Pathways to Employment and Quality of Life for Apprenticeship and Traineeship Graduates with Disabilities

People with disabilities have low participation rates in employment and vocational education and training. Thirty adults with disabilities were sampled from an Australian longitudinal study of economic and social outcomes achieved by graduate apprentices and trainees. Participants were surveyed and interviewed to identify pathways from high school to 12-months post-graduation and completed the Quality of Life Questionnaire (QOL.Q). Career pathways incorporated experiences facilitating career development including continuous engagement in vocational activities and support from school personnel and external disability agencies. A year following graduation, 87% were in paid work, 53% remained with the training employer, and 40% continued with vocational education. Positive quality of life (QoL) outcomes were associated with employment, employee benefits and satisfaction with work and social connections. Our research demonstrated that apprenticeships and traineeships led to positive graduate employment outcomes and career pathways for adults with disabilities. Positive employment outcomes were associated with enhanced QoL for participants.     

Acquiring Proper Nouns for Familiar and Unfamiliar Animate Objects: Two-Year-Olds' Word-learning Biases

In 2 studies, 2-year-old children learned a novel word modeled as a proper noun (e.g., "This is Zav") for an animate stuffed toy. Children who learned the word for a familiar object (i.e., one for which they knew a basic-level count noun for the kind) interpreted the word appropriately as a proper noun reliably more often than children who learned the word for an unfamiliar object (i.e., one for which they did not know such a count noun). When the creature was familiar, children typically interpreted the novel word as if it were a proper noun referring uniquely to the labeled individual. When the animal was unfamiliar, children frequently interpreted the word as if it were a count noun referring to a kind of object. Children's spontaneous comments during the tasks provided striking additional evidence that their interpretations of the proper noun varied with the familiarity of the object. The results suggest that young children's sensitivity to the form class of proper nouns is affected by the familiarity of the referent object. The findings are discussed in terms of interpretative biases in word learning.     

Who Counts; Who Cares? Scottish children's notions of national identity

Compared to the literature on children's racial and ethnic identities, relatively little is known about their understanding of national identity. Such knowledge is necessary if schools are to challenge racism, xenophobia and ethnocentrism effectively. In this paper, we present the findings of a case‐study (undertaken in a mainly‐white Edinburgh primary school) of 9‐11 year‐olds’ understanding of this complex form of collective identity. Particular attention is given to age‐related differences in response. Comparisons are drawn between the Scottish children's conceptions of their national identity and those of a multiethnic cohort drawn from three English primary schools (in a recently‐completed, parallel investigation by the same authors). We conclude by exploring the policy implications of our data.