Siblings as Providers of Support and Care during Middle Childhood: Children's Perceptions

This article describes some of the findings of a study undertaken to seek the views of 69 Scottish primary school children of their sisters and brothers. The study found that siblings were perceived to be a significant source of support and help to the children. Sibling support was particularly important to children with few other supportive relationships. Sibling caretaking which was viewed primarily positively both by the caretaking and looked after children, was found to be a common experience among the nine to 12–year-old children. Negative consequences of sibling caretaking included annoying, domination and abuse by siblings. Although over a quarter of the children's siblings were not living in the Same household, the majority of children perceived siblings to hold a special importance in their lives. Issues raised for parents and professionals concern the maintenance of relationships between siblings who do not live together; how to enhance the supportive aspects of sibling relationships, while offering protection against the negative aspects of sibling dichotomy; and facing the reality of sibling caretaking. Much more needs to be known about children's everyday experiences of growing up with their sisters and brothers, if we are to understand more fully the complexities of sibling relationships.     

The Curriculum to Meet Special Educational Needs

The development of objectives-based curricula in special education has brought considerable benefits to the education of children with special educational needs. Schools can look to even greater successes as they become more experienced in using and modifying their curricula. In the integrationist climate, provision for children with special educational needs has become increasingly flexible.

The role of the special school is changing, and is developing a system of 'resource centres' to enable wider provisions for meeting pupils special educational needs in mainstream. Such development has created new and important challenges in the field of special education. The opportunities which objectives-based curricula extend through planned and structured teaching initiatives for pupils with special educational needs, are commensurate with the opportunities provided through integration.

The article draws attention to matters of particular concern for teachers meeting pupils' special educational needs, and highlights the aims and objectives critical to curriculum design.     

Opportunities and challenges in secondary education for blind/vision-impaired people in the Republic of Ireland

Until comparatively recently blind/vision-impaired young people were generally assigned to particular education settings based on their impairment. Restructuring of the education system commenced in the Republic of Ireland in the 1990s, resulting in significant changes in special education including a language of inclusive education within policy initiatives. In the research upon which this article is based, the educational experiences of blind/vision-impaired people, the factors that impacted on these experiences and how these facilitated or inhibited their future opportunities were the primary foci for the study. This article explores the themes of how the post-primary school curriculum was experienced by blind/vision-impaired students and their future expectations and aspiration. In terms of policy development and practice, it is paramount to ensure both effective curriculum participation and transition opportunities are enabled rather than disabled for these students.     

Evaluation of children's stay in institutions: what is working?

This article presents a double approach: quantitative (about 653 older boys and girls who left special education centers less than 10 years ago) and qualitative (talks with 38 of them). The quantitative study, researching factors of success in special education centers, shows the importance of placement for 3 or 4 years, a later exit between 19 and 21 years, the harm done by many placements, and the importance of collaboration between parents and youth workers. The qualitative study shows the influence on boarders of various types of education adopted in special education centers: the need of adolescents for a normative structure, identification patterns, and progressive responsibility, as well as emotional needs expressed through a quest for parental substitutes. It appears that very heterogeneous groups are anxiogenous for fragile youngsters who are searching for their own identities. Coming in and leaving an institution are particularly delicate and often painful moments, and they must be prepared by the youth workers with very special care.     

When the management is the message: Relating values to management practice in nonprofit organizations

The values-expressive character of many private, nonprofit organizations is what distinguishes them from business and government organizations. The distinctive character of these organizations creates a special context for their management. This article examines the origins and development of private nonprofits in the religious realm and explores the implications of this character for management and for education of nonprofit managers.     

Learning Disabilities and Inequality

Functionally speaking, students are labeled with learning disabilities (LDs) and placed into special education to enable them to achieve up to their potential. Nonetheless, potential links between LDs and inequality have been a dominant research theme. Inequality may determine who experiences LDs, or who receives the LD label, just as inequality may result from LDs, or from the LD label. This article reviews broad theoretical perspectives of LDs, as well as research focused specifically on LDs and inequality. With significant data and methodological limitations hindering this body of research, this article also demonstrates how theoretical perspectives and methodologies from sociology of education and sociology of health could make significant contributions to the literatures and policy focused on this group of students.     

From “Swinging Hard” to “Rocking Out”: Classification of Style and the Creation of Identity in the World of Drumming

This article takes a social constructionist approach to the study of a seldom considered subculture—the “world” of drumming. I describe this subculture from both the “etic” and “emic” perspectives, showing how drummers and drumming are perceived and experienced by the musicians themselves (insiders) as well as the “outside” public. The main focus is on the drummers' intersubjective “mental maps” of their world, specifically exploring how they create musical and personal identities by adhering to a rigid classification scheme surrounding “styles” of drumming. I demonstrate how drummers use drumming equipment, personal appearance, education, and “purist” attitudes to separate styles of drumming and to construct distinct social selves. Of special interest is how drummers are cognitively socialized into “thought communities” which teach and reinforce attitudinal and behavioral norms. I conclude with a discussion of the possibilities of applying my analytical framework to other worlds of music and art, as well as some forms of occupational and avocational specialization.     

Sex education for children in a residential center.

Sex education programs for emotionally disturbed children present special problems. This article emphasizes training of child care workers and their role as teachers.     

A career exploration programme for learners with special educational needs

Learners with disabilities lag far behind their peers without disabilities in achievement, graduation rates, post-school education and employment outcomes [4]. Against the current state of education affairs in South Africa, where curriculum models for learners with special educational needs (LSEN) are still under revision, therapists and teachers are finding it difficult to prepare these learners for appropriate employment after school. Even where systems in education are established, persons with learning disabilities face more challenges to enter employment [5]. This article reports on a unique career exploration programme for grade 11 learners at a school for learners with special educational needs in Gauteng, South Africa. It is a collaborative strategy between the learners, their parents, a teacher and the occupational therapists at the school. Two case studies are described to indicate the success of the program.     

"THERE ARE SURVIVORS": Telling A Story Of Sudden Death

This article is a personal narrative of a family drama enacted in the aftermath of my brother's death in an airplane crash. "True" stories such as this fit in the space between fiction and social science, joining ethnographic and literary writing, and autobiographical and sociological understanding. My goal is to reposition readers vis a vis authors of texts of social science by acknowledging potential for optional readings and encouraging readers to "experience an experience" that can reveal not only how it was for me, but how it could be or once was for them. This experimental form permits researchers and readers to acknowledge and give voice to their own emotional experiences and encourages ethnographic subjects (co-authors) to reclaim and write their own lives.     

Unequal at the starting line: Creating participatory inequalities across generations and among groups

We investigate how inequalities in political participation are shaped across generations by considering the influence of family background-in particular, parents' education and political involvement-on political participation. We pursue this issue, first, for individuals, investigating the effects of parental characteristics on the participatory profile of their offspring. Then, we use what we have learned to understand how group differences in political participation-between women and men and among Latinos, African Americans, and Anglo Whites-are rooted in the legacy of class and political background and in experiences throughout the life cycle. They are co-authors of The Private Roots of Public Action: Gender, Equality, and Political Participation (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2001) which was the co-writer of the Victoria Schuck Award of the American Political Science Association for the best book on gender and politics of its year.     

Improving special education mediation

This article provides background information about special education and mediation and offers some points to consider for those interested in starting, improving or analyzing a special education mediation process. This article is based on the author's experience as a mediator as well as on site visits, interviews and a review of the relevant literature. The author concludes that mediation can be a very effective method for settling special education disputes and/or improving relationships but that the process can be affected by outside factors such as politics, finances and/or the system.     

The Accounts of Special Education Leavers

There has been comparatively little analysis of the ways in which pupils within special education describe themselves. This paper looks at the linguistic repertoires that leavers from special education in Central Scotland drew upon in order to account for their presence in what was seen by those around them as a stigmatising environment. Eighteen special education leavers were interviewed: first of all either before or around the time that they left school; and then, for a second time, between twelve and eighteen months later. This study suggests that these special education leavers drew upon at least four different linguistic repertoires to explain their presence within a segregated environment. Two points emerge from these accounts: first that these repertoires accounted for the leavers' presence within special education without drawing upon notions of individual pathology; and secondly, that the accounts of these leavers changed according to the differing accounting tasks that the leavers were faced with. The implications of this research for those who work with teenagers and others who are forced to account for their presence in a stigmatising environment is discussed.     

Children with cognitive disabilities in a Swedish educational context: reflections from a case study

The present study analyses the experience of parents of children with cognitive disabilities attending compulsory school in regular classes or in special units. It relates this experience to the arguments presented by the staff of special education services in a Swedish municipality, their administrative decisions and the organization of special education services. The parents had different standpoints: some defended the existence of special units and the resources available to them, while some fought to have their children accepted in regular classes, while other parents accepted the special units but were critical of certain aspects of their functioning. The situation presented here seems likely to generate conflicts between parents and educational administrators, and even among parents.     

Family Therapy with the Learning Disabled Child and His/Her Family

No therapist can come in contact with and treat children with minimal brain damage or specific learning disabilities without being struck by the fact that there are numerous intertwined factors that have contributed to and continue to perpetuate the problems. In addition to the helping approaches which have been utilized in recent years, such as tutoring, special education, and child therapy, this article elaborates the importance of utilizing family therapy as the treatment of choice sometime during the course of treating the child and helping the parents to understand and deal with their handicapped youngster.     

Gendered stories of parental caregiving among siblings

Using data from in-depth interviews with eight pairs of male and female siblings, we investigate the influence of gender on the division of responsibility among adult children who are providing care to their elderly parent and how parental caregiving provides an opportunity for the explicit (re)negotiation of gender dynamics across household boundaries. We explore the ways that “helper brothers” and “co-provider brothers” divide care with their sisters, and the impact of this division of care on the sisters' roles as coordinators of care and their future plans for their parents' care. “Specialized knowledge” also emerges as an important factor in the gendered division of care among the respondents. Finally, we examine the consequences of our findings with regards to gender relations and discuss the limitations of this exploratory study.     

A relational understanding of the needs of siblings of children who have been sexually abused

This participatory research project highlighted the views and experiences of young people who are the brothers and sisters of children and young people who have experienced child sexual abuse. By working with young people who had experienced sexual abuse and their siblings, this practitioner research sought to give these young people a voice. The research involved a group process with young people who have experienced sexual abuse and have siblings, and one-to-one online consultations with the brothers and sisters of young people who have experienced abuse. All the young people spoke of their sibling and family relationships as unique and requiring unique responses to these relationships by services and health-care professionals. Siblings’ needs in the aftermath of a child sexual abuse discovery are often overlooked. This research describes how just as children who have experienced sexual abuse may feel anger, fear, guilt, shame, anxiety, and confusion, so do their siblings. Brothers and sisters of young people who have experienced sexual abuse describe significant relational trauma with intense emotional experiences of isolation, confusion, sadness, and anger. There is a real need to support young people and families to find words and develop capacities to talk about child sexual abuse -- a need to find supportive ways to speak about what has occurred and understand its impact on all. The study clearly demonstrated the significant level of need and impact on brothers and sisters of young people who have experienced sexual abuse.     

Autism in Special and Inclusive Schools: 'there has to be a point to their being there'

What kind of schools are most suitable for pupils affected by autism? This article reviews meanings of autism and autistic spectrum disorders (ASD). We report evidence from observations in schools and interviews with pupils and adults, drawing on a qualitative study of special education in two contrasting education authorities one with special autistic schools, the other with inclusive schools. Current theory, policy and practice in the education of pupils with autistic tendencies are discussed in relation to the data.     

Exploring narratives of education: disabled young people’s experiences of educational institutions in Ghana

Disabled young people in many low and middle-income countries experience significant levels of educational exclusion due to disabling social and physical environments and are more likely to be illiterate than their non-disabled peers. Most social sciences and development literature, however, tends to homogenise the educational trajectories of disabled young people and focuses predominantly on the perspectives of educationalists, development experts and carers in assessing educational needs and institutions. Consequently, the experiences of young people across multiple categories of social difference, and their agency in shaping their own educational trajectories, remain largely unknown. This article contributes to filling this gap by exploring the educational narratives of young people with different impairments in mainstream, special and integrated schools in Ghana. The article shows how exploring individual narratives provides new insights into the educational needs of and ‘appropriate’ education for disabled young people in the Global South.     

交通运输类职业院校双语教学的改革策略

中国不同层次的教育一般都会依据本层次教育实施双语教育的目的、教育的对象,教师的专业素养、双语教育的内容、双语教育的政策法规等构建有本层次教育特色的双语教学模式或策略。文章拟对不同教育层次的人才培养目标进行分类,对国外双语教育的主要模式进行分析述评,进而在剖析国外双语教育模式的特征与交通运输类职业院校实施双语教育模式的利弊和实施条件的基础上,提出构建具有交通运输类职业院校特色的双语教学策略。