http://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/221 2013-06-20T10:52:42Z 2013-06-20T10:52:42Z Fasting, K Brackenridge, CH Kjølberg, G http://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/7434 2013-05-15T12:10:50Z 2013-01-01T00:00:00Z

Title: Using court reports to enhance knowledge of sexual abuse in sport: A Norwegian case study Authors: Fasting, K; Brackenridge, CH; Kjølberg, G Abstract: Sport scientists face difficulties in gaining access to data on sexual abuse in sport through conventional research sources and also in verifying media reports of such cases. One potential alternative source of data is court reports. The study reported here used a small number of court reports to examine issues confronting those researching sexual abuse in sport. Two questions were investigated: What do the court reports tell us about the perpetrators and their abuse strategies? How useful is content analysis of court reports for acquiring more knowledge about sexual abuse cases in sport? Data were drawn from electronic searches of the Norwegian Lovdata (Lawdata) website. 15 sport-based cases were revealed by the searches and then subjected to content analysis, both within- and cross-case. The findings confirm previous studies in relation to the perpetrator strategies and the absence of any perpetrator stereotype. The article concludes that court reports provide one valuable, yet still incomplete, source of information against which to test our understanding of sexual abuse in sport and develop abuse prevention measure. Description: Copyright @ 2013 The authors

2013-01-01T00:00:00Z Xystrou, Maria N http://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/7410 2013-04-29T13:24:47Z 2004-01-01T00:00:00Z

Title: A comparison of the socio-psycho-educational and personality characteristics of learning disabled and dyslexic children with normal controls Authors: Xystrou, Maria N Abstract: INTRODUCTION: LD-dyslexic children experience more social isolation, social exclusion, loneliness less access to social goods -i. e. in education, employment, welfare, etc. (Bryan & Bryan, 1990). Students with learning disorders view themselves as more lonely and report lower levels of the sense of coherence than the average achieving pupils. (Wiener, 1998). Their reading and other learning problems are likely to continue into adulthood, with destructive effects on their feelings of self worth, personal relationships and job opportunities. Last but not least, learning disabilities have been associated with juvenile delinquency. A variety of theories concerning this purported causal relationship have been proposed. Although the assumption that learning disability plays a primary role in a delinquent outcome, remains open to question. AIM: This study examined whether: 1) There is a significant correlation between the socio-psycho-educational- environmental problems and learning disabilities. 2) They can be differentiated from their normal controls on the basis of their psycho-socio-educational profile. MATERIAL: The parents of normal controls participating in the study were individually given a questionnaire to complete about their children's reactions and social behaviour. The dyslexic children's parents had already filled in an extended questionnaire that was especially developed by Professor G. Pavlidis for students with Learning Difficulties and Dyslexia. Subiects: Two hundred and twenty seven (227 - 122 boys and 104 girls) children and their parents, took part in this research. The children attended grades 3 through 6. The sample consisted of a hundred and thirty six (136) normal controls -57 boys and 78 girls, and ninety one (91) dyslexics and learning disabled children -65 boys and 26 girls-drawn from the Dyslexia and I. Q. Center, where they were diagnosed by Prof. Pavlidis. The controls were indentified according to their parents answers who had filled in the Pavlidis Questionnaire that was mentioned above. (LD children had similar characteristics as the dyslexics, however they did not fulfil all the criteria to be classified as dyslexics. For instance, for a child to be diagnosed as dyslexic it is necessary to fall significantly behind in reading. Our LD child had similar problems with dyslexic and ADHD in their written expression etc but their reading was not as bad). The subjects' selection as well as their testing took place according to standard ethics and after the necessary permissions were received and the appropriate informed consents were filled out. Results: The LD-dyslexic children's psycho-socio-educational characteristics were found to be significantly different worse than those of the normal controls of the same age. In fact, the two groups different so much that on the basis of their psycho-socio-educational profile the Discriminant Analysis (DA) successfully classified the two groups with accuracy of 94,6%. The LD-dyslexic group was correctly identified with 97,6% while the normal controls were classified with 93,7% accuracy. Conclusions: The very high discrimination accuracy between the two groups raises the possibility to use the Pavlidis Questionnaire as a quick, easy to administer, inexpensive and highly accurate screening tool for children with suspected LD-dyslexia. This potential will be of particular importance to countries like Greece, where only few and very limited possibilities exist within the educational system for the diagnosis of the LD-dyslexic children. However, one has to be cautions to the strong possibility not to be able to discriminate between specific LD-dyslexics and children with general learning retardation, whichQ may have very different etiology, e.g. due to low IQ. Description: This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University.

2004-01-01T00:00:00Z Thoms, DW http://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/7409 2013-04-29T13:15:46Z 1972-01-01T00:00:00Z

Title: Technical education and the London county council 1918-1939. A study in course innovation and development Authors: Thoms, DW Abstract: Our thesis is concerned with the process of course innovation and Development in technical education within the area of the London County Council During the period 1918-39. Although essential, an historical study, the Thesis is intended to be of value in a consideration of future development in Technical education, and in particular in the study of the relationship between Curriculum management and manpower planning. The first part of our thesis describes the institutional structure of the principal sectors of technical education in London and outlines the Type of courses that were available and their general progress during the Interwar years. The second part of our thesis seeks to analyse the background to course innovation and to assess why certain courses were successful and why others were comparative failures. Since the topic is potentially so vast, our thesis has been limited to an identification of major factors, rather than a detailed consideration of each one. Our analysis shows the process of course innovation and development in technical education to have been a highly complex interaction of forces in which the other aspects of the educational structure, including administrative as well as teach1ng institutions, played a vital role. Emphasis has been given to the influence of senior administrative officers within the local I education authority framework. Special mention has been made of the work of the Board of Education and of the limitations of the Board in tailing to establish definite guidelines for course development in technical education. Important factors outside the educational structure have also been considered, including the attitudes of parents and business management to formal technical training. Description: This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University.

1972-01-01T00:00:00Z Ormerod, Milton Blackburn http://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/7407 2013-04-29T11:41:15Z 1975-01-01T00:00:00Z

Title: The characteristics and correlates of attitudes to science among english pupils in the middle years of secondary education Authors: Ormerod, Milton Blackburn Abstract: The whole study concentrates on pupils in the top half of the ability range at the end of their third year of secondary education, since, at this stage, they usually have to make certain subject choices which are major determinants of the course of their future education and. careers. Factor analysis of the five Likert type responses to a 20 item attitude-to-science scale made by 500 pupils in 14 schools revealed the existence of two distinct sub scales: 12 items concerned with science as a school subject (S UBATT) and 8 items concerned with the social implications of science (SOCATT). The latter seemed more strongly related to subsequent science choices in the case of girls, but was not unidimensional. The scale was augmented by a further 29 potential 'SOCATT' items and applied to another 2,450 pupils in 33 schools. These pupils were divided into three ability bands: those in classes expected to be entered for 5 GCE subjects later; those only expected to be entered for 5 CSE subjects later and a 'mixed' category where the school had not differentiated the future examination potential. Factor analysis now revealed the same SUBATT and. Four 'SOCATT' scales indicating a) A robust attitude to the aesthetic/humanitarian aspects of science (AESTH). b) An attitude to the practical value of science mainly as it affected the individual (PRACT). c) An attitude to the value society put on science as indicated by the amount of money which should be spent on it (MONEY). An attitude to scientists and their activities (SSTS). Simultaneously the 'Brunel Subject Preference Grid' was administered. This obtained pupils' ranking of their preference for current school subjects by a paired comparison method; their liking for teachers (3 point scale); their subject choices for the following year and their liking for school (5 point scale). From this data alone three major findings emerged: (i) Teacher liking correlated fairly highly with subject preference (.4 to .6) but to a much less extent with subject choices. (ii) There was by no means perfect accord between subject preference and subject choice. (iii) Each school subject could be assigned a 'gender' - according to whether it was preferred by, or taken exclusively by one sex or the other. When the preferences of the co-educated in the GCE group were compared with those of pupils in single sex schools, the former polarized in such a way that each sex showed greater preference for subjects of their own gender and less preference for those of opposite gender. This also applied to choices in the case of boys but not of girls. Attitude scores also polarized (except for AESTH) as though 'science' was male. Liking for school only correlated positively with preference for the physical sciences, mathematics and, in the case of girls, latin. Only when the GCE group was sub-divided both by sex and co-educational and single sex schooling did significant differences between the correlations of the four 'SOCATT' scales and different science subject preferences and choices emerge. The correlations when these measures involved biology were negligible but the corresponding relationships involving physics and. chemistry were not. Correlations involving subject choice where higher (up to .5) than those with subject preference and discriminated more between the separate attitude scales, sexes and type of schooling. In general, the highest correlations were with the 'MONEY' scale and the lowest with the 'AESTH' scale (except in the case of single sex- educated girls). Correlations involving the 'PRACT' scale were higher with boys. With the 'Mixed-CSE1 pupils the correlations of SOCATT scores with biology choice were still negligible and those with physics choice and girls' chemistry choice were significantly lower than in the GCE groups. In the correlations of liking for different science subject teachers with SOCATT scores, a complex pattern of significant differences between sub-groups and between different SOCATT scores emerged, but only when measured separately for pupils whose scores lay above and below the medians for that group on the corresponding subject preference. Considering correlations with science subject choice and corresponding science teacher liking together, the trend was for attitude scores to be related with greater magnitude and diversity to the nature of the science being chosen and less to science teacher liking in the GCE sub-groups than among the 'Mixed-CSE' boys and girls. In the 'Mixed-CSE' sample the converse was true. Analysis of the variance of the attitude measures between schools revealed several which were atypical for one sex or both in their group. The only clear pattern emerging, however, was the tendency for girls in the 'Mixed-CSE' group to exhibit greater fluctuations in their attitude scores from school to school than the boys who were being educated alongside them. Description: This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University.

1975-01-01T00:00:00Z