This research explores home supervision requirements (HSRs) in Scotland; as well as the views about, and experiences of those who are affected the most by this type of compulsory intervention – young people, their parents and social workers. Home supervision requirements are a type of legal supervision order at home which is unique to the Scottish system of child legislation. Despite being the most common type of disposal used by the Children’s Hearing little is known about how HSRs work in practice. There is some evidence that young people who are subject to a HSR are likely to leave school with fewer qualifications than their peers – including young people who were ‘looked after’ away from home. Concerns with this gap in our understandings, combined with concerns for the poorer educational outcomes of young people who are subject to a HSR, has lead the Scottish Government, in collaboration with the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), to set up and fund this case studentship. The research was conducted in a relatively large urban local authority in Scotland and used a multi-method approach in order to find out more about the nature, scope and outcomes of HSRs; as well as young people’s, their parents’ and social workers’ views about, and experiences of HSRs. I have conducted secondary analysis of data obtained from the Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration (SCRA). SCRA provided aggregated data on all 98 young people who were subject to a HSR in Thistle city for 12 months or more at 31st of December 2008. This information provided a ‘profile’ of young people subject to a HSR as well as a charter of their involvement with the Hearing System. This highlights the similarities between young people who are subject to a HSR and those who are subject to other types of supervision requirements (SRs) in Scotland. I also carried out documentary analysis of young people’s social work case files. Social work case files contain a number of different documents which provide qualitative information in narrative form about young people and their families, as well as a history of contact with social services. What gets recorded, how and to what effect is the result of the same system that they describe and influence. Case files are therefore of interest not because of what they record but how they construct subjects and facilitate the management of individuals and populations – in this case young people and their parents. Finally, semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with 10 young people, nine parents, one carer and 10 social workers. All of the young people interviewed had been known to social services for a considerable length of time, with some having been on and off different types of supervision requirements for five years or more. The interviews revealed a great deal of ambivalence towards HSRs from all stakeholders, and a lack of clarity about the nature and scope of the intervention. Drawing on post-theories critique on the rationalist, reductionist assumptions of modern discourses that dominate social policy and practice this study concludes that rather than asking whether HSRs are successful or not, we should first consider what HSRs are for. I propose that HSR is a disciplinary technique which aims to facilitate the management of individuals and populations. Social control should not however be understood as exclusive of disciplinary powers but as an inevitable and irreducible characteristic of all social relations. It is important therefore to explore how practice exercises control; how this is contested, resisted and transformed; and to what effect.

The Scottish Parliament which (re)convened in 1999 was designed to engender a new style of political practice. This ‘new politics’ was intended to address perceived failures within the ‘Westminster approach’ to policy‐making and the ‘democratic deficit’ believed to have emerged during the 1980s in Scotland. Key to achieving this were four principles around which the Parliament’s operations were designed: power‐sharing; accountability; accessibility and participation; and equal opportunities. Citing accessibility and participation as the ‘cornerstone’ of their work, the Parliament’s institutional architects (the Consultative Steering Group) argued that devolution should deliver a participatory democracy, with proactive efforts to be made by the Parliament to involve groups traditionally excluded from the policy process. Due to the increasing prominence in recent years of discourse relating to young people’s disillusionment with organised politics and the CSG’s recommendation that every effort should be made to include them in the new Parliament’s work, this research examines the degree to which greater accessibility to and participation in the Parliament’s work has been delivered for children and young people during the Parliament’s first two terms (1999‐2007). Findings are based upon a mixed‐methodological case‐study approach, involving an audit of the Parliament's activity and qualitative input from MSPs, Parliament staff, representatives of youth charities / organisations / advocacy groups, and young people themselves. The thesis argues that progress has been more pronounced in relation to accessibility than participation for younger people. The neoinstitutionalist theoretical framework suggests that insufficient rule specification in relation to the value of public participation and younger people has resulted in the emergence of hybridised logics of appropriate behaviour, particularly among parliamentarians. The result is the persistence of attitudes and practices which appear to reinforce aspects of Westminster practice and an adultist approach to young people’s role in politics. Drawing upon recent developments in neoinstitutionalist theories of reliable reproduction, institutional breakdown and gradual change, the thesis examines the institutional logic behind the failure to consolidate the Parliament’s founding vision.

This small scale study was informed by Symbolic Interactionism and Interpretivist Analysis and was carried out in a county within the south of England, referred to as ‘Southshire’. File searches and questionnaires were employed to gather contextual data. Semi-structured interviews were used to gather participant views and thematic analysis was used to analyse these interviews. This was a two part study consisting of two papers. The participants in Paper one of the study were young people with behavioural, emotional and social difficulties (BESD) and their parents or carers. Paper one focussed on the participants’ views and experiences of mainstream and special education after they had experienced both. The views of the special school keyworker were also sought in order to improve understanding of the support and barriers that exist for young people and families. Views were elicited through individual semi-structured interviews which were analysed qualitatively using a thematic analysis approach (Braun and Clarke 2006). To gain contextual information within the county and to help in the process of selecting participants, the files of fifty young people identified as experiencing BESD were searched and analysed and relevant information was recorded. Paper two focussed on practitioners’ experiences of supporting young people with BESD. An electronic questionnaire was sent to practitioners from a wide range of agencies and collected qualitative and quantitative data which informed the researcher of the local context and gave insights into practitioner views. Five practitioners were invited to take part in individual semi-structured interviews to explore their views on supporting young people with BESD. Interviews were analysed using a thematic analysis approach. Findings from papers one and two were assimilated and the implications for Educational Psychology practice were considered. The following research aims were addressed: 1. To improve our understanding of the support and barriers experienced by children and young people with BESD in a Local Authority 2. To develop a better understanding of how Educational Psychologists can support children and young people experiencing BESD, their parents, carers and other practitioners. Summary of findings The key finding within Paper 1 was that both the young people and parents/carers reported experiences that were contrary to the intentions of current inclusion policy. Broadly, negative experiences were reported at mainstream school and positive experiences were reported while at special school for BESD. Participants felt that they had been treated negatively by mainstream practitioners in particular and that young people had been denied access to the curriculum and activities within mainstream school. Additionally the young people had experienced bullying at mainstream school and the bullying had been ignored or the young people themselves had been perceived as the bully despite being the victim. Perceptions of and attitudes towards the ‘unseen’ disability of BESD were also referred to and parents and carers reported feeling isolated while their child was attending mainstream education. The key finding within Paper 2 was that practitioners also reported experiences that were contrary to the intentions of the current inclusion policy. They reported many challenges that are faced by practitioners when trying to include young people with BESD in mainstream schools, and when supporting them within the Local Authority. Participants felt that negative attitudes towards BESD exist within mainstream schools, that working with other agencies to support young people with BESD is difficult, that parental involvement is key, but not always possible and that elements within the government and Local Authority context conflict with the inclusion agenda and with meeting children’s needs. Significance and Contribution Through a design informed by Symbolic Interactionism and Interpretivist Analysis the participants authentic voices have been heard in order to deepen our understanding of their experiences. Previous research has explored the views and experiences of young people, families and practitioners; however this is the first time that they have been considered together sufficiently in order to identify shared views. Additionally, young people, families and keyworkers views were sought at a specific point within the young person’s journey - after they had attended both mainstream school and special school. Furthermore experiences of the transition from mainstream school to special school were considered. The findings within this study suggest that the application of a simple solution (i.e. including young people with BESD in mainstream schools) to a complex problem (the social inclusion of young people with BESD), has had a negative impact. In fact the findings seem to imply that the inclusion of young people with BESD within mainstream schools has actually created the social exclusion that inclusion was designed to alleviate. The evidence for this is present within the findings within this study. In relation to BESD, the medical model has been criticised for individualising the ‘problem’, however if an educational model view of BESD is taken we are led to consider that the education system itself is imperfect. Therefore taking the educational model approach and applying the simple solution of ‘inclusion’ to the very complex problem of social inclusion highlights many areas of difficulty. These areas of difficulty have been outlined in the findings of this study and of previous studies. The identified issues are entrenched within the education system and can only be tackled through an examination of the system itself. The reported experiences of inclusion are more nuanced than the powerful message my data suggests, therefore it is essential to note that this study is not simply suggesting that inclusion is ‘negative’ or ‘bad’ and that special school is ‘positive’ or ‘good’ – a much more complex picture has been presented. The complexities that have been highlighted within this study have also been considered alongside the role of the Educational Psychologist and how they can facilitate inclusion and essentially social inclusion through their work with young people, families and practitioners. As a result of the findings, it has been suggested that further research should focus on examining the education system and in particular the dichotomy between the inclusion agenda and results centred teaching and the specialist provision for BESD that exists since the implementation of the inclusion agenda and whether it is meeting the needs of young people. Further research may also focus on whether the case presented for young people with BESD in this study is similar for young people with other types of SEN. This further research on how inclusion policy translates into practice will be particularly pertinent as new government policies and agendas unfold.

The aim of the study is to identify young visitors’ perceptions of the archaeological site of Delphi in Greece by measuring their importance and satisfaction levels from a series of cultural attributes through importance-satisfaction analysis. Even though young people are an important segment of the tourism industry little research has been done concerning their actual behaviour towards culture and cultural destinations. Given their significance, an examination of their perceptions towards cultural destinations can give useful insights. This can be done both academically, for the enrichment of theory, but also practically, for the appropriate management of cultural sites according to their needs and wants. In this study it was found that young visitors consider culture as one of the most important motives for travelling. According to the respondents, attributes related to monuments/exhibits at the site are more important than the facilities and amenities provided by its managers. The research identified that, overall, young people were fairly satisfied with Delphi, particularly with its beauty and landscape, but less satisfied with the man-made interventions. Importance-satisfaction analysis indicated that issues concerning the organisation and promotion of the site have positive levels of satisfaction, while issues concerning education and quality have comparatively negative levels. Factor Analysis derived three groups of attributes that should be considered for the future planning of the destination: ‘Place and Experience’; ‘Amenities and Quality’; ‘Facilities and Operation’. Finally, Cluster Analysis indicated that there are three main segments of young visitors in Delphi which, according to their profile, develop certain behaviours that should also be taken into account for the future promotion of the site; ‘The Greeks’; ‘The Americans and others’; ‘The French’. Therefore, better management strategies according to the needs and wants of this dynamic market would make the site more attractive, contributing to the promotion of cultural tourism in general. The study found that young people are great ‘consumers’ of culture and seek to enrich their knowledge while visiting cultural destinations. If a cultural destination meets their specific needs and wants, greater levels of satisfaction will be generated. Positive levels of satisfaction will lead to a series of positive consequences: loyalty, mouth to mouth marketing and peer influence. This, in addition to the fact that young people are the tourists of the future, can lead to the creation of consciousness for culture while travelling and to the enhancement of the potential visitation of the site in the following years.

This research examines how social networking fosters the mobility of young people in a rural Spain. Generally, rural areas have been overlooked in the discourse on Globalization and Network Society, which is the foundation of the concept of “linked city”. Although many scholars have highlighted the direct link between the increase in the modes of communication of people and the increase of any kind of interaction, face-to-face included, it is necessary to stress that most of these studies are conducted in urban context where a certain grade of efficient transport exists. This study provides an approach to the impact of mediated communication on the lives of people in villages. Based on the concept of Digital Natives this study addresses the Social Network use of young people in a determined rural area in Spain and its correlation with the aim of mobility of the respondents. The results bring to light a certain degree of correlation between the increase of interaction via the Internet and the wish of mobility. Besides, this study uncovers a transportation shortage among locations in this rural area that forces young people to reduce the face-to-face interactions around specific nodes (e.g. High School or a near big city). Finally this study stresses the need for improvement of the transportation networks in terms of cost, flexibility, functionality and reach among rural population in order to avoid a cultural, economic and social backwardness in comparison to urban environments.

It is of primary concern, both from the perspective of the individual and of society at large, to take measures to prevent the occurrence of a negative development amongst young people. The starting point of this dissertation is the notion that interpersonal interactions that occur between people contribute to a process of learning, thus focus is placed upon the pedagogic interactions between society's authorities and young people in trouble. How such interactions contribute to the process of learning regarding the young people, and what that learning entails, is seen as a vital pedagogic question. The overriding aim of the dissertation is to identify aspects of learning that occur during the interactions between society's authorities and young people in trouble, in order to contribute to an understanding of how such interactions can be developed in a constructive manner. The thesis is based on the theories of man as a social being, dependent on relationships and interaction for the process of knowledge. The empirical study includes interviews with teachers, social workers, police officers and young people. Vignettes have formed the basis of discussions about the measures and initiatives taken by society and the types of experience the young people feel the measures and initiatives have led to. Since an element of authority is a component of the relationship between the representatives of society and the young people, the concept of governmentality formulated by Foucault has been used in the process of analysis. Also von Wright's concepts of punctual and relational perspective have been used in this process. The purpose of this study is to attempt to determine what consequences the various perspectives taken in the interactions may lead to, in relation to the knowledge these young people develop about themselves and about society. The result shows that society's representatives among themselves have different views of young people in trouble. Young people's experiences of interactions with society's representatives argue for the fact that their backgrounds often direct the course of the interaction and its contents. Young people testify about irrelevant measures and initiatives taken by society; that they are subject to prejudice and that the principle of "equality before the law" is not observed. Their experience has led them to feel that they have less of human dignity. The dissertation ends up in a discussion about the prerequisites necessary, in order that pedagogic interactions between a person in authority and young people in difficulties may proceed from a relational perspective. The ability to take the young person's perspective would thereby be a central aspect in the discussion about what measures and initiatives taken by society are appropriate to change a troubled lifestyle.

The aim of this thesis is to create an understanding for children’s and young people’s buddy relations when it comes to the creation of identity and socialisation, as well as to emphasise the formation of meaning and informal learning processes of these buddy relations. This is seen from a child’s perspective. The study has an ethnographic approach in order to follow children’s establishment of relations over time and in a process. The empiric data has been collected over a period of two-and-a-half years. The children were 12 years old when the study was initiated, and there are ten children in the examination. Via interviews, talks and correspondence I have been able to learn more about the children’s leisure time, hobbies, extra-curricular activities, and their school environment. To conduct research with children for this study means that the data are collected on the children’s terms. My starting-point is that human identity is shaped by and in collaboration with others. Mead’s symbolic interactionism is the main theoretical basis for my analysis. Other theoretical perspectives that have been useful are Habermas’s theory on systems and life world, as well as Ziehe’s theories on the cultural freedom of young people. The result of this study shows that having a mate is buddy is crucial when it comes to the creation of a healthy identity. The relation between mates creates trust, confidence and mutuality. It promotes well-being in children and young people, and makes them feel loved. The buddy relation becomes a confirmation of the fact that they are all right. Having friends is not the same as having mates. Many people have friends, for example classmates, which is a prerequisite for the creation of identification with others and a possibility to establish new buddy relations. The problem is, though, that all children do not feel needed and loved by a mate and that it is difficult, especially when young, to establish new close relations. The group becomes very important to the young people in their socialisation process. From the group they hope to receive, preferably together with another mate, confirmation, and the group determines whether they are good enough or not. The terms for the establishment of relations are to a large extent ruled by adult approaches and how the children’s and young people’s everyday life is structured. Since children and young people often spend time in an institutional world in which they establish relations, this has consequences for the adult professional pedagogues who work there. Perhaps one of the most important missions of the teacher training programme is to create awareness that children and young people have a need for belonging and togetherness. When you look at relations from a child’s perspective, it is clear that they long for and try to create a working togetherness, and at the same time you realise how exposed they are when doing this.

The thesis studies the literacy practices of a group of young people in Närpes in southern Ostrobothnia, Finland with focus on SMS (Short Message Service), both in Standard Swedish and in dialect, but for the most part written in dialect. The aim of the investigation is to describe this writing as a social marker (young people against adults) and its function as an identity act. In addition the study investigates the orthographic norms and conventions that the young people use in their writing. The material consists of 520 SMS and such material as was collected through inquiries and interviews. In Närpes, as in many other Finland Swedish dialect areas, the dialect has got widened areas of usage and is well established and accepted in more domains than before. It is used in the new media and is thereby also gaining larger scope in public space. This also applies to writing SMS in dialect. The theoretical points of departure are taken from sociolinguistics and literacy research. A central concept is the new writing, i.e. writing in electronic media such as e.g. SMS and e-mail, which are somewhere between speech and writing. This has given speech and writing new forms with new preconditions, forms that the new media have “triggered” forth and that the language is adapting itself to. In the first investigative chapter (Ch. 3) eleven literacy practices divided into five groups are analysed: I electronic literacy practices (SMS, e-mail, chat), II hand-written slips of paper (reminder slips, purchase lists, slips to parents and friends respectively), III picture postcards and letters, IV diaries and V school assignments. The informants participate with one exception, group V, in all literacy practices in dialect to a greater or lesser extent. The second investigative chapter (Ch. 4) accounts for the dialect features, diphthongs and consonant combinations that were concretely investigated in the SMS material. The young people’s writing in dialect is functional and shows that the dialect is an important identity marker. The lack of shared conventions for spelling is not conceived of as a problem but allows everyone to create their own conventions, which in its turn has resulted in the tolerance level for variations in orthography being high. One group think that they write as it sounds, while another think that they do not follow any rules. The dialect is reserved for everyday matters, while Standard Swedish is used in more formal writing situations. The literacy practice may be the same, but the choice of language variety varies with the aim, content and length.

Physical inactivity among young people is a public health concern. Markers of physical inactivity, such as low cardio-respiratory fitness (CRF) and obesity are adversely related to higher order cognitive functions, which underpin goal directed behaviour (i.e. cognitive control) and are implicated in academic achievement. Regular aerobic exercise can benefit cognitive control in children. However, it remains unknown whether daily physical activity behaviour is associated with cognitive control. Investigating this is important as targeting increments in daily moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) may initially be a more realistic policy goal than developing aerobic exercise interventions. Nominal number of studies assessed this relationship using objective monitoring of physical activity (accelerometry), and yielded mixed results. None of the studies into objectively measured physical activity and cognitive function in young people controlled for CRF, which is posited to mediate the relationship between regular aerobic exercise and cognitive control. Likewise, other important confounders such as intelligence, have yet to be addressed in the literature. Moreover, it is unknown whether this relationship varies with age, as extant studies looked solely at younger adolescents. For example, meta-analytical findings (Fedewa & Ahn, 2011) suggest that children can benefit more cognitively from CRF and chronic aerobic exercise than adolescents as greater effect sizes have been observed for younger compared to older youngsters. Alternatively, chronic aerobic exercise may be specifically needed for cognitive benefits to emerge. However, none of the aerobic exercise interventions included objective assessments of baseline physical activity and few studies assessed the effects of chronic aerobic exercise interventions on multiple indices of cognitive control. This thesis aimed to address the limitations of previous research and to investigate: 1) the associations between objectively measured daily MVPA and cognitive control in older adolescents (study 1), and 2) in preadolescent children (study 2), while controlling for CRF, general intellectual ability and a number of important confounders (e.g. adiposity, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder); 3) the relationship between daily MVPA and academic achievement (study 2); 4) the effects of chronic aerobic exercise intervention on cognitive control in children, while controlling for objectively measured daily MVPA and time sedentary at baseline (study 3). Methods: Study 1. A sample of 667 adolescents (Mage = 15.4, SD = .17, 55.5% girls) from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children was included in the analyses. MVPA was measured with ActiGraph, GT1M accelerometer. CRF was assessed with sub-maximal cycle ergometer test and expressed as weight adjusted predicted physical work capacity at the heart rate of 170 beats per minute (PWC-170). Attentional control was measured with Stop Signal task. Study 2. A sample of 81 children (Mage = 8.64 years, SD = .57, 45.7 % girls) was included in the analyses. MVPA was objectively measured using the ActiGraph, wGT3X+ accelerometer. CRF was measured using a maximal graded exercise test on a treadmill. Inhibitory control was assessed with a modified Eriksen flanker task, working memory with Operation Span Task; and academic achievement with Kaufman Test of Educational Achievement. Study 3. 32 children (Mage = 8.64, SD = .58, 56.2% girls) were randomised into a physical activity intervention (FITKids2) or a waitlist control group. Changes in VO2max were measured using a maximal graded treadmill exercise test and changes in MVPA were objectively monitored for 7 days using the ActiGraph, wGT3X+ accelerometer. Behavioural measures of inhibition (reaction time, and accuracy) and working memory (accuracy) were taken using computerised laboratory tasks (modified Eriksen flanker task and Operation Span Task). Results: Study 1. MVPA was not significantly related to cognitive processing speed or variability of cognitive performance in hierarchical linear regression models. In simple regression models, CRF was negatively related to mean RT on the simple go condition (R2 = 2.6%, F(1, 308) = 8.28, p = .004). Study 2. No significant associations were noted between MVPA and either inhibition, working memory, or academic achievement. In contrast, CRF explained 4.7% of variance in accuracy interference (ΔR2 = .047, p = .045; β = -.22, t(78) = 2.03, p = .045, F(2, 78) = 4.95, p = .009). Study 3. FITKids2 physical activity intervention had a positive effect on the speed of responding during incongruent condition of flanker task (F(1, 30) = 4.69, p = .038, ηp2 = .13). A significant increase in BMI percentile was observed in the control (Z = 2.17, p = .03) but not in the intervention group (p = .53). Discussion: Study 1. Our results suggest that aerobic fitness, but not MVPA, was associated with cognitive processing speed under less cognitively demanding task conditions. The results thus indicate a potential global effect of aerobic fitness on cognitive functions in adolescents but this may differ depending on the specific task characteristics. Study 2. The results of this study suggest that CRF but not objectively measured MVPA was associated with better interference control in preadolescent children. Given the intermittent nature of children s daily MVPA, it is possible that aerobic exercise, which increases CRF is needed for cognitive benefits to emerge. Study 3. FITKids2 after-school physical activity intervention had a positive effect on children s inhibitory control, namely this cognitive function, which is closely related to academic achievement and future job and health outcomes. Thus, the results of this study convey a positive public health message, where promoting child s engagement in aerobic exercise can engender benefits to their cognitive function. Conclusions: The findings from this thesis can inform development of physical activity interventions to benefit cognitive functions in young people and contribute to the evidence base to inform future health and educational policies.

This thesis compares certain developmental characteristics and value preferences of emerging adult university students and non-student employed young people at the age between 19-25 years in the Czech republic. According to some authors this life stage seems to be a new developmental period between adolescence and young adulthood. In comparison to the USA there has not been much research done on this topic in the Czech Republic. There are some special characteristics of this phase of life that are described in the theoretical part, and tested on a sample of Czech young people which is showed in the empirical part of this thesis. The differences of how students and non- students experience this time of life are compared. It is assumed that student life style brings different impulses than the life style of employed young people. The aim of this thesis was to test the assumption that university students show the features of emerging adulthood more plentifully than people at the same age who work. According to the results of this study the assumption was confirmed. Another focus of this thesis is the topic of value orientation among this sample of young people. Value orientation is influenced by life style and is formed especially during adolescence and young adulthood. Certain types of value...