Daily report cards as a school‐based intervention for children with attention‐deficit/hyperactivity disorder

This paper describes daily report cards and the evidence relating to their use in schools for children with attention‐deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). This intervention typically involves teachers evaluating a student's behaviour at school against pre‐determined targets and parents subsequently providing reinforcement at home for positive reports. Research suggests that the daily report card has been effective in treating a range of ADHD symptoms and improving school outcomes, including academic achievement in some cases. The daily report card also encourages collaboration between teachers and parents, and evidence suggests that the intervention benefits from the inclusion of reinforcement at home. Daily report cards are easy to implement and research finds that teachers consider them an acceptable intervention for ADHD. This paper also considers challenges in using daily report cards, including barriers to their use over the long‐term and the risk of stigma for children with a report card. Ideas to address these issues are suggested.     

Using football cultures as a vehicle to improve mental health in men: the case of the Redcar and cleveland boot room

This paper sets out to appraise (from the perspective of members) the impact of a localized, football-based mental health intervention. Commissioned in late 2015, the ‘Redcar and Cleveland Boot Room (BR)’ was implemented in response to mass redundancy in the local area, coupled with regional suicide rates in men that exceed the national average. Interactive discussions with BR members revealed that: (a) the language of football and shared identity were important for initiating and sustaining engagement in the BR; (b) peer-support and mentoring combined with member-led activities were active ingredients of the BR and (c) that the BR was an effective vehicle for building mental health resilience. This evaluation adds to the evidence base on the value of football as a context to engage adult males in community-based interventions targeting mental health resilience.     

A “Deleterious” Driver: The “First Teacher” Reform in Sweden

This article investigates the implementation of the “förstelärare” or “First teacher” reform in Sweden. We draw upon the insights of a superintendent, union official, principal, three First teachers, and two of their colleagues in one school, and recent literature on career development reform. We employ Michael Fullan’s overview of the “right” and “wrong” drivers of educational reform to analyse the extent to which the First Teacher initiative cultivated productive “professional capital.” The research reveals: how broader national policy aims were in clear tension with municipal-wide school development, and school-level development efforts; the perverse effects of a strong focus upon salary on professional conduct; and how an emphasis upon teachers’ roles per se undermined the espoused policy focus on enhancing teaching. The research cautions against the problematic effects of the initiative on more profession-oriented prerogatives, and how more external, “deleterious,” drivers of reform militate against more productive professional capital.     

Governing teachers’ work and learning through data: Australian insights

This article reveals the multiple ways in which data are constituted as a vehicle for governing teachers’ work and learning. Drawing on the concept of governance, including in relation to the sociology of numbers, and data from one school in Queensland, Australia, the research reveals how teachers’ work and learning were constituted through practices of: establishing specific ‘targets’, including various ‘audacious goals’ for school and national testing; focusing upon ‘aligning’ all forms of school, regional and national data collected within the school; and participating in various ‘data conversations’ about specific students with senior members of staff. While the research reveals how teachers found such practices beneficial for improving their practice with students, it also shows how this learning was always and everywhere framed within a broader discourse of data, and how this data-centric focus came to constitute what was valued about their work and learning, and that of their students.     

Historicising teachers’ learning: a case study of productive professional practice

This paper reveals the significant historical traces which informed the learning practices of teachers at one particular school site in a rural and regional educational district in Australia. Drawing upon recent theorising into professional practice, the paper argues that teacher learning practices are intrinsically ‘ecologically’ related to teachers’ practices at specific sites. However, extending beyond this theorising, the research also reveals how teacher learning – in the case presented, in relation to classroom dialogue – is also significantly influenced by earlier learning experiences of the teachers involved. In this way, teachers’ practices are revealed as not only influenced by present-day, site-specific, whole-school teacher learning, but also by particular events encountered by teachers at an earlier phase of their careers. The research argues for a conception of teachers’ learning which is not only site-informed and ecologically arranged, but also deeply temporally embedded.     

Relationships between scores on Stanford-Binet IV and Wechsler preschool and primary scale of intelligence

A kindergarten class of 9 boys and 11 girls took the 1986 Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale (Fourth Edition) and the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence. Of 6 correlations of total scores and subtest pairs, only the correlation of total scores was statistically significant (p<.01).     

Kinematic and kinetic analysis of overhand,sidearm and underhand lacrosse shot techniques

Lacrosse requires the coordinated performance of many complex skills. One of these skills is shooting on the opponents’ net using one of three techniques: overhand, sidearm or underhand. The purpose of this study was to (i) determine which technique generated the highest ball velocity and greatest shot accuracy and (ii) identify kinematic and kinetic variables that contribute to a high velocity and high accuracy shot. Twelve elite male lacrosse players participated in this study. Kinematic data were sampled at 250 Hz, while two-dimensional force plates collected ground reaction force data (1000 Hz). Statistical analysis showed significantly greater ball velocity for the sidearm technique than overhand (P < 0.001) and underhand (P < 0.001) techniques. No statistical difference was found for shot accuracy (P > 0.05). Kinematic and kinetic variables were not significantly correlated to shot accuracy or velocity across all shot types; however, when analysed independently, the lead foot horizontal impulse showed a negative correlation with underhand ball velocity (P = 0.042). This study identifies the technique with the highest ball velocity, defines kinematic and kinetic predictors related to ball velocity and provides information to coaches and athletes concerned with improving lacrosse shot performance.     

The effects of mental fatigue on cricket-relevant performance among elite players

This study investigated the effects of a mentally fatiguing test on physical tasks among elite cricketers. In a cross-over design, 10 elite male cricket players from a professional club performed a cricket run-two test, a Batak Lite reaction time test and a Yo-Yo-Intermittent Recovery Level 1 (Yo-Yo-IR1) test, providing a rating of perceived exertion (RPE) after completing a 30-min Stroop test (mental fatigue condition) or 30-min control condition. Perceived fatigue was assessed before and after the two conditions and motivation was measured before testing. There were post-treatment differences in the perception of mental fatigue (P < 0.001; d = ?7.82, 95% CIs = ?9.05–6.66; most likely). Cricket run-two (P = 0.002; d = ?0.51, 95% CIs = ?0.72–0.30; very likely), Yo-Yo-IR1 distance (P = 0.023; d = 0.39, 95% CIs = 0.14–0.64; likely) and RPE (P = 0.001; d = ?1.82, 95% CIs = ?2.49–1.14; most likely) were negatively affected by mental fatigue. The Batak Lite test was not affected (P = 0.137), yet a moderate (d = 0.41, 95% CIs = ?0.05–0.87) change was likely. Mental fatigue, induced by an app-based Stroop test, negatively affected cricket-relevant performance.