Young People In Schools Research Articles

Relationships between local patterns of religious practice and young people’s attitudes to the religiosity of their peers

This contribution reports research into young people’s attitudes to religion and religious diversity in secondary schools across the UK. The data indicate that students’ respect for the religiosity of their peers, or their lack of it, is due less to the influence of classroom RE (multi-faith or otherwise) than to the experience of religion in the neighbourhood and the degree to which being ‘religious’ is viewed as ‘normal’ there. The essay contrasts negativity experienced in schools by young people of strong practising religious faith in neighbourhoods where religious practice is not the norm with the greater tolerance and respect accorded to religious young people in schools serving neighbourhoods where religious practice is common and prominent. It considers the implications for religious education of this uneven experience.

Making a connection: school engagement of young people in care

AbstractIntervention to improve educational attainment for children in out‐of‐home care is increasingly being recognized as important for their well‐being and future opportunities. This paper reports on a mixed method study of the school engagement or connectedness of young people in care. The study comprised a survey of 202 young people in care in Queensland, Australia, and a matched comparison group of young people not in care, plus interviews with a subset of 65 young people in care who were surveyed. Both the school environment and the perceived levels of support influenced school engagement, with those who were assisted by carers and caseworkers more likely to be positively connected with school. These young people perceived education as a pathway to achieving work and life goals. The findings suggest that active and focused attention on young people's school engagement should be part of case planning and monitoring as it offers an additional strategy for improving their educational experience.

Abdominal pain in British young people: Associations, impairment and health care use

ObjectiveTo assess the frequency and associations of abdominal pain in a sample of British secondary school young people and to examine predictors of impairment and health care use. MethodsCross-sectional study of young people aged 11–16years that completed questionnaires documenting abdominal pain, related impairment and health care consultations. They also provided information detailing other physical symptoms, health problems and mental health status. Results1173 students completed questionnaires; 598 (53%) reported abdominal pains in the previous 3months (15% >once a week). Pains were significantly linked to reporting medical illness, to high levels of a broad range of physical symptoms and with students deeming these symptoms to be stress/mood sensitive. They were also linked to depressive and other emotional and behavioural problems and with medical help seeking (seeing a health professional in the previous year and contact ever with mental health practitioners). Considerable impairment was reported by 36%; this was independently predicted by abdominal pain frequency, higher levels of concurrent physical symptoms and symptom stress/mood sensitivity. In 18% of students the abdominal pains had led to medical consultations; this was independently predicted by pain related impairment. ConclusionsFrequent abdominal pains are common in British secondary school adolescents; they are linked to emotional symptoms and are often impairing and lead to medical consultations. Impairment was associated not only to pain frequency but also to reporting other physical symptoms and symptom stress/mood sensitivity, and impairment was a strong predictor of medical help seeking.

Teachers as advocates for widening participation

Abstract In England and Australia, higher education institutions (HEIs) are expected to widen participation (WP) in higher education (HE) to enhance social justice and improve individual and national economic returns. Furthermore, HEIs are the major providers of initial and in-service teacher education. This article surveys international literature to explore ways in which teacher education programmes could and do contribute to preparing teachers to advocate for WP, including drawing on learning from WP research that demonstrates the value of current HE students engaging young people in schools and colleges to support them in seriously considering progressing to HE. We conclude that teachers and pre-service teachers are well placed to be advocates for WP. In the majority of higher education institutions, however, WP and teacher education functions are not working collaboratively to embed advocacy for WP into teacher education programmes.

The Kellogg College Centre for Research into Assistive Learning Technologies

PurposeThis article aims to introduce the Kellogg College Centre for Research into Assistive Learning Technologies, which is a new research centre based at the University of Oxford.Design/methodology/approachThe article briefly sets the context of the centre within the current literature, and outlines the centre's current plan of work. The centre has funding for two years to look into new developments in the application of digital technologies to support the learning and educational achievement of young people in school and higher education with a range of specific learning difficulties. This will begin with a substantial research review, as well as in‐depth studies of current initiatives in secondary schools and higher education.FindingsThe findings from the research review will aim to be published and disseminated to the research community within the first two years of the centre's life.Originality/valueIt is hoped that this centre will be able to contribute to the existing research on the uses of a range of assistive technologies in educational settings.

The Research of Sunshine Sports to Psychologically Healthy to Shanghai University Students

 This article used self-reporting inventory, self-test questionnaire, and other methods, chose four vocational schools in Shanghai for comparing experimental study of mental health, conducted experiments on experimental group and control group, and analyzed the current mental health of young students in Shanghai. It shows that the could significantly improve the students' mental health. The conclusion is that carrying out in vocational school extensively plays an important role in promoting mental health of young people in school. But some of the vocational schools in Shanghai in carrying out need to be improved. Preface In recent years, taking into consideration the students with mental health problems and physical deterioration and how to improve adolescent mental qualities, good character, the possibility of dealing with crises under various pressures have been a priority. It can be seen that in China, Hundreds of Millions of Young Students Sunshine Sports (referred to as the sports) is a strategic initiative to strengthen youth and to enhance adolescent health. The purpose of this activity is to promote the atmosphere of all types of schools at all levels of physical activities on campus and full participation in the mass culture of physical exercises, and to attract the majority of young students to play on the playground, get in touch with nature, go in the sun, participate in physical exercises actively, cultivate the interest in physical exercises, and improve the physical and mental health of students. With the sunshine sports deepening in Shanghai middle and primary schools, it is mainly to increase participation, especially the young people who subject to physical and mental health, and for the purpose of improving students physical and mental health. This paper is a starting point to explore the sunshine sports, discussing factors of mental health in Shanghai students, aiming to getting more attention to the sunshine sports.

Child Protection and Mental Health

Child Protection and Mental Health

¿Nuevos alumnos? La construcción de la identidad escolar en nuevos dispositivos de educación media. Un estudio de casos en contextos de pobreza de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires

This paper shows the results of a research on a case study basis which pretends to describe the main features assumed by the construction of the student as a subject. In other words, to research the process of school identity construction within secondary school young people in alternative school experiences in poverty contexts in the city of Buenos Aires. In order to achieve this, it will be necessary to take into account the differences and similarities in terms of the identity produced by traditional school devices compared to the ones created by alternative educational experiences. The ways in which the students are named and conceptualized, the signifiers under which they are interpelated and teaching-learning practices that convey in the light of this are the main analytical focus of the analysis of the school identity. In turn, the research also explores the self-identity construction made by the young people themselves as learners. We believe that the findings of this research will expand the discussion on the relationship between the middle school as an institution and youth coming from disadvantaged groups.

Safety education impact and good practice: a review

Purpose – The aim of this literature review was to examine recent evidence of the impact of safety education for children and young people on unintentional injury rates and to update an earlier review. Evidence was sought that linked safety education for children and young people in schools, centres and other settings with changes in knowledge, skills, attitudes, and reductions in injury. The relevance of ten principles of effective safety education to the papers was considered.Design/methodology/approach – A range of bibliographic databases was searched for potentially relevant papers. Titles and abstracts, and then full copies of papers were examined and retained if considered relevant.Findings – From 495 potentially relevant papers, 12 papers were retained that met the aims of the review. The papers covered a range of topics including home safety, use of all‐terrain vehicles and pedestrian safety. While the majority of papers described the effect of an intervention on injury prevention, several describ...

Ensino de História e consciência histórica latino-americana

O artigo resulta de pesquisa desenvolvida sobre a contribuição dos conteúdos latino-americanos na grade curricular de ensino para a formação histórica dos jovens na escola. A pesquisa consistiu na análise das narrativas históricas produzidas pelos 67 alunos que frequentaram a disciplina de Estudos Latino-americanos (ELA) da 7ª série do Colégio de Aplicação (CA) da Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina (UFSC) em 2009. O objetivo era investigar a influência dessa disciplina na construção de saberes históricos sobre a América Latina e que relações ela estabelece com a formação da consciência histórica dos jovens.

Book review: Remaking the Curriculum – Re-engaging Young People in Secondary School

Book review: Remaking the Curriculum – Re-engaging Young People in Secondary School

The impact of an educational intervention to protect women against the influence of media images

PurposeMedia images of unrealistic beauty have been identified as a determinant of women's body dissatisfaction. This experimental study aims to explore whether the negative impact of such images could be reduced by a one‐time educational intervention consisting of a presentation and discussion, teaching women to be critical of media images.Design/methodology/approachFemale psychology students (n=176) from a university in the UK were randomly assigned to the control or intervention group and completed measures of body dissatisfaction after being challenged by images of the perfect female body. Follow up data were collected four weeks later.FindingsThe results suggested that the intervention had no immediate buffering effect on body dissatisfaction but participants in the intervention group showed a long‐term improvement for confidence, attractiveness and body‐parts dissatisfaction.Practical implicationsThis one‐time intervention could be used to protect young women against the detrimental impact of media images in the longer term.Originality/valueThis study provides an evidence base for the use of an educational intervention for young people in schools and colleges.

Schulverpflegung an allgemeinbildenden Schulen: Eine Analyse im Landkreis St. Wendel, Saarland

This study focuses on the nutrition of young people in schools. The Saarland state government mandates the implementation of the "quality standards for school meals", developed by the Germany Society of Nutrition (Deutschen Gesellschaft für Ernährung, DGE) in schools offering school meals. This research evaluates the state of implementation. 4-week menu plans were evaluated using a stratified random sample of selected schools (n25%-sample=5, ntotal=23). In addition, all catering services of the district (ncaterer=5) were interviewed by written survey focused on any information on the company, the type of food, the menu design as well as general information. None of the analysed menu plans met the DGE standard. The analysis of the menu plans allows for an assessment of the nutritional quality of food. Interviews with caterers provide background information on menu design. The analysis of a randomised 25%-sample shows that the target specifications of the DGE are only implemented by a small number of schools in the exemplary selected district of St. Wendel, Germany. As the German Child and Youth Health Survey (KiGGS), also this evaluation shows that the quality of school meals deviates significantly from the recommendations of the DGE. There is a clear need for action.

Intentional injury in young people in Vietnam: prevalence and social correlates

Violent acts in young people constitute one of the most serious forms of violence in any society. Violence by young people in schools, on the streets, and in their families has been documented in many studies worldwide. Homicide and non-fatal assaults involving young people have been reported as a great global burden of premature death, injury and disability. Adolescents and young people are both the main victims and perpetrators of such violence. In Vietnam, an emerging pattern of health problems in adolescents related to intentional injury and violence is drawing increasingly more attention from government and the public. Describe the situation of intentional injury among Vietnamese youth, including risk and protective factors, in order to suggest policy implications. The 2003 Survey Assessment of Vietnamese Youth was used as a data source, providing a nationally representative sample of 7584 youth aged 14-25 years, resident in 42 of the country's 61 provinces. This sample was drawn from the 45,000 households in the 2002 Vietnam Living Standards Survey, with a multi-staged and stratified design, using the probability-proportional-to-size method to maintain representativity. Data were analyzed using bivariate and multivariate statistical techniques. Of the sample of young people, 2.2% reported injury resulting from violent behavior by a family member and 8.0% by non-family members, the latter demonstrating a significantly higher rate among males than females (13.6% vs. 2.4%). Characteristics of youth most likely to hurt others included: male sex, inebriation at some point, victims of intentional injury, group riot participants and carriers of weapons. Youth who had been members of mass social organizations or clubs in the community were half as likely to hurt other people as those who were unaffiliated with such groups. Females were almost four times more likely than males to attempt suicide. Other risk factors for suicide attempts were past inebriation (OR 2.7, 95% CI 1.3-5.4), ever having been a victim of intentional injury by a family member (OR 3.3, 95% CI 1.1-11.5) or ever having had feelings of hopelessness (OR 6.5, 95% CI 3.3-13.6). Prevalence of violence and self-harm among Vietnamese youth is comparatively less than in Western and other Asian countries. Risk and protective factors appear similar to those found in most populations. In particular, this study indicated a possible protective effect of membership in social groups. National policy for injury prevention should include strategies to reduce violence and self-harm within this population group.

Education Is Not a Race

In the United States and elsewhere, the competitive pressures placed on young people in school are damaging many otherwise promising lives. In addition to generating debilitating anxiety and encouraging a culture of cheating, this competition takes the joy out of learning. The film Race to Nowhere , which continues to receive attention since its release a year ago, documents the unhealthy consequences of the competitive “teach to the test” climate that many U.S. students experience. The film, in which I was interviewed, puts in clear relief the pressures that youth are under to amass large numbers of Advanced Placement (college-equivalent) classes, win science fairs, excel in the arts and sports, and in other ways distinguish themselves from the competition for admission into a few select universities that parents and schools believe are critical for future success. Research on motivation makes it clear that focusing attention entirely on performance, whether grades or test scores, destroys whatever intrinsic interest the subject matter might have had. * There are certainly students whose passions spur them to realize their full potential in rigorous academic courses and other impressive activities. But how many potential Nobel Prize winners have written off science before the end of high school because their only exposure to the subject had been in test preparation courses rather than in classes that delved into meaningful questions? It doesn't have to be this way, but change will require coordinated efforts at many levels.

Evaluating community-based interventions for young people: measuring the impact of informal mentoring

This paper emerges from a study conducted by the author into the effectiveness of a communitybased intervention scheme. The scheme, run in association with a professional football club, provided informal, personalised mentoring and a range of sports-based activities (primarily football) to young people in schools and housing estates in areas suffering from high levels of deprivation in the South of England. The interventions were intended to raise the aspirations of the young people and divert them away from crime and antisocial behaviour. While being mindful of the limitations of mentoring, this paper discusses the value of the positive male role models provided by the informal relationships between the young people and the football coaches and their role in enhancing the self-esteem and self-efficacy of the young people involved.

The professional development needs of staff in Wales on behaviour management and attendance: findings from the NBAR Report

This paper presents the evidence collected for the National Behaviour and Attendance Review (NBAR) in Wales on the professional development needs of staff on behaviour management and school attendance. These data were collected in two stages between 2006 and 2008. At Stage 1, data were collected from four pre‐selected professional focus groups who met throughout Wales to consider specific topics relating to the behaviour of children and young people in schools at the present time (n = 121). At Stage 2, relevant professional focus groups were established to specifically examine the themes of professional development and training in behaviour management and attendance in both North and South Wales (n = 62). This latter group activity built on the preliminary work of the NBAR review group’s own sub‐group on professional development and training. The paper considers the outcome of all these findings and their implications for future practice in Wales.

Music Therapy with Young People in Schools: After the Black Saturday Fires

The Black Saturday bushfires of 2009 resulted in the largest loss of life as the consequence of a natural disaster recorded in Australian history. The community music therapy project described in this paper took place in a secondary school affected by the fires six months later. Three groups of young men and women participated in ten weeks of music therapy groups where they were empowered to choose the content and focus of sessions. Each young person had been impacted in some way by the fires and this was expressed either through improvisations, song writing or song sharing, resulting in a sense of relief. Although it was important that other group members understood the impact of the bushfires, the young people were more inclined to focus on positive opportunities for growth within the groups and appreciated the fun and freedom of sessions. They described how "musicing" opened a door for new experiences, both musically and personally, where they were able to more confidently express themselves once group cohesion had been established. The relevance of community music therapy theory is considered in light of the emphasis on coping by the young people and compared to the implications of adopting a trauma orientation in the context of a natural disaster.

The restorative outcomes of forest school and conventional school in young people with good and poor behaviour

Research has shown that the context for psychological restoration and the amount of change can vary amongst adults with different mental health states. There is, however, little evidence of this process in young people. This paper reports on a study which compares the restorative outcomes for adolescents (aged 11) when spending time in an outdoor education setting (forest school) versus a conventional indoor school setting. The adolescents differed across a behavioural spectrum from ‘good’ to ‘poor’ behaviour ( n = 18). Two aspects of restoration are examined, firstly mood (measuring energy, stress, anger and hedonic tone), the other, reflection on personal goals using personal project techniques ( Little, 1983) to capture this. Results from repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) on each of the emotional variables showed a number of significant effects with – in each case – greater positive change in the forest setting. There were additional significant behavioural effects with those with poor behaviour benefiting most from the forest school experience. This study extends restorative environments research by showing the amount of change and context for restoration can vary amongst young people with different behaviour states.

Intentional Injury in Young People in Vietnam: Prevalence and Social Correlates

INTRODUCTION Violent acts in young people constitute one of the most serious forms of violence in any society. Violence by young people in schools, on the streets, and in their families has been documented in many studies worldwide. Homicide and non-fatal assaults involving young people have been reported as a great global burden of premature death, injury and disability. Adolescents and young people are both the main victims and perpetrators of such violence. In Vietnam, an emerging pattern of health problems in adolescents related to intentional injury and violence is drawing increasingly more attention from government and the public.