Clarifying the link between acculturation experiences and parent–child relationships among families in cultural transition: The promise of contemporary critiques of acculturation psychology

The field of acculturation psychology has been the focus of recent critique, calling into question current conceptualizations of acculturation experiences among families in cultural transition. This paper will consider how these critiques can inform theory and research that aims to clarify the link between the process of acculturation and the quality of parent–child relationships among families in cultural transition. For example, while the concepts of process and change are central to psychological approaches to understanding acculturation, this has not always been successfully reflected in choice of research methodology. Further, some theorists highlight the problem of conflating culture and national identity and of homogenizing culture into a few essentialize traits, psychological characteristics or sets of discourses. This paper will outline how a focus on the dynamic and complex process of acculturation opposes ideas of acculturative experiences as acontextual, ahistorical, and independent with some teleological endpoint. It is suggested that acculturation experiences should be reconceptualized as a dialogic, relationally constituted, and continually negotiated (unfinalizable) process. Finally, it is suggested that narrative and qualitative methodologies represent an especially useful way to highlight the fluctuations in acculturative experiences within a family context, and might offer greater promise in clarifying the link between acculturation experiences and the quality of parent–child relationships among families in cultural transition.     

The Welfare to Work Transition in the United States: Implications for Work-Related Learning

This paper summarizes the legislation upon which the current welfare-to-work transition in the United States is based and describes characteristics of the former welfare population from which various tiers of employment options have emerged: unsubsidized-employed workers, subsidized-employed workers, subsidized-unemployed recipients, and unsubsidized-unemployed individuals. It also discusses current program emphases, and presents a format for directions for future program development which includes academic programs, situated cognition programs, integrated literacy/occupational skills programs, and integrated literacy/soft skills training.     

Transition from senior secondary to higher education: A learning environment perspective

The purpose of this study was to modify and validate a new form of the College and University Classroom Environment Inventory (CUCEI), and to then use it to compare students' actual and preferred perceptions of their classroom learning environments at the senior secondary and teritary levels of education. The study also examined differences in perceptions according to the student's gender. A sample of 504 students participated in the study. The reliabilities of the scales of the modified CUCEI ranged from .73 to .94. When the two levels were compared, students at the higher education level had a less favourable perception of their learning environment. Previous research was replicated in that females were found generally to perceive their learning environments in a more positive way than did males and that all students generally preferred a more positive learning environment in their classes.     

Adverse Consequences of School Mobility for Children in Foster Care: A Prospective Longitudinal Study

Few prospective studies have examined school mobility in children in foster care. This study described the school moves of 86 such children and 55 community comparison children (primarily Caucasian), living in a medium‐sized metropolitan area in the Pacific Northwest who were approximately 3 to 6 years old at the study start. Additionally, the effects of moves from kindergarten through Grade 2 on academic and socioemotional competence in Grades 3 through 5 were examined. A greater number of early school moves was associated with poorer later socoemotional competence and partially mediated the effects of maltreatment and out‐of‐home placement on socioemotional competence. This was the case only for children with poorer early learning skills in kindergarten. Implications for preventive intervention are discussed.     

Valuing production values: a ‘do it yourself’ media production club

In this paper, we identify how and why digital media production can contribute to the active participation of children in education and also consider how much of the existing work in this area is framed as a ‘miraculous’ answer to educational challenges without critical interrogation of either the process or product. To begin, we identify some of the prominent research and issues that have emerged from work of this kind and discuss the barriers to accessing equitable education in relation to new media production projects with kids. We discuss the changing state of knowledge production and communication in a new media world and address the place of literacy in this changing educational context. Following this, we present one example of a media production club and the way we look at this work to value students' productions in a way that differs from other research of this kind.