Working with schools in identifying and overcoming emotional barriers to learning

This paper reports a case study on working closely with a secondary school, to enhance understanding of disruptive behaviour, through the use of bespoke Continuing Professional Development (CPD) materials. This project evolved from the researchers’ previous research on the extent to which teachers believe disruptive pupils can control their behaviour. A notable finding was the sizeable minority of teachers in both primary and secondary schools who appear to be unaware of the psychological underpinnings of disruptive behaviour. That is, that such behaviour frequently communicates unresolved emotional needs, rather than wilful defiance. The current project aims to develop, implement and evaluate CPD resources developed by the researchers, for a one-day staff training day at a secondary school in north England. Prior to training, school staff completed a questionnaire to “audit” their perceptions of disruptive behaviour in school. Following evaluation, the CPD materials will be made available to other schools. It is anticipated that the materials will enable greater mutual understanding and respect for the ways in which disruptive behaviour is perceived by practitioners and school staff. Moreover, they will provide an urgently needed means of facilitating a shared knowledge base and a shared language for addressing emotional barriers to learning.     

The use of skill tests to predict status in junior Australian football

This study examined whether skill tests were predictive of status in junior Australian football. Players were recruited from the 2013 under 18 (U18) West Australian Football League competition and classified into two groups: elite (state U18 squad representative; n = 25; 17.9 ± 0.5 years) and subelite (nonstate U18 squad representative; n = 25; 17.3 ± 0.6 years). Both groups completed the Australian football kicking (AFK) and Australian football handballing (AFHB) tests, assessing kicking accuracy/ball speed and handballing accuracy on dominant and nondominant sides. A multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) modelled the main effect of “status”, whilst logistic regression models were built for the predictive analysis using the same test parameters. Between-group differences were noted across all parameters, with the combination of kicking accuracy and ball speed on the dominant and nondominant sides being the best predictor of status for the AFK test (wi = 0.25, AUC = 89.4%) and the combination of accuracy on the dominant and nondominant sides being the best predictor of status for the AFHB test (wi = 0.80, AUC = 88.4%). The AFK and AFHB tests are predictive of status, suggesting that their use is warranted as a means of talent identification in junior Australian football.     

How should we categorise self-reported data on subsequent injuries?*

Classifying subsequent injuries is of high importance in injury epidemiology since a previous injury has been reported to increase the risk of a new injury or increase the risk of a more severe injury. Multiple reports have shown that self-reported data provide an extensive view of an injury problem and add valuable information to the understanding of the athlete’s health. The purpose of this study was to display a method that can be used to facilitate classification of subsequent injuries and to discuss challenges faced when categorising subsequent injuries based on self-reported data. The suitability of a new model for Subsequent Injuries Adjusted for Self-reported data (SIAS model) was demonstrated with sport injury data from a cohort of 101 adolescent elite track & field athletes, followed over 52 weeks. A total number of 71 subsequent injuries were identified. Of all subsequent injuries, recurrent injuries represented 69.0% (n?=?49) and 31.0% (n?=?22) were classified as new injuries. The majority of subsequent injuries (n?=?60, 84.5%) occurred after athletes had recovered from a previous injury. Of all subsequent injuries, 15.5% (n?=?11) represented injuries where athletes had not fully recovered from a previous injury. Application of the SIAS model allows for classification of subsequent injuries based on self-reported data on the recovery level of the athletes, the injury onset and injury type. The developed SIAS model follows the consensus recommendations of injury definition, injury classification and is an attempt to increase the understanding of the complex relationship of subsequent injuries in self-reported data sets.     

Discourse Analysis as a Tool for Promoting the ‘Critical Literate’ VET Teacher

The paper deals with the concept of ‘Critical Literacy’ in the context of VET teacher education. It focuses on the question of whether and how critical literacy can be developed drawing on elements of discourse research. This is illustrated by means of a higher educational setting, dealing with business administration textbook usage and research. The impact of our learning and teaching setting is illustrated via an empirical longitudinal study (three-phase pre-post design) of students doing a master’s degree in business education at an Austrian university. Data were initially collected directly before and after the university seminar using a semi-standardised questionnaire (n = 54). In order to obtain an insight into the sustainable impact of our discourse analysis course on students’ thought and actions, in the third phase of data collection, eight participants, who in the meantime had four months experience in VET schools as student teachers (120 h) were invited to a qualitative interview. The paper encompasses a theoretical discussion on the concept of critical literacy, applies it to the target group VET teacher students and shows empirical evidence on pros and cons of discourse analytical course design aiming at the critical literate teacher.     

Competencies in Geriatric Nursing: Empirical Evidence from a Computer-Based Large-Scale Assessment Calibration Study

Valid and reliable standardized assessment of nursing competencies is needed to monitor the quality of vocational education and training (VET) in nursing and evaluate learning outcomes for care work trainees with increasingly heterogeneous learning backgrounds. To date, however, the modeling of professional competencies has not yet evolved into procedures that would meet large-scale assessment (LSA) standards in VET. To empirically test a proposed structural model for client-directed nursing competence and to estimate psychometric properties of a newly developed video- and computer-based test (CBT) to inform subsequent LSA in nursing VET, 402 final-year nursing students from 24 German schools responded to a 77 item CBT. Multi-dimensional IRT modeling was employed to test the subdomain structure and estimate students’ competencies in geriatric nursing. The standardized CBT measures nursing students’ client-directed care competence with acceptable precision (WLE?=?0.76) and does so across the whole range of observed proficiency levels. Structural validity was supported by substantive contributions of test items from all proposed process-oriented subdomains, practice field scenarios, as well as items with and without reference to emotional demands. However, it was not possible to empirically separate the diagnostic, practical or communicative subdomains, probably reflecting parallel, recursive and hierarchical care processes in complex care situations. On average, students in our sample attained 45 % of the maximum test score so it is a demanding assessment of nursing competence. An extensively piloted, valid and reliable CBT is suggested to assess nursing students’ client-directed care competencies at the end of the third year of the VET program.     

Parents who hit and scream: Interactive effects of verbal and severe physical aggression on clinic-referred adolescents’ adjustment

The goals of this study were first, to delineate the co-occurrence of parental severe physical aggression and verbal aggression toward clinic-referred adolescents, and second, to examine the interactive effects of parental severe physical aggression and verbal aggression on adolescent externalizing and internalizing behavior problems. This research involved 239 referrals of 11- to 18-year-old youth and their dual-parent families to a non-profit, private community mental health center in a semi-rural Midwest community. Multiple informants (i.e., adolescents and mothers) were used to assess parental aggression and adolescent behavior problems. More than half of clinic-referred adolescents (51%) experienced severe physical aggression and/or high verbal aggression from one or both parents. A pattern of interactive effects of mother-to-adolescent severe physical aggression and verbal aggression on adolescent behavior problems emerged, indicating that when severe physical aggression was present, mother-to-adolescent verbal aggression was positively associated with greater adolescent behavior problems whereas when severe physical aggression was not present, the links between verbal aggression and behavior problems was no longer significant. No interactive effects were found for father-to-adolescent severe physical aggression and verbal aggression on adolescent adjustment; however, higher father-to-adolescent verbal aggression was consistently linked to behavior problems above and beyond the influence of severe physical aggression. The results of this study should promote the practice of routinely assessing clinic-referred adolescents and their parents about their experiences of verbal aggression in addition to severe physical aggression and other forms of abuse.     

“It Planted the Seeds:” A Retrospective Study of Jewish Family Education's Impact on Families

Current Theories of Moral Education

If one were to attempt to compare the relationship between modern Hebrew spoken in Israel today to the so-called classical language of the Bible and modern English to its equivalent historical counterpart, the closest (and still not the most accurate) analogy would have to be: Modern Hebrew: Biblical Hebrew is like Modern English: Shakespearian English. In reality, however, the language of Shakespeare is much further removed from contemporary English speakers than the language of the Bible is from speakers of modern Hebrew.