Health and safety of students in vocational training in Quebec: a gender issue?

Health and safety issues in a vocational training center were explored in this study. Several sources and methods were used: group interviews with students in traditionally female [F] and male [M] trades, i.e. hairdressing (7 F) and automated systems electromechanics (8 M, 1 F); self-administered questionnaires on injuries sustained at the school; observations of activities in these programs; and analysis of ministerial documents. Findings indicate that the partially divergent ways that OHS is addressed in these programs cannot be explained only by the specific characteristics of the two trades. Some aspects put female students in hairdressing at a disadvantage: status accorded to OHS in the study programs, learning activities, and conditions for learning and managing prevention and injuries. The discussion focuses on a gender-differentiated analysis, the importance of improving the way OHS is addressed in the programs, in particular, those primarily involving female students, and the need to pursue research. In addition, the results from individual interviews with women (5 F) training for non-traditional trades lead to discussion on the interrelated effects of sex-based gender and professional gender.     

Cooperation versus competition: is there really such an issue?

This author argues that youth sports can move beyond the dichotomy of cooperation versus competition by redefining competition. This can be accomplished by considering the development of cooperative skills and achievement motivation. The article addresses how cooperative skills can be taught within a competitive sport. First, it is important to understand how children and youth understand and process competition based on their developmental stage. Parents need to consider whether a child is mentally, emotionally, socially, and physically mature enough to participate in an organized sport. Readiness for a sport is just as important as readiness for school. Teaching cooperative skills within a competitive context involves a focus on personal development rather than performance. By asking themselves a series of developmental questions, such as, "Is the sport appropriate for the developmental age of the child?" parents and coaches can form realistic expectations of young athletes. Motivation is also a key determinant of a child's readiness for youth sports and competition. Children want to play a sport when they feel competent. It is up to parents and coaches to create a motivational climate that is focused on doing one's best and not on external rewards like winning. Children and youth receive specific and constructive feedback that focuses on improvement in this type of climate. The author also discusses three models of competition: the military model, the reward model, and the partnership model. The partnership model is the approach that balances competition in youth sports. The author concludes by introducing the "athletic square" model as an important and appropriate way to promote youth sports.     

Child Abuse: The smothering of an issue—A British perspective

Although firmly established as a major social issue, child abuse still tends to be studied from too narrow a perspective in Britain. It is contended that the existence of a dominant persective for studying welfare issues (the Social Administration approach) has played an important part in ensuring that child abuse be equated solely with the ill-treatment of children within the home. Despite the fact that the “societal” abuse of children has been well documented, there have been few attempts to extend the boundaries of the child abuse debate. An effective challenge to the social administration approach to welfare is deemed necessary if a broader picture of child abuse in British society is to emerge.     

‘We do not talk about these things’: the promises and challenges of reflective thinking and controversial issue discussions in a Chinese high school

Broaching controversial issues with critical reflective thought is integral to a democratic education and during the past few decades China has gradually reconceptualized its moral education curricula toward this end. Therefore, this study sought to explore the extent to which controversial issues are addressed and reflective thinking is developed within one Chinese high school’s moral education classroom. Drawing on student interviews, this study found that, similar to democratic countries, students were afforded few occasions for doubt and reflective thought due to habits of dualistic thinking, traditions within curriculum and instruction, and parental roles in moral upbringing.     

Why medicalization? Introduction to the special issue on the medicalization of sex

This special issue grows out of the need to bring into focus the historical and sociocultural contextualization of sex to the sexological community. The specific focus is on analyzing how medicalization is affecting many areas of sexual life and discourse, but the larger goal is to help situate sexuality studies in its broadest perspective. Articles will be of general interest to those interested in interdisciplinary scholarship; the specific articles address HIV politics, sex therapy, women's sexual health, sex and aging, the popularization of weak science, and the media's view that sexual exuberance is a central marker of recovery from cancer. Medicalization is a current trend that illuminates the importance of a broader view of sexology.     

The Social Studies—a Slogan or a Service

This article discusses the role that teacher educators can play in helping their students develop a fuller understanding of world history. Trends such as globalization have led to calls for increased teaching about the diverse cultures and peoples of the world. However, prospective teachers’ educational backgrounds have in most cases not adequately prepared them to teach world history effectively. The article begins with a discussion of the historical evolution of the course in world history; it then defines different approaches to this field, and concludes by providing suggestions for how teacher educators can help their students bring a true version of world history to their classrooms.     

Is a photograph worth a thousand films? 1

This article aims at scrutinising the narrative power of a medium which one considers unable to perform narrative tasks: photography. Not only has photography a problem when it wants to tackle issues of time, storytelling and fiction; moreover, the medium is suffering from the negative comparison with one of the media that has replaced it (‘remediated’ in the sense coined by Bolter and Grusin), film – a medium initially called ‘animated photography’. Yet the analysis of an example, a picture by Henri Cartier-Bresson which also exists in movie form, suggests that the power of a fixed image may exceed, under certain circumstances, that of a mobile image. In order to understand this paradox, however, one needs to analyse narrativity not only in terms of media forms, but also in terms of media practices and to stress the role of the reader.     

Yet another minority issue or good news for all? Approaching LGBT issues in European social work education

ABSTRACT

This article addresses the questions of why to include and how to approach LGBT issues in the context of European social work education. Referring to social work’s commitment to LGBT people, the article points out its ongoing relevance as questions of marginalisation and discrimination point far beyond formal equality in legislation and normalisation of homosexuality within existing societal institutions. Furthermore, new questions and dynamics in rapidly changing and highly diverse societal contexts bring about new challenges in addressing LGBT issues. Against this background, the article discusses problems of representation and knowledge and underlines the potential of a queer approach. A queer perspective questions taken-for-granted assumptions about sexual orientation, gender identity and intimate relationships. It challenges normalising categories of sex, gender and desire and brings out possibilities existing beyond the heteronormative order. This way, it offers social work education a powerful theoretical lens to address issues on sexual orientation and gender identity not only as yet another minority issue, but as transversal matter and as good news for all. In this article, we use the acronym LGBT to refer to lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans people. LGBT is meant to include and at the same time emphasise the differences between people who do not (exclusively) define themselves as heterosexual and who cannot or do not want to match or identify with binarities of sex, gender and desire. We do not use the acronym LGBTI because we find it problematic to include intersex people without taking explicitly into account their specific situations and needs. Making a plea for a queer approach, we share – of course – a critical view on categorisations and identity labels.     

Developing a Syllabus for a Mixed‐Methods Research Course

In this paper, the author shares with readers his journey towards creating and evaluating a mixed‐methods research course in education using a course design framework to guide the discussion. He discusses important questions such as what goes into a mixed‐methods syllabus, what resources are available to instructors and students, what learning goals we might set for our students and how we might assess whether students achieve these goals in the context of teaching his own course for the first time. There is a need for dialogue among the ‘first generation’ of instructors of mixed‐methods research courses about how we teach these courses – readers are encouraged to continue this dialogue about teaching mixed‐methods research courses by following up on and extending the ideas in this paper.     

Bass in a Brazier

Ingredients:a bass about 600g,50g minced pork,50g dark plums(canned plums are also okay),minced     

Eavesdropping with a Mirror

It was a custom in Yidu that on New Year's Eve, people eavesdropped outside other people's homes with a bronze mirror hidden in the bosom after reciting a rhyme to it. People believed that what they had heard would often fortell good or bad luck. A family named Zheng once lived in Yidu. The two sons of this family were both considered intellectuals, But the older son was eager to learn while the younger was lazy and sluggish. Their parents only liked the older son. Because of this, the old couple's attitudes toward their two daughters-in-law were also     

Dialogues in a Family

FIAMILY relations are the ties that bind—providing care and support in times of need. This truth remains in China and throughout the world. One Beijing family adds flowers tO this equation and together as gardeners grow generations strong. In Nongfengli of eastern Beijing live Lü Shijian and his wife Zhao Naiwen, both retired experts from the Ministry of Agriculture. In their eighth-floor     

Lives a Dual Life

AT the "Horizon International Arts Festival" held in 1985 in Berlin, someone asked, "Is there any women's literature in China?" On behalf of the Chinese women writers, Zhang Kangkang replied, "The swimming pool of women's literature is too small for Chinese women writers."