White middle‐class parents,identities, educational choice and the urban comprehensive school: dilemmas,ambivalence and moral ambiguity

At a time when the public sector and state education (in the United Kingdom) is under threat from the encroaching marketisation policy and private finance initiatives, our research reveals white middle‐class parents who in spite of having the financial opportunity to turn their backs on the state system are choosing to assert their commitment to the urban state‐run comprehensive school. Our analysis examines the processes of ‘thinking and acting otherwise’, and demonstrates the nature of the commitment the parents make to the local comprehensive school. However, it also shows the parents’ perceptions of the risk involved and their anxieties that these give rise to. The middle‐class parents are thus caught in a web of moral ambiguity, dilemmas and ambivalence, trying to perform ‘the good/ethical self’ while ensuring the ‘best’ for their children.     

Listening to children’s views of spiritual and metaphysical concepts: A new dimension to educational psychology practice?

Educational psychologists (EPs) have for many years been developing techniques for listening to children. The aim of the present research was to investigate ways of listening to the “spiritual” views of children in order to develop questions that educational psychologists might use as part of the assessment repertoire. The study explored children’s spiritual concepts such as their purpose for “being on the planet” and the “meaning of their life”. The findings suggest that primary and secondary school children from mixed religious backgrounds can respond to spiritual questions in a clear way. In addition, most children believed that spiritual views influence how children behave. Further research is required to explore whether children’s views of spiritual concepts are linked to learning and progress in school and in life.     

Do allegations of emotional maltreatment predict developmental outcomes beyond that of other forms of maltreatment?

OBJECTIVES: To understand the features of child abuse/neglect (CA/N) allegations in cases with emotional maltreatment (EMT) allegations, as well as the features of the EMT allegations themselves, and to describe any associations of EMT with distinct impairments of children's behavior, emotion and functioning. METHOD: The sample consisted of 806 high-risk children, 545 with one or more maltreatment reports to CPS. The Maltreatment Classification System was used to record the number and severity levels of maltreatment allegations, which compared cases with and without EMT. Multiple regression analyses were conducted using 10 outcome scales from the Child Behavior Checklist, Vineland Screener, and Trauma Symptom Checklist. Successive blocks of predictor variables included demographics, maltreatment classification variables, maternal and family characteristics, and study site. RESULTS: When there were allegations of EMT as well as CA/N in a CPS case-record (by age 8), the CA/N allegations tended to be either more frequent or less severe than those kinds of allegations in cases without EMT. When neglect was alleged to occur with EMT, neglect allegations outnumbered allegations of EMT. However, when sexual abuse allegations were accompanied by EMT allegations, there were more EMT allegations than sexual abuse allegations in the cases. Higher severity ratings for EMT allegations than for physical abuse occurred when cases included any abuse. Distinctive effects of EMT subtypes were found between problems of safety/restriction and self-reported anger symptoms, and between problems of self-esteem/autonomy and posttraumatic stress. CONCLUSION: Differences exist between the CA/N allegations in cases with and without EMT. Having few cases containing only EMT allegations made it difficult to assess distinctive harm associated with EMT. Certain types of EMT allegations were associated with increases in children's anger and posttraumatic stress.     

龙虾怎样奏“乐”

自然界的动物在遭遇危险的时候,有各种各样的御敌招数,如毒蛇喷射毒液,章鱼喷出墨汁,电鳗放电,壁虎断尾求生等,还有的动物变换身形、虚张声势以吓唬敌人,而龙虾的防卫术则尤其别具一格。     

Adoptive Gay Father Families: A Longitudinal Study of Children’s Adjustment at Early Adolescence

Findings are presented from the second phase of a UK longitudinal study of 33 gay father, 35 lesbian mother, and 43 heterosexual parent families when their adopted children reached early adolescence. Participants predominantly lived in urban/suburban areas and were mostly white and well-educated. Standardized interviews, observations, and questionnaires of parental mental health, parent–child relationships, and adolescent adjustment were administered to parents, children, and teachers between 2016 and 2018. There were few differences between family types. However, adjustment problems had increased in all family types, with better parenting quality and parental mental health associated with fewer adjustment problems. The findings contribute to adoption policy and practice, and to theoretical understanding of the role of parental gender in child development.     

The Vertex Project: Children Creating and Populating 3D Virtual Worlds

This paper outlines early investigations and initial outcomes of The Vertex Project, a school‐based action research project currently underway at Middlesex University. The project aims to explore the potential of Shared 3D Virtual Environments as creative learning tools for children, and looks into the challenges facing their practical integration into the primary classroom. Working in partnership with three primary schools, the project sets out to investigate the teaching and learning possibilities offered by Internet based 3D virtual environments, placing particular emphasis on the opportunities provided by the active participation of children in the design and construction of their own virtual worlds, and in the creation of avatars with which to represent themselves within these spaces.