The University of Bedfordshire has helped write a major new report looking at gang-related child sexual abuse in the UK. The report, released today by the Office of the Children's Commissioner (OCC), details how vulnerable children can end up being abused within gang settings and what can be done to help prevent this awful situation continuing. The initial recommendations include effective data sharing and awareness raising of the issue.
The OCC report can be downloaded from here. In addition, there are various interviews and audio clips detailing how the BBC reported the story here.
Finally, you can read UoB's own account of the report's release by having a look here.
If your studies in any way relate to issues of criminology or child protection I do urge you to take a look at what UoB, in some cases your own lecturers, have helped to produce. Thanks.
Wednesday, 21 November 2012
Tuesday, 20 November 2012
Offender mentors
Heard a story on Today programme this morning that I thought I'd share. This is one for anyone interested in the issue of reoffending rates in the UK. The government is about to launch a scheme which attempts to offer every short sentence prisoner a mentor, who will offer advice on how to avoid returning to crime. It's an interesting idea, despite the obvious sticking points of funding and supervising the scheme.
If you click here you'll be able to hear an interview with a former prisoner who benefited from just such a scheme.
If you click here you'll be able to hear an interview with a former prisoner who benefited from just such a scheme.
Monday, 19 November 2012
I'm away for a while
Just a quick post to say I'm going to be away for a few weeks. This Thursday (22nd November) is my last day until 12th December.
So if you need resource-related help during this period you'll need to turn to any of my marvellous colleagues. Have a look here if you need to email people to make an appointment. As a first option I'd try Janine Bhandol or Sally Fensome who both cover areas within the social sciences.
I'm going to try a 3 week hiatus from all screen-related activity. That means no internet, no video games, no mobile phone and no TV. I might let you know how it went when I return.
So if you need resource-related help during this period you'll need to turn to any of my marvellous colleagues. Have a look here if you need to email people to make an appointment. As a first option I'd try Janine Bhandol or Sally Fensome who both cover areas within the social sciences.
I'm going to try a 3 week hiatus from all screen-related activity. That means no internet, no video games, no mobile phone and no TV. I might let you know how it went when I return.
Wednesday, 14 November 2012
'Rethink Mental Illness' report criticises schizophrenia care in the UK
You may have already heard about the new schizophrenia report, The Abandoned Illness which is published today. Still, I think this is too big an issue to not publicise it further. Although I know you're probably not studying straight psychology, serious mental illness is an issue that informs so many other areas of the social sciences. That's what makes the report and debate well worth an in depth look.
Rethink Mental Illness (RMI) is a charity launched to support people with and change attitudes to mental illness in the UK. They commissioned the report and the Schizophrenia Commission gathered the data and wrote it. It broadly covers within its 88 pages what is going wrong, what needs fixing and how it can be paid for.
There's a lot in there, but it's extremely readable.
If you'd like some more background details I'd have a look here for a BBC interview with a spokesman from the RMI or you can find the Guardian's reporting of the issue here.
The full report on the current state of schizophrenia provision in the UK is available in full from here.
Rethink Mental Illness (RMI) is a charity launched to support people with and change attitudes to mental illness in the UK. They commissioned the report and the Schizophrenia Commission gathered the data and wrote it. It broadly covers within its 88 pages what is going wrong, what needs fixing and how it can be paid for.
There's a lot in there, but it's extremely readable.
If you'd like some more background details I'd have a look here for a BBC interview with a spokesman from the RMI or you can find the Guardian's reporting of the issue here.
The full report on the current state of schizophrenia provision in the UK is available in full from here.
Thursday, 8 November 2012
A short play to explain secondary referencing.
The Scene: A pub with three men sat at a very long bar. Two of the men, Evan and Thomas are sat next to each other and the third, Alan, is on his own at the far end.
Evan turns to Thomas.
Evan: Do you know the result of the Arsenal game?
Thomas: I saw Dave earlier who'd heard 5 minutes of radio and it sounded like Spurs were losing. I reckon Arsenal probably won.
Evan: We could always ask Alan. He did referee the game.
Thomas looks down the bar at the lone figure drinking his pint.
Thomas: I dunno. It's a long walk all the way down there. Shall we just assume Arsenal won?
Evan: Yeah. Let's do that.
THE END
Evan turns to Thomas.
Evan: Do you know the result of the Arsenal game?
Thomas: I saw Dave earlier who'd heard 5 minutes of radio and it sounded like Spurs were losing. I reckon Arsenal probably won.
Evan: We could always ask Alan. He did referee the game.
Thomas looks down the bar at the lone figure drinking his pint.
Thomas: I dunno. It's a long walk all the way down there. Shall we just assume Arsenal won?
Evan: Yeah. Let's do that.
THE END
Thursday, 1 November 2012
"The problem is I haven't got time to read it"
Do you know what your most important task is at the moment?
Your task as a student, I mean. Not the other stuff that you need to do like attend to children/husband/wife/cat (delete as appropriate) or hold down a job whilst doing this. Forget about that stuff for a minute.
What I'm interested in finding out is what do you do as an individual that turns you into a student?
Indeed, are you a student as soon as you sign up and money changes hands? Or is it something equally prosaic like turning up for lectures now and again, handing assignments in on time and looking at BREO when you're told to?
You see I think it's reading.
My job is basically to show you how to find things. That's the easy bit. After that things sometimes get tricky. And sometimes the reason they get tricky is because students try and bypass that whole 'reading stuff' stage.
It's reading that transforms us into students. Reading books is the single most important reason why I'm not a gardener any more. I mean I read before I applied for university, but it was systematically reading academic texts about psychology that turned me into a student of the subject. It made me feel I could hold my own in an argument with others and incrementally I became happy with this new, more informed me. The temptation is to only read for a specific outcome, a specific assignment. So can I suggest you make the time to just read a couple of chapters from your textbooks each week which aren't tied to any specific thing?
It might seem odd to think that reading is part of your job at the moment, but I do think it's that fundamental. And it's fun to have your mind blown by authors suggesting new theories that hypothesise society in new ways.
I'm having to deal with just such a theorist now called Thomas de Zengotita who thinks that the ubiquity of screens has turned life into performance. Now by the time I've finished his book (called Mediated-yes, thanks for asking, we do have it in the library...) I may have rejected the central ideas he puts forward.
But (and here's the crucial point) I cannot reject his theory until I've read it.
OK. Enough of this.
As always, if you want to contact me about anything you know where I am.
Your task as a student, I mean. Not the other stuff that you need to do like attend to children/husband/wife/cat (delete as appropriate) or hold down a job whilst doing this. Forget about that stuff for a minute.
What I'm interested in finding out is what do you do as an individual that turns you into a student?
Indeed, are you a student as soon as you sign up and money changes hands? Or is it something equally prosaic like turning up for lectures now and again, handing assignments in on time and looking at BREO when you're told to?
You see I think it's reading.
My job is basically to show you how to find things. That's the easy bit. After that things sometimes get tricky. And sometimes the reason they get tricky is because students try and bypass that whole 'reading stuff' stage.
It's reading that transforms us into students. Reading books is the single most important reason why I'm not a gardener any more. I mean I read before I applied for university, but it was systematically reading academic texts about psychology that turned me into a student of the subject. It made me feel I could hold my own in an argument with others and incrementally I became happy with this new, more informed me. The temptation is to only read for a specific outcome, a specific assignment. So can I suggest you make the time to just read a couple of chapters from your textbooks each week which aren't tied to any specific thing?
It might seem odd to think that reading is part of your job at the moment, but I do think it's that fundamental. And it's fun to have your mind blown by authors suggesting new theories that hypothesise society in new ways.
I'm having to deal with just such a theorist now called Thomas de Zengotita who thinks that the ubiquity of screens has turned life into performance. Now by the time I've finished his book (called Mediated-yes, thanks for asking, we do have it in the library...) I may have rejected the central ideas he puts forward.
But (and here's the crucial point) I cannot reject his theory until I've read it.
OK. Enough of this.
As always, if you want to contact me about anything you know where I am.
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