Gang members and extremists in Switzerland: Similarities and differences

Scholars rarely compare youth gangs members and extremists. Yet, studies of gangs can yield relevant information on extremist groups, and vice versa. This article compares youth gang members with left-wing, right-wing and Islamist extremists. The aims of this article are to determine the prevalence of gang members and extremists among young people in Switzerland, to determine the overlap, if any, between gang members and extremists, and to analyse the differences and similarities of individual characteristics among the gang members and extremists, their delinquency and victimization. Comparisons of such groups may provide important insights into the individual members of these groups. The similarities between gang members and extremists could give us information for the prevention programmes. The study was based on a self-report survey completed by 8317 students of non-compulsory school age (about 17 years old) and living in Switzerland. The results show greater numbers of young people affiliated with gangs (6.6 percent) and left-wing extremism (6.2 percent), and more similarities between the members of gangs and left-wing extremists, compared with the other forms of extremism.

The History of Education in Australia

Education in Australia’s history stretches back tens of thousands of years, but only a small number of changes have altered its shape in that time. The first period of education lasted for thousands of years and was an Indigenous education as knowledge of religious beliefs, society, and laws was shared from one generation to the next. Knowledge of Australia’s significant environmental diversity was also taught because possessing the skills to find appropriate shelter for the conditions, while developing methods of hunting, gathering, and fishing, was knowledge that needed to be taught to ensure survival. Education changed when Europeans invaded Indigenous lands. Settlers who brought children as well as those who gave birth to children wanted their offspring to be part of an education system that mimicked England’s. Ex-convicts and later members of the Church provided this service and began the tradition of non-Indigenous education in Australia. It was during the 19th century as cities and towns increased in size, and the population more generally, that the final two significant periods of Australian education began. The nation’s wealthiest required religious and grammar schools that prepared children for secondary education and for university overseas, as well as in Australia as universities were established and slowly increased in number. When private education began, it was largely the only option for those seeking university degrees for their children, but this began a series of events in Australia that still sees approximately one-third of all school students attending private schools. Public and compulsory education began in the late 19th century and gradually became more accessible. Public education, in some respects, began as governments saw the benefit in the social advantages of education, and economic incentives in creating educated laborers. However, even through the austerity of world wars and financial depression, successive generations of publicly educated individuals saw the need for increasingly continuing education beyond the compulsory school age. Public education subsequently increased in popularity through the 20th century as a growing number of students stayed beyond compulsory schooling age. Education in Australia is still seeing policies change to make schooling accessible and open to all members of society regardless of background. In the 21st century, secondary schooling is being completed by most demographic groups, and university has become accessible to a diverse group of students, many of whom may not have had access to such options only a few decades ago. This is not to suggest that systemic issues of racism and ostracism have been eradicated, but steps have been made to begin addressing these issues.

Report. Indagine su atteggiamenti e credenze verso l'uso di sostanze stupefacenti

The survey is inspired by the observation of repeated clichés, beliefs, preconceptions, emerged in interviews with consumers or drug addicts and during class discussions with students during the implementation of prevention projects. The young people involved are students aged between 14 and 16, still in the compulsory school age range. The contents that emerged prompted the investigation to verify misinformation or false information, as well as attitudes and disposition for use in an age group where "hearsay" can be the main source of information for the construction of attitudes and beliefs, despite the media opportunities to obtain scientific information on the issues in question. It has often been observed that the computerized medium is used to seek confirmation of street convictions using unscientific sites; that subjects who use so-called "light" substances tend to normalize the phenomenon with phrases like: "Everyone uses them, even the big ones". The research topics concern the perception of danger towards occasional-non-employee consumption; the confusion between therapeutic use and abuse; the cerebral implications of use; the incorrect interpretation of the messages on legalization (generally interpreted as a license to indiscriminate use); the idea that individual freedom authorizes the use of substances; the conviction of their intentions to abstention; the hope of remaining free from use and living in protected environments; the arrangement for use. The answers obtained concerned a sample of 564 students.Emerging data show that about 8 out of 10 students have a general knowledge of the damage and theawareness that the consumption of substances is a risky behavior, while in the remaining two out of 10 the openness to use can be seen. A portion between 15% and 25% proves to have knowledge based on the "heard".Between the ages of 14 and 16 4 out of 5 youngsters hope for a substance-free future. The openness to use is around 15%; a datum compatible with the surveys on the use of cannabis in the 15-year-olds offered by the Annual Report to Parliament.

Lost in Transit

This chapter discusses the big differences of how refugee children are incorporated into school systems in three European countries (Sweden, Germany and The Netherlands) and in Turkey. Over the past 5 years many refugee children made their way from war-torn countries to neighboring countries in the Middle East or to Europe. This chapter compares how they are incorporated into education. The four countries each represent very different responses to receiving children in their education system: from fully integrating them as soon as possible in regular classes to developing an actual parallel school system. The chapter highlights which national institutional arrangements impede refugee children to become successful in school, and which national institutional arrangements help children in their educational career, comparing access to compulsory school, access after compulsory school age, welcome or immersion classes, second language education and tracking mechanisms.

Edad relativa y resultados escolares en educación primaria en la Comunidad Autónoma de Cantabria

In this paper, we explore the impact of birth month on the academic achievement in Spanish Language and Mathematics of primary students in grades 2, 4, and 6 in Cantabria County, in the academic years of 2009-2014. The findings show that students born in late-autumn months scored lower than their classmates, suffering, therefore, from the disadvantage of being relative younger. In general, results show that students born at the end of the year have worse academic performance and an increased probability for low student achievement, after controlling gender, grade repetition, and average school results. We insist on the importance of modifying compulsory school age grouping as well as applying a flexible date exam policy (evaluation criteria) to ensure that relative outcomes for younger children are not impacted by birth month.

Understanding the ideology of the Swedish tax-paid school meal

Background: Children are provided with food at school in various ways. In Sweden, free school lunches are provided to all children of compulsory school age. Internationally, Sweden is fairly unique in this sense, which makes the country an important example to study and reflect upon. Objective: This article aims to describe the welfare ideology that underpins the provision of school meals in Sweden. Setting: Schools in Sweden. Method: The ideological underpinnings of the free school lunches provided in Sweden are described using the Seven Elements of Public Meals framework, which comprises the elements of welfare, health, sustainability, learning, social environment, physical environment and food. Results: Our findings suggest that school meal provision in Sweden is seen as a universal welfare service and a part of public health work. Meals are to be sustainable and are regarded as a learning occasion. The importance of the social and physical environment is accentuated, and when it comes to the quality of the food served, the school meal has improved over the years. Conclusion: The choice of food in schools is increasingly expected to be guided by personal choice. However, the privilege of being served a shared free school meal comes at the cost of less individual choice.

Socioeconomically Disadvantaged Adolescents and Educational Delay in Two Provinces in South Africa: Impacts of Personal, Family and School Characteristics

No quantitative studies to date have specifically focused on the risk and protective factors for the educational resilience of socioeconomically disadvantaged adolescents who are not of compulsory school age in South Africa. This study compares the educational delay of 599 black adolescents aged 16 to 18 from socioeconomically disadvantaged communities in Western Cape and Mpumalanga to nationally and provincially representative estimates in South Africa. The paper also explores predictors for educational delay by comparing out-of-school adolescents (n = 64), and adolescents who are at least one year behind in school (n = 380), with adolescents in the age-appropriate grade or higher (n = 155). Risk factors for being behind included the following: male gender, past grade repetition, rural location and larger school size. Risk factors for being out of school were the following: past grade repetition, previous concentration problems at school, household poverty, and food insecurity. Protective factors for being in the age-appropriate grade included the following: living with biological caregivers, access to school counselling and attending schools in wealthier communities.

Sunda Language Reservation in Cianjur on The Age to Learn

This study aims to gain an understanding of Sundanese language reservation in Kota Cianjur at the compulsory school age. The observations focused on the domains of Sundanese use that included the family and education sphere. The problem in this research is how the reservation of Sundanese language is viewed from the point of choice of language with the domain of its use? In this research used qualitative approach with ethnography method. The ethnographic research procedure in this study is 1) define sub focus, 2) observation and interview, 3) collect data, 4) make notes, 5), analyze data, and 6) make ethnographic reports. The research findings show that the form of speech is a statement, a question, a greeting, a thank-you note, a formula phrase, a solicitation, a request to do something, an apology, an order, and an agreement. Based on the Sundanese language reservation category in Cinajur city at the compulsory education age in the family realm is maintained (85--100%). The participants of Sundanese speech have a positive loyalty and attitude towards the language. Meanwhile, the education sphere is less maintained (51-74%). In the realm of education, there can be a shift in language because it is poorly maintained and the said participants have no balance in lending languages.