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This paper reports on a systematic review of the published literature on the effectiveness of whole‐school behavioural interventions, which aim to promote emotional and social well‐being among young people in secondary education. The findings are based on 27 studies of varying designs with some limitations. The results suggest that the literature is not well developed, and has a substantial skew towards interventions conducted in the United States. However, it does suggest that conflict resolution training is successful in promoting pro‐social behaviours in the short term, and that the use of peer mediators may be effective for longer‐term outcomes. The evidence relating to preventing bullying and disruptive behaviour is more varied, with evidence of mixed effectiveness being identified for the roles of the community, teachers, young people, external agencies and parents.

In 2014–2015, a group of first-time freshman students participated in the Education as the Practice of Freedom Project. The project pedagogy and curriculum were inspired by Critical Pedagogy, Critical Race Theory of Education, and Anti-Colonial Schooling; they incorporated a series of social-psychological reflective assignments and activities (stereo-type threat, growth mindset, and relevance interventions) developed to transform the way students perceive, experience, and transition to higher education. This research seeks to explore as up to what extent the aforementioned pedagogical frameworks amends social-psychological academic stressors that affect how the students of the Historically Black Colleges and Universities perceive, experience, and transition to higher education, with a particular focus on what this pedagogical framework in first year seminar looks like in practice. A transformative research design was employed for this research project that triangulates qualitative and quantitative data (auto-ethnographic case-study), with in-depth interviews of faculty, focus groups with students, and a document analysis of syllabi, lesson plans, assignments, a formative experiment, and institutional data analysis. This research is praxis driven with an intent to influence educators, administrators, stakeholders, and anyone who is about that life.

This work was originally commissioned during 1982, the year that was designated Information Technology Year; the year that the personal computer replaced the space invader machine as a focus for teenage obsession; the year of the library symbol, the Hunt Report on cable TV; the year the US Post Office issued two stamps celebrating American libraries, and the British Post Office issued a stamp for IT year suggesting that libraries were a thing of the past. The work was intended to look at “the background to the IT revolution, the benefits of applying technology to library services and the reasons for its relatively slow progress”. It was envisaged at the time that what would have been effectively a state‐of‐the‐art report on the technology available to libraries, and who was doing what with it, would be a useful tool for library managers introducing or extending library technical services. It might usefully have complemented the LA publication, The impact of new technology on libraries and information centres (LA, 1982). However, for a variety of reasons it was not possible to produce the publication in 1983 as intended; the person commissioned to write it was unable to do so; and eventually, in 1984, it was realised that the speed of development and availability of technology was such that any such work would be useless as a practical guide within months of publication. The growth, during the period, of journals on the subject of library applications of IT of all kinds; the appearance of regular updates in the generalist professional press; the formation of, for example, the Library Association IT Group: all these developments clearly offered better opportunities of current awareness to the library manager than could be achieved by a single monograph.

This conceptual paper aims to explore biases in reading textbooks that have been used to teach generations of Americans, including children in urban communities. While these texts are no longer used, the images they present and the ideas embedded in these texts unfortunately contribute to who we are as a nation.

These texts were identified by Catherine Compton-Lilly as she trolled the historical archives of a major university.

In addition to an analysis of historic texts, more recent attempts to create culturally responsive texts often designed to serve children in urban communities are examined, and the learnings from these attempts are being explored.

This conceptual paper points to the need for systematic analyses of biases operating in textbooks that are currently used in schools.

This work reveals and explores one way in which historical bias has historically infected the early learning experiences of young children in the USA.

Students with communication disorders present unique challenges to educators working toward fostering an inclusive classroom. For children with speech/language impairments, expressing themselves either academically or socially may present obstacles requiring communicative support and facilitation. For children with hearing loss, full access to educational material will be difficult without technological and/or visual support. Many children may have a combination of disorders, requiring a team of educators and other professionals to provide educational content and classroom support in the most inclusive way possible. This chapter is intended to provide an overview of variety of communication disorders, along with guidelines for improving student access across educational settings.

Purpose – In this chapter, I present a systematic discussion of the relationship between social work (SW) and library and information science (LIS) and explore how SW can contribute to the education of LIS practitioners so that they become more than information facilitators and grow professionally to be true agents of change.

Design/Methodology/Approach – Using engagement with immigrant communities as a case in point and building on the empirical comparative study of public librarians in the Greater Toronto Area and New York City, I outline the current gaps and deficiencies of LIS curricula that can be rectified through blended education. I also integrate the potential contributions of SW into LIS through the case study of an immigrant member of a library community.

Findings – Building on the case study, I introduce a four-tiered model that can be applied to a wide array of courses in LIS programs and conclude with suggestions for taking steps toward blending SW perspectives into the LIS curriculum.

Originality/Value – I position the potential fusion of SW and LIS as “professional blendedness,” which serves as a catalyst for change, and also examine the concept of the blended professional as a change agent. I introduce the rationale for adopting theoretical, practical, and pedagogical approaches from SW in the field of LIS and focus on four specific contributions that can most benefit LIS:

• the person-in-environment approach;

• the strengths perspective and empowerment;

• the interrelated notions of cultural competence, diversity, and intersectionality; and

• the theory-mindedness approach (including theory and practice models).

the person-in-environment approach;

the strengths perspective and empowerment;

the interrelated notions of cultural competence, diversity, and intersectionality; and

the theory-mindedness approach (including theory and practice models).

The paper aims to evaluate a primary care obesity prevention intervention, targeting low‐income minority parents in the USA. The first objective is to describe the barriers to behavior change experienced by families. The second objective is to understand the types of strategies that were used by the health educator to empower families to engage in healthy behavior changes.

Qualitative methods were used to conduct a content analysis of the intervention's instruments and health educator's notes on counseling sessions. Demographic data were collected from the patient information system.

Households were 80 percent Hispanic and 17 percent African American. A total of 26 percent of the children were overweight or obese. Themes identified were poor parenting skills, which included sub themes of picky eating, food‐related tantrums, bottle feeding, and submitting to unhealthy food requests; poor knowledge and skills regarding healthy eating; and psycho/social issues acting as barriers to healthy eating, including sub themes of housing issues, parental unemployment and intergenerational conflict regarding food choices.

There are few family‐based obesity prevention interventions, especially in low‐income minority communities. This study found that parents are interested in improving the intake of healthy foods for their families; however, they face substantial barriers. This study supports enhanced health assessment as part of the preschool preventive visit. The authors also found that a skilled, culturally competent, health educator is essential to extend counseling beyond the brief encounter with physicians, as well as advocacy for systematic and policy level changes, to address the complex context in which behavior change can occur.

Purpose – Exploring children's perspectives on participation in social research provides sociologists with new insight into how to include children's voices and perspectives effectively in sociological studies of childhood.

Design/methodology/approach – Child-centered interviews were conducted with 20 children between the ages of 5 and 12 as part of a larger research project.

Findings – Findings from interviews, artwork, and researcher field notes suggest that the children interviewed enjoyed the experience of participating in child-centered social research, maintained serious attitudes toward their inclusion in social research and wish to be active participants in future research involving kids.

Practical implications – Suggestions are offered for future research studies of this population and recommendations are made to encourage American sociologists to consider the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child in research endeavors.