225 research outputs found
Parental cultural models and resources for understanding mathematical achievement in culturally diverse school settings
This paper proposes that the theoretical concept of cultural models can offer useful insights into parental involvement in their childâs mathematical achievement and the resources they use to go about gaining information in culturally diverse learning settings. This examination takes place within a cultural-developmental framework and draws on the notion of cultural models to explicate parental understandings of their childâs mathematics achievement and what resources are used to make sense of this. Three parental resources are scrutinized: (a) the teacher, (b) examination test results, and (c) constructions of child development. The interviews with 22 parents revealed some ambiguity around the interpretation of these resources by the parent, which was often the result of incongruent cultural models held between the home and the school. The resources mentioned are often perceived as being unambiguous but show themselves instead to be highly interpretive because of the diversity of cultural models in existence in culturally diverse settings. Parents who are in minority or marginalized positions tend to have difficulties in interpreting cultural models held by school, thereby disempowering them to be parentally involved in the way the school would like
Examining the Link Between Religion and Corporate Governance: Insights From Nigeria
This article examines whether the degree of religiosity in an institutional environment can stimulate the emergence of a robust corporate governance system. This study utilizes the Nigerian business environment as its context and embraces a qualitative interpretivist research approach. This approach permitted the engagement of a qualitative content analysis (QCA) methodology to generate insights from interviewees. Findings from the study indicate that despite the high religiosity among Nigerians, religion has not stimulated the desired corporate governance system in Nigeria. The primary explanation for this outcome is the presence of rational ordering over religious preferences thus highlighting the fact that religion, as presently understood and practiced by stakeholders, is inconsistent with the principles underpinning good corporate governance
Teaching: Natural or Cultural?
In this chapter I argue that teaching, as we now understand the term, is historically and cross-culturally very rare. It appears to be unnecessary to transmit culture or to socialize children. Children are, on the other hand, primed by evolution to be avid observers, imitators, players and helpersâroles that reveal the profoundly autonomous and self-directed nature of culture acquisition (Lancy in press a). And yet, teaching is ubiquitous throughout the modern worldâat least among the middle to upper class segment of the population. This ubiquity has led numerous scholars to argue for the universality and uniqueness of teaching as a characteristically human behavior. The theme of this chapter is that this proposition is unsustainable. Teaching is largely a result of recent cultural changes and the emergence of modern economies, not evolution
Impacting and being impacted by overuse injuries: an ethnodrama of parentsâ experiences
The aim of this study was to explore the experience of parents of gymnasts suffering from overuse injuries. The work is part of a wider ethnographic project, with 43 participants (16 gymnasts, 3 coaches, 1 physiotherapist, 22 parents, 1 manager), which investigated the psychosocial factors affecting the development of overuse injuries in gymnasts. Data collection began with observations, formal and informal interviews, and a focus group, which were transcribed and analysed using reflective thematic analysis. Preliminary results were shared with the participants and reflective interviews were conducted to ensure depth and methodological rigour. Five themes were identified: âCatch 22â, highlighting the helplessness parents experienced watching their injured daughters; âI (need to) trust these peopleâ, referring to the parentâcoach relationship; âBecause a gymnast cannot rest for too longâ, which reconnects to aspects of Nixonâs culture of risk; âItâs on meâ, and âWalking on a thin lineâ, two themes related to the sense of responsibility and the role of âmediatorâ parents needed to adopt when dealing with their daughtersâ overuse injuries. Findings from the study are presented using ethnodrama, a form of creative analytical practice aiming to create an informative and evocative experience. This study extends existing research which has demonstrated a recent shift away from the simplistic perspective of sport parents being either good or bad (e.g., âpushy parentsâ), and provides a more rounded description of the challenges of dealing with overuse injuries in youth sport. It also adopts an innovative form of representation to reach and impact non-academic audiences
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