LGBTQ parents’ experiences of community youth sport: Change your forms,change your (hetero) norms

This interpretive study sought to critically examine lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or queer (LGBTQ) parents’ experiences of community organized youth sport. Using a constant comparative method of data analysis, the authors examined perspectives of participants from Australia, Canada, and the United States. Three emergent themes best reflected the parents’ experiences: (a) anticipating sexual stigma and finding accepting communities; (b) confronting assumptions of heterosexuality; and (c) educating but not flag waving. Emphasis is placed on the parents intersecting social identities and notions of privilege (e.g., socio-economic resources and the ability to live in socially progressive areas), and how it altered their experiences within the community youth sport context. The findings call attention to the responsibility of youth sport organisations to create a climate of social change through inclusive language, behaviours, and program design.     

Overuse wrist injuries in young athletes: What do sports physicians consider important signals and functional limitations?

This study’s objective was to collect items from experienced sports physicians, relating to the presence and severity of overuse wrist injuries in young athletes, for developing a measurement instrument for signals of overuse wrist injury. Seven Dutch elite sports physicians involved in guidance and treatment of young athletes in wrist-loading sports (gymnastics, tennis, judo, field hockey, volleyball and rowing) participated in a focus group. They discussed signals and limitations related to overuse wrist injuries in young athletes. Data were coded and categorised into signals and limitations with subcategories, using an inductive approach. Of the resulting 61 signals and limitations in nineteen (sub)categories, 20 were considered important, forming a comprehensive item set for identifying overuse wrist injury in young athletes. Signals such as pain, “click”, crepitations, swelling and limited range of motion were marked useful for early identification of overuse wrist injury. Limitations in movement and performance were considered indicative of severe overuse injury but less relevant for initial injury identification. The focus group provided 17 important signals and 3 important limitations indicative of overuse wrist injury. These provide the basis for a valid measurement instrument for identifying overuse wrist injury in young athletes, with equal emphasis on pain and on other symptoms.     

Sex differences in postprandial lipaemia after acute high-intensity interval running in young people

Acute exercise reduces postprandial triacylglycerol concentrations ([TAG]) in boys and girls; however, it is not known whether between-sex differences exist in response to exercise. Fifteen boys (mean(SD): 11.8(0.4) years) and sixteen girls (12.1(0.7) years) completed two, 2-day conditions. On day 1, participants rested (CON) or completed 10 × 1 min high-intensity interval runs at 100% maximal aerobic speed with 1 min recovery (HIIR). On day 2, participants consumed a standardised breakfast and lunch over a 6.5-h period during which seven capillary blood samples were collected. Based on ratios of the geometric means (95% CI for ratios), fasting [TAG] was 32% lower in boys than girls (?44 to ?18%, ES = 1.31, P < 0.001), and 12% lower after HIIR than CON (?18 to ?5%, ES = 0.42, P = 0.003); the magnitude of reduction was not significantly different between the sexes (8% (ES = 0.36) vs. 15% (ES = 0.47), respectively; P = 0.29). The total area under the [TAG] versus time curve was 27% lower in boys than girls (?40 to ?10%, ES = 1.02, P = 0.005), and 10% lower after HIIR than CON (?16 to ?5%, ES = 0.36, P = 0.001); the magnitude of reduction was similar between the sexes (11% (ES = 0.43) vs. 10% (ES = 0.31), respectively; P = 0.87). The small-moderate reduction in postprandial [TAG] after HIIR was similar between the sexes.     

A cross-national comparison of international strategies: global citizenship and the advancement of national competitiveness

This paper examines national-level strategies concerning internationalisation of education and the extent to which global citizenship is deployed in their discourse. We focus on a cross-national comparison of selected internationalisation strategies in Australia, Canada, Ireland, the UK and the USA, all countries with highly developed economies and a relatively high proportion of the market share of international students. We draw on a thematic textual analysis and the use of corpus technologies to explore the framing of discourses and language use in each strategy. Our comparative analysis of national strategies highlights a dominant approach to international education that is primarily competitive in its orientation, with national interest as the key driver. This cross-national comparison also revealed considerable variation in framing of strategic internationalisation on a discourse level. Based on findings, we argue that internationalisation strategies limit the possibilities of advancing central tenets of global citizenship.     

Taking stock and effecting change: curriculum evaluation through a review of course syllabi

A multi-disciplinary academic unit at a Canadian university completed an evaluation of course syllabi used in its undergraduate programmes over the previous five years. This paper examines the reasons for the evaluation, the processes employed to collect and analyse the data, and how the results will be incorporated into the next steps of the overall curricula reform planned within the unit. The evaluation focused on the unit’s adherence to departmental and university policies, course reading materials, experiential learning opportunities, forms of assessments (e.g. types and weighting of assignments), learning outcomes and instructor-specific policies (e.g. group work expectations, late assignments). While a summary of the results of the evaluation are provided herein, these are meant to highlight the administrative and curricular benefits and uses of the data, rather than an analysis and discussion of the results themselves.     

Assessing the performance of educational research in Australian universities: an alternative perspective

This study uses bibliometric data to assess the performance of educational research in Australian universities. It provides an alternative perspective to the Australian government’s Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA) assessment. ERA results suggest that the performance of educational research is substantially less compared to other disciplines, with only a handful of universities performing ‘above world standard’. I use a range of indicators that capture citation impact and journal quality from Elsevier’s SciVal research benchmarking tool to provide an alternative perspective that is authentic, transparent, comprehensive and multi-dimensional. The findings show that most Australian universities are performing above the world average in educational research. Australian universities perform especially well on the citation indicators, with more than 75% of universities performing above the world average on all three indicators. Performance on ERA is only moderately correlated with research performance in my analysis but is strongly related to one indicator, publication volume. This finding suggests that ERA assessments favour large entities and disadvantage smaller ones. The findings also suggest that the current ERA peer-review process may not accurately or fully reflect the performance of educational research in Australia. I anticipate that this alternative, bibliometric-based assessment will be a useful benchmarking tool for a range of purposes. I conclude with recommendations for future research.     

Archival science and changes in the paradigm

The dominant paradigm in Archival Science, thehistorical-technicist paradigm, has its origins with the French Revolution and raised from the social, economic, political, ideological and cultural changes that occur during the 19th and 20th centuries. During this last one and due specially to the technological revolution Archival Science reinforced its technical component and became autonomous in face of History, but the consolidation of the model, based on a custodial, technicist and documentalist perspective, is associated to a knowledge essentially empirical. By effect of the new conditions generated by Information Society, the dominant paradigm entered into a crisis and developed inside itself the factors which, unavoidably, will produce the paradigm shift. The new paradigm — thescientific-informational paradigm — conceives Archival Science as an applied discipline into the scope of Information Science and defines unequivocally its object of study — the archive, understood as aninformation system — and its scientific method of research. The method tends to find consolidation through quadripolar research dynamics, which is operated and continuously repeated within the field of knowledge itself, which implies a permanent interaction on four poles — epistemological, theoretical, technical and morphological.     

Archival science and changes in the paradigm

The dominant paradigm in Archival Science, thehistorical-technicist paradigm, has its origins with the French Revolution and raised from the social, economic, political, ideological and cultural changes that occur during the 19th and 20th centuries. During this last one and due specially to the technological revolution Archival Science reinforced its technical component and became autonomous in face of History, but the consolidation of the model, based on a custodial, technicist and documentalist perspective, is associated to a knowledge essentially empirical. By effect of the new conditions generated by Information Society, the dominant paradigm entered into a crisis and developed inside itself the factors which, unavoidably, will produce the paradigm shift. The new paradigm — thescientific-informational paradigm — conceives Archival Science as an applied discipline into the scope of Information Science and defines unequivocally its object of study — the archive, understood as aninformation system — and its scientific method of research. The method tends to find consolidation through quadripolar research dynamics, which is operated and continuously repeated within the field of knowledge itself, which implies a permanent interaction on four poles — epistemological, theoretical, technical and morphological.     

Being left out: rejecting outsiders and communicating group boundaries in childhood and adolescent peer groups

Although communication scholars have examined adult group processes, they have paid little attention to the peer group experiences of children and adolescents. Successfully gaining entry to peer groups is significant, in that rejection in childhood affects self-concept, social skills, and school successes. Guided by a bona fide groups perspective, this study collected over 600 adolescent accounts of group rejection. Narrative accounts revealed five strategies peer groups used to communicate rejection (Ignoring, Disqualifying, Insulting, Blaming, and Creating New Rules). Rejection was stressful for observers as well as rejectees, with females, Caucasians, and regularly-excluded students reporting highest levels. Females and those frequently rejected reported the most stress when observing the rejection of others. Specific interventions are discussed for primary and middle-school teachers to stimulate prosocial group inclusion.