'She just got me’: supporting care experienced young people negotiating relationships and identities at school

In this article we examine the complex relationship between care experience, mental health and exclusion from school and how young people (YP) negotiate these different experiences and identities. The study is a secondary analysis, informed by symbolic interactionist theory, of interviews conducted with 19 care experienced YP in Scotland. Not all of the YP were excluded and not all had a formal mental health diagnosis, as such our study design allows interrogation of the contexts and relationships which not only facilitate but also disrupt pathways to exclusion. It also allows reconsideration of assumptions of vulnerability which are often applied to care experienced YP. Our findings suggest that these YP are moving beyond ‘role playing’ the identities ascribed to them and actively seek out relationships which enable them to construct alternative identities.     

Proclaiming Library Worth in a Program Prioritization Process at a Mid-Sized Public University

Abstract

In an economic climate when colleges can no longer presume that legislators see institutions of higher learning as tacit public goods, institutions around the country are facing budget cuts. This article presents a case study of the experience of a mid-sized public state university and its Library in a budget crisis undergoing a university-wide program prioritization process. The authors review the process of writing three reports on the Library’s value, along with the approach to engaging staff in the process including a retreat. This article raises questions about what every library should consider assessing and provide tools for libraries navigating similar terrain.     

Shared Reading within an Apprenticeship Approach to Reading

Williamson & Carrington argued, in a recent edition of Educational Studies, the need for a major investigation of the effectiveness of an apprenticeship approach to reading. This paper considers some of the problems associated with such investigations. It also seeks to clarify some of the terminology in the whole language repertoire before looking in detail at shared reading as an important part of such approaches. The article concludes by suggesting that ethnographic studies are the means by which issues in the teaching and learning of reading may best be clarified, and teachers and children assisted.     

Cultures of running: characteristics and determinants

Based on the studies of Mauss (1935 Mauss, M. 1935. “Les techniques du corps.” Journal de Psychologie 32: 271–293. [Google Scholar]) and Bourdieu (1980 Bourdieu, P. 1980. Le Sens pratique. Paris: Editions de Minuit. [Google Scholar]) on the determination of body techniques by culture and social background, this study seeks to describe the rules, dispositions and habits specific to different forms of athletic running. It is based on a sample of 732 athletes, all of them are the members of French athletics clubs, comprising 220 sprinters, 213 half-distance runners and 299 long-distance runners. Sports practices are different depending on sub-culture affiliation, sociological characteristics and forms of commitment. This being said, simple links between variables should not be transformed into causal connections. Before drawing such conclusions, it is important to identify the nature of the sport studied. This shows that middle-distance and long-distance enthusiasts, traditionally classified in the same family, have less, in common, than those practising sprint and middle distance. These results potentially question the methodological groups and sociological interpretations made by researchers and sports science.     

Blogadapting: Adaptation Experiences among Expatriate Bloggers

ABSTRACT

Increased global communication is adjusting traditional models of cross-cultural communication. Specifically, changes in international communication processes have caused increased scrutiny of cross-culture adaptation theory. This is especially true when focusing on the difference between cultural adaptation and functional fitness. The purpose of this research is to address changes in global communications by testing to see if there is a difference between two important theoretical concepts within cross-cultural adaptation theory – linear and non-linear adaptation. Findings indicate that cultural sojourners do not equate cross-cultural adaptation with linear models of functional fitness. Models that equate the two should be revisited.