Ethical issues in research with abused children

This paper discusses sensitive ethical issues encountered in conducting research with abused children and the potential consequences of various methods of handling these dilemmas. Important ethical questions arise at three stages of the research: (1) obtaining consent for participation in the research; (2) conducting interviews with or administering tests to the subjects; and (3) providing information about test results to parents or others outside the research team. Concern with children's rights has been extended to the question of who can give consent for children to participate in research. In the case of abused children, the consent issue is complicated by the potential adversarial relationship between abusing parent and abused child. Procedures for interviewing or testing abused children must include provisions for three special situations: (1) when a child is distressed by the interviewing or testing; (2) when a child's answers or test results indicate emotional problems; and (3) when a child's answers or comments indicate that the child is being abused. Decisions concerning whether to inform parents or others about an individual child's answers must balance the parents' right to know against the child's right to privacy. All these circumstances require serious deliberation concerning the role and responsibility of the research investigator.     

Anonymous green painting: an artifact of resistance as danger and hope in an early childhood educational setting

A “child’s painting” is narrated as a contextualized artifact, situated in a school, a curriculum, and a society. It is a study of this object and the meanings that can be made by examining it in context, using an “ethic of resistance” and an analysis of curriculum spaces. This contextualization is designed to contribute to the continuing conversation about “go[ing] beyond all kinds of binary thinking”. The binary of interest here is that which positions “adults” and “children” within the constructs of power and powerlessness in educational settings.     

Deconstructing Delphinium: Violence and Flowers in Rousseau’s émile and Henke’s Chrysanthemum

This article is an attempt to contribute to the conversation about “go[ing] beyond all kinds of binary thinking” (Lenz Taguchi, Going beyond the theory/practice divide in early childhood education: introducing an intra-active pedagogy, 2010, p. 50), especially the binary which positions “adults” and “children” as being powerful and powerless, respectively, in educational settings. It is also a personal reflection on “naming.” At the center of the reflection are two literary works, the picture book by Henkes, Chrysanthemum (1991), and the novel by Rousseau, émile, ou l’education (1762a). The central metaphor of émile—that of the developing child as organically unfolding, like a flower—is deconstructed by the plot involving two flower-named characters in Chrysanthemum. These characters are the protagonist, Chrysanthemum, and her music teacher, Delphinium Twinkle. Two acts of “naming” are considered: the literal act of naming a newborn baby and the abstract concept of “naming” [or labeling] a particular time in the life of a human being: “Childhood” (Cannella, Deconstructing early childhood education: social justice and revolution, 1997).     

Perceived and actual academic competence in maltreated children

OBJECTIVE: The aims were twofold: 1) to determine whether maltreated and nonmaltreated children differed in the accuracy of their self-assessments of academic achievement; and 2) to determine whether discrepancies between perceived and actual academic competence were related to perceptions of social support from mothers, teachers, and peers. METHOD: A sample of 195 maltreated children known to a state protective service agency was compared to a control group of 179 nonmaltreated children. The groups were matched on child's gender, age, ethnicity, and birth order; socioeconomic ranking of neighborhood; and family structure. RESULTS: Although maltreated children had significantly lower achievement scores than did nonmal-treated children, the two groups did not differ on perceived academic competence. With regard to discrepancies between perceived and actual competence, maltreated children were more likely than nonmaltreated children to overestimate their level of competence, particularly for reading and arithmetic. Overall, children who reported low maternal support were more likely to overestimate reading competence than were those who reported average or high maternal support. When maltreatment status was considered, maltreated children with low support seemed likely to overestimate abilities, whereas nonmaltreated children with low support seemed likely to underestimate competence. CONCLUSIONS: Maltreated children may overestimate their academic abilities in order to compensate for self-perceptions of low self-worth. Efforts to improve academic performance in maltreated children should focus not only on increasing academic skills but also on enhancing self-esteem.     

Examining K-12 teachers’ feelings,experiences, and perspectives regarding online teaching during the early stage of the COVID-19 pandemic

Educational technology research and development - This mixed-methods study explored K-12 teachers’ feelings, experiences, and perspectives regarding online teaching during the COVID-19...