Individual Differences in Skill Development: Toward a Causal Explanation

Describing and explaining individual differences in skill development is a fundamental component of educational research. However, given the highly interdisciplinary nature of the field and the various theoretical and methodological approaches involved, studies on skill development often fail to provide a coherent and cumulative body of research. In this three-study dissertation, I discuss foundational conceptual and methodological issues in skill development, and show how different approaches can be integrated in a principled and cumulative fashion. The first study presents a general framework, referred to under the label of “academic mobility”, for describing the development of educational inequalities using student learning outcomes. In this study, I discuss ways of operationalizing the concept of educational inequality, and measure academic mobility at a national level using five mobility metrics. While the first study is descriptive in nature, the second and third study intend to shed some light into why individual differences might arise. The second study presents an approach for establishing the explanatory relevance of different predictors based on distal and proximal considerations. For this purpose, I implement several causal search algorithms and find that, consistent with my research hypotheses, previous achievement and executive functions are proximal mechanisms of both reading and math achievement. Finally, in the third paper I describe the relationship between executive functions and academic achievement by implementing several within-person methodological strategies

A qualitative study exploring whether emotion work conducted by health visitors has an influence on their assessment and identification of children in need of care and protection?

There is an increased understanding that experiencing adversity in childhood can have a significantly negative impact on the long-term developmental wellbeing of children and young people, as well as their families and communities. Political and societal ambition is that such adverse experiences and their consequences are eradicated through preventative and early intervention measures taken by health, education, and social care practitioners on the identification of a child(ren) who requires support. Professionals working with children have become increasingly proficient in this type of work however no professional is infallible. As a result, many children and young people living with adverse circumstances can go unnoticed. For some this includes experiencing harm which often only comes to light when they have been significantly or fatally injured. Every child living in the United Kingdom is aligned with the universal health visiting service following birth to school entry. Health visitors play an essential role in “searching for health needs” through the “surveillance and assessment of the population’s health and wellbeing” (Nursing & Midwifery Council [NMC] 2004, page 11) . Such universal contact based on these core principles mean that health visitors are ideally positioned to identify children living in challenging situations but, like others, they can find this difficult on occasions. The purpose of this study is to explore whether health visitors view the emotion work they carry out as part of their role has an influence on their ability to assess, identify, and respond to children in need of care and protection. STUDY – METHOD: The study has been progressed qualitatively, using a reflexive ethnographic approach to interviews as the main data collection and analytic method with short periods of office-based observation. 16 health visitors who managed caseloads of between 100-450 pre-school children were observed and interviewed to understand their experiences, values, and beliefs. Gee’s (2014) toolkit was used to critically analyse the discourse shared during the interviews. FINDINGS: The emergent findings demonstrate that health visitors can be conceptualised as ‘applied clinical anthropologists’ in the way they develop relationships with families to gain access to their home environments. The approach taken is to gather information to the depth required for a social, bioecological assessment (Bronfenbrenner 2005) of a child in the context of their family and community system. Health visitors are welcomed by most families and are often successful in assessing and responding to child need. However, at times, the level of engagement necessary can be overwhelming for both the health visitor and parent/carer. This influences the level of child centred assessment obtained. The study has demonstrated that the influences on the work of the health visitor can be interpreted through a complex interplay of theoretical concepts. Firstly, Bourdieu’s “theory of practice” (Bourdieu & Wacquant 1992, page 4) provides the basis on which to understand why challenges and barriers arise during the relational work of the health visitor with the child and family. Secondly, Gross’ (2014) Emotion Regulation Framework and Hochschild’s (1983) theory of Emotional Labour, are utilised to consider how health visitors and families respond emotionally to these challenges. The study then goes on to demonstrate what impact these responses can have on the assessment of children. RECOMMENDATIONS: Implications for practice are that health visitors require increased rates of supervision. This should include an observational element. Educational programmes for health visitors, require a focus on promoting professional wellbeing with learning sessions on unconscious bias. Research and learning developments are suggested to influence assessment and decision-making practice. Research with other professional groups and children & families is recommended to build on the findings of this study in order to influence future safeguarding policy and practice to protect children

Assessing the role of youth civic engagement in promoting social change : a critical investigation of ILISO in site C, Khayelitsha

Magister Artium (Development Studies) - MA(DVS)Youth Civic Engagement is not a new phenomenon in South Africa. Throughout the history of country, spanning from the early resistance to colonialism in 1652 to the formation of the African National Congress in 1912 and its Youth League in 1944, the Soweto uprising in 1976, right up to the 1994 independence struggle, the youth has always played a pivotal role in social transformation. Unlike in the past where there was a common enemy in Apartheid, today the country faces a more complex set of socio-economic challenges. Despite being a middle income country, South Africa grapples with extreme poverty and income inequality, which impacts on educational opportunities and ultimately civic awareness and involvement. Approximately 42% of young people under the age of 30 are unemployed. The country currently has a youth population (14-35 years of age) which is about 41% of its entire population of almost 54 million. This youth population growth in itself implies that youth development should be a major priority area if growth and development are to be realised. The research is based in Khayelitsha. The social-economic problems faced among Khayelitsha township youth are complex and multidimensional in nature. The research question is: how is youth civic engagement able to initiate and foster collective action among community members of Site C in Khayelitsha, in order to promote social change? ILISO Care Society, a Community Based Organisation based in Site C was used as a case study for the research. In line with the theory and conceptual framework of social capital, the study demonstrates how reciprocal relations, trust and strong bonds, act as seedbeds for collective action. The Integrated Model of Communication for Social Change is incorporated into the framework to narrow down the social capital theory to an operational level. It is also used to illustrate how novel methods of dialogical communication adopted by ILISO Care Society reinforce social learning and promote democratic practices among young people. Both the quantitative and qualitative approaches were used for the study, with much of the analysis being grounded in qualitative methods. Data collection was done by means of the following utilities: a survey questionnaire which was administered among 52 respondents, semi- structured interviews, focus group discussions and participant observation by the principle researcher. The study revealed how the legacy of apartheid’s segregation policies have had enduring effects particularly on the education system, in turn, negatively impacting on youth civic participation, as well as other interlinked spheres of society. Most importantly, the findings revealed that the ILISO youth civic engagement projects have contributed in increasing the level of confidence (efficacy) to solve community problems of not only the ILISO project members, but also the wider Site C community. This was evidenced in the research participants‟ own belief in their ability to produce change (self-efficacy) and the ILISO youth members‟ shared belief as a group, in their ability (collective self-efficacy) to bring about social transformation. This has led to Site C youth acting collectively (collective action)when faced with challenges, thereby promoting social change

Construction and Preliminary Validation of the interRAI 0-3 Developmental Domains

Background. With no standardized approach for early assessment of childhood development in Canada, and with a lack of a comprehensive assessment-to-intervention system that amalgamates social, psychiatric, medical, functional, psychological, and environmental constructs, the interRAI 0-3 was developed to support intervention efforts based on the needs of young children and their families. The interRAI 0-3 includes over 650 items that seek clinical information, developmental milestones, and context items regarding the family and social relationships surrounding the child. The newly developed interRAI 0-3 was most recently evaluated to examine the reliability and validity of the Expressive and Receptive Language and the Gross Motor Scales as well as examine the outcomes of an at-risk subsample of preterm children. Method. Participant data included children and families (n = 640) from 17 health agencies and childcare centres in Ontario, Canada. Data were collected as part of a pilot study using the full interRAI 0-3 assessment. Criterion validity of the interRAI 0-3 was investigated using a matched sample of participants who completed the Ages and Stages Questionnaire, third edition (ASQ-3) (n = 102) independently from the interRAI 0-3 within a 3-day period of time. Upon intake within child and family agencies across Ontario participating in the pilot study, assessors who received training on the interRAI 0-3 began to collect data with the child and family using the above measures. The interRAI 0-3 training included an overview of the form, manual, coding procedures, and practice using case studies. Paediatricians, Psychiatrists, Psychologists, infant therapists, early childhood educators, child and youth workers, child life specialists, and early intervention teams administered the interRAI 0-3, with parents completing the ASQ-3. Results. The Expressive and Receptive Language scale for children aged 20-24 and 24-28 months demonstrated a high level of internal consistency, with Cronbach’s alpha reaching between 0.88 and 0.89, respectively. The Gross Motor Scale for children in the 24 to 30-month age interval also demonstrated a high level of internal consistency, with Cronbach’s alpha at 0.893. Inter rater reliability of the Expressive and Receptive Language Scale (ICC = .98, [95% CI, .97, .99], p\u3c .001) and the Gross Motor Scale (ICC = .87, [95% CI, .72, .94], p\u3c .001) was obtained for a sample of 23 participants, showing strong agreement between raters on both scales. Pearson’s product-moment correlation between the interRAI 0-3 and ASQ-3 language items was considered moderate, r(100) = .68, p\u3c 0.001, demonstrating a positive relationship between findings on the interRAI 0-3 and the criterion measure. Similarly, the gross motor scale showed a strong positive correlation, r(102) = .877, p\u3c .01 with the ASQ-3 motor items. There was also a statistically significant association between childhood performance on interRAI 0-3 language milestones and ASQ-3 achievement of items in the communication domain, χ2(1) = 26.65, p \u3c 0.001, whereas the interRAI 0-3 gross motor scale was considered statistically significant after running bivariate analysis against the ASQ-3, χ2(1) = 45.84, p \u3c 0.001. Results of logistic regression for the Language scale show that with an increase in achievement of communication milestones on the ASQ-3, the odds of pass performance on the interRAI 0-3 language items increases by 4.3% (AOR = 1.043, 95% C.I. = 1.027-1.060), and the sensitivity of model was 77.8%, with specificity slightly lower, at 72.9%. Results of the predictive model also show that with an increase in achievement of gross motor milestones from the ASQ-3, the odds of achievement on the interRAI 0-3 increases by 6.2% (AOR = 1.062, 95% C.I. = 1.040-1.084). Sensitivity and specificity of the model was also calculated, with excellent findings of 89.6% and 84.6%, respectively. A final subset of children born preterm were also examined for their gross motor milestone achievement based on extent of prematurity. The distributions of gross motor scores were significantly different across categories of prematurity H(3) = 15.520, p = .001. Gross motor scores decreased from 40 weeks’ gestation (mean rank = 310.77), to moderate to late preterm (mean rank = 258.96), and to very preterm (mean rank = 234.54), however extremely preterm (mean rank = 236.28) performed comparably to very preterm. Conclusion. The interRAI 0-3 Expressive and Receptive Language and Gross Motor scales were found to be conceptually sound on the basis of exploratory factor analysis. The changing context of the assessor was also evaluated for stability in observation and scoring. Inter-rater reliability for the both domains shows preliminary evidence of agreement between assessors. There were corresponding findings of concurrent validity between the interRAI 0-3 and the ASQ-3 as the comparison measure of child development. Additionally, scores from the interRAI 0-3 on the Expressive and Receptive Language and Gross Motor items were found to have significant positive correlations with the ASQ-3 for children between 0-47 months. Analyses also show that the ASQ-3 strongly predicts outcomes on the interRAI 0-3 Expressive and Receptive Language and Gross Motor items. Analysis of an at-risk subset of children born preterm also show poorer achievement of gross motor outcomes, which is a final measure of known-groups validity. The interRAI 0-3 was developed based on the observed need for a singular assessment that would encompass a comprehensive range of aspects related to child and family risk and linked to clinically relevant and evidence-informed interventions. This is the first study of its kind investigating the psychometric properties of the interRAI 0-3

Critical Insights: Incidents that Help and Hinder Parents’ Transition Related to Their Child’s Developmental Diagnosis

Individuals structure their lives around their expectations associated with phases of life (Becker, 1997). Starting a new job, starting a family and even dropping a child off for their first day of kindergarten are events that represent a change in an individual’s social role. Individuals expectations about these changes and the meanings that are assigned to these events help people make sense of their world. An unanticipated transition can occur when an individual’s life unfolds in surprising ways, such as when a child’s development is different from what the parent expects (Broski & Dunn, 2018; Messias, Gilliss, Sparacino, Tong, & Foote, 1995). Transition theories guide professional practice with families and children; and they inform how professionals describe events and stages in family life. Transition theories underpin how family research is conducted and in turn, may influence how families see themselves. For example, Kubler Ross’s “stages of grief” is often used to describe how parents experience becoming the parent of a child with developmental differences (Burrell, Ives, & Unwin, 2017; Frye, 2015). My dissertation study builds on the work of my three written comprehensive examinations. In my first comprehensive examination “Fostering Insights: A Strengths-Based Theory of Parental Transformation,” I proposed an alternative to transition theories that are deficit based. I used theory derivation, a method of theory development that uses a source theory from a different field, to “open” an area of research for new insights. I used Dr. Martha Baird’s “Theory of Cultural Transition in Refugee Women” as the source theory for the strengths-based theory of parental transformation. Theory derivation also includes reviewing relevant literature. Additionally, I conducted a content analysis of 5 autobiographies written by parents of a child with an autism spectrum disorder to provide examples of the theory’s concepts. The theory proposes that there are 3 stages associated with parental transition, an initial stage of parents’ awareness of their child’s differences, a liminal stage where parents are in between social roles, and a stage of transformation where parents adapt to their new social role. The theory also proposes there are three primary domains associated with parents’ transition. The child domain relates to the parents’ focus on the child’s differences and strengths. The connections with others domain relates to changes that occur in parents’ relationships with their family, friends, and others in the community. The parental competence domain relates to parents’ ability to discern what is best for themselves and for their family. This manuscript was the original submission and the basis for the article published in the Journal of Child and Family Studies (Broski & Dunn, 2018). My second comprehensive exam, “Evaluating the Strengths Based Theory of Parental Transformation” builds on the work of my first paper by exploring questions about the adequacy of the theory to describe parents’ experiences. An assumption of the theory is that parents transition involves “stages” of transition. While this concept is commonly accepted in transition theories, I wanted to evaluate this aspect of the theory, and challenge the notion that parents transition involves three stages. Thirty-two parents completed an online questionnaire consisting of 81 items derived from the strengths- based theory of parental transformation. The findings of this study indicate that parents associated the first stage of transition with becoming aware of their child’s differences, the liminal stage was associated with uncertainty, the transformation stage was associated with recognizing their child’s strengths and confidence in their parenting skills. My third comprehensive exam, “Exploring the Development of Parents’ Mental Models Related to Their Child’s Developmental Diagnosis” builds on the work of my first and second papers by exploring how parents experience transition. In this study, I conducted a discourse analysis of responses to six open-ended survey questions. Twenty-two parents were eligible for inclusion in this study. The results revealed that parents associate awareness of their child’s differences with searching for information and feelings of uncertainty and fearfulness. Parents associated the liminal stage of transition with frustration and confusion as the adapt to a new state. Parents associated the transformation stage with confidence, pride and adaptation. My comprehensive examinations provided the foundational work leading to my dissertation study. My previous research indicated that parents experience changes in their thoughts, feelings, and behaviors throughout transition (Broski & Dunn, 2018a, 2018b). I also found discernible differences in the social contexts parents referenced throughout transition, however it was not clear what facilitated transition and what process may stand in the way. My dissertation study focuses on characterizing incidents that parents describe as helping and hindering their transition related to their child’s developmental diagnosis. The findings of this study indicate that incidents that helped parents in the early stages of transition are associated with using and allocating resources. Incidents that helped parents in the later stages of transition are associated with seeing possibilities for their child and for themselves. Incidents that that hindered parents' transition involved parents discovering a need to set boundaries, as well as the parent feeling uncertain or obligated. Because parents influence outcomes for children, there is a need to provide an alternative to deficit-based frameworks to describe their transition. My dissertation research advances knowledge related to children and families by contributing to a growing body of research that provides an alternative to studies that suggest parents of children with developmental differences must grieve, be in denial or experience on-going sorrow. The strengths-based theory of parental transformation contributes to child and family research by providing a framework that aligns with contemporary paradigms of disability

Young people at risk of radicalisation in school: A multi-agency perspective in understanding the role of the Educational Psychologist.

The issue of radicalisation is not a new occurrence but one that is increasingly more prevalent in both political and social agendas (Sewell & Hulusi, 2016). Researchers and policy makers have therefore been keen to focus on identifying causal routes and finding ways of implementing preventative anti-radicalisation measures to support young people (YP). Whilst there is research on supporting YP at risk of radicalisation between individual agencies such as school, Local Authorities (LAs), and the police, little research is available on multi-agency practices. Understanding multi-agency practices in this area can be fundamental to ensuring the right level of support is implemented for these YP and positive change can happen. Research has indicated that seeking to better understand the response to radicalisation within the context of the whole system, may help to better inform support, through identification of good practice and potential barriers (Roberts, 2018). A mixed-methods design was subsequently used to explore professionals’ views on their response to radicalisation. Questionnaires were completed by 51 participants in a variety of roles in the LA and in secondary schools (England and Wales) and six semi-structured interviews were then completed with a variety of staff. Data was analysed using descriptive statistics and thematic analysis; four overarching themes were developed. The findings illustrate the limited support in place in schools and LAs for identifying and understanding YP at risk of radicalisation. Results indicated the blurred understanding/ perceptions participants felt around this topic, including; confusion on staffs roles, training inconsistencies, and lack of measurement tools in place for supporting YP. The impact of systems being ‘stuck’ was also highlighted including the societal, political, and individual implications influencing an effective level of support. Results also highlighted the imperativeness of systems coming together to information share, create authentic connections, and allow a safe space for conversations around this topic. Implications for practice are also discussed, including the role of the educational psychologist (EP)

Advancing ISD Education Research with Bioecological Systems Theory

The 27th International Conference on Information Systems Development (ISD2018), Lund, Sweden, 22-24 2018The Information Systems (IS) community designs and delivers IS curricula in higher education and faces pedagogical challenges in teaching some complex and technical material. Many of us are involved in the design, implementation, evaluation, adoption, and use of IS to support education and training in academia and in industry. Yet IS research on education is often based on technologically deterministic assumptions about the impact of technology on education outcomes and involves narrowly focused studies on the use and impact of technology in education. In this paper, we introduce IS to Bioecological Theory (BET), whose insights have had a transformative effect in the field of developmental psychology but not well known in IS. We use BET to map existing literature on IS and Higher Education and also outline how this theory can be used in IS to inform the design of technological artifacts to support students’ learning processes

Safety and Reliability - Safe Societies in a Changing World

The contributions cover a wide range of methodologies and application areas for safety and reliability that contribute to safe societies in a changing world. These methodologies and applications include: - foundations of risk and reliability assessment and management - mathematical methods in reliability and safety - risk assessment - risk management - system reliability - uncertainty analysis - digitalization and big data - prognostics and system health management - occupational safety - accident and incident modeling - maintenance modeling and applications - simulation for safety and reliability analysis - dynamic risk and barrier management - organizational factors and safety culture - human factors and human reliability - resilience engineering - structural reliability - natural hazards - security - economic analysis in risk managemen