Linking family engagement with a rights perspective: macro factors influencing practice

While child welfare practitioners in many countries are struggling to develop methods of effective family engagement, they operate within different national and cultural contexts that influence, both positively and negatively, the ability to engage with families. Increasingly, international comparisons are necessary to further understanding of the development of social work practice. This is particularly necessary because most countries utilize international frameworks (such as the United National Convention on the Rights of the Child) to provide guidance in the development of policies, programs, and interventions. Each country (and locality) struggles to advance practice to be more effective and humane. Our paper offers a comparative analysis focused on family-oriented and rights-based frameworks of different countries. Based on a review of current national policies and a review of the literature regarding family-based practices, we examine similarities and differences among four countries: the United Kingdom, Sweden, the United States, and South Korea. These countries were selected because they have some similarities (advanced industrialized democracies, professional social work, and formal child protection systems) but have some differences in their social welfare systems (policies, specific practices, and socio-cultural context). These differences can be utilized to advance understanding regarding the promise and potential for family engagement strategies. We then discuss the utility of this comparison for theory-building in the arena of child-care practice and conclude by identifying the challenges and limitations of this work.     

Anti-hierarchical activism in Hong Kong: the post-80s youth

In 2009, a political youth movement known as the Post-80s emerged in Hong Kong to protest against the construction of a high-speed railway. While local academics and government officials framed the motivations of these youth protesters using economic rationales, I argue here that the Post-80s are better understood as conveying their dissatisfaction towards existing political structures in the city. This profile sets out Post-80s criticisms of the entrenched hierarchical dynamics in Hong Kong political culture that has shaped interactions between the government, political parties and the wider population, and discusses how the Post-80s have responded to the representational imbalances imposed by these hierarchical practices in the local political sphere by advocating for a way of doing politics where individual voices (as opposed to the collective) are emphasized, and where horizontal structures are used. I conclude by exploring the repercussions of this critique on recent political discourses and protests observed in Hong Kong.     

“无厘头”的影片观看及审美效果的形成

对于“无厘头”影片作为一种文化现象的研究很多,但却少有涉及穿插“无厘头”桥段如何对影片造成影响以及如何形成最终审美效果等观影过程的探讨。自电影符号学之后开始出现影片细读和精神分析取向,而德勒兹哲学则试图对传统的精神分析模式进行改造,将电影的观看视为强度流的物质实践活动。基于此,“无厘头”电影的观看可以看作镜头流与观看的观众身体流的汇合。把镜头流视为叙述文本,通过内在于文本的叙述逻辑（符号意指链的断裂／重组）之间张力的解读,在大量的镜头分析中总结出影片穿插“无厘头”桥段、形成审美效果的规律,并在三阶段的区分中分析张力强度与剧情认同程度关系所造成的影片整体审美效果变动。     

Learning from service users’ involvement: a research about changing stigmatizing attitudes in social work students

Abstract

Stigmatizing attitudes can create barriers to forming partnership with service users and to developing people’s empowerment. So, social work education must help students overcome their stigmatizing attitudes. A useful strategy for bringing about changes is service users’ and carers’ involvement in social work education, providing students with direct exposure to stigmatized people in roles that emphasize their humanity and strengths, rather than their deficits. The present study assessed the impact of a one-day meeting with service users and carers members of self-help and mutual-aid groups on freshman social work students. Students completed an adapted version of Attitudes to Mental Illness Questionnaire before and after the meeting, and answered several qualitative questions. Data comparisons suggest that after face-to-face contact with service users and carers, social work students showed reduced stigmatizing attitudes. Implications for further research and social work education are discussed.     

Examples of practice: an intercultural approach to translate Romanian children’s folklore into Spanish

Due to the great number of Romanian pupils in Spanish public school, the local administration organises extra-curricular Romanian courses in order to preserve the Romanian language and culture. This is a way to contribute to build and consolidate a bicultural and bilingual profile of the young people. Besides, it is also an opportunity to align with plurilingual and pluricultural competence established by The Common European Framework of References for Languages (2002). Based on the premise that “children's literature is an intercultural instrument”, I choose as corpus the Romanian children's folklore represented by games, formula-songs, recital-stories, household words, incantations, riddles and lullabies to translate into Spanish. After the translations, Romanian children had to find similarities and differences between the Romanian and Spanish children's songs, in order to augment the knowledge about both cultures.     

Culturally responsive teaching in China: instructional strategy and teachers’ attitudes

The aim of this study was to investigate the manner in which teachers facilitate the pedagogical process within a culturally diverse student population. The study focused on two primary schools in China; one located in a more fully developed city in eastern China (Case A), while the other was in a less developed city in rural western China (Case B). This allowed the researchers to compare and analyse the different instructional practices by means of semi-structured interviews and questionnaires. The findings indicate that: the teachers in Case A demonstrated overall affirmative attitudes towards ethnic minority cultures, as well as towards the students belonging to those cultures. However, the teachers also chose not to mention the specific ethnic identities and cultural differences of the students during the course of their instruction in order to ensure equal treatment for everyone. This leads to a kind of ‘cultural blindness’ in the classroom. In Case B, opinions regarding minority cultures were more varied. Compared with the teachers in Case A, more teachers in Case B found minority cultures to be inferior to the dominant Han culture. Some teachers also, counter intuitively, were of the opinion that the minority cultures were even superior. At the instructional level, school leadership developed courses on local culture and ethnicity for the teaching staff. This was done for a variety of reasons. The strongest evidence to support culturally responsive teaching in Case A does not stem from teaching and learning demands but from the necessity to pursue characteristics that make them distinctive from other schools at the same time, Case B’s practice of culturally responsive teaching was strongly supported by the government and UNICEF. Teachers in both schools indicated that they had integrated their knowledge of ethnic minority groups into the subject matter when it was necessary.     

我国农村群众性文化活动的衰落与农民社交困境

在我国传统的农耕社会,群众性的民俗活动以及亲友乡邻间节日及婚丧嫁娶时的走动往来承载着农民的社会交往,具有 强大的教育和文化整合功能。农耕社会农民之间社交纽带的本质是精神文化纽带而非经济利益纽带。近几十年,我国农村社 会格局发生显著变化,农民社交遭遇困境,群众性文化活动的衰落是重要原因,农村文化建设应该将繁荣群众性文化活动作为 着力点。     

习近平人民健康观的产生缘由、思想内涵与实践价值

习近平人民健康观是新时代保障和实现人民健康的世界观和方法论,是习近平新时代中国特色社会主义思想的重要组成部分。习近平人民健康观继承和发展了马克思主义关于人民健康重要论述的理论观点,是对新时代全面建设健康中国新征程的实践慎思。习近平人民健康观有着丰富而又深刻的思想内涵:以建设健康中国为战略目标,以把人民健康放在第一位为根本原则,以坚持中国特色卫生与健康发展道路为科学道路,以加强科技创新为关键举措,以防治结合、联防联控、群防群控为科学方法。习近平人民健康观构建起进行伟大斗争的健康基石,赋予了建设伟大工程的健康使命,激活了推进伟大事业的健康基因,夯实了实现伟大梦想的健康基础。贯彻落实习近平人民健康观,对于新时代统揽“四个伟大”具有重要的实践价值。     

中央苏区时期毛泽东关于关心群众生活的重要论述及实践探析

毛泽东基于中央苏区各方面资源受局限的实际情况,从巩固新生苏维埃政权和提升群众生活水平出发,提出必须关心群众生活。毛泽东以群众组织起来为中心脉络,把建立具有集体经济性质的合作社作为制度前提,通过建立新的金融制度、开展反剥削的商业斗争和开办专业技术学校,全面实践关心群众生活的系列论述。当下,应当充分吸收毛泽东关心群众生活重要论述的精髓,坚持以人民为中心的发展理念,提升人民的获得感、幸福感和安全感,发挥人民群众的劳动创造力。     

二战后中国及各受害国对日索赔失败的原因

二战结束后,根据盟国达成的协议和有关国际法规定,各受害国家向日本展开了索取战争赔偿工作。在整个索赔过程中,由于各个国家之间的争执,更为主要的是美国从自己的全球利益需要出发,改变了其对日索赔问题的态度,致使索赔工作失败。对日索赔工作的失败原因是复杂的,但毋庸置疑,美国态度的改变是最根本的,最主要的。