The ambivalence of ritual in violence : Orthodox Christian perspectives

This article demonstrates that ritual plays an ambivalent role in the interaction between religion and violence. Ritual triggers and gives meaning to violence, or it enforces peace and coexistence. The first part of the article defines the ambivalence of ritual in the context of violence. The second part surveys standard rituals of peace and violence from Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity and Islam. The third part focuses on the ambivalent nature of Orthodox Christian rituals.Dr Simion is participating in the research project, ‘Political Theology’, directed by Dr Tanya van Wyk, Department of Dogmatics and Christian Ethics, Faculty of Theology, University of Pretoria.http://www.hts.org.zaam2017Dogmatics and Christian Ethic

Teachers’ attitudes towards inclusion and their self-efficacy for inclusive practices as predictors of willingness to implement peer tutoring

The attitudes teachers hold towards inclusion are one of the most widely researched themes in the field of inclusive education. Contrary to most attitudinal studies which are solely focusing on examining the impact of a host of factors in the formation of teacher attitudes, the present study sought to link reported attitudes towards inclusion and teachers’ self-efficacy for inclusive practices with an actual inclusive instructional approach, that of peer tutoring. Participants were 225 Greek general teachers and 69 special education counterparts who responded to a questionnaire consisting of the Core Perspectives Scale from the MTAI scale, the TEIP scale, and other scales measuring their attitudes towards peer tutoring. Results indicated that general teachers held neutral attitudes towards inclusion while their special education counterparts held significantly more positive ones. General teachers were found to be less positive in their self-efficacy for inclusive practices than the special education counterparts with the exception of the managing behavior dimension. General teachers emphasized mainly the social gains achieved by students participating in a peer tutoring program. Moreover, they considered peer tutoring as an effective means for including students with diverse needs in their classrooms. Importantly, this study found that teachers’ attitudes towards inclusion and their self-efficacy for inclusive practices largely predict their willingness to implement a peer tutoring program in their classrooms. The paper concludes with highlighting the need to offer teachers professional development courses that positively influence their attitudes and enhance their sense of self-efficacy in implementing peer-tutoring

Developing pilot befriending schemes for people with Autism Spectrum Disorders in a region of Greece: Lessons from practice

Befriending represents an expanding resource for the social support of vulnerable people in the community. This article discusses the development of two pilot befriending schemes for individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs) in the central region of Greece. In the first part, the context, the aims and participants of the schemes are described and in the next part, the positive aspects and obstacles encountered in both schemes are discussed. © 2007 Association for Child and Adolescent Mental Health