No abstract

Relationships with teachers are a central component of a student’s school environment, and have been shown to be related to school engagement and persistence in secondary school. Working alliance is a conceptualization of professional relationships that emphasizes not only the emotional bond between a professional and their client, but also their collaboration on the goals and tasks of their work together. While this theory has garnered considerable support in the fields of counseling and healthcare, working alliance has only recently begun to be investigated in an education setting. The present study sought to investigate working alliance between students and teachers as a broader framework for relationships in a high school setting. Specifically, the primary objective was to examine the use of the working alliance framework in teacher-student relationships to predict risk of high school student drop-out. A series of multiple regressions was used to test this objective. Results demonstrated that student-rated school working alliance predicted risk of drop-out, and that the relationship was partially mediated by student engagement. These results provide evidence for the validity of the construct of working alliance as a useful conceptualization for teacher-student relationships, and enhance our understanding of working alliance in a secondary school setting. Implications for educators and practitioners are discussed.

A growing body of literature has documented the contribution of teacher-student relationship quality to both persistence and reduction in peer aggression incidents in the school context. The research literature indicates that students who are involved in peer aggression also tend to experience lower levels of closeness in their relationships with their teachers. However, these study results have not yet been aggregated, and the size and direction of effects remains unclear. In the present study we quantitatively synthesized 66 individual studies (Nstudents = 352,376) in two meta-analyses by aggregating cross-sectional associations between peer aggression involvement and teacher-student relationship closeness that have been reported in the literature over the last 20 years. A small, negative, and significant association was found between perpetration and victimization and teacher-student relationship closeness, indicating that students who experience greater involvement in peer aggression also have relationships with their teachers that are lacking in closeness. Three moderator analyses were also conducted. No moderating effect was found for school level or measure type; however, a significant moderating effect was found for informant type. The results from the meta-analyses lead to direct recommendations for practice regarding how we can best support students’ psychosocial development in the school context.

Three patients were admitted with close-range gunshot wounds of the knee and lower leg, inflicted in all three cases through clothing. At admission, all of the patients were given antibiotics (cefuroxime and metronidazole) to prevent streptococcal and anaerobic infection. All of the patients developed severe tissue infection with Bacillus cereus within days of admission. In one case, the organism was also recovered from the blood. B. cereus is capable of causing severe infection after trauma and its ubiquity in the environment allows it easy access to gunshot wounds. Its potent production of beta-lactamase renders penicillins and cephalosporins predictably ineffective. The early administration of a non-beta-lactam drug (such as ciprofloxacin) should be considered in cases where Bacillus cereus is isolated from traumatic wounds.

Highlights Examined the impact of episodic simulation and motivation on children’s episodic foresight Thirst was induced and children were asked to make future choices 3- to 5-year-olds completed the pretzel task under 4 different experimental conditions Children’s future predictions were most accurate in the motivation condition A novel and motivating food item, a cupcake, helped children overcome their current state of thirst