The role of law in protecting the child: A critique of the English system

We have undertaken a critical appraisal of the current English system of law regulating: (1) Provision of services designed to prevent children coming into care of local authorities, which are the authorised agencies for dealing with children who are abused or neglected. (2) Ways of receiving children into care and also ways of terminating care orders. We question whether, and under what circumstances, care orders are really necessary. (3) Periodic reviews of children in care. We are critical of the English system and look to models in the USA as guides towards the possible reform of English law. We take the same perspective when considering termination of parental rights. In our opinion good laws do not of themselves provide the care and love which a child requires, but they make the caring possible by loved and loving adults. We argue that the law must provide the best possible framework to allow adequate caring by members of the non-legal professions, such as social workers and foster parents. At the same time the law must ensure that the rights of parents and children are protected.     

Agreement on mission and institutional responses to decline

This study of 56 small- to medium-sized institutions of higher education examines the causal paths between agreement on mission and severity of decline as they predict two types of responses to decline. The mediating effects of causal attributions are also examined. The results suggest that agreement on mission is the better predictor of responses; organizations with a high agreement on mission select fewer operating and strategic responses. An interpretation for these findings is that organizations with a high internal agreement on mission more selectively pursue responses to decline. Decline severity is shown to be of limited value in directly predicting responses to decline for this sample.     

Inclusive practices at the teacher and class level: the experts’ view

One concern for teachers and schools is how to implement inclusion. This paper examines its implementation at the teacher and class level in Styria, (a state in Austria). To do so, a qualitative study with expert interviews was conducted. Twenty-five experts from seven schools and four Centres for Inclusion and Special Education were interviewed. This paper highlights four areas: (1) teachers’ attitudes; (2) co-teaching; (3) individualised instruction; and (4) classroom composition. The results showed that for the inclusion process to be successful, positive attitudes towards inclusion of children with special educational needs are critical. Furthermore, negative attitudes towards inclusion can change if resources and support systems are available. Like every change process, high reliability is necessary to promote inclusion. The special education teacher was seen as an important resource, thus meaningful cooperation between the general and special education teacher was considered as a first step in implementing inclusive education. The use of differentiated teaching methods, along with individual initiatives, were other indispensable practices. According to the experts, these differentiated teaching instructions are implemented better in heterogeneous classrooms, meaning that a classroom composition that corresponds to the normal heterogeneity of the student population is seen as an essential part of teaching.     

Introduction to Section III: Deweyan Growth in Practice

At present, the structures, practice, and discourse of schooling are anchored to a “commercial spirit” that understands students, educators, and parents as economic operators trading competitively in human capital and to a discourse of failure that is disabling those who seek to understand and enact John Dewey's notion of education as democratic practice. Here Barbara Stengel illustrates both the commercial spirit in public schools and the discourse of school failure across two geopolitical settings: Shanghai, China, and urban U.S. schools. She argues that framing the educational enterprise in terms of economic success and failure makes it difficult for educators to address Dewey's vision of democracy and education substantively. Stengel concludes with an acknowledgment that, regardless of putative political commitments, these two public school systems are schooling — though not often educating — the same neoliberal subject, but that Dewey's vision of democracy and education nonetheless remains critical and compelling.     

Bullying among students and its consequences on health

Violence among students at school is an ever-growing problem. Bullying can be defined as all forms of repeated physical or mental violence performed by an individual on another person who is not capable of defending him/herself (Roland & Idsoe, 2001). The three studies conducted here reveal some of the characteristics and implications of this type of aggression. Whether the attacker (s) or the attacked, all protagonists in a bullying episode suffer the consequences of this behavior. Study 1 showed that students who were both victims and bullies had the lowest self-concepts in all areas studied. Victims exhibited inferior self-concepts to bullies, who in turn obtained lower scores than students not involved in bullying at all. Study 2 showed, as expected, that the group of bully/victims reported more psychosomatic problems than all other groups. In addition, there was a positive link between behavioral problems and the onset of psychosomatic disorders. Study 3, which was mainly exploratory, looked at the traumatic impact of bullying and the emergence of addictive behavior. Children who had vivid memories of being the victim of an aggressive act manifested a high level of post-traumatic stress, although no link was observed between post-traumatic stress and the type of aggression (physical, verbal, or relational). A dependency relationship was found between post-traumatic stress and substance use. The results of these studies suggest that the many complexities of the different protagonists of bullying should be taken into account in view of developing servicing that is geared to each individual.     

Which direction for bachelor and master programmes? A stocktaking of the Bologna process

The introduction of a tiered structure of study programmes and degrees is a core aspect of the Bologna Process. Based on recent empirical studies on the implementation of bachelor and master programmes in a number of European countries, an assessment is made of whether the Bologna Process has progressed in this area. However, given the multitude of expectations and different national reform contexts, it is argued that the impacts of measures taken in the framework of the Bologna Process are difficult to assess. Hence, in the conclusion the article points to a number of unsolved problems still existing to achieve the objectives of the Bologna Process.     

Linked lives: stability and change in maternal circumstances and trajectories of antisocial behavior in children

Drawing on the notion of linked lives, this study examined the effects of stability and change in maternal circumstance on developmental trajectories of antisocial behavior in children 4 to 7 years of age. Using data from a national sample of young mothers and growth curve analysis, the study demonstrated that early maternal circumstances influences early antisocial behavior, whereas stability and change in these circumstances both exacerbate and ameliorate behavior problems. Of particular note, meaningful escape from poverty attenuates antisocial behavior whereas persistence in poverty or long-term movement into poverty intensifies such problems. These findings highlight the importance of structural context for parenting practices and the need to consider child development in light of dynamic and changing life-course fortunes of parents.