Students' experiences of aggressive behaviour and bully/victim problems in Irish schools

Since the 1980s, a greater understanding of the frequency and typology of bullying/victim problems in schools has been accrued in many countries, including Ireland, where a nationwide study of bullying behaviour in schools was undertaken in 1993–1994. However, rather less is known about Irish school students' involvement in other forms of aggressive behaviour. The purpose of the survey described here was to ascertain the prevalence of school students' experiences of certain categories of general aggressive behaviour, as well as the prevalence of bully/victim problems, in Irish schools. Data were obtained via the administration of a specially and extensively modified version of the Olweus Bully/Victim Questionnaire to 5569 participants (2312 primary and 3257 post-primary) in Ireland in the autumn/winter school term of 2004–2005. Principally, it was found that experiences of aggressive behaviour appeared to be widespread; whilst age trends varied according to individual categories of aggressive behaviour, gender differences were more clear – boys were more frequently the targets of ‘direct’ forms of aggressive behaviour, whereas girls were more frequently the targets of ‘indirect’ forms. Furthermore, bully/victim problems appear to be persistent in Irish schools, with 35.3% of primary students and 36.4% of post-primary students reporting having been bullied over the last three months. It was contended that inroads into preventing and dealing with bullying and aggressive behaviour in Irish schools might best be made via governmentally-supported nationwide intervention programmes, as has been the case in Norway.     

No longer ‘Catholic,White and Gaelic’: schools in Ireland coming to terms with cultural diversity

Irish society has experienced unprecedented demographic change since the turn of the twenty-first century, and increasingly, educators are facing the prospect of having to respond to the changing nature of cultural diversity in their classrooms. Traditionally characterised as ‘Catholic, white and Gaelic’, Irish schools are said to be finding it difficult to recognise and acknowledge new expressions of race, culture and religion. This paper focuses on the challenges facing educationalists in responding to cultural diversity within the Republic of Ireland. Drawing on empirical research conducted in Irish schools, we frame the discussion around a number of practical issues, namely, school dress, curriculum content and academic attainment, and explore the findings using liberal and critical multicultural theories. Finally, the paper contains philosophical discussion of the challenge of responding to cultural diversity and the implications this raises for policy and practice in Ireland.     

The emergence of a national policy on teacher education in Ireland

The development of the Irish system of education was, not unlike all critical aspects of Irish identity, fundamentally shaped by its relationship with its colonial neighbour. Prior to Independence in 1922, the system of education promoted was a fundamental part of a strategic effort to ensure cultural assimilation and political socialisation. Control over the education system facilitated the systematic erosion of the native language and culture and the reproduction of colonial values. Following Independence, the system of education promoted was a response to what was perceived as centuries of political, economic, cultural and linguistic domination. However, whether prior to or post‐Independence, the pedagogical was often marginalised at the expense of the political. This article focuses on an aspect of Irish education policy which has largely escaped the focus of scholars to date: teacher education policy. It examines the ideological basis underlying the development of a national policy on teacher education from 1831.     

Population attributable fractions of psychopathology and suicidal behaviour associated with childhood adversities in Northern Ireland

Childhood adversities are strong predictors of psychopathology and suicidality. However, specific adversities are associated with different outcomes, with cross-national variations reported. The current study examined rates of adversities reported in Northern Ireland (NI), and associations between adverse childhood experiences and psychopathology and suicidal behaviour were explored. Data was obtained from the Northern Ireland Study of Health and Stress (NISHS), conducted as part of the World Mental Health (WMH) survey initiative (2004–2008); response rate 68.4% (n = 1,986). The on-line survey used, the WHO Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI) to examine psychopathology and associated risk factors in the NI population. Prevalence rates of retrospectively reported childhood adversities were calculated, with gender and age variations explored. Females were more likely to experience sexual abuse. Individuals who grew up during the worst years of the civil conflict in NI experienced elevated levels of childhood adversities. Participants who endured childhood adversities were more likely to have mental health problems but variations in risk factors were found for different disorders. Parental mental illness was associated with all disorders however, with ORs ranging from 2.20 for mood disorders to 4.07 for anxiety disorders. Population attributable fractions (PAF) estimated the reduction in psychopathology and suicidal behaviour in the population if exposure to adverse childhood events had not occurred. The highest PAF values were revealed for parental mental illness and sexual abuse. The findings indicate that a substantial proportion of psychopathology and suicide risk in NI are attributable to childhood adversities, providing support for early intervention and prevention initiatives.     

Comparing normative influence from multiple groups: Beyond family,religious ingroup norms predict children’s prejudice towards refugees

In the wake of the global refugee crisis, children are exposed to negative attitudes from public and private spheres. Previous research has identified family, peer, and school norms as significant predictors of children’s inter-ethnic attitudes. We extend this literature by examining normative influence from wider society, which has received substantially less attention. Among 266 children (M_age = 11.24), this study investigates the relative contributions of norms from five ingroups (family, class-peers, Irish, religious and all-humanity) to predict children’s anti-refugee bias. Perceptions of positive family and religious norms were the strongest unique predictors of contact intentions and warmth towards refugees. Intergroup anxiety and perceived threat mediated these relationships. Social dominance orientation mediated family normative influence only. These findings highlight the importance of broader groups (beyond that of proximal ingroups) for understanding children’s intergroup attitudes.     

Absolute effects of schooling as a reference for the interpretation of educational intervention effects

Knowledge of the absolute effects of schooling provides a useful reference for the interpretation of the effectiveness of educational interventions. We use discontinuities in test scores between the oldest pupils in one birth cohort and the youngest in the next to assess the absolute effects of schooling. Our study includes 90 % of all pupils in year-groups 4–6 of primary education (ages 7–10) in Northern Ireland. Assignment to year-groups is strictly determined by date of birth in Northern Ireland. This creates a situation which parallels randomized controlled experimentation. The findings support the view that the guidelines suggested by Cohen (in 1969) may be overly ambitious when evaluating the effectiveness of educational interventions.     

The Construction of Insiders as Outsiders

ABSTRACT

Using a memoir written decades later, I examine key features of the religious scene in Knock, County Mayo, in the 1830s and 1840s. I address the nature of the writer's memory, embodied as it was in orally transmitted stories, and show how these narratives provide maps of the cultural terrain. Then, after briefly considering the class dimension of poor Catholic resentment of powerful Protestants, I focus on the sectarian feeling by and towards other poor people. I analyse the complex ideological work through which local Catholics who converted to Protestantism were socially constructed as ‘not-Knock’ people.     

An empirical study of formal procedure specification

Programming a computer is a problem-solving activity which can be categorized as formal procedure specification.It is a useful vehicle for the study of this aspect of problem-solving because the procedures can be automatically tested for correctness.The reported study focuses on the incidence and severity of errors committed during program development by novice programmers.The observations are summarized in tabular form, to permit insights into the sorts of errors virtually untrained students make when specifying procedures, and the problems they have eliminating them.     

Irrelevant information: Some effects on children's problem-solving

Children of 3, 5, 7, 9, and 11 years of age were given simple, social-matching problems. Two conditions were employed: each involved verbal presentation but in one (Condition V) no concrete representation was involved while in the other (Condition M) models were also used. Within each condition, information was provided which was (a) sufficient, (b) superfluous, (c) irrelevant or which displayed a combination of these characteristics. For all age groups, the problems containing only irrelevant information were the most difficult, although Condition M enhanced the performance of younger children while depressing that of 7- and 9-year-olds. The results were interpreted as supporting the view that a major source of difficulty for the child may lie in selecting the appropriate referent. Some inferences are drawn regarding the abilities of children to cope with ambiguity.     

Adult and child identities in Irish primary schools,c.1830–1909

Drawing on teaching manuals, government reports and school inspectors’ reports from the 1830s up to the early twentieth century, this paper traces the changing conceptual and social distance between childhood and adulthood in Ireland. Using Norbert Elias’s figurational approach, it is argued that children became increasingly involved in both unplanned civilising processes and deliberate civilising missions framed by state functionaries, religious elites and pedagogic experts. Young children were civilised in the broader context of unintentional, but ordered social processes developing over the course of the nineteenth century. While both pupils and teachers were at first addressed and depicted in similar ways, a growing social and cultural differentiation between adult and child gradually developed. This is related to the increasing status of teachers, their position as civilising agents of the state, and the gradual acceptance by elites that Irish teachers of humble social origins had become more emotionally self-controlled.