The impact of an improvised social work method in a school: aspirations, encouragement, realism and openness

A high school in the English West Midlands reduces annual school exclusions from 251 to 6 in three years. A social worker is employed by the school to join the student support services. A new method of brief intervention is introduced by the social worker based on 'aspirations, encouragement, realism and openness' (AERO), summarised by one teacher as helping a conversation develop in which the young people can discuss problems that they would otherwise find difficult. All of this is established with no special pilot project status or resources.This article considers the relationship between these factors and evaluates the impact of the AERO method through interviews with key participants — 12 students currently in school and one parent, all of whom had direct experience of the method, and six professionals who experienced the impact of the model. The findings suggest that the philosophy of social inclusion introduced by a new head teacher is sustained by a systematic approach to providing social and personal support to students, and by the use of an effective and efficient practice method. The article discusses the possibilities of transferring the lessons from this study and also the possible limitations of the social work method and the study itself

Difficult behaviour in groups

This article is based on work with 24 groupworkers in a Children's Services agency in the English Midlands. Focus groups to consider the training priorities for groupworkers revealed one of the most pressing issues was difficult behaviours in groups. (This was initially referred to as challenging behaviour, but it was recognised that the word is ambiguous, so it was replaced by 'difficult'). The groupworkers were asked to present an example of difficult behaviour, some of which are reproduced here, as part of a process to understand the meaning of difficult behaviour and to add context. Nine themes arose from the work with the Children's Services groupworkers, and the article explores each theme and its implications for groupwork practice. The article relates the topic of difficult behaviour to the wider literature and suggests that the key to understanding and working with these behaviours in groups is the ability of the groupworker to unlock the meaning of the behaviour, and to find a way to articulate this alongside group members. Groupworkers' honesty with themselves about the feelings aroused by difficult behaviours emerges as a significant factor.</p

Experiences of post-qualifying study in social work

This article is based on a research project to explore the experiences of past and current candidates for post-qualifying awards in social work in England. Also included in the study are the Leads of the post-qualifying consortia in England. The study used questionnaire survey and nominal group techniques to gather data, which were coded and categorised into themes. The main findings relate to the perceived purposes of post-qualifying study, motivations for undertaking post-qualifying study, the factors that sustain and hinder study, the advice that those who have or who are experiencing post-qualifying study would give to those about to start and future plans and hopes in this area.Post-qualifying study is generally valued, especially in relation to the opportunities it provides for professional development. The support of a mentor who has direct experience of the candidate's programme is highly prized, as are clear and consistent guidance from the programme and meaningful study time and workload relief from employers. There are also frustrations for some candidates who do not feel that their post-qualifying study has stretched them beyond qualifying standards or who experience the teaching as divorced from the realities of daily practice. The appetite for a wider choice of post-qualifying modules suggests that providers of post-qualifying study will need to collaborate within and across regions in order to achieve a critical mass of candidates for more specialist or focused learning. The study suggests a need for further research to understand the impact of post-qualifying study on candidates' social work practice.The article concludes with two checklists of questions, one for individual candidates and another for agencies and programmes. These questions arise from the findings in the research

Beyond Qualification: Experiences of Black Social Workers on a Post-Qualifying Course

This article reports on the findings from a small-scale qualitative study of the experiences of five black women studying on a Post-Qualifying Child Care Award (PQCCA). The study considered the expectations of the women, their experiences of recruitment and selection, and support for the candidates from their agency and from the universities offering the programme. Also reported are the experiences of the course content, course completion and the specific experience of being a black candidate on the course. The article sets all this in the context of post-qualifying education, current child care practice and the relevant literature. We make extensive use of the rich data provided by the five respondents in the study, and conclude with recommendations arising from the black women themselves and the researchers reflections on their experiences

OH Masers and Supernova Remnants

OH(1720 MHz) masers are created by the interaction of supernova remnants with molecular clouds. These masers are pumped by collisions in warm, shocked molecular gas with OH column densities in the range 10^{16}--10^{17} cm^{-2}. Excitation calculations suggest that inversion of the 6049 MHz OH line may occur at the higher column densities that have been inferred from main-line absorption studies of supernova remnants with the Green Bank Telescope. OH(6049 MHz) masers have therefore been proposed as a complementary indicator of remnant-cloud interaction. This motivated searches for 6049 MHz maser emission from supernova remnants using the Parkes 63 m and Effelsberg 100 m telescopes, and the Australia Telescope Compact Array. A total of forty-one remnants have been examined by one or more of these surveys, but without success. To check the accuracy of the OH column densities inferred from the single-dish observations we modelled OH absorption at 1667 MHz observed with the Very Large Array towards three supernova remnants, IC 443, W44 and 3C 391. The results are mixed -- the OH column is revised upwards in IC443, downwards in 3C391, and is somewhat reduced in W44. We conclude that OH columns exceeding 10^{17} cm^{-2} are indeed present in some supernova remnants and so the lack of any detections is not explained by low OH column density. We discuss the possibility that non-local line overlap is responsible for suppressing the inversion of the 6049 MHz line.Comment: 8pages, to appear in Proc IAU 287, Cosmic Masers: from OH to H_0, R. Booth, E. Humphries and W. Vlemmings, ed

SiO maser observations of a wide dust-temperature range sample

We present the results of SiO line observations of a sample of known SiO maser sources covering a wide dust-temperature range. The aim of the present research is to investigate the causes of the correlation between infrared colors and SiO maser intensity ratios among different transition lines. We observed in total 75 SiO maser sources with the Nobeyama 45m telescope quasi-simultaneously in the SiO J=1-0 v=0, 1, 2, 3, 4 and J=2-1 v=1, 2 lines. We also observed the sample in the 29SiO J=1-0 v=0 and J=2-1 v=0, and 30SiO J=1-0 v=0 lines, and the H2O 6(1,6)-5(2,3) line. As reported in previous papers, we confirmed that the intensity ratios of the SiO J=1-0 v=2 to v=1 lines clearly correlate with infrared colors. In addition, we found possible correlation between infrared colors and the intensity ratios of the SiO J=1-0 v=3 to v=1&2 lines.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures, iaus.cls, to appear in IAU Symp. 242 proceedings (Astrophysical masers and their environments

QED on a momentum lattice

We investigate the possibility of doing momentum space lattice simulations as an alternative to the conventional method. The procedure is introduced and tested for quenched QED2 and quenched QED3. Interesting physical applications to unquenched QED3 and quenched QED4 are also briefly discussed.Comment: 3 pages, To appear in the proceedings of the LATTICE'93 conference, ILL-(TH)-93-2