The development and recovery of social capital through community-based adult learning

This paper explores the connection between participation in community-based adult learning (CBAL) and the development of social capital. It is based on a life-history study of participation in community-based adult learning opportunities undertaken in two local authority areas in Scotland. A life-history approach was chosen in order to ensure that the learners' perspectives were at the heart of the research while taking account of the context in which learning took place. Two semi-structured life history interviews were carried out with each of 10 learners and data were analysed in three stages, which led to the identification of cross-cutting themes. The paper explores the learners' experiences of participating in CBAL as described by them. It confirms for CBAL what has been established previously for other types of adult learning, namely that participation can support the development of social capital for some learners. Furthermore, it is argued that other learners were able to recover decreased or lost social capital through their participation. The paper contributes to an understanding of community-based adult learning as part of the continuum of lifelong learning opportunities, as it illustrates the potential of CBAL not only to support the development of social capital, but also to help learners recover capital that might have decreased through their life circumstances.     

INTERGENERATIONAL PROGRAMMING IN ACTION: BEFRIENDERS

This article describes the development of an intergenerational program in a rural community. The Befrienders program was developed to aid homebound and isolated seniors who desired companionship and assistance in their homes. Young adults from the community and the local university were recruited to visit, actively interact with, and assist the seniors on a weekly basis. The collaborative work and processes are presented along with evaluation data from participants.     

Understanding the decline in unwanted online sexual solicitations for U.S. youth 2000–2010: Findings from three Youth Internet Safety Surveys

To explore the decline in online sexual solicitations between 2000 and 2010 by examining the characteristics of solicitations to better inform prevention efforts. Data are from the Youth Internet Safety Surveys (YISS); three cross-sectional, nationally representative telephone surveys of 3561 youth Internet users in the United States, ages 10 through 17 (1501 in YISS-1; 1500 in YISS-2; 1560 in YISS-3). Unwanted online sexual solicitation was defined as requests to engage in sexual activities or sexual talk or give personal sexual information that were unwanted or, whether wanted or not, made by an adult. The decline in unwanted sexual solicitations from 19% in 2000 to 13% in 2005 to 9% in 2010 was driven by a reduction in youth who were being asked to talk about sex or for personal sexual information online. Pre-teens (ages 10–12) accounted for the majority of this decline. Multiple solicitations over the course of a year also decreased. More solicitations occurred at the hands of people youth knew in person prior to the incident – mainly friends and acquaintances, and less so at the hands of people youth met online. By 2010 most solicitations were occurring through social networking sites. Victims were disclosing solicitation incidents at greater rates in 2010 – mostly to friends. In spite of continuing anxiety about the impact of the Internet on the safety of youth, encouraging trends suggest experiences, behavior and education are moving in the direction of greater online safety and improved experiences for youth.     

Effect of type 3 (oversize) tennis ball on serve performance and upper extremity muscle activity

This study investigated the effect of the larger diameter (Type 3) tennis ball on performance and muscle activation in the serve. Sixteen male advanced tennis players performed serves using regular size and Type 3 tennis balls. Ball speed, surface electromyography, and serve accuracy were measured. There were no significant differences in mean initial serve speeds between balls, but accuracy was significantly greater (19.3%) with the Type 3 ball than with the regular ball. A consistent temporal sequence of muscle activation and significant differences in mean activation of different muscles were observed. However, ball type had no effect on mean arm muscle activation. These data, combined with a previous study, suggest that play with the larger ball is not likely to increase the risk of overuse injury, but serving accuracy may increase compared to play with the regular ball.     

FORMATION OF THE CLASSICAL TYPE OF ACADEMY OF SCIENCES IN LATVIA

Well before the full independence of Latvia and the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Latvia had begun to profoundly reform its national science system. Key events in the process were the foundation of the Latvian Union of Scientists in 1988 and the Latvian Council of Science in 1990. The next step was the radical reform of the Latvian Academy of Sciences such that it became an independent body of the classical academy type. By 1992, the Academy had adopted a new Charter and new Statutes. At the same time, the institutes which had been subordinated to the Academy became independent. In fact, many of the powers of the old Soviet‐style academy were assumed by the Council of Science and the Department of Science and Higher Education which was created within the Ministry of Education. The overall aim was to pattern Latvian science policy and its institutions on western European models.     

An exploration of the impact of the Emotional Literacy Support Assistant (ELSA) programme on wellbeing from the perspective of pupils

ABSTRACT

The Emotional Literacy Support Assistant (ELSA) programme is an evidence-informed intervention delivered by teaching assistants and supervised by educational psychologists. In this research, semi-structured interviews were conducted to investigate the impact of the ELSA programme on wellbeing from the perspective of pupils. A thematic analysis of the data set identified the following themes: “Feelings and Emotions”, “Engagement”, “Resilience”, “Hopes and Aspirations” and “Relationships”. The findings suggest the ELSA programme has a perceived positive impact on multiple components of pupil wellbeing. These components include positive emotions, negative feelings, engagement, resilience, optimism, accomplishment and relationships, as described by the New Economics Foundation (NEF) and Seligman’s “PERMA model”. The positive wellbeing changes experienced by the pupils occurred through strategies, talking, and forming a close relationship with the teaching assistant. Overall, this research provides evidence to suggest a positive impact of the ELSA programme on pupil wellbeing.     

Parent involvement: Barriers and opportunities

This article explores the issues of parental involvement in the context of current movements to reform education. It asserts that parent involvement as a voluntary effort may not be effective. It further asserts that in their efforts to reform education businesses and industries are focusing too much attention on school related variables and insufficient importance on work-related variables that might act as reinforcers for parents and adults to get involved in the education of the children. Businesses and industries as well as schools are urged to establish sound and well-integrated policies for parental involvement.     

Child-initiated activity: Its importance in early childhood education

The teacher is discussing the activities of the day with a group of fifteen four-year-olds. She explains that first the total group will go to the art area and then to the science demonstration. Then the children will have a snack and go outside. When she is finished talking, all of the children get up and move to the art tables.Janis R. Bullock is Assistant Professor of Early Childhood Education, Montana State University, Bozeman, MT.     

Changes in children's self-competence and values: gender and domain differences across grades one through twelve

This study extended previous research on changes in children's self-beliefs by documenting domain-specific growth trajectories for 761 children across grades 1 through 12 in a longitudinal study of perceptions of self-competence and task values. Hierarchical Linear Modeling was used to (1) describe changes in beliefs across childhood and adolescence within the domains of mathematics, language arts, and sports; (2) examine the impact of changes in competence beliefs on changes in values over time in the same domains; and (3) describe gender differences in mean levels and trajectories of change in competence beliefs and values. The most striking finding across all domains was that self-perceptions of competence and subjective task values declined as children got older, although the extent and rate of decline varied across domains. For example, in language arts, competence beliefs declined rapidly during the elementary school years, but then leveled off or increased to some extent; whereas the decline in self-competence beliefs in sports accelerated during the high school years. Significant gender differences in beliefs were found in most domains; however, the gender differences in developmental trajectories appeared to be domain specific rather than global. Importantly, the gender differences between boys and girls did not systematically increase with age, as predicted by some socialization perspectives. Adding competence beliefs as an explanatory variable to the model for task values revealed that changes in competence beliefs accounted for much of the age-related decline in task values. In addition, competence beliefs accounted for most of the gender differences in task values for language arts and sports.