Child labour and educational success in Portugal

The current debate on child labour focuses on developing countries. However, Portugal is an example of a relatively developed country where child labour is still a matter of concern as between 8% and 12% of Portuguese children may be classified as workers. This paper studies the patterns of child labour in Portugal and assesses the consequences of working on the educational success of Portuguese children. The analysis controls for typically unobserved attributes such as a child's interest in school and educational ambitions and uses geographical variation in policies designed to tackle child labour and in labour inspection regimes to instrument child labour. We find that economic work hinders educational success, while domestic work does not appear to be harmful. Furthermore, after controlling for a host of socio-economic variables, factors such as a child's interest in school and educational ambitions have a large effect on boosting educational success and reducing economic work.     

The role of the Virtual School in supporting improved educational outcomes for children in care

ABSTRACT

In England, ‘Virtual Schools’ oversee and support the educational progress of children in care. This paper reports on the analysis of 16 interviews with Virtual School headteachers that were part of two mixed methods research projects on the educational progress of children in care. These interviews explored their role; the types of support they offer young people in care; what they see as the key factors about a young person’s individual characteristics and care experiences that influence their educational outcomes; how schools support young people in care; and the influence of the foster carer/residential staff on the educational outcomes of these children. The interviews were analysed using NVivo and emerging themes were identified informed by the literature on the education of children in care. The paper draws out the main findings which explore the status and role of Virtual Schools in England, their functions, strategies, and what they see as their contribution to improving the educational outcomes of children in care.     

浅谈山区学校师资队伍的建设

我国山区基础教育比较落后，这与山区师资队伍存在相当多的问题密切相关。本文以宁波市鄞州区章水镇为例，对如何加强山区学校师资队伍的建设进行了尝试性的探讨。     

试析高校学生档案的育人作用

目前对学生档案存在某些不正确的认识和做法,这些认识和做法影响了档案对学生的教育作用.纠正这些不良认识和做法,加强档案的育人功能,是高校义不容辞的责任.     

家庭寄养对孤残儿童社会适应行为的作用

孤残儿童是一个特殊的群体，他们的发展或多或少地有所滞后或者缺陷，在社会适应行为发展上尤为突出。寄养儿童在寄养家庭中得到了情感满足、需要满足、行为支持、心理健康发展。家庭寄养对孤残儿童的适应行为发展有着积极作用。     

Randomized controlled trial of the Child Protection Unit: Grade and gender as moderators of CSA prevention concepts in elementary students

BackgroundDespite the importance of child sexual abuse (CSA) prevention, there are few recent randomized controlled trials of school-based CSA prevention programs.Objectives(1) To evaluate the effects of the Second Step Child Protection Unit (CPU) on students’ CSA prevention concept knowledge, ability to recognize, report, and refuse unsafe touches, and perceptions of teacher-student relations and (2) investigate the moderating role of age and gender on program effectiveness.Participants and settingEight elementary schools in a large suburban school district in the northeast United States were randomly assigned to the intervention or control condition, with analyses conducted on a total of 2172 students.MethodsStudents in intervention schools received the 6-week CPU and those in the control schools were exposed to business as usual. Students were administered assessments at baseline and then at post-test.ResultsUnivariate Analyses of Covariance revealed that students in the intervention schools had significantly higher scores on all outcomes than students in the control schools at post-test, even after controlling for baseline scores. Children in younger grades made greater gains from the program, and girls scored higher than boys in CSA knowledge and ability to recognize, refuse, and report unsafe touches, but both boys and girls made significant gains.ConclusionsResults support the importance of beginning early with school-based CSA prevention efforts. Although boys are still at a relative disadvantage in terms of their knowledge and ability in this area, they are able to make gains at the same rate as girls.     

大学生科研能力培养机制探讨

大学生科研能力是创新素质的直接体现,培养大学生科研创新能力已经成为高教改革的一个重要目标,通过对国内外大学生科研能力培养机制进行对比分析,来探讨我国大学生科研能力培养体系的构建。     

Child behaviors as a moderator: Examining the relationship between foster parent supports,satisfaction, and intent to continue fostering

Foster parents need access to supports and resources in order to be satisfied with their caregiving role and continue providing foster care services. However, they often experience multiple demands in their role as a substitute caregiver that could lead to stress. Child behaviors especially may be a significant factor when considering sources of strain and may be a potential risk factor for negative outcomes such as dissatisfaction or the decision to discontinue providing foster care. The purpose of this study was to examine whether child disruptive behaviors moderated or influenced the nature or strength of the relationship between foster parent supports and satisfaction as a caregiver as well as intent to continue fostering. The sample consisted of 155 licensed foster caregivers from across the United States. Child behaviors served as a significant moderator between some types of supports and satisfaction. Implications for future research, practice, and policy are discussed.     

An analysis of associations between residential and school mobility and educational outcomes in South African urban children: The Birth to Twenty cohort

Using data from Birth to Twenty, a cohort of South African urban children, the current paper investigates the relationships between residential and school mobility and a set of educational outcomes. The findings provide some evidence of a positive association between changes in residence and numeracy and literacy scores, and school mobility was found to be associated with grade repetition, however, no relationship was observed between changes in school and competency in numeracy and literacy. The South African study provides a counter example to trends observed in higher-income countries, while highlighting that associations are likely to be context specific.     

浅谈高校酒店管理专业人才培养对策

近年来,随着经济社会的发展以及旅游市场的壮大,我国酒店业得到了长足发展。然而与我国酒店业发展不协调的是:目前我国酒店专业人才整体匮乏,酒店从业队伍整体素质有待提高。高校是酒店管理专业人才培养的重要基地,本文通过分析当前我国酒店行业专业人才需求的特点,找寻高校酒店管理专业人才的培养对策,以此来更好地为酒店行业服务。     

Child pornography: perpetuating the sexual victimization of children

Children have been sexually exploited throughout recorded history. The invention of the camera and subsequent related technological advances (slides, movies, instant picture cameras and videotape) have provided new avenues for the exploitation of children by facilitating the distribution of pictorial representations of these children on a world-wide basis. A major use of commercial child pornography is to convince a potential child victim that the sexual acts desired by the adult offender are fun, exciting, can satisfy the child's curiosity and are a societally acceptable means of expressing affection. Commercial child pornography publications contain numerous pictures of children viewing child pornography, in some cases replicating the pose(s) depicted in the viewed material. Although many jurisdictions have now prohibited child pornography, the need for a world-wide ban continues, as the remaining producers distribute their material throughout the world.     

北京文化创意产业人才培养问题研究

文化创意产业已成为北京经济发展的支柱产业,如何使之发挥更大的作用,处理好当前发展中遇到的问题,是研究重点。人才是创意产业发展的核心资源,目前北京文化创意产业人才还相对缺乏,创意人才总量、结构、素质还不能适应产业快速发展的要求。基于这一现状对人才培养的途径进行探索。     

Child abuse and neglect re-report rates for young children with developmental delays

The study objective was to examine the likelihood and magnitude of child abuse and neglect (CAN) re-reports for young children (0–71 months) with delays in cognitive, language, and adaptive development, compared to typically developing children. The National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being (NSCAW II), a nationally representative and longitudinal survey, was used to examine CAN re-reports at two follow-up waves, 18- and 36-months post baseline assessments. Logistic regression models were employed to determine the correlation between number of developmental delays and a CAN re-report at waves 2 and 3. Results indicate that children with three or more domains of delays had odds 4.73 times higher than children without developmental delays of re-report to CPS at wave 2 but not at wave 3. In this study, children with multiple developmental delays have elevated rates of CAN re-reports when compared to typically developing children. Allocation of child welfare resources should include strategies for preventing maltreatment risk among children with developmental delays.     

试论学校在培养学生健康人格中的主导作用

随着改革开放的深入，健康人格问题变得越来越突出，尤其是青少年的人格培养问题已越来越引起人们的关注。学校是青少年成长的重要场所，学校教育具有方向性和选择性。因此它对青少年健康人格的形成与培养必然起着关键性、主导性作用。     

Development of school engagement and burnout across lower and upper secondary education: Trajectory profiles and educational outcomes

Inter- and intraindividual differences in Finnish adolescents’ developmental trajectories of school engagement and burnout (exhaustion, inadequacy, and cynicism) and their associations with students’ concurrent progression in mathematics performance and educational aspirations were investigated in an accelerated longitudinal study design spanning ages 13–17 (N = 1131, 50.9% girls). Growth mixture modeling analyses identified four distinct trajectory profiles: Positive academic well-being (high and stable engagement, low and stable burnout), Negative academic well-being (low U-shaped engagement, increased burnout), Disengaged (low U-shaped engagement, but also low and stable burnout), and Declining academic well-being (declining but U-shaped engagement, increasing burnout). Most students experienced a positive change in their trajectories after entering upper secondary education. Furthermore, students in the Positive academic well-being group performed better and progressed faster in mathematics and reported higher educational aspirations. Students in the Declining academic well-being group started out with high performance and aspirations, but they progressed at a slower rate in mathematics and lowered their aspirations over time. The Disengaged students’ performance progressed at the slowest rate of all groups, and they had one of the lowest educational aspirations overall. Lastly, students in the Negative academic well-being group performed the lowest in mathematics, and had one of the lowest aspirations for future educational degrees.     

Not just for poor kids: The impact of universal free school breakfast on meal participation and student outcomes

This paper examines the impact of the implementation of a universal free school breakfast policy on meals program participation, attendance, and academic achievement. In 2003, New York City made school breakfast free for all students regardless of income, while increasing the price of lunch for those ineligible for meal subsidies. Using a difference-in-difference estimation strategy, we derive plausibly causal estimates of the policy's impact by exploiting within and between group variation in school meal pricing before and after the policy change. Our estimates suggest that the policy resulted in small increases in breakfast participation both for students who experienced a decrease in the price of breakfast and for free-lunch eligible students who experienced no price change. The latter suggests that universal provision may alter behavior through mechanisms other than price, highlighting the potential merits of universal provision over targeted services. We find limited evidence of policy impacts on academic outcomes.     

The Impact of Child Care Subsidy Use on Child Care Quality

In 2008, the federal government allotted $7 billion in child care subsidies to low-income families through the state-administered Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF), now the government's largest child care program (US DHHS, 2008). Although subsidies reduce costs for families and facilitate parental employment, it is unclear how they impact the quality of care families purchase. This study investigates the impact of government subsidization on parents’ selection of child care quality using multivariate regression and propensity score matching approaches to account for differential selection into subsidy receipt and care arrangements. Data were drawn from the Child Care Supplement to the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (CCS-FFCWS), conducted in 2002 and 2003 in 14 of the 20 FFCWS cities when focal children were 3 years old (N = 456). Our results indicate that families who used subsidies chose higher quality care than comparable mothers who did not use subsidies, but only because subsidy recipients were more likely to use center-based care. Subgroup analyses revealed that families using subsidies purchased higher-quality home-based care but lower-quality center-based care than comparable non-recipients. Findings suggest that child care subsidies may serve as more than a work support for low-income families by enhancing the quality of nonmaternal care children experience but that this effect is largely attributable to recipients’ using formal child care arrangements (versus kith and kin care) more often than non-recipients.     

解读美国诺贝尔科学奖培养模式

美国综合国力的强盛,得益于科学技术水平的进步,而站在美国科学顶峰的是100多位诺贝尔奖获得者。美国之所以成为20世纪荣获诺贝尔奖最多的国家,就在于它有一套以“功绩本位制”和“优势积累原则”为指导的行之有效的科学英才培养体系。解读该模式,探究其奥秘,对于向诺贝尔科学奖奋力冲击的中国教育界、科学界都是大有裨益的。     

Predictors of quality and child outcomes in family child care settings

Few studies have examined correlates of quality ratings in family child care arrangements. This study analyzes data from a multi-state sample of family child care providers actively seeking professional development for two purposes. First, we examine predictors of observed quality ratings focusing on characteristics of child care providers, the most proximal influences of quality in family child care. Second, we explore associations between three targets of professional development (providers’ attitudes, beliefs, and practices) and the pre-academic and social–emotional skills of preschool-aged children. Provider characteristics indicative of personal and professional resources and stress, as well as providers’ professional attitudes and beliefs, are predictive of observed quality measures. Observed quality and providers’ child-centered beliefs and perceptions of job demands are related to children's developmental outcomes. Implications for future research, policies, and practices are discussed.     

Child welfare services involvement among the children of young parents in foster care

Despite the high rate of early parenthood among youth in foster care as well as the increased risk of child maltreatment among children whose adolescent parents have been neglected or abused, very little is known about child welfare services involvement among children whose parents were in foster care when they were born. This study uses administrative data from the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) to examine the occurrence of child abuse and neglect investigations, indicated reports and out of home care placements among the children of youth in foster. Thirty-nine percent of the children were the subject of at least one CPS investigation, 17 percent had at least one indicated report and 11 percent were placed in out of home care at least once before their 5th birthday. Cox proportional hazard models are also estimated to identify characteristics of parenting foster youth and their placement histories associated with the risk of child welfare services involvement. Implications of the findings for policy and practice are discussed.