‘What you need to do is …’: social work students’ reflections on an advice giving audit exercise

This paper reports on qualitative research investigating the advice giving behaviours of social work students. Second-year students, who were enrolled in an interpersonal communication skills course, were required to undertake an ‘advice-giving audit’ exercise across 6 days, with the aim of strengthening their awareness of the interactive nature of advice giving. Students then wrote a diary entry about the frequency of their everyday advice giving behaviour, its intent and reception. Nineteen students provided these reflections for analysis. Findings included three themes pertaining to advice-giving: (i) Giving advice as a natural, comfortable and unconscious way of communicating; (ii) Power and position influences advice dissemination, and (iii) Withholding advice opens, deepens and confuses norms of communication. A fourth theme pertained to the insights that students reported from engaging with the exercise. These findings illustrate the complex interactional process associated with professional advice giving. The research also suggests that experiential activities, which are conducted outside of the classroom, have significant potential to promote the critical examination of embedded communicative practices.     

Mothers' interoceptive knowledge predicts children's emotion regulation and social skills in middle childhood

Interoception, often defined as the perception of internal physiological changes, is implicated in many adult social affective processes, but its effects remain understudied in the context of parental socialization of children's emotions. We hypothesized that what parents know about the interoceptive concomitants of emotions, or interoceptive knowledge (e.g., “my heart races when excited”), may be especially relevant in emotion socialization and in supporting children's working models of emotions and the social world. We developed a measure of mothers' interoceptive knowledge about their own emotions and examined its relation to children's social affective outcomes relative to other socialization factors, including self‐reported parental behaviors, emotion beliefs, and knowledge of emotion‐relevant situations and non‐verbal expressions. To assess these, mothers (N = 201) completed structured interviews and questionnaires. A few months later, third‐grade teachers rated children's social skills and emotion regulation observed in the classroom. Results indicated that mothers' interoceptive knowledge about their own emotions was associated with children's social affective skills (emotion regulation, social initiative, cooperation, self‐control), even after controlling for child gender and ethnicity, family income, maternal stress, and the above maternal socialization factors. Overall, findings suggest that mothers' interoceptive knowledge may provide an additional, unique pathway by which children acquire social affective competence.     

区域多元化抑或产品多元化?制度环境约束下民营企业核心能力构建与成长战略选择

在文献与理论研究的基础上,构建了制度环境、核心能力与企业成长战略选择之间关系的概念模型,并提出了相关假设。然后,以中国民营上市公司2007-2014年数据为对象进行实证检验,结果发现:市场化程度更高的区域,民营企业倾向于构建"行业专家"型核心能力,进而倾向于选择"做强"的区域多元化战略;市场化程度相对较低的区域,民营企业更多倾向于构建"社会资本"型核心能力,进而会选择"做大"的产品多元化战略。上述发现为企业成长与多元化战略理论补充了新的内容。     

Technical and vocational education and training in Uganda: A critical analysis

This article undertakes a diagnostic study of the Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) sub‐sector in Uganda, with a view to characterizing the sub‐sector and identifying its potential strengths and weakness. We undertook a cross‐sectional pre‐survey of purposively selected key stakeholders in the TVET sub‐sector. We selected performance indicators following their importance in influencing the TVET reform process. Both qualitative and quantitative data was solicited from the stakeholders. Quantitative data was collected through stakeholder‐specific structured questionnaires, whilst qualitative data was collected through desk review and field visits, individual focused interviews and focus group discussions. Our findings indicate that financing and planning constraints have resulted in poor quality equipment, under‐ and ill‐trained staff, limited adoption of a competence‐based education and training (CBET) curriculum, not to mention the supervision inadequacies of TVET institutions. Besides, the limited TVET sub‐sector interaction with the private sector has incapacitated TVET curriculum development to nurture skills demanded by the private sector. Furthermore, backward technology use in the private sector has equally inhibited the success of student attachment programmes. Finally, legal ambiguities have perpetuated a qualification jungle and overlapping curricula.     

The sustainability of Egan’s Skilled Helper Model in students’ social work practice

This paper investigates the nature of students’ learning of the Egan Skilled Helper model in enabling them to develop collaborative communication skills which place service-users at the centre of decision making. The paper is a follow-up to an earlier paper which found that the Egan model was helpful to students as a communication and problem management tool and that they had transferred their learning into practice. The current study involves seven students from the first study and examines whether their knowledge and skills from learning the model in year one have been sustained two years later during their third year practice placement. A key finding is that participants were continuing to use most stages of the model (with the exception of challenging skills) with service-users in a variety of settings. Further findings are that the model is still useful in situations where goals are set by social workers rather than by service-users; and that it is the utilisation of role-play when learning the model which most embeds skills. The implications of these findings for skills training are discussed together with suggestions for further focus.     

Task-based learning approaches for supporting the development of social science researchers’ critical data skills

Conducting social science research is a complex process, and social science students face a number of learning challenges in order to develop their skills. Moreover, new sources and types of data including so-called big data are providing new opportunities for research, but also pose methodological challenges. In this article, we explore a task-based learning approach for teaching social science research methods. We draw on evidence from two case study learning tasks: (i) the collection and analysis of Twitter data; and (ii) designing and conducting a face-to-face and online survey. The students were guided to co-lead the tasks, apply their knowledge and then to critically reflect. The pedagogical framework of task-based learning provides opportunities to embed learning in new ways by integrating knowledge, practice and critical reflection. Task-based learning can create a dynamic learning environment and can empower students to develop their identities as researchers.     

Locus of Control and low-wage mobility

We investigate whether non-cognitive skills – in particular Locus of Control – are important determinants of mobility processes for male workers at the low-wage margin. Our results reveal a significant amount of state dependence in low pay even after controlling for non-cognitive skills. Furthermore, compared to individuals with an external Locus of Control, individuals with a more internal Locus of Control have a significantly higher probability of being higher-paid instead of low-paid. Conditional on being low-paid, individuals with an internal Locus of Control have a significantly higher probability of moving to higher-paid employment in the following year than individuals with an external Locus of Control. Our results suggest that having an internal Locus of Control is an important non-cognitive skill in the context of low wages. It may help individuals to avoid low-wage jobs and to move from low-paid jobs to higher-paid jobs.     

试论社会主义核心价值构建的人性维度

市场经济负面影响的日益显现及西方所谓普世价值的冲击，使不少国人陷入价值错乱、虚无的状态，亟待对其加强价值引导。社会主义核心价值的提出及构建可谓正当其时。价值与核心价值的构建，必须遵循人性维度。运用理性思维去把握人性，形成科学的人性理论，并将其付之于现实生活予以检验，把握人性的真实，才能为核心价值构建奠定人性的坚实基石。     

现代新儒家与中华民族精神内涵

现代新儒家对中华民族精神内涵的认识是不尽相同的,但中华民族精神蕴含在中华儒家文化之中是其理论共识。儒家的＂和谐＂与＂理性＂、＂内圣外王＂之道、人文精神、＂极高明而道中庸＂及＂心性之学＂等,都是中华民族精神固有的内涵。现代新儒家致力于从儒家文化视角来解读中华民族精神,是有失公正性的,不加分析地全盘肯定儒家文化及其蕴含的民族精神,也是不符合历史辩证法的。现代新儒家力图从深层的精神内核来认识儒家文化和中华民族精神,是中华民族自我认识过程的深化和发展,也是继续研究中华民族精神不可或缺的重要文化资源。     

建设中国特色社会主义共同理想与思政工作

党的十七大报告指出,要将社会主义核心价值体系融入到精神文明教育及国民教育全过程中,并将其转变为人们的自觉追求。在新形势下,贯彻落实十七大精神,坚持社会主义荣辱观,明确思政工作的目标与任务,培养社会主义建设者与接班人,形成中国特色社会主义共同理想,具有深远意义。本文论述了构建中国特色社会主义共同理想思政工作的意义与途径。