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Violence Risk Assessment in Women

Women and girls represent only a minority in the penitentiary system and in forensic mental health care. About 6%–10% of both prison and forensic psychiatric populations in Western countries comprise women (see for the most recent offi cial statistics in the UK w ww.gov. uk/government, in Canada w ww.statcan.gc.ca, and in the US w ww.bjs.gov) . However, there seems to be widespread agreement that in the past 20 years female offending has been on the rise, especially violent offending and particularly among young women ( Miller, Malone, and Dodge, 2010; M oretti, Catchpole, and Odgers, 2005) . Overall, a disproportionate growth of females entering the criminal justice system and forensic mental health care has been observed in many countries (for reviews, see Nicholls, Cruise, Greig, and Hinz, 2015; Odgers, Moretti, and Reppucci, 2005 ; Walmsley, 2015) . In addition, it should be noted that the ‘dark number’ for women is suggested to be bigger than for men. Offi cial prevalence rates of female offending might constitute an underestimation as women usually commit less reported offences, for example, domestic violence (N icholls, Greaves, Greig, and Moretti, 2015) . Furthermore, it has been found that – if apprehended – girls and women are treated more leniently by professionals and the criminal justice system. Generally, they receive lower prison sentences and are more often admitted to civil psychiatric institutions instead of receiving a prison sentence or mandatory forensic treatment after committing violence ( Javdani, Sadeh, and Verona, 2011 ; Jeffries, Fletcher, and Newbold, 2003 ). Hence, although female offenders compared to male offenders are a minority, female violence is a substantial problem that deserves more attention. Our understanding of female offenders is hindered by the general paucity of theoretical and empirical investigations of this population. In order to improve current treatment and assessment practices, our knowledge and understanding of female offenders should be enlarged and optimised (d e Vogel and Nicholls, 2016 ).

Writing the self for reconciliation and global citizenship

In this chapter, we propose that the democracy we wish to see out in the world is influenced by the quality of our own “inner democracies”—that is: the quality of the democracies among and between the selves or voices in the landscape of the self. We must find ways out of the I-prisons we experience and perpetuate. With this in mind, we propose that ”writing the self,” a method whereby creative, expressive, and reflective writing is used to cultivate an internal dialogue and construct a new identity narrative (Lengelle, 2014), can assist in reshaping our stories about ”the Other and ourselves” and can contribute to personal and cultural healing and reconciliation. The inner dialogue reconciled is foundational for the external dialogue at the heart of global citizenship within education. Indeed, as Schellhammer argues, we must cultivate the self in order to become inter-culturally competent, and this includes facing shadow aspects through truthful dialogues with the self and caring for the self. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-62861-5_6 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/reinekke-lengelle-phd-767a4322/

Experiences matter

Social work has long neglected the experiences of people as an important source of knowledge. This creates gaps between social workers and people in need of social work support. The gaps are evident and hinder people to get the help they need for recovery. This exhibition intends to show how the experiences of people contribute to valuable knowledge in social work education and practice. Experiences matter! The photo exhibition Experiences Matter is a part of the ESF-project Mending the Gap (Dnr 2016/00583) financed by The European Social Fund. The photos are taken in Antwerp, Durham, Lund and Utrecht in May and June 2017. PowerUs is an international network of teachers and researchers from schools of social work and representatives from different service user organizations. PowerUs develops methods of mutual learning in order to change social work practice to be more effective in supporting the empowerment of marginalized and discriminated groups in society. The European Union, PowerUs, European Association of Schools of Social Work (EASSW), Lund University, University of Applied Sciences Utrecht, Karel de Grote University College and New College Durham have contributed to this issue.

Learning to think critically through Socratic dialogue: Evaluating a series of lessons designed for secondary vocational education

This study reports the evaluation of a lesson series, developed in collaboration with teachers and experts, to generate a research-based solution for teaching critical thinking through Socratic dialogue in secondary vocational education. The lesson series has been evaluated for feasibility and tailoring to different target groups of students by five citizenship education teachers and 85 students. Data consisted of self-report questionnaires by teachers and students, complemented with observations of lessons. Results show that lessons based on Socratic dialogue for teaching critical thinking to students in secondary vocational education are considered a promising educational intervention. Teachers considered the lessons as feasible and well-tailored to their students and were able to implement the lessons in their classrooms. Students were motivated to participate, and their motivation did not decrease significantly during the lesson series. At the same time, students tended to be more motivated when the value of learning to think critically for their future profession was clearly substantiated. Practical implications from the evaluation of the lesson series were that, in addition to participating in Socratic dialogue, students need clear learning objectives and short assignments to remain active.

Ethics in design Education, but completely different

Introduction to TWG07 Adult Mathematics Education

This paper is a summary paper of the Thematic Working Group (TWG) on Adult Mathematics Education (AME). As the only thematic working group that focuses on adults’ lived experiences of mathematics, the research makes an important contribution to the field of Mathematics Education. The main themes in this group identify that adult numerical behaviour goes beyond the mathematics skills, knowledge, and procedures taught in formal education It is multifaceted, requiring the use of higher order skills of analysis and judgement, applied within a broad array of life’s contexts, experienced through a range of emotions. The research in this group points to the need to raise the profile of research that shows the benefits to adults of learning mathematics but also the long term economic disbenefits in the neglect of teaching and teacher training for this group.