(From the ISHN Member information service) The recent international conference on physical activity in Toronto in May 2014 had several national surveys reporting sub-standard levels of physical activity in children. Walking and biking to school is potentially the best way to increase school-related PA but studies also shpw that parents are reluctant to allow their children to walk/bike to school or to play outside after school in unsupervised activities. A blog post from an unlikely source (The Microsoft Mobility Lab) helps us to understand how underlying social factors are driving parent concerns and decisions. The Communications Director for the Microsoft Lab asks the question: " Are Fearful, Lurking Parents a Reason for Uninspired Transportation Choice? He quotes from a book on the social lives of networked teens and points out that this parental concern is larger than just the trip to school. Parents are also reluctant to allow their children to go online, ride public transit, or even have much unstructured free time. The article notes how little time is now available for young people to mix socially without monitoring from their parents. He concludes that " We have to remember that when you’re younger, you always want to be older. Kids see adults in places like bars, clubs, restaurants, and even public transit where they are not allowed. Somehow within that mix, we, as a society, have to do a better job of helping our children go through the coming-of-age process in ways that will create the local and global communities for them that we once had as kids ourselves." Read more>>
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(An item from the ISHN Member information service) An article in issue #4, 2013 of Pastoral Care in Education offers some insights on how teachers can collectively develop a negative view or perception of individual students when discussing them in teacher conferences/meetings. The researchers report that "Using positioning analysis, the transcriptions of 15 interviews with staff were analysed. The school staff’s reflections on the individual students covered three areas: health, social well-being and education. The results show the ways in which positions were shaped and illustrate a reflexive process that developed continually throughout the staff’s relationships with the students. The staff positioned the students and indicated attributions of the students; however, the attributions were predominately negative. With each position, the staff’s view of students as subjects or objects and their relationships to the students are described in terms of mutual or one-way dialogue. Read more>>
(An item from the UCLA School Mental Health Project) After damning indictments in the 1970s and 1980s, classroom ability grouping and tracking practices fell into disrepute and declined. 1 Data over the last decade indicatea resurgence of grouping practices in classrooms. 2 Tracking in the form of assigning students to certain classes based on designated ability also dipped initially, but for the most part continues to produce differential course placements of students that are associated with inequities in post-secondary opportunities. At the outset, we want to be clear that academic tracking per se is inappropriate. Grouping and placing students in classes solely based on their test performance and grades has negative repercussions to the students and to the society. The potential negatives include reducing equity of opportunity at school and beyond, perpetuating inequities and disparities based on race and socio-economic status, fostering a climate of hopelessness and disengagement at school and in the community and contributing to mental health problems. That said, in the 21st century, discussions of classroom grouping practices must focus on the appropriate role for grouping in facilitating student learning. At the same time, attention must be given to the dilemma of minimizing potential negative effects. Our emphasis here is on (1) grouping as a fundamental feature of most efforts to teach in classrooms and (2) learning supports that directly address barriers to learning and teaching as essential in minimizing the dilemma of negative effects. Read More>>
(An item from ISHN Member information service) An article in Issue #2, 2013 of the Journal of School Violence describes and argues for a focus on the connections/relationships made between adults and young people in order to improve their sense of school belonging. The authors suggest that " This article discusses the significance of adult connections for adolescents' sense of school belonging and identifies areas for future research and practice by (a) exploring the influence of adult connections on adolescents' sense of school belonging; (b) reviewing the literature regarding school belonging outcomes; (c) identifying potential barriers to building adult connections and school belonging; (d) presenting school improvement initiatives that hold promise for facilitating adult connections and school belonging; and (e) introducing a research and practice agenda that underscores the need for further investigation into the relationship between adult connections and school belonging. This proposed agenda represents an important addition to the literature by advocating for an increased focus on the process and significance of these relationships during adolescence". Read more>>
(An item from ISHN Member information service) Our long-standing discussion of school connectedness continues with our noting of an article on school bonding in the December 2012 issue of the Australian Educational & Developmental Psychologist. School factors were not reported as significant in abstract of the study. The authors report that" This study sought to identify longitudinal influences on school bonding, examining the role of both individual and contextual factors over childhood and early adolescence. We draw on data from 1,308 participants (51% female) in the Australian Temperament Project, a large representative Australian sample that has followed the psychosocial development of participants from infancy to adulthood, and thus provides a rare opportunity to address this gap in the literature. Path analysis was conducted to examine individual and contextual predictors of school bonding at 15–16 years. The individual characteristics of higher academic achievement and sociability, and lower hyperactivity predicted school bonding. Contextual factors also made a significant contribution, including the parent–child relationships and maternal education. The results indicate that both individual and contextual factors make unique contributions to school bonding in adolescence, suggesting a number of potential targets for intervention. Read More.
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