Muslim girls' experiences in physical education in Norway: What role does religiosity play?

Recent years have seen an increase in scholarly attention to minority pupils and their experience of physical education (PE). UK research identifies specific challenges related to Muslim pupils' participation in PE. In Norway, little research has been undertaken on Muslim pupils' experiences in PE, something this paper hopes to redress in part. In particular, it addresses the role and significance of religiosity to their experience of PE. The work is positioned within third-wave feminism; as such it aims to be sensitive to issues of cultural and religious diversity. The study is based on life-history interviews with 21 Muslim girls aged between 16 and 25. All the girls had attended PE lessons at school, mostly in mixed-gender classes, but with some gender-segregated PE as well. In terms of religious affiliation, the girls describe themselves as Muslim, though their degree of religiosity varies. Five wear the hijab. The general picture drawn by the data shows that the Muslim girls enjoy their PE lessons and the majority preferred gender-mixed PE. Religiosity seems to have little influence on Muslim girls' experience of PE, with the exception of swimming lessons and showering facilities. We can understand the objections of some of the girls to gender-mixed PE by looking at the dominance of the male gender, and, as such, their experiences are similar to those of non-Muslim girls. However, objections to gender-mixed swimming classes are best explained by the girls' gendered religious identities and embodied faith. In term of intersectionality, the study shows that different categories dominate in different PE contexts. As such, what Muslim girls make of PE is not always dictated by religiosity

The Case for Growing our Own

At any given time, there are literally hundreds of institutions recruiting academic deans to fill vacant positions. On November 23, 2008, higheredjobs.com listed 331 dean searches nationwide. Given that staggering number and the fact that the average tenure of deans is five years, this is a trend that is likely to continue (ASHE-ERIC 2001). Why is this, and more importantly, what can be done about it

Reverse Presumptions: \u3ci\u3eGuillen v. Pierce County\u3c/i\u3e Disregards Reasonable Constitutional Interpretations of 23 U.S.C. § 409

To prove that dangerous roadways caused their traffic accidents, plaintiffs often seek discovery of highway information from state and local governments. Title 23 U.S.C. § 409 bars discovery of some of that information; it creates an evidentiary privilege for materials and data collected for certain federal highway safety funding programs. For example, state and local governments receiving funds through the federal hazard elimination program codified at 23 U.S.C. § 152 must maintain an engineering survey of all state public roads. Section 409, in turn, makes certain data and materials compiled or collected for § 152 exempt from discovery and inadmissible at trial. Courts have differed in interpreting § 409\u27s scope, with some state courts initially construing the privilege narrowly. Congress amended the statute in 1995, expressing its intent to broaden those narrow interpretations. In Guillen v. Pierce County, the Washington State Supreme Court held that this amendment—interpreted as a significant expansion of the privilege—exceeded Congress\u27 authority under the United States Constitution and violated state sovereignty. This Note argues that the court\u27s approach to interpreting § 409 disregarded judicial principles that favor narrowly construing evidentiary privileges and avoiding constitutional holdings. A narrow interpretation of the 1995 amendment would protect the integrity of state tort systems while fulfilling congressional intent and adhering to established principles for construing statutes and evidentiary privileges

Change through ethical dialogue. A theoretical and qualitative study of lifestyle counselling in general practice

Many patients meet the challenge of reordering fundamental priorities in life. The reordering can entail lifestyle changes for preventing disease, carrying out extensive treatment plans, or adapting to new dysfunctions in everyday life. Adaptive change may be of crucial importance for health and quality of life, and yet involve practical, emotional and social burdens that become insurmountable obstacles for the affected individual. Being central agents in the health service, general practitioners (GPs) are confronted with the challenge of finding ways to help their patients deal with difficult adaptations to risk, illness and medical interventions, through supportive interactions that integrate biomedical and personal issues. It seems, however, that patients do not always receive the help they need. The present study explores the theory and practice of doctor-patients dialogue, using lifestyle counselling as the field of study, a field where clinical work entails complex interactional challenges for doctors and patients. When patients are advised or perceive a need to change behaviour for medical reasons, deep-seated aspects of their value-systems are stirred. Lifestyle express and are rooted in people’s values and norms, in what is tacitly considered good, right and desirable in everyday life. Lifestyle change is thus a matter of individual ethics, often entailing dilemmas where medical goals may conflict with individual perceptions of a good life. The instrumental rationality of science, including biomedicine, does not contain the conceptual tools physicians need for dealing with the highly subjective, cultural, value-laden and dynamic aspects of human thought and behaviour that characterise and constitute health and illness. Patient-centred medicine (PCM) has evolved as a loosely knit body of theory to help clinicians integrate the biomedical perspective, anchored in disease theory, with the phenomenological patient perspective, rooted in subjective, relational experiences and individual values and goals. Patient-centred medicine advocates deliberative dialogue as a general approach that may reveal and clarify patients’ practical circumstances, values and norms, and thus allow doctor and patient to reach common ground - a shared understanding of what is at stake for an individual person in a given situation of illness or health risk. Starting from the claim that PCM is somewhat under-theorised and lacking in its detailed analysis of deliberative doctor-patient dialogue, the present project examines the relevance of philosopher Jürgen Habermas’s theory of communicative action (TCA) for lifestyle consultations in general practice. Habermas’s theory is based on the assumption that human rationality is defined by our ability to let our actions be guided by a consensus that is achieved through the use of language. It claims that a person is rational when arguments are reasoned by factual or empirically-based concerns, normative concerns, or subjective feelings. The latter two categories distinguish TCA from theories where only arguments referring to empirically verifiable facts qualify as rational (“instrumental rationality”). Habermas uses the concept lifeworld to designate the objective, social and subjective circumstances of individual existence that may serve as the basis for rational arguments and decisions. The project attempts to clarify how TCA may be medically relevant, and identify adjustments needed when the principles of TCA, developed for democratic deliberation, are introduced in a dyadic helping relationship characterised by asymmetry of knowledge and power. The overarching ambition is to operationalise elements of a deliberative theory in a way that may lead to improved clinical dialogues within a PCM framework. The thesis consists of one theoretical and two empirical papers. In GP consultations, we explored physician communication patterns that enhanced or obstructed the possibilities for patients to reach good, right and practicable decisions in lifestyle counselling. In interviews, patients’ needs and preferences in consultation dialogues were explored. The study suggests that Habermas’s theory of communicative action is highly relevant for dialogues in general practice. However, the demand that dialogue partners be on an equal footing poses a challenge in the context of medical practice. The asymmetric relationship between doctor and patient necessitates adjustments to the theory, allowing the doctor to take a leader’s responsibility, based on a mandate from the patient and a professional foundation of care, respect and willingness to learn from the patient. Through a mutually respectful dialogue where the doctor is open-minded and changes his or her mind as relevant arguments are brought forth, lifeworld issues, patient values and norms can be verbalised and understood in medical dialogue, and used as anchoring points for changes and adaptations. Whereas medical counselling based on disease theory and instrumental rationality may obstruct the clarif ication of patients’ subjective values and norms, and result in frustrated efforts to change individual priorities and behaviour, the present study suggests that Habermas’s theory, appropriately adjusted, can provide GPs with communicative tools that may give rise to an expanded form of patient autonomy and produce decisions which are good, right and practicable for the patient

Heteronormativitet i kroppsøvingsfaget

Denne artikkelen stiller spørsmål ved hvilke erfaringer elever som identifiserer seg som lesbiske og homofile har fra deltagelse i kroppsøvingsfaget. Datagrunnlaget er intervju med fem informanter i alderen 19–25 år, som alle identifiserer seg som lesbisk/homofil. Resultatene tyder på at kroppsøvingsfaget preges av heteronormativitet, noe som spesielt kommer til uttrykk gjennom garderobesituasjonen og danseundervisningen. En annen erfaring som fremheves, er mulighetene som ligger i faget for tilskeiving (queering). Gutter som er flinke i idrett og som fremstår åpent som homofile utfordrer hetero­norma­tiviteten ved å bryte den hegemoniske forståelsen av homoseksuell adferd

Water Embodied in Bioethanol in the United States

Prior studies have estimated that a liter of bioethanol requires 263−784 L of water from corn farm to fuel pump, but these estimates have failed to account for the widely varied regional irrigation practices. By using regional time-series agricultural and ethanol production data in the U.S., this paper estimates the state-level field-to-pump water requirement of bioethanol across the nation. The results indicate that bioethanol’s water requirements can range from 5 to 2138 L per liter of ethanol depending on regional irrigation practices. The results also show that as the ethanol industry expands to areas that apply more irrigated water than others, consumptive water appropriation by bioethanol in the U.S. has increased 246% from 1.9 to 6.1 trillion liters between 2005 and 2008, whereas U.S. bioethanol production has increased only 133% from 15 to 34 billion liters during the same period. The results highlight the need to take regional specifics into account when implementing biofuel mandates

Problematferd og inkludering

I denne oppgaven ønsker jeg å stille spørsmålstegn ved inkluderingsideologien når det kommer til elever som utviser alvorlig problematferd. Inkluderingsbegrepet tok for alvor sitt inntog i norsk sammenheng på starten av 90-tallet i forarbeidet til L97 og etter ratifiseringen av Salamancaerklæringen i 1994. I 1992 ble de statlige spesialskolene nedlagt etter en omfattende reform, og det ble opp til kommunene å finne alternativer for utfordrende elever. Siden den gangen har antallet segregerte elever i smågruppetiltak og såkalte alternative skoler økt drastisk. Likevel er den overordnede filosofien at alle skal inkluderes og den mangfoldige elevgruppen skal forstås som en ressurs. Man kan spørre seg om ideologien om full inkludering er en utopi. Om det finnes elever som viser en type atferd som gjør at de ikke kan inkluderes i sin ordinærgruppe? I masteren undersøker jeg to læreres betraktninger rundt et tilfelle av alvorlig problematferd og deres generelle syn på problematferd og inkludering

Lærarar si erfaring med karriereknappane : Kva erfaringar har lærarane med bruk av karriereknappane som eit verktøy i ei meir holistisk tilnærming til karriererettleiing i vidaregåande skule?

Denne oppgåva set lys på dei fem kompetanseområda for utforsking i det Nasjonalt kvalitetsrammeverket for karriereveiledning som heiter karriereknappene (Kompetanse Norge, 2020). Karriereknappane er relativt nye for praksisfeltet, og enda lite nytta i den norske skulen. Problemstillinga i denne oppgåva er: Kva erfaringar har lærarane med bruk av karriereknappane som eit verktøy i ei meir holistisk tilnærming til karriererettleiing i vidaregåande skule? I teorien har eg gjort greier for det Nasjonalt kvalitetsrammeverk for karriereveiledning (Kompetanse Norge,2020), Livsmeistringstematikken i fagfornyinga (Utdanningsdirektoratet, 2020), og lagt vekt på det holistiske perspektivet på karriererettleing. Eg har nytta kvalitativ tilnærming i metoden for å svare på problemstillinga, og personleg intervju som datamateriale i innsamlinga. Utvalet består av sju respondentar, og eg nytta fortolking av meining som utgangspunkt for analyse av datamaterialet. Resultata viser at seks av sju respondentane opplever karriereknappane som eit positivt verktøy i karrierelæringsarbeidet. Det er fleire som seier at dette er eit nyttig verktøy i mange samanhengar. Resultata viser at respondentane ser ein samanheng mellom livsmeistring og karriere, og at ein kan argumentere for at karriereknappane kan nyttast inn mot livsmeistringstematikken. Fleire respondentar opplever at karriereknappane er lette å knytte til fag, og enkelte meiner at det kan hjelpe dei å gjere faga meir relevante for elevane. Andre seier at karriereknappane kan hjelpe skulen til å skape ein meir heilskap. Heilskap mellom fag og det som kjem etter den vidaregåande skulen. Resultata viser også at alle respondentane er positive til at lærarane skal ha ein eller anna funksjon i karriererettleiingsarbeidet i skulen

Change through ethical dialogue. A theoretical and qualitative study of lifestyle counselling in general practice

Many patients meet the challenge of reordering fundamental priorities in life. The reordering can entail lifestyle changes for preventing disease, carrying out extensive treatment plans, or adapting to new dysfunctions in everyday life. Adaptive change may be of crucial importance for health and quality of life, and yet involve practical, emotional and social burdens that become insurmountable obstacles for the affected individual. Being central agents in the health service, general practitioners (GPs) are confronted with the challenge of finding ways to help their patients deal with difficult adaptations to risk, illness and medical interventions, through supportive interactions that integrate biomedical and personal issues. It seems, however, that patients do not always receive the help they need. The present study explores the theory and practice of doctor-patients dialogue, using lifestyle counselling as the field of study, a field where clinical work entails complex interactional challenges for doctors and patients. When patients are advised or perceive a need to change behaviour for medical reasons, deep-seated aspects of their value-systems are stirred. Lifestyle express and are rooted in people’s values and norms, in what is tacitly considered good, right and desirable in everyday life. Lifestyle change is thus a matter of individual ethics, often entailing dilemmas where medical goals may conflict with individual perceptions of a good life. The instrumental rationality of science, including biomedicine, does not contain the conceptual tools physicians need for dealing with the highly subjective, cultural, value-laden and dynamic aspects of human thought and behaviour that characterise and constitute health and illness. Patient-centred medicine (PCM) has evolved as a loosely knit body of theory to help clinicians integrate the biomedical perspective, anchored in disease theory, with the phenomenological patient perspective, rooted in subjective, relational experiences and individual values and goals. Patient-centred medicine advocates deliberative dialogue as a general approach that may reveal and clarify patients’ practical circumstances, values and norms, and thus allow doctor and patient to reach common ground - a shared understanding of what is at stake for an individual person in a given situation of illness or health risk. Starting from the claim that PCM is somewhat under-theorised and lacking in its detailed analysis of deliberative doctor-patient dialogue, the present project examines the relevance of philosopher Jürgen Habermas’s theory of communicative action (TCA) for lifestyle consultations in general practice. Habermas’s theory is based on the assumption that human rationality is defined by our ability to let our actions be guided by a consensus that is achieved through the use of language. It claims that a person is rational when arguments are reasoned by factual or empirically-based concerns, normative concerns, or subjective feelings. The latter two categories distinguish TCA from theories where only arguments referring to empirically verifiable facts qualify as rational (“instrumental rationality”). Habermas uses the concept lifeworld to designate the objective, social and subjective circumstances of individual existence that may serve as the basis for rational arguments and decisions. The project attempts to clarify how TCA may be medically relevant, and identify adjustments needed when the principles of TCA, developed for democratic deliberation, are introduced in a dyadic helping relationship characterised by asymmetry of knowledge and power. The overarching ambition is to operationalise elements of a deliberative theory in a way that may lead to improved clinical dialogues within a PCM framework. The thesis consists of one theoretical and two empirical papers. In GP consultations, we explored physician communication patterns that enhanced or obstructed the possibilities for patients to reach good, right and practicable decisions in lifestyle counselling. In interviews, patients’ needs and preferences in consultation dialogues were explored. The study suggests that Habermas’s theory of communicative action is highly relevant for dialogues in general practice. However, the demand that dialogue partners be on an equal footing poses a challenge in the context of medical practice. The asymmetric relationship between doctor and patient necessitates adjustments to the theory, allowing the doctor to take a leader’s responsibility, based on a mandate from the patient and a professional foundation of care, respect and willingness to learn from the patient. Through a mutually respectful dialogue where the doctor is open-minded and changes his or her mind as relevant arguments are brought forth, lifeworld issues, patient values and norms can be verbalised and understood in medical dialogue, and used as anchoring points for changes and adaptations. Whereas medical counselling based on disease theory and instrumental rationality may obstruct the clarif ication of patients’ subjective values and norms, and result in frustrated efforts to change individual priorities and behaviour, the present study suggests that Habermas’s theory, appropriately adjusted, can provide GPs with communicative tools that may give rise to an expanded form of patient autonomy and produce decisions which are good, right and practicable for the patient