Stefan Kucharczyk, Kenneth Pettersen and Jennifer Rowsell
This short article takes the play and passion of children’s literacy as its focal point. Rather than orienting reading and writing around what should be taught or how children…
Abstract
Purpose
This short article takes the play and passion of children’s literacy as its focal point. Rather than orienting reading and writing around what should be taught or how children should respond and understand written text, in this short reflective essay we aim to explore the play and passion inherent in children’s literacy practices. We do not aim to precisely conceptualise or delineate the nature of play or passion but, instead, to trace the path of these ideas through seminal research studies within the field of New Literacy Studies as well as drawing on the authors’ fieldwork.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper begins with an exploration of foundational research in the field of new literacy studies, drawing attention to the abundant presence of children’s play and passion. Then, it visits two moments of play and passion from the authors’ fieldwork that suggest ways of thinking anew about children’s literacy practices beyond responding to text. The first, by Kenneth Pettersen, considers childhood collecting across home/pre-school settings in Norway; the second, by Stefan Kucharczyk, looks at children’s curatorship in Minecraft at an afterschool videogame club in the UK. This paper concludes with a proposed reimagining of literacy education, outlining implications for researchers, policymakers and practitioners.
Findings
These observed moments of collecting and gaming are analysed in the context of children’s play and passion. In both cases, we highlight how observing children following their passions and interests can challenge how we, as adult researchers, view their play and how we think about literacy. Rather than being in opposition to one another, our analysis of children’s collecting and worldbuilding account for the felt experience in children’s literacy practices.
Originality/value
Moving inside of two separate research studies, we give a bird’s eye view of what can be gained by observing and drawing out play and passion while children respond and make meaning through varied texts and objects in two different contexts. The article therefore is an invitation to think otherwise about reading and writing by embracing play and passion as children’s pathway into rich literacy moments.
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Amer Jazairy, Emil Persson, Mazen Brho, Robin von Haartman and Per Hilletofth
This study presents a systematic literature review (SLR) of the interdisciplinary literature on drones in last-mile delivery (LMD) to extrapolate pertinent insights from and into…
Abstract
Purpose
This study presents a systematic literature review (SLR) of the interdisciplinary literature on drones in last-mile delivery (LMD) to extrapolate pertinent insights from and into the logistics management field.
Design/methodology/approach
Rooting their analytical categories in the LMD literature, the authors performed a deductive, theory refinement SLR on 307 interdisciplinary journal articles published during 2015–2022 to integrate this emergent phenomenon into the field.
Findings
The authors derived the potentials, challenges and solutions of drone deliveries in relation to 12 LMD criteria dispersed across four stakeholder groups: senders, receivers, regulators and societies. Relationships between these criteria were also identified.
Research limitations/implications
This review contributes to logistics management by offering a current, nuanced and multifaceted discussion of drones' potential to improve the LMD process together with the challenges and solutions involved.
Practical implications
The authors provide logistics managers with a holistic roadmap to help them make informed decisions about adopting drones in their delivery systems. Regulators and society members also gain insights into the prospects, requirements and repercussions of drone deliveries.
Originality/value
This is one of the first SLRs on drone applications in LMD from a logistics management perspective.
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Patrick Owiredu, Camillus Abawiera Wongnaa, Patricia Pinamang Acheampong, Monica Addison, Kwaku Agyei Adu and Dadson Awunyo-Vitor
Various models and approaches are implemented to provide technical assistance and support to improve cocoa farmers' welfare in Ghana. The Farmer Business School (FBS), which is…
Abstract
Purpose
Various models and approaches are implemented to provide technical assistance and support to improve cocoa farmers' welfare in Ghana. The Farmer Business School (FBS), which is analogous to Farmer Field School (FFS), is one of the few initiatives of GIZ (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit) and Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD). The main aim of the initiative is to train smallholder cocoa farmers to perceive cocoa production as a business. However, there is limited or conflicting evidence as to the effect of FBS on productivity and food security, especially in Ghana. This study assessed FBS participation and the participation's impact on productivity and food security of cocoa farmers.
Design/methodology/approach
The study used primary data collected from 542 cocoa farmers in Central and Western North regions of Ghana and employed descriptive statistics, perception index and Endogenous Switching Regression (ESR) as analytical tools.
Findings
The results, which reported an overall perception index of 0.7, indicated that the farmers had a strong positive perception on the FBS program. The results also showed that sex of a farmer, number of years of formal education, farm size, extension contact, perception, distance to extension outlet and membership of farmer-based organizations (FBOs) significantly influenced the decision to participate in FBS program. Also off-farm income, years of education and household size significantly influenced farm productivity and household food security. The results further showed that participation in FBS improved productivity and food security of cocoa farmers.
Research limitations/implications
The study used data from two regions of Ghana, namely the Central region and the Western North region. Findings from studies using data covering all cocoa growing areas of Ghana could be more informative in formulating policies aimed at encouraging participation in FBS and consequently help improve cocoa productivity and food security.
Originality/value
This article offers insights into the welfare effects of FBS on cocoa farmers as previous similar studies are without this information.