The need for a General Comment for Article 19 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child: Toward enlightenment and progress for child protection

ObjectiveTo present the need and plan for development of a General Comment for the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child Article 19 which has the potential to transform and advance child protection through the infusion of a child rights approach.MethodsThe Committee on the Rights of the Child (Committee) authorized ISPCAN and IICRD to draft a General Comment for CRC Article 19 (GC19) and to introduce implementation supports. An international working group (GC19WG), Expert Advisory Panel (EAP), and GC19 Focal Group of Committee members (GC19 CRC FG) have been organized to help guide and carry out the program of development. Analyses of relevant histories and knowledge, including effective and promising child protection strategies, are being applied to guide formulation of the GC and high priority implementation components. Consultations on the draft and supportive products will be conducted in cooperation with UNICEF, WHO, the NGO Group for the CRC, and other NGOs.Advice is to be solicited from interested parties and organizations in person and through distance communication throughout the world.ResultsIn addition to the GC19, numerous implementation supports will be planned and some will be produced and piloted during the program of development. Under consideration are an implementation guide and resources; commentary; accountability models, indicators, measures and evaluation systems; a clearing house and resource website; a child-appropriate version of GC19; and education/training curricula and programs.Practice implicationsGC19 has the potential to transform child protection by fostering a paradigm shift in its conceptualization, theory, research, and practice. Article 19 encourages an interpretation and application beyond narrow child protection conceptualizations and practices which have been found seriously inadequate. The General Comment can advance effective prevention of maltreatment and protection of personal security by promoting the child's rights, well-being, health, and development in all aspects of child protection. GC19 will provide support to the Committee on the Rights of the Child in its monitoring and guiding functions, and to States Parties, professionals, and civil society agents concerned with the protection and well-being of children.     

Comprendre l'éducation physique à partir de la comparaison: le cas de la France et de l' Espagne

Le but principal de cet article est de comparer à partir des textes législatifs, des enquêtes ministérielles et européennes, et des revues spécialisées en France et en Espagne les propriétés de deux organisations scolaires singulières nommées «éducation prioritaire» ainsi que les mises en ?uvre de l'éducation physique. En nous appuyant sur l'approche de la construction sociale, nous présentons comment ces deux pays européens organisent cet enseignement dans les milieux défavorisés. Une analyse des aspects visibles du système éducatif à l'aide d'indicateurs généralistes (organisation des études, formation des enseignants, dépenses publiques) aurait laissé envisager d'importantes différences. Cependant, la comparaison à l'aide d'indicateurs «plus fins» des mises en ?uvre de l'éducation physique dans les écoles traditionnelles (poids de l'éducation physique, préoccupations gouvernementales et celles des enseignants, programmes d'enseignement) puis dans les milieux difficiles ZEP et CAEP (choix didactiques et pédagogiques) indique de fortes similitudes. Ces différences de résultats soulignent l'intérêt des analyses comparatives secondaires et la nécessité de considérer des analyses détaillées.

The main aim of this study is to compare two particular school organisations labelled ‘priority education’ in France and Spain, in relation to physical education using laws, ministerial and European surveys, and specialised journals. The social constructivist approach has been used to describe how both these European countries organise the teaching of physical education in under‐privileged environments. The analysis of the visible aspects of these educational systems with general indicators (organisation of studies, teacher education, public expenses) seems to imply differences. However, the comparison using more detailed data in the implementation of physical education in traditional schools (weight of the physical education in the system, governmental and teachers concerns, teaching programmes) indicates strong similarities. In addition, didactic and pedagogic choices in physical education in under‐privileged schools appear to be quite similar. These results underline the interest of secondary comparative studies and the necessity of taking into account detailed analyses.     

Re-Examining the Similarities Between Teacher and Student Conceptions About Physical Science

There is a large body of research that has explored students’ misconceptions about science phenomena. Less research, however, has been devoted to identifying teachers’ misconceptions, but the results of the few existing studies demonstrate that teachers and students possess similar misconceptions. This study explored the physical science conceptions of 103 elementary science teachers to determine whether, after three decades of misconception research, teachers still possess conceptions similar to those held by students. We found that our teachers expressed misconceptions regarding gravity, magnetism, gases, and temperature that were similar to common student misconceptions. Suggestions for improving science professional development programs are discussed.     

Learned predictiveness effects following single-cue training in humans

The results of several recent studies of human associative learning indicate that people will learn more rapidly about cues that have previously been experienced as predictive of events of significance, as compared with cues previously experienced as nonpredictive. Notably, however, these experiments have typically established this prior predictiveness by means of pretraining with multiple, simultaneously presented cues, some of which are more predictive than others. The present experiments instead investigated the influence of prior predictiveness on future learning when this predictiveness was established via pretraining with individual cues, each of which was the best available predictor of the outcome with which it was paired. Results indicate that, following this pretraining, human participants again show better learning about previously predictive cues than about previously nonpredictive cues.     

The contribution of system and control theory to new technologies

Over the last five decades, modem directions in technological areas such as wireless networks and communications, complex robotic systems, satellites and space structures have been immensely benefited by the use of system and control＇s conceptual framework. Estimation, stability, controllability, robustness, optimality, adaptation, information and statistical engineering are only some of the fundamental ingredients of the so-called new and emerging technologies, which are within the collective preview of this paper. Furthermore, these two, contrarily to technological trends, well established fields of science have been continuously supported by formal modelling techniques, and advanced computational and simulation tools, which enable the analysis and design of new powerful and effective methodologies. Consequently, in this article the authors＇ aim follows two equal directions. At first, the authors would like to provide a profusion of many practical examples and real life problems arising in different application areas that may have in the past abstractly engaged the authors＇ attention and have offer a wealth of opportunities for creative system modelling and practical solutions development. That is the core of our paper. However, in order to be more explicit, and to further illustrate the authors＇ thoughts, the case of a tele-medicine-assisted home support system is used; a system of great interest in the emerging field of information technology and medical health care. Secondly, by developing the necessary conceptual framework and some more efficient methods, important and straightforwardly challenges are inevitably derived. Moreover, a strong effort to develop a formal approach requires the definition of a generic system framework. It is a central objective of this paper to clarify and unify the alternative notions of a ＂conceptual model＂ and thus, to create a basis for the systematic development of formal methods, control/information architectures and decision-making strategies. AMS （Classification）： 97U50, 97U70, 97U80, 97D99.     

Are Canadian adolescents happy？ A gender-based analysis of a nationally representative survey

In this study, the authors analyzed data from a nationally representative survey of youth to study happiness amongst Canadian adolescents aged 12-17. Testing for differences in the level of happiness between female and male adolescents was conducted. Following this, multivariate analysis was employed to determine which factors were associated with adolescent happiness. The authors determined that the level of happiness appeared to vary between the genders, as the males reported a higher level of happiness than the females. However, the difference between the genders in terms of reported happiness was modest. The authors detected some gender differences in regards to determinants of happiness. The study＇s theoretical and practical implications are also considered.     

Included or excluded? The dual influences of the organisational field and organisational practices on new female academics

A number of measures have been taken by the society to ensure gender equality in higher education. Nevertheless, women still face great difficulties when pursuing an academic career. Our aim is to increase the understanding of how the society, conceptualised as the organisational field, interacts with organisational factors and personal actions as women try to establish themselves within academia. We followed a group of female PhD students and their struggle to graduate at a Swedish, traditionally male‐dominated, university department. The paper analyses how actors and regulations in the society interact with the department’s gendered structures and practices. Three processes that influenced the women’s career opportunities have been identified – a process of integration, liberation and legitimatisation. We also show that women can get accepted and realise their short‐term objective, based on support from the society, while not necessarily being included by the department in a longer‐term perspective.     

A measure of emergent literacy for students with severe developmental disabilities

This study examined the underlying structure of the Nonverbal Literacy Assessment (NVLA), an instrument designed to measure emergent literacy for K–fourth‐grade students with severe developmental disabilities. The NVLA was conceptualized as having six constructs that reflected emergent literacy skills: (a) phonemic awareness, (b) phonics, (c) comprehension, (d) vocabulary, (e) listening comprehension, and (f) text awareness. Confirmatory factor analysis using data from 207 student administrations was used to examine the six‐factor model and two alternative models. Results suggested that all three models fit the data, but the high corrections coefficients among the constructs suggested that a one‐factor model of emergent literacy was the best‐fitting model. Implications and limitations are discussed. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

THE CONCEPT OF PHILOSOPHICAL EDUCATION

Strangely, the concept of philosophical education is not much in use, at least not as a philosophical concept. In this essay, Steinar Bøyum attempts to outline such a philosophical concept of philosophical education. Bøyum uses Plato's Allegory of the Cave, René Descartes's life of doubt, and Immanuel Kant's criticism of metaphysics as paradigms or defining examples of this concept. Bøyum's aim in this essay is not exegetical; rather, he hopes to describe these examples in a way that will let their character as conceptions of philosophical education show forth. His underlying aims are to show which forms such conceptions may take and why philosophical education is or should be an important topic for both philosophy and education.     

Career coping styles: differences in career attitudes among secondary school students

The types of difficulties associated with career attitudes were studied using Super’s model of career maturity (1990) in a group of 620 Portuguese students from grades 9 and 12. A cluster analysis identified four styles with different patterns of association between time perspective, attributional beliefs, self-esteem and career attitudes. The adaptive style showed more committed career attitudes, and the other three styles—superficial, insecure and pessimistic—showed lower levels of career maturity. Implications for career counselling are further discussed.