Children’s rights in educational relationships

The aim of this study is that of reaching a better comprehension of the topic of children’s rights within educational relationships. In a first stage, we analysed the representational field of children’s rights produced through free associations by the two partners who are in conflict in everyday life, namely adults (n=267) and adolescents (n=143). In a second stage, we chose a sample of 690 adult subjects that were all parents, half of whom were also teachers; through a structured questionnaire we investigated the role of several aspects (responsibility, respect, values, conditions influencing children’s growth and sense of justice) in the organisation of social representations of children’s rights. The results outlined different contrasts in the organisation of the representational scenario. The first opposes adults and adolescents, in the sense that adults emphasise their duties of offering protection and care, while the youngsters describe rights in terms of autonomous field of experience. Within the group of adults, several differences emerged between teachers and parents: the first seem more doubtful about the positive outcomes of personal involvement, while parents are moved by a general feeling of optimism, anchored in the faith in the family’s strength and integrity.     

Brazil: Opportunity and crisis in higher education

The current situation in Brazilian higher education is discussed in the context of (i) its historical background; (ii) the 1968 reform and its unintended consequences; (iii) the recommendations of the 1985 Presidential Commission on higher education. The implications of these recommendations in terms of the introduction of inter-institution differentiation and greater autonomy are explored with particular reference to the part played in the eventual shelving of the proposals by pressure groups in the Brazilian system. Though pressure groups may block radical changes, continuing debate on the issues raised can form the background to piecemeal and incremental changes in the desirable direction.This article was written while the author was a fellow at the Center for Studies in Higher Education, University of California, Berkeley.     

Not just racial quotas: affirmative action in Brazilian higher education 10 years later

This paper examines how affirmative action in Brazilian public universities has evolved from the start of the new millennium up to recent years. After an overview of the existing policies in public universities, we explain these patterns based on an analysis of the processes internal and external to the universities. Although these policies were initially thought of as racial quotas, class-based criteria have predominated, while the racial criteria became relatively circumscribed. Within the institutions, affirmative action brought new concerns about how to support and retain low-income students, as well as a discussion about racism, although the latter remains controversial.     

Changing How We Teach Acid-Base Chemistry

Science & Education - We propose explicit and implicit approaches for the teaching of acid-base chemistry based on research into the history and nature of science (NoS). To support these...     

What everybody knows about children: Mothers' ideas on early childhood

A sample of 364 mothers were interviewed with a questionnaire investigating 4 topics: developmental conceptions, socialization rules, parental social roles and sexual stereotypes. A subsample of 107 of the same mothers was then submitted to an attitude scale testing the importance they attributed to 19 traits of children's behaviour and the influence they perceived as having on the development of the same traits. The results give evidence of a social representation shared by our sample; this representation refers to a traditional way of rearing children and to a traditional division of parental social roles. The mothers' working positions and levels of instructions are found to discriminate as to their agreement on such a view. Analyses on the degree of importance and of perceived influence on the behavioural traits confirm the same results, but they also define a new emerging image of the child, which stresses different values from the traditional ones.     

Adolescents’ profiles based on student agency and teacher autonomy support: does interpersonal justice matter?

In this study, we adopted a person-oriented approach to (a) identify latent profiles of adolescents characterized by unique patterns of perceived teacher autonomy support and student agency, (b) investigate whether perceived interpersonal justice can predict profile membership and (c) compare different profiles in relation to personal responsibility. Participants were 545 Italian secondary school students (55% boys, 94% born in Italy, M_age = 14.24, SD_age = .53). Five adolescents’ profiles emerged: disengaged (24%), average students (34%) and committed (28%), with low, mean and high scores, respectively, in both teacher autonomy support and agency; resistant (5%), with low scores in teacher autonomy support and high scores in agency; compliant (9%), with high scores in teacher autonomy support and low scores in agency. Perceptions of interpersonal justice significantly predicted profile membership in the comparison of almost all profiles. Several significant differences in responsibility among profiles also emerged. Implications of the findings for practices and policies are discussed.

     

Culture-specific counselling strategies for Japanese nationals in the United States of America

The article provides an understanding of unique characteristics of Japanese nationals in the United States of America (USA), their possible acculturation and assimilation levels, Japanese world view (assumptions, values and beliefs), and Japanese developmental psychological functions (Amae, On, Giri, Ninjo, and Ajase Complex). All these factors affect the determination of culturally sensitive techniques and approaches that would be best suited for each Japanese client. Information about assessment tools, and counselling and therapeutic strategies and techniques that may be effective is presented.     

Strategy and factors for success: The Mexican handicraft sector

This study analyzed the success factors in the Mexican handicraft sector on the basis of marketing strategies. As a result of this work, 23 factors for success that artisans use as marketing strategies were determined. The most important, because it was related to all of the other elements of success, was a pricing strategy oriented to profits. The second most important strategy was to use personal recommendations to promote the products. Product diversification and the information artisans gave to customers were, respectively, the third and fourth strategies.     

Māori feminism and sport leadership: Exploring Māori women's experiences

This paper utilizes Māori Feminism from an Indigenous, intersectionality perspective in order to give four Māori women sport leaders an opportunity to voice their experiences, especially with regards to ethnocultural and gendered identities. In particular, this paper explores pathways for these Māori women into and within sport leadership. It identifies barriers they experienced and strategies used to negotiate them; it analyses the affect of various identities during their experiences of sport leadership; and it critically analyses the impact that socio-cultural and structural factors have had on the well-being of these Māori women, and their effectiveness within the sport organizations they worked. The findings suggest the participants had a strong passion for sport, experienced mana (status and prestige) due to their sporting experiences and were motivated to take on leadership roles in order to give back (mahi aroha) to sport and/or their Māori communities. Barriers they faced included being whakaiti (modest and humble) in a male-dominated, highly competitive setting, institutional racism, sexism, marginalization due to their ethnocultural and gendered identities, as well as limited resources and lack of support from governing bodies. These barriers were negotiated by having suitable mentors, utilising their sporting and community networks, by brokering relationships with members of the governing body, adopting a partnership approach, and challenging ethnocultural and gendered expectations. All of the participants incorporated aspects of Māori culture and values such as whanaungatanga (kinship), manaakitanga (support) and aroha (compassion) into their leadership style and organizational culture with mainly positive outcomes. Catering to the quadruple bottom line (economic, environmental, social and cultural measures of business success) and adhering to culturally preferred ways of communicating and consulting did, however, place additional strain on these women. The participants reflected a hybrid style of leadership that integrated values and behaviours associated with their sporting, gendered and ethnocultural identities. Further studies on indigenous women in sport leadership need to take place in order to bring to the fore socio-cultural and structural issues that arise due to the intersecting of Indigeneity and gender. In addition, the combined impact that diversity management and gender equity policies have on Indigenous women needs investigating in order to progress the ‘managing diversity’ discussion in sport.