Rewriting the future: Young people’s stories of educational engagement

Young people’s educational trajectories are always provisional. This article considers young people’s perspectives about enablers and barriers to continued education, and questions models of aspiration-raising that prioritise particular trajectories and are critical when young people cannot engage. Participatory methods enabled 30 young people aged 12-24 from disadvantaged areas in northwest England to imagine steps towards future possible selves. Through collaborative story-making with researchers, they established that inter-generational relationships are important to these journeys, especially support from adults who believed in their capabilities and encouraged young people’s influence over decisions for change

Polynomial Invariants of the Euclidean Group Action on Multiple Screws

In this work, we examine the polynomial invariants of the special Euclidean group in three dimensions, SE(3), in its action on multiple screw systems. We look at the problem of finding generating sets for these invariant subalgebras, and also briefly describe the invariants for the standard actions on R^n of both SE(3) and SO(3). The problem of the screw system action is then approached using SAGBI basis techniques, which are used to find invariants for the translational subaction of SE(3), including a full basis in the one and two-screw cases. These are then compared to the known invariants of the rotational subaction. In the one and two-screw cases, we successfully derive a full basis for the SE(3) invariants, while in the three-screw case, we suggest some possible lines of approach

Children and the Transformation of Schools: Enabling Participation through Intergenerational Work

This study places children’s participation at the core of school practice, challenging narrow interpretations of participation and education. Previous research, reinforced by the UNCRC (1989), indicates that schools must be more ready to listen and involve children, highlighting the benefits of voice but in practice limiting it to consultation. There is scarce research that considers children’s participation in schools as essential to education itself or as integral to democracy. Yet children flourish in schools with good relationships where teachers value what they say. This research in two English primary schools used group inquiry and intergenerational work to build children’s participation. During Phase 1 children interviewed adults and worked in intergenerational focus groups to consider the purpose of schools. Overwhelmingly, good relationships dominated school purpose, experience and hopes for the future. Phase 2 extended this through a series of workshops that integrated participation and education through National Curriculum inspired inquiry. The findings suggest that intergenerational work is a catalyst for children’s agency, repositioning children so they can shape classroom spaces for richer, more trusting relationships. In turn, through recognition of their selves in relation to, and with others, understanding of their situation and possibilities, children were able to work together, and with adults, to co-construct knowledge which takes account of temporal frames of reference and is more meaningful. This change in space and purpose also gave new meaning to the teacher’s roles, moving away from policy controlled authoritarianism, repositioning them as mentors. The study shifts focus away from preconceived outcomes, to the process of participation itself, providing significant insight into how rights based education can be made to work in schools

A Case for Complexity-Informed Participatory Action Research with Young People

This article addresses the fundamental issue of using qualitative research methods that encourage young people’s participation in settings that more commonly promote neoliberalism at the expense of social justice. Through a case study in an English primary school, it demonstrates how complexity-informed participatory action research could be advanced to enable young people’s participation rights, by building intergenerational relationships that reposition young people and adults within systems and by revealing local and global complexities involved in conceptualising transformational resistance. The developing method is discussed providing an original contribution to knowledge and practice in research with young people, with potential to reconcile schooling and socially just strategy

Perspectives of marginalised groups on HE and progression in education, including social and cultural contexts

Rewriting the Future has been undertaken in three phases from 2018 to the end of 2021. This report details the work carried out in 2020-2021, which has built upon the research conducted previously. The key aim of the earlier research was to enable young people to imagine alternative futures and thereby identify specific barriers and enablers for continued educational engagement. This led to a set of findings which in turn led to the development of interactive resources to explore educational experiences and future aspirations with further groups of marginalised young people. Data collection in all stages of Rewriting the Future has been a co-created process of working with young people to establish questions relevant to them in exploring educational aspirations, engagement and progression. This involves utilising participatory methods that enable young people to express their perspectives and ideas in ways which encourage identification of the issues, reflection and potential solutions. Participatory group activities allow the researchers to research ‘with’ rather than ‘on’ young people, and responses are recorded in different ways to produce rich data, allowing for the exploration of themes through different lenses. Analysis of data collected in Phase 3 led to the following themes: Perceptions of young people (by self and others); Relationships with others; Influential sources; Structural/contextual issues; and Knowledge and understanding. Significantly it is the nature and quality of children’s experiences of these factors which can affect whether they are barriers or enablers. Although our findings have been broadly categorised under a series of headings, a substantial finding is how interconnected the various themes are, and how a holistic approach is required when working with children and young people to discuss their futures. Whereas school students we worked with often thought first of qualifications and grades when considering university, our methods began from the starting point of imagining futures for themselves and exploring the range of routes available to them. Through considering the routes we were also able to identify potential challenges along the way, as well as enablers. Challenges and enablers took a range of forms, but one of the most significant observations was how the discussion itself enabled worries, assumptions, concerns and beliefs to come out into the open and to give access to alternative points of view

Working back to the future: strengthening radical social work with children and young people and their perspectives on resilience, capabilities and overcoming adversity

Using data from participatory story-telling research with 65 young people this paper provides a co-created theoretical grounding for radical social work with children and young people. The problems and solutions social work should be seeking are explored in the light of resilience theories and the Capability Approach. The young people’s perspectives echo but extend existing resilience interventions and definitions of Capability Approach, highlighting structural and historical patterns of inequality. They call for a collective response to adverse experiences, which become obvious in one zone of experience but have consequences and roots in other places. Social work could usefully employ expanded understandings of socio-ecological resilience and the Capability Approach (CA) to focus interventions more clearly on the root causes of adversities and shape interventions which highlight capability sustainability and co-created solutions. This would involve professionals working alongside children and young people, their families and allies, to confront enduring patterns of disadvantage

Hendra Virus Outbreak with Novel Clinical Features, Australia

To determine the epidemiologic and clinical features of a 2008 outbreak of Hendra virus infection in a veterinary clinic in Australia, we investigated the equine case-series. Four of 5 infected horses died, as did 1 of 2 infected staff members. Clinical manifestation in horses was predominantly neurologic. Preclinical transmission appears likely

Injectable and oral contraceptives and risk of HIV acquisition in women: an analysis of data from the MDP301 trial.

STUDY QUESTION: Do injectable and oral contraceptives increase the risk of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) acquisition in women? SUMMARY ANSWER: After adjusting for confounders, evidence of a significantly increased risk of HIV remained for women using injectable depo-medroxyprogesterone (DMPA) (hazard ratio = 1.49, 95% confidence interval (1.06-2.08)) but not for injectable norethisterone-enanthate (Net-En) or oral contraceptive pills (OC). WHAT IS KNOWN ALREADY: An association between the use of some types of hormonal contraception (HC) methods and an increased risk of HIV, possibly through changes in the genital tract environment and alterations in the immune response, has been previously observed, although not consistently. A recent systematic review of these studies has highlighted the need for more definitive evidence. STUDY DESIGN, SIZE, DURATION: A secondary data analysis of the MDP301 phase 3 microbicide trial was conducted to estimate the effects of use of different methods of HC on the risk of HIV acquisition in women. HIV-negative women (n = 8663) with a median age of 28 years were included in the analysis; 382 HIV seroconverted by 52 weeks follow-up; 10% of women-years were lost to follow-up before 52 weeks. PARTICIPANTS/MATERIALS, SETTING, METHODS: Contraceptive use was reported at each 4-weekly visit. Cox proportional hazards (PH) models were used to estimate the effects of baseline and current use of injectable DMPA, injectable Net-En and OC compared with no HC, on the risk of HIV, adjusting for baseline and time-updated covariates. Causal effects for 52 weeks of HC use compared with no HC were estimated in a weighted Cox model, censoring women at deviation from baseline HC use (or non-use) or pregnancy. MAIN RESULTS AND THE ROLE OF CHANCE: At baseline, 2499 (29%) women were on DMPA, 1180 (14%) on Net-En, and 1410 (16%) on OC; 3574 (40%) not on HC, started HC in follow-up. Adjusted hazard ratios (HR) for baseline HC use, compared with no HC, were 1.38 (95% confidence interval (CI) 1.07-1.78) for DMPA; 1.18 (0.86-1.62) for Net-En and 0.97 (0.68-1.38) for OC. The estimated causal effects of DMPA and Net-En over 52 weeks were: HR = 1.49 (95% CI 1.06-2.08) and HR = 1.31 (95% CI 0.62-1.61), respectively. LIMITATIONS, REASONS FOR CAUTION: A main limitation of the study was that it was a secondary analysis of data from a study that was not designed to investigate this question. Despite our best efforts, we cannot exclude residual confounding to explain the effect of DMPA. WIDER IMPLICATIONS OF THE FINDINGS: The results of this study should be reviewed by the World Health Organization to determine whether current recommendations on the use of DMPA in settings with high HIV prevalence require modification. STUDY FUNDING/COMPETING INTERESTS: MDP is a partnership of African and European academic/government institutions with commercial organizations, which is funded by the UK Government (DFID and MRC), with support from IPM and EDCTP. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. Competing interests: None