Policy recontextualisation: the proposed introduction of a multiple-choice test for the entry-level assessment of the legal knowledge of prospective solicitors in England and Wales,and the potential effect on university-level legal education

Much of the substantive content of undergraduate law programmes in England and Wales is framed by the requirements of the legal regulators. There are now proposals for changes to the entry-level assessment of the legal knowledge of prospective solicitors, which include the use of a standardised multiple-choice test (MCT). It is anticipated that for most law students this would be taken alongside or immediately after their undergraduate studies. This paper uses discourse analysis to explore the positioning of the regulators in the consultation documents for this proposal, and undertakes a review of the literature on the use of MCTs in legal education. By using theoretical concepts derived from the work of Basil Bernstein, most notably the recontextualising rule, and classification, it explores the potential effects of this change in policy on university-level legal education.     

Intervention Induced Changes on Parenting Practices,Youth Self-Pride and Sexual Norms to Reduce HIV-Related Behaviors Among Rural African American Youths

AIDS is the leading killer of African Americans between the ages of 25 and 44, many of whom became infected when they were teenagers or young adults. The disparity in HIV infection rate among African Americans youth residing in rural Southern regions of the United States suggests that there is an urgent need to identify ways to promote early preventive intervention to reduce HIV-related risk behavior. The Strong African American Families (SAAF) program, a preventive intervention for rural African American parents and their 11-year-olds, was specially designed to deter early sexual onset and the initiation and escalation of alcohol and drug use among rural African American preadolescents. A clustered-randomized prevention trial was conducted, contrasting families who took part in SAAF with control families. The trial, which included 332 families, indicated that intervention-induced changes occurred in intervention-targeted parenting, which in turn facilitated changes in youths’ internal protective processes and positive sexual norms. Long-term follow up assessments when youth were 17 years old revealed that intervention-induced changes in parenting practices mediated the effect of intervention-group influences on changes in the onset and escalation of risky sexual behaviors over 65 months through its positive influence on adolescents’ self-pride and their sexual norms. The findings underscore the powerful effects of parenting practices among rural African American families that over time serve a protective role in reducing youth’s risk behavior, including HIV vulnerable behaviors.     

青少年文本和视觉资料中的全球化因素(续完)

第三类:"性别暗示性"(正文有全球化因素,背页没有,20个样本) 在14-17岁学生中,这一类占子样本的21%:比较而言,这一类中女生比例多于男生(25%比15%).一种说明是,虽然这些文本中有全球化因素,主要的话语实际上是一种性别化的.以下是这类文本中的三个个案.     

Antecedents and Consequences of Psychiatric Disorders in African-American Adolescents

This study included three waves of data, collected from approximately 890 African-American children and their families. Antecedents and consequences of psychiatric disorders among this population were examined. Children’s temperament, pubertal timing, and experience of stressful life events were tested as antecedents of psychiatric disorders. Several aspects of school functioning were then tested as consequences of psychiatric disorders. In addition, children with a single psychiatric disorder and those with comorbid disorders were statistically compared. Results showed that (1) children with at least one disorder, compared to those with no disorder, exhibited significantly more difficult temperament, experienced puberty earlier, and underwent greater numbers of stressful life events; (2) those with at least one disorder had significantly poorer school outcomes than those with no disorder; (3) children with comorbid disorders, compared with those who had only one disorder, displayed lower educational aspirations and poorer school commitment.