In-service Professional Development and Constructivist Curriculum: Effects on Quality of Child Care, Teacher Beliefs, and Interactions

The purpose of this study was to assess three methods of delivering in-service professional development regarding constructivist curriculum for early childhood educators. Educators in 44 not-for-profit child care centres in three Canadian cities were studied; 94 educators with formal preservice training participated. The three methods were (a) a consultant model, (b) workshops, and (c) a readings group. Global classroom quality was assessed with the Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale-Revised ([ECERS-R], Harms, Clifford, & Cryer, 2005), educators were interviewed about their beliefs regarding curriculum, and modified running record observations of educator-child interactions (i.e., guidance, directives) were assessed before and after the 15-week intervention. Over time the consultant model was associated with an increase in guidance interaction (i.e., promoting children’s learning and development). A number of findings related to site were evident for quality of child care and educator beliefs, and highlight the challenges associated with conducting multi-site research studies. Implications for providing in-service professional development regarding curriculum are discussed. L’objectif de cette étude était d’évaluer trois méthodes de prestation de développement professionnel offert sur place et portant sur un programme d’études constructiviste pour éducateurs de la petite enfance. Quatre-vingt-quatorze éducateurs avec une formation d’orientation formelle et provenant de 44 garderies sans but lucratif dans trois villes canadiennes ont participé à l’étude. Les trois méthodes employées étaient les suivantes : (a) un modèle de consultation, (b) des ateliers et (c) un groupe de lectures.  Nous avons évalué la qualité globale de la classe d’après l’échelle d’évaluation révisée du milieu d’apprentissage de la petite enfance (Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale-Revised, Harms, Clifford, & Cryer, 2005), passé en entrevue les éducateurs pour connaitre leurs croyances par rapport au programme d’études et évalué, avant et après les 15 semaines d’intervention, des fiches d’observation individualisée modifiées portant sur les interactions entre l’éducateur et les enfants (conseils, directives). À la longue, un lien s’est établi entre le modèle de consultation et une augmentation de l’interaction impliquant des conseils (stimulation du développement et de l’apprentissage des enfants). Plusieurs des conclusions liées au site étaient évidentes en ce qui concerne la qualité de la garde des enfants et les croyances des éducateurs, et elles font ressortir les défis découlant des projets de recherche impliquant plusieurs sites. Nous évoquons les implications de fournir du développement professionnel portant sur les programmes d’études

The Inclusion Conundrum: A Critical Account of Youth and Gender Issues Within and Beyond Sport for Development and Peace Interventions

The sport for development and peace (SDP) sector is made up of various development-focused policies and programs that seek to engage, stabilise, empower and create social and economic change. SDP projects, most often run by non-governmental organisations (NGOs), have been implemented in regions enduring physical conflicts, health pandemics, major gender divisions and other social crises that have a great impact on youth. In this context, sport has been accorded the difficult task of facilitating greater access for marginal, vulnerable or community groups whilst positively contributing to the attainment of diverse development objectives. While the ‘where’ and ‘why’ of SDP has been largely accounted for, the attention in this article is on the ‘who’ of SDP in relation to the notion of inclusion. Drawing on extensive research conducted in Jamaica, Kosovo, Rwanda and Sri Lanka, the idea of SDP as an inclusionary practice is critically investigated. While SDP may ‘give voice’ to participants, especially to individuals with athletic ability or sporting interests, the extent to which this creates social contexts that are fundamentally inclusive remains open to discussion. In this sense, while targeting populations, groups or individuals remains an attractive strategy to achieve specific goals, for example youth empowerment or gender equality, empirical assessments complicate the presumption that SDP programming leads to inclusion, particularly at a larger societal level. The article considers a matrix of inclusion criteria, potential outcomes, and the tensions arising between targeted SDP programming and the often-exclusionary dimensions of sport more broadly, with a focus on youth and gender issues

The role of socio-cognitive and emotional impairments in young children with emerging symptoms of neurodevelopmental disorders

Symptoms of neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs) that are established in early childhood often exacerbate, if left untreated, and continue into adulthood. There is increasing evidence that underlying socio-cognitive and emotional processes contribute to the development, persistence and severity of NDDs. Theory of mind (ToM), empathy and facial mimicry, in particular are thought to play a causal role in the development of psychopathology. Based on this, it is possible that early ToM, empathy and facial mimicry assessment may help to identify risk for future NDDs. However, research has not yet explored their roles in young, pre-diagnostic children at risk of developing NDDs. Having a better understanding of the processes and mechanisms underlying symptoms of NDDs early in childhood will lead to the development of early interventions that promote a more positive developmental trajectory. Chapters 2, 3 and 5 of this thesis aimed to examine the roles of socio-cognitive and emotional processes in children with early signs of NDDs and understand how they relate to specific emotional and behavioural problem profiles. More specifically, Chapter 2 examined ToM in children with broad-ranging symptoms of NDDs compared to TD controls; Chapter 3 compared ToM and empathy in those with high levels of anxiety compared to those with low levels of anxiety and explored their relationships with anxiety severity; and Chapter 5 examined the role of facial mimicry in children’s peer relations by comparing facial mimicry responses in those with and without peer problems and exploring its relationship with peer problem severity. Given the causal role an impairment in facial mimicry is thought to play in empathic responding, Chapter 4 investigated the relationship between facial mimicry and cognitive and affective empathy. We found that ToM, empathy, and facial mimicry are all important processes that are implicated in the development, and explain variation in, severity of symptoms of NDDs. In addition, we found that ToM was differentially affected across different symptom clusters; while low levels of cognitive ToM were associated with broad-ranging symptoms of NDDs, high levels of cognitive ToM were specifically related to anxiety symptomatology. Finally, we demonstrated that facial mimicry for sadness was positively related to children’s ability to understand and experience other people’s sadness, suggesting that impaired facial mimicry may be responsible for the impaired empathic responding for negative emotions demonstrated by children with psychopathology. This thesis suggests that interventions targeting children’s ToM, empathy and facial mimicry should be considered as a preventative effort to reduce risk for NDDs before the onset of clinical symptoms and significant maladjustment

The inclusion conundrum: a critical account of youth and gender issues within and beyond sport for development and peace interventions

The sport for development and peace (SDP) sector is made up of various development-focused policies and programs that seek to engage, stabilise, empower and create social and economic change. SDP projects, most often run by nongovernmental organisations (NGOs), have been implemented in regions enduring physical conflicts, health pandemics, major gender divisions and other social crises that have a great impact on youth. In this context, sport has been accorded the difficult task of facilitating greater access for marginal, vulnerable or community groups whilst positively contributing to the attainment of diverse development objectives. While the ‘where’ and ‘why’ of SDP has been largely accounted for, the attention in this article is on the ‘who’ of SDP in relation to the notion of inclusion. Drawing on extensive research conducted in Jamaica, Kosovo, Rwanda and Sri Lanka, the idea of SDP as an inclusionary practice is critically investigated. While SDP may ‘give voice’ to participants, especially to individuals with athletic ability or sporting interests, the extent to which this creates social contexts that are fundamentally inclusive remains open to discussion. In this sense, while targeting populations, groups or individuals remains an attractive strategy to achieve specific goals, for example youth empowerment or gender equality, empirical assessments complicate the presumption that SDP programming leads to inclusion, particularly at a larger societal level. The article considers a matrix of inclusion criteria, potential outcomes, and the tensions arising between targeted SDP programming and the often-exclusionary dimensions of sport more broadly, with a focus on youth and gender issues

Sport for development and peace and the environment: The case for policy, practice, and research

This paper highlights the need for critical attention and reflection within the Sport for Development and Peace (SDP) sector regarding the physical environment. Drawing on fieldwork that examined a variety of SDP initiatives in five different countries, we argue that instrumental concerns at local levels often mean that the physical environment takes a back seat to other development priorities within SDP activity. This is despite the critical importance of issues, such as environmental degradation and the threats posed by climate change, as well as the fact that sport is directly linked to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals and the 2030 Agenda. After providing examples of the relegation of the physical environment in different SDP contexts, we put forth three conceptual frameworks that would be useful within SDP scholarship for advancing critical discussion on this issue within the sector. The final section discusses both the implications of these initial findings and suggests questions and topics for future research around this timely issue

The methodological dance: critical reflections on conducting a cross-cultural comparative research project on ‘Sport for Development and Peace’

© 2016 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.Social scientific research requires engagement with individuals, groups and or organisations embedded within specific sectors and locations. The ‘Sport for a Better World?’ project aimed to examine the Sport for Development and Peace (SDP) sector within multiple international locations through fieldwork conducted by a four-person research team. This paper discusses the methodological benefits and challenges of this methodological approach, with a particular focus on working with individuals and groups as gatekeepers, encultured informants, translators and volunteers. In turn, we describe and contextualise the levels of exchange expected by stakeholder partners as well as the implications of our identity as white, international researchers. Overall, we argue for the importance of understanding: the agency and needs of local actors amidst transnational networks; the extent to which history and politics inform everyday experiences and contemporary research encounters; and the likelihood that unequal power relations, particularly along lines of race, class and geography will affect data collection and interpretation. We also discuss various methodological strategies we negotiated in-the-field, and how these insights inform our understandings of the social, political and cultural environment in which SDP programmes operate in different locations

Contested states and the politics of sport: the case of Kosovo – division, development, and recognition

© 2016 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis GroupThis paper provides the first detailed analysis of the politics of sport in the small, post-conflict, contested state of Kosovo, located in the Western Balkan region of Europe. A former province of Yugoslavia, Kosovo endured a bloody civil war in the late 1990s between Serbian-led Yugoslav forces and Kosovo Liberation Army. In the post-conflict context, Kosovo has undergone a long period of reconstruction with major Western support; has been partially recognised by the international community since declaring independence from Serbia in 2008; and, has experienced significant regional ethno-national divisions and tensions, primarily between the Albanian majority and Serbian minority. We examine how sport in Kosovo influences and is influenced by these wider political processes. Our discussion is organised into three main parts. First, we set out our analytical approach, and then outline the main historical, social, and political features of Kosovo. Second, we examine the key political aspects of sport in Kosovo, with respect to development, the struggle for recognition, and social conflicts and divisions. Third, we address the cultural politics of sport in Kosovo with reference to issues of national and transnational identification, symbolic conflicts involving different national groups, and the role of the sport for development and peace (SDP) sector in building better cross-community ties. Our analysis is underpinned by international relations theories, notably a mix of critical and constructivist approaches; and draws on fieldwork and many interviews with key stakeholders in the sport, development, government, and education sectors in Kosovo

Emotional and socio-cognitive processing in young children with symptoms of anxiety

Many children with anxiety disorders exhibit significant and persistent impairments in their social and interpersonal functioning. Two components essential for successful social interaction are empathy and theory of mind (ToM). Both constructs develop rapidly in childhood, but no study has simultaneously examined these skills in young children with emerging mental health problems, including those with symptoms of anxiety. This study investigated empathy and ToM in children with anxiety symptomatology and examined their relationship with anxiety severity. A cross-sectional study was carried out with 174 children aged 4–8 years with emerging mental health difficulties who were referred by school teachers for an assessment because of emotional, cognitive, or behavioural problems at school. Participants completed empathy and ToM tasks. Parents were interviewed and rated children’s emotional and behavioural problems. Correlational analyses indicated that elevated anxiety was associated with better cognitive ToM and worse affective empathy; there were no associations between anxiety and either cognitive empathy or affective ToM. Subsequent regression analyses demonstrated that whilst enhanced cognitive ToM was explained by age and verbal IQ, anxiety symptoms uniquely predicted impaired affective empathy. These results indicate that children with symptoms of anxiety have difficulty in sharing in other people’s emotions. As a result, they may find it difficult to behave in socially adequate ways in interactions with others that involve affective sharing. These findings encourage the use of early and targeted interventions that improve affective empathy development in children with anxiety symptoms