Why children tell: a model of children's disclosure of sexual abuse

OBJECTIVE: The present study investigated variables associated with delay of disclosure of child sexual abuse and tested a model of time to disclosure. METHOD: Data were obtained for 218 alleged child sexual abuse victims whose cases had been referred to District Attorneys' Offices. Five variables were posited to influence the delay between an abusive event and children's disclosure of that event to a reporting adult: child's age, gender, type of abuse experienced (intrafamilial or extrafamilial), perceived responsibility for the abuse, and fear of negative consequences of disclosure. These variables were used to create a model of factors influencing children's disclosure of sexual abuse. RESULTS: Results indicated that age, type of abuse, fear of negative consequences, and perceived responsibility all contributed to predicting time to disclosure. There was significant support for the model, suggesting that children who were older, came from incestuous families, felt greater responsibility for the abuse, and feared negative consequences of disclosure took longer to disclose. CONCLUSIONS: Children's cognitive appraisal of others' tolerance of disclosure of child sexual abuse, and their own perceptions of responsibility for the abuse, are crucial to the decision to disclose. When evaluating children for possible sexual abuse, developmental, cognitive, and socio-emotional factors need to be taken into consideration.     

Lesson and learning studies—An edifying story

It would be difficult to find any pedagogical story that is comparable to that of jugyou kenkyuu (or lesson study in English) that has been practised for over a century in Japan in isolation and became a method that was used worldwide in less than 10 years. Because of its uniqueness and its history, it is an irrefutable challenge to understand what it is really about, how its basic aspects such as a lesson or teachers' knowledge and its development, the culture of education, the measurability of educational activities and other main aspects of education are or can be conceptualised and in which ways these can travel in a globalised arena of education. In this article, we try to give answers to these and some other relevant issues related to lesson study via the author's subjective view and individually‐constructed narrative.     

Going to Extremes

任意说出一种极限运动的名字,你首先想到的是什么？蹦极？跑酷？比起这些．还有更加极限的,比如悬崖跳水、极限跳伞、极限熨衣……     

LEARNING TO LAUGH AT OURSELVES: HUMOR,SELF‐TRANSCENDENCE,AND THE CULTIVATION OF MORAL VIRTUES

In this essay Mordechai Gordon begins to address the neglect of humor among philosophers of education by focusing on some interesting connections between humor, self‐transcendence, and the development of moral virtues. More specifically, he explores the kind of humor that makes fun of oneself and how it can affect educational encounters. Gordon begins his analysis by discussing the nature and purpose of humor in general, while distinguishing it from laughter and amusement. In the next part of the essay, he takes a close look at the characteristics and benefits of the type of humor that we use when we make fun of ourselves. He then turns his attention to exploring the relation between laughing at ourselves, self‐transcendence, and a number of moral virtues. The final part of this essay briefly examines what might happen to the quality of educational encounters when teachers become more comfortable with laughing at themselves.     

Why has the investment performance of technology-specialist, European venture capital funds been so poor?

This paper seeks to identify and model the key parameters which impact on the commercial performance of a specialist, technology focused, early-stage, venture capital fund. Using both input (costs) and output (expected values) data provided by a number of specialist, independent venture capital firms, a spreadsheet model of a 10 year term fund is developed. These figures are used to generate Internal Rate of Return (IRR) and Net Present Value (NPV) performance calculations for the investment commitments of both the institutional, limited partners and venture capitalist, general partner. The generically defined model allows the user to address both conceptual and pragmatic questions regarding the relationship between fund structure and performance. The model is further developed to determine the effect on fund performance of two venture capital related, ‘indirect' State support schemes (guarantee and leverage options). Iterative interrogations of the model demonstrate the sensitivity of economic returns to the scale of the investment activity. State supported schemes mitigate but do not remove the negative performance consequences of small fund size. A fund with under £15 million (US$25 million or ECU21 million) under management is of increasing economic vulnerability.     

Coach autonomy support, basic need satisfaction, and intrinsic motivation of paralympic athletes

The purpose of the present study, grounded in self-determination theory, was to explore the relationship between Paralympic athletes' perceptions of autonomy-supportive coach behavior basic psychological needs, and intrinsic motivation to know, accomplish, and experience stimulation. One hundred thirteen Canadian Paralympic athletes completed an online survey, consisting of measures of coach autonomy support; of perceptions of autonomy, competence, and relatedness; and of intrinsic motivation. Perceived coach autonomy support was a predictor of athletes' perceptions of autonomy and relatedness. Perceived competence was a significant predictor of all three forms of intrinsic motivation, while perceived autonomy was a significant predictor of intrinsic motivation to accomplish and experience stimulation. The results highlight the important relationship between coach behavior and athlete motivation in disability sport.     

Conceptions of mathematics and how it is learned: The perspectives of students entering university

This paper reports results from an investigation to identify the conceptions of mathematics held by beginning university students and their approaches to the study of mathematics. Phenomenographic techniques were used to analyze responses to a questionnaire administered to approximately 300 students. An analysis of the results identified a structural relationship between students' conceptions of mathematics and their approaches to learning it, with the majority of students viewing mathematics as a necessary set of rules and procedures to be learned by rote. The results of this research have implications for the ways in which teaching and learning are constituted within universities.     

Cooperation in Teacher Education in the European Community

During 1977, the Commission of the European Communities offered for the first time a limited number of grants for short study visits in member states. These grants were introduced to enable teaching and administrative staff and researchers to undertake studies of aspects of the organization and administration of European Community higher education institutions. The central intention was the promotion of cooperation. This paper describes the strategies adopted in operating a study visit programme involving one institution in the United Kingdom and fourteen institutions in six member states of the European Community, i.e. Belgium, Denmark, France, Holland, Italy and West Germany, and presents an interim evaluation of the outcomes of this project.