Effect of socio-cultural environment to the life stile of adolescents The purpose of this survey is to reveal the relation between the socio-cultural environment of adolescents and their life stile. In the process of writing this paper the following targets were announced: 1. To analyse and summarize scientific literature which analyses the issues of life stile. 2. In the form of questionnaire survey to study the peculiarities of life stile of the adolescents, who live in town and in the country and who belong to different social classes. The survey was carried out in the town of Šiauliai and its region in 2004. 166 respondents of grades 9-10 from secondary and basic schools of Šiauliai and its region took part in the survey. The data of the survey revealed that the main factors affecting the life stile of adolescents are the place of residence and social stratification of the family. The influence of the above-mentioned factors was revealed in accordance to four components: values, relations with parents, relations with adolescents of the same age and free time. Moreover, the survey showed the contrast among the town and countryside adolescents from economically strong and weak families. The adolescents who live in town value friends (x = 3,62) and health (x = 4,13) more, whereas the adolescents who live in the country value their parents (x = 3,49). These values are also preferred by the adolescents from economically strong families. The adolescents, who live in the... [to full text]

The aim of this essay was to investigate how teachers in the preschool class work with literacy. How do they justify the methods used to develop children's literacy abilities? I also wanted to know to what extent teachers enable multimodal approaches within written language practices. My study considers the impact teachers' professional identity has on working methods in the preschool class. I hope this essay will help teachers reflect on their learning approach.I gathered information by interviewing three preschool teachers and one compulsory school teacher for the early years working in three different preschool classes in three different schools. The four interviews were transcribed and put together in an overview. I applied a socio-cultural perspective to the material and approached the problem by looking into differences within preschool-/school traditions from the 1800's to present day education. All teachers practised the phonics based method the Bornholm model to some extent. Rhymes were often used as well as computer writing. The motivation to rhyming was that the children seemed to enjoy it, while typing on the computer was justified by all children's equal right to learn despite fine motor skills development.The analyses showed that preschool teachers are more likely to enable play and include joyful learning situations in their teaching. Compulsory school teachers come from another tradition, and often see the year in the preschool class as a preparation for school. All interviewed teachers have a theoretical knowledge about multimodal discourses, but struggle to apply these theories in practice.

Recent political and legal action has raised awareness about underreporting of sexual assaults on college campuses. The present study sought to identify psychological and institutional barriers to reporting sexual assaults through a series of questionnaires administered to current college students (N= 364). To investigate the relationship between policy variations and students’ likelihood of reporting, a 2 (option to report informally versus only formally) x 2 (student involvement in investigation/judicial board: involved versus uninvolved) x 2 (option to terminate an investigation: entirely in student’s control versus up to discretion of administration) between groups factorial design was used. The findings suggest that respondents’ were significantly more likely to report a sexual assault when given the option to terminate the investigation at anytime, when school size, rape myth acceptance and socio-cultural environment were controlled for in the analysis. These findings suggest that the option for complainants to terminate an investigation, their socio-cultural environment and individual rape myth acceptance are important factors in shaping attitudes towards reporting sexual assaults.

Vitamin A deficiency (VAD) continues to be a major health problem in developing countries. In South Africa, in 1999, one out of three children under the age of six years in the country had poor/ marginal vitamin A status. Limpopo Province was one of the provinces that most seriously affected by VAD. The study aim was to explore and describe the consumption patterns of vitamin A-rich foods of 10-13 year old children living in a rural area in Venda, and consequently making recommendations on nutrition education in this regard. A survey was conducted in Vyeboom Village in Limpopo Province, at Makhado local municipality in the Vhembe District. About 155 school children aged 10-13 years (boys and girls) participated in this study, using convenience, random and stratified sampling to draw the sample from three primary schools (Avhatondwi, Tshirunzanani and Thomas Ntshavheni). Data was collected during winter of 2006 using a socio-demographic questionnaire, the 24-hour recall and non-quantitative food-frequency questionnaires. The data was divided into four subsections regarding the 10-13 year old children that participated in this study, namely: the demographic information, food habits, food consumption patterns, and foods consumed rich in vitamin A. The SAS statistical analysis (version 8.2) software was used to analyze the data from the questionnaire by means of descriptive statistics (percentages, frequencies, means and summary of the tables). Inferential statistics (two way tables and chi-square tests) were used to test the associations between two categorical variables. Mothers were the caretakers in the families, because she mostly played a major role in the decision-making, preparation and serving of the food that were consumed by these children. Social cultural factors influenced the children’s food intake, because some of these foods were especially low in vitamin A and high in sugar content (e.g. sweets), compared to those foods that children were forbidden to eat (e.g. liver) which were high in vitamin A and other nutrients. The foods that children were mostly forced to eat (dark green leafy vegetables) were very nutritious and given in order to prevent hunger and wastage (left-over in the morning). The general meal pattern of these children was three meals a day with two, one or no snacks in between meals. The mostly consumed foods during these meals were bread, tea, stiff and soft maize meal porridge, dark green leafy vegetables and meat (chicken). Dark green leafy vegetables played an important role in supplying beta-carotene to these children, while the intake of retinol-rich foods was poor because they are expensive and labeled as highly allergenic, whilst other foods were forbidden. Intake of fortified foods was very high because porridge was the staple food and commonly consumed during lunch and supper. The results provided insight regarding the food habits, consumption patterns and the intake of vitamin A rich foods and were used to substantiate recommendations aimed at the improvement of the intake vitamin A rich foods among the children. / Dissertation (MConsSci (General))--University of Pretoria, 2008. / Consumer Science / unrestricted

Over the last three decades, the impact of dramatic change in the social, religious, political and economic environment has led to a rapid expansion in the number of women entering the paid labour force in Sri Lanka as elsewhere. However, their identities and workload continue to be defined around caring work, especially for children. Not surprisingly, employed mothers endeavour to balance these two central spheres of their life, family and work. This research focuses on the contradictions of mothers' work-life balance. It does so through an analysis of how successfully (or unsuccessfully) professional and managerial mothers in Sri Lanka combine motherhood with paid work, and how they understand this in terms of gendered identities and social norms. This example also allows an evaluation of western derived theories about mothers' decision making in the context of a developing, Asian country. Grounded theory was used to examine mothers' narratives about life in the family and at work, drawn from in-depth qualitative interviews, along with data from some representative secondary sources, in order to explore these questions. This thesis demonstrates that working women's mothering leads to the formation of a gendered identity which varies according to different socio-cultural and religious opportunities and constraints. Using the Bourdieu approach the research suggests how everyday life operates in terms of habitus, field and capital. However, these working mothers have low capacity to achieve a work-life balance and this may lead to complex social problems.

Over the last three decades, the impact of dramatic change in the social, religious, political and economic environment has led to a rapid expansion in the number of women entering the paid labour force in Sri Lanka as elsewhere. However, their identities and workload continue to be defined around caring work, especially for children. Not surprisingly, employed mothers endeavour to balance these two central spheres of their life, family and work. This research focuses on the contradictions of mothers¿ work-life balance. It does so through an analysis of how successfully (or unsuccessfully) professional and managerial mothers in Sri Lanka combine motherhood with paid work, and how they understand this in terms of gendered identities and social norms. This example also allows an evaluation of western derived theories about mothers¿ decision making in the context of a developing, Asian country. Grounded theory was used to examine mothers¿ narratives about life in the family and at work, drawn from in-depth qualitative interviews, along with data from some representative secondary sources, in order to explore these questions. This thesis demonstrates that working women¿s mothering leads to the formation of a gendered identity which varies according to different socio-cultural and religious opportunities and constraints. Using the Bourdieu approach the research suggests how everyday life operates in terms of habitus, field and capital. However, these working mothers have low capacity to achieve a work-life balance and this may lead to complex social problems.

Magistro darbo objektas – viešosios bibliotekos vaidmuo bendruomenėse. Darbo tikslas – apibrėžti ir įvertinti viešosios bibliotekos, kaip sociokultūrinio objekto, vaidmenį bendruomenėje. Darbo uždaviniai: išanalizuoti svarbiausius bendruomenės gyvavimo aspektus ir bruožus, teoriniu požiūriu išnagrinėti viešosios bibliotekos paskirtį ir kaitą, išsiaiškinti Marijampolės savivaldybės viešosios bibliotekos filialų vaidmenį mažose bendruomenėse. Atlikus literatūros analizę ir atvejo tyrimą, kuriuose informacijai ir duomenims gauti naudotasi bibliotekos nepublikuotų ataskaitų, statistinių duomenų analizės bei anketinės apklausos metodais, prieita prie išvados, kad viešoji biblioteka užima reikšmingą vietą socialinėje bendruomenės sistemoje; pastebėta bendruomenės, kaip socialinės sistemos, funkcionavimo priklausomybė nuo sociokultūrinės aplinkos bei švietimo ir kultūros paslaugų infrastruktūros išvystymo. Analizuojant socialinę bendruomenės sistemą, jos vystymosi bei struktūros pokyčius bei viešosios bibliotekos, kaip socialinės institucijos transformacijos požymius, atkreiptas dėmesys į viešosios bibliotekos galimybes vietos bendruomenėje jos sociokultūrinei, informacinei bei edukacinei situacijai gerinti ir viešosios bibliotekos pokyčių, lemiamų bendruomenės poreikių, perspektyvas. Išanalizavus bendruomenės teritorinius bei socialinius aspektus, prieita prie išvados, kad individo socializacija ir integracija į pilietinę visuomenę vyksta gyvenamosios vietovės pagrindu... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / The subject-matter of the master’s thesis is the role of the public library in the community. The aim of the work is to define and evaluate the role of the public library as a socio-cultural object in the community. The goals of the research study are as follows: to establish cultural and information needs of the community, to review the mission and evolution of the public library, to estimate the need of the public library services and to define their structure, and to survey and evaluate the role of the branches of the Marijampolė municipality public library in small communities. Having used the theoretical methods of induction and comparison of the scientific literature and the empirical scientific research based on the method of analyzing data from statistics and the data acquired from the questionnaires, a conclusion was made that the public library plays a significant role in the social system of the community. Having applied the method of generalizing abstraction, there was observed a dependence of the functioning of the community as a social system on the development of the infra-structure of the socio-cultural environment and that of the educational and cultural services. Having analyzed territorial and social aspects, a conclusion was made that socialization and integration of the individual into the civil society takes place on the territorial basis in the set social environment through purposeful community and socio-cultural education. It was also noted that in... [to full text]

This diploma thesis focuses on integration of pupils with different maternal language to Czech primary schools. It concludes legislation of integration of foreign pupils in the Czech Republic. It suggests methodology and activities that can help foreign pupils to integrate to Czech school environment. It describes unsuccessful proces of integration as well. Practical part of this thesis is a case study that describes conception of integration in concrete primary school. KEY WORDS Integration of pupils with different maternal language, adaptation to different socio- cultural environment, individual approach, methodology of integration, inslusion, foreign pupil, Czech as the second language