Education,queer theology,and spiritual development: disrupting heteronormativity for inclusion in Jewish,Muslim and Christian faith schools

Voices critiquing heteronormativity in faith schools often rely on an understanding of such schools as arbiters for heteronormative religious orthodoxies. Many proponents of Jewish, Muslim and Christian schools offer compelling responses to such claims by providing inclusive perspectives on faith schooling. By applying a queer reading of temporality to a critique of the latter body of work, this paper will argue that these perspectives, despite their commitments to inclusion, have affinities with logics of heteronormativity through their appeal to a language of hospitality that reproduces adherence to heteronormative binaries and identity frames as originary and normative. From here, the paper will suggest that queer theology’s understanding of the transcendent in relation to immanence offers resources for reframing discussions around heteronormativity and faith schools in ways that speak to the inclusive commitments of those critiqued in this paper, while also eschewing reproductive determinism as a basis for understanding spiritual development.     

Excellence,Accountability, and Private Education

Washington veteran Charles “Chuck” O'Malley analyzes some contemporary threats to the world of private education. In the name of more stringent standards, federal and state governments can encroach upon the legitimate domain of Christian schools and colleges. Self-accreditation can insure private schools of excellence and accountability as well as autonomy.     

Physical Facilities for Elementary School Counseling

This article describes 3 desirable counseling centers for elementary schools with student populations of four to eight hundred. Adaptations for schools outside these population limits will readily be seen. 4 assumptions about the counseling setting are discussed: that it should (1) be attractive, (2) permit group as well as individual counseling, (3) encourage the use of play media in counseling, and (4) permit observation of counseling. Functional aspects of the counseling setting are presented in diagram and outline form. It is hoped that this presentation will encourage dialogue relative to the setting for elementary counseling, and that some direction may be found by those who are planning counseling offices or centers.     

Ingroup,Outgroup, and Global-Human Identities of Turkish-Armenians

Abstract

This study was an examination of the ingroup (Armenian), outgroup (Turkish), and global-human identities of Turkish-Armenians, a relatively inaccessible and politically sensitive minority in Turkey. Age, gender, nature and level of education, and involvement in Armenian ethnic organizations were explored as covariates of the three social identities. A convenience sample of 70 Turkish-Armenians participated in the study. A questionnaire was administered in Turkish. The results showed that men, older Armenians, and those who attended Armenian schools scored higher on ingroup (Armenian) identity than did women, younger Armenians, and those who attended Turkish schools, respectively. The younger generation and those who attended Turkish schools scored higher on outgroup (Turkish) identity, indicating possible acculturation, as well as on global-human identity, indicating a move away from parochialism. Ingroup and outgroup identities tended to be negatively related, showing some polarity. Global-human identity was positively correlated with the majority Turkish identity and negatively with Armenian ethnic identity.     

Early adolescent health risk behaviors, conflict resolution strategies, and school climate

Drawing upon an ethnically and socio-economically diverse sample of 323 7th grade students from twelve urban schools within one school district, this mixed method study examined early adolescents' self-reported health risk behaviors as related to their conflict resolution strategies and their school's conflict resolution climate. Survey data suggested that early adolescents who reported using more cooperative and fewer aggressive conflict resolution strategies also reported to engage in fewer personal health risk behaviors. Reported engagement in fewer behavioral risks also was associated with attending schools with more supportive “conflict resolution climates.” Serial small group interviews in selected schools indicated that conflict resolution climate quality was associated with how well teachers were perceived to respond to students' conflicts and how they managed teacher–student conflicts. In addition, many students in less supportive climates exhibited cynical attitudes regarding the viability of the conflict resolution strategies promoted by schools and prevention programs.     

Improving urban and disadvantaged schools: Dissemination and utilization perspectives

There has been increasing concern in a number of countries about the perceived deterioration of schools that serve immigrant, minority or poor children. Field reports suggest that such schools tend to be bureaucratic, politicized, and isolated from the most up-to-date information about educational innovations that may improve the educational opportunities for disadvantaged children. Even in countries with relatively well-established dissemination systems, these schools may be “out of the knowledge utilization loop.” In this paper, the organizational properties of U.S. urban schools that may lead to their isolation from knowledge will be discussed, and a variety of strategies to improve dissemination and utilization will be outlined, including political/community organizing, linking dissemination to organization development, increasing the salience of ties between universities and schools, the development of teacher networks, and action research. The paper will conclude with some principles for designing a dissemination system that will effectively promote knowledge utilization in urban centers. p]The conditions in some of our schools are so bad, and the physical and social environments in which these schools are located are so frightful, that we may have to cross off some...as expendable. (Halpin, 1966, as quoted in Englert, 1993: 3.) Her research and teaching interests include innovation processes in education, knowledge use in schools, and schools as workplaces. Recent publications include articles on social values and the quality of teacher work life,Reforming the Urban High School: What Works and Why with Matthew B. Miles, andReshaping the Principalship, with Joe Murphy. The preparation of this paper was supported, in part, by the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Center for Effective Secondary Schools, which was funded by the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Educational Research and Improvement (Grant No. G-008690007). Any opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of either of the supporting agencies. An earlier version was presented at a conference on dissemination and school improvement held at Haifa University, June 1993.     

Teacher Job Stress and Satisfaction in Urban Schools: Disentangling Individual-, Classroom-, and Organizational-Level Influences

Schools remain among the most frequent providers of children’s mental health services, particularly in low-income urban settings. Several decades of research have focused on training teachers to implement evidence-based interventions for minimizing disruptive behavior. Studies consistently demonstrate robust improvements in student behavior and learning; however, the impact on teachers’ work-related stress or satisfaction is not well understood. Six urban, high-poverty elementary schools were randomly assigned to a school mental health services model (Links to Learning; L2L) for referred, disruptive students or to services and professional development as usual (SAU). Teachers (n = 71, K-4 general education teachers) in L2L schools participated in professional development and consultation in two universal and two targeted interventions to reduce disruptive behaviors and promote learning. Teachers (n = 65) in SAU schools participated in professional development as usual. Multiple regression models examined teacher reports of individual-level self-efficacy, classroom-level student functioning, and school-level organizational health as predictors of stress and satisfaction. Findings revealed no significant difference between conditions on teacher work-related stress or satisfaction. Organizational health was the strongest predictor of stress and satisfaction. Training on and implementation of evidence-based classroom interventions did not appear to significantly impact teachers’ work-related stress or satisfaction. Instead, findings point to organizational climate and teacher connectedness as potential levers for change, supporting prior work on teacher stress and satisfaction in schools. The significance of targeting organizational factors may be particularly significant in urban school districts.     

流动性、教育安置方式和心理弹性对流动儿童孤独感的影响:一项追踪研究

采用潜变量增长模型对426名流动儿童进行四次追踪测查,旨在考察流动儿童孤独感的变化趋势,探索不同流动性和教育安置方式的流动儿童孤独感变化的差异性以及心理弹性对孤独感变化的促进性作用。结果发现：（1）流动儿童的孤独感呈线性下降趋势;（2）打工子弟学校流动儿童的孤独感起始水平显著高于公立学校流动儿童;流动性高的儿童的孤独感起始水平高于流动性低的儿童,但流动性和教育安置方式对孤独感的发展趋势没有显著预测作用;（3）对于流动儿童来说,较高的心理弹性水平不仅能显著预测更低的孤独感起始水平,同时也能显著预测更快的孤独感的下降速率。本研究启示,增加进入公立学校学习的机会、降低流动频率和提升心理弹性对降低流动儿童的孤独感水平具有重要的意义。     

Motivational factors,school atmosphere,and SES: Determinants of children's probability task performance

Motivational aspects of probability learning performance were examined in 106 third- and fourth-grade children, sampled from three schools. Several measurement modalities were used to assess children's motivational levels. The relationship between probability learning scores and motivational constructs was found to be strongly influenced by socioeconomic status (SES) as well as by school atmosphere Unlike their middle-class counterparts, lower SES children with an internal locus of control made fewer maximizing responses, displaying an unwillingness to settle quickly for lower amounts of reinforcement. Additionally, in the most strict of the three schools, children with high success expectancies made fewer attempts at different patterns of response, reflecting lower tendencies to explore in searching for maximal reinforcement. The effects obtained were interpreted in terms of sociodemographic influences on children's motivational structures, and in terms of possibility varying cannotations of probability learning scores across different subject populations.     

Ethical,Legal, and Psychosocial Issues in Care of Transgender Adolescents

SUMMARY

Complete care for transgender adolescents must be considered in the context of a holistic approach that includes comprehensive primary care as well as cultural, economic, psychosocial, sexual, and spiritual influences on health. Not all transgender adolescents have gender dysphoria or wish to undergo sex reassignment. In this article we focus on general care of transgender adolescents by the non-specialist working in primary care, family services, schools, child welfare, mental health, and other community settings.     

Stigma towards psychosis: Cross‐cultural differences in prejudice,stereotypes, and discrimination in White British and South Asians

Public stigma towards people with mental health problems has been demonstrated in Western societies. Little is known about non‐Western cultures and whether cultures differ in their perceptions of people with mental health problems. Aim of this study was to examine cultural differences in prejudice, stereotypes, and discrimination towards people with psychosis. Participants were from White British and South Asian backgrounds (N = 128, aged 16–20 years) recruited from two schools and colleges in the United Kingdom. They completed a cross‐sectional survey on affective, cognitive, and behavioural dimensions of stigma. Results revealed significant cultural differences on all three stigma dimensions. South Asians attributed higher anger (prejudice) and dangerousness (stereotypes) to people with psychosis than White British. They also reported lower willingness to help, greater avoidance, and higher endorsement of segregation (discrimination). The effects of ethnic group on helping intentions, avoidance, and segregation endorsement were mediated by anger and by dangerousness. Understanding cultural differences in stigma towards psychosis will be important for designing stigma interventions as well as treatments for people with different cultural backgrounds.     

Embodied Experience in Educational Practice and Research

The intention of this article is to make an educational analysis of Merleau-Ponty??s theory of experience in order to see what it implicates for educational practice as well as educational research. In this way, we can attain an understanding what embodied experience might mean both in schools and other educational settings and in researching educational activities. The analysis will take its point of departure in Merleau-Ponty??s analysis and criticism of empiricist and neokantian theories of experience. This will be followed up by an introduction of some central concepts in Merleau-Ponty??s own understanding of experience with emphasis on their relevance for educational analysis. This way of presenting the theory of embodied experience has the advantage of being able to indicate the difference it makes in the field of theories of experience.     

Development of Clinical Psychology and Mental Health Resources in Vietnam

In this paper, we discuss development of the Vietnam National University graduate Clinical Psychology Program, which has the goal of training both Vietnamese researchers who will develop and evaluate culturally appropriate mental health treatments, as well as Vietnamese clinicians who will implement and help disseminate these evidence-based treatments. We first review the background situation in Vietnam regarding mental health, and its infrastructure and training needs, and discuss the process through which the decision was made to develop a graduate program in clinical psychology as the best approach to address these needs. We then review the development process for the program and its current status, and our focus on the schools as a site for service provision and mental health task shifting. Finally, we outline future goals and plans for the program, and discuss the various challenges that the program has faced and our attempts to resolve them.     

Rights, Responsibilities, and Respect: A Balanced Citizenship Model for Schools of Business

In a world increasingly described as turbulent and chaotic, management scholars have acknowledged the importance of a virtue-based set of criteria to serve as a moral rubric for the stakeholders that an organization serves. Business schools play a unique role in helping their students to understand the ethical issues facing business. Business schools can also model the way for creating a clear statement of values and principles, by creating a bill of rights for business schools that recognizes the importance of rights and responsibilities and articulates the important ethical issues that apply not only to business but to the business school context. Four models for creating a bill of rights in schools of business are presented and a framework of a bill of rights is provided. The advantages of a virtue ethics model for a bill of rights are explained as the most practical approach for business faculty to consider.     

Reasoning About Single-Sex Schooling for Girls Among Students,Parents, and Teachers

The number of United States public schools offering single-sex education for girls has increased dramatically in the past decade. Rationales for all-girls schools are diverse and grounded in differing gender ideologies. We examined reasoning about all-girls schools among school stakeholders (i.e., individuals affected by single-sex schools, including students, parents, and teachers) in the Southwestern United States. Specifically, middle school students attending all-girls (n?=?398) and coeducational (n?=?191) schools, mothers of middle school students attending all-girls (n?=?217) and coeducational (n?=?64) schools, and teachers employed at all-girls (n?=?18) and coeducational (n?=?97) middle schools rated the veracity of multiple rationales for girls-only schools. Specifically, we examined rationales for single-sex schooling related to gender differences in learning, gender differences in interests, girls’ ingroup preference, and gender discrimination. Endorsement of rationales differed across participant role (student, parent, teacher) and school type (single-sex, coeducational). Overall, stakeholders affiliated with an all-girls school were more supportive of each rationale than stakeholders affiliated with coeducational schools. Teachers affiliated with the single-sex school strongly endorsed gender differences in learning as a rationale for single-sex schooling. Endorsement of rationales did not vary across participant gender. The implications of these findings for educational policy and the interpretation of research on single-sex schooling are discussed.     

Three Different Approaches to Virtue in Business- Aristotle,Confucius, and Lao Zi

The proposed paper presents an overview on the matter of virtue from different philosophical angles. It concentrates on three different schools of thought coming from the West and the East and their respective concepts of virtue. These schools of thought and the therewith-associated personalities and works discussed in this paper are Aristotelian virtue ethics, Confucianism and Daoism. The paper focuses specifically on the Nicomachean Ethics (NE) by Aristotle, the Analects belonging to Confucianism, and the Dao De Jing coming from Daoism. The paper is divided into three major parts. First, the concept of virtue of each school is outlined. In the second part, the concrete virtues as such according to each school are explained. In the third part, these virtues are then applied in specific business contexts like business practice, corporate culture and leadership, illuminating each school’s characteristic approach. The paper closes with a summary and conclusion. In the conclusion the paper outlines differences as well as similarities between Aristotelian and Confucian virtue ethics. Yet, the author generally takes a critical stance towards comparisons merely for the sake of finding similarities. Particularly between Aristotelian and Confucian virtue ethics there is a significant difference when it comes to the cultural and historical background of these schools, which should not be ignored. Besides, even within Chinese philosophy there are already significant differences when it comes to concepts and practice.     

EMU Leadership: An egalitarian magnanimous undemocratic way for schools

This paper suggests that the nature of leadership as a significant human characteristic, derived from both philosophical and psychological theorizing, can appropriately be seen as egalitarian (in Macmurray's sense) and magnanimous (in Aristotle's sense), whilst remaining undemocratic. Empirical research carried out in schools supports the idea that, in particular circumstances, this model of leadership may indeed already be recognized in schools. In addition, there are brief references to the psychology of leadership, to the ways in which learning in schools might be theorized, and to the nature of schools as communities. Finally, implications for 'followers' as well as leaders, and for spiritual development in schools, are explored.     

Emotionally disturbed children in ordinary schools: Concepts, prevalence and management

Not all children in ordinary schools with emotional problems need intensive psychotherapy from specialists. The majority can be helped by class teachers who exercise extended pastoral care. Some others will need the help of a skilled worker trained and experienced in skills of individual counselling. But there area few children - a significant few - who do need specialised help. It may sometimes be possible for them to receive this help in the ordinary school, without removal to a special school or referral to some outside agency such as a Child Guidance Service, if use is made of a special adjustment unit. Some conceptual problems in relation to maladjustment are discussed; reference is made to national surveys indicating the prevalence of the problem in the school-child population; and a model of management for children in ordinary schools is outlined, based on work carried out in Bristol over the past seven years, with particular reference to special adjustment units.     

Talking about unemployment with school-leavers

Research is reported concerning the views of a variety of professionals as to appropriate ways of talking about unemployment with 16-year-old school-leavers. Preparation in schools for the possibility of unemployment is discussed, as well as issues for those in contact with young people without a job after they leave school. The ways in which professionals talk to young people about unemployment appear to vary substantially. The findings suggest that in adopting a particular approach a professional will be influenced by his beliefs about the labour economy, by his perceptions of young people's wants and needs, and by his own capacity to cope with the feelings involved in re-examining his role in relation to unemployed young people.     

Chinese adolescents' perceptions of family functioning: personal,school-related,and family correlates

The author used two translated measures (Self-Report Family Inventory; D. T. L. Shek, 1998); and Family Assessment Device; N. B. Epstein, L. M. Baldwin, & D. S. Bishop, 1983) and a locally developed scale (Chinese Family Assessment Instrument; D. T. L. Shek, in press-a) to assess 3,649 Chinese adolescents' perceptions of how well their families function. He found that boys perceived their families to function worse than did girls and that younger adolescents perceived their families to function better than did older adolescents. Perceived family functioning was negatively related to grade level; students attending schools with higher academic standards perceived their families to function better than did students attending schools with lower academic standards; and students attending government and aided schools had higher levels of family functioning than did students attending private schools. Family types (intact vs. nonintact families) and the duration of parents' stay in Hong Kong were also related to the adolescents' perceptions of family functioning. Findings for the personal, school-related, and family correlates of perceived family functioning were statistically significant and stable across different measures of family functioning, but the practical significance of the findings was not high.