This study is about high expectation of Primary School children's abilities, with particular reference to their perception of historical time. Earlier research in this field, mostly negative, has been taken as the basis of a new approach involving larger samples and. a longitudinal study over a period of six years. More than 1250 children in thirty schools were continuously engaged from the ages of seven to eleven. It was intended to discover whether a specific curriculum, devised to develop children's skills in reoognieing and. interpreting evidence from the past, would produce any significant improvement in performance with specially devised tests. We could also discover whether an untutored control group demonstrated latent skills in the same area of learning. The major criteria of the study are the concepts of evidence, authenticity and. time-placing, more particularly in terms of sequence and seriation rather than of duration. There has been no attempt to identify 'concepts of time', although reference is made to Piagetian-inspired investigations. The main concern has been with those skills which Primary School children might be expected to demonstrate, most importantly their development of expressive language. A battery of twenty-five tests was developed from the curriculum offered to the classes year by year. These were, successively, picture eeriation tests, picture-interpretation and documentary analysis. Each set of tests is the basis of a central Chapter of this thesis. Certain conclusions are possible. Firstly, earlier findings have been substantially extended by means of larger samples over an adequate period of time. Secondly, the results of individual children and different schools are seen to differ widely. The influence of Zeitgeist is consequently examined by means of a computerized lysis, both of the whole pilot population and, more searchingly, of a random sample from that group.Finally, average children in both pilot and control groups are found to command more ability between the ages of seven and eleven than was previously supposed. These skills are seen to be capable of continuous gradual development which responds to the systematic enrichment of a special curriculum. More should be done about this area of children's development in English Primary Schools. - vii

What is the nature of the links which may exist between social deprivation and harm to children? In seeking to shed light on the nature of these links this thesis will draw upon a study of parents' perceptions of the problems faced by them in bringing up children in neighbourhoods characterised by high scores on indices of social deprivation and high levels of child protection registrations. It will be demonstrated that parents facing social disadvantage encounter a range of adversities and hindrances which may have a cumulative adverse effect upon the care of children. The problems to which these lead will be shown to be linked by three main strands:- - social deprivation contributes to the existence of socially and economically impoverished neighbourhoods in which it is difficult for parents to provide a safe and healthy environment for children - by creating material, social, interpersonal and intrapersonal barriers in families, social deprivation can prevent parents from achieving the standards of parenting to which they might aspire and which society expects of them - in interaction with many other factors, social deprivation can contribute to high levels of psychosocial stress within families that may lead some parents to physically injure or neglect their children. In these ways the study will develop the argument that harm to children is linked to deficits in material resources and complex, interacting psychosocial stress factors. The study will be seen to have major implications for service-provision under the Children Act 1989 and promoting "partnership with parents".

The primary historical focus of this thesis falls in the years between 1940 and 1970. My main area of interest lies in the individual subject and how that child, adolescent or adult functions in particular situations and most importantly, how my chosen African American writers have portrayed their male and female protagonists in various environments and circumstances. Each of the seven chapters of this thesis covers specific experiences: an emotional journey toward one‘s sexual orientation; a trans-national urban experience of homosexuality; 1950s suburbia and the socio-cultural issue of interracial relationships; historical and legal concepts of interraciality; rural poverty and childhood trauma; communal responsibility and child abuse; and maturation and intergenerational relationships. An emphasis upon family, community and environment are threads that run throughout the thesis. Accordingly, social, political and legal histories are engaged, as are environmental studies. Furthermore, queer, black feminist, trauma and gender theories are utilised along with sociological studies, child development and psychology. This research has enabled my close textual examination of each narrative so as to ascertain how each writer deals with the relationship between subject and society, thus, I argue how they offer differing viewpoints than the ones we find presented by traditional theories and criticism that predominantly comprise issues of race. Finally, the aim of this thesis is to propose alternative avenues of critical inquiry regarding the treatment of child development and individual trauma through individual readings of these mid-twentieth-century examples of autobiography, drama and novel.

Thesis (M.S.)--Boston University

Thesis (Ed.D.)--Boston University.

Digitized by Kansas Correctional Industries

Digitized by Kansas Correctional Industries

Digitized by Kansas Correctional Industries

Digitized by Kansas Correctional Industries

Thesis (Ed.D.)--Boston University.