Harassment Issues in Sport Organizations: Utilitarian,Justice, Kantian,and Existential Approaches to Moral Ontology

The Education Reform Act (ERA) 1988 represents the most significant piece of legislation to have entered the education system in postwar Britain. Although all its “effects” have yet to materialize, this paper argues that aspects of ERA legislation will have a very damaging impact upon both the level and quality of PE provision in some state schools. The tone of this paper is necessarily speculative; but the analysis, based on the authors' ongoing research in primary and secondary schools, will suggest that ERA may exacerbate social and educational divisions within the education system and make it very difficult for some teachers to provide a quality “PE for all.”     

The Evolution of Smokey Bear: Environmental Education About Wildfire for Youth

Many environmental education programs in the United States educate youth about the prevention of wildfire and its role in ecosystems. We reviewed 50 wildfire education programs for youth (WEY) in the U.S. through an Internet search and interviews with program providers. We investigated whether they reflect current wildfire science, environmental education (EE) instructional strategies, and place-based education (PBE) approaches. We found that while one-third of the programs focus exclusively on wildfire prevention, suppression, and safety topics, one-third focuses on fire ecology, management, and science, and one-third includes all these topics, mirroring evolving scientific approaches to wildfire. Also, while state and federal agencies design and disseminate much of the curricula used, 60% of WEY programs incorporate local social and ecological contexts, revealing the close relationship between WEY and PBE.     

Child maltreatment severity and adult trauma symptoms: Does perceived social support play a buffering role?

Objectives

The current study investigates the moderating effect of perceived social support on associations between child maltreatment severity and adult trauma symptoms. We extend the existing literature by examining the roles of severity of multiple maltreatment types (i.e., sexual, physical, and emotional abuse; physical and emotional neglect) and gender in this process.

Methods

The sample included 372 newlywed individuals recruited from marriage license records. Participants completed a number of self-report questionnaires measuring the nature and severity of child maltreatment history, perceived social support from friends and family, and trauma-related symptoms. These questionnaires were part of a larger study, investigating marital and intrapersonal functioning. We conducted separate, two-step hierarchical multiple regression models for perceived social support from family and perceived social support from friends. In each of these models, total trauma symptomatology was predicted from each child maltreatment severity variable, perceived social support, and the product of the two variables. In order to examine the role of gender, we conducted separate analyses for women and men.

Results

As hypothesized, increased severity of several maltreatment types (sexual abuse, emotional abuse, emotional neglect, and physical neglect) predicted greater trauma symptoms for both women and men, and increased physical abuse severity predicted greater trauma symptoms for women. Perceived social support from both family and friends predicted lower trauma symptoms across all levels of maltreatment for men. For women, greater perceived social support from friends, but not from family, predicted decreased trauma symptoms. Finally, among women, perceived social support from family interacted with child maltreatment such that, as the severity of maltreatment (physical and emotional abuse, emotional neglect) increased, the buffering effect of perceived social support from family on trauma symptoms diminished.

Conclusions

The results of the current study shed new light on the potential for social support to shield individuals against long-term trauma symptoms, and suggest the importance of strengthening perceptions of available social support when working with adult survivors of child maltreatment.     

Reviews

Abstract

This paper explores the connections between physical education (PE), sport, nationalism and citizenship in Wales, focusing upon how recent education policies relating to PE and sport are implicated in the cultural production of ideational differences between and among the peoples of Wales and England. The analysis suggests that tendencies towards narrow, conservative, cultural restorationist ideals, as evident in Wales as they are in England, may obstruct progress towards more innovative and progressive ideals in the curriculum of PE.     

Allowing the Voices of Parents to Help Shape Teaching and Learning

The authors observe that the nature of knowledge is multidimensional, and that current efforts to shape curriculum are guided by patterns of cognitive interests. Building from an example related to teacher education, they argue that higher education experiences represent a clash between freedom and conformance that relates to these curricular interpretations. They discuss the impact of these ideas on teacher education curricula and posit a curriculum model that emphasizes depth and connectedness at all levels, calling for a reconceptualization of curriculum to bring about a more fulfilling learning process.     

Rethinking role play in the Reception class

How to monitor and raise standards of educational attainment generally were issues addressed by the British Government in 1988 when the National Curriculum was introduced into all state‐funded primary schools in England and Wales: ‘There is every reason for optimism that in providing a sound, sufficiently detailed framework over the next decade the National Curriculum will give children and teachers much needed help in achieving higher standards.’ This paper assesses the value of looking closely at successive reading scores of cohorts of children in order to monitor reading attainments over time. The reading attainments of seven cohorts of Year 2 children from five randomly selected primary schools within one local education authority (LEA) (N = 1,329) are analysed to see if standards of literacy have changed since the introduction of the National Curriculum in 1989. Both quantitative and qualitative methods of data collection were used in this cross‐sectional study. The reading attainments of each of the seven cohorts of Year 2 children, as measured by the are presented. Headteacher perceptions of the effects of the National Curriculum on the teaching and learning of reading in their schools were collected through interviews. Examination of the means of the standardized comprehension scores for each cohort reveals no statistically significant differences in attainment between any two cohorts. It was noted that the distribution of the reading scores was skewed towards underachievement in all seven cohorts. The relative stability in reading attainments contrasts with the aspiration that the introduction of the National Curriculum would raise standards. Headteachers saw this stability as the result of key stage 1 teachers working at an intense rate to safeguard the teaching and learning of reading against the pressures exerted by the introduction of the National Curriculum and assessment procedures.     

METACOMPREHENSION AND COMPREHENSION PERFORMANCE IN YOUNGER AND OLDER ADULTS

On the basis of metamemory assessment research and theories of discourse comprehension, the Metacomprehension Scale (MCS) was designed to assess multiple dimensions of metacomprehension. In a sample of younger (n = 30) and older (n = 30) adults, we examined age differences in self‐assessed components of metacomprehension and the relation of the MCS to comprehension performance and general verbal ability. Younger adults reported greater use of strategies to resolve comprehension failures (i.e., regulation) and placed higher value on good comprehension skills than older adults. The MCS revealed a substantial amount of variance in comprehension performance and verbal ability, with the regulation dimension of metacomprehension being a reliable and consistent predictor of performance. The results provided support for domain‐specific assessment of metacognition and for the critical role of regulation in comprehension performance.     

Comparing the curriculum development process in special (MLD) schools: a systematic qualitative approach

ABSTRACT

The present paper describes a comparative study of ten special schools for pupils with moderate learning difficulties in England and Wales. Qualitative analysis of interview data and curriculum documentation collected from the schools provide a model of the curriculum process which is firmly grounded in the data. Comparisons across the categories of the model indicate strong differences between the schools in certain categories, e.g. use of objectives, specification of curriculum intention, monitoring of pupil progress and curriculum evaluation.     

Preparation programs leading to licensure in broad‐field social studies at state regional colleges and universities

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine the status of preparation programs leading to licensure in broad‐field social studies, grades 7–12, at state regional colleges and universities and the relationship of these programs of study to National Council of Social Studies (NCSS) Standards, state licensure requirements, degree programs of study at state supported major research institutions, and major reports on educational reform. The research found that of the 30 institutions studied only 21 offered degree programs leading to licensure in broad‐field social studies. All 21 institutions exceeded state minimum requirements and although the mean semester hour requirements in general education, professional education, and specialty studies components minimally exceeded the NCSS recommended standards and were similar to those at major research institutions, there was an absence of assurance by institutions that students possessed a depth of understanding in the disciplines within the major. Likewise, degree programs have been minimally affected by the recommendations of the major educational reform reports.     

‘This is Me’: developing literacy and a sense of self through play,talk and stories

Children from literate home backgrounds, who have exposure to supportive, positive reading role models using good quality texts, are the ones who are best able to cope with the demands of learning about literacy and the transition from home to school. This study of 3-year-old children will focus on their interactions with picturebook read aloud, their repeated requests to have favourite books read over and over again, their developing sense of identity and their growing ability to respond to the books through play, oral retellings, drawings, emergent writing and ‘readings' of the stories in their own words. Over a period of time, as the children had a series of picturebooks read to and shared with them, they were able to identify a sense of self mirrored in the content of some of the books and to make informed choices about their favourites. The children identified themselves in the storybook narratives and went on to record their responses in a variety of differing modes some of which led to them becoming real authors as they constructed their own books to be read, re-read and enjoyed.