Similarities in siblings' experiences of neglectful parenting behaviors

OBJECTIVE: Researchers and policymakers typically assume that within families, individual children are at an equivalent risk of neglectful behaviors. There is evidence that siblings experience differential parental treatment, and some research suggests that parents may maltreat their children to differing degrees. However, because neglect is typically a family-level construct, there may be a high correlation between siblings for this type of parental behavior. Therefore, our objectives were to investigate the extent to which siblings reported similar parental neglectful behaviors, whether sibling correlations for family-level types of neglectful behaviors were greater than those for child-specific forms of neglectful behaviors, whether high-risk groups differed from lower-risk groups in similarity for sibling reports for neglectful behaviors, and factors predicting differences in sibling reports of parental neglectful behaviors. METHOD: We assessed parental neglectful behaviors using child reports for 59 sibling pairs, representing both clinical and community samples. All children completed the Multidimensional Neglectful Behaviors Scale, which measures both child-specific and family-level neglectful parenting behaviors. RESULTS: Sibling intraclass correlations for neglectful behaviors were high and significant, and there were no differences in sibling correlations between clinical and community samples. Furthermore, there were no differences in correlations for family-level and child-specific items. Opposite sex siblings reported greater differences in parental neglectful behaviors, with boys reporting more neglectful behaviors than girls. CONCLUSIONS: Siblings report similar neglectful parenting behaviors, regardless of whether the family is high-risk or not, and whether neglectful behaviors are measured as a family-level or child-specific phenomenon.     

Challenges and strategies for assessing student workplace performance during work-integrated learning

This study explores the challenges of assessing student workplace performance during work-integrated learning. It highlights the need for, yet difficulties with, combining positivist and constructivist assessments where workplace supervisors make evaluative judgements on performance yet students are also agents in their own assessment. It examines the ratings awarded by 163 workplace supervisors for 213 business undergraduates completing a work placement as part of their degree program in Western Australia. Students were rated on 17 capabilities associated with employability and results indicate, in alignment with previous studies, a tendency among supervisors to assign inflated marks across capabilities. The mean capability rating awarded to each student was significantly higher than their weighted course average, suggesting workplace supervisors mark more highly than academics in coursework units. To identify solutions to manage leniency bias, the study examined variations in supervisor ratings for a range of personal and contextual variables such as gender, organisation size, work area and sector. Although supervisor ratings were inflated, they were consistent across the sample with variations recorded for only four capabilities in certain work areas. Reasons for leniency bias among workplace supervisors are explored in light of the findings and alternative approaches to evaluating student workplace performance are presented.     

Gender & information & communications technology-A 10-year study of new undergraduates

In terms of the University of Edinburgh, there are lessons for us from our data, plus some insights from recent surveys and interviews we have conducted with various groups around the university. New students’ reporting of apprehensiveness with respect to use of ICT in their studies has been falling over the years, but now appears to be reaching a stable baseline, perhaps reflecting a group in our population with general apprehensiveness about university life and studies. The steadily rising temale:male ratio in our undergraduate population will tend to exacerbate this issue. One approach which we could take would he to give more information to prospective students about the extent and types of use of ICT in their courses, and to focus in on this topic in the early days and weeks of the first term. Another approach is to provide more explicit guidance to students about the sorts and levels of skills we expect graduates to achieve. We know that students leaving the university for professions such as teaching, medicine and law are more confident about the match between their future employers’ needs than are other students, probably because the courses leading to professional qualifications are more explicit than are more “academic” subjects. Provision of materials to enable students to self-assess their skills against objective tasks might enable men and women to become more accurate in their self-reporting of skills. The formal demonstration (even to oneself) of one’s ICT skills may be more of a support to the technological confidence of women than of men. Although the point applies equally to any students who are anxious about their skills in this domain: self assessment is more important to those low in confidence than to those high in confidence. An example of such objective testing can be found in the European Computer Driving Licence (www.ecdl.org). At present, the university favours integration of ICT skills development into academic studies, which although good for encouraging engagement by its relevance, may well make wider and generic self-assessment more difficult.     

Meat processing company staff as innovation intermediaries: developing a framework from New Zealand’s red meat sector

Purpose: Meat processing companies have the potential to raise farm and sector productivity by directly working with farmers. This study assesses how commercial companies can undertake the roles of innovation intermediaries to increase productivity in New Zealand’s sheep and beef sector.

Design/methodology/approach: This study uses a case study approach from the red meat sector in New Zealand. The case study included the development of a trial agricultural extension system established by staff from meat processing companies acting as innovation intermediaries, providing opportunities for skill development and knowledge transfer for farmers. From the case study, a framework is developed which illustrates how company staff can undertake the role of an innovation intermediary.

Findings: (1) Meat processing company staff are able to successfully undertake the role of an innovation intermediary; (2) flexibility is necessary, as staff undertook each of the functions to different degrees depending on their existing skills and knowledge of agricultural extension and the time available within their current job; and (3) adaptability is important, as staff adapted the project to meet the needs of both farmers and their employer.

Practical implications: Balancing commercial and extension roles is challenging. The framework could assist companies to clarify how individual company staff could successfully undertake specific roles.

Theoretical implications: This paper discusses factors influencing which innovation intermediary roles and functions are optimally undertaken by staff within or outside a meat processing company.

Originality/value: Analysing the role of an innovation intermediary from the perspective of meat processing company staff balancing their extension and commercial role.     

The policy discourse of networking and its effect on school autonomy: a Foucauldian interpretation

Policy discourse officially operates to distinctly influence public perception in an irrevocable and normalising manner. In a Maltese educational scenario of gradual decentralisation and increased accountability, I explore the ‘effects’ of both the global and the local policy discourse of networks and networking on the practising leaders, in addition to their reaction to the policy document mandating these multi-site school collaboratives, with a particular interest on their imposed nature and how this reform impinged on individual school autonomy. This research adopts a case study methodology, with data collected through in-depth, semi-structured interviews; participant observation; and documentary analysis, interpreted via a Foucauldian theoretical framework through narrative analysis. The findings reveal an inherent tension among autonomy, centralisation, and decentralisation both within the policy discourse and the unfolding network leadership dynamics. This paper has particular philosophical implications for educational policy, practice, and theory in an educational scenario of school policy globalisation.