Informal mealtime pedagogies: exploring the influence of family structure on young people's healthy eating dispositions

Families are increasingly recognised as informal sites of learning, especially with regard to healthy eating. Through the use of Bourdieu's conceptual tools, this paper explores the role of family meals within different family structures and the informal pedagogic encounters that take place. How they help to construct young people's healthy eating beliefs, values and dispositions, together with what influences their ability to conduct healthy lifestyle practices within different social and material conditions, is also considered. This study draws from semi-structured interviews with students (n =62) from three inner city comprehensive schools in the Midlands, UK, who were invited to interview with a friend from the same family structure. The interview protocol sought to uncover how often young people ate with their family and elicit their subjective views of family meals as a social context (pedagogical field) in which health messages were conveyed. Corresponding interview data were analysed using thematic analysis which revealed two main themes: (1) the importance of family meals as a pedagogic context for the (re)production of health-related beliefs, values and dispositions and (2) the influence of family structure on individual agency. The narratives illustrate the varying role of family meals for young people in different fields and suggest that family (as a primary field) with its particular practices can act as a site of informal pedagogy, but crucially, only for those whose social and material conditions allow. We should therefore not assume that family meals are 'normative' for all families and may serve different functions for different families. Hence, in a period of economic depression and prolonged austerity, encouraging family units of any structure to invest in family meals from an early age will help to enhance young people's healthy dispositions. © 2013 Copyright Taylor and Francis Group, LLC

Problematizing social justice in health pedagogy and youth sport: intersectionality of race, ethnicity, and class

Social justice education recognizes the discrepancies in opportunities among disadvantaged groups in society. The purpose of the articles in this special topic on social justice is to (a) provide a critical reflection on issues of social justice within health pedagogy and youth sport of Black and ethnic-minority (BME) young people; (b) provide a framework for the importance of intersectionality research (mainly the intersection of social class, race, and ethnicity) in youth sport and health pedagogy for social justice; and (c) contextualize the complex intersection and interplay of social issues (i.e., race, ethnicity, social classes) and their influence in shaping physical culture among young people with a BME background. The article argues that there are several social identities in any given pedagogical terrain that need to be heard and legitimized to avoid neglect and “othering.” This article suggests that a resurgence of interest in theoretical frameworks such as intersectionality can provide an effective platform to legitimize “non-normative bodies” (diverse bodies) in health pedagogy and physical education and sport by voicing positionalities on agency and practice

Peasants and Workers in Tobacco Production in Greece, Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries: Social and Cultural Lives.

Tobacco played a major role in the socio-economic development of Greece starting from the period of Ottoman rule. A related cultural history was written by those who took part in economic activities associated with the product. During the nineteenth century, the farmers who were involved in tobacco production, and tobacco-related urban professions, contributed to the formulation of social and cultural identities that had a distinct presence within the spectrum of the stratification of Greek society. During the twentieth century, a broad popular mass of two million local people and refugees helped to shape the various profiles of the social strata linked to tobacco. Customs, habits, traditions, behaviours, mentalities, psychologies, attitudes, life models, all merged with the willingness of people to influence the course of social developments in the country and participate in social movements. The aim of this paper is to examine issues related to various aspects of the relevant social and cultural identities

"Is social inclusion through PE, sport and PA still a rhetoric?" evaluating the relationship between physical education, sport and social inclusion

This Special Issue is part of Educational Review’s Hall of Fame, comprising the journal’s most read and highly cited papers. As part of this I will be critiquing a milestone paper within the field(s) of Sport, PE and (I will extend to) PA by Professor Richard Bailey. The paper has been amongst the most-cited in the journal and I have personally cited the paper numerous times in my own work thus far. Upon its original publication (nearly 13 years ago), the article (managed to provide a very useful distinction between PE and sport (and PA), which is important given the constant slippage between the terms in many articles since. In this response article, I will try to provide a brief summary of the paper from Bailey, but at the same time examine closely the notion of social inclusion through sport and PE by summarising work that has subsequently been conducted. I will conclude by summarising that some 13 years later spurious claims about effective inclusive practices through sport abound, and we still lack clear evidence to support the rhetoric about the ways in which sport and PE can contribute to social inclusion

Newham's Every Child a Sports Person (NECaSP): a summative process evaluation of a school- and community- based intervention in East London, United Kingdom

Background: The NECaSP intervention aspires to increase sport and physical activity (PA) participation amongst young people in the UK. The aims of this paper are to report on a summative process evaluation of the NECaSP and make recommendations for future interventions. Methods: Seventeen schools provided data by students aged 11-13 (n=1,226), parents (n=192) and teachers (n= 14) via direct observation and questionnaires. Means, standard deviations and percentages were calculated for socio-demographic data. Qualitative data was analysed via directed content analysis and main themes identified. Results: Findings indicate further administrative, educational and financial support will help facilitate the success of the programme in improving PA outcomes for young people, and of other similar intervention programmes globally. Data highlighted the need to engage parents to increase likelihood of intervention success. Conclusions: One main strength of this study is the mixed-methods nature of the process evaluation. It is recommended that future school based interventions that bridge sports clubs and formal curriculum provision, should consider a more broad approach to the delivery of programmes throughout the academic year, school week and school day. Finally, changes in the school curriculum can be successful once all parties are involved (community, school, families)

Le sport ouvrier en Grèce pendant l’entre-deux-guerres. Le cas de Thessalonique

Nous présentons d’abord la manière dont le mouvement communiste s’est progressivement doté d’un modèle international d’encadrement des ouvriers par le sport alors qu’il y était hostile au début. Puis, en s’appuyant sur le dépouillement d’une vaste palette d’archives, nous voyons comme ce modèle fut mis en place et appliqué en Grèce et surtout à Thessalonique dans une volonté de contrecarrer de projets antagonistes comme ceux des scouts, de la YMCA et même en ce qui concerne la nombreuse communauté juive de la ville, les projets sionistes.The author undertakes to show how the international communist movement progressively adopted an international model of organizing workers through sport, although it ah been opposed to the idea of sport in the beginning. Then, based on wide range of archival material, he examines the practical introduction and implementation of this model in Greece, and especially in Salonica. This implementation was motivated by a will to oppose antagonistic projects, such as those of the Boy scouts, the YMCA and, in regards with the city’s numerous Jewish community, the Zionist ones