Staying True to the Laughter in Nigerian Classrooms

Growing from my years as a lecturer in a Nigerian university in the early 1980s, the stories which begin this paper evoke puzzling, small moments in the life of contemporary Nigerian (Yoruba) classrooms, particularly in the teaching of mathematics and science. Conventional wisdom would pass these by as irrational glitches, yet because they challenged my assumptions about numbers, they shook me, and this effect was magnified because no one else seemed to feel anything amiss. These moments of disconcertment sometimes spontaneously expressed themselves in an up-welling laughter. In responding to the stories I argue that keeping the disconcertment is important, it alerts us that here is an occasion for telling stories which might generate new possibilities for answering moral questions of how to live. I go on to juxtapose three accounts of quantifying: a universalist account; a relativist account; and finally an account of quantifying as realized through embodied routines and repetitions. We can understand the last as a version of an 'actor network' account. I argue that the problem with the universalist and relativist accounts of quantifying is that they explain away the disconcertment in distributing praise and blame and legislating answers to the question 'How should we live?'. An embodied account of quantifying brings with it the possibility of in/foresightful stories and showing how the truths which numbers make, came to be.     

Out of the Closet and into the Classroom: A Survey of Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Educators' Classroom Strategies and Experiences in Colleges and Universities

Higher education has made great progress in creating open classroom and organizational environments for diverse populations. However, little research has been published on the experiences of lesbians, gay men, and bisexuals (LGB) in college and university classrooms. The primary purpose of this study is to identify the strategies used by LGB educators to incorporate LGB issues, concerns, and experiences into college and university classrooms. To provide a context for these efforts, the secondary purpose of this study is to examine educators' experiences as LGBs in the classroom and within higher education in general. Toward these ends, the study presents the results of a survey that examined specific classroom strategies used by LGB educators and administrators and their experiences in the classroom and within departments in college and university settings. The survey revealed that LGBs are actively working to enhance classroom environments through a variety of empowerment strategies; they also encounter positive experiences within the classroom and within academic organizations as a whole.     

Domestic violence and child protection: towards a collaborative approach across the two service sectors

Domestic violence continues to be one of the most significant aspects of child abuse and neglect in Australia. However, the children are not well served by either child protection or domestic violence service sectors, which continue to operate as segregated, tertiary response systems. This paper reports on research that examined bridges and barriers to effective collaboration between child protection and domestic violence services in responding to children affected by domestic violence. The differing conceptions and responses of the workers from each service sector, in relation to children and families affected by domestic violence, is discussed in the light of gaps in service provision in both sectors. In doing so, areas of common ground for more effective collaboration between these service sectors are identified, including the prioritizing of emotional and psychological abuse, supporting and empowering abused mothers, strengthening the mother–child relationship, and supporting children and families across a continuum of service provision, particularly in the medium‐ to long‐term. Understanding each other and finding common ground across the two service sectors is paramount to improving how each responds to children and families affected by domestic violence.     

Implementation of food safety and quality standards: A case study of vegetable processing industry in Zhejiang, China

Over the last decade great attention has been paid to food safety/quality control due to the increases of food especially pesticide residues related diseases in China. Firms of Chinese vegetable industry have adopted a number of standards that can enhance safety of products. This study uses binomial and ordinal Logistic Regression Models to identify the determinants that influence the adoption behavior and adoption magnitude of food safety/quality standards in Chinese vegetable processing sector. The findings indicate that adoption behavior and adoption intensity are very closely linked to firm's characteristics such as firm size, expected premium, export market, brand name, e-commerce, training frequency and traceability. Moreover, the results suggest that the significance and magnitude of the coefficients associated with the independent variables differ between binomial and ordered logistic models. The results provide policy implications for food safety regulation and promote adoption of standards in Chinese vegetable processing sector.     

High-risk children with challenging behaviour: changing directions for them and their families

This paper is about an evaluation of three centre-based projects established by a voluntary organization under the Scottish Government's Youth Crime Prevention Fund, to work with primary school-aged children displaying challenging and antisocial behaviour. Following a brief overview of what is known about effective interventions, the paper describes the projects' ways of working, including their remit and ethos. The core intervention chosen was the well-tested Webster-Stratton training programme, The Incredible Years . Wrap around services were also developed and staff modelled the projects' ethos, promoting children's participation and parents' empowerment. The evaluation is described, noting the limited time and resources at the disposal of the evaluation team. The evaluation team adopted a broad definition of evidence, using a range of measures to explore the processes of project development and service intervention, the meaning to the children and families who used the services, and the impact on children's behaviour and parents' levels of stress. The results were modest but encouraging. They suggested that the projects had provided valuable turning points for some of the children with out-of-control behaviour and their families. Finally, it is suggested that a better way to evaluate such projects could be to use complexity theory