Masking hegemonic masculinity: reconstructing the paedophile as the dangerous stranger

This paper reviews the social constructions of the paedophile as these are embodied in clinical and journalistic discourses. It considers how these discourses have influenced community perceptions of risk and professional responses to the concerns they portray. It then locates these professional constructions within a context of hegemonic masculinity and unsafe families. It concludes that community safety is not adequately addressed by professional assessments of risk that focus primarily on the problems posed by known paedophiles. It is important to consider the problem of sexual violence in a much wider context that problematises the context in which sexual abuse occurs.</p

The Road Not Taken

The future of social work in England as a degree-based profession linked to a career ladder needs stalwart defenders. Its capacity to stand among those leading world developments in research, education and practice is in doubt because it is being undermined by politically-motivated attacks on its professionalism and commitment to protecting the interests of society’s most vulnerable people and constant changes to its professional and educational base. The turbulence caused by an unending stream of government policy shifts including Frontline, Step-up, Think Ahead and reductions in bursaries for a profession that sorely needs them, have sapped continuity within its ranks; led to declining numbers of students joining the profession; produced high rates of turnover among practitioners; and encouraged a flight away from statutory services to the voluntary sector, and, for some, a complete exit from the profession. These developments constitute a waste of public money spent on raising standards and the profession’s standing

Social work education, training and standards in the Asia-Pacific region

This article discusses the joint project between the International Association of Schools of Social Work (IASSW) and the International Federation of Social Workers (IFSW) to establish guidelines for the training and standard setting that elucidates what social work represents on a global level. While it is impossible to address all the issues that might be significant in such a large scope, attention is given to the challenges establishing global standards might encounter in a region as diverse as the Asia-Pacific

Connecting Localism and Community Empowerment: Research Review and Critical Synthesis for the AHRC Connected Community Programme

The Connecting Localism and Community Empowerment project sought to assess the merits of the assumption that localisms brings about community empowerment through a review of the existing academic and policy literatures. The key findings from the review point towards a lack of clarity and coherence in the literature in the usage and interpretations of the terms ‗localism‘ and ‗community empowerment‘. They are often defined by implication or tacitly assumed to have an accepted definition. Whilst greater localism is generally claimed to increase community empowerment, there are substantive grounds for questioning this claim, which arise from critically analysing these concepts and how they interact. These grounds highlight conditions which need to be fulfilled if localism is to realise its potential to enhance community empowerment. To understand these conditions we analysed four international case studies. We also consider two assessments of the New Labour government‘s localist policies in the UK

Women rebuilding lives post-disaster: innovative community practices for building resilience and promoting sustainable development

Disasters result in devastating human, economic, and environmental effects. The paper highlights women's active participation in community-based disaster recovery efforts drawing from the results of the ‘Rebuilding Lives Post-disaster: Innovative Community Practices for Sustainable Development’ by an international research partnership. Two case studies are presented from Pakistan and the USA to demonstrate how women contribute to building resilience and promoting sustainable development in diverse post-disaster contexts. The policy and practice implications are relevant for discussions regarding the post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals and framework

Carers' perceptions of harm and the protective measures taken to safeguard children's health against inhalation of volcanic ash: A comparative study across Indonesia, Japan and Mexico

Volcanic ash contains potentially toxic elements which could affect human health. There is a paucity of research focusing on the impact of airborne volcanic emissions on the health of children, and on their exposure reduction. Children's carers (parents/guardians) are critical to their protection, so documenting their perceptions of the health risk and their knowledge of how to reduce their children's exposure is an important first step to increase our understanding of how risks are acted upon. This article reports the findings of a survey of 411 residents with caring responsibilities for children aged 12 and under in communities near the active volcanoes of Sakurajima in Japan, Merapi in Indonesia, and Popocatépetl in Mexico. Informed by the Protective Action Decision Model (PADM) and Protection Motivation Theory (PMT), we investigated their perceptions of the health effects and harmful consequences of the ash on their children, how important they thought it was to protect them, and the protective actions taken. The Indonesian carers were the most concerned and motivated to protect their children, although, in all three countries, the large majority of carers had adopted protective measures that they perceived to be most effective, such as keeping windows and doors closed. Path analysis illustrated how the connection between perceptions of harm/worry and importance of protection could partially account for higher motivation levels to protect children, in the Indonesian carers. We discuss the key messages conveyed through the findings that are of relevance for policy, practice and training in all three countries

Boosting soil literacy in schools can help improve understanding of soil/human health linkages in Generation Z

Soil health underpins ecosystem services like food security and therefore underpins human health. Poor soil health is a global problem which is hindering attempts to deliver the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. We focus on goals 3 (human health), 13 (climate change) which are intimately linked to goal 15 (soil health). Soil health is arguably most fragile in regions such as sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) where aged soils are characterised by poor nutrient and water holding capacity, and are largely deficient in micronutrients such as Zinc. Poor soil health coupled with the largely cereal-based diets can mean that micronutrient malnutrition is high in the region. In sub-Saharan Africa, where much of the population is too poor to purchase mineral supplements, poor soil health (SDG15) can therefore negatively impact on human health (SDG3). We surveyed 3661 school children aged 13–15 in three African countries, Ghana, South Africa and Zimbabwe, for their ‘Attitudes, Behaviours and Competencies’ of soil, which we termed ‘ABC’. The ‘ABC’ survey results showed significant soil illiteracy. The survey showed that although students were generally equipped with a good attitude to (overall 52% positive) and behaviour towards soil (overall 60% engagement), they had little competency as to how to improve soil health (overall 23% knowledge). For example, less than 35% of respondents across all countries know that soil is living. Less than 13% of students are aware of the important role of soil in climate change mitigation. We believe that these two knowledge gaps must be addressed for Generation Z to understand the important linkages between climate change, soil and human health. We propose a hands-on ‘ethics of care’ approach to engage society with soil, piggybacking on existing climate change educational resources by building terrariums with living soil can empower children to learn about soil, plant, human and planetary health. The future of food security depends on Generation Z having soil literacy. Our survey clearly shows that students who think farming is a good way to make money have significantly higher levels of overall soil literacy. We propose that the future of human health depends on soil literacy