Youth Practitioner Professional Narratives: Changing Identities in Changing Times

This paper examines youth practitioner professionality responses to neo-liberal policy changes in youth work and the youth support sector in the UK, from New Labour to Conservative-led administrations. Using a narrative inquiry approach, six early career practitioners explore and recount their experiences of moving into the field during changing political times. The narratives reveal differentiated responses to a climate of increasing managerialism and performativity but point to the value of narrative capital as a personalised resource.     

The All-Heterosexual World of Children’s Nonfiction: A Critical Content Analysis of LGBTQ Identities in Orbis Pictus Award Books, 1990–2017

Despite increased attention toward children’s nonfiction and informational texts in recent decades, there is still little research that investigates the ways in which various cultural identities are depicted in nonfiction children’s books. Focusing specifically on the 143 winners and honor recipients of the Orbis Pictus Award for Outstanding Nonfiction Literature for Children (1990–2017), this article reports the findings of a critical content analysis of depictions of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) identified people in award-winning nonfiction youth literature. The authors look across this set of texts as a literary construction of the world, making explicit where and how LGBTQ people are visible in these award-winning books for young readers. By analyzing specific depictions of queer-identified people, the authors argue the creators of these books rely upon heteronormative constructions, queer erasure, and compulsory heterosexuality to minimize (and even eliminate) queerness.     

The global teaching profession: how treating teachers as knowledge workers improves the esteem of the teaching profession

To better understand the status of the teaching profession, we present a conceptual framework outlining the 4 domains of knowledge-worker professionals: professional benchmarks, professional discretion, room for promotion, and workplace conditions and use the TALIS 2013 survey data to show that these domains exist globally and vary within countries. Across more than 30 school systems, we address the question: To what extent does the level and type of professionalism afforded to individual teachers shape their perceptions of the esteem of their profession? The strongest domain traits that correlate with feeling valued as a teacher are teachers’ satisfaction with their working conditions, involvement in school decision making, and the chance to be recognized for good work. This framework shapes an actionable set of concepts that policymakers can use to address attraction and retention to the profession system-wide and that school leaders can use to improve working conditions in their own schools.     

Different durations within the method of best practice affect the parameters of the speed–duration relationship

The aim of the study was to determine whether estimates of the speed–duration relationship are affected using different time-trial (TT) field-based testing protocols, where exhaustive times were located within the generally recommended durations of 2–15?min. Ten triathletes (mean?±?SD age: 31.0?±?5.7?years; height: 1.81?±?0.05?m; body mass: 76.5?±?6.8?kg) performed two randomly assigned field tests to determine critical speed (CS) and the total distance covered above CS (D?). CS and D? were obtained using two different protocols comprising three TT that were interspersed by 60?min passive rest. The TTs were 12, 7, and 3?min in Protocol I and 10, 5, and 2?min in Protocol II. A linear relationship of speed vs. the inverse of time (s?=?D??×?1/t?+?CS) was used to determine parameter estimates. Significant differences were found for CS (p?=?0.026), but not for D? (p?=?0.123). The effect size for CS (d?=?0.305) was considered small, while that for D? was considered moderate (d?=?0.742). CS was significantly correlated between protocols (r?=?0.934; p?D? (r?=?0.053; p?=?0.884). The 95% limits of agreement were ±0.28m?s^?1 and ±73.9?m for CS and D?, respectively. These findings demonstrate that the choice of exhaustive times within commonly accepted durations results in different estimates of CS and D?, and thus protocols cannot be used interchangeably. The use of a consistent protocol is therefore recommended, when investigating or monitoring the speed–duration relationship estimates in well-trained athletes.