Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Box? Children and TV Advertising in four Countries

Abstract

To what extent are children influenced by television and, in particular, by advertising? The study discussed in this article was conducted in four countries with, in some cases, surprising results. Parents think that television influences their children, but children too have views on how adults are affected.     

Narrative understanding: Developing a theoretical context for understanding how children make meaning in classroom settings

Drawing on research in several disciplines, I examine recent developments in social and cultural approaches to understanding child development. I argue the case for considering narrative understanding as a key aspect of meaning-making. The implications of this case are discussed in the context of educational research and classroom practice.     

Opportunities for sex education and personal and social education (PSE) through science lessons: the comments of primary pupils when observing meal worms and brine shrimps

Five hundred and seventy eight conversations were audio-taped while year 2 (6-7-year-old) or year 5 (9-10-year-old) pupils were observing meal worms (Tenebrio molitar) or brine shrimps (Artemia salina) during science activities in a UK primary school. Analysis revealed many comments to do with sex, reproduction, death, violence and the life history of the organisms. In addition, pupils made associations to humans, raised moral issues and expressed emotions and wonder. Significant differences were found between the comments of year 2 and year 5 pupils, between the comments of boys and girls, and between comments made when observing meal worms and when observing brine shrimps. These findings have implications both for the formal teaching of science and for the use of science as a vehicle for the teaching of sex education and other aspects of personal and social education (PSE).     

Pragmatic,problem-solving approaches to curriculum and assessment policy

This paper examines curriculum and assessment policy in Australian vocational education and training. Throughout the 1990s curriculum and assessment policy in Australia has been enacted through demand-side market oriented policies. Training policy has focused on the development of a competitive national economy through centralist policies for competency-based training, which emphasize the development of standard outcomes of training to meet industry needs and requirements. Competency-based training is conceptualized into dichotomies that reflect a rational orientation based on an underlying positivistic approach in which facts and values, means and ends are separated as rational, managerial mechanisms of control. An alternative coherentist view of pragmatic problemsolving approaches to curriculum and assessment policy is advocated. In this framework the tentative and evolutionary nature of theory are acknowledged. Rather than a concern for universal solutions, pragmatic evolutionary approaches are concerned to develop an enduring capacity in the system to recognize and deal with shared problems, issues and dilemmas.     

Global policy agencies and visions for twenty-first century lifelong education

The Community University (CU) movement in Taiwan arose from calls for education reform and social change in the country since the last decade. In 1998 the first CU, Wenshan CU, operated by local activists and grass‐roots groups, was established in Taipei, the capital of Taiwan, as an outgrowth of a popular rally for education reform in 1994. Within five years, the movement blossomed into more than 66 independent CUs spreading all over Taiwan, with locally hinted diversities (as of 2003). Since then, social activists from areas including community building, environmental action, labour, aboriginal and feminist movements, culture and the arts etc., have found their niches in CUs. As a critical review, this paper first highlights contexts, rationales and methodologies of CUs. To further discussion, contributions and issues embedded in methodologies and difficulties from practice are also analysed. Finally, conclusions and suggestions are provided to help find a way out of the current constraints for CUs.