Factors used in the detection of elder financial abuse: A judgement and decision-making study of social workers and their managers

This is the author's accepted manuscript. The final published article is available from the link below. Copyright @ 2011 Sage Publications Ltd.Factors social workers use in practice to detect elder financial abuse are currently unknown. A critical incident technique was applied within a judgement analysis approach to elicit cue use. Only three factors were key to decision-making: who raises concern, the elder’s mental capacity and the nature of the financial anomaly occurring.Economic and Social Research Counci

Supporting reasonable adjustments for learners with disabilities in physical education: An investigation into teacher’s perceptions of one online tool

This study sets out to investigate physical education (PE) teachers’ perceptions of the use of an online professional development resource to support making reasonable adjustment for learners with disability. The Equality Act (2010) called on all UK schools to ensure access to PE was equitable for all learners. This means schools have to adopt strategies for making reasonable adjustments so as not to disadvantage learners with any special educational need and disability. Teachers report that they are working towards an inclusive classroom; however, parents of learners with disabilities report that there remains a lack of opportunities for their children to engage with activity. Using purposive sampling, participants were selected for the study after which they were asked to complete a continuing professional development online training course on the subject of making reasonable adjustments for learning with disabilities. Through one-to-one interviews, qualitative data were collected and analysed through thematic analysis. The findings indicated that the online resource was greeted positively by staff and not only supported the PE teachers but also increased their awareness of different approaches to making reasonable adjustments. The findings also indicated that the issue of making reasonable adjustments and the use of the online development tool need to be driven from the school senior leadership team if it is to have value for the whole school community

The Self stepping into the shoes of the Other: Understanding and developing self-perceptions of empathy among prospective physical education teachers through a special school placement

Teachers who demonstrate a high degree of empathy are said to have more positive attitudes towards pupils with disabilities. Therefore, this article sought to explore the influence of a special school placement on prospective teachers’ self-perceptions of empathy. Thirty-two final year undergraduate students participated in focus group interviews and were selected because they aspired to be a physical education teacher and had attended a placement in a special school. Interview transcripts were analysed and the following themes constructed: Stepping into the shoes of the Other; Frustrated ‘for’ not ‘with’ pupils with disabilities; Empathy for planning inclusive lessons and ‘reading’ pupil body language; and Knowing when not to show empathy. All prospective teachers felt that: (a) they could empathise with pupils with disabilities; (b) situated learning experiences within the placement enabled them to reflect on the ways in which their empathy influences their teaching now and could continue to do so in the future; and (c) it was important that teachers demonstrated empathy. Thus, it is recommended that all prospective teachers gain some experience teaching in special schools. Our research also warns against teachers claiming the last, conclusive word about who children with disabilities are, what they think, how they feel and what they want, in myriad contexts and situations

Finding a moral homeground: appropriately critical religious education and transmission of spiritual values

Values-inspired issues remain an important part of the British school curriculum. Avoiding moral relativism while fostering enthusiasm for spiritual values and applying them to non-curricular learning such as school ethos or children's home lives are challenges where spiritual, moral, social and cultural (SMSC) development might benefit from leadership by critical religious education (RE). Whether the school's model of spirituality is that of an individual spiritual tradition (schools of a particular religious character) or universal pluralistic religiosity (schools of plural religious character), the pedagogy of RE thought capable of leading SMSC development would be the dialogical approach with examples of successful implementation described by Gates, Ipgrave and Skeie. Marton's phenomenography, is thought to provide a valuable framework to allow the teacher to be appropriately critical in the transmission of spiritual values in schools of a particular religious character as evidenced by Hella's work in Lutheran schools