TOTs: A time‐on‐task analysis of ethnic minority children in a multilingual nursery school

This paper presents a time‐on‐task analysis for a group of six 3‐year‐old children during their first term in a multilingual nursery school. The children are third‐generation British, born to families who are settled migrants. Data were collected using observation schedules specially designed to gather contextual data (Geertz, 1975), to describe the ways in which these young pupils spent their time in the nursery school. The children were observed on two separate occasions, on their first day in the nursery and then again 12 weeks later towards the end of their first term in formal education. Data analysis will be presented in the form of graphs to demonstrate the change in the patterns of time‐on‐task during the period of enculturation into the school environment. Findings differ from previous time‐on‐task analyses for monolingual children of a comparable age in a similar setting (Sylva et al., 1980).     

Infusing two models of evaluation into a military environment: A case study

Determining the worth and effectiveness of training used within a military environment is the same accountability responsibility that educational organizations, businesses, and social agencies are charged with for improving programs and services to society. The need for accountability implies the process of evaluation, particularly in governmental training programs. This article provides a case study, blueprint, and action plan for the infusion of two evaluation models as the foundation for determining the effectiveness of training within a military application.     

Predicting abuse-prone parental attitudes and discipline practices in a nationally representative sample

OBJECTIVE: According to sociological and ecological models of abuse, typically nonabusive parents could behave abusively towards their children under certain circumstances. The purpose of this study was to examine factors that place parents at risk of abusing their children by predicting parents' use of discipline practices and attitudes that may bias parents towards abusive behaviors, which we refer to as abuse-proneness. METHOD: A telephone interview was administered by the Gallup Organization to a nationally representative sample of 1,000 parents. Using a set of theoretically relevant risk factors, multiple regression was used to predict variations in parental attitudes (i.e., attitudes towards physical discipline and attitudes that devalue children) and parental discipline practices (i.e., physical discipline, nonphysical discipline, and verbal abuse). RESULTS: The findings confirmed the importance of examining elements of parental attitudes, history, personality characteristics, as well as religion and ideology in predicting abuse proneness. Child age also was an important predictor in all analyses except predicting parental attitudes that devalue children. The findings suggest also, however, that it may be unduly simplified to regard parents as somewhere on a continuum of nonpunitive to punitive disciplinarians. Social isolation was not a significant predictor in any of the analyses. CONCLUSIONS: Although many important theoretical predictors of abuse proneness were confirmed, many questions arise regarding the diversity of discipline practices that parents use, and the relevance of child's age and social isolation in predicting abuse proneness. Implications for practitioners and future research are discussed.     

The DEVELOPMENT OF HUMAN CAPACITY IN MALAWI: THE ROLE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

Faced with accelerating poverty, the Malawi government has re-awakened its commitment to the development of human capacity and the role of development in this context. This paper explores the relationship between development and science and technology. It goes on to review the country’s science and technology needs and how these justify taking developmental action. It concludes that strategies designed to increase access to education should not be limited to the primary sector, but should also include secondary curricula and university science and technology programmes. Drawing on the arguments in the article and personal experience, the authors suggest promoting the development of human capacity in Malawi by creating special “science schools” in the secondary sector and increasing the number of scholarships for university science students.