Microliteracy and the Discourse of Canadian Multiculturalism

This article outlines the chaotic proliferation of multicultural micro-literacies over the decades since the Canadian government first brought the concept of multiculturalism to the national stage in the mid-1960s. The authors define multicultural literacy in terms of patterned and sustained orientations to multiculturalism discourse — orientations that manifest themselves by way of recurrent social and textual practices. In the years prior to 1988 and the official enactment of multiculturalism in Canada, the discourse lent itself to naïve and largely optimistic renderings in a phase of literacy development described in the essay as protoliteracy. Subsequent efforts by the Canadian government to mute the discourse, even as it made multiculturalism into official policy, cleared the way for a post-literate multiplication of multicultural literacies in this country, which severely fragmented and undermined the discourse in the process.Cet article souligne la prolifération chaotique des « micro-littératies » multiculturelles au cours des décennies depuis que le gouvernement canadien a, le premier, porté le concept du multiculturalisme sur la scène nationale depuis le milieu des années 1960. Les auteurs définissent la littératie multiculturelle en termes d’orientations définies et soutenues vis-à-vis du discours multiculturel — orientations qui se manifestent par le biais de pratiques textuelles et sociales récurrentes. Durant les années précédent 1988 et la promulgation officielle du multiculturalisme au Canada, le discours s’est prêté à des ajouts naïfs et très optimistes au cours d’une phase de développement de la littératie que cet essai décrit comme une proto-littératie. Les efforts subséquents faits par le gouvernement canadien pour réduire ce discours au silence, alors même qu’il intégrait le multiculturalisme à sa politique officielle, ont frayé le chemin dans ce pays à une multiplication des littératies multiculturelles, une post-littératie qui a, durant ce processus, sévèrement fragmenté et miné le discours

Shrinking social spaces: The role of nurseries as social infrastructure and brokers of support in times of crisis

COVID-19 produced temporary closures and changes to organisational practices in nurseries, which shrank social spaces and presented challenges in providing and accessing parental support. Limited attention has been paid in early childhood literature to the role of nurseries. We explored how one nursery mediated the impact of the pandemic on mothers. Our London case study showed that mothers valued it as social infrastructure and as a broker of support networks. Our findings contribute to conceptual understandings and have important implications for the recognition of the role of nurseries in providing supportive spaces in times of economic and public health crises

The Impact Of The Pandemic On Adolescents

Due to Covid-19, millions of people have been forced to quarantine at home with their family for the majority of 2020. This can have negative impacts on a child\u27s mental health. In some cases the parents are fighting a lot, maybe they have a substance abuse problem, and may be struggling financially because of the many jobs knocked out by Covid in 2020. Therefore in many cases, a child being forced to stay at home with their family can be a bad thing. Our source states that women and children are at a higher risk for abuse during quarantine (World Health Organization, 2020). We hypothesize that children\u27s social and emotional skills will be negatively impacted. This could be caused by just isolation of the child, or by parents not providing the child with necessities like food and nurture. Children are the future of our world. Our society needs to give them adequate attention and service in order for them to succeed in the future

Service user and carers perspectives of joint and integrated working between health and social care

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide an update to a review of the joint working literature in the field of health and social care for adults, with particular emphasis given to the experiences of users and carers. Design/methodology/approach – The aims of the literature review remained largely the same as those of the original, they were to identify: models of joint working, evidence of effectiveness and cost-effectiveness and the factors promoting or hindering the models. However, to reflect the growing interest in the experiences of users and carers a fourth aim was added to map these experiences. Given their prominence in terms of policy debates about integration, the review focused on jointly organised services for older people and people with mental health problems in the UK only. Findings – The review demonstrates tentative signs that some initiatives designed to join-up or integrate services can deliver outcomes desired by government. Importantly some studies that report the experiences of users of services and carers suggest that they perceive benefits from efforts to join-up or integrate services. However it is our contention that the evidence is less than compelling and does not justify the faith invested in the strategy by current or previous governments. Originality/value – The study updates our knowledge of the impact of joint working in the field of health and social care for adults. Importantly the paper highlights what is known about the experiences of users and carers of joint/integrated services

Couples\u27 Conceptualizations of Problems in Couple Therapy

While a great deal is known about the problems that clients bring to therapy, little is known about the way in which clients conceptualize problems during the course of couple therapy. Understanding clients’ conceptualizations of problems is important because it provides the therapist with a client-centered context on how to approach discussions about the problems during the course of treatment. This manuscript provides the results of an exploratory qualitative inquiry concerning how clients conceptualize problems during therapy and across the trajectory of treatment. The sample consisted of 26 individuals comprising 13 couples attending couple therapy. Participants completed a semi-structured interview prior to the first and after the second, third, and fourth therapy session. Analysis included grounded theory and discourse analysis. Results suggested that couples approach problems from an individualistic standpoint, they internalize problems, and they expect to recover from problems. The authors discuss how therapists may challenge dominant discourses around problems during couple therapy

International Workshop on Recreational Fishing Surveys

Recreational fishing surveys have been conducted by the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD, formerly Department of Fisheries) since 1975 (Tate et al., 2020). Within Western Australia, the first international workshop on recreational fishing surveys was held in January 2010 at the Western Australian Fisheries Marine Research Laboratories in Perth. The workshop aimed to audit existing survey methods and make recommendations for the design of integrated surveys to estimate recreational fishing harvest, catch and effort at statewide and bioregional scales (Wise & Fletcher 2013)

Latino and Non-Latino Perceptions of the Air Quality in California's San Joaquin Valley.

The San Joaquin Valley (SJV) of California has poor air quality, high rates of asthma, and high rates of obesity. Informational campaigns aimed at increasing awareness of the health impacts of poor air quality and promoting behavior change need to be tailored to the specific target audiences. The study examined perceptions of air quality, perceived health impacts, and methods of accessing information about air quality between Latinos and other groups in the SJV. Residents of the SJV (n = 744) where surveyed via one of three methods: community organizations (256), public locations (251), and an internet panel (237). The results suggest that people perceive the air quality in their region to be generally unhealthy, particularly for sensitive groups. The air quality is more likely to be reported as being unhealthy by people with health problems and less unhealthy by Latinos and people who report regularly exercising. Latinos are more likely to report working outdoors regularly, but also more likely to report being able to reduce their exposure if the air quality is unhealthy. The results report differences in informational sources about air quality, suggesting that informational campaigns should target high risk groups using a variety of media

Growing up in coastal towns: Intergenerational perspectives from NE Lincolnshire. Emerging findings

Over the last two years we have been conducting exploratory research in North East Lincolnshire. Building on our earlier research in Margate, we examined how growing up in coastal towns shapes young people’s experiences, aspirations, and life chances. We focused in particular on two towns in the area: Grimsby (a post-industrial town) and Cleethorpes (a seaside town). Our collaboration with Young Advisors (a national charity) and Youth Action (based in North East Lincolnshire) led to 6 members of Young Action joining our team as Young Researchers. Together, we developed a range of place-based methods of data production and piloted these through a series of research activities, including focus groups, walking interviews, and in-depth interviews. We included the views of both young people and older people who grew up in the 1950s and 60s, to take a look at how coastal youth life chances have changed over the generations. We generated a rich body of data from these research encounters, and we are preparing a number of publications to share these findings. Today, we are pleased to announce the publication of our Emerging Findings report, which sets out our preliminary thoughts and findings. One clear message from the report is that young people in North East Lincolnshire feel that there are not enough things for them to do, or places for them to go. These feelings of boredom and exclusion are compounded by (1) their sense that their towns are in economic decline and (2) the fact that there are too many places in the towns that do not feel safe. A second key finding is that many of the young participants felt that they have to move away from the area in order to access higher education and/ or high-skilled work. Data from the older residents helped us to understand that this mobility imperative is relatively new. They told us that when they were growing up, there were far more (and better) employment and leisure opportunities for young people in the area