Preschoolers' quarantining of fantasy stories

Preschool‐aged children are exposed to fantasy stories with the expectation that they will learn messages in those stories that are applied to real‐world situations. We examined children’s transfer from fantastical and real stories. Over the course of 2 studies, 3½‐ to 5½‐year‐old children were less likely to transfer problem solutions from stories about fantasy characters than stories about real people. A combined analysis of the participants in the 2 studies revealed that the factors predicting transfer differed for the fantasy and real stories. These findings are discussed within the context of their implications for preschoolers’ developing boundaries between fantasy and real worlds.     

Early contribution of phonological awareness and later influence of phonological memory throughout reading acquisition

The acquisition of reading skills is known to rely on early phonological abilities, but only a few studies have investigated the independent contribution of the different steps involved in phonological processing. This 1‐year longitudinal study, spanning the initial year of reading instruction, aimed at specifying the development of phonological discrimination, awareness and various aspects of phonological memory and at assessing their respective contributions to early reading acquisition. Our results show an increase in performance at each phonological processing step, but also suggest a qualitative evolution in their relative importance. Hierarchical regression analyses indicate that reading skills are mainly predicted by phonological awareness measured at the kindergarten stage and, subsequently, by phonological memory abilities measured at the end of first grade. More precisely short‐term memory for serial‐order information seems to contribute to the development of decoding abilities, while phonological knowledge stored in long‐term memory seems to influence word recognition.     

Developing a template for National Child Protection Index Reports

Objectives

What impact does the strengthening of child rights have on the experience and circumstances of children? CRC General Comment 13 emphasizes that defining measurable targets for improvements in child protection is a key element of efforts to strengthen child rights and well-being across the world. This paper describes an attempt to identify key domains relevant to such mapping of child protection indicators, and the feasibility of collecting data—from existing data sources or otherwise—to complete a “National Child Protection Index Report” summarizing achievements and concerns at a national level.

Methods

A process of inter-agency consultation was facilitated by the CPC Learning Network to establish a template for the Index Report. The template was modeled on that used for the “Countdown to 2015” maternal, neonatal and child health initiative, aiming to capture indices not only of key protection risks but also implementation and coverage of key protection measures. The work drew on indicator development and policy initiatives by a number of international child protection agencies. The template developed was used as a basis to pilot national data collection in Indonesia and, at a sub-national level, in northern Uganda.

Findings

The template provides a concise summary of protection issues of relevance to a broad range of constituencies, global and national. However, in the pilot settings, existing routine data collection was inadequate to effectively populate a large proportion of indicators. Mechanisms of collating findings from discrete assessments—another potential source of data for completion of the index report—were also generally underdeveloped.

Practice implications

In settings where state infrastructure allows the collection and analysis of routine data in such domains as health and economic activity, such efforts should be extended to the child protection sector. Discrete assessments by governmental or non-governmental agencies also provide significant potential for more effective sharing and collation of information. National Child Protection sub-clusters or equivalent structures can play an important role in facilitating both of these processes.     

A new age for child protection--General Comment 13: why it is important, how it was constructed, and what it intends?

Children continue to be subjected to high levels of violence (i.e., physical, psychological and sexual maltreatment) throughout the world. International concern about violence against children has increased significantly during the last decade. A Study on Violence Against Children, encouraged by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, conducted under the auspices of the United Nations Secretary General and reported in 2006, has become a rallying call to improve child protection. Child protection practices and systems have been judged to be generally inadequate and, in some cases, destructive. It is widely recognized that business as usual—more of the same—will not do. A General Comment (guide to fulfilling obligations) for Article 19, the central conceptualization of child protection of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, has the potential to promote a worldwide reformulation of child protection priorities, policies, and practices by virtue of the infusion of a child rights approach. It can be a mechanism for framing and promoting the transformational change needed – for a genuine paradigm shift. Here, explication is given for the historical context, rationale, centrality of child rights, process of development, holistic nature, and primary elements of General Comment 13 (GC13): The child's right to freedom from all forms of violence. GC13 embodies and champions a child rights approach to child protection entailing strong support for proactive primary prevention, promotion of good child care, and a commitment to secure the rights and well-being of all children. A child rights-based, comprehensive coordinating framework is recommended for the implementation of GC13.     

Radio as a Sociability Space

This article aims to analyze community radio stations from their very physical spaces, where social relations and opinions are elaborated, but also outside the actual studio during the various events that they may sponsor. Combining anthropology and history, it sheds a new light on the role played by US community radios in shaping the semantic of the New Left from the 1950s onwards.     

Supporting School Readiness Through Librarian-Child Interactions in Public Library Storytimes: An Analysis of Assessment Scores and Influential Factors

Early Childhood Education Journal - A recent trend in public libraries′ children’s services emphasizes the role of promoting school readiness. In order to gain a deeper understanding of...     

Scaling up comprehensive sexuality education in Nigeria: from national policy to nationwide application

Nigeria is one of few countries that reports having translated national policies on school-based comprehensive sexuality education (CSE) into near-nationwide implementation. We analysed data using the World Health Organization-ExpandNet framework, which provides a systematic structure for planning and managing the scaling up of health innovations. We examined how Nigeria's nationwide programme was designed and executed. Since 2002, Nigeria has developed a well thought through strategy to scale up CSE. Crucial attributes that facilitated the scaling up included technical consensus about the innovation and clarity about its components, dissection of a complex intervention into manageable components for implementation by organisations with complementary expertise, strong political leadership and championship in concert with advocacy and technical support from non-governmental organisations, proactive and energetic involvement of community stakeholders, effective programme management, and improvements to the information management system to ensure on-track implementation and mid-course corrections to keep stakeholders, including funders, informed and engaged. Challenges included programmatic values, competing priorities for available human resources and a lack of predictable funding for sustaining a rapid scale-up effort. Despite some weaknesses, implementation has largely proceeded according to plan. The lessons learned from Nigeria's experience can and should be used in other settings to achieve wide-scale coverage.