Perspectives of Teachers and Pupils on the Experience of Peer Support Against Bullying

Bullying takes place in social settings with many onlookers aware of the distress caused to victims. Bystanders can play a crucial role in determining whether action is taken to challenge bullying or whether it goes unchecked. The present study investigates the experiences and perceptions of young people who volunteered and were trained to take action to help victims by participating in peer support schemes. The benefits and disadvantages which these young people describe are discussed in the light of a broader concept of bullying in a social context. Résumé Etant donné le désarroi observé chez les personnes qui en sont victimes, le harcèlement ne peut socialement plus être ignoré. Des tiers peuvent jouer un rôle crucial pour déterminer si oui ou non des mesures sont prises contre le harcèlement ou si ce dernier demeure incontrôlé. Cette étude porte sur les expériences et perceptions de jeunes gens qui se sont portés volontaires à être formés pour aider les victimes en participant à une structure de soutien entre pairs. On y trouve une discussion sur les avantages et les inconvénients relevés par ces jeunes gens sous l'angle d'une conception plus large du harcèlement dans le contexte social. (Traduction: Catherine Cusin, CSRE, Aarau, Suisse.)     

Openness: A Formula for Communication

Projected employment reports indicate that most new jobs will involve occupations in which computer skills are essential, but surveys reveal that many people with a disability currently lack these computer skills. One way to address the gap is to prepare students while they are attending primary and secondary school. The National Business Education Association developed technology standards for all students in grades K–12 and recommend that keyboarding instruction begin in third or fourth grade. However, research studies indicate that general education teachers, special educators, and business education teachers do not feel prepared to teach keyboarding to students with a disability. This article reviews current practices in keyboarding instruction and provides suggestions for adaptations for students with disabilities.     

Reading and listening at three school stages: cloze tests and their response analysis

This paper reports the results of cloze tests in the reading and listening modes together with a computer analysis of responses to the tests. The subjects were groups of Scottish school children at the ages of 8-9, 11-12 and 13–14 years sampled over the whole country as part of a national survey of English language; the cloze tests were only a small part of the whole testing programme which also contained three other major reading tests. Approximately 400 subjects took cloze tests in each mode at each age. The test material was the same throughout for all stages tested. Two tests, each containing one narrative and one expository text were used. The mode of presentation did not significantly affect the types of cloze responses offered nor the total scores of the tests at any stage. However, results indicated better performance for older subjects when they read, and for the youngest group when they listened to, expository though not narrative passages. The comparisons of the results for the three different school stages showed continuing interdependence of reading and listening ability through the ages tested. The different cloze response patterns for the two types of text (in either mode) as well as the only moderate correlation between the texts, indicated that success in comprehending narratives may not necessarily transfer to comprehending information.