Re-Thinking the Role of Indigenous Systems in Life Skills Education Among the Youth of Local Communities

Schools experienced various challenges, and such challenges put the South African youth at risk of self-destructive behavior. The behavior that puts young people at risk, such as substance abuse and lack of educational life skills to mention a few, add to their vulnerability. The knowledge which has been historically repressed and marginalized needs to be given a rightful place in the development and promotion of indigenous knowledge in life skills education of South Africa. Data were collected and qualitatively framed within an interpretivist philosophical view using observation and focus group interviews from purposefully selected key informants who are experts in the area of indigenous knowledge and life skills education.

Design of a Methodological Intervention for Developing Respect, Inclusion and Equality in Physical Education

The following educational intervention proposal arises from the importance of implementing an education based on fostering values through physical education (PE) lessons. PE has certain characteristics that contribute to enhancing learning at a social, affective and psychological level, in addition to promoting adequate physical development. The proposed design is based on Donald Hellison’s personal and social responsibility model (TPSR), whose main objective is to achieve a teaching methodology that can convey values and skills in the lives of youth at risk of exclusion. Different sports modalities are used in the initiation phase, which make up a ten-week teaching unit and in which the game takes the leading role. The application of this program focuses specifically on students in compulsory secondary education, a stage in which significant changes are experienced in many aspects and levels. However, it is completely adaptable to other developmental stages. In this way, the main objective of this work is to create an intervention proposal that aims to promote, following a set of intervention units of sessions, the development of the three main values in which this work is based: respect, equality and inclusion.

Child Maltreatment Prevention Service Cases are Significantly Reduced During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Longitudinal Investigation Into Unintended Consequences of Quarantine

Unprecedented financial and emotional stress, paired with measures to slow the spread of COVID-19 (e.g., school closures), place youth at risk for experiencing increased rates of abuse. We analyzed data from New York City’s Administration for Children’s Services to investigate the frequency of child maltreatment prevention service case openings during this time. Longitudinal counts of case openings were compiled for January through June of the years 2014–2020. An independent samples Kruskal–Wallis H-test suggested that pre-quarantine case openings were significantly larger than case openings during quarantine. To account for the possible influence of other historical events impacting data, a secondary Kruskal–Wallis H-test was conducted comparing only the 4 months of quarantine data available to the 4 months immediately preceding quarantine orders. The second independent samples Kruskal–Wallis H-test again suggested that pre-quarantine case openings were significantly larger than case openings during quarantine. A Poisson regression model further supported these findings, estimating that the odds of opening a new child maltreatment prevention case during quarantine declined by 49.17%. These findings highlight the severity of COVID-19 impacts on child maltreatment services and the gap between demand for services and service accessibility. We conclude with recommendations for local governments, community members, and practitioners.

Parkour/Freerunning as a Pathway to Prosocial Change: A Theoretical Analysis

<p>Parkour/freerunning is a training method for overcoming physical and mental obstacles, and has been proposed as a unique tool to engage youth in healthy leisure activities (e.g., Gilchrist & Wheaton, 2011). Although practitioners have started to utilise parkour/freerunning in programmes for youth at risk of antisocial behaviour, this claim is insufficiently grounded in theory and research to date. In fact, the common misrepresentation of the practice in the media has led to confusion and debate about the nature of parkour/freerunning. In a conceptual and historical analysis, I explore what parkour/freerunning is, and how it can impact on the practitioner. Results from the analysis reveal values, goals and assumptions that parkour/freerunning is built upon, as well as a set of physical, mental, socio-moral and cognitive-behavioural skills developed through the practice. As illustrated by its history, parkour/freerunning has emerged as a highly versatile tool for self-development and change. These insights are used to discuss how parkour/freerunning relates to contemporary frameworks of offender rehabilitation. A comparative analysis demonstrates that parkour/freerunning is largely capable of meeting the standards of rehabilitation practice guided by the Risk-Need-Responsivity model. Moreover, key goals, assumptions and general approach in parkour/freerunning are naturally in line with those in the Good Lives Model of offender rehabilitation. The major overlaps of parkour/freerunning with both frameworks suggest that the practice can increase the individual’s capacity to live a healthy and prosocial life, and reduce the risk of reoffending. Particularly when applied within the GLM, parkour/freerunning offers a pathway to identity formation and transformation. Although this claim is in need of further exploration, I propose that parkour/freerunning can be utilised to enhance the practice of offender rehabilitation as an engaging and easily accessible tool for prosocial change.</p>

Parkour/Freerunning as a Pathway to Prosocial Change: A Theoretical Analysis

<p>Parkour/freerunning is a training method for overcoming physical and mental obstacles, and has been proposed as a unique tool to engage youth in healthy leisure activities (e.g., Gilchrist & Wheaton, 2011). Although practitioners have started to utilise parkour/freerunning in programmes for youth at risk of antisocial behaviour, this claim is insufficiently grounded in theory and research to date. In fact, the common misrepresentation of the practice in the media has led to confusion and debate about the nature of parkour/freerunning. In a conceptual and historical analysis, I explore what parkour/freerunning is, and how it can impact on the practitioner. Results from the analysis reveal values, goals and assumptions that parkour/freerunning is built upon, as well as a set of physical, mental, socio-moral and cognitive-behavioural skills developed through the practice. As illustrated by its history, parkour/freerunning has emerged as a highly versatile tool for self-development and change. These insights are used to discuss how parkour/freerunning relates to contemporary frameworks of offender rehabilitation. A comparative analysis demonstrates that parkour/freerunning is largely capable of meeting the standards of rehabilitation practice guided by the Risk-Need-Responsivity model. Moreover, key goals, assumptions and general approach in parkour/freerunning are naturally in line with those in the Good Lives Model of offender rehabilitation. The major overlaps of parkour/freerunning with both frameworks suggest that the practice can increase the individual’s capacity to live a healthy and prosocial life, and reduce the risk of reoffending. Particularly when applied within the GLM, parkour/freerunning offers a pathway to identity formation and transformation. Although this claim is in need of further exploration, I propose that parkour/freerunning can be utilised to enhance the practice of offender rehabilitation as an engaging and easily accessible tool for prosocial change.</p>

A Youth Perspective: Collaboration for Youth Development within Aotearoa New Zealand

<p>Collaboration is an increasingly popular approach to addressing the multi-faceted needs of youth-at-risk both within academic literature and government policy in New Zealand. Due to being a relevantly new concept, there is limited evidence in the literature regarding how it is being implemented and whether implementations are successful. There is aparticular gap within the literature regarding the experiences of frontline workers and youth themselves. As youth are the key benefactors of youth services it seems important to understand whether and how they perceive the collaborative approach to be working to assist them in their development. To determine this, the following study explores the experiences of nine youth in New Zealand regarding collaborative processes used by services they have been privy to over recent years. Youth participants came from across New Zealand and altogether have experienced a range of youth interventions, from alternative education to Family Group Conferences, aimed at addressing anti-social and criminal behaviours. Taking a phenomenological approach, the study is carried out using concepts from the framework of Appreciative Inquiry (AI). The use of AI ensured the study was strengths focussed and allowed youth to become active agents rather than subjects of enquiry. Furthermore, it has allowed a positive paradigm for discussing ways to ensure that youth services are better focussed on youth's needs, feelings and understandings. Along with the findings regarding collaboration a common theme arose when youth were invited to share their stories which highlighted further areas for discussion when addressing successful service outcomes. That is, the importance of relationship building.</p>

A Youth Perspective: Collaboration for Youth Development within Aotearoa New Zealand

<p>Collaboration is an increasingly popular approach to addressing the multi-faceted needs of youth-at-risk both within academic literature and government policy in New Zealand. Due to being a relevantly new concept, there is limited evidence in the literature regarding how it is being implemented and whether implementations are successful. There is aparticular gap within the literature regarding the experiences of frontline workers and youth themselves. As youth are the key benefactors of youth services it seems important to understand whether and how they perceive the collaborative approach to be working to assist them in their development. To determine this, the following study explores the experiences of nine youth in New Zealand regarding collaborative processes used by services they have been privy to over recent years. Youth participants came from across New Zealand and altogether have experienced a range of youth interventions, from alternative education to Family Group Conferences, aimed at addressing anti-social and criminal behaviours. Taking a phenomenological approach, the study is carried out using concepts from the framework of Appreciative Inquiry (AI). The use of AI ensured the study was strengths focussed and allowed youth to become active agents rather than subjects of enquiry. Furthermore, it has allowed a positive paradigm for discussing ways to ensure that youth services are better focussed on youth's needs, feelings and understandings. Along with the findings regarding collaboration a common theme arose when youth were invited to share their stories which highlighted further areas for discussion when addressing successful service outcomes. That is, the importance of relationship building.</p>

Reading Between the Lines: Representations and Constructions of Youth and Crime in Aotearoa/New Zealand

<p>In this thesis, I examine constructions of youth deviance in Aotearoa/New Zealand, 2002. In 2002, New Zealand had a national election in which adult commentators and observers concentrated and speculated on the reasons for a supposed increase in youth deviance and a spate of extraordinarily violent youth crimes. Youth-at-risk, early intervention, the family, and education were words that emerged continuously in commentator discussions. There was no critique of these words, or the practices they implied, and very little discussion of the implications the use of these words and practices posed for young people. In this thesis, I address this gap in the discussion by critically exploring the ways in which authors in institutional contexts constructed deviant youth and the implications of these constructions for youth. In this research, I sampled published texts in 2002 from academia, government, and media; three institutions which produce and reproduce knowledge in New Zealand. I applied a form of discourse analysis to the texts to explore and contextualise evident constructions. This analysis involved a bricolage of poststructural methodologies in the attempt to make an accessible argument, which effectively addressed the purposes of the research. I found that authors did not apply a knowledge devoid of power. Whether used to construct a picture of the deviant youth, or to describe necessary interventions into deviance, they used knowledge to construct the deviant youth as powerless effects of development and risk. Authors used knowledge to divide young people into the abnormally-deviant youth-at-risk and the normally-deviant adolescent. Applying knowledge allowed those writing about youth crime to construct and position young people as powerless. Authors reinforced this when they used knowledge to inform practices and interventions, which allowed adults to control the young person’s access to, and use of, power. In particular, authors and other experts saw mass education as a powerful practice of control and socialisation. Through education, adult society could remove the abnormallydeviant youth from the dysfunctional family environment and re-socialise the young person into conformity. Those writing applied a similar reasoning in other described interventions such as surveillance, conferencing, and early intervention. Interventions allowed adults to control the deviance of youth. I finish this thesis by arguing that interventions and contradictions in constructions show that power is not one-sided. That is, power is not always in the hands of adults. Rather, sociological theory can be applied to demonstrate and explore a power struggle between adults and young people where resistance coexists with power. I argue that resistance can provide an alternative explanation to the dominant ideas held by those working with, and talking about, deviant youth. Resistance allows for a concept of agency in which both deviance and non-deviance can be seen as a reactive response by the young person.</p>

Reading Between the Lines: Representations and Constructions of Youth and Crime in Aotearoa/New Zealand

<p>In this thesis, I examine constructions of youth deviance in Aotearoa/New Zealand, 2002. In 2002, New Zealand had a national election in which adult commentators and observers concentrated and speculated on the reasons for a supposed increase in youth deviance and a spate of extraordinarily violent youth crimes. Youth-at-risk, early intervention, the family, and education were words that emerged continuously in commentator discussions. There was no critique of these words, or the practices they implied, and very little discussion of the implications the use of these words and practices posed for young people. In this thesis, I address this gap in the discussion by critically exploring the ways in which authors in institutional contexts constructed deviant youth and the implications of these constructions for youth. In this research, I sampled published texts in 2002 from academia, government, and media; three institutions which produce and reproduce knowledge in New Zealand. I applied a form of discourse analysis to the texts to explore and contextualise evident constructions. This analysis involved a bricolage of poststructural methodologies in the attempt to make an accessible argument, which effectively addressed the purposes of the research. I found that authors did not apply a knowledge devoid of power. Whether used to construct a picture of the deviant youth, or to describe necessary interventions into deviance, they used knowledge to construct the deviant youth as powerless effects of development and risk. Authors used knowledge to divide young people into the abnormally-deviant youth-at-risk and the normally-deviant adolescent. Applying knowledge allowed those writing about youth crime to construct and position young people as powerless. Authors reinforced this when they used knowledge to inform practices and interventions, which allowed adults to control the young person’s access to, and use of, power. In particular, authors and other experts saw mass education as a powerful practice of control and socialisation. Through education, adult society could remove the abnormallydeviant youth from the dysfunctional family environment and re-socialise the young person into conformity. Those writing applied a similar reasoning in other described interventions such as surveillance, conferencing, and early intervention. Interventions allowed adults to control the deviance of youth. I finish this thesis by arguing that interventions and contradictions in constructions show that power is not one-sided. That is, power is not always in the hands of adults. Rather, sociological theory can be applied to demonstrate and explore a power struggle between adults and young people where resistance coexists with power. I argue that resistance can provide an alternative explanation to the dominant ideas held by those working with, and talking about, deviant youth. Resistance allows for a concept of agency in which both deviance and non-deviance can be seen as a reactive response by the young person.</p>