Functional Competence in Mathematics—Its Meaning and Its Attainment

1948 ◽  
Vol 41 (5) ◽  
pp. 195-206
Author(s):  
William Betz
Keyword(s):  
Young People ◽  
Public Support ◽  
Classroom Teachers ◽  
School Buildings ◽  
Children And Young People ◽  
Functional Competence ◽  
New School ◽  
The Public ◽  
College Professor ◽  
Straight Line

A college professor has said that if all the statisticians and economists of the nation could be laid out in a straight line, end to end, they would not reach a conclusion. Experienced classroom teachers will readily admit that this disconcerting opinion applies even more strongly to our educational policymakers. Their chronic inability to agree on a definite program for any length of time, or else the haste with which they often disavow the very plans they acclaimed so enthusiastically only yesterday, has reduced the edutional scene to a condition bordering on chaos. Externally, to be sure, we have much to be thankful for. Magnificent new school buildings have been constructed. The public support of education is becoming more dependable. Enrollment figures have risen to spectacular heights. Our children and young people usually like to go to school. On the whole, they are satisfactorily nourished and their health is carefully guarded. These are all great accomplishments.

Rights, obligations and the public sphere: Arguments and options for securing just policies for young people

2002 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 33-40
Author(s):  
Judith Bessant
Keyword(s):  
Young People ◽  
Public Sphere ◽  
Common Sense ◽  
Good Reason ◽  
Primary Reason ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Children And Young People ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
Dominant Narratives

Children and young people have too easily been subjected to state-sponsored mistreatment and neglect. One primary reason for the discriminatory and often hostile conduct directed at them by agencies ostensibly established to promote their welfare is that they have been ‘constructed’ as dangerous and ‘antisocial’, or as dependent, incompetent and naïve. A key aim of this article is to promote discussion about the significance of children's and young people's status as a key determinant of policies which routinely override their basic rights. The article argues that attention needs to be given to how child and youth policies can be developed more securely within a justice framework.I argue that, if we are serious about developing both just policies and ethical relationships with young people, we need to recognise the role played by dominant narratives about young people in shaping policies. Once this is achieved, attention can then be directed towards how those identities might be contested and reconstructed. I offer a number of suggestions for securing ethical treatment of young people which includes respecting them as fully-fledged human beings and citizens. I argue that challenging common-sense understandings of young people as dependent, not fully intellectually or morally competent, etc, can inform policies in ways that secure young people's entitlements as full citizens. In particular one way of challenging popular views about young people is to increase their involvement in the public sphere. The fact that most young people cannot currently claim rights for themselves directly is no reason for denying them. Indeed it is a good reason for securing mechanisms for monitoring those who have children in their care and to intervene to put those rights into effect. I also make a case for embedding young people's rights into an account of obligations that can be used to secure respectful and just conduct on the part of older people who have young people in their care.

scholarly journals Developing a methodology for public engagement with critical research

2017 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 217-231
Author(s):  
Ruth Boyask ◽  
Katy Vigurs
Keyword(s):  
Young People ◽  
Public Engagement ◽  
Public Domain ◽  
Critical Research ◽  
Children And Young People ◽  
Public Spheres ◽  
Policy Influence ◽  
The Public ◽  
Starting Point

In this article we argue that a refined understanding of ‘public’ and ‘public engagement’ can help researchers who produce critical research make better decisions towards achieving policy influence. We acknowledge the challenges critical researchers face in putting their research to work within the public domain. Critical research struggles to gain influence in bounded public spheres where research is valued as a consumable commodity rather than for its integrity or capacity for informing change. A starting point for developing a method of engagement is to understand better ‘publics’ and the different ways they may be conceptualised. We draw on a framework of three conceptualisations of the public in public engagement: bounded, normative and emergent. We use this framework to analyse our own experience of public engagement and attempts at policy influence in the Respecting Children and Young People Project. Through this analysis we recognise alternative ways to conceive of publics that may direct us away from some courses of action, and open new possibilities for public engagement with critical research.

scholarly journals The decision-making process in recommending electronic communication aids for children and young people who are non-speaking: the I-ASC mixed-methods study

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (45) ◽  
pp. 1-158
Author(s):  
Janice Murray ◽  
Yvonne Lynch ◽  
Juliet Goldbart ◽  
Liz Moulam ◽  
Simon Judge ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Young People ◽  
Public Involvement ◽  
Electronic Communication ◽  
Family Members ◽  
Decision Making Process ◽  
Communication Aids ◽  
Children And Young People ◽  
The Public ◽  
Communication Aid

Background This project [Identifying Appropriate Symbol Communication (I-ASC)] explored UK decision-making practices related to communication aid recommendations for children and young people who are non-speaking. Research evidence related to communication aid decision-making is limited. The research aims were to increase understanding of influencers on the decision-making process in recommending electronic communication aids, and to develop guidance tools to support decision-making. An additional, post hoc aim was to evaluate the public involvement contribution to the I-ASC project. The research focused on the identification of attributes and characteristics that professionals, family members and those who use communication aids considered important in the recommendation process. Findings informed the development of guidance resources. The evaluation of public involvement focused on what could be learned from a nationally funded project with involvement from public contributors typically regarded as hard to include. Methodology For the clinical decision-making component, the methodological investigation adopted a three-tier approach with three systematic reviews, a qualitative exploration of stakeholder perspectives through focus groups and interviews, and a quantitative investigation surveying professionals’ perspectives. The public involvement evaluation adopted a mixed-methods approach. A total of 354 participants contributed to the decision-making data set, including professionals, family members, and children, young people and adults who use communication aids; 22 participants contributed to the public involvement evaluation. The literature review process followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. Thematic analysis and framework approach supported the analysis of qualitative data. Two stated preference surveys, a best–worst scaling and a discrete choice experiment, allowed the relative importance of factors in decision-making to be determined. Analysis was grounded in random utility theory. Public involvement Two public involvement co-researchers, an adult using a symbol communication aid and a parent of a communication aid user, were core members of the research team. The I-ASC public involvement resulted in an additional award to evaluate the impact of public involvement across the project. Results Factors influencing decision-making are not always under the control of the decision-makers, for example professional knowledge, referral criteria and service structure. Findings suggest that real clinical decisions contrast with hypothetical decisions. Survey responses indicated that children’s physical characteristics are less important than their language, communication and learning abilities; however, during real-time decision-making, the opposite appeared to be true, with access needs featuring most prominently. In contrast to professionals’ decisions, users and family members prioritise differing aesthetic attributes of communication aids. Time allocated to system learning remains underspecified. The research informed the development of decision-making guidance tools (https://iasc.mmu.ac.uk/; accessed 8 June 2020). A public involvement evaluation suggests that successful public involvement of individuals with disabilities requires significant resources that include staff time, training and personal support (https://iasc.mmu.ac.uk/publicinvolvement; accessed 8 June 2020). Future work Further research is needed in the areas of language assessment, communication aid attributes, types of decision-making episodes and service user perspectives. These data highlight the need for mechanisms that enable public involvement co-researchers to be paid for their contributions to research bid preparation. Limitations Individuals who benefit from communication aids are a heterogeneous group. We cannot guarantee that this study has captured all relevant components of decision-making. Funding This project was funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Health Services and Delivery Research programme and will be published in full in Health Services and Delivery Research; Vol. 8, No. 45. See the NIHR Journals Library website for further project information.

Children's Participation in Brazil – A Brief Genealogy and Recent Innovations

2008 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 301-312 ◽  
Author(s):  
Udi Mandel Butler
Keyword(s):  
Young People ◽  
Public Sphere ◽  
Popular Education ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Children And Young People ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Poor ◽  
The Rich ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
Mass Participation

AbstractThis paper provides an overview of significant developments in Brazil in regard to children and young people's rights and participation in the public sphere. The paper addresses the importance of historically contextualizing particular practices and policies towards children and young people, in order to understand present manifestations of their "participation". Outlining the Brazilian context of deep inequality, the paper reflects how different childhoods, that of the rich and of the poor, have been differently categorised and acted upon. The paper goes on to give an account of the important movements of mass participation that emerged through the 1970s, in particular those concerning Popular Education, that sought to dismantle repressive institutions and relationships within the country, including those towards the children of the poorest sectors of the population. Important here is the influence of Brazilian pedagogue and activist Paulo Freire, whose ideas around 'conscientization' and their subsequent impact on participatory practices with children and young people are also addressed. The paper concludes with a brief overview of recent research on the multiple spaces of participation young people are engaged in, offering some possible avenues for future research.

Young sustainability activists as public educators: An aesthetic approach

2021 ◽  
pp. 147490412199095
Author(s):  
Danny Wildemeersch ◽  
Jeppe Læssøe ◽  
Michael Håkansson
Keyword(s):  
Young People ◽  
Collective Identity ◽  
Youth Activism ◽  
Public Pedagogy ◽  
Children And Young People ◽  
The Public ◽  
Movement Theory ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Sustainability Movement ◽  
Point Of Departure

In recent years we have seen increasing youth activism on climate and other sustainability issues. This paper presents a theoretical framework for further research on young sustainability activists as public educators. The point of departure is taken in Latour’s argumentation concerning the need to create new attachments to the Earth. In line with this, we highlight the importance of aesthetics and experiences conceived as integrated sense-perceptional, emotional and intellectual faculties. The second part of the paper moves into social movement theory, to explore what role the Youth for Sustainability movement may have in creating new attachments to the Earth. Drawing on Melucci, emphasis is put on the movement’s collective identity making. Furthermore, following Rancière, the ability to interrupt the distribution of the senses is stressed. Examples of youth activism for sustainability are presented and interpreted, which points to the potential of children and young people to act successfully. The last part of the paper moves into pedagogical theories to explore how this kind of youth activism fostering new attachments to the Earth can be conceived as public pedagogy. We thereby refer to Biesta’s distinction between pedagogy for the public, pedagogy of the public and pedagogy for publicness.

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