Integrating Northern Ireland: Cross‐group friendships in integrated and mixed schools

While Northern Ireland strives to build a shared society, the current reality is that everyday experiences are still shaped by division along ethno‐religious lines. This is particularly pronounced in the education system, where more than 92% of pupils attend separate schools. Within the predominantly separate education system, however, exists a small collection of schools which cater to a more heterogeneous pupil body and offer the opportunity for young people from both communities to meet and interact, and potentially develop cross‐group friendships. The present study compares the network‐based cross‐group friendships within two such school types; an integrated and a separate post‐primary school. These schools boast a distinct ethos yet they similarly enrol students from Catholic and Protestant backgrounds. Findings reveal that both schools show a high level of interconnection between pupils; however, the integrated school, with an ethos that openly supports social cohesion, shows a greater tendency towards cross‐group interactions and best friendships than those found within the separate school. In line with contact theory, these findings suggest that it may not be enough to simply create opportunities for intergroup contact but that optimal conditions, such as institutional support, may be a prerequisite for positive relationships to flourish. Implications for educational policies designed to promote greater cross‐community contact are discussed.     

Childhood sexual abuse, social support, and psychological outcomes: a loss framework

OBJECTIVE: The objectives of the study were: (a) to develop a scale to assess CSA-related loss among a college sample of CSA survivors (CSALM), (b) to examine the measure's convergent validity through associations among depression, alexithymia, coping, and social support, and (c) to test whether social support moderates the relation between multiple experiences of CSA and loss. METHOD: The study involved a survey methodology and included college-age women (n=116) reporting CSA experiences. RESULTS: Based on the Sexual Victimization Questionnaire (SVQ; [Finkelhor, D. (1979). Sexually victimized children. New York: The Free Press]), 90% of the sample reported CSA before age of 12, 12.3% (n=15) reported CSA before age 12 with an adult over 16, and 42.2% (n=49) reported CSA after age 12 with an adult. Exploratory Factor Analysis of the CSALM revealed a three-factor solution: (a) Loss of Optimism, (b) Loss of Self, and (c) Loss of Childhood. Convergent validity of several scales was evidenced through associations with depression, alexithymia, coping, and social support. Social support from family and friends was found to moderate the association between CSA experiences and loss dimensions. CONCLUSIONS: Findings provide preliminary psychometric support for the CSALM, a tool that will be useful in future investigations of loss among college-age CSA survivors. Findings also support using a loss framework to understand the current mental health of these survivors.     

A Meta-Analysis of Approaches to Engage Social Work Students Online

ABSTRACT

With an increase in social work courses being offered in online and hybrid formats, it is imperative that social work programs understand the new teaching tenets and engagement mediums employed to meet the new Council on Social Work Education’s Educational Policy and Accreditation Standards. This meta-analysis explores best-practices pedagogy for student engagement using the delivery of content through both asynchronous and synchronous methods.     

Origins of individual differences in theory of mind: from nature to nurture?

In this study of the origins of individual differences in theory of mind (ToM), the Environmental Risk (E-Risk) Longitudinal Twin Study sample of 1,116 sixty-month-old twin pairs completed a comprehensive battery of ToM tasks. Individual differences in ToM were striking and strongly associated with verbal ability. Behavioral genetic models of the data showed that environmental factors explained the majority of the variance in ToM performance in this sample. Shared environmental influences on verbal ability had a common impact on ToM and explained more than half the phenotypic correlation between these two skills. Possible underlying proximal mechanisms are discussed, including maternal speech and mind-mindedness, sibling interactions, and peer influences.     

Big girls don't cry: the effect of child witness demeanor on juror decisions in a child sexual abuse trial

OBJECTIVE: This study investigated the effect of child witness demeanor (defined as crying) on mock jurors' decisions in a simulated First-Degree rape trial. METHOD: One hundred and thirty-three undergraduates serving in the role of mock jurors read a trial summary in which the primary independent variable was the demeanor of the alleged child victim (i.e., calm, teary, hysterical crying). In addition to reading the summary, participants viewed pencil drawings of the witnesses that were presented as "courtroom drawings." RESULTS: The results showed that the teary condition led to more guilty verdicts and a greater belief in the alleged victim than the other demeanor conditions. CONCLUSIONS: Findings from this study indicate that demeanor can impact the perception of a child who is an alleged sexual assault victim in court. However, it is not simply the case that any display of demeanor will lead to a positive outcome for the alleged victim. Instead, it appears that too little or too much emotion from the alleged child victim negatively affected credibility in the eyes of the mock jurors.     

Finding process in product: Prewriting and revision in timed essay responses

It is widely assumed that the constraints of timed essay exams will make it virtually impossible for students to engage in the major hallmarks of the writing process, especially revision, in testing situations. This paper presents the results of a study conducted at Washington State University in the Spring of 2008. The study examined the occurrence of prewriting and revision in 890 timed essay responses as well as the impact of writing process on student scores. It was found that both prewriting and revision occur more frequently in timed essays than was previously realized. While prewriting corresponded to higher scores, revision corresponded to lower scores. These results encourage composition scholars to reevaluate their assumptions about both the validity of timed writing exams and the efficacy of current practices in teaching the writing process.     

What should count as worthwhile knowledge in determining a curriculum for supporting out-of-school children and youth？

Due to the increasing number of children and youth dropping out of school, the Malawi government came up with a strategy to address their learning needs through non-formal means in its EFA plan. This resulted in the introduction of a three-year cycle pilot programme known as Complementary Basic Education （CBE）. Funded by GTZ, a German funding agency, the CBE programme has since entered its second year of implementation. This paper reports an evaluation study of the CBE programme so far, with a view of highlighting some of the challenges affecting its implementation. Using a qualitative methodology, the study found that the programme is in many respects, potentially beneficial to various groups of stakeholders including learners, their parents and the community in general. However, the study finds that the major setback in achieving this potential lies in the differences in perception of what should count as curriculum for the CBE programme between providers and beneficiaries. There is a mismatch between ＂needs＂ as perceived by learners and community members on the one hand, and ＂needs＂ as perceived by the providers on the other hand. The paper discusses some of the issues that the providers need to respond to if CBE implementation is going to be beneficial to the livelihood needs of the learners and the immediate community.     

Social software: new opportunities for challenging social inequalities in learning?

Enthusiasts for new social software do not always acknowledge that belonging to e‐learning communities depends upon complex and often unresolved identity issues for learners. Drawing on the author’s previous research on belonging in social learning, the paper presents a theory of identity congruence in social learning and brings to the foreground the importance of identities which arise from expressions of gender, class, ethnicity, age, etc. in the social, operational and, in particular, the knowledge‐building aspects of learning. These three dimensions of identity congruence are used to evaluate the potential of new social software. While social software might encourage some learners to engage in social and operational identity work, there are disadvantages for others, and learner‐generated knowledge and e‐assessment practices can be divisive. Inclusive e‐learning depends upon pedagogies and assessments which enable learners to shift and transform identities, and not solely on widening the range of technologies available. Such caution should underpin future research.