Paradox and promise in joint school/university arts research

Collaborative university and school research projects are inevitably labour intensive endeavours that require the careful negotiation of trust and the joint development of critique of current practice. While this raises tension it also builds generative communities of inquiry that can enhance both theory and practice. This paper reports on an Arts project undertaken in primary classrooms between university staff and generalist teacher co-researchers focusing on children’s idea development in dance, drama, music and art. This two year project is briefly outlined and some issues that arise in school research are explored. Project collaborators need to exercise caution in their examination of practice and strive to resist premature closure. All parties need to hold the tension of apparent contradictions, being both interested (in effective Arts pedagogy) and disinterested (in order to heighten perception) so that they might ‘surprise themselves in a landscape of practice with which many are very familiar indeed’ (McWilliam 2004:14). These issues and paradoxes in collaborative research are considered alongside some particular processes that build school and university partnerships

Exploring children's development of ideas in music and dance

Eisner maintains that the Arts education community needs ‘empirically grounded examples of artistic thinking related to the nature of the tasks students engage in, the material with which they work, the context’s norms and the cues the teacher provides to advance their students’ thinking’ (2000:217). This paper reflects on preliminary results of a collaborative research project between teachers and university researchers that is investigating how children develop and refine arts-making ideas and related skills in Dance and Music in a small sample of schools in New Zealand. Factors such as the place of repetition in the development of ideas, the relevance of offers, the place of verbal and non-verbal communication in arts idea generation, and group work as an accepted ritual of practice, are explored and discussed

A Response to Dr. Ian Dunbar

Henderson, the Executive Director of the Toronto Humane Society, presents some comments on Dr. Ian Dunbar’s proposed strategy for dog-owner education (IJSAP 2(1):13-15, 1981). He notes that Dunbar dislikes the “irresponsible owner” descriptor, but Henderson argues that the description is appropriate. He notes that the Toronto Humane Society serves as the animal control agent for the city of Toronto, and hence they are regarded as “the law” by city residents. This perception creates a challenging dynamic between society and dog owners, and Henderson doubts that Dubars proposed strategy for dog owner education would be practical in Toronto

Le statut de la désinstitutionnalisation en Grande-Bretagne

Pour expliquer le statut actuel de la désinstitutionnalisation1 et du développement des soins communautaires, on examine dans quelle mesure ces soins peuvent ou pourraient assumer les fonctions de l'asile. Ces fonctions incluent celles qui sont manifestes ou explicites, et celles qui sont latentes ou non intentionnelles mais implicites (Bachrach, 1976). La pertinence toujours actuelle de ces deux types de fonctions exerce une influence importante sur le processus de fermeture des asiles et sur le développement des soins communautaires. Il s'ensuit des délais dans les fermetures d'asiles et une transinstitutionnalisation, ou transfert de certains patients depuis l'asile vers d'autres institutions, ce qui, en concentrant les dépenses dans les hôpitaux, étouffe le développement des soins communautaires.The aim of this article is to explain the current status of deinstitutionalisation and of community care development by studying the extent to which community care can or should take over the functions of the asylum. These functions include those that are manifest, or explicit, and those that are latent, or unintended but implicit (Bachrach 1976). The continuing relevance of both sets of functions is argued to be exerting a powerful influence on the processes of asylum closure and community care development. The results include delayed asylum closures and transinstitutionnalisation, the shift of some patients from asylums to other institutions, which stifle the development of community care by concentrating spending in hospitals

Interventions to reduce discrimination and stigma: the state of the art

BACKGROUND: There is a rich literature on the nature of mental health-related stigma and the processes by which it severely affects the life chances of people with mental health problems. However, applying this knowledge to deliver and evaluate interventions to reduce discrimination and stigma in a lasting way is a complex and long-term challenge. METHODS: We conducted a narrative synthesis of systematic reviews published since 2012, and supplemented this with papers published subsequently as examples of more recent work. RESULTS: There is evidence for small to moderate positive impacts of both mass media campaigns and interventions for target groups in terms of stigma-related knowledge, attitudes, and intended behaviour in terms of desire for contact. However, the limited evidence from longer follow-up times suggests that it is not clear whether short-term contact interventions have a lasting impact. CONCLUSIONS: The risk that short-term interventions may only have a short-term impact suggests a need to study longer term interventions and to use interim process and outcome data to improve interventions along the way. There is scope for more thorough application of intergroup contact theory whenever contact is used and of evidence-based teaching and assessment methods when skills training is used for target groups