share common experiences. For adventurers, sustainable development is a matter of commitment and awareness, and it involves an explicit stance. The metaphors can be placed on a continuum which describes how teachers manage the demands of the school system in relation to the knowledge area of sustainable development.     

Professional development of principals: A path to effective secondary school administration in Nigeria

Abstract

The article examines the professional development of secondary school principals in Nigeria. Drawing from vast review of literature on professional development and appointment of school principals in other countries, the article canvasses the position that secondary schools in Nigeria should be administered by skilled personnel who have the appropriate training and competencies for school management and leadership, rather than the present practice of using years of teaching experience as a major yardstick for the appointment of principals. It advocates systematic professional development programmes for prospective and practicing school principals, and concludes that professional development of principals is a means to maintain and enhance the effectiveness of secondary school administration in Nigeria.     

农村家庭高等教育投资问题的思考：教育公平的视角

投资高等教育是提高农村家庭人力资本存量水平的重要方式,是农村家庭实现“向上流动”的根本途径.但在当前高等教育大众化和就业市场压力下,农村家庭高等教育投资的风险正在增大.针对农村家庭子女接受高等教育机会不均等的现状,从教育公平的视角分高中前教育、高中教育、高等教育、大学生就业等阶段分析其成因,进而提出激励农村家庭投资高等教育的政策建议.     

Dynamic Forces in Educational Development: A long-run comparative view of France and Germany in the 19th and 20th centuries

Since World War II, much of the economic growth literature has focused on the contribution of human capital to national development. Two assumptions have remained largely unexamined: (i) economic stability results from economic growth, and (ii) investments in human capital result in economic growth ( ceteris paribus ). This paper questions this education-stability link by examining longitudinal data from France and Germany across 170 years. Results indicate that human capital investment prior to 1945 was a response to economic growth. It is only since 1945 that human capital investments appear to drive economic growth. A shift since 1973 leads to doubts as to whether the post-war human capital-driven growth is being sustained. The results raise the question of whether human capital investment might not be as much a consequence as it is a cause of economic stability in the course of time.     

高校毕业生考研的机会成本探究及对策建议——以大连地区D大学为例

考研作为一种"个人选择"是源自于每个考研者所做出的理性选择,作为一种"被选择"则是出于制度安排的结果和社会环境影响所致。通过实际调查,利用人力资本理论中对于教育投资进行成本-收益分析的理论和方法,对考研的投资收益进行量化的考察和比较,并引入投资回报率和明瑟收益模型对考研和就业的决策进行分析,通过对比分析得出结论:本科毕业后考研的收益并没有明显大于本科毕业后就业的收益,考研的机会成本已经开始增加;让考研回归理性必须通过国家、学校和个人三个层面共同做出努力,从而使高等教育就业得到持续健康的发展。     

The interrelation of twenty-first-century education and work from a gender perspective

This paper analyses the interrelation of twenty-first-century education and work from a gender perspective. The analysis is carried out theoretically by asking whether human capital theory and Bourdieu’s reproduction theory are adequate instruments for such an endeavour. It is argued that the explanatory power of the human capital concept of the interrelation between education and work is extremely weak, because the human capital concept conceals costs necessary to create human capital. In contrast, reproduction theory comprehends investments in education through reproductive work. But, reproduction theory fails short to explain ongoing gender hierarchies within employment. Therefore, analysis of social and societal structure needs to go beyond the focus on education and work to explain the maintenance of gender hierarchies.     

Capital,inequality and education in conflict-affected contexts

Abstract

Piketty’s Capital in the Twenty-first Century has brought the issue of inequality to the centre of political debate. This article explores contemporary research on the relationship between education and inequality in conflict-affected contexts with a view to seeing how Piketty’s work speaks to these issues as a field of research and practice. The article provides a critique of Piketty’s approach, arguing for a broader, interdisciplinary and holistic approach to exploring and addressing inequality in education in conflict-affected contexts in their multiple economic, cultural and political dimensions. In doing so the article also lays out an analytical framework inspired by cultural political economy for researching education systems in conflict contexts which seeks to go beyond narrow human capital framings of education and address the multiple potential of education to promote sustainable peace and development in and through education.     

Employability and mobility in the valorisation of higher education qualifications: the experiences and reflections of Chinese students and graduates

ABSTRACT

In the last two decades, we have witnessed a rapid expansion of higher education in Mainland China and Taiwan, recording a significant increase in higher education enrolments in these two Chinese societies. The massification of higher education in China and Taiwan has inevitably resulted in an oversupply of university graduates, with growing social concerns for skills mismatches being found in the labour market, stagnant graduate employment and social mobility. This article critically examines how university students and graduates in these two Chinese societies reflect upon their employment experiences. Human capital theory predicts that other things being equal, raising participation in higher education will initially increase inequality as rates of return rise, and then it will reduce inequality as expansion reaches mass levels and rates of return decline. If the output of graduates outpaces the demand for their skills, which appears to be the current case in many countries, then supply and demand pressures reduce the pay premium for degrees and lower income inequalities. However, this study clearly demonstrates that the massification and the universalisation of higher education in Mainland China and Taiwan, respectively, have actually intensified inequality.     

中职贫困生家庭资本、人力资本与就业支持对就业质量的影响研究

为探讨中职贫困生家庭资本、人力资本和就业支持对就业质量的影响,使用家庭资本量表、人力资本量表、就业质量量表和学校就业支持问卷,对796名中职贫困生的就业情况进行调查。研究发现,家庭资本正向预测就业质量,且家庭文化资本的预测作用大于家庭经济资本和家庭社会资本;人力资本在家庭资本与就业质量关系中起部分中介作用,并受到学校就业支持的调节;充分的就业支持可以弥补家庭资本匮乏及其引发的人力资本薄弱。因此,为提高贫困生就业质量,建议重视并激发家庭文化资本的就业促进功能,建立贫困生人力资本补偿机制及构建主客体资源双向流动的就业支持体系。     

构建和谐的高等职业教育结构

结构问题是高职教育内涵发展的重要内容,决定着人才培养的类型、规格、人才结构等重要方面。和谐社会建设对高职教育结构提出新的要求,即为合理分配教育资源、促进人的可持续发展、构建学习型社会作出贡献。构建和谐的高职教育结构,要求高职教育从中心城市向城郊拓展;办学由封闭走向开放;完善层次结构,兼顾就业与升学功能;专业结构由单一化转向多学科融合。     

Urban school leadership for elementary science instruction: Identifying and activating resources in an undervalued school subject

This article explores school leadership for elementary school science teaching in an urban setting. We examine how school leaders bring resources together to enhance science instruction when there appear to be relatively few resources available for it. From our study of 13 Chicago elementary (K–8) schools' efforts to lead instructional change in mathematics, language arts, and science education, we show how resources for leading instruction are unequally distributed across subject areas. We also explore how over time leaders in one school successfully identified and activated resources for leading change in science education. The result has been a steady, although not always certain, development of science as an instructional area in the school. We argue that leading change in science education involves the identification and activation of material resources, the development of teachers' and school leaders' human capital, and the development and use of social capital. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 38: 918–940, 2001     

How Father’s Education and Economic Capital Impact Academic Performance—An Analysis Based on the Mediating Effect and Moderating Effect

Abstract:

This paper uses survey data from educational tracking upon graduation from middle schools in Q County, Gansu Province, and explores the mechanism in which the level of father’s education and economic capital affect academic performance. The study finds that the academic performance of male students is significantly higher than that of female students, and household registration, family capital, and school social capital adhere together to impact academic performance. Low economic income affects academic performance, and high economic income does not necessarily facilitate academic performance. School education that pays attention to academic performance has a direct positive impact, and parent-teacher relations, objectified cultural capital, and economic capital have a direct negative impact on academic performance. The level of the father’s education mainly plays a direct role in impacting academic performance. Economic capital indirectly facilitates academic performance through the mediating effect of parents’ educational expectations, educational support, and attention to school education, and objectified cultural capital has a moderating effect on the impact of economic capital on academic performance.