Implementing Multicultural Education as seen from a number of different perspectives

This paper looks back over a period of twenty years at the issues surrounding the introduction of race equality policies. The author has worked in a variety of roles in education. Policy development in a comprehensive school is explored from the head teachers perspective; introducing teachers in initial training to race equality is explored from the senior tutor's perspective; introducing policies into two local authorities is explored from the perspective of the Chief Inspector and the Director of Education.

In the period covered, from 1977 to the present day, race equality has moved from being a high profile subject to being marginalised by government initiatives which have included the introduction of national curriculum accompanied by extensive testing. The paper analyses how race equality might be put at the centre of the education agenda. There are lessons to be learned from the experiences gained inpursuing race equality in the 1970's and 1980's. This paper shows how different sectors of the education service can learn from these lessons. Policy initiatives, the paper argues, must be part of mainstream education. They must be judged by how far the policies contribute to improving the educational achievements of ethnic minority pupils in mainstream education.     

The therapist's pregnancy: Impact on the treatment process

As soon as she becomes aware of her pregnancy, the therapist is confronted with a barrage of issues involving her identity, integration of roles, maternal identification, and redenfinition of important relationships, including those with her patients. While she works at becoming aware of and responding to the dramatic emotional and biological changes of pregnancy, and emerges with corresponding maturational adjustments, her patients enter an often stormy period of therapy in which they respond to the changes in the therapist's appearance, the threat of the growing infant, and the reality of the therapist's needs and inevitable absence for maternity leave. The special event of the pregnancy alters the therapeutic setting and affects both the transference and coun-tertransference, initiating reverberations in the therapeutic relationship which provide opportunities for marked advances in therapy.     

Servant leaders inspire servant followers: Antecedents and outcomes for employees and the organization

Despite widespread adoption of servant leadership, we are only beginning to understand its true utility across multiple organizational levels. Our purpose was to test the relationship between personality, servant leadership, and critical follower and organizational outcomes. Using a social influence framework, we proposed that leader agreeableness and extraversion affect follower perceptions of servant leadership. In turn, servant leaders ignite a cycle of service by role-modeling servant behavior that is then mirrored through coworker helping behavior and high-quality customer service, as well as reciprocated through decreased withdrawal. Using a multilevel, multi-source model, we surveyed 224 stores of a U.S. retail organization, including 425 followers, 110 store managers, and 40 regional managers. Leader agreeableness was positively and extraversion was negatively related to servant leadership, which was associated with decreased follower turnover intentions and disengagement. At the group-level, service climate mediated the effects of servant leadership on follower turnover intentions, helping and sales behavior.     

Tangible and Spiritual Relief After the Storm

Abstract

This study assessed the types of social services and spiritual messages that were provided by Baton Rouge area churches following Hurricane Katrina. Church representatives (n = 157) completed a 26-item survey which consisted of open and closed ended questions. The most common resources provided by churches included food, clothing, and financial assistance. Nearly 75% of churches attempted to connect evacuees with outside state and federal resources. The greatest unmet needs reported by churches included evacuee shelter and housing, and on-site computer and internet access. Churches recommend preparedness, triage care, and leadership for other churches that find themselves the first responders following a disaster. Because of their responsiveness to the needs of communities, clergy need to be trained in disaster management. Moreover, government monies could be well-spent in supporting faith-based disaster initiatives .     

Family versus friends: Their relative importance as referent others to an aged population

There is much social gerontological research suggesting that the aged in our society constitute a minority group or separate stratum. This separateness, in combination with a lack of a clear conception of the elderly role, has led to a preponderance of stereotyped images of the elderly. A mailed questionnaire was returned by 224 retirees of a large utility company in the Southwest and provided a data base to test a conceptual model of the dynamics of the process of acceptance or denial of age‐appropriate behavioral expectations. The model, grounded in the reference group theoretical approach, was concerned expressly with the operationalization of factors thought to influence whether the elderly accept age‐appropriate behavioral expectations as pertinent to their life situation. Whether the people in this particular population accept others' expectations for their behavior was found to be affected by their perception of the expectations of family members and friends and whether the respondents characterized themselves as subject to age‐related shortcomings. In addition, friends were found to be a more salient reference group in conveying age‐appropriate behavioral expectations than family members. The analysis provided general support for the reference group approach and suggested a broader application of the concept in the gerontological literature.     

Afrocentric Intervention Paradigm: An Overview of Successful Application by a Grassroots Organization

A grassroots social service organization's successful use of Afrocentric ideas, theories, and frameworks in its programs and services illustrates that many African Americans respond more readily to human and social services interventions that value and understand their historical experiences and include their cultural influences as “protective factors” in social service interventions. This article describes how the Community Empowerment Association's programs and services are designed to be culturally proficient by holding African customs, ethos, history, mores, society, and traditions in high esteem.     

Urban bumble bees are unaffected by the proportion of intensely developed land within urban environments of the industrial Midwestern USA

Urban Ecosystems - Urban environments have become an unexpected and promising avenue for pollinator conservation. One group of pollinators, bumble bees, might be especially well suited to utilize...