Introduction
Social constructionist argues that world surrounding a person is constructed by the people in that social setting and imposes those things on them. The social organization is constructed by the participants and not inborn by character. The good example of social construct is gender and marriage. Sex is based on genetic traits and refers to male or female. Sexual characteristics are a reference to the masculinity and feminists. The character persona related with manliness and feminist are things which changes from time to time. For example the roles men play in homes have changed from time to time. However the social setting enables changes from time to time depending on the norms they take into account. For the case of marriage, a number of societies have formulated various forms of marriage.
Discussion
Marriage is a union of two people and forms a home where children are brought up. According to Christianity marriage involves male and female partners only. When Canada approved the law that allows for same sex marriages, there was outrage from different type of people. Various people argue it was wrong for gays and lesbians to be equal in marriage with others. Christians argued that it was a distortion of God’s plan for families. They argued that marriage is a holy matrimony and only man and woman should be put into a union and not same sex marriages. They argue that the state was invading the church by allowing same sex marriages. They threatened any member of parliament who supports same sex marriages that they would not be elected back during the next federal elections.
The government officials warn the same sex couple to be careful whenever they were traveling outside there country. This is because the rights granted in Canada of same sex marriages may be illegal in the countries abroad. Some countries takes the issue of same sex marriages and one may end up being in trouble in such countries. Some of the penalties include public whipping, fine and even death. Hence people were warned to study careful the laws of the country they intend to visit (Krohn, Lizotte & Hall, 2009).
Marriage of same sex partners have led to discrimination in societies because of not being recognition. However legal and social acknowledgment of identical relationships will decrease the issues related to discrimination. Gays and lesbians people have always be branded as deviant people and not fit in society hence majority are rejected and treated as outcast in society. They experienced unfairness and intolerance, including ethical and religious reprimand. However some countries have legally recognized same sex marriages. It was debated in Denmark in 1989 and it was taken out of concern that gays and lesbians have no protection in law in situation where death or break up of the relationship.
Deviant behavior is regarded in society as those behaviors that do not conform to the social norms and values in the society. It includes those behaviors that attract negative responses and social controls. It’s also involves crimes committed in the society. The type of deviance however is defined by the interpretation of the observer. Some individuals see what they do as not is being deviant behavior while others view them otherwise. Deviant behavior can either be formal or informal. Formal in the sense that the society can define the behaviors and gives the social action incase one deviates against the expected norms. There will be laws, regulations and code of conduct. For example, breaking formal norms will attract penalties such as imprisonment or house arrests. It involves be fined or punishment in accordance with the laws set in place. Informal are those that are guided by customs and traditions.
Reactions to informal deviance are usually absorbed by the deviant individual. For example individuals who are homosexuals have difficulty in accepting themselves and often carry the guilt for which they are. Deviant can also be voluntary and involuntary. An involuntary violation of an informal norm is less offensive than voluntary violation of a formal norm. Examples of involuntary norm includes deviant behaviors performed person with mental disabilities and physical disability. There are cases where informal reactions are sanctioned against such individuals from time to time. Some people with disabilities when they are punished for doing certain wrong things they learn although they have disabilities. This usually makes them to realize that they are wrong and they would not repeat the mistakes again for fear of being punished.
Deviant behavior can also be regarded as criminal behavior because young people who are delinquent tend to be criminals when they are grown ups because they have taken the behaviors of criminality. Criminologists and sociologist have identified various definitions for a criminal. Criminal is a person who commits acts that goes against the societal norms and expectations. These acts include robberies, vandalism, theft, rape and other various vices. Crime originated from ancient times during the agrarian revolution. The gap between the land owners widen in such a way that the have-nots was struggling to earn a living. The economic times encourages people to commit crimes. The farmers were being oppressed. They were made to work for longer hours with little wages. Hence they came up with other methods of earning a living. Most of them started to ask themselves various questions. E.g. ‘why do others have more than they while others do not?’ hence they started stealing from the rich as a way of revenge and anger. Up to date criminals have emerged and becoming more intelligent because of technology and various challenges that people want to meet.
Committing crime by various types of people is subject to many conditions. Some of the reasons include jealousy and poverty. There are also instances of anger and revenge. The urge to continue whit criminality is encouraged when the rewards are handsome and steals successfully without being got. Research reveals that an individual who steals for that first time and escapes without being got is likely to repeat the vice. But if an individual steals for the first time and he is got and punished he is likely not to repeat the vice again. Such a person would likely quit the act of criminality. Punishment of an individual when he commits crime discourages people from indulging in criminal tendencies.
Punishment involves a person being detained in prison, rejection and rebuking in the society, beating in some circumstances and administering workloads to the offenders. Some people also commit crime because of the opportunity available to commit the crime. The probability of a person committing crime in an area full of security agents is low, hence availability of security agents deter an individual from committing a crime. The risks involved in crime also determine whether the crime would be committed or not (Hagan, 2010).
There are several correlates of crime. Race, social class, age, and sex are some of the correlation to crime. The most common correlation to crime is social class. It has been evident the at people who come from the lower socioeconomic class tend to be involved more in criminal activities than those of upper socio economic class. The major cause of this is poverty. Those who are poor also have been labeled deviant because of there inability to provide for themselves. The need for money to satisfy their basic needs leads people to get involved in stealing. Robbery is the most committed crime from this class of people. They always lack money and food and so the engage in stealing in order to illegally acquire money. The population from this class is mostly illiterate and so they cannot get employment to better jobs in order to earn. Most of them therefore resolve to commit criminal activities to satisfy their needs. And for those who have jobs they get low income there no enough to maintain themselves. Another correlation of crime is sex and age. It has been seen that age is a contributor to committing criminal activities. Statistics show that violent crimes are mostly committed by young male persons.
These violent crimes are committed mostly along the streets in towns and cities. Young people are energetic and most cases idle causing them to engage in criminal activities they leant when they were young. Female criminals have been seen to be involved in fraudulent and forgery crimes as compared to robbery and burglary. Young people of thirty years and bellow involve mostly in violent crimes like robbery and even homicides. Older people on the other hand engage in larceny crimes to a greater percentage as compared to other forms of crime. There is also a correlation between crime and education. Crimes committed in most cases dependent on the level of education of the criminal. Less educated people commit violent crimes as burglary and robbery. While educated persons in the society are seen to perform tactical crimes. These crimes are like computer fraud, i.e. committing crime using the computer. This involves skimming small amounts of money from several bank accounts, also hacking organizational systems in order to acquire unauthorized data is another crime. This information can be used against the organization in malicious ways.
Greed is also another factor of crime. The desire to acquire something makes someone to be tempted to commit crime. Greed for money or fame is the most similar cause of crime. When a person is very much in need of something, he/she can use all means to acquire it. This makes people commit crime even unknowingly. Another causation of crime yet is parental relations. Someone can be a criminal because of the influence from their parents’ criminal records. In some families there can be ancestral history of violence or other criminal activities. When children are brought up in an environment without norms, they easily adopt the behaviors of the society (Downes & Rock, 2007).
Parents should therefore be careful in bringing up their children. Children normally take up both good and bad attributes from their parents. They always try to emulate their parents thinking that the parents are ever right. Most children take their parents for their role models. Some parents also neglect there parental role. Others do not have time to spend with there children hence leaving the children to stay with others who may be having bad habits. Through social learning process the children would be able to emulate the habits of others.
Group of individuals who have deviant behaviors share their own norms and values that form a subculture. They usually have believes on how to execute criminality and usually end up forming a huge terror gangs. Terror gangs have been known to be very dangerous groups who are involved in crimes such as mugging and other vices. They regard people who are not in their groups as outsiders and normally they do not entertain them. Being in that group is at times dangerous because if a person wants to quit it is very difficult because of the solemn vow. Hence anybody who quits is regarded as traitor and may end up being killed.
Deviant groups are often labeled by the media in a negative way. This is because of the way they normally act in a criminal manner. Labeling the individuals would make them rather not to stop the habits because of often being mention as crimes. It has also stick in the minds of the people as people who will never change. Deviancy acceleration occurs when the media only focuses on the harmful aspects of the criminal gangs. For example media focus of people who have dreadlocks as people who belong to a criminal gang who are involved in extortion in slums. This portrayal have created panic in society where anybody seen having dreadlocks is seen as deviant which has lead to not dealing with the real issues in society. When labeling occurs society various forms of behaviors is expected in society form that group of people. This would lead to stereotyping i.e. pictures we create in our mind about others.
The impact of labels can also emit positive and mostly negative attitudes. The most dangerous negative impact is the self-fulfilling prophesy where individuals would want to fulfill what he has been labeled against. Majority of people who have been labeled who likely fulfill that prophesy. It also depends on the values that society holds and impact on the members. Some societies have values that minimize the probability of children becoming delinquent. Such societies teach their children on good values and children belong to society rather than an individual. Hence when a child is seen to be performing a deviant behavior he is punished by the society.
Our behaviors however are heavily influenced by agents of social control. Agents of social control help to bring sanity to the society by making sure that peace and stability is maintain to the later. Some of the agents of social control include police and judiciary. These are formal agents of social control (Crewe & Ronnie, 2009).
They are instituted by the government to make sure that peace and order is maintain regardless of what type of society a person comes from. Police are people who are trained to deal with any type of crime either by use of force or otherwise. They usually help in stopping riots and usually deals with different cases. The work of the police is to make arrest. The judiciary is responsible for determining whether the individual is guilty or not. If a person is found guilty the judges are responsible making the judgment. If a person is imprisoned, the prison authorities are responsible for correction of the offender.
Conclusion
In conclusion, other informal agents of social control are peer groups which help in that members of the same age group may decide to help one another to overcome deviant behaviors. This may help greatly because of fear of being struck out of peer group list. Religious institutions are also another agent of social control. This includes the churches where people attend regularly for spiritual nourishment. When people go to churches they are thought the importance of holding on to good morals and virtues. Hence people learn to stay together in harmony in a crime free society.
However labeling of individuals in society is wrong and should be avoided at all cost. Research show most of people who have been labeled in one way or the other usually end up turning into criminality. The cause of problems in our society results from people who have in the past regarded as criminals. For example a wealthy individual who is surrounded by low class people likely refer to poor as thieves when actually they are not. On the issue of same sex marriages in Canada, the government should sensitize people on improve acceptance and greater visibility of same sex family units. This would help greatly in making people understand better the complex relationship of same sex. It will also improve the gay and lesbian identity and define various gender roles the play.
References
Crewe, D. & Ronnie, L. (2009). Existentialist Criminology. New York: Taylor & Francis
Downes, D.M. & Rock, P.E. (2007). Understanding deviance: a guide to the sociology of crime and rule-breaking. 5th ed. London: Oxford University Press
Hagan, F. Introduction to Criminology: Theories, Methods, and Criminal Behavior. 7th ed. New York: SAGE, 2010
Krohn, M.D. Lizotte, A.J. & Hall, G.P. (2009). Handbook on Crime and Deviance. New York: Springer
Impact Of Bank Regulation, Market Structure, And Institutions On Cost Of Financial Intermediation
Introduction
Existence of financial intermediaries is a key element for smooth functioning of an economy. Financial intermediaries refer to all the financial institutions such as bank and non-bank financial institutions that are established within an economy (Richard, Burton & Norman, 2004, p.2). Financial intermediaries play a significant role in linking the deficit and the surplus units of finances. This means that they bring into contact the supply and demand side of finances. The demand side is referred to as the deficit unit and consists of all individuals seeking finances from financial institutions to invest in various sectors of the economy. On the other hand, the supply side is the surplus unit and consists of individuals who have finances and deposit them in these financial institutions so as to earn an interest. Through the process of intermediation, the financial institutions are able to ensure that there is effective flow of funds. This is due to the fact that financial intermediation is able to link the deficit side with the surplus side (Mathews, Saunders & Cornett, 2008, p.3). This means that financial intermediation facilitates the process of investing and saving.
During the process of financial intermediation, certain costs are incurred. According to Mathews et al (2008, p.3), the cost incurred in the process of financial intermediation refers to all the costs that are incurred during placement of finances with a certain financial intermediary. The cost of financial intermediation is affected by a number of factors. These include bank regulation, market structure and institutions. The discussion of this paper entails a critical evaluation of the theoretical and empirical literature that has been advanced to explain the impact of bank regulations, market structure and institutions on the cost of financial intermediation.
Impact of bank regulation
Considering the sensitive nature of financial institutions especially the banks, regulation is paramount. This is due to the fact that banks are a part of human welfare and they affect the society when they fail (Slovenia, 200, p.1). There are various regulations that have been advanced in relation to banks by various institutions. Some of these regulations are advanced by the central bank. However, increased bank regulation has an impact on the cost of intermediation in a number of ways.
Cost of entry and market structure
Cost of entry refers to the cost that a firm incurs in the process of introducing a new product or service to a particular sector of the economy. There is increased regulation within the banking industry by various governments through the central bank. Some of the regulations relate to the amount of capital reserve that is required in the process of entering into the industry. Capital requirement regulations are formulated to ensure that there is a certain degree of security to the depositor’s funds. Some of the capital regulation requirement relate to capital adequacy. High capital adequacy requirement results into an increase in the shareholder’s interest. However, this culminates into an increase in financial intermediation costs. In addition, capital requirement limits the number of firms entering the industry (Sammy & Magda, 2007, para.1).
According to Kunt, Luc and Ross (2003, p. 3), increased bank regulation in relation to reserve requirement tends to increase the cost of entry into the banking industry. This culminates into an increase in the cost of financial intermediation. This is due to the fact that increased cost of entry results into a few firms controlling the banking industry. This means that there is a monopolistic effect within the industry since competition is eliminated.
Degree of concentration
Increased regulation results into and increase in bank concentration. According to Kunt et al (2003, p. 5), bank concentration refers to a fraction of assets of a particular that are held by 3 largest banks in a particular country and are averaged over a given duration of time. According to Structure Conduct Profitability framework, concentration is used as a representative of a market structure. This model asserts that there is a strong positive correlation between concentration degree and the profit that a firm earns.
According to Kunt et al (2003, p.4) concentration is also positively correlated with the net interest margin. This means that an increase in concentration within the banking industry results into an increase an increase in the costs involved in financial intermediation. Firms which are in a competitive market structure earn a normal profit. On the other hand, monopolistic firms earn abnormal profits.The ultimate effect is an increase in bank concentration which culminates into a reduction in efficiency. Due to existence of few monopoly firms in the banking industry, the firms can collude so as to continue benefiting from increased profit. In addition, these firms will collude so as to increase the degree of entry barrier.
According to the SCP model, banks respond in a similar manner to an increase in the degree of market concentration through strengthening the collusive power amongst themselves. (Jacob et al, 2007, p.3). This enables them to equally benefit from the changes in the market.
Market share
In relation to the market structure, the size of financial institution also has an impact on the cost involved in the process of financial intermediation. Large firms tend to have a relatively high market share. Market share refers to the ratio between a banks assets to the all the bank assets of all commercial banks in an economy (Kunt et al, 2003, p. 12). A bank that has a relatively high market share earns a higher net income compared to those with a low market share. The large banks can exert a high market power as a strategy to increase their net margin interest.
According to Kunt et al (2003, p.29), small banks are associated with high financial intermediary costs. This is due to the fact that these firms have a net margin which is relatively high. This is also associated with the fact that small banks tend to incur large overhead costs compared to large banks. Overhead cost refers to a ratio between the total costs that a bank incurs with its total assets. The overhead cost is determined by the cost structure that the bank has adopted its asset allocation and product mixes.
According to Jacob, Laura and Paul (2007, p.2), competition within the banking industry is necessary. This is due to the fact that it results into improvement in the quality of service delivered and lowers the costs incurred. In addition, banks are compelled by increase in the rate of competition to improve on their efficiency of operation thus enhancing the rate of economic growth. According to Jacob et al (2007, p.2), market structure within the banking industry is determined by the size, number and concentration of banks. These variables are used in explain the intensity of competition in a particular banking industry. Lack of competition in the banking industry results into market inefficiencies and increase in the overhead costs. This culminates into an increase in the cost of intermediation.
The rampant growth in Information Communication Technology (ICT) has resulted into an increase in the degree of competition within the industry. To cope with the intense competition, banks have adopted the consolidation strategy. However, there still exists an institutional regulation that restricts entry of foreign investors into the banking industry. This results into a reduction in competition with the industry. In addition, increased regulation in the banking industry results into a reduction of the degree of economic freedom. Economic freedom measures the degree to which individual and institutional investors are free to invest in various economic sectors (Kunt et al, 2003, p.17).
Increase in net interest margins
According to Kunt et al (2003, p.22), an increase in the degree of regulation to banks results into an increase in the net interest margin. Net interest margin is a variable that is used to determine the gap that exists between what a particular bank pays to the source of its funds that is the supply side and what it obtains from individuals and institutions that use bank credit as a source of their finances, that is the demand side. According to Jude (n.d, p.1), net interest margin is used in determining the cost of financial intermediation. According to a study conducted by Kant and his colleagues (2003, p.22), countries that have adopted a higher restriction of new firms entering the banking industry have a high margin. This means that the cost of intermediation is relatively high. In addition, restricting entry of new firms into the banking industry acts as a protection measure to the existing banks of a particular country.
This enables them to benefit from a relatively high interest margin. This means that the cost of intermediation becomes relatively high compared to countries which do not have such entry restriction. For example, according to a research conducted by Kunt and his colleagues on Mexico and South Korea, these countries had almost the same amount of restrictions in relation to the activities that a bank could involve themselves in. The study indicated that a drop of 1% in the standard deviation of the countries activity restriction towards the banks would result into a 1% drop in their net interest margin. This means that there is a strong relationship between activity restriction and the net interest margin. This would culminate into a reduction in the costs involved in the process of financial intermediation.
Jude (n.d, p.2) asserts that increase in the net interest margin results into financial disintermediation. Disintermediation means that the financial institutions will be eliminated from the supply chain. This culminates into a slow down in the rate of a countries economic growth since there the deficit and surplus side are not effectively linked.
Inflation
Increase in the rate of inflation within an economy results into an increase the cost of intermediation. This is due to the fact that it results into a robust and positive force on the banks overhead cost and net interest margin. In addition, inflation results into informational asymmetry within the market which culminates into an increase in interest margin (Kunt et al, 2003, p.18).
Regulation on non-tradition activities
There are some regulations that have been advanced in various economies restricting banks from participating in various economic activities. This means that banks are supposed to only operate as financial intermediaries and should not invest in non- traditional activities. Some of the non-traditional activities that banks have been restricted from involving in include securities underwriting, owning other firms such as insurance and other non-financial companies and investing in real estate (Phillip, 2004, para.7). The objective of these regulations is to minimize the magnitude of risk exposure towards the banks. Activity restriction is used to gauge the degree of restriction that a bank faces in relation to their operational activities. Activity restriction can affect the bank efficiency through a reduction in competition and also through restricting the economies of scope. Activity restriction indicators mainly vary from 0-4. According to Kunt et al (2003, p.12), a higher value of activity restriction indicator shows that there is a greater restriction of a bank involving in certain activities. Different economies have varying degree of restriction. For example, Japan and Indonesia have a higher restriction of in relation the banking industry. The activity restriction rate for Japan is 3.5 while that of Indonesia is 3.75. On the other hand, countries such as Germany, United Kingdom, Switzerland and Austria have not imposed numerous activity restrictions towards their banking industry. This is evident from the fact that their activity restriction is 1.75.
Due to these regulatory restrictions, banks tend to increase their net interest margin. Considering the fact that banks are business entities with the objective of maximizing their profit levels, the banks increase the net interest margin. This enables them to maximize on the returns from the spread. This means that the cost of intermediation is increased.
In general increased, bank regulation results into an increase in the net interest margin which results into an increase in the costs incurred in the process of financial intermediation.
Institutional impacts
The government has an impact on the banking industry through regulation by the central bank. In addition, some of the banks are state owned. State ownership refers to a system where the government is in control of more than 50% of a particular economic sector. According to Kunt et al (2003, p.15), ownership of the banking system by the government indicates the efficiency of a banking system in availing finances to the private sector. Banking systems in which most of the institutions are owned or dominated by the government are inefficient. In addition, these banking systems are inefficient and not easy to enter. Increased bank regulation results into a reduction in competition within the industry. In addition, these firms face increased restriction in their activities. According to Kunt et al (2003, p.15) approximately 60% of the banks in Egypt, Bangladesh, Burundi, Belarus, Romania, India and Russia markets are owned by the government. To improve on their profitability level, these institutions increase their net margin interest. This culminates into an increase in the degree of cost incurred in the process of financial intermediation.
Kunt et al (2003, p. 17) asserts that effective institutional establishment result into effective business environment by enhancing competition in various sectors of the economy. There are a number of ways through which institutional environment can be improved. For instance, this can be achieved by ensuring that there is effective contract enforcement, judicial efficiency and superior property rights. Superior property rights will result into a reduction in the net interest margin. This means that the cost of intermediation is reduced. Ensuring that there are superior property rights, contract enforcement and judicial efficiency will culminate into an increment in the value of security in relation to bank loans. According to Kunt et al (2003, p.17), the ultimate effect is a reduction in the cost involved in the process of financial intermediation for the borrowers. In addition, these improvements will enable the banks to extend their credit market to borrowers who are rated as being of lower grade. This will also enable them to increase on the mean interest rate that is paid on loans.
In addition, if the institutional environment is favorable to the private sectors, there will be increase in the degree of competition. Kunt et al (2003, p. 24) asserts that increased degree of competition will result into a reduction in the interest margins.
Conclusion
Financial intermediation is paramount for the economic growth of a country. This is due to the fact that it links the deficit unit with the surplus unit. Financial intermediation is facilitated by various financial institutions such as banks. In addition, it facilitates the process of investing and saving. There are various costs that are incurred in the process of financial intermediation. These costs are affected by various factors such as the bank regulations, market structure and institutions.
Banks are a part of human welfare and hence the need to control them to minimize the chances of them collapsing. Considering the sensitive nature of the banks, various regulations have been advanced. The regulations instituted to the banking industry vary according to the various economies. These regulations have an impact on the cost of financial intermediation. Some of the regulations relate to capital requirement. Both domestic and foreign investors who desire to venture into the banking industry are required to have a certain minimum capital requirement. This capital requirement is determined by the government through the central bank. If a high amount of capital is required, only a few investors will be able to venture into the industry. This will result into a reduction in the number of banks within the industry. The result will be a reduction in competition within the industry. This means that there will be inefficiency in the market since the degree of concentration within the banking industry will be skewed to only a few firms. The effect is that there will be an increase in the cost of intermediation due to creation of a monopolistic market structure. Banks will increase the cost of intermediation as a strategy to achieve abnormal profits. In addition, increased regulation within the banking industry results into an increase in the net interest margin. Net margin interest is a measure that is used to indicate the gap between the interest paid by a bank to its source of funds and the interest charged to its customers. Net interest margin is directly related to the cost of intermediation. This means that an increase in the net interest margin results into an increase in the cost of intermediation.
There are also regulations that restrict banks from investing in certain sectors of the economy such as investing in real sector, insurance and underwriting of securities. Such regulations are imposed as a strategy of minimizing the degree of risks exposed to the to the depositors funds. This limits the scope of banks increasing their profit level. To increase on their profits, banks increase their net interest margin. This results into an increase in the cost of intermediation.
The cost of financial intermediation is also affected by the presence of an effective business environment. This can be attained by ensuring that there is effective contract enforcement, superior property rights and judicial efficiency. Existence of these structures will result into an improvement in the value of security used in securing bank loans. This will result into a reduction in the cost of intermediation since the banks will be able to increase on their profits by lending to a large number of individuals.
Cost of intermediation is also affected by the relative size of a firm’s market share. Large banks have relatively high market share compared to the small banks. This makes their overhead costs to be low and hence their cost of intermediation.
A favorable institutional environment results into an increase in the efficiency of competition within the banking industry. Economic freedom can be enhanced by the government through reduction in the amount of regulations towards the banking industry.This is due to the fact that more investors can easily venture into the industry.
Reference list
Gary, G.& Andrew, W.2002. Financial institution centre: financial intermediation. Pennsylvania: The Wharton School. Web.
Jacob, A, Laura, S & Paul, S. 2007.The impact of market structure, contestability and institutional environment on banking competition. Groningen, Netherlands: University of Groningen. Web.
Jude,S.N.d. Determinants of net interest margins of South East Asia. Diliman: University of Philippines. Web.
Kunt, D & Luc,L & Levine, R.2003. Regulations, market structure, institutions, and the cost of financial intermediation. Cambridge, MA: National Bureau of Economic Research. Web.
Matthew, K , Saunders, A, Cornett, M & Thompson, J. 2008.Theories of financial intermediation. New York: McGraw-Hill Publishers. Web.
Phillip,E.2004. Comment on regulations, market structure, institutions and the cost of intermediation. Journal of money. Vol.36, Issue, 21. Web.
Ross, L.. 2005. Bank regulation and supervision. Cambridge, MA: National Bureau of Economic Research. Web.
Richard,C, Burton, H & Norman, S.2004. Financial intermediation and the cost of trading in an opaque market. Lausanne: Carnegie Mellon University. Web.
Sammy, B &Magda, K.2007. The impact of capital requirements on banks cost of financial intermediation and performance. Washington DC: International Monetary Fund Research Department. Web.
Clinical Supervision: Ms. L. Pedagogical Case
The given clinical supervision will primarily focus on supervisor and teacher interactions within three essential phases of observational measures. The educator, Ms. L, is a proactive user of integrated lessons, where she puts a major emphasis on engagement and comprehension. In the pre-observation phase, the teacher accentuated her approach to utilize the given method in the lesson on mutations.
The observation stage revealed that she mostly adhered to the stated paradigms, but there was a lack of dialogue and ideas exchange. The post-observation part is focused on guiding the educator in a self-directed way. Therefore, Ms. L showed an outstanding teacher performance with a little exception on the use of dialogue, which was highlighted through self-directed feedback.
Pre-Observation
In the pre-observation stage, the emphasis is put on the teacher’s preliminary explanation of the lesson, which is going to be taught. One should note that name of the educator is Ms. L, and the subject is Living Environment Science for 8th-grade students. There are 32 learners in total, and the unit is Genetics and Heredity, with the specific lesson being accentuated on mutations. One of the traditional but urgent tasks of education is the formation of a holistic picture of the world among students.
According to the teacher, integration in the learning process performs the function of combining diverse knowledge into a holistic scientific concept of the world. Establishment and assimilation in the process of cognition of relationships and interdependences between individual elements of experience from various disciplines contribute to the deepening and expansion of knowledge (Yadav et al., 2016).
In connection with the practice of the teacher, this leads to the formation of students’ skills to generalize and systematize information, develop systems thinking. The idea of the pre-observation stage acquires particular relevance in the context of the implementation of the education of genetics since the process of forming general and professional competencies is interdisciplinary.
According to the teacher, in vocational education, there is the concept of a combined lesson, which implies the simultaneous mastery of theoretical knowledge and practical skills and abilities. This lesson can be taught by a master and teacher of professional disciplines or only by a master of industrial training. Ms. L believes that integrated lessons are most effective in certain cases.
For example, this can be important when detecting duplication of the same material in curricula and textbooks or when studying generalized inter-scientific categories, laws, principles covering different aspects of human life and activity, and technological processes. It may also be necessary when identifying contradictions in the description and interpretation of the same phenomena, events, facts in different sciences, academic disciplines (Yadav et al., 2016).
According to the teacher, it is important to demonstrate a wider field of manifestation of the phenomenon being studied, which goes beyond the studied discipline, and the use of the technology of problem and project learning. With a limit on the time to learn a topic and a desire, one needs to use ready-made content from a related or parallel discipline.
Observation
In the observation phase, the direct and precise evaluation and problem identification take place, which is not reliant on the teacher’s position. The peculiarities of the integrated lessons of this teacher are that the subject of study and analysis in an integrated task is multifaceted objects, information about the essence of which is contained in various academic disciplines, the material of such lessons shows the unity of processes in the world around them, allows students to see the relationship between different sciences.
It requires the content of integrated classes includes not only the main material studied from other disciplines but also new content, which is created on the basis of understanding and generalization of this material by students. The ultimate goal of the lesson on mutation is to apply knowledge in an unfamiliar, non-standard situation, put forward new hypotheses, and put theoretical knowledge into practice, during which the integrity of the surrounding world is understood, the creative abilities of students are formed.
The components of the educational process, such as goals, principles, content, methods, and means of teaching, were integrated into this lesson. Integrated lessons can combine the range of a wide variety of disciplines while preserving the teaching methods of the leading field or integrate the teaching methods of different disciplines while maintaining the content of only one specialization.
The object of the implementation of the content in the lesson of mutation was general concepts, general ideas, problems of various modifications, generalized methods of action, and techniques of a generalized nature. These components from different disciplines, combined in one lesson, became the backbone. Around them, educational material was collected and brought into a new system. The system-forming factor is the main one in the organization of an integrated lesson, and the methodology and technology of the class depended on it.
The main objectives of this lesson were the systematization and generalization of knowledge of mutation, and the identification of cause-and-effect relationships, teaching techniques, and methods of transferring knowledge from one subject area to another. The development of intellectual skills such as synthesis, generalization, juxtaposition, and establishment of interdisciplinary and universal connections was observed. Integrated lessons are also conducted with the aim of deeper penetration into the essence of the topic being studied, increasing the interest of students in learning a holistic, synthesized perception of the studied issues on this topic.
Post-Observation
In the post-observation part, the critical element is to provide feedback on the basis of the previous phases. Among the different teaching methods, the dialogue was not used most often. Discussion can occur both between teachers who consider a certain problem or phenomenon from different positions and between teachers and students who bring new facts from life, ask about the incomprehensible, and are involved in solving the problem. In the form of a dialogue, one can consider the performances of students with messages on individual issues, which they prepare independently.
Outstanding efficiency is provided by the use of various integrated tasks in an integrated lesson alongside adult development framework understanding, the peculiarity of which is the synthesis of knowledge and skills from different scientific fields, other academic disciplines around the study of one issue, the solution of one problem.
As a rule, integrated tasks are developed as interdisciplinary, inter-cycle, or connecting theory and practice, theory, and personal experience of students. One of the types of integrated studies can be multidisciplinary projects involving the use of knowledge in two or more disciplines, as well as meta-subject projects carried out at the intersection of knowledge areas and going beyond the studied fields.
Supervisor: Greetings, Ms. L. How did you like the experience of a supervisor being present during your class?
Teacher: Hello! I was expecting that I would be more stressed about it, but I was actually calm and relaxed as during the usual days.
Supervisor: I must say that I did not fully believe that you could implement an integrative lesson style for such an intricate lesson on mutations, but I was surprised that you adhered to your pre-observation words.
Teacher: I sincerely appreciate your feedback because I try hard to increase student engagement and comprehension during the classes, and it can be complicated to achieve for this type of subjects, such as genetics.
Supervisor: Since you are a highly experienced and skilled educator, I would like to ask you whether or not you could describe to me the ways you could improve these integrative classes.
Teacher: So, I do not think I need to add more in-class activities, and I also do not need to increase the lecture segment, but I think I spend less time on student interaction.
Supervisor: How could you improve the student interaction aspect?
Teacher: I think it is better to stick to a conventional format of Q&A or in-class conversation.
Supervisor: Could not agree more! What do you think of combining these two into a simpler dialogue at the end of the lessons?
Teacher: Yes, the simple dialogue would be helpful in both improving student interaction and evaluating comprehension. Thank you for your assistance!
Supervisor: My pleasure.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it is important to point out that the provided analysis is separated into three key elements, where each of them possesses the sole purpose of clinical supervision. In the pre-observation stage, Ms. L accentuated the use of integrated lesson style, where she mostly adhered to her words during the following phase. However, the post-observation part illuminated the problem, where the teacher did not use dialogue to increase engagement, and the corrective measure was based on self-directed technique.
Reference
Yadav, P. P., Chaudhary, M., Patel, J., Shah, A., & Kantharia, N. D. (2016). Effectiveness of integrated teaching module in pharmacology among medical undergraduates. International Journal of Applied & Basic Medical Research, 6(3), 215-219. Web.