Young adults’ social skills are independent of their parents’ social skills

It has been suggested that young people's social skills are influenced by the parenting styles, and modeling of social skills by their parents. To test these hypotheses, 141 university students completed measures of social skills and engaged in a brief interpersonal interaction from which several behaviors indicative as social skills were assessed. In addition, 127 mothers and 111 fathers of these subjects completed measures of their own social skills and parenting styles. The results indicated that both parental parenting styles and parental social skills were poor predictors of the young adults’ social skills. In most cases parental predictors explained less than 10% of the variance of any of 15 social skills variables assessed in their children.     

"Is This a Chapter Book?": Parent-Involved Categorization in a Kindergarten Classroom Book Collection

Abstract

Many primary school classrooms have book collections. Most teachers organize and maintain these collections by themselves, although some involve students in the processes. This qualitative study considers a third approach, parent-involved categorization, to understand how people without library or education training categorize books. We observed and interviewed parents and a teacher who worked together to categorize books in a kindergarten classroom. They employed multiple orthogonal organizing principles, felt that working collaboratively made the task less overwhelming, solved difficult problems pragmatically, organized books primarily to facilitate retrieval by the teacher, and left lumping and splitting decisions to the teacher.     

International University Education: An Australian Perspective

This paper attempts to explore the effectiveness of UK universities' websites. The area of branding in higher education has received increasing academic investigation, but little work has researched how universities demonstrate their brand promises through their websites. The quest to differentiate through branding can be challenging in the university context, however. It is argued that those institutions that have a strong distinctive image will be in a better position to face a changing future. Employing a multistage methodology, the web pages of 20 UK universities were investigated by using a combination of content and multivariable analysis. Results indicated ‘traditional values’ such as teaching and research were often well communicated in terms of online brand but ‘emotional values’ like social responsibility and the universities' environments were less consistently communicated, despite their increased topicality. It is therefore suggested that emotional values may offer a basis for possible future online differentiation.     

Researching learning outcomes: building confidence in our conclusions

The ESRC Teaching and Learning Research Programme is expected to produce knowledge of high social scientific quality and practical pedagogic value. It faces, in a particularly acute form, the issue of how confidence in its conclusions can be built. This article begins with some conceptual clarification of the notion of a ‘warrant’ for research findings and distinguishes between warrants in social research and warrants for educational policy and practice. It then, in the specific context of research on learning outcomes, proposes an integrated model that recognizes the importance of, and relationships among, criteria associated with research design and empirical work, theoretical coherence, relationship with other research, and user affirmation. It concludes by emphasizing the need for continuing debate about, and development of, the roles and relationships of ‘researchers’ and ‘users’.     

International student security: a view from Beijing

Security is an integral component of the relationships that shape the lives of students hosted by foreign countries. International student security became a source of contention between nations in 2008 when China's Government charged that Australia was failing to adequately provide for the safety of Chinese students. We discuss Beck's theorisation of the ‘risk society’ and Clements' notion of balancing risk with opportunity. We draw on interviews undertaken in Beijing to highlight the importance of student security and the need for hosts to accord attention to the views of parents as well as students. Our findings reveal that parents play a major role in the study‐location decision, tend to accord security greater weight than do students when location is being debated within the family, utilise a range of strategies to keep students secure and believe host governments and institutions have primary responsibility for student well‐being.     

Patterns of psychological state anxiety in public speaking as a function of anxiety sensitivity

Previous empirical studies of anxiety patterns associated with public speaking performance have exhibited major differences between the psychological and physiological waveforms. Moreover, current research indicates that, in physiological studies of public speaking anxiety, several different patterns are embedded in the overall pattern, thereby demonstrating the importance of discovering the proper differentiated pattern for any given speaker. In the present study, the general psychological anxiety pattern for public speakers was examined in order to attempt to discover if independent, differentiated, patterns reside within the global pattern. A primary and a secondary pattern emerged. These sub‐patterns are significantly different from one another at all major moments or milestones of the experience. In a second study, these patterns were identified by differing levels of anxiety sensitivity. Theoretical, pedagogical, and therapeutic implications of the findings are discussed.     

NO LIMITS TO AMBITION – WHAT ROLE ADULT EDUCATION?

‘…dreams were more often dashed than realized, prophecies ran awry, and mountainous visions produced mere mice.’ (Whitelock, 1974, p.295).     

Whither the Common Good? A Critique of Home Schooling

This analysis shows home schooling to be part of a general trend of elevating private goods over public goods. The discourse around home schooling centers on issues of individual rights and private benefits, rather than the public good. Yet, the public has an interest in education because there are unavoidable aspects of education that make it a public good. However, home schooling denies this public interest. It undermines the common good in two ways. First, it withdraws not only children but also social capital from public schools, to the detriment of the students remaining behind. Second, as an exit strategy, home schooling undermines the ability of public education to improve and become more responsive as a democratic institution. Thus, home schooling is not only a reaction to, but also a cause of, declining public schools. Therefore, it diminishes the potential of public education to serve the common good in a vibrant democracy.     

The learning experiences of health and social care paraprofessionals on a foundation degree

Foundation degrees have been developed in the UK as a means of meeting the learning needs of paraprofessionals in health and social care and the services within which they work in a cost‐effective fashion. Workplace learning is an intrinsic component to these degrees. Taking a socio‐cultural perspective, this paper examines how the students’ workplaces, life circumstances and sense of career trajectory shaped their learning experience and motivation. A small‐scale evaluation study, using semi‐structured interviews, focused on the learning experiences of a group of paraprofessionals enrolled in a foundation degree in health and social care. Data revealed fragmented employment patterns, underpinned by consistent vocational drives. While the study resonated with vocation, participants were ambivalent or lacked information about career progression. Workplace conditions, relationships and limited time shaped learning and coping strategies. A strategic and focused approach to student learning is required and includes attention to career pathways, workforce development strategy, the requirements of a range of stakeholders, workplace supervision and support for learning.