Emotional and behavioural difficulties: the effects of structures,ethos and understandings on provision in Irish post-primary schools

Emotional and behavioural difficulties (EBD) in mainstream schools in Ireland attract much attention and significant resources, yet little research has been conducted in the Irish context about how this concept is understood by practitioners, what influences that understanding nor how that influences provision in schools. This paper is based on the findings of a study which investigated these issues among principals, special education teachers and guidance counsellors in mainstream post-primary schools, employing questionnaires (n = 36) and semi-structured interviews (n = 10). Several themes are presented regarding how EBD is conceptualised and responded to. The findings of the study suggest definitions of EBD appear to focus mostly on intrapersonal characteristics of students and suggest a resignation in the attitude of practitioners. The effectiveness of behaviour policies is ambiguous due to an imperative to produce written policies in many areas, traditional views of the homogeneity of the school population and a tendency to rely on SEN policy to address EBD issues. Responses to EBD vary considerably. Responsibility for most aspects of the school experience of students presenting with EBD appears to rest predominantly with special education teachers, even where there is access to guidance counsellors. Gender impacts on several of these issues, particularly in the type of language used in schools when discussing EBD.     

An Investigation of University Students and Professionals’ Professional STEM Identity Status

Journal of Science Education and Technology - Set amidst the backdrop of concerns related to the entry of students to Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) careers, this study...     

Youth representations of environmental protest

A necessary condition for a functioning democracy is the participation of its citizens, including its youth. This is particularly true for political participation in environmental decisions, because these decisions can have intergenerational consequences. In this article we examine young people’s beliefs about one form of political participation—protest—in the context of communities affected by fracking and associated anti-fracking protest, and discuss the implications of these representations for education. Drawing on focus groups with 121 young people (aged 15–19) in five schools and colleges near sites which have experienced anti-fracking protest in England and Northern Ireland, we find young people well-informed about avenues for formal and non-formal political participation against a background of disillusionment with formal political processes and varying levels of support for protest. We find representations of protest as disruptive, divisive, extreme, less desirable than other forms of participation and ineffective in bringing about change but effective in awareness-raising. These representations are challenging, not least because the way protest is interpreted is critical to the way people think and act in the world. These representations of environmental protest must be challenged through formal education in order to safeguard the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and ensure that the spirit of Article 11 of the UK Human Rights Act is protected.     

Including young people with disabilities: Assessment challenges in higher education

Within a European context, facilitating the increased participation of marginalized groups within society has become a cornerstone of social policy. In higher education in Ireland this has generally involved the targeting for support of individuals representing groups traditionally excluded on the grounds of socio-economic status. More recently, people with disability have been included in this consideration. This approach has tended to focus on physical access issues and some technical supports. However, access is multi-faceted and must include a review of pedagogic practices, assistive provision (technological and personal), student’s engagement with their workload (e.g. recording) and evaluation procedures: achieving accreditation levels commensurate with ability. This small-scale Irish study examined the experiences of two groups of young people with physical disabilities and with dyslexia in two higher education institutions. It was apparent that for students with physical disabilities and with dyslexia, assessment practices were fraught with additional limitations. Assessment practices were mediated for these students through the physical environment, the backwash effect of assessment on curriculum, the availability and use of assistive technology, and through the attitudes of staff and students. It can be concluded that access issues within higher education have been inadequately conceptualized and as a result failed to address fundamental issues around assessment for students with physical disabilities and with dyslexia.     

The centre cannot hold: decolonising the RE curriculum in the Republic of Ireland

ABSTRACT

In Ireland primary RE is a fractured, contested, complex and changing territory devoid of a common language and characterised by a proliferation of syllabi and curricula generated for increasingly diverse school types. For centuries the dynamic decolonising process has led to a questioning of former orthodoxies and an attempted de-linking of the place and potency of the RE curriculum as well as a fundamental change in perception of the nature, identity and purpose of RE. Placing particular emphasis on the work of a variety of decolonial and postcolonial critical theorists, the authors engage in a theoretical interpretation of 5 keys waves of curricular decolonisation in Ireland. from the 16^th to 21^st centuries and argue that a historical contextualisation is vital in attempting to understand its nature. Currently RE’s perceived hegemonic status is challenged and its very existence within the curriculum is in jeopardy, as it faces a form of ‘cultural oblivion’. The repackaging of religion under the more acceptable form of human rights and world religions with a confusion and conflation of values, ethics and RE and a hybridity of curricular styles and content is symptomatic of the latest wave of this decolonising process.     

一家文学诊所

导读: <大西洋月刊>(Atlantic Monthly)创办于1857年11月,是一本名副其实的"杂"志,扉页上长期写着:"一本关于文学、政治、科学与艺术的杂志"(A Magazine of Literature,Science,Art and Politics),创刊宣言声称它要成为美国理想的代言人,不但定义还要创造独特的美国声音,标明美国在世界文化中的位置.这本新生的杂志很快成为全美最智慧的人从无名小卒到鼎鼎大名之间的转换器,文学家霍桑、爱默生、马克·吐温,政治家西奥多·罗斯福、马丁·路德·金等,举凡美国的文化、政治明星,不少人都曾在该刊发表过原创的文学作品和政论文章.     

The association between COMT rs4680 and 5-HTTLPR genotypes and concussion history in South African rugby union players

The objective was to investigate the relationship between Catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) rs4680 and serotonin-transporter-linked polymorphic region (5-HTTLPR) genotypes with concussion history and personality traits. Rugby players (“all levels”: n = 303), from high schools (“junior”, n = 137), senior amateur, and professional teams (“senior”, n = 166), completed a self-reported concussion history questionnaire, Cloninger’s Tridimensional Personality Questionnaire, and donated a DNA sample. Participants were allocated into control (non-concussed, n = 140), case (all) (previous suspected or diagnosed concussions, n = 163), or case (diagnosed only) (previous diagnosed concussion, n = 140) groups. COMT rs4680 Val/Val genotypes were over-represented in controls in all levels (P = 0.013, OR:2.00, 95% CI:1.15–3.57) and in juniors (P = 0.003, OR:3.57, 95% CI:1.45–9.09). Junior Val/Val participants displayed increased “anticipatory worry” (P = 0.023). The 5-HTTLPR low expressing group was under-represented in controls when all levels were considered (P = 0.032; OR:2.02, 95% CI:1.05–3.90) and in juniors (P = 0.021; OR:3.36, 95% CI:1.16–9.72). Junior 5-HTTLPR low and intermediate expressing groups displayed decreased “harm avoidance” (P = 0.009), “anticipatory worry” (P = 0.041), and “fear of uncertainty” (P < 0.001). This study provides preliminary indications that personality associated genetic variants can influence concussion in rugby.