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“Can I play?” An ethnographic study of children’s experiences of leadership and followership in primary school
Full text linkThis thesis investigates how leadership and followership are enacted, experienced, and understood by children within a primary school’s Forest School programme.
Drawing on two years of ethnographic fieldwork comprising thirty-nine naturalistic observations and thirty interviews, the study explores how children negotiate influence, collaboration, and belonging in outdoor, play-rich environments. Grounded in an interpretivist and constructivist framework, it challenges adult-centric models that conceptualise leadership as preparation for adulthood, arguing instead that Forest School provides a distinctive context in which children practise leadership and followership as dynamic, relational, and agentic phenomena shaped by social interaction, material engagement, and peer recognition.
Using Braun and Clarke’s (2006) thematic analysis, 139 initial codes were refined into five core themes - identity, relationships, collaboration, social influence, and role
fluidity - and subsequently synthesised into three higher-order principles: recognition, multimodality, and heterarchy. These principles reveal how the Forest School environment amplifies children’s agency, supports equitable participation, and enables influence to circulate reciprocally rather than hierarchically, reflecting a heterarchical form of social organisation grounded in fairness, responsiveness, and collective negotiation.
The study contributes to leadership studies by evidencing fairness-driven, distributed forms of influence rarely theorised in adult contexts, and to childhood studies by positioning leadership and followership as integral dimensions of peer culture. It further demonstrates how Forest School legitimises followership, broadens recognition of diverse expressions of influence, and models the equitable design of leader–follower relations. The thesis concludes by advancing child-centred conceptual and pedagogical frameworks of leadership and followership that reimagines influence as a reciprocal, generative process sustaining collaboration, agency, and belonging in children’s everyday social worlds
Diedrich Diederichsen: Aesthetics of pop music
No full text‘(N)either masterpieces nor trash’ (3) is an apt description for much of what the world of pop music produces. The same might also be said of this book, at least from the perspective of a reader–ostensibly a pop music fan–seeking to extend their understanding of what the music of pop music might be. However, Aesthetic of Pop Music is neither concerned with the musicological analyses and ethnographic reports typical of popular music studies texts, nor is its publication series one that deals in surface-level discussions; Polity's Theory Redux series publishes insights on the state of arts, identity, and politics under Western neoliberalism, making a contribution by Diedrich Diederichsen a befitting addition. Considered one of the most influential German-speaking theorists, Diederichsen's prolific back catalogue of publications has been seldom available in English, making Aesthetic of Pop Music a valuable entry point for English-speaking readers wishing to engage with his recent thoughts on the subject
Do Parents/Carers Feel Supported? Evaluating the Landscape of Parent/Carer Services in a City in North West England
Full text linkThere have been many evaluations of specific parent programs, but there is minimal evidence of evaluation of the broader landscape of established advice or support services
for parents of children under 18 years old. This paper investigates parent/carer perceptions of support services in their case study city. We explore and examine their perspectives on existing support services and how far they are meeting their needs. Through a thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews with parents and carers from across the city, a range of key themes emerged. These included the supportive environment and positive ethos
of services accessed, lack of trust in some professionals, and perceived gaps in provision, highlighting the need for more activities, support, and accessible information, especially for families with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). These findings underscore the complexity of navigating the landscape of support services and advocate for more coordinated, accessible, and trustworthy support systems for parents and carers
Educating Responsible Business Leaders: Organizational Hypocrisy in British Universities’ Commitment to Environmental Sustainability Education
Full text linkAbstract This study examined the commitment of British universities to educating responsible business leaders capable of addressing grand challenges related to environmental sustainability. Specifically, it investigated the extent to which environmental sustainability topics are embedded in the course descriptions of business-related programs, and how these descriptions relate to universities’ formal commitments to sustainability and selected organizational characteristics. This is the first study to provide a systematic analysis of 2,758 business-related courses offered by all British universities, thereby contributing comprehensive new insights to the ongoing debate on education for environmental sustainability. The analysis focused on evaluating both the frequency and depth of integration of environmental sustainability topics within course descriptions. Findings indicate that all universities regardless of their formal sustainability commitments or organizational characteristics—offer a similar amount of sustainability-related course content. Notably, a university’s formal commitment to sustainability at the organizational level does not correlate with a greater inclusion of environmental sustainability in course content
Assessment of Scientific Creative-Potential by Near-Infrared Spectroscopy Using Brain-Network Based Deep-Fuzzy Classifier
Full text linkThe work presents a novel approach to assess the scientific creative ability of subjects by analyzing their brain connectivity patterns through functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) during participation in an analogical reasoning test. The proposed method involves three key stages: i) construction of brain connectivity networks using Wavelet Transform Coherence (WTC), ii) abstraction and analysis of three node-based network features, and iii) classification of abstracted features into five degrees of creative potential by a novel Enhanced Graph Convolution Induced Type-2 Fuzzy Classifier (EGCIFC). The novelty
of the classifier lies in: i) design of an enhanced graph convolution operation that encapsulates local and
global structural information from the input graph, ii) use of the Smish activation function to improve performance, iii) inclusion of a one-dimensional spatial convolution layer for preserving relevant information within convolved embeddings, iv) design of a novel mapping function to mitigate uncertainty among the spatial convolved vectors in the type-2 fuzzy layer, and v) application of Takagi-Sugeno-Kang (TSK)-based fuzzy reasoning to reduce computational cost. Evaluation on three datasets, each comprising over
45 individuals from different scientific backgrounds, shows that EGCIFC improves classification accuracy by 2.25% over the nearest competitor and by 22.72% over the lowest-performing baseline. The proposed method also reduces computational cost by 7.46% and 54.7% compared to the nearest and worst competitors, respectively. Additionally, EGCIFC exhibits a standard deviation of ±0.72% in classification accuracy, reflecting its robustness. Hence, the proposed approach may prove effective for recruiting individuals with varying degrees of scientific creativity across different research sectors
The Playground Model of Disability: Dis/honesty Tropes in Contemporary British Sociocultural Representation
No full textMore than being counter to what we must surely endeavour to consider the status quo of honesty, not to mention the pursuit of truth that should still be fundamental in academia and education more broadly, dishonesty involves deceit and thus victimisation, which is to say it tends to be used either against someone or to give someone an unfair advantage. Such personal interactions are sometimes and, in the context of this book, revealingly referred to as the games people play.
When an unfair advantage is so given, someone else tends to be disadvantaged, an aspect of dishonesty that resonates with disablement. This book coins the term dis/honesty to define the many moments in which dishonesty is invoked by disability, and vice versa. The concept is explored via a selection of contemporary British sociocultural representations – namely, short jokes, disability sitcom, soap opera, activist radio interviews, fictionalised observations, and the robotic positionality of Artificial Intelligence.
In investigating these representations of dis/honesty, on the basis that the blueprint of adult behaviour is found in the schoolyard, playground figurations are posited as part of the autocritical framework. Remarkably, there are many such relationships with disablement, for intrinsic to Piggy in the Middle, Leapfrog, Pile On, Hide and Seek, Blind Man’s Bluff, and Robot Tick, among other playground games, is interpersonal inequity, whereby a normative position is juxtaposed with one defined by being outnumbered, inhibited, and/or singled out.
The playground model of disability reveals normative traditions that, according to a range of recent representations, people are often more than tempted to follow. Like a hegemonic game of Hopscotch, the way of the normative social order is sketched before us, complete with behavioural guidelines legitimised by repetition and competition. The book shows how dis/honesty tropes serve the normative social order; how the playground model can be used to critique instances in which disablement emanates from interactions more than institutions, people more than places.
The Playground Model of Disability: Dis/honesty Tropes in Contemporary British Sociocultural Representation will be of particular interest to readers in disability studies, as well as those in humour studies, radio studies, media studies, television studies, literary studies, cultural studies, inclusion studies, drama, sociology, and critical theory
Causation and Criminal Responsibility
No full textThere are current conflicting debates in criminal-law and philosophical literature about the relationship between causation and moral responsibility. This chapter seeks to map those debates, scrutinise the relationship between causation and moral responsibility, and highlight the role causation should play in criminal-responsibility ascription for result crimes. It argues that there is a conceptual distinction between moral responsibility and causal responsibility: In our moral-responsibility judgements, fault or blame is ascribed to an individual for something when it is appropriate to have some negative reaction towards them because of some type of control and defective exercise of that control, exhibited in their conduct; however, causal responsibility should be understood as an ascription of responsibility simply when one event causes another.
Moral responsibility and causal responsibility are also disconnected from one another – moral responsibility is irrelevant to causal findings, and causation does not affect moral responsibility for outcomes. It contends that distinguishing causal responsibility from moral responsibility is important in criminal law because both notions are required to appropriately determine overall criminal responsibility for result crimes: Causal responsibility establishes an individual’s actual wrongdoing, whereas moral responsibility determines blameworthiness for that wrongdoing.
Therefore, causation should play a distinct and important role in criminal-responsibility ascription for result crimes
Qualitative experiences of self-focus, distraction, and interactionist anxiety-performance mechanisms: What do players perceive?
No full textThe negative effect of anxiety on performance has been explained via distraction (e.g., Attentional Control Theory), self-focus (e.g., Reinvestment Theory), or an interaction of these mechanisms (e.g., Interactionist Hypothesis). For the first time, athletes’ qualitative perception of all three mechanisms was explored. Ten amateur netball players completed an individual semi-structured interview. Thematic analysis revealed three superordinate themes (Distraction, Self-Focus, and Interaction), two middle themes (Sources and Failure Mechanisms), and a total of ten subthemes (Internal Distractions, External Distractions, Impaired Attentional Control, Overloaded Attention, Conscious Motor Processing, Movement Self-Consciousness, Deautomatization, Distraction Induced Self-Focus, Self-Focus Induced Distraction, and Overload from Simultaneous Self-Focus and Distraction). Results suggest athletes notice instances of self-focus, distraction, and interactionist mechanisms. Interestingly, distraction and self-focus appeared to manifest a bi-directional relationship, whereby self-focus can be distracting and distraction can induce self-focus. This novel finding offers progress towards integrated rather than mutually exclusive conceptualisations of anxiety-performance mechanisms
Spectatorship of Medieval Nubian Paintings: a Cross-cultural Eye Movement Study at the Archaeological Site of Old Dongola, Sudan
Full text linkOur understanding of how visitors’ cultural backgrounds shape their visual engagement with archaeological heritage remains relatively limited. The present study explores the effect of visitors’ cultural backgrounds on visual inspection. Forty-eight Sudanese and 19 Western visitors of the Monastery on Kom H at the Old Dongola archaeological site (Sudan) were asked to view 17 medieval Nubian wall paintings while their eye movements were being recorded. Sudanese participants maintained a broader focus of attention than Western participants when viewing paintings, which marked a greater likelihood of looking at the painting context. In contrast, Western participants focused more on the human figures and their attributes. Taken together, these findings support the hypothesis that cultural background shapes viewing. The results are discussed in terms of development of inclusive strategies that facilitate visitors’ engagement with artefacts present at archaeological sites
When Money Gets Tight: How Turkish Gen Z Changes Their Fashion Shopping Habits and Adapts to Involuntary Anti-Consumerism
Full text linkThis study explores how Turkish Generation Z adapts their fashion consumption behaviours in response to economic crises, particularly focusing on involuntary anti-consumerism. Through a qualitative methodology using semi-structured interviews and purposive sampling, the research captures the coping strategies and emotional experiences of young consumers in Türkiye. A thematic analysis of fifteen interviews reveals an original “8Rs” framework—Reject, Restrict/Reduce, Reuse/Reclaim, Re-find, Reconsider, Re-framing Discounts, Re-direction of Resources, and Emotional Responses—that illustrates both behavioural and psychological adjustments under financial strain. Notably, the study introduces two novel concepts: “recession rush,” a calculated urgency to purchase before price hikes, and “re-direction of resources,” the reallocation of budget from other categories toward fashion purchases. By focusing on a geographically underrepresented context and a pivotal consumer segment, this research contributes new insights to the literature on anti-consumption, economic adaptation, and youth identity expression in crisis economies