A chronicle of the liberation struggle: the career development of Ahmed Kathrada

Ahmed Kathrada (1929-2017), an anti-apartheid activist, political prisoner, and parliamentary politician had been at the centre of South Africa's liberation struggle for six decades and is remembered as a soft-spoken, strong-willed and incorruptible freedom fighter. This psychobiography uses the career development framework of Jeffrey Greenhaus and the ecological human development systems framework proposed by Urie Bronfenbrenner to investigate and illuminate Kathrada's life history. Kathrada was purposively selected as subject due to his extraordinary contributions to the liberation struggle. The study used primary and secondary documentary data. The findings indicate poor alignment between the age categories proposed by the Greenhaus framework and Kathrada's career development stages due to him joining the liberation movement at a very young age, his rapid career development during the early career stage and the impact of imprisonment on his career development. The findings relating to Bronfenbrenner's theoretical framework illustrate the interaction between individual and environmental factors that influenced Kathrada's life and career. Ultimately, employing two theoretical frameworks assisted in formulating a pragmatic, holistic and comprehensive psychobiography that illuminates Kathrada's life and career. The study contributes to the legacy of Kathrada and underscores the importance of longitudinal studies in the career development of extraordinary individuals.

Review of studies applying Bronfenbrenner's bioecological theory in international and intercultural education research

The Russian-born American psychologist Bronfenbrenner's bioecological perspective on human development is an ideal framework for understanding how individuals negotiate the dynamic environment and their own identities in international and intercultural education settings. However, a review of the current literature shows that most studies either adopted the earlier version of the theory (i.e., the ecological systems theory) or inadequately presented the most recent developments of the bioecological model (i.e., the process-person-context-time model). The construct of proximal processes-the primary mechanisms producing human development according to Bronfenbrenner-has seldom been explored in depth, which means the true value of bioecological theory is largely underrepresented in international and intercultural education research. This article first presents a review of studies that adopt Bronfenbrenner's theory and then offers future directions for the scope and design of international and intercultural education research.

Implications of time and space factors related with youth substance use prevention: a conceptual review and case study of the Icelandic Prevention Model being implemented in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic

PURPOSE

This research examines the implementation of the Icelandic Prevention Model (IPM) in Canada to identify opportunities revealed by the COVID-19 pandemic to re-design our social eco-system to promote wellbeing. This paper has two objectives: 1) to provide a conceptual review of research that applies the bioecological model to youth substance use prevention with a focus on the concepts of time and physical space use and 2) to describe a case study that examines the implementation of the IPM in Canada within the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.

METHOD

Study data were collected through semi-structured qualitative interviews with key stakeholders involved in implementing the IPM.

RESULTS

Findings are organized within three over-arching themes derived from a thematic analysis: 1) Issues that influence time and space use patterns and youth substance use, 2) Family and community cohesion and influences on developmental context and time use and 3) Opportunities presented by the pandemic that can promote youth wellbeing.

CONCLUSION

We apply the findings to research on the IPM as well as the pandemic to examine opportunities that may support primary prevention and overall youth wellbeing. We use the concepts of time and space as a foundation to discuss implications for policy and practice going forward.

School police officers' roles: The influence of social, developmental and historical contexts

Amid national protests over police brutality, debates over law enforcement in schools have been reignited. Though research has focused on the consequences of police presence in schools, few studies have investigated the roles of school police officers (SPOs) and whether the larger contexts influence them. Using a bioecological framework (Bronfenbrenner and Morris, 2006), we examined how historical, social and developmental contexts shape SPOs' views of their roles and the challenges and opportunities they encounter. Nineteen 90-min focus groups with 45 SPOs from one large school police department were conducted. Analysis revealed that SPOs perceived their roles as multifaceted, encompassing both formal (e.g., law enforcer, educator) and informal (e.g., confidante, counselor) roles. These roles were enacted differently depending on the school level and neighborhood context. Furthermore, the challenges and opportunities SPOs reported were also contextualized emerging from changes in school policies, the rise in technology and social media and increased professionalization of their police department. Implications for theory and research as well as for training and policy are discussed.

Shared Storybook Reading and Oral Language Development: A Bioecological Perspective

Shared reading research has become increasingly multidisciplinary and has incorporated a multitude of assessment methods. This calls for an interdisciplinary perspective on children's shared reading experiences at home and at the child care center and their relationships to oral language development. Here, we first discuss Bronfenbrenner's bioecological model of human development (Bronfenbrenner and Morris, 2006) regarding the relationship between shared storybook reading and oral language development. Second, we develop a framework for investigating effects of shared reading on language development in two important microsystems: the home literacy environment (HLE) and the child care literacy environment (CCLE). Zooming in on shared storybook reading as a proximal process that drives oral language development, we then develop a triad model of language learning through shared storybook reading that integrates approaches and evidence from educational psychology, developmental psychology, psycholinguistics, and corpus linguistics. Our model describes characteristics of children, adults, and books, and how their interplay influences shared reading activities. Third, we discuss implications for the Home Literacy Model (Sénéchal and LeFevre, 2002, 2014) regarding the conceptualization of shared reading as an important source of oral language development. Finally, to facilitate integrated research designs that include the two most important microsystems, we provide a critical discussion of assessment methods used in research that investigates the HLE and the CCLE and relate them to the shared reading triad in our bioecological model of shared storybook reading. We conclude with directions for future research.