A Comparative Sociology of School Knowledge

Despite a recently renewed theoretical interest in both North America and in Britain in the sociology of school knowledge, we still have little, if any, comparative empirical material from these two continents. This paper reports the findings of a sociological study, designed to replicate the previous English empirical work by Vulliamy, into music teaching in Ontario high schools. Unlike in England, no overt culture clash was found in Ontario schools between ‘school’ music and ‘students’ ‘ music, both because of the wider scope of ‘what counts as school music’ in Canada and because music is not a compulsory school subject there. However, by focusing upon the deep structure of the pedagogical process, as opposed to surface features of classroom interaction, it is argued that particular ideologies of the dominant musical culture are transmitted in very similar ways in both contexts. What is shared is a conception of music as equatable with musical notation. The ideological significance of this is pinpointed in an analysis of the structurally homological relationship between different musical languages and the social/‐cultural contexts of their creation. The processes of school music teaching not only contribute to the legitimation of a dominant musical ideology, but also to much more pervasive ideological assumptions underpinning capitalist societies.     

A Deluge of Directives: conflict between collegiality and managerialism in the post-ERA primary school

The paper examines the impact of the plethora of innovations associated with the 1988 Education Reform Act (ERA) on the management of whole-school change in the primary school. Based upon qualitative data from a national sample of 50 schools in England and Wales, it documents the growing tensions between collegial and top-down managerial approaches. These are evidenced in the changing nature of working collaboratively in primary schools, in the creation of new management structures, in the me of school development plans and in the growth of quality assurance mechanisms, particularly in relation to preparation for Office for Standards in Education (OFSTED) inspections. There are conflicting interpretations of terms such as ‘collegiality’, ‘collaboration’, ‘teamwork’ and ‘whole-school approaches’ and there have been subtle shifts in their meaning and in their realisation in practice in the pre-and post-ERA context.     

Subtypes, severity, and structural stability of peer victimization: what does latent class analysis say?

This study uses latent class analysis (LCA) to empirically identify victimization groups during middle school. Approximately 2,000 urban, public middle school students (mean age in sixth grade = 11.57) reported on their peer victimization during the Fall and Spring semesters of their sixth, seventh, and eighth grades. Independent LCA analyses at each semester yielded 3 victim classes based on victimization degree rather than type (e.g., physical vs. relational). The most victimized class always represented the smallest proportion of the sample, decreasing from 20% in sixth grade to 6% by the end of eighth grade. This victimized class also always reported feeling less safe at school concurrently and more depressed than others 1 semester later, illustrating the validity of the LCA approach.     

Where, when, and why young athletes use imagery: an examination of developmental differences

The purpose of this study was to investigate young athletes' imagery use from a developmental perspective. The participants were 110 male and female athletes competing in both team and individual sports. They represented four different age cohorts (i.e., 7-8, 9-10, 11-12, and 13-14 years). Sixteen focus groups, two for each age category and gender, were used as the method of data collection. The findings indicated "where," "when, " and "why" young athletes use imagery and how imagery use changes as children move from early childhood through to early adolescence. Overall, results revealed that all age cohorts reported using imagery in both training and competition and for both cognitive and motivational purposes. The present research also found support for studying imagery use by young athletes from a developmental perspective.     

Impact of age on host responses to diet-induced obesity:Development of joint damage and metabolic set points

Background:Osteoarthritis is one of the leading causes of pain and disability worldwide,and a large percentage of patients with osteoarthritis are individuals who are also obese.In recent years,a series of animal models have demonstrated that obesity-inducing diets can result in synovial joint damage(both with and without the superimposition of trauma),which may be related to changes in percentage of body fat and a series of low-level systemic inflammatory mediators.Of note,there is a disparity between whether the dietary challenges commence at weaning,representing a weanling onset,or at skeletal maturity,representing an adult onset of obesity.We wished to evaluate the effect ofthe dietary exposure time and the age at which animals are exposed to a high-fat and high-sucrose(HFS) diet to determine whether these factors may result in disparate outcomes,as there is evidence suggesting that these factors result in differential metabolic disturbances.Based on dietary exposure time,we hypothesized that rats fed an HFS diet for 14 weeks from weaning(HFS Weanling) would demonstrate an increase in knee joint damage scores,whereas rats exposed to the HFS diet for 4 weeks,starting at 12 weeks of age(HFS Adult) and rats exposed to a standard chow diet(Chow)would not display an increase in knee joint damage scores.Methods:Male Sprague-Dawley rats were fed either an HFS diet for 14 weeks from weaning(HFS Weanling) or an HFS diet for 4 weeks,starting at 12 weeks of age(HFS Adult).At sacrifice,joints were scored using the modified Mankin Criteria,and serum was analyzed for a defined subset of inflammatory markers(Interleukin-6,leptin,monocyte chemoattractant protein-1,and tumor necrosis factorα).Results:When the HFS Weanling and HFS Adult groups were compared,both groups had a similar percent of body fat,although the HFS Weanling group had a significantly greater body mass than the HFS Adult group.The HFS Weanling and HFS Adult animals had a significant increase in body mass and percentage of body fat when compared to the Chow group.Although knee joint damage scores were low in all 3 groups,we found,contrary to our hypothesis,that the HFS Adult group had statistically significant greater knee joint damage scores than the Chow and HFS Weanling groups.Furthermore,we observed that the HFS Weanling group did not have significant differences in knee joint damage scores relative to the Chow group.Conclusion:These findings indicate that the HFS Weanling animals were better able to cope with the dietary challenge of an HFS diet than the HFS Adult group.Interestingly,when assessing various serum proinflammatory markers,no significant differences were detected between the HTS Adult and HFS Weanling groups.Although details regarding the mechanisms underlying an increase in knee joint damage scores in the HFS Adult group remain to be elucidated,these findings indicate that dietary exposure time maybe less important than the age at which an HFS diet is introduced.Moreover,increases in serum proinflammatory mediators do not appear to be directly linked to knee joint damage scores in the HFS Weanling group animals but may be partially responsible for the observed knee joint damage in the adults over the very short time of exposure to the HFS diet.