Envisioning a critical social pedagogy of learning and work in a contemporary culture of cyclical lifelong learning

In Canada, current federal learning-and-work policy is focused on individual learner-worker development using an iteration of lifelong learning as cyclical. This policy aims to enhance the social as an effect of enhancing the economic. In this neoliberal milieu, cyclical lifelong learning has become not only a norm but also a culture and an attitude. Still, a current Canadian phenomenon indicates that increasing numbers of young adults are disengaging from participation in such learning that the federal government considers being a preventive measure. In discussing their withdrawal from what might be perceived as cyclical lifelong learning for control, I consider a particularly challenging case: the predicament of young adults in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. To help us think about adequately addressing the dislocation they experience in life and work, I offer a Freire-informed vision of a critical social pedagogy of learning and work. This pedagogy calls for re-engendering the social in lifelong learning by revitalizing critical social concerns with historical awareness, hope, possibility, ethics, justice, democratic vision, learner freedom, critique, and intervention.     

Education and poverty in affluent countries

This article reflects on the desire to defend and claim public education amidst the educational policy effects of contemporary neoliberal politics. The defence of public education, from schools to higher education, undoubtedly provides a powerful counter-veiling weight to the neoliberal policy logic of education-as-individual-value-accrual. At a time of intense global policy reform centred on marketisation in education, the public education institutions of the post-war welfare state are often characterised as being lost, attacked, encroached upon and dismantled. In this paper, I contend it is important to avoid mobilising a memory of public educational pasts that do not account for their failings and inequalities. Turning to a historical engagement with the emergence of neoliberal politics, the paper explores how challenges and contestations surrounding ‘the public’ from multiple standpoints converged in the rise of neoliberalism. Recognition of these convergences and contestations, I suggest, assists to provide a more nuanced account of the relationship between neoliberal reform and the welfare state, and thus of the complex task of imagining, claiming and working towards a just and equitable public education.     

Digital information evolution: the AIDS Library experience

The AIDS Library evolved out of consumer health activism in response to the need for the latest HIV information, materials, and technology. In 1998, staff implemented a microcomputer-based integrated automated library system with Web publishing capability to link catalogs, databases of Philadelphia regional services, online publications, and fact sheets. The Web site, , became "live" December 1, 1998. History leading to its development and future plans are presented.     

“Stop sending your kids across our border:” Discursively constructing the unaccompanied youth migrant

The recent migration of 65,000 children across the southwestern border, coupled with allegations of abuse by the U.S. Border Patrol, enables the investigation of an overlooked immigrant category: the unaccompanied youth migrant. Analyzing audience responses to news reports of the abuse, we find that established disparaging immigrant tropes apply, describing the children as an economic burden, disease carriers, and offspring of irresponsible families. We uncover two new themes: Youth migrants are channels whereby criminals may infiltrate the U.S., and manipulate legal authorities to remain in the U.S. Finally, we demonstrate how global compassion is strategically deployed to qualify harsh retaliatory measures.     

Reliability and validity of a talent identification test battery for seated and standing Paralympic throws

Paralympic throwing events for athletes with physical impairments comprise seated and standing javelin, shot put, discus and seated club throwing. Identification of talented throwers would enable prediction of future success and promote participation; however, a valid and reliable talent identification battery for Paralympic throwing has not been reported. This study evaluates the reliability and validity of a talent identification battery for Paralympic throws. Participants were non-disabled so that impairment would not confound analyses, and results would provide an indication of normative performance. Twenty-eight non-disabled participants (13 M; 15 F) aged 23.6 years (±5.44) performed five kinematically distinct criterion throws (three seated, two standing) and nine talent identification tests (three anthropometric, six motor); 23 were tested a second time to evaluate test–retest reliability. Talent identification test–retest reliability was evaluated using Intra-class Correlation Coefficient (ICC) and Bland–Altman plots (Limits of Agreement). Spearman’s correlation assessed strength of association between criterion throws and talent identification tests. Reliability was generally acceptable (mean ICC = 0.89), but two seated talent identification tests require more extensive familiarisation. Correlation strength (mean r_s = 0.76) indicated that the talent identification tests can be used to validly identify individuals with competitively advantageous attributes for each of the five kinematically distinct throwing activities. Results facilitate further research in this understudied area.