Responding to university policies and initiatives: the role of reflexivity in the mid-career academic

How do academics make sense of university policies and strategic initiatives and act on them? Interviews were conducted with 27 mid-career academics in different disciplines, different research-intensive university environments and two countries (England and Australia). Data were analysed iteratively utilising a critical realist perspective, specifically, Archer’s modes of reflexivity. The paper argues that individuals’ responses to university policies and initiatives, to changes in policy and policy conflicts, can at least partially be understood through interrogating the modes of reflexivity they employ.     

Sexuality-related communication within the family context: experiences of bisexual parents with their children in the United States of America

Although many self-identified bisexual individuals report having at least one child, bisexual parents’ unique experiences, including sexuality-related communication with their children, have been largely absent from the parenting literature. We conducted in-depth interviews via telephone (or digital telephony such as voice over Internet protocol) with 33 individuals who self-identified as bisexual were at least 18 years old, had at least one child (genetic, adopted, step, foster, guardian or partner’s child) and currently living in the USA. Nearly all participants encouraged their children to be tolerant of sexual and gender diversity. Sexual behaviours were primarily discussed in terms of protection from sexually transmitted infections and unintended pregnancy. Participants’ approaches to communication included non-verbal methods (e.g. role modelling) and pragmatic verbal discussion. Participants employed numerous strategies, including age-appropriate, child-driven and opportunistic discussions. Some parents did not discuss sexuality at all with their children. Many had not received training in childhood development or sexuality education. The participants’ experiences were often similar to previous research on parents of other sexual identities. However, due to the unique stigma associated with bisexuality, findings point to a need for developing and providing targeted resources for bisexual parents to assist in discussions about sexuality within the family context.     

Intergenerational continuity in child maltreatment: mediating mechanisms and implications for prevention

In the interest of improving child maltreatment prevention, this prospective, longitudinal, community-based study of 499 mothers and their infants examined (a) direct associations between mothers' experiences of childhood maltreatment and their offspring's maltreatment, and (b) mothers' mental health problems, social isolation, and social information processing patterns (hostile attributions and aggressive response biases) as mediators of these associations. Mothers' childhood physical abuse--but not neglect--directly predicted offspring victimization. This association was mediated by mothers' social isolation and aggressive response biases. Findings are discussed in terms of specific implications for child maltreatment prevention.     

Differential susceptibility to adolescent externalizing trajectories: examining the interplay between CHRM2 and peer group antisocial behavior

The present study characterized prototypical patterns of development in self-reported externalizing behavior, between 12 and 22 years of age, within a community sample of 452 genotyped individuals. A Caucasian subset (n = 378) was then examined to determine whether their probabilities of displaying discrete trajectories were differentially associated with CHRM2, a gene implicated in self-regulatory processes across a range of externalizing behaviors, and if affiliating with antisocial peers moderated these associations. Findings indicate that relative to a normative "lower risk" externalizing trajectory, likelihood of membership in two "higher risk" trajectories increased with each additional copy of the minor allelic variant at CHRM2, and that this association was exacerbated among those exposed to higher levels of peer group antisocial behavior.     

Enhancing the Transition to Kindergarten: A Randomized Trial to Test the Efficacy of the "Stars" Summer Kindergarten Orientation Program

This randomized trial tested the efficacy of an intensive, four-week summer program designed to enhance low-income children's transition to kindergarten (n's = 60 program children, 40 controls). Administered in four public schools, the program focused on social competence, pre-literacy and pre-numeracy skills, school routines, and parental involvement. Hierarchical linear modeling indicated that the program significantly improved teachers' ratings of (a) the transition to the social aspect of kindergarten for girls (but not boys); and (b) the transition to kindergarten routines for the subgroup of children who had the same teacher for kindergarten as for the summer program. Findings are discussed in terms of practices and policies for supporting children's transition to school.     

Paths to reading comprehension in at-risk second-grade readers

Two studies of second graders at risk for reading disability, which were guided by levels of language and functional reading system theory, focused on reading comprehension in this population. In Study 1 (n = 96), confirmatory factor analysis of five comprehension measures loaded on one factor in both fall and spring of second grade. Phonological decoding predicted accuracy of real-word reading; automatic letter naming predicted rate of real-word reading; accuracy and rate of both real-word reading (more so than decoding of pseudowords) and text reading predicted reading comprehension; and Verbal IQ also predicted reading comprehension. In Study 2 (n = 98), the treatment group (before/after school clubs receiving an integrated instructional approach that was supplementary to the general reading program) improved significantly more in phonological decoding and state standards for reading fluency than the control group (general reading program that had some code instruction but emphasized comprehension). The rate of phonological decoding explained 60.3% of real-word reading. Both treatment and control children improved significantly in reading comprehension, but controlling for pretreatment individual differences in oral vocabulary or in phonological decoding eliminated this effect. Taken together, the results of the two studies support two paths to reading comprehension: one from vocabulary and verbal reasoning, and one from written language that has multiple links between subskills: (a) alphabetic principle --> phonological decoding, (b) automatic phonological decoding --> accurate real-word reading, (c) automatic letter coding ---> automatic word reading, and (d) automatic word reading --> fluent text reading. Instructional implications of both paths and the links within the written language are discussed.     

How cognitive,metacognitive, motivational and emotional self‐regulation influence school performance in adolescence and early adulthood

This contribution aims to examine how different areas of self‐regulation are related to academic achievement in adolescents and young adults. The study involved participants, drawn from following age groups: 14–15, 17–18 and 22–23. In order to get information about cognitive, metacognitive, motivational and emotional aspects of self‐regulation, self‐report questionnaires were used. Differences between age‐groups revealed following tendency: there has been a decrease in all fields of self‐regulation from age of 14 (end of primary school) to the age of about 18 years (end of secondary school), and then results slowly improved to the age of about 22 years (students of undergraduate studies). The results obtained are mirroring perceived competence of self‐regulation and differ from the results concerning metacognitive accuracy. Metacognitive self‐regulation persists as an important predictor of school achievement at all developmental levels, and the motivational self‐regulation has significant impact on performance in the first and second age group.     

Stimulating teachers' reflection and feedback asking: An interplay of self-efficacy,learning goal orientation,and transformational leadership

The goal of the study was to investigate how teachers' reflection and feedback asking – two crucial components of professional development – can be explained by occupational self-efficacy, learning goal orientation and transformational leadership. A survey study with data from 456 teachers from a Dutch College for Vocational Education and Training shows that occupational self-efficacy and learning goal orientation are positively related to reflection and feedback asking. Furthermore, learning goal orientation mediates the relationships between occupational self-efficacy and reflection and asking feedback. Finally, the positive relationship between transformational leadership and reflection and asking feedback appears to depend on learning goal orientation.     

The Issue at a Glance

THE ISSUE AT A GLANCE

The Issue at a Glance