Assessment and Action Records: Will they Promote Good Parenting?

Correspondence to Theo Knight, Department of Applied Community Studies, Manchester Metropolitan University, 799 Wilmslow Road, Didsbury, Manchester M20 2RR. Summary In this article the authors seek to provide a critical lookat Looking After children: Good Parenting and Good Outcomes(Department of Health, 1995). They welcome the sentiments underpinningthis major contribution, which recognizes the many disadvantagesfaced by children and young people who are looked after by localauthorities, and acknowledge that local authorities have notbeen positive parents of those in their care. The writers alsoacknowledge the thoroughness which has gone into the detailof the Action and Assessment Records contained in the abovepack. What is questioned is the normative view of parentingand family life which is seen to be at the heart of these documentsand the lack of consideration of the resourcing of action plans.The checklist approach is criticized for the way in which itwill enhance the bureaucratic nature of being in public care,which in turn affects the relative power positions of parentsand children in relation to the local authority and which willimpact on the development of a partnership model of care. Thewriters conclude that children and young people in care arebut one group of young people facing disadvantage and deprivationin British society. An examination of their plight and how toaddress it need to be based within a clear framework of children'srights and a recognition of the power adults hold over them.     

Why Does Presidential Popularity Decline? A Test of the Expectation/Disillusion Theory

According to the "expectation/disillusion" interpretation ofthe decline of presidential popularity over time, popularitydeclines as unrealistically high expectations of presidentialperformance inevitably give way to more realistic assessments.This paper puts that interpretation and several specific aspectsof it to the test through analysis of data from a series ofnationwide polls conducted between 1977 and 1979.     

News and political consensus: C.B.C. television and the 1983 British election

Cet essai propose une analyse structurelle des elections britanniques de 1983 dans les téléjournaux anglophones de Radio-Canada. Nous voulons circonscrire la relation entre les éléments présents et exclus du discours. Ceci, de trois façons: par l'interprétation de sondages d'opinion, par la representation des partis politiques, et par le traitement de la chose économique dans la compagne électorale. Le discours opère idéologiquement de façon à recréer le consensus autour du leader conservateur, Margaret Thatcher, et ignore comment l'émergence d'un troisième parti important incarnè la fragmentation du spectre politique. C'est ainsi que la perspective du consensus perd sa légitimité.
This paper provides a structural analysis of English-language CBC television coverage of the 1983 British election. It focuses on the relationship between the significant presences and absences in the discourse in three ways: the interpretation of the opinion polls, the representation of the political parties, and the assessment of the economic issues in the campaign. It argues that the discourse functioned ideologically to re-consensualise the political situation around the Conservatives and their leader, Margaret Thatcher. In this respect, it overlooked the ways in which the emergence of a major third party pointed to the fragmentation of the political spectrum, and thereby put into question the legitimacy of such a consensual perspective.     

Expectation/Disillusion and Presidential Popularity: The Reagan Experience

The Sigelman-Knight analysis of the "expectation/disillusion"interpretation of recurring declines in presidential popularityis replicated with data on the Reagan presidency. There is aconnection between Reagan's popularity and expectations aboutwhat he would be able to accomplish, but (just as was the caseduring the Carter presidency, and directly counter to predictions)it was the more highly educated whose expectations of presidentialperformance were initially highest. Moreover, as time passedthe size of the education-based gap in expectations of Reaganincreased over time. These findings leave the expectation/disillusioninterpretation in considerable doubt.