State authority and national welfare programs in the world system context

Recent research on national welfare programs focuses upon the organizational capacity of nation-states, but it does not directly address the issue of why state bureaucracies institute such programs. We develop an institutionalist theory that views the rationalization of authority and concomitant national welfare programs as products of a world culture. By examining the interplay between national characteristics and world-system context, we are able to interpret worldwide adoption of welfare programs as well as the difference between formal programs and their implementation. We provide preliminary tests of hypotheses predicting worldwide patterns of welfare expenditures. We find that a state's incorporation in intergovernmental organizations and its level of investment dependence positively affect social security expenditures in 1965 and 1970. We conclude by briefly discussing implications of our research for further work on the relationship between state structures and national programs.     

Play services for disabled children: mothers' satisfaction

A study of six play services for disabled school children used mixed methods to investigate the perspectives of mothers and children. This paper reports the range of mothers' satisfaction as expressed in semistructured interviews. There was a high level of satisfaction. Play services were seen as alleviating difficulties by providing an element of respite, and as providing child-centred benefits such as play, companionship and varied experiences. Grounds for dissatisfaction included insufficient availability of services, lack of information about them, insufficient attention towards children from staff, and activities which were not age appropriate.     

Bullying behaviour in secondary schools: what roles do teachers play?

Teachers have an important role to play in the management and prevention of bullying. Although many anti‐bullying programmes advocate a ‘whole school approach’, they tend to focus on student‐student behaviours and rarely examine the nature of other relationships which exist in the school. This study examines bullying between students and teachers at two time points. Thirty per cent of students said they were bullied by teachers at both times. Numbers reporting they bullied teachers were 28 per cent and 16 per cent, respectively. The paper explores the important role that teachers play in dealing with bullying in a school setting by modelling appropriate behaviours and dealing with it effectively. If teachers are victimised by or engage in bullying students this has implications for the ethos within the school and may also impact on the success of anti‐bullying programmes. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Perceptions of power: An exploration of the dynamics in the student-tutor-practice teacher relationship within child protection placements

Challenging the abuse of power is seen as a fundamental issue within child protection work which makes unique demands upon the practitioner. Within this context, the authors explore the dynamics of power that exist within the triangular relationship between student, tutor and practice teacher when practice placements take place within child protection settings.

The authors reflect upon three years of experience of co-ordinating student placements in the NSPCC in the North West, using their own first-hand experiences as well as retrospective evaluations of placements completed by students, practice teachers and tutors. They analyse information from a questionnaire designed by the authors to focus students', practice teachers' and tutors' thoughts on issues of power. The authors reflect on how these issues of power have both positively and negatively affected the quality of the placement and hypothesise that issues of power existing in the triangular relationship can mirror and replicate those present within families and systems where abuse occurs. The implications of the above for the development of anti-oppressive practice learning are discussed and various models presented as practice tools to be used by students and practice teachers.     

Knowledge‐Information‐Service Era Changes in Work and Education and the Changing Role of the School Counselor in Career Education

The Knowledge‐Information‐Service Era (KIS) is reflecting exponential changes in social, economic, government, career, education, work, and other life systems. Changes in work and workplace present a challenge to education and “educationplace” to provide concentrated attention to career development. Career education is an answer to the challenge. School counselors have a changing role in supporting the needs of students and workers for basic academic skills, productive work habits, work values, and means of relating paid and unpaid work as parts of total lifestyle.     

'Mingling together': promoting the social inclusion of disabled children and young people during the school holidays

The promotion of social inclusion of disabled children and their families is currently high on the UK political agenda. Research shows that disabled children and their families are highly disadvantaged, both economically and socially. This paper reports some of the findings of a qualitative study, entitled On Holiday! , which involved analysing the views of 297 people across six local authority research sites in England including 86 disabled children and young people. The study showed that many disabled children and their families experienced high levels of social isolation and exclusion during out-of-school periods and during the school holidays in particular. The paper recounts some of the experiences of disabled young people and their families and ways in which local authorities can promote their social inclusion. We argue that disabled young people and their families can only be truly socially included and empowered when all levels of the local authority (managers, officers and elected members) recognize the rights and entitlements of disabled children and have the political will and commitment to implement them.