The contributions of parental management language to executive function in preschool children

This study investigated relations between preschoolers’ emergent executive function skills and their interactions with parents, with particular focus on the verbal utterances parents use to guide children's behavior (i.e., management language). Parent–child dyads (n = 127) were videotaped during a structured play task and the frequency of two types of management language, Direction (high control) and Suggestion (low control), was observed. Children's executive function was assessed using the Head–Toes–Knees–Shoulders (HTKS) task. Latent growth modeling was used to investigate relations between management language and the development of children's executive function. Direction language (i.e., commands) was negatively associated with children's age three executive function but not significantly related to the rate of executive function development over time. Conversely, Suggestion language (i.e., questions and statements that offer children some degree of choice) was positively related to executive function at age three but negatively related to growth. The potential importance of management language as a parenting behavior that contributes to various aspects of children's self-regulation during preschool and kindergarten is discussed.     

‘Becoming and being writers’: the experiences of doctoral students in writing groups

The use of writing groups to support students undertaking post-graduate research within universities has begun to receive attention from academic supervisors and doctoral researchers. Very little has been written by doctoral students themselves on the benefits of working within such writing groups. In this article, the experiences of working within a doctoral writing group at an Australian University are presented, primarily from the perspective of students. The authors identify two main benefits they have experienced through participating in a writing group using a ‘multi-voiced’ approach. First, they discuss the kind of learning that they achieved through working in a writing group. They do this with reference to key principles of peer learning and of peer review. Second, they focus on the ways the group worked as a community of discursive social practice. An overarching message for them in participating in the group and now writing this article is the shift in their thinking and experience of writing from seeing writing as an essentially private and implicit process to writing becoming a matter of public and shared work. These two notions are bound by the concept of identity building, drawing from the literature on communities of practice.     

Examining the complexities of measuring effectiveness of online counselling for young people using routine evaluation data

As mental health services for young people develop, the need for evaluation and audit to justify expenditure follows suit. Counselling is being provided in more and more schools and community settings across the country, and there is an increasing focus on evidence-based funding. Practice-based evidence has an important role to play in fulfilling this requirement, and there are calls for a single outcome measure to be utilised across services. The emerging frontier of online support is receiving steadily greater attention, but as yet it has had little attention with regards to its effectiveness. An existing routine evaluation and outcome measure (Young Person’s Clinical Outcome Measures in Routine Evaluation) was incorporated within other routine evaluation systems within an online support service for young people (Kooth). The findings have been examined, with a view to recommending most suitable evaluation tools for this medium. Initial data suggest that the online service, when compared with equivalent face-to-face data, attracts a wide range of needs and levels of distress, with a high proportion of complex needs presented. Such findings may also reflect the complex nature of the support needs for the client group in question. Capturing appropriately rich data using a range of qualitative and quantitative measures that account for the complex online environment and client group needs to be carefully considered.     

This 3 × 5 Civilization

In this information age, the world is fast becoming a global village. In this context, it is relevant to look at the educational vision of Rabindranath Tagore. He tried to realize his educational vision in his schools and Visva-Bharati University where the world makes its home in a single nest. Tagore's vision of international education can help to prevent misunderstanding and war, promote peace, foster multiculturalism, connect human beings, and celebrate their common heritage     

A MULTIDISCIPLINARY PRACTICE MODEL FOR INDEPENDENT PRACTITIONERS WHO WORK WITH OLDER ADULTS IN THE COMMUNITY

This article presents a framework for the integration of community services for older adults. A model for multidisciplinary practice is introduced to teach students and professionals how independent practitioners can integrate their community practices. Practitioners from disciplines such as medicine, nursing, social work, psychiatry, psychology, finance, law, and religion can develop collaborative community practices to more effectively serve older adults. A generic multidisciplinary instrument for use with this model was developed for assessment and referral purposes. Collaboration has been the mark of professional behavior in institutional settings. This article applies these principles to the community practice setting. Reform efforts are necessary to advance from the current ways of thinking to more effective community practice strategies. Community efforts have not followed the lead of professional efforts in institutional settings in the development of collaborative, interdisciplinary planning for older adults. Educators can use this model to teach students and practitioners a new nontraditional method for community practice. It is imperative in this time of challenge in the field of gerontology that practitioners examine new ideas and adopt new models in their teaching and professional practices.     

Education for Interdisciplinary Community Collaboration and Development: The Components of a Core Curriculum by Community Practitioners

Social workers are actively engaging in the practice of interdisciplinary community collaboration (ICC) with the goal of bringing diverse groups together to improve the conditions of communities and enhance the quality of life of population groups. Yet, collaborations are challenging and require great skill and commitment. The pedagogy and the content of curricula have become a more prominent part of teaching to macro practice students and practitioners the art of effectively convening and moving collaborative efforts forward. This article adds to the literature on the content and methods of teaching students and novice practitioners the competencies embedded in ICC. It provides empirical data from six focus groups of experienced community practitioners (social workers and others) in New York City who identified components of a core curriculum for this work. Eight months later, these 33 community practitioners were asked to reprioritize the topics and concepts that they had collectively identified at the earlier time. Skills such as the ability to share power, manage differences, include the constituency and diplomacy are among those discussed. Core curriculum themes, the pedagogy and process, and the attributes and values necessary for training an ICC practitioner are presented.     

Influence of Information Technologies on Kinesiology and Physical Education

The rapid advances made in information technologies over the past few years and the belief that technological change is neither additive nor subtractive to our state of affairs but that it generates total change, suggests that it is timely to consider the implications of these technologies for teaching, research, and professional activity. The task of trying to understand the future influence of information technologies is a challenging one because technology is shaped by an array of forces that includes tradition, politics, economic interests, history, philosophy, and competing technologies. The paper addresses the influence of technology under the following general topics: (a) Promise or peril? Two views on information technology; (b) The difficulty of accurately predicting the future role of information technology; (c) An overview of technological advances and some predictions; and (d) Aspects of special interest—virtual reality, Information Highway, thinking “better” with computers, and devaluation of the body.     

Education,Welfare Reform and Psychological Well-Being: A Critical Psychology Perspective

There are established links between education and well-being, and between poverty and education. This article draws on interviews with parents of school-aged children impacted by a policy in the UK commonly referred to as the ‘bedroom tax’. A critical psychology perspective to education is put forward, acknowledging the complex interrelationships between psychological well-being, sociopolitical factors and education.