Keltaista ja kimaltavaa : kodin ja koulun yhteistyöstä koulun ja kodin yhteyteen

Through this study I aim to portray connections between home and school through the patterns of thought and action shared in everyday life in a certain community. My observations are primarily based upon interviews, writings and artwork by people from home (N=32) and school (N=13) contexts. Through the stories told, I depict the characters and characteristic features of the home-school interaction by generations. According to the material, in the school days of the grandparents the focus was on discipline and order. For the parents, the focus had shifted towards knowledge, while for the pupils today, the focus lies on evaluation, through which the upbringing of the child is steered towards favourable outcomes. Teachers and those people at home hold partially different understandings of home-school interaction, both of its manifested forms and potentials. The forms of contact in use today are largely seen as one-sided. Yearning for openness and regularity is shared by both sides, yet understood differently. Common causes for failure are said to lie in plain human difficulties in communication and social interaction, but deeply rooted traditions regarding forms of contact also cast a shadow on the route to successful co-operation. This study started around the idea, that home-school interaction should be steered towards the ex-change of constructive ideas between both the home and school environments. Combining the dif-ferent views gives to something to build upon. To test this idea, I drafted a practice period, which was implemented in a small pre-school environment in the fall of 1997. My focus of interest in this project was on the handling of ordinary life information in the schools. So I combined individual views, patterns of knowledge and understanding of the world into the process of teaching. Works of art and writings by the informants worked as tools for information processing and as practical forms of building home-school interaction. Experiences from the pre-school environ-ment were later on echoed in constructing home-school interaction in five other schools. In both these projects, the teaching in the school was based on stories, thoughts and performances put to-gether by the parents, grandparents and children at home. During these processes, the material used in this study, consisting of artwork, writings and interviews (N=501), was collected. The data shows that information originating from the home environments was both a motivating and interesting addition to the teaching. There even was a sense of pride when assessing the seeds of knowledge from one’s own roots. In most cases and subjects, the homegrown information content was seamlessly connected to the functions of school and the curriculum. This project initiated thought processes between pupils and teachers, adults, children and parents, teachers and parents, and also between generations. It appeared that many of the subjects covered had not been raised before between the various participant groups. I have a special interest here in visual expression and its various contextual meanings. There art material portrays how content matter and characteristic features of the adult and parent contexts reflect in the works of the children. Another clearly noticeable factor in the art material is the impact of time-related traditions and functions on the means of visual expression. Comparing the visual material to the written material reveals variances of meaning and possibilities between these forms of expression. The visual material appears to be related especially to portraying objects, action and usage. Processing through that making of images was noted to bring back memories of concrete structures, details and also emotions. This process offered the child an intensive social connection with the adults. In some cases, with children and adults alike, this project brought forth an ongoing relation to visual expression. During this study I end up changing the concept to ‘home-school collaboration’. This widely used concept guides and outlines the interaction between schools and homes. In order to broaden the field of possibilities, I choose to use the concept ‘school-home interconnection’. This concept forms better grounds for forming varying impressions and practices when building interactive contexts. This concept places the responsibility of bridging the connection-gap in the schools. Through the experiences and innovations of thought gained from these projects, I form a model of pedagogy that embraces the idea of school-home interconnection and builds on the various impres-sions and expressions contained in it. In this model, school makes use of the experiences, thoughts and conceptions from the home environment. Various forms of expression are used to portray and process this information. This joint evaluation and observation evolves thought patterns both in school and at home. Keywords: percieving, visuality, visual culture, art and text, visual expression, art education, growth in interaction, home-school collaboration, school-home interconnection, school-home interaction model.

Combining ability, genetic diversity and heterosis in relation to F1 performance of tropically adapted shrunken (sh2) sweet corn lines

With 6 tables Abstract The objectives of this study were to evaluate the importance of heterosis for agronomic and quality traits in shrunken (sh2) sweet corn, assess the usefulness of combining ability to predict the value of parents and their crosses for further genetic improvement and examine whether genetic divergence can predict heterosis or F1 performance. Ten genetically diverse shrunken (sh2) sweet corn inbred lines were used to generate 45 F1s. F1s and parents were evaluated for agronomic and quality traits across environments. Heterosis was more important for yield-related traits than it was for ear aspects and eating quality. Heterosis for most traits was mostly dependent on dominance genetic effects of parental lines. Parents and F1per se performance were highly correlated with general combining ability effects and mid-parent values, respectively, for most traits. Hybrid performance for flavour and plant height was significantly but weakly related to simple sequence repeat (SSR)-based genetic distance (GD). Phenotypic distance (PD), estimated from phenotypic traits was correlated with heterosis for total soluble solids, ear length and flavour. © 2012 State of Queensland.

Youth master plans as potential roadmaps to creating child- and youth-friendly cities

Communities across the globe are focusing on the needs of young people and their families in an effort to create child- and youth-friendly cities. In an attempt to become more child and youth friendly, over 40 communities in the United States have developed youth master plans (YMPs), as of 2009; however, our understanding of these plans is limited. To broaden this understanding, this research employed a multiple-methods approach, including an online questionnaire, plan analysis and semi-structured interviews with key community informants. Findings show that YMPs often focus on collaboration among community entities and youth participation, yet include only general normative statements regarding the physical environment. Furthermore, urban planners do not typically take the lead in development of YMPs, and, in some cases, are not involved at all. To inform and improve future YMPs, this paper recommends greater focus on the physical environment, particularly in relation to safety, access to nature and sustainable transportation.

Understanding video based parent training intervention for children with autism

This paper investigates the challenges of delivering parent training intervention for autism over video. We conducted a qualitative field study of an intervention, which is based on a well-established training program for parents of children with autism, called Hanen More Than Words. The study was conducted with a Hanen Certified speech pathologist who delivered video based training to two mothers, each with a son having autism. We conducted observations of 14 sessions of the intervention spanning 3 months along with 3 semi-structured interviews with each participant. We identified different activities that participants performed across different sessions and analysed them based upon their implications on technology. We found that all the participants welcomed video based training but they also faced several difficulties, particularly in establishing rapport with other participants, inviting equal participation, and in observing and providing feedback on parent-child interactions. Finally, we reflect on our findings and motivate further investigations by defining three design sensitivities of Adaptation, Group Participation, and Physical Setup.

Cluster randomised-control trial for an Australian child protection education program: Study protocol for the Learn to be safe with Emmy and friends™

Background Child maltreatment has severe short-and long-term consequences for children’s health, development, and wellbeing. Despite the provision of child protection education programs in many countries, few have been rigorously evaluated to determine their effectiveness. We describe the design of a multi-site gold standard evaluation of an Australian school-based child protection education program. The intervention has been developed by a not-for-profit agency and comprises 5 1-h sessions delivered to first grade students (aged 5–6 years) in their regular classrooms. It incorporates common attributes of effective programs identified in the literature, and aligns with the Australian education curriculum. Methods/Design A three-site cluster randomised controlled trial (RCT) of Learn to be safe with Emmy and friends™ will be conducted with children in approximately 72 first grade classrooms in 24 Queensland primary (elementary) schools from three state regions, over a period of 2 years. Entire schools will be randomised, using a computer generated list of random numbers, to intervention and wait-list control conditions, to prevent contamination effects across students and classes. Data will be collected at baseline (pre-assessment), immediately after the intervention (post-assessment), and at 6-, 12-, and 18-months (follow-up assessments). Outcome assessors will be blinded to group membership. Primary outcomes assessed are children’s knowledge of program concepts; intentions to use program knowledge, skills, and help-seeking strategies; actual use of program material in a simulated situation; and anxiety arising from program participation. Secondary outcomes include a parent discussion monitor, parent observations of their children’s use of program materials, satisfaction with the program, and parental stress. A process evaluation will be conducted concurrently to assess program performance. Discussion This RCT addresses shortcomings in previous studies and methodologically extends research in this area by randomising at school-level to prevent cross-learning between conditions; providing longer-term outcome assessment than any previous study; examining the degree to which parents/guardians discuss intervention content with children at home; assessing potential moderating/mediating effects of family and child demographic variables; testing an in-vivo measure to assess children’s ability to discriminate safe/unsafe situations and disclose to trusted adults; and testing enhancements to existing measures to establish greater internal consistency.

Early school-based parent involvement, children’s self-regulated learning and academic achievement: An Australian longitudinal study

Parent involvement is widely accepted as being associated with children’s improved educational outcomes. However, the role of early school-based parent involvement is still being established. This study investigated the mediating role of self-regulated learning behaviors in the relationship between early school-based parent involvement and children’s academic achievement, using data from the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (N = 2616). Family socioeconomic position, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander status, language background, child gender and cognitive competence, were controlled, as well home and community based parent involvement activity in order to derive a more confident interpretation of the results. Structural equation modeling analyses showed that children’s self-regulated learning behaviors fully mediated the relationships between school-based parent involvement at Grade 1 and children’s reading achievement at Grade 3. Importantly, these relationships were evident for children across all socio-economic backgrounds. Although there was no direct relationship between parent involvement at Grade 1 and numeracy achievement at Grade 3, parent involvement was indirectly associated with higher children’s numeracy achievement through children’s self-regulation of learning behaviors, though this relationship was stronger for children from middle and higher socio-economic backgrounds. Implications for policy and practice are discussed, and further research recommended.

Child sexual abuse and access to justice for civil claims: Time to reform the Limitation of Actions Act 1974 (Qld)

In 2015, Victoria passed laws removing the time limit in which a survivor of child sexual abuse can commence a civil claim for personal injury. The law applies also to physical abuse, and to psychological injury arising from those forms of abuse. In 2016, New South Wales made almost identical legal reforms. These reforms were partly motivated by the recommendations of inquiries into institutional child abuse. Of particular relevance is that the Australian Royal Commission Into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse recommended in 2015 that all States and Territories remove their time limits for civil claims. This presentation explores the problems with standard time limits when applied to child sexual abuse cases (whether occurring within or beyond institutions), the scientific, ethical and legal justifications for lifting the time limits, and solutions for future law reform.

Xenon in sodium Y zeolite. 2. Arrhenius relation, mechanism, and barrier height distribution for cage-to-cage diffusion

Various geometrical and energetic distribution functions and other properties connected with the cage-to-cage diffusion of xenon in sodium Y zeolite have been obtained from long molecular dynamics calculations. Analysis of diffusion pathways reveals two interesting mechanisms-surface-mediated and centralized modes for cage-to-cage diffusion. The surface-mediated mode of diffusion exhibits a small positive barrier, while the centralized diffusion exhibits a negative barrier for the sorbate to diffuse across the 12-ring window. In both modes, however, the sorbate has to be activated from the adsorption site to enable it to gain mobility. The centralized diffusion additionally requires the sorbate to be free of the influence of the surface of the cage as well. The overall rate for cage-to-cage diffusion shows an Arrhenius temperature dependence with E(a) = 3 kJ/mol. It is found that the decay in the dynamical correction factor occurs on a time scale comparable to the cage residence time. The distributions of barrier heights have been calculated. Functions reflecting the distribution of the sorbate-zeolite interaction at the window and the variations of the distance between the sorbate and the centers of the parent and daughter cages are presented.

Legal Aspects of the Use of Child Images in OERs

Considers the legal issues which arise in relation to the taking of or possession of images still and moving) of children for use in an Open Education Resource. JLL

A relação família-creche no programa Primeira Infância Completa

O tema central da presente dissertação está focalizado na relação família-creche. Este estudo possui, como objetivo principal, analisar como essa relação foi compreendida em três creches públicas cariocas que desenvolveram as atividades do programa Primeira Infância Completa (PIC). Tal programa fez parte das políticas públicas educacionais do município do Rio de Janeiro de 2009 a 2013. Foi direcionado a crianças de até 3 (três) anos de idade que não obtiveram matrícula regular nas creches. As atividades do PIC aconteciam aos sábados com crianças e, para as famílias, eram desenvolvidos os encontros da Escola de Pais. A pesquisa analisa os documentos oficiais (decretos, portarias, resoluções, relatórios, projetos, outras publicações internas) de criação e ampliação do programa, incluindo aqueles referentes às consultorias da UNESCO realizadas em 2012. Foi desenvolvido um levantamento bibliográfico sobre os temas família e a relação família-creche, nas bibliotecas eletrônicas SciELO e Google Acadêmico, com artigos publicados entre 2005 e 2014. A investigação empírica se deu no diálogo com alguns atores do programa, participantes das três creches municipais, totalizando 122 sujeitos, entre gestoras, professoras, agentes auxiliares de creche e familiares. As estratégias metodológicas utilizadas foram entrevistas, grupos focais e oficinas Os dados da segunda consultoria da UNESCO serviram de base para a construção das questões centrais desta pesquisa. Os resultados nos apontam que, para os sujeitos que participaram do programa, os propósitos do mesmo nem sempre foram claros. Embora tenha acontecido no espaço físico das creches (portanto, da Educação), com uma intenção intersetorial, seus objetivos tinham um forte cunho assistencial, caracterizando-o como uma modalidade alternativa de atividades para crianças e familiares. As famílias viam no programa o caminho para a conquista da vaga semanal para as suas crianças e, quando isso não acontecia, ficavam frustrados e deixavam de participar. O esforço das gestoras para a realização do programa foi sua marca de qualidade. A experiência do PIC deixou de legado para as instituições novas formas de pensar a proposta pedagógica e de lidar com as famílias, crianças e funcionários na jornada semanal

亲子依恋对大学生人际关系影响的性别效应

Parent-child attachment refers to the emotional bond that forms between parent and child, which has great influences on the child’s interpersonal development. Present study applied both correlation method and secure attachment memory activation method to investigate the “gender relation effects” of parent-child attachment’s influences on college students’ close relationships, general attachment representation, and emotion and social loneliness. The basic hypotheses on “gender relation” were set as: “same-sex” parent-child attachment has more influences on college students’ “same-sex” interpersonal relationships, while “opposite-sex” parent-child attachment has more influences on college students’ “opposite-sex” interpersonal relationships. Major findings includes: 1. There was weak correlation of attachment security between father-child and mother-child relationships. The findings indicated that, among college students, the security of “opposite-sex” parent-child attachment representation is higher to some extent than that of “same-sex” parent-child attachment representation. 2. There were significant correlations between parent-child attachment and college students’ attachment anxiety in close relationships. Major findings indicated that “opposite-sex” parent-child attachment security negatively predicts college students’ attachment anxiety in both “same-sex” and “opposite-sex” close relationships. 3. Gender relation effects were significant in the correlations between parent-child attachment and college students’ level of avoidant attachment representation. “Same-sex” parent-child attachment security positively predicted avoidant attachment level in college students’ “same-sex” close relationships, while “opposite-sex” parent-child attachment security positively predicted avoidant attachment level in “opposite-sex” close relationships. 4. Parent-child attachment security memory activation had significant influences on college students’ general attachment representation, in which gender relation effects indicated that: the memory activation of father-child attachment security significantly increases participants’ security of self-model in general attachment representation to “male others”; while the memory activation of mother-child attachment security significantly increase participants’ security of others-model in general attachment representation to “female others”. 5. For male college students, father-son attachment security negatively predicted their emotion and social loneliness. For female college students, father-daughter attachment security negatively predicted their emotion loneliness, while mother-daughter attachment security negatively predicted their social loneliness. Attachment security memory activation had significant influences on college students’ social loneliness, in which gender relation effects was confirmed in that only father-child attachment security memory activation significantly decreased male participants’ level of social loneliness. The results indicated that gender relation effects are significant in the influences of parent-child attachment on college students’ interpersonal relationship representations, especially when the level of avoidant of attachment in college students’ close relationships was predicted by parent-child attachment representation, and when the memory activation of parent-child attachment influenced college students’ general attachment representation. The present study confirmed to some extent that gender relation consistency exists in attachment representations among different interpersonal relations, and serves as a new model for analysis of gender differences in the research fields. In the present study, however, gender relation effects were not confirmed in all the interpersonal relationship representations, which indicated the complexity in the problems of gender differences in the research fields of close relationships.

教养方式、亲子关系对青少年给予母亲情感支持的影响

Emotional support, as an important form of social supports, has great impact on the life of both caregivers and receivers. Many studies on adult children and old parents indicate that emotional support is closely related to parents’ well-being, and the relation quality between old parents and adult children is one of the factors influencing adult children’s support offering. However, the study on adolescents’ emotional support to their parents is quite rare. What’s more, it has been found that emotional support skills children have learnt at home have life-time influence on children’s response to other’s emotional needs. It is assumed that to some extent the emotional support styles between parents and adolescents are relatively stable, and they are related to the care children give to their parents after they advance to old age. Hence, it is necessary to study the emotional support of adolescent in order to at last improve the well-being of old parents. Totally speaking, the aim of this study is to explore the relation between parenting styles and adolescents’ emotional support offering, as well as the effects of mother-child relationships. In addition, culture is a factor having impact on parenting styles, parent-child relationships and emotional support. So we have designed this cross-cultural study to explore cultural differences. The results are as follows: (1) As to Chinese and Indonesian mothers, their Acceptance of adolescents’ behaviors has significant positive predictive effect on children’s emotional support. Besides, the Intimacy and Approval dimensions of mother-child relationships partially mediate the path from parenting styles to emotional support offering, and those effects have no significant difference in China and Indonesia. (2) Chinese and Indonesian mother’s Rejection to adolescents has significant positive predictive effect on Conflict between mothers and adolescents, but has no direct effect on adolescents’ emotional support offering. (3) Adolescents’ support offering has no significant predictive effect on their willingness to help their parents. (4) Adolescents’ support offering has significant predictive effect on their motivation to provide emotional support to their parents. However, the relation between adolescents’ support offering and the willingness to help their parents is not clear. (5) Adolescents have scored high in Acceptance parenting style dimension and relatively low in Rejection dimension, which indicate that mothers in China and Indonesia adopt positive parenting styles. Both Chinese and Indonesian mother-child relationships are good. However, Indonesian adolescents have perceived more Intimacy and Approval from mothers, and there is no significant difference between Chinese and Indonesian adolescents and mothers in the dimension of Conflict.

Job retention and turnover: a study of child protection and welfare social workers in Ireland

Retaining social workers in child protection and welfare organisations has been identified as a problem in Ireland (McGrath, 2001; Ombudsman for Children, 2006; Houses of the Oireachtas, 2008) and internationally (Ellet et al., 2006; Mor Barak et al., 2006; Tham, 2006). While low levels of retention have been identified, there is no research that examines the factors in Ireland that influence the retention of social workers. In this thesis, data is analysed from qualitative interviews with 45 social workers in the Health Service Executive South about what influences their decisions to stay in or leave child protection and welfare social work. These social workers’ views are examined in relation to quantitative research on the levels of turnover and employment mobility of child protection and welfare social workers employed in the same organisation. Contrary to expectations, the study found that the retention rate of social workers during the period of data collection (March 2005 to December 2006) was high and that the majority of social workers remained positive about this work and their retention. The quality of social workers’ supervision, social supports from colleagues, high levels of autonomy, a commitment to child protection and welfare work, good variety in the work, and a perception that they were making a difference, emerged as important factors in social workers’ decisions to stay. Perceptions of being unsupported by the organisation, which was usually described in terms of high caseloads and demanding workloads, a lack of resources, work with involuntary clients and not being able to make a difference, were the most significant factors in social workers’ decisions to leave and/or to want to leave. Social workers felt particularly professionally unsupported when they received low quality and/or infrequent professional supervision. This thesis critiques the theories of perceived organisational support theory, social exchange theory and job characteristics theory, and uses the concept of ‘professional career’, to help analyse the retention of social workers in child protection and welfare.

Adapting Behavioral Parent Training as an Interactive Computer Game

Behavioral Parent Training (BPT) is a well-established therapy that reduces child externalized behaviors and parent stress. Although BPT was originally developed for parents of children with defiant behaviors, the program’s key concepts are relevant to parenting all children. Since parents might not fully utilize BPT due to cost and program location, we created an online game as a low-cost, easily accessible alternative or complement to BPT. We tested the game with nineteen undergraduate students at the University of Maryland. The experimental group completed pretest survey on core BPT knowledge, played the game, and completed a BPT posttest, while the control group completed a pretest and posttest survey over a three week period. Participants in the experimental group also completed a survey to indicate their satisfaction with the overall program. The experimental group demonstrated significantly higher levels of BPT knowledge than the control group and high levels of satisfaction. This suggests that an interactive, online BPT platform is an engaging and accessible way for parents to learn key concepts.

Meeting the emotional needs of parents who have a child with complex needs

The physical and financial demands of caring for a child with complex needs are acknowledged by health professionals. However, the emotional needs of parents are not often recognized by health professionals until parents are at a heightened level of stress. This paper is based on a literature review of current articles, research papers and government documentation. The focus is on the emotional impact to parents who have a child with complex needs, particularly at the point of diagnosis. The paper explores how health professionals, and nurses in particular, should meet the emotional needs of parents in order to support them more effectively. Giving birth to a child with severe health problems impacts upon parents at an emotional time of transition, particularly if there were no concerns identified during pregnancy. For some parents a grief response or state of chronic sorrow may be triggered. The reality of caring for a baby who is critically ill or disabled can be an enormous and unexpected shock for both parents. Parents need emotional support and guidance, as they may have to change their expectations for their child’s development and even life span. It is important for nurses to realise that if parents’ emotional needs are unmet it can lead to clinical depression or mental illness. Primary support often comes from parent support groups rather than health professionals. The review highlights factors affecting parents’ emotions and discusses how early support, home visits and practical help can all help to alleviate parents’ emotional stress.