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The purpose of this paper is to explore perceptions of alcohol held by schoolchildren using the “Draw and Write” tool, to inform the planning of alcohol education in the classroom setting.

A specifically designed “Draw and Write” booklet was used with 169 children aged nine to ten years (Year 5) across seven primary schools in a small Local Authority in North West England. Written responses were thematically coded.

Results demonstrated that the children had a good basic understanding of alcohol, including who drinks, where it can be purchased and the range of products available. Participants were aware that alcohol could be harmful and held mainly negative views. Findings suggest that alcohol education at this age is both appropriate and necessary to help children explore, understand and clarify their perceptions and misconceptions in a safe classroom environment.

The range and depth of responses from the children demonstrated that Draw and Write can be used successfully to explore children’s perceptions of alcohol. The tool can be used as a baseline assessment to inform classroom-based alcohol education for primary school teachers and those supporting delivery at local level, in line with national policy recommendations.

This paper adds to the existing literature on the use of “Draw and Write” in personal, social and health education, demonstrating that it can be used specifically to investigate children’s knowledge and attitudes about alcohol.

Rural theology is explained here as a form of practical theology that seeks to interpret the rural context in the light of the central themes of Christian theology and vice versa. If Christian theology can be understood as concerning belief in God and the understanding of human relationships with God, the created order, and each other in the light of that belief, rural theology expresses that in the light of the lived experience in a rural context, which for these purposes is the daily bulletin from Ambridge. The author draws on his experience of teaching in the Cambridge Theological Federation to reflect on three recent examples: the recent changes at Brookfield in response to the perennial issue of the milk price lead us to ask who benefits from the production of higher quality food; the care for the land and Adam Macy’s reforms at Home Farm point us to issues about sustainability and responsibility; and the cohesion of a community with shared values and its treatment of Rob Titchener asks questions about the limits of inclusion. As with much practical theology, the outcome of the reflection is in ethical action and some further ethical questions, which, as the example of Jim Lloyd’s philosophical conversations with Alan Franks illustrate, are not the monopoly of the Church.

Who will lead Ambridge in the years to come? Theories rooted in psychology and political science, when applied to family dynamics in The Archers, allow for some educated guesses. Social learning theory suggests that children who see their parents vote, run for office and participate in other civic activities are more likely to do the same in adulthood. Emma Grundy did just that when she followed in the footsteps of her father, Neil Carter, in winning a seat on the parish council. Previous research has found that birth order also can shape future leaders, with the eldest child more likely to benefit developmentally from parents' undivided attention in the early years, and also more likely to establish a hierarchy of power over younger siblings. With these factors in mind, who are the most probable contenders to lead Ambridge in the spheres of politics, business and civic affairs? The extant research points to Pip Archer, Lily Pargetter, Phoebe Aldridge and George Grundy. The unique circumstances of Ruairi Donovan's childhood suggest he may also be a formidable candidate. And, as is the case in so many contexts, one would be wise not to overlook Molly Button.

The economic crisis that began in 2008 represents the end of two experiments in social organization in the United States: the corporate-centered society, in which corporate employers were the predominant providers of health care and retirement security, and the “Ownership Society,” which aimed to vest the economic security of individuals directly in the financial markets. The first experiment lasted for most of the 20th century, while the second hardly got off the ground before imploding. The result is that economic and health security and social mobility in the United States have become increasingly unmoored. Organizational sociologists can contribute to a constructive solution by facilitating, documenting, and disseminating locally based experiments in post-corporate social organization.

The primary school in any rural village is a significant and vivid institution. Its classrooms, playground, buses, staffroom, governing body, PTA committee, religious celebrations, educational visits and community events are a focus not just for village pride but for parental and social aspirations and tensions. Village schools are special local spaces, in which the bite is keenly felt of national education policies. They are sources and sites of friendships, rivalries and divisions amongst both children and adults; places where celebrations and disappointments occur on a daily basis; an important local employer and reliant on a range of committed volunteers. Village schools are genuinely lively and dramatic places.

But not in The Archers. The mostly invisible children of Ambridge simply board a bus to Loxley Barrett aged five, then mysteriously alight aged 11 at Borchester Green or the fee-paying Cathedral School. During those primary years Ambridge’s children, parents and listeners seem blissfully unaffected by tests, snow, bullying, crazes, curriculum change, poor teachers, brilliant teaching assistants, academisation, Ofsted inspections, fussy governors, budget crises or any other rural educational reality.

In this chapter we consider why primary education, a topic that dominates the lives and conversations of real village families from all backgrounds, seems to be of such insignificance to the inhabitants of Ambridge?

Advancing the ability of emerging market small and medium size enterprises (SMEs) to learn, absorb new technologies, and grow is one of the greatest challenges in economic development and to theories of knowledge transfer. This chapter analyzes the mechanisms that can facilitate or impede the participation of Latin American SMEs in global value chains (GVCs), and in turn improve their capabilities and productivity. We attempt to shift the focus of attention that scholars and policy-makers have toward the types of knowledge and network linkages that emerging market SMEs need to sustainably benefit from GVCs. By drawing on recent work from the knowledge theory of the firm, development, and network dynamics, we call into question a core assumption about the necessary benefits that can accrue to SMEs by being tied more closely to sources of pioneering technologies. We argue instead that in order to overcome legacies of resource constraints and technology gaps, these SMEs need access to a variety of applied and experiential knowledge that help them transform their existing organizational capabilities into ones that enable them to implement basic international process and product standards, in turn allowing them to learn from potentially fruitful relationships in GVCs. Because of the way such knowledge is created, through intense interactions and exchanges of tacit knowledge, access is constrained. With a focus on the need for broad based upgrading of SME capabilities, we further suggest that particular constellations of interorganizational networks and public-private institutions, often overlooked in IB research, are best suited to facilitate such access.

Business schools offer a unique window into the making of corporate morals since they bring together future executives at formative moments in their professional lives. This paper relies on an analysis of faculty’s teaching tasks at the Harvard Business School to better understand the making of corporate morals. More specifically, it builds on a coding of teaching notes used by faculty members to highlight the importance of silence in promoting a form of moral relativism. This moral relativism constitutes, I argue, a powerful ideology – one that primes business leaders not to vilify any moral stand. In such a context, almost anything can be labeled “moral” and few behaviors can be deemed “immoral.”