Economics education and value change: The role of program-normative homogeneity and peer influence

In the light of corporate scandals and the recent financial crisis, there has been an increased interest in the impact of business education on the value orientations of graduates. Yet our understanding of how students' values change during their time at business school is limited. In this study,weinvestigate the effects of variations in the normative orientations of economics programs. We argue that interaction among economics students constitutes a key mechanism of value socialization, the effects of which are likely to vary across more-or-less normatively homogeneous economics programs. In normatively homogeneous programs, students are particularly likely to adopt economics values as a result of peer interaction. We specifically explore changes in power, hedonism, and self-direction values in a 2-year longitudinal study of economics students (N 5 197) in a normatively homogeneous and two normatively heterogeneous economics programs. As expected, for students in a normatively homogeneous economics program, interaction with peers was linked with an increase in power and hedonism values, and a decrease in self-direction values. Our findings highlight the interplay between program normative homogeneity and peer interaction as an important factor in value socialization during economics education and have important practical implications for business school leaders

Supporting carer–child relationships through play: a model for teaching carers how to use play skills to strengthen attachment relationships

This article presents a rationale for delivering training in play skills to groups of foster carers and adopters, and others who work with children and young people in the care system. The aim is to emphasise the relevance of play for facilitating emotional growth and regulation, and to demon- strate how ‘playing in relationship’ can support children who have experienced abuse or trauma in their primary relationships. The article includes a number of suggestions for activities that can be incorporated into training and discussion of how a playful approach to adult learning can enhance the experience. Evaluation comments by participants are also included and possibilities for future carer training programmes are considered. Keywords play, attachment, relationships, carers, adopters, traum