Sexual abuse in young children: its clinical presentation and characteristic patterns

A retrospective record survey was performed using all child clients aged less than 7 years seen at a community mental health center during the period 1982-1984. The total number of 202 children fell into three groups: sexually abused (n = 37), physically abused (n = 35), and nonabused clinical children (n = 130). These groups were compared in order to learn more about sexual abuse in young children. Family background of both abused groups were similar to each other but differed from the nonabused group in having more factors related to family stress than the nonabused group. Clinical presentations of all the children overlapped a great deal symptomatically; however, the sexually abused children had a statistically significant higher frequency of inappropriate sexual behavior than the other two groups. Several characteristics of the abusive patterns suffered by the two abuse groups differed at or near statistical significance: sexually abused children were more often victimized in single acts by nonrelated child perpetrators than were physically abused children.     

Theory and practice in self‐esteem enhancement: Circle‐Time and efficacy‐based approaches—a controlled evaluation

There are differences of opinion about self‐esteem enhancement in the classroom; these differences exist at both conceptual and practical levels. The aim of this study was to ascertain whether techniques employed by primary school teachers as a day‐to‐day part of their teaching can have measurable effects on the self‐esteem of their pupils. Two different approaches to self‐esteem enhancement in primary classes were evaluated. The participants were 519 primary school children and their teachers (n = 21). Circle‐Time and efficacy‐based approaches were compared with a control condition over a four‐month period. On two self‐report measures of self‐esteem, gains were found for both experimental conditions, but not for the controls. Significant sub‐scale differences suggested that the two approaches achieved their effects in different ways, consistent with a two‐dimensional model of self‐esteem. Circle‐Time methodology, focusing on the creation of a climate in which individuals are respected and valued, is more likely to help children to develop a sense of self‐worth. On the other hand, an efficacy‐based approach tends to focus on the achievement of performance goals, and is thus more likely to develop the self‐competence dimension. It is argued that we should now reconsider how we think about self‐esteem enhancement in primary classrooms.     

“If They're Trying to Say Something About My Culture … I'm Confused”: Recognizing and Resisting Authenticity in Latino-Themed Television

The television landscape has expanded to include an ever-increasing crop of culturally themed programs aimed at the Latina/o audience. Assumptions about the audience have shaped this trend, resulting in questions about the effectiveness of niche programming to satisfy viewer taste. This project investigates LatiNation with specific focus on the differences in the reception process based on participants' connection to their ethnic identity. In-depth interviews were conducted with self-identified Latina/o students who were also given a survey with scaled items to measure their connection to their ethnic identity. In general, the findings indicate that audience members produce varied readings of the text showing the participants actively negotiate identity by using LatiNation as an opportunity to both embrace and critique Latinidad.     

Difficult from the Start: Implementing the Brown Decision in the Kansas City,Missouri Public Schools

This article explores the history of school desegregation in Kansas City, Missouri. It examines the development of the school district's initial 1955 desegregation plan based on neighborhood schools, and the impact of that plan. Extensive analysis is devoted to the plan's shortcomings, particularly the provisions allowing students to transfer between schools and the manner in which massive demographic change in the city undermined school desegregation. Finally, the article explores the origins of busing for school desegregation in Kansas City during the early 1960s, the modifications made to the busing plan following protests by the city's civil rights organizations, and the subsequent court decisions that gave shape to the city's magnet schools desegregation plan.     

Back to the future: do lessons from Finland point the way to a return to model schools for Northern Ireland?

The paper examines the school-based element of initial teacher education (ITE) and the ways in which it contributes to the professional learning of student teachers in Finland (University of Helsinki) and Northern Ireland (University of Ulster). In particular it seeks to assess the potential of Training Schools for Northern Ireland. Universities in Finland that provide teacher education have at least one designated training school in which all student teachers have the opportunity to undertake a practicum. The Finnish model was selected for comparison because of the country’s consistently excellent results in the OECD’s Programmes for International Student Assessment which is undoubtedly due, in part, to the quality of the teachers. Teaching/training schools have featured prominently in recent reviews of teacher education in England and Scotland and, while not specifically mentioned in the Northern Ireland (NI) review document, the overall concept could enrich the school-based element of ITE in NI, using existing collaborative networks of schools.     

Income and the development of effortful control as predictors of teacher reports of preschool adjustment

This study examined the relations of income and children's effortful control to teacher reports of preschoolers’ social competence and adjustment problems. This study tested whether changes in effortful control accounted for the effects of income on children's adjustment. A community sample (N = 306) of preschool-age children (36–40 mos.) and their mothers, representing the full range of income (29% at or near poverty, 28% at or below the local median income), was used. Path analyses were used to test the prospective effects of income on rank-order changes in two aspects of effortful control, executive control and delay ability, which in turn, predicted teacher-reported adjustment problems and social competence. Lower income predicted smaller rank-order change in executive control, but did not predict changes in delay ability. Smaller rank-order change in delay ability predicted greater adjustment problems above the effect of income. Larger rank-order change in executive control predicted greater social competence and fewer adjustment problems above the effect of income. These findings provided some support for the hypothesis that disruptions in the development of effortful control related to low income might account for the effects of low income on young children's adjustment. Effortful control is potentially a fruitful target for intervention, particularly among children living in low income and poverty.     

Camus,habitat and the art of seeing

The early essays of Camus have been underexplored as educational texts. The discussion here introduces these texts for educational consideration. The analysis uncovers themes which link to existing educational research on Camus. As these are autobiographical texts they also provide new insight on the genesis of Camus’ thinking on subjects of interest to education, and Camus’ own educational journey into the absurd. The discussion here suggests the lyrical essays explore the connections between learning and the natural landscape, and as a result, they suggest a concept of education based around seeing the world a certain way; a communion with the natural world as a basis for understanding and happiness.     

Increasing the supply of secondary teachers in sub‐Saharan Africa: a stakeholder assessment of policy options in six countries

Over the next decade many countries of sub‐Saharan Africa will face a demand for qualified secondary school teachers that current systems for teacher recruitment, training, deployment and retention will be unable to meet. While strategies for increasing teacher supply to meet this shortage have been suggested, less attention has been given to investigating the acceptability of these potential solutions by those educators closest to the school and classroom level and who often serve as gatekeepers to policy implementation. Kingdon’s multiple streams model is the framework used in this study to assess the feasibility of key strategies widely offered as possible solutions to resolve the projected teacher shortage. This study investigated the responses of 114 secondary school teachers, headteachers and education officials across six countries to policy options for increasing teacher supply. While none of the groups supported options to increase the supply through changed teacher training, there was support among all three groups for options that affected retention, including increased in‐service training and distance education, more mentorship for new teachers and more opportunities for teachers to network with each other. These findings suggest that policy‐makers in sub‐Saharan African countries need to build political support among education stakeholders to find the most feasible and viable solutions to address the large teacher shortages through both increasing supply and retention.     

The place of ICT in Irish schools: Early indicators of the changes since IT2000

This study explains early school-leaving in lower secondary education in the Netherlands, taking into account background characteristics, family resources and school composition factors at the same time. We distinguish four groups of school-leavers: ‘dropouts’ (those without any qualification), those who leave school with a diploma in lower secondary education (‘low qualified’), those who complete apprentice-based tracks (‘apprentices’) and those who continue education and receive a full upper secondary qualification (‘full qualification’). The breakdown into these four groups reveals clear differences in the effects of different factors on the risk of early school-leaving.     

Postgraduate coursework in Australia: issues emerging from university and industry collaboration

Coursework masters degrees in Australia have experienced rapid, decentralised growth since deregulation at the end of the 1980s. The result is an extraordinarily high level of diversity and some confusion as to standards, strategic positioning, purpose and educational approaches. Throughout this period of growth, a sense that large-scale (often distance-education based) collaboration between universities and with industry would be beneficial has not always led to successful outcomes. Using a new collaborative, industry-funded postgraduate coursework program as a case study, this paper describes the issues that decision-makers need to address and evaluates the challenges and benefits of the coursework masters in higher education. The outcomes of industry surveys, student interviews and action research suggest that postgraduate coursework can facilitate technology transfer and aid capacity building, through mechanisms similar to ‘mode 2’ research. With some additional systems to ensure sustainability and standards, this could position coursework masters to be uniquely valuable nationally.