Does the Model of Language in the National Literacy Strategy Create Failure for Pupils from Differing Language Backgrounds?

The National Literacy Strategy (NLS) was introduced by the government in the wake of the hotly debated issue of falling educational standards in the UK. All schools were required to adopt the NLS Literacy Hour unless they could show their preferred programme would result in raised levels of achievement. My experience of delivering the Literacy Hour has been a process of adaptation to the needs of my pupils, who are drawn mainly from groups whose language backgrounds differ from that which is dominant in school. I have found that the requirements of NLS, together with many of the commercial resources used to teach it, are not appropriate for pupils from these groups and a question arose: is it the pupils who are in some way deficient or is it the approach and the resources being used? This article takes a case study of the use of a commercially produced resource to explore the model of language implicit in NLS, the kinds of resources it generates and the ways in which this creates failure in pupils from different language backgrounds. It then considers the New Literacy Studies and their implications for an alteration in our approach.     

Non-finite loss and challenges to communication between parents and professionals

Elizabeth Bruce PhD, a psychologist in private practice, and Cynthia Schultz PhD, honorary associate at LaTrobe University, both live and work in Australia. Their work on supporting parents who have children with special needs, however, has been published around the world. In this article Bruce and Schultz explore the notion of 'non-finite loss', defined as the ongoing sense of grief experienced by parents caring for children with severe disabilities. The authors discuss the issues that professionals need to consider when working with parents in these circumstances. The article closes with a set of recommendations for promoting more effective partnerships between parents and professionals.     

Traditional versus open university teaching methods: A cost comparison

The paper attempts to throw light on the direct (instructional) cost of OU teaching methods as against conventional “live” instruction. The variable cost per student-course is with one exception lower in the OU than elsewhere. This constitutes a strong case for the use of existing OU packages in campus universities, especially as campus universities might feel able to dispense with the costs of the summer schools. It also constitutes a case for expansion of existing courses at the OU. As regards the development of new OU packages, the paper shows the Foundation courses to be much cheaper than equivalent provision de novo at the same scale in campus universities. Measured by the breakeven number of students, second-level courses in a given faculty are cheaper than foundation level courses. But they also have fewer students and some are operating at levels which, if there were no interdependence between courses, might be considered expensive. If however they were used by more students either at the OU or at campus universities they could be economic, even when taken on their own. The paper does not cost student time but, if this is cheaper when OU teaching methods are used, this is a further argument in their favour.

     

Young deafblind adults in action: becoming self-determined change agents through advocacy

Six young deafblind adults took a 1-week course on civic engagement and advocacy, which provided the focus for a participatory action research study with a collective case study design. They selected advocacy topics, were briefed on these policy issues, and were paired with experienced mentors for meetings with legislators in Washington, DC. Eight themes were identified from constant comparative and in vivo analysis of classroom discussion notes, interviews, and journals: (a) defining advocacy and advocate, (b) rights and equality, (c) expectations, (d) role of education in change, (e) deafblind expertise, (f) characteristics of effective change agents, (g) advocacy is teamwork, (h) future advocacy. In the classroom, the participants learned about policy issues, communication considerations, and leadership, then applied this knowledge in the legislative arena. Through the advocacy process, they learned to apply their personal strengths as advocates and experienced the importance of teamwork in advocacy.     

Empirically Supporting the Increasing Severity of College Counseling Center Client Problems: Why Is It So Challenging?

Since the late 1980s, college counselors have reported seeing increasing numbers of students who present with severe forms of emotional and psychological disturbance. However, little direct evidence has yet to demonstrate any trend in the level of severity of presenting problems. In this article, the authors explore methodological challenges for researchers who attempt to examine the question of increasing severity of client problems. Implications for college counseling centers are discussed.     

Livelihood and Social Division

The struggle for livelihood has always been of central concern to working class people. In Australia today the concentration of unemployment raises issues which must be seen as part of an historical process, involving the reconstruction of social division and the struggle for the right to subsistence. These issues are examined in this article, with particular attention to the social and economic changes which have produced this threat to livelihood. Our research has shown that the responses of working class young people to this situation bring into sharp relief the complex social processes through which social division is produced. The evidence suggests that the cultural perspectives of working class males and females in Australia still have a force and significance which represent a potential challenge to the present pattern of restructuring of the economy which has resulted in such widespread unemployment. This raises particular questions about the growth in local employment initiatives in Australia (as in Europe) and its implications for curriculum development in schools in working class neighbourhoods.     

The abuse-related beliefs questionnaire for survivors of childhood sexual abuse

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the psychometric properties of a new measure, the Abuse-Related Beliefs Questionnaire (ARBQ), designed to assess abuse-related beliefs among adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse (CSA). Study 1 examined the structure of the scale, and Study 2 evaluated its reliability and validity. METHOD: One hundred and seventy female CSA survivors recruited into a group psychotherapy intervention study were administered the ARBQ in Study 1. A subsample of 45 women completed the ARBQ again 12 months later. In Study 2, 70 women from a health maintenance organization who identified themselves as survivors of CSA completed the ARBQ along with the Trauma Symptom Checklist-40 (TSC-40) and the Symptom Checklist 90R (SCL-90-R). RESULTS: Three reliable ARBQ subscales emerged in Study 1: Guilt, Shame, and Resilience. Twelve-month test-retest reliability was high (r=.60-.64). The internal consistency of the subscales was further supported in Study 2, and validity was demonstrated by moderate to high correlations with the distress measures. CONCLUSIONS: The results indicate that the ARBQ has good psychometric characteristics, supporting the feasibility of its use in measuring abuse-related beliefs in research on survivors of CSA. A next step for validation of the ARBQ would be to evaluate its sensitivity in measuring changes in studies of interventions for treating CSA survivors.