Promoting Compliance in Children Referred to Child Protective Services: A Randomized Clinical Trial

Early experiences of maltreatment have long-term negative effects on children's compliance. This randomized clinical trial examined whether a brief preventative intervention (Attachment and Biobehavioral Catch-up; ABC) was effective in enhancing compliance in children who had been referred to Child Protective Services. Participants included 101 parent–child dyads who received either ABC or a control intervention when children were infants (M = 9.4 months old, SD = 6.1). When children were approximately 36 months old (M = 38.5, SD = 3.0), ABC children demonstrated significantly better compliance than control children. Further, parent sensitivity, measured 1 month post intervention when children were, on average, 18.4 months old (SD = 6.9) partially mediated the effect of ABC on child compliance at 36 months old.     

Examining teacher–child relationship quality across two countries

The present study examined the quality of teacher–child relationships in a collectivist and individualist country, specifically, Portugal and Belgium. Two relationship dimensions were examined the following: conflict and closeness. Participants were 158 Portuguese and 197 Belgian children and their teachers. In both countries, teachers completed the Student–Teacher Relationship Scale (STRS). Measurement invariance was tested through multiple-group analysis. The results supported configural and metric invariance across countries, but not full scalar equivalence, suggesting that the STRS is robust across countries. Some associations differed between the samples. Specifically, teachers’ perceptions of closeness were negatively related to conflict in Belgium, but not in Portugal. Teachers described boys and girls as having similar levels of both conflict and closeness in Portugal, while in Belgium girls are likely to have closer relationships with their teachers. Moreover, observed emotional climate was positively associated with closeness in Belgium (but not Portugal), indicating that Belgian teachers in classrooms with more warm and positive interactions were likely to have closer individual relationships with their students.     

The Influence of Social Background on Application and Entry to Higher Education in Scotland: a Multi‐Level Analysis

This paper assesses the influence of social background on application and entry to higher education among Scottish school leavers using multi‐level modelling. The context for the study is long‐standing policy interest in widening access to higher education for under‐represented groups. The analysis indicates that those from less advantaged backgrounds are disadvantaged at three stages in the process of entry to higher education: qualification, application and entry. The results support the need for explanations and interventions encompassing both individual and structural levels. Government initiatives aimed at widening access are discussed in light of the findings.     

The Problem of Training in Higher Education

As universities are centres of learning, the lecturer/teacher is, so to speak, the basic institutional journeyman who as an academic and scientist devotes much of his/her time to teaching rather than to pure research. The task of teaching, given the massification of universities, the diversity of students, and the advent of the new information technologies, is much more a question of inducing student learning than of mechanically transmitting knowledge. Therefore, newly recruited university lecturers must have come to their posts with an understanding of university pedagogy. As their careers begin, lecturers must be offered continued instruction in the art of teaching and the inducement of learning in others. Good teaching/inducement‐of‐learning work is a contribution to knowledge and should be as well rewarded as the contribution to knowledge that comes from pure research. Prior professional training should also be made available to university teachers taking up administrative responsibilities.