Child rearing Inc : On the perils of political paralysis Down Under

In his 2007 PESA keynote address, Paul Smeyers discussed the increasing regulation of child-rearing through government intervention and the generation of “experts,” citing particular examples from Europe where cases of childhood obesity and parental neglect have stirred public opinion and political debate. In his paper (this issue), Smeyers touches on a number of tensions before concluding that child rearing qualifies as a practice in which liberal governments should be reluctant to intervene. In response, I draw on recent experiences in Australia and argue that certain tragic events of late are the result of an ethical, moral and social vacuum in which these tensions coalesce. While I agree with Smeyers that governments should be reluctant to “intervene” in the private domain of the family, I argue that there is a difference between intervention and support. In concluding, I maintain that if certain Western liberal democracies did a more comprehensive job of supporting children and their families through active social investment in primary school education, then both families and schools would be better equipped to deal with the challenges they now face.

The influence of families on early adolescent school connectedness : evidence that this association varies with adolescent involvement in peer drinking networks

School connectedness is central to the long term well-being of adolescents, and high quality parent-child relationships facilitate school connectedness. This study examined the extent to which family relationship quality is associated with the school connectedness of pre- and early teenagers, and how this association varies with adolescent involvement in peer drinking networks. The sample consisted of 7,372 10-14 year olds recruited from 231 schools in 30 Australian communities. Participants completed the Communities that Care youth survey. A multi-level model of school connectedness was used, with a random term for school-level variation. Key independent variables included family relationship quality, peer drinking networks, and school grade. Control variables included child gender, sensation seeking, depression, child alcohol use, parent education, and language spoken at home. For grade 6 students, the association of family relationship quality and school connectedness was lower when peer drinking networks were present, and this effect was nonsignificant for older (grade 8) students. Post hoc analyses indicated that the effect for family relationship quality on school connectedness was nonsignificant when adolescents in grade 6 reported that the majority of friends consumed alcohol. The results point to the importance of familyschool partnerships in early intervention and prevention.

From council dog catcher to critical scholar

Carol and I just missed each other in the early 1990s: Carol left Manchester for Australia in 1990, while I an·iv·ed in Manchester from Australia in 1993. Sixteen years later and on the very opposite side of the world, we found ourselves sharing an adjacent room during the 2009 Agri-Food Research Network conference in Auckland. Carol was already an accomplished sociologist; I was a newbie PhD student, presenting on a thesis topic that was only just starting to take shape...

Vammaisen lapsen äidin vanhemmuuden kokemus sekä lähiympäristön ja kasvatuskumppanuuden merkitys

The parenthood experience of a mother with a disabled child and the meaning of the social environment and parent-professional partnerships The importance of parental guidance when a family has a child with a disability or autism has been pointed out by several studies. The present research was based on the premise that by supporting the mother we can help the whole family to cope better and the professionals in day care or at school are able to support parents. The starting point was the subjective experience, which is also the central focus of the phenomenological method. The purpose of this study was firstly to describe the experience of the mother and the dialogue between mother and educational professionals. Secondly it was the task of this research to discover what kind of support and information the mother obtains from her social environment. At the background of this study there was the ecological theory of Bronfenbrenner, the ecocultural approach by Gallimore and the interactive examination of family that take into consideration the whole environment and personal situation. The research data was collected by interviewing the mothers, the day care personnel and the teachers at school. In this research there were a total of 32 interviews and 24 informants: 10 mothers who have a child with a disability and/or autism, 8 professionals in day care and 6 teachers at school. This study was longitudinal because the same mothers were interviewed twice, first in 1998 and then after five years in 2003. It was thus possible to get information on whether their life situation had changed and the nature of those changes. The data of this study was analysed by the method of phenomenological psychology that was applied for this study. The findings indicated that all mothers had experienced many complicated emotional feelings such as: anger, mourning, fear and sadness as well as love and bonding. It can be said that several human feelings existed at the same time. Mothers experienced that the support of the social environment, for example, relatives, families in the same situation and persons taking care of the child had significant meaning for their coping. However the life situation among the mothers varied. Mostly mothers received valuable support for their parenthood and they have adopted a strong emotion for manage ring. Mothers with an autistic child were more stressed than mothers with a mentally retarded child. A few mothers had numerous problems with taking care of their child and they did not get enough help. Same mothers were very exhausted too and the situation was quite the same after five years, when their child was teenager. All mothers said that after starting school the support for the family had significally diminished. Mothers said that dialogue with teacher got on without problems, but there were meetings seldom, so it wasn´t possible to get enough support for their parenthood. Keywords: parenthood, motherhood, disability, early special education, family-centred.

Tipping points: Teachers' reported reasons for referring primary school children for excessive anxiety

The current study explored the reasons that primary school teachers reported were tipping points for them in deciding whether or not and when to refer a child to the school student support team for excessive anxiety. Twenty teachers in two Queensland primary schools were interviewed. Content analysis of interview transcripts revealed six themes reflecting teachers' perceived reasons for deciding to refer anxious children: 1)impact on learning; 2)atypical child behavior; 3)repeated difficulties that do not improve over time; 4)poor response to strategies; 5)teachers' need for support; and 6)information from parents/carers. Teachers considered different combinations of reasons, and had many different tipping points for making a referral. Both teacher-and system-level influences impacted referral decisions. Implications and future research are discussed.

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.

Educação escolar para crianças: o que dizem sujeitos deste direito?

The text aims to discuss the problems that this would be set: - What are the concepts of public school children about their right to primary education, as required step in the Basic Education? - What are conducted by children on the elementary school, in terms of its structure, teaching, and acquisitions provide for their users, especially when it comes to literacy? In order to answer these questions, we conducted within the qualitative a case study within twenty children of the early years of elementary public school, ten of the School Mauricio de Sousa and ten children of the School Monteiro Lobato. with construction procedures of data, we worked with observation, semi-directive interview, questionnaire and document analysis. In analyzing the data, two categories emerged: right to education and school for children. The first focuses on what children think about the legal guarantee to school, seeking to understand if they understand the educational area as a right and relate what the law says and the reality in which they participate. The category for school children, including their purposes, characteristics, space literacy and its relationship with the teacher. In this sense, we comment, taking as its founding, the speech of children in their schools, focusing on how they perceive the school in terms of its structure and functioning, relations with the knowledge and the other children. With regard to child rights, the appreciation of Brazilian children should be the basis of the struggle for a more just, democratic, nondiscriminatory. However, children show not recognize education as a right, but as one who deserves the credit, that is, those children who are always attentive, do not fight and do not complain. In interviews, children express a simple wish child that the school had toys. A school for children should be a place with its own characteristics: cheerful, lively, colorful, which included the same time, security and challenges. Children point to the hope that the course of action the teacher was guided by respect their differences in a more emotional, especially with regard to issues of authority and discipline of the group. The most important learning is for all subjects learning to read / write, differing in the idea of how to learn. Unfortunately, for some students, learning reading and writing appears as a difficult and enjoyable process is not perceived by some subjects up to recognize the instrumental writing. Finally, we point to the actors of the school to launch a more accurate to say that the children and how to outline your main locus of learning

The Impact of Shyness on Loneliness, Social Anxiety, and School Liking in Late Childhood

Author: Charity M. Walker Title: THE IMPACT OF SHYNESS ON LONELINESS, SOCIAL ANXIETY, AND SCHOOL LIKING IN LATE CHILDHOOD Advisor: Maria T. Riva, Ph.D. Degree Date: August 2011 ABSTRACT Shyness is associated with several emotional, social, and academic problems. While there are multiple difficulties that often accompany shyness, there appear to be some factors that can moderate negative effects of shyness. Research has demonstrated that certain parenting factors affect the adjustment of shy children in early childhood, but there is minimal research illuminating the effect of parenting factors in older age groups. The first purpose of this study was to examine relationships between shyness and loneliness, social anxiety, and school liking. The second purpose was to investigate whether the quality of the relationship between a parent and a 10- to 15-year-olds child influences the amount of loneliness or social anxiety a shy child experiences or how the child feels about school. Parent-child dyads served as participants and were recruited from public and private middle schools and church youth groups in Colorado and Indiana. Child participants completed several self-report surveys regarding their relationship with a parent, shyness, loneliness, social anxiety, and their attitude toward school. Parents completed a survey about their relationship with their child and responded to questions related to their perceptions of their child's shyness. Data was analyzed with a series of correlation and regression analyses. Greater degrees of self-reported shyness were found to be associated with higher levels of loneliness and social anxiety and less positive feelings about school. Due to a problem with multicollinearity during data analysis, this study was not able to explore the effect of the parent-child relationship quality on the associations between shyness and adjustment factors. Overall, these findings imply that shyness remains an important issue as children approach adolescence. Further research is needed to continue learning about the potential importance of parent-child interactions in reducing maladjustment for shy children during late childhood.

Los más pequeños toman la palabra: La Escuela Infantil que a ellos les gustaría

El derecho a ser escuchado y participar en aquellos asuntos que afectan a los niños es un derecho fundamental de la infancia escasamente respetado por el adulto, quien tiende a silenciar su voz, infravalorando su visión y posible aportación. Ante esta realidad, la Escuela Infantil se erige como un marco privilegiado para la escucha y la participación de la infancia en aquellos temas que les afectan, contribuyendo a la formación de ciudadanos democráticos. A partir de un marco de escucha donde se concibe al pequeño como un sujeto activo, competente y experto en su propia vida, se ha llevado a cabo una investigación que ha adoptado el formato de estudio de caso, en la que se ha recogido a través de las técnicas del dibujo y de las conversaciones con niños, la visión que poseen los más pequeños sobre la Escuela Infantil, analizando el bienestar del niño en el contexto escolar, el sentido y finalidad que los niños otorgan a la escuela; el grado de satisfacción con la misma; sus gustos y preferencias en el contexto escolar; la autonomía y libertad que dicen poseer en la escuela; su visión sobre los aspectos organizativos que rigen el funcionamiento del centro y su perspectiva sobre cómo es y cómo les gustaría que fuera la participación de las familias en la escuela. Finalmente, se recogen sus propuestas de mejora para hacer de la Escuela Infantil a la que asisten su escuela ideal. Los resultados del estudio ponen de manifiesto la demanda de los niños de una Escuela Infantil diferente a la que conocen y la existencia de un pensamiento divergente del pensamiento adulto que es necesario escuchar y tener en consideración, siendo sus aportaciones de gran valía para poder iniciar procesos de innovación y mejora educativa.

'Day number': a promoter routine of flexibility and conceptual understanding

This paper is part of the Project “Adaptive thinking and flexible computation: Critical issues”. In this paper we discuss different perspectives of flexibility and adaptive thinking in literature. We also discuss the idea of proceptual thinking and how this idea is important in our perspective of adaptive thinking. The paper analyses a situation developed with a first grade classroom and its teacher named the day number. It is a daily activity at the beginning of the school day. It consists on to look for the date number and to think about different ways of writing it using the four arithmetic operations. The analyzed activity was developed on March 19, so the challenge was to write 19 in several ways. The data show the pupils’ enthusiasm and their efforts to find different ways of writing the number. Some used large numbers and division, which they were just starting to learn. The pupils presented symbolic expressions of 19, decomposing and recomposing it in a flexible manner.

Indications for early hip revision surgery in the UK : A re-analysis of NJR data

This study determined the rate and indication for revision between cemented, uncemented, hybrid and resurfacing groups from NJR (6 th edition) data. Data validity was determined by interrogating for episodes of misclassification. We identified 6,034 (2.7%) misclassified episodes, containing 97 (4.3%) revisions. Kaplan-Meier revision rates at 3 years were 0.9% cemented, 1.9% for uncemented, 1.2% for hybrids and 3.0% for resurfacings (significant difference across all groups, p<0.001, with identical pattern in patients <55 years). Regression analysis indicated both prosthesis group and age significantly influenced failure (p<0.001). Revision for pain, aseptic loosening, and malalignment were highest in uncemented and resurfacing arthroplasty. Revision for dislocation was highest in uncemented hips (significant difference between groups, p<0.001). Feedback to the NJR on data misclassification has been made for future analysis. © 2012 Wichtig Editore.

Identification of IL6R and chromosome 11q13.5 as risk loci for asthma

We aimed to identify novel genetic variants affecting asthma risk, since these might provide novel insights into molecular mechanisms underlying the disease. We did a genome-wide association study (GWAS) in 2669 physician-diagnosed asthmatics and 4528 controls from Australia. Seven loci were prioritised for replication after combining our results with those from the GABRIEL consortium (n=26 475), and these were tested in an additional 25 358 independent samples from four in-silico cohorts. Quantitative multi-marker scores of genetic load were constructed on the basis of results from the GABRIEL study and tested for association with asthma in our Australian GWAS dataset. Two loci were confirmed to associate with asthma risk in the replication cohorts and reached genome-wide significance in the combined analysis of all available studies (n=57 800): rs4129267 (OR 1·09, combined p= 2·4×10-8) in the interleukin-6 receptor (IL6R) gene and rs7130588 (OR 1·09, p=1·8×10-8) on chromosome 11q13.5 near the leucine-rich repeat containing 32 gene (LRRC32, also known as GARP). The 11q13.5 locus was significantly associated with atopic status among asthmatics (OR 1·33, p=7×10-4), suggesting that it is a risk factor for allergic but not non-allergic asthma. Multi-marker association results are consistent with a highly polygenic contribution to asthma risk, including loci with weak effects that might be shared with other immune-related diseases, such as NDFIP1, HLA-B, LPP, and BACH2. The IL6R association further supports the hypothesis that cytokine signalling dysregulation affects asthma risk, and raises the possibility that an IL6R antagonist (tocilizumab) may be effective to treat the disease, perhaps in a genotype-dependent manner. Results for the 11q13.5 locus suggest that it directly increases the risk of allergic sensitisation which, in turn, increases the risk of subsequent development of asthma. Larger or more functionally focused studies are needed to characterise the many loci with modest effects that remain to be identified for asthma. National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia. A full list of funding sources is provided in the webappendix. © 2011 Elsevier Ltd.

Montessorivälineet esiopetuksessa : Montessoriohjaajakoulutuksen saaneiden lastentarhanopettajien käsityksiä montessorivälineiden soveltuvuudesta esiopetuksessa

Tutkimuksessa selvitettiin montessorivälineiden soveltuvuutta suomalaiseen esiopetukseen montessoriohjaajakoulutuksen saaneiden lastentarhanopettajien arvioimina. Tutkimuksen ensimmäisenä tehtävänä oli selvittää, missä määrin montessorivälineitä käytettiin esiopetuksessa. Tutkimuksessa kartoitettiin montessorivälineiden osuutta vastaajien lapsiryhmien toimintamateriaaleista sekä mahdollisia esteitä niiden määrän lisäämiselle. Samoin selvitettiin, kuinka tärkeäksi montessorivälineiden merkitys koettiin opetussuunnitelman tavoitteiden toteutumisessa. Lisäksi kartoitettiin montessorivälineiden käytön laajuutta vastaajien työyhteisössä sekä mahdollisia esteitä välineiden laajemmalle käytölle. Tutkimuksen toisena tehtävänä oli selvittää, miten montessorivälineet tukevat lapsikeskeiselle esiopetukselle asetettuja tavoitteita yksilöllisyyden, sosiaalisten taitojen kehittymisen, omatoimisuuden ja aktiivisuuden, leikin merkityksen sekä välineistön monipuolisuuden suhteen. Tutkimuksen kohderyhmäksi valittiin mahdollisimman kattavasti ne montessoriohjaajat, jotka olivat saaneet myös lastentarhanopettajakoulutuksen. Kohderyhmä käsitti 74 henkilöä. Tutkimus suoritettiin postikyselynä joulukuussa 1996 ja tammikuussa 1997. Tutkimuksen vastausprosentiksi muodostui 79,3 %. Tutkimuksen tulokset osoittivat, että montessorivälineiden osuus vastaajien lapsiryhmien käytössä olevista toimintamateriaaleista oli merkittävä. Tämä korostui erityisesti montessoripäiväkodeissa, -leikkikouluissa ja päiväkodin montessoriryhmissä. Kaikissa toimipaikoissa montessorivälineitä ei ollut riittävästi, vaikka kiinnostus niitä kohtaan oli suuri. Montessorivälineiden osuuden lisäämistä vaikeuttivat mm. taloudelliset esteet. Montessorivälineiden merkitys opetussuunnitelman tavoitteiden toteutumisenkannalta osoittautui tärkeäksi. Tulosten perusteella suppeammallakin montessorivälinemäärällä oli opetussuunnitelman tavoitteiden kannalta suuri merkitys. Montessorivälineiden käytön laajuus vastaajientyöyhteisössä vaihteli toimipaikoittain. Koulutuksen puute ilmeni merkittävimmäksi esteeksi montessorivälineiden laajemmalle käytölle vastaajien työyhteisössä. Tutkimuksen tulosten perusteella montessorivälineillä työskentely tukee vahvasti lapsikeskeisen esiopetuksen kannalta tärkeitä tavoitteita yksilöllisyyden, omatoimisuuden ja aktiivisuuden sekä sosiaalisten taitojen kehittymisen suhteen. Montessorivälineiden katsottiin soveltuvan hyvin esiopetukseen myös monipuolisuutensa ansiosta. Leikin merkitys ei montessorivälineillä työskentelyssä ollut keskeisessä asemassa. Sen sijaan montessorivälineillä työskentelyssä painottuivat leikki, työ ja oppiminen. Avainsanat: Montessori-pedagogiikka, montessorivälineet, lapsikeskeinen esiopetus, toimintamateriaalit Keywords: Montessori-pedagogy, Montessori materials, child-centered pre-school education, activity mater

Comunicação empática de pais e filhos em situações específicas: bases evolutivas e variáveis associadas

O presente estudo pretende suprir parcialmente algumas lacunas nos estudos sobre o desenvolvimento da empatia. A primeira lacuna se refere a incluir os pais, além das mães, na pesquisa, uma vez que aqueles podem ter um papel ainda pouco explorado no desenvolvimento. A segunda se refere a abordar a empatia tanto por uma visão ontogenética como filogenética, pois ambas se complementam na compreensão das nossas capacidades e habilidades, essencialmente muito semelhantes às de nossos ancestrais no ambiente de nossa evolução. Presume-se que no ambiente de adaptação evolutiva (AAE) da nossa espécie as habilidades sociais foram importantes na resolução de conflitos e na manutenção da coesão intragrupais. A empatia, habilidade social foco desta dissertação, é definida como a capacidade de compreender e expressar compreensão sobre os pensamentos e sentimentos de outra pessoa e é uma característica da espécie que sofre desenvolvimento ontogenético, em culturas e nichos específicos de desenvolvimento. Esta dissertação tem como objetivo geral abordar a comunicação empática entre pais e mães e seus filhos pelo olhar da Psicologia Evolucionista do Desenvolvimento. Participaram deste estudo 10 crianças, entre oito e 11 anos e seus respectivos pais e mães, sendo cinco meninos e cinco meninas, todos da cidade do Rio de Janeiro. A empatia dos pais e dos filhos foi avaliada por meio de instrumentos (Inventário de Empatia e Entrevista sobre Cenas de Curta Duração), assim como as crenças parentais sobre a importância e o desenvolvimento das habilidades empáticas, por instrumento desenvolvido para este estudo (Crenças Parentais sobre Habilidades). As famílias participaram ainda de uma sessão de filmagem em três situações específicas de 10 minutos cada: jogo com peças de montar para construção conjunta de escolha livre e a representação de papéis em duas cenas do cotidiano familiar (conversar sobre um boletim da criança com notas vermelhas e sobre um problema que a criança trouxe para os pais). Os resultados foram apresentados e discutidos para cada uma das famílias. Pode-se observar que existem relações entre os escores de empatia dos pais e da criança nos instrumentos utilizados e que, em geral, os pais valorizam habilidades empáticas e atribuem seu desenvolvimento, principalmente ao exemplo e à aprendizagem e não a maturação e características de temperamento da criança. No entanto, nas tarefas propostas, dificuldades de comunicação empática são observadas, levando a que se hipotetize que não é direta a relação entre crenças, habilidades individuais e práticas em família. Reconhecem-se as limitações do presente estudo, de caráter exploratório. Novas investigações com observação da comunicação pais-filhos em situações cotidianas do ambiente natural podem contribuir para o avanço do conhecimento nessa área.

Fios do novelo: crianças negras, educação e trabalho em Vassouras, 1871 a 1910

Nosso trabalho analisa o processo de escolarização de crianças negras em Vassouras, de 1871 a 1910. Intencionamos unir as reflexões do campo da História e da História da Educação, para compreender a organização da sociedade e a inserção da escola nessa cidade, destacando a presença das crianças negras nos bancos escolares. Para conhecer a organização social de Vassouras dialogamos com Raposo (1978) e Stein (1990), dois historiadores cujas obras marcam a história da cidade. Seguindo a mesma trilha, analisamos a produção dos historiadores ligados ao Vale do Paraíba, tais como: Salles (2008), Muaze (2008) e Gomes (2006) para compreender a formação das famílias e seus títulos de nobreza. Também dialogamos com os professores Góes e Florentino (1997) e Mattos (1998) para compreender a formação da família escrava e o significado da liberdade. Na História da Educação destacamos os estudos desenvolvidos por: Gondra e Schueler (2008), que sinalizam que há poucos estudos sobre o processo de escolarização de negros, afrodescendentes e índios no período imperial. Esse quadro apontado pelos autores citados anteriormente já começou a mudar. O estudo de Silva (2000) sobre a escola para meninos negros na Corte foi um dos pioneiros na perspectiva histórica. Igualmente desbravador do campo foi a pesquisa realizada por Barros (2005) sobre o processo de escolarização de negros em São Paulo. Os trabalhos de Fonseca (2002 e 2009) desmistificam a tese de ausência de crianças negras nas escolas das Gerais. Gonçalves (2005) faz um balanço da questão e apresenta novas lacunas em áreas onde ainda não há pesquisas sobre os negros na Educação, entre elas a província do Rio de Janeiro. Este estudo buscou preencher essa lacuna a partir de documentos que se encontravam em diferentes acervos da cidade e do Estado do Rio de Janeiro. Nessas instituições coletamos: pedidos de Soldada, o jornal O Vassourense, verbetes de dicionários tecnológicos de Direito e verbetes do dicionário bibliográfico Velho Sobrinho. Em Vassouras encontramos os Mapas de Frequência Escolar e os Ofícios remetidos ao diretor da Instrução Pública. O processo histórico de educação dos libertos, iniciado com a Lei do Ventre Livre em 1871, em Vassouras pode ser acompanhado pelos Mapas de Frequência Escolar, e esses documentos nos permitem acompanhar até que idade essa criança negra permanecia na escola e também conhecer a sua saída para o mundo do trabalho. O ano de 1910 foi estabelecido para acompanhar o movimento interno, da própria documentação existente nos acervos de Vassouras, que após esse período apresentavam lacunas que dificultavam a montagem de uma série que permitisse uma análise das questões educacionais em paralelo com as questões sociais e econômicas. Adotamos como suporte teórico metodológico o Paradigma Indiciário proposto por Ginzburg (1989), que busca reconstruir as sociedades de tempos pretéritos a partir de vestígios, pistas e indícios presentes nos documentos. Também nos auxiliaram na leitura dos documentos os livros escritos por Elias (1993, 1994, 2000 e 2001), nos quais buscávamos base para ler o mundo das letras e o mundo do trabalho da sociedade vassourense no final do Império e início da República