980 research outputs found
Sort by
Measuring the contribution of independent Christian secondary schools to students' religious, personal, and social values
No full textFrom the late 1960s independent Christian schools have emerged in England and Wales, initiated either by churches or by parents. Many of these new independent schools are linked through the Christian Schools Trust. The impact that these schools are exerting on their students may be of interest for the churches with which they are associated and of concern for wider society. The political debate concerning these schools has so far been informed by only a small number of empirical studies conducted in England and Wales. The present study extends previous research in three ways. It offers a comparative study by examining the responses of 271 year-nine and year-ten students (13- to 15-years of age) from 11 independent Christian schools with 20,348 students from 93 schools without a religious foundation. It examines a range of religious, social and personal values. It employs multilevel models to identify the contribution made by independent Christian schools after taking into account personal, psychological and contextual differences within the students themselves. We hypothesised that Christian schools were committed to developing distinctly Christian values among their students. The data supported this hypothesis. Even after allowing for differences in the religiosity of the students themselves, attendance at an independent Christian school was associated with higher self-esteem, greater rejection of drug use, lower endorsing of illegal behaviours, lower racism, higher levels of conservative Christian belief, and more conservative views on sexual morality (abortion, contraception, divorce, homosexuality, and sex outside marriage)
The effect of time of night on wake-dream continuity
No full textResearch has demonstrated a number of time-of-night and stage-of-sleep differences in dream content, such as that dreams from later in the night are longer, more emotional, and more bizarre. It was hypothesized that time of night may therefore demonstrate differences in the continuity of waking life into dreams. Participants (N = 16) were systematically awoken 4 times a night for 2 nights and rated their dreams for wake–dream continuity on a number of dimensions. It was found that time of night affects wake–dream continuity overall, particularly showing an increase of bizarreness over time; that there were more references to waking-life media in the early than late night; that there were more references to waking-life activities and objects in the late than early night; and that the ways in which different types of wake–dream continuity correlate (such as continuity with present, past, and future waking life) change from the early to the late night. No stage-of-sleep effects were able to be demonstrated. The results support the hypothesis that time of night affects wake–dream continuity
Civic identity, municipal governance and provincial newspapers: the Lincoln of Bernard Gilbert, poet, critic and ‘booster’, 1914
No full textThe provincial press played a significant role in forming local attitudes and senses of civic identity in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Local and regional newspapers often adopted a ‘boosterist’ language, a style that enthusiastically promoted the particular qualities of places. The persistence of boosterism into the early twenty-first century makes it a concept worthy of further exploration. This study considers just one ‘booster’, Bernard Samuel Gilbert, and his illuminating series of articles on Lincoln for the Lincolnshire Echo in 1914. His correspondence illustrates the contrasting stances towards improvement typically employed within the local press – including the boosterist alongside the more critical
Rape is rape (except when it’s not): the media, recontextualisation and violence against women
No full textThis article contributes to a body of research in which media reports of violence against women are analysed for the ways they gloss precisely what it is that constitutes ‘violence against women’ in the event under report. To catch this glossing in flight, as it were, mediated reports of violence are conceptualised as recontextualisations; that is, reports that may differ in rhetorically consequential ways from those provided by victims of, or witnesses to, that violence. A mediated stylistic analysis of press reportage of the charges of rape made against Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, in 2010, subsequently shows that and how Assange’s allegedly violent actions were recontextualised such that their status as violent was readably downgraded, mitigated or even deleted. The article ends by calling for more attention to be paid to the various techniques of recontextualisation via which reports of violence against women are presented in the media
Returning home: psychosocial care during the re-entry phase of cancer survivorship in rural Australia
No full textThe purpose of this research was to highlight gaps in formal psychosocial care for cancer survivors in rural communities. The study was conducted in rural Victoria, Australia, and involved interviews with people with various stages of cancer progression, cancer diagnoses and survival times, who were interviewed about their experiences of psychosocial cancer care. Interviews focused on their experience of psychosocial care and were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim. Data were thematically analysed to identify key themes. Findings demonstrate that psychosocial care is essentially informal within the re-entry period after cancer diagnosis and treatment. Despite current Australian clinical guidelines on psychosocial care for people with cancer, which indicate the need for the provision of formal psychosocial care, participants in this study largely cared for themselves, or received informal support from family, friends and community members. Many psychosocial needs remained unmet and professional support was lacking. While this study was conducted in rural Australia, many of our findings have been echoed in studies from other countries. The findings have implications for treatment protocols and discharge planning, health professional–patient–family relationships, and the long-term well-being of cancer survivors living in rural communities. A model for understanding the experience of formal supportive care during the re-entry phase of survivorship is proposed
Creativity
No full textThis chapter considers various definitions of creativity but focuses particularly on ideas of originality, value, exploration and making connections. These apply equally to teachers and pupils, although the level of originality might be different. Teachers can use these ideas to teach creatively but also need to think how they relate to teaching which develops creativity in the children. Through modelling, questioning and challenging, providing resources and opportunities, encouraging perseverance and tolerance of ambiguity, the teacher can support the children in their explorations and creations. Formative assessment can aid this process, including self-assessment, while the performativity culture related to summative assessment can be a barrier
Play to Learn: A case-study of parent/carer and child engagement with a physical activity website resource
No full textIn 2007 Sport Wales produced guidance for practitioners delivering the new Foundation Phase curriculum for children aged 3-7 years. A focus was on physical development and in 2009 a resource entitled Play to Learn was developed supported by a website launched in 2011. The present study addresses (non-)engagement with the website. Based on a qualitative study (interviews and focus groups) with a small cohort of parents from a primary school in South Wales, the findings revealed some of the reasons for only low levels of engagement from parents / carers. ‘Hard copy’ resource materials were considered more useful than electronic media
The new early years foundation stage: changes, challenges and reflections
No full textThis follows from a previous book based on early years. It explores wider perspectives such as contemporary issues and the challenges practitioners face when implementing new initiatives
Jokes, pranks, blondes and banter: recontextualising sexism in the British print press
No full textThis article examines how media texts that take sexism as their topic can be analysed for the ways in which they present what does (or does not) constitute sexism in the particular event being reported upon. To do so, it treats any such text as a ‘recontextualisation’. This concept, drawn from the field of critical discourse analysis, suggests that for an incident of sexism to be reported in any media text is also for that incident to be recontextualised in and through the linguistic, visual and graphological choices of that text's author. To catch this process of recontextualisation in-flight, the article studies video footage of an incident from the world of English Premier League football in which the actions of two television presenters precipitated various complaints of sexism. A discursive analysis of newspaper reports about that incident reveals the textual practices through which the presenters' actions were recontextualised such that their status precisely as ‘sexist actions’ was readably downgraded, mitigated or even deleted. The article ends with a discussion of how an analysis of the media's practices for recontextualising incidents of sexism contributes to the project of a specifically feminist media studies