The social construction of child maltreatment: the role of medical practitioners

• Summary: This paper explores how medical knowledge in child protection practice operates, in conjunction with social work knowledge and legal knowledge, as a social process of constructing meaning as ‘maltreatment’ (or not) in which the physical body of the child and perceived abnormalities represent ‘evidence’. Through discourse analysis of two case studies, this paper makes explicit and problematizes the social processes by which meanings are given by medical practitioners, social workers, police and parents to material experiences, the preference given to some meanings over others, and the econsequences of particular meanings for children and families and social work practice.

• Findings: Medical, social and legal knowledge are not neutral but embedded in power relations. The case studies show, through a sociological analysis of professional practice in child protection, how preferred versions of knowledge and meaning may override or dismiss alternative meanings, with particular consequences for parents and children and for practice outcomes.

• Applications: The case studies offer opportunities by which critically to engage with child protection knowledge, policy and practice in keeping with contemporary approaches that advocate dialogue, critical reflection and reflexivity, so that professional knowledge and professional power may be deployed constructively rather than oppressively.

'Publics' or 'stakeholders'? Performing social responsibility through stakeholder software

Government and corporate organizations increasingly seek the support of the communities where they operate and represent themselves as good corporate citizens with a sense of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). These organizations seek to create and sustain dialogue with their many and varied ‘stakeholders’ and reject traditional ‘PR’ approaches that regard communication as a way to manipulate ‘target publics’. Some of these organizations use a form of ‘stakeholder software’ to guide and support their efforts to embrace CSR in their operations and this article examines two such software packages. It sets their use and the broader drive for CSR in the context of a diminishing trust in traditional institutions and a rise in new, extra-parliamentary forms of activism (new activism); and it examines stakeholder software’s potential contribution to a values-based approach to PR training in universities and colleges.

The quiet remedy: A dialogue on reshaping professional relationships

This article begins with an overview of the current context for the delivery of social/welfare services and goes on to consider client-worker relationship boundaries that fall within and outside conventional ethical parameters in professional practice. Alternative interpretations of "relationship" are discussed, noting in particular what consumers of services have identified as being beneficial qualities demonstrated by professional "helpers." Using touch and adopting notions of compassion, love, and reciprocity are discussed, noting how these ideas collide with the current ethical thinking commonly used to guide Western social work practice. Finally, a reexamination of "professionalism" is proposed, including ways to facilitate worker-client connectivity. Throughout, the complex tensions between balancing ethical considerations with ideas relating to trust, risk, and authenticity are articulated.

Who thinks I need a perfect body? Perceptions and internal dialogue among adolescents about their bodies

The main aim of this study was to provide a detailed examination of the nature of the messages that adolescent boys and girls receive about their bodies. Forty adolescent boys and 40 adolescent girls participated in an in-depth interview to gain an understanding of the range of potential ‘sources’ of body-related messages. Messages were organized around the source of these messages (self, mother, father, brother, sister, female friends, male friends, media). There were consistent gender differences in the way that adolescents received and interpreted messages about their bodies. Overall girls received more positive and more negative messages than boys did. Boys reported having received virtually no negative messages from most people. The content of internal dialogue among adolescents revealed that messages about the body could be interpreted, distorted, and deflected. The implications of these findings for preventing body image-related problems and disordered eating among adolescents are discussed.

Managing social and intellectual capital to inform design and development of learning objects : issues, applications and technologies

The purpose of this paper is to present and analyse a case example of the development and implementation of a digital learnmg object in context with academic literature in the field. The paper's content describes the creation of a multimedia learning object from conception in 2004 to completion m 2006. Provided is the rationale and outcome of a strategically funded University project aimed at illuminating an industrial case study of good management and communication practices for use in classrooms throughout the entire university. This paper is intended to act as a guide for others. Our experience as academics in successful dialogue With educational technologists will inspire and inform those embarking on similar projects, and aspects of it will generalise to development and implementation Issues for other kinds of learning objects.

Distance, dialogue and difference : a postpositive approach to understanding distance education in Papua New Guinia

This study focuses on the experiences of a group of educators engaged in a professional development program by distance education in Papua New Guinea. The participants in this study have been keeping professional journals, for periods of up to three years, about their experiences of distance education. Their discourses have been used to form a ‘connected group’ of research participants, who use an action framework to focus on problematic issues surrounding distance education in Papua New Guinea. It is a piece of research, framed by critical theory, and characterised by participation, collaboration, reflexivity, reciprocity and empowerment. The process of the study is based in dialogue, and takes the view that research is constituted of a transformative perspective, which alters the way research participants understand the multiple realities in which they live and work, arid ultimately results in improvements in their lived experiences. The nature of the methodology privileges Voice' and a discourse of difference from each participant which contributes to the problematic nature of the study. The study has concerned itself, increasingly, with issues of power and control in the research process, and this has resulted in significant changes in the research as participants have become more conscious of issues such as distance, dialogue and difference. The study has evolved over a period of time in significant ways, and evidence is available that teachers in Papua New Guinea, despite structural and pedagogical barriers, are critically reflective and are able to transform their practice in ways which are consistent with social, cultural and political contexts in which they live and work. A number of 'local1 theories about research and distance education in Papua New Guinea are developed by the participants as they become informed about issues during the research. The practice of distance education and professional development, at personal and institutional levels, undergoes reconstruction during the life of the research and the study 'signals' other ways in which distance education and professional development may be reconstructed in Papua New Guinea.

Rethinking social justice in schools : how will we recognize it when we see it?

The dialogue of this paper operates at two levels. First, it seeks to rethink the various perspectives on social justice evident in the academic literature, reviewing what is collectively known about it and where current thinking is taking and/or should be taking us. Second, it reports on research concerning the schooling of students with disabilities or, more accurately, research concerning the practices of teachers in relation to the inclusion of students with disabilities within ‘mainstream’ classrooms. These two discussions come together through their collaborative interest in recognizing social justice when they ‘see’ it; the data from the research are used to inform the theory it illustrates and the theory is used to explain teachers' practices. In this critical sense it is more than a dialogue, with its parts dialectically related. The paper's critique also extends to questioning whose interests are served (and whose are not) by various social justice perspectives and their applications to schooling. It concludes that ‘a critical theory of social justice must consider not only distributive patterns, but also the processes and relationships that produce and reproduce those patterns’ (Young 1990: 241).

Udderly fantastic online communities : how organisations are using online social networking for community relations and issues management

From empowering consumers and citizens, through to sharing party photographs and organising social events, social networking has transformed the way most people communicate. The Australian dairy industry, wracked by ten years of drought and increasing numbers of activists questioning its environmental and social costs, has established a closed-wall social networking site, called Udderly Fantastic, exclusively for internal stakeholders such as farmers and dairy manufacturers. This case study demonstrates that organisations wanting to engage their stakeholders in an open and transparent way can use social networking as a way of providing information and, importantly, a platform for dialogue in which issues can be raised and discussed.

Researching feedback dialogue: an interactional analysis approach

A variety of understandings of feedback exist in the literature, which can broadly be categorised as cognitivist information transmission and socio-constructivist. Understanding feedback as information transmission or ‘telling’ has until recently been dominant. However, a socio-constructivist perspective of feedback posits that feedback should be dialogic and help to develop students’ ability to monitor, evaluate and regulate their learning. This paper is positioned as part of the shift away from seeing feedback as input, to exploring feedback as a dialogical process focusing on effects, through presenting an innovative methodological approach to analysing feedback dialogues in situ. Interactional analysis adopts the premise that artefacts and technologies set up a social field, where understanding human–human and human–material activities and interactions is important. The paper suggests that this systematic approach to analysing dialogic feedback can enable insight into previously undocumented aspects of feedback, such as the interactional features that promote and sustain feedback dialogue. The paper discusses methodological issues in such analyses and implications for research on feedback.

Using voice to make musical and social connections

Community music is a rich and ongoing activity-taking place in formal and informal settings around Australia. This small-scale phenomenological qualitative case study is part of my wider study Spirituality and Wellbeing: Music in the Community that began in 2013. This paper demonstrates that community music making in a regional district in Victoria (Australia) makes it possible for choirs to use their voice to make musical and social connections to self and community that enhances both personal and community wellbeing. In May 2014, I visited three choirs for a week in the city of Warnnambool. Drawing on observation, questionnaires and focus group semi-structured interviews, I analysed the data using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. The findings include why people join choirs in regional towns, what they enjoyed that contributed to their wellbeing and why they want to sing about issues that make connections to social justice and sustainability. Though generalisations cannot be made to other towns or choirs, the findings show the need, importance and benefits of connecting to each other and the wider community. Using voice can serve as an effective platform to promote issues in the community such as social justice and the environment. It is hoped that the findings may provide a vehicle for further dialogue where choirs in other settings may experience similar connections to their community.

Community music: making social, community and music connections in Australia

Choirs are an important part of the social and cultural tapestry of any community. Participating, learning music and performing are key factors to joining music organisations such as choirs. Singing in a choir as a music activity within communities is found to be participatory and voluntary, providing an opportunity for civil expression, identity and connectedness. The focus of this paper involves three choirs from my wider research project ‘Spirituality and Wellbeing: Music in the community’ that started in 2013, in Melbourne (Australia). In May 2014, I visited three choirs for a week in the city of Warnnambool, a regional district in Victoria (Australia). I draw on Yin’s (2003) categorisation of case study methodology that is explanatory, exploratory and descriptive. I draw on observation notes and focus group semi-structured interviews to analyse and code the data using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. The findings include why people join choirs in regional towns, what they enjoyed that contributed to their wellbeing and why they want to sing about issues that make connections to social justice, the environment and the community. Though generalisations cannot be made to other towns or choirs, it is hoped that the findings may provide a vehicle for further dialogue where