Enablers and Barriers of Integrating Game-Based Learning in Professional Development Programmes

This study investigates the enablers and barriers of embedding technology for continuing professional development (CPD) of staff in the police sector. The research team developed an online game called “Child Witness Interview Simulation” (CWIS) to complement existing interview training for police officers and help them gain competency in interviewing children. Within the game design, development, and commercializing phases, the research team came across key themes that define the opportunities and challenges of implementing GBL through a police-based learning approach to CPD. The study identified that the successful implantation of Technology-Enhanced learning (TEL) in CPD falls into two broad categories: organizational, which considers learning outcomes, and individual, which considers learning aims and competency. Therefore, for successful implementation of TEL in CPD, ongoing supportive organizational culture that encourages employees and managers to be committed and motivated to implement TEL in CPD is necessary.

Psycholinguistic Study of the Speech of Older Preschool Children: Specific Features of Understanding the Figurative Meaning of Phrases and their Use in Spontaneous Speech

The acquisition of native language phraseology is important for the speech and mental development of preschool children, because with the help of phraseology children can expressively reproduce a variety of social events in speech, impartially characterise people, their actions and deeds. The purpose of the study was to investigate psycholinguistic features of children's development of operations of understanding figurative meaning of phraseological expressions and their verbalisation in speech. To this end, the authors used methods of assessing the understanding of figurative meaning of proverbs and metaphors, direct interpretation of a word, choosing one variant of meaning from several paraphrases, interviewing children, recording their statements on a voice recorder, and talking to children. The analysis of children's speech was carried out according to the criteria and corresponding indicators: semantic (lexical, metaphorical, conceptual), pragmatic (active use of phrases, correct reproduction, appropriateness of actualisation), expressive-stylistic (evaluative, emotional, figurative speech). Four levels of children's operations of understanding figurative meaning of phraseological expressions and their use in speech were identified: high, sufficient, average, low, each of which correlated with certain psychological and psycholinguistic characteristics. It was found that children acquire phraseology spontaneously, under the influence of the speech of others, and selectively. It has been revealed that preschool children understand the meaning of phraseological units better than they use them in oral speech; the use of phraseological units in spontaneous speech is a more complex speech operation for children than the operation of decoding the figurative meaning of a phraseological unit. However, both the operations of understanding the figurative meaning of phraseological units and the operations of verbalising phraseological units in spontaneous speech require further development. The practical value of the research lies in the development of a diagnostic technique for studying the operations of understanding figurative meaning of phraseological expressions and their use in spontaneous speech in the zone of a child's speech activity and thinking development

Identification and Consideration of the Child's Opinion in Parental Disputes about Children

The question of the child’s age sufficient to take it into account in a family conflict continues to be debatable. To resolve it, the authors of the article analyze the norms of Russian and foreign legislation, the positions of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, representatives of legal science, as well as materials of judicial practice. The authors come to the conclusion that it is inexpedient to establish an age limit in the ability to take into account the child’s opinion in a controversial legal relationship. Emphasis must be placed on the actual level of physical and mental development of the minor. For this, it is proposed to use the available expert methods of interviewing children in order to identify their opinions, which are specially designed to overcome difficulties in communicating with children of different age categories. The article reveals the peculiarities of the implementation of measures for legal education in the field of informing minors about their rights, ways of protecting and restoring them. The authors insist on expanding the content of Article 57 of the Family Code of the Russian Federation, which regulates the content of the child’s right to express their opinion, and propose legislative innovations in the regulation of certain methods of protecting the rights and interests of children.

Child Survey as an Essential Part of Child Well-Being Index Design

The article is aimed at analyzing the possibilities of measuring child well-being and creating a child well-being index in Russia. It presents the materials of an empirical study that involved pilot surveys of children aged 10 to 17 (N=1942) and parents of children of the same age (N=1589) conducted in the Tambov region. The Index is based on six main areas of child well-being (domains): education, safety, health, material well-being, social relations, self-realization. The results obtained make it possible to compare the notions of parents and children about various aspects of well-being. We argue that children’s position is essential for a comprehensive assessment of child well-being, and thus interviewing children must be a necessary element in any child well-being index design.

Interviewing children and young people for research

Book Review