A Consideration of Why Active Participation in Sport and Leisure Might Reduce Criminal Behaviour

This paper contributes to sport, sociology and the body literature by exploring the ‘exposure and effect’ of culture, in particular bodily practices placed on three adolescent swimmers immersed in the Australian swimming culture using an ethnographic framework. The research reported is particularly notable as it addresses two distinct time points in the swimmers’ lives. The first section explores the adolescent experiences of three female swimmers within the cultural context of Australian swimming by articulating some of the specific body practices and ‘memes’ (ideas, symbols and practices) that they were exposed to and/or engaged within relation to the body. The second section of this paper focuses on the same three swimmers in the ‘present day’, some 10–30 years after being immersed in the Australian swimming culture as adolescents. It excavates their body practices and the relationships they now have with their body, and thus pursues the sustained impact of the body practices and ‘memes’ they were exposed to as adolescents. Analysis employs concepts drawn mainly from Foucault, particularly his thesis in regard to ‘disciplinary power’, ‘regulation’ ‘classification’ and ‘surveillance’. At a club (amateur) and National level, Australian swimming is revealed as an institution, a site and culture where particular techniques of power have become concentrated and have been brought to bear on individuals in systematic ways, with sometimes damaging effects arising for athletes’ long-term health and well-being, particularly if the individuals concerned continue to engage with cultural practices in regard to the body post-career.     

My system of career influences: responding to challenges facing career education

The present article explores major challenges facing career psychology, specifically within the field of career education. Several issues are identified including the need for more effective links between theory and practice, the movement towards constructivist theories and the related challenges of applying such theories. These issues are explored within the context of the reformulation of career education and through the lens of the constructivist Systems Theory Framework of career development and its applied activity, the My Systems of Career Influences.

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Zusammenfassung “My System of Career Influences”: Eine Antwort auf Herausforderungen für den Berufswahlunterricht. Dieser Artikel untersucht wesentliche Herausforderungen für die Berufspsychologie, insbesondere auf dem Gebiet des Berufswahlunterrichts. Mehrere Aspekte werden angesprochen, unter anderem der Bedarf für wirkungsvollere Verknüpfungen von Theorie und Praxis, den Trend zu konstruktivistischen Theorien und der Anwendung solcher Theorien. Diese Aspekte werden untersucht vor dem Hintergrund einer Neuformulierung der Berufswahlvorbereitung, sowie aus dem Blickwinkel des konstruktivistischen System-Theorie-Modell (Systems Theory Framework) und dessen Anwendungskonzept, dem ″My Systems of Career Influences” (Meine Systematik für Berufswahl-Einflüsse).

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Resumen Mi Sistema de Influencias sobre la Carrera: Respuesta a los Retos que afronta la Educación para la Carrera. El presente artículo explora los principales retos a los que se enfrenta la psicología de la carrera, en concreto dentro del campo de la educación para la carera. Se identifican varias cuestiones tales como la necesidad de vínculos más efectivos entre la teoría y la práctica, el movimiento hacia teorías constructivistas y los retos derivados de la aplicación de dichas teorías. Estas cuestiones se abordan dentro del contexto de reformulación de la educación para la carrera y a través del lente del marco constructivista de la Teoría de Sistemas del desarrollo de la carrera y su aplicación práctica, Mi Sistema de Influencias sobre la Carrera.

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Résumé Mon Système d’Influences sur la Trajectoire Vocationnelle: une réponse aux défis lancés à l’éducation au choix vocationnel. Le présent article explore les défis majeurs lancés à la psychologie vocationnelle, en particulier dans le champ de l’éducation au choix vocationnel. On identifie plusieurs questions comme la nécessité de liens plus fermes entre théorie et pratique, l’expansion des théories constructivistes et les défis que leur application implique. Ces questions sont explorées dans le contexte de la reformulation de l’éducation au choix professionnel et sous l’angle de la structure constructiviste de la Théorie des Systèmes du développement vocationnel et de son application “Mes Systèmes d’Influences sur la Trajectoire Vocationnelle”.

     

Conflicts in Developing an Elementary STEM Magnet School

Elementary schools in the United States have been the terrain of a highly politicized push for improved reading and mathematics attainment, as well as calls for increased importance to be given to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). With priorities placed on basic skills, however, instructional time in subjects such as science in the elementary years has been greatly diminished. We recount in this article the efforts of a school district to create an elementary STEM school through the designation of a magnet school and elaborate on the inherent tensions and conflicts in such an effort.     

Professional collaboration in searching the evidence for an ill‐defined concept

This paper outlines the inter‐professional collaboration of the authors, a PhD student, his supervisor and an information professional, to systematically search the literature for an ill‐defined concept. The research question posed for the scoping literature review indicated that the topic, the subjective socio‐economic status and health of adults with intellectual disabilities, was rare. The need for a methodological search process was therefore identified and successfully carried out. The paper presents an analysis of the processes and the collaboration involved in developing a successful search strategy. The resulting transformative learning by the researcher of the professional practice of the information specialist illuminates their facilitating and supportive role in advancing health related research. F.J.