美国“父母即教师”项目(PAT)的发展及效果评估

20世纪以来,美国社会的急剧变化使家庭系统面临巨大的压力并引发一系列社会问题,致使美国开始开展增加家庭教育的知识与技能、预防和减少家庭危机的系列研究与实践。以美国密苏里州为代表的"父母即教师"项目(ParentsAsTeachersProgram,PAT),关注孩子在校园的表现与家长参与的互动关系,通过丰富的项目研究实践来提高家长的教育水平,有力地促进了家长有效参与到孩子的发展中去。美国各州普遍实践的"父母即教师"项目的评估表明,参加该项目的父母在育儿技巧、参与的程度与质量方面有显著提升;孩子在认知与入学适应能力等方面也有明显提高。该项目尤其是对贫穷家庭的孩子和非白人家庭的孩子影响更大。     

Parental Attitudes toward Videogames at School

Despite research having highlighted the positive outcomes of the use of videogames to learn, their integration into school contexts remains rare. Literature recognizes the importance of user’s technology acceptance to predict the intention to use and the adoption of new technology in several settings. So far, investigations have primarily focused on students’ and teachers’ opinions, while only a few studies have considered the role of parents. This study aimed to investigate the role of the dimensions of the technology acceptance model on parental preference (254 Italian parents) for the adoption of videogames in primary or secondary schools. Results revealed that 71% of the variance of parental acceptance of videogames is explained by perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, learning opportunities, and parental game expertise. Initiatives aimed to increase parental understanding of videogames as educational tools are encouraged.     

Extending expectancy-value theory predictions of achievement and aspirations in science: Dimensional comparison processes and expectancy-by-value interactions

Based on TIMSS data (18,047 Grade 8 students from the four OECD countries that collected data for multiple science domains), this study integrated dimensional comparison theory and expectancy-value theory and tested predictions about how self-concept and value are related to achievement and coursework aspirations across four science domains (physics, chemistry, earth science, and biology). First, strong support for social comparisons suggested that high achievement in a particular domain enhance students' motivation in the same domain, which in turn predicted domain-specific aspirations. Particularly, self-concept significantly interacted with value to predict aspirations. Second, in the processes underlying the formation of self-concept and intrinsic value, students tended to engage in negative dimensional comparisons between contrasting domains (physics vs. biology) but positive dimensional comparisons between assimilating domains (physics vs. chemistry). Similar dimensional comparison processes were evident for the effects of self-concept and intrinsic value on aspirations. The results generalized well across all countries.     

父母教养方式对大学生子女体重指数和身体活动行为的影响研究

运用问卷调查法和数理统计法,对176名大学生及其父母的饮食、身体活动及教养方式进行调查分析。结果显示,子女同父母在体重指数（BMI）上具有显著正相关关系（r=19,P＜05）,而在每周平均身体活动量上无显著相关（r=08,P=17）。回归分析表明,三类教养方式对子女BMI均无直接预测作用,然而专制型父母教养方式对父母与子女BMI的相关关系起间接调节作用（P＜01）;在子女身体活动行为方面,溺爱型父母教养方式更有可能导致子女的身体活动不足（P＜01）。研究结果表明,大学生离开家庭环境后,父母教养方式仍然对子女BMI和身体活动行为产生持续影响,父母与子女BMI方面存在相关关系。为今后在青少年肥胖干预及身体活动促进研究中纳入教养方式因素提供了实证依据。     

Multitasking,but for what benefit? The dilemma facing Nigerian university students regarding part-time working

Students working part-time while studying for a full-time university degree are commonplace in many Western countries. This paper, however, examines the historically uncommon part-time working activities and career aspirations among Nigerian university students. In particular, how working is perceived to contribute to developing employability skills, and whether it is influenced by their self-efficacy. Survey data from 324 questionnaires were collected from a federal university, although the data analysis used a mixed method. The findings indicate that despite low levels of part-time working generally among students, older, more experienced, higher level and female students place a premium on the skills that part-time work can develop. Moreover, self-efficacy and being female is a significant predictor in understanding part-time work and career aspirations. This study offers originality by focusing on students’ part-time work, the value working provides and its link with career aspirations, within a relatively unexplored context of Nigeria.     

Taking charge and letting go: exploring the ways a Transition to Adulthood project for teenagers with Duchenne muscular dystrophy has supported parents to prepare for the future

The new Special Educational Needs and Disability legislation in the Children and Families Act 2014 intends to raise the aspirations of young people with special educational needs and their families, and improve their life outcomes. But what do raised aspirations and better outcomes look like for young people who have a life‐limiting impairment? This article draws on data from a parent evaluation of a lottery‐funded Transition to Adulthood project for boys with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), called ‘Takin’ Charge’, focusing in particular on whether or not the project helped parents of boys with DMD prepare for the future. Key themes that emerged were the importance and novelty of older role models with DMD in the project who were able to share their journeys into adulthood, the support between families that the project enabled, the meaning of family resilience and aspirations for a normal life. The use of solution‐focused questioning with families affected by a life‐limiting impairment is also explored.     

How parental and school responses to choice policies reconfigure a rural education market in Victoria,Australia

Market principles now dominate the education and social policies of many Anglophone countries, including Australia, but articulate differentially within specific contexts. Existing historical legacies, local economic and social conditions, and geographical settings interact with federal and state funding and transport policies to shape the nature of regional education markets and the choices families make in a rural school market in Australia. Through two school case studies, this article explores the effects of policy shifts on parental choice and student movement within a regional Victorian community. Informed by policy sociology, the article views the policy as a dynamic, often ad hoc process with contradictory effects. It indicates how an ensemble of federal and state funding and conveyancing policies enable some schools to develop marketing practices that reconstruct the local education market to their advantage through the introduction of transport and flexi-boarding policies. It demonstrates that education markets are not confined to urban settings and that while choice is not a new phenomenon in this rural area, federal and state funding and transport policies have reconfigured local markets and intensified the market work undertaken by schools and parents with, in this instance, unequal effects on the provision of schooling in a rural region.     

Speed bumps,roadblocks and tollbooths: how culturally and linguistically diverse parents navigate the highways and byways of giftedness in Ontario

In reviewing literature on culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) parental inclusion and disproportionality, Cam Cobb, assistant professor at the University of Windsor, Ontario, illustrates how CLD giftedness – and especially CLD giftedness in Canadian settings – represents an area in need of further research. In part, this article begins to address that need. Drawing from a larger critical qualitative inquiry, he details the stories of two CLD Canadian mothers as they sought to become involved in gifted identification and decision‐making processes. Knowledge and language arose in the data as two core themes of robust parental inclusion. These core themes, along with associated recommendations for policy, practice and research, are outlined in a discussion of the findings. While this article focuses on the gifted domain of special education in Ontario, the findings have wider implications for robust CLD parental inclusion in special education in general.