Artistic and Verbal Creative Capacity of 6‐year‐old Children and their Psychopedagogic and Social Conditioning

The subject of the study comprised individual differences of creative achievements among 6‐year‐old children in two basic and qualitatively different kinds of child's activity: verbal and artistic. The aim of the research was both the analysis of the creative capacity level differentiation and pointing out the hierarchy of factors which determine certain inter‐ and intra‐individual as well as inter‐ and intro‐group differences.

The study is based on the concepts of the creativity theory of Wallach and Kogan (1970) and the capacity theory of Renzulli (1986) and Monks (1981) developed within the framework of humanistic and cognitive psychology.

The researcher analysed 6,000 drawings and the same number of oral statements produced by 643 children attending two types of pre‐schools and living in three different habitats. The research also covered teachers working with the 6‐year‐old children.

The following were used in the study: the test ‘Draw‐a‐Man’ of Goodenough; Guilford's tests of divergent thinking; Uszynska's Questionnaire of self‐estimation; The Schaefer's and Aaronson's Classroom Behaviour Inventory Pre‐school to Primary Scale; Popek's Questionnaire of Creative Behaviour ‘KANH’, and Uszynska's Questionnaire for parents.

The results of the research confirm a great differentiation of creative capacity levels of children and suggest that the most significant factors determining them are the pedagogic ones, which may directly or indirectly be influenced by the preschool teacher.     

The Subjectivity of the Teacher and the Subjectivity of the Children: Negative or positive co‐operation

Subjectivity is one of the elemental human needs. It is also significant since it plays a part in educational situations. A particularly important premise of subjectivity is responsibility for one's actions and, associated with this, determination of a direction for one's own activity, the exercise of control and the making of choices.

Human activity takes place principally in a social context. For this reason it is important to pay attention to two‐subject relationships. Their features are above all purposefulness, bi‐directionality and co‐ordination. Two‐subject activity may be of two sorts—negative co‐operation (conflict) or positive co‐operation, co‐ordination of a line of action including dialogue and collaboration.

Educational activity, particularly when directed at younger children, is characterized by different planes of functioning. The adult acts in a longer‐term perspective and formulates his aims in terms of general concepts but a small child acts in a short term perspective and formulates aims in concrete terms.

A system of priorities is put forward here, a two‐task model for the educational situation which makes subjective activity possible both for the child and for the adult. In the last part of the article an experiment is described which illustrates how such a two‐task situation works with a system of priorities and the results that were obtained.

     

Group Process and Emotional Education: Can the group process as described by Louis R. Ormont be effective in modifying the behavior of young children? (A retrospective study)

Several years ago I began to see children in my classroom who did not respond to the techniques I had used for many years to develop behavioural adjustment.

While searching for a new method that would be more effective, I was introduced to Louis Ormont's theories regarding the Group Experience involving adults.

Immediately I began to see the possibility of adjusting the adult Group Process to address the needs of the 5‐6‐year‐olds in my kindergarten class.

In my presentation I will discuss Dr Ormont's theory as I see it relating to my classroom and describe how I implement the Group Process and the results that were achieved over three years’ time with several classes of children.

My presentation will give new meaning to the terms ‘Group Meeting’ and ‘Behavioural Modification’ in the kindergarten classroom. In my mind the results are enormously positive. Children learn to take charge of their own behaviour and are strengthened by the feelings of group membership and personal empowerment.     

Faculty involvement in instructional materials development for distance study at the University of the South Pacific.

As a regional institution serving the needs of eleven different island nations of the South West Pacific, the University of the South Pacific is, along with its on‐campus face‐to‐face teaching activity, deeply committed to and reliant on distance study methods. Both these activities at the University are the principal responsibility of a single body of teaching staff.

This investigation, through the means of a structured questionnaire, studied the involvement of members of the University's teaching staff in instructional materials development for distance study. It enquired into the time they spent on such activity, their levels of satisfaction with the materials they produced, various preferences and their views on how the process of instructional materials development at USP could be improved.

Responses received revealed a rather unsatisfactory picture with a cry for, among other things, more time, advance planning, greater consultation among colleagues and adequate support services in instructional materials development for distance study.     

Hearing deficit and its effect on speech perception∗

A moderately deaf child may have enough hearing to convince his intelligent, concerned and observant parents that he is not deaf, but may yet have a severe speech and language defect. An explanation of the causal relationship between the deafness and the language defect is offered, in terms of the child's failure to acquire the language‐specific rules for categorisation of the sounds of speech.

     

Contexts for Independent Learning

One major world view that dominates the field of developmental psychology is the organismic world view. This world view depicts individuals, including children, as active agents who know the world in terms of their own operations upon it. Individuals are seen as being in control of their own learning. This control is exercised by individuals initiating and maintaining their own learning opportunities within a responsive social context.

The responsive social context is increasingly seen by developmental psychologists (Bronfenbrenner, 1979; Wood, 1982) as of fundamental importance for the acquisition of intellectual skills. It is within responsive social contexts that individuals acquire not only specific skills but also generic knowledge about how to learn. It is this generic knowledge that allows individuals a measure of control over, and hence independence in, these social contexts.

Educational policy statements, school prospectuses and, more recently, the Core Curriculum, abound with aims and objectives to do with achieving individual autonomy and independence as a learner. Yet there is growing evidence that in many contemporary classrooms at primary, secondary and tertiary levels, we may be providing precisely the wrong contexts for students to become autonomous and independent learners. Too many classroom learning environments simply do not qualify as responsive social contexts. Individual learners have minimal control over learning interactions and hence are excessively dependent on external control by teachers.

Theoretical explanations for differences between unskilled and skilled performance are being sought increasingly in terms of characteristics of the specific contexts in which performance occurs and less in terms of qualitative differences in global capacities or in thinking processes between individuals (Wood, 1982). For example, differences in complexity of oral language between three‐year‐old children might be explained by differences in the amount and quality of language exchange with caregivers. They might also be explained by differences in caregiver skills in interpreting and responding to needs signalled by an individual child's use of language in a particular context. If we are genuinely concerned about aims of autonomy and independence in learning, then we need to discover and analyse those characteristics of responsive environments which support and promote independent learning. On the basis of existing research it is possible to specify four such characteristics of responsive learning contexts.

     

Between Tradition and Progress: Oldenburg University's Model Plan for Comprehensive Teacher Training

Since early 1974, a pilot project for integrated teacher training has been in progress at Oldenburg University. This is currently the only extensive teacher training reform which exist in the German Federal Republic.

All plans for this integrated training program are designed to provide training normally encompassed by the traditional two‐stage programm.

The integrated training program includes:

- studies in the areas of education and social science;

- studies in two major subjects which are later to be taught at school;

- practical studies and activities.

The new model leads to the following degrees:

- nine semesters of study for a Certificate of Qualification for primary and lower‐level secondary school;

- eleven semesters for a Certificate of Qualification for higher‐level secon dary school and the education of exceptional children.

Theoretic training in major subject areas and related didactic training as well as education and social studies take place chiefly in the form of projects. A basic assumption is that interdisciplinary projects which are practice‐ and problemoriented permit a highly desirable integration of theory and practice on the whole.

In the project, contact teachers are an essential link between field practice at school and academic training at the university. Contact teachers are under contact to the university for an extended period of time (generally three years). In place of remunation, their teaching loads are reduced by ten hours per week.

In 1978/79 the project will be put to the test as the first generation of students prepares for State Board Examinations.     

Social Studies as a form and medium of education in the Greek kindergarten

It is known that one of the major goals of preschool education, if not the most important one, is the socialisation of children. In kindergarten socialisation is mainly achieved through social studies activities.

There is worldwide research concerning the application of social studies to kindergarten. In Greece, specifically, there is no relevant data about this subject.

Therefore, the current study was carried out in order to find out, interalia, I) whether kindergarten teachers occupy students with social studies activities, 2) if they do occupy them, in what social studies activities children engage more frequently and 3) the self‐assessed adequacy of the kindergarten teachers’ training and their attitudes concerning the application of social studies activities to kindergarten.

In order to collect the necessary data for this study, three hundred kindergarten teachers, from urban and non‐urban areas of Greece, were given a questionnaire and the conclusions drawn from their answers form the basis of the study.

In order to gain greater data validity, the recorded answers were cross‐referenced with informal observations in classrooms of teachers who participated in the study.     

Teacher‐training in People's Poland

The goal of teacher education in Poland is to provide all teachers with initial training at the same (higher education) level, but until this goal is achieved, a variety of institutions and standards will prevail.

Rapid expansion in the provision of schooling has kept up the demand for teachers, and there is still a shortage situation to which a full response cannot be made at university level, so that two‐year courses must persist for some time. Different Ministries will continue to be responsible.

The author provides a detailed analysis of the content of initial training; correct pedagogic induction is regarded as highly important, though a satisfactory allocation of time has yet to be reached. This problem is recognised by both Ministries responsible for teacher training, and important experimental work is under way.

In‐service training is highly important, both school‐based and externally provided; the various agencies are described. The training is available up to and including Doctoral level.

Many studies have been carried out of teachers and teacher‐training, and these help with the identification of current problems. These problems are frankly identified by the author, who offers a view of the directions to be followed.

Mieczyslaw Pecherski is Professor of Education at the University of Warsaw and Secretary of the Pedagogic Committee of the Polish Academy of Sciences.     

Woman and family in the African diaspora—mother and the sewing machine in Caribbean literature

‘… Miss Caroline

tell me how you spend your time

I spend all my time

around the Singer machine…’

These lines from a popular song of the nineteen forties sum up what was for many women a new reality. This paper identifies the space at the sewing machine as mother's space and the sewing machine as an important element in the psychological and financial liberation of the woman, here the Caribbean woman of the twentieth century. Evidence in support of this claim is offered predominantly from Caribbean creative writing, where artists have noted the importance of that invention in the lives of their mothers and in the achievements of their families.     

Children's Activities and their Effect on Child Development: The results of the IE A Pre‐primary Project in Poland

Poland took part in phases 2 and 3 of the IEA Pre‐primary ‘Quality of Life’ project initiated by the High/Scope Educational Research Foundation in Ypsilanti (US) and early childhood research workers from a wide range of countries. This article sets out a small part of the work undertaken in Poland, namely the results of observations of: the children's activities, the teacher's behaviour, the management of children's time in the kindergarten, the relationship between these variables, and their connection with the state of development of the children at 4‐ and 7‐years‐old.

     

Some Non‐Academic Developmental Correlates of Ability‐Grouping in Secondary Schools

Using data from the National Child Development Study, the relationship between certain non‐academic aspects of children's development and their school's ability‐grouping policy were examined.

The four areas of non‐academic development considered were: the young people's rating of their own ability in English, mathematics, science and practical subjects, their academic motivation, their plans for further education and occupational aspirations and their behaviour at school. However, in general there were no differences in any of these respects between children in streamed, setted and mixed‐ability schools.

The implications of these findings are discussed, in particular the potential differences which could arise between schools with different policies if more appropriate methods of teaching and organisation were adopted.     

FIRST MEETING OF THE STANDING CONFERENCE ON UNIVERSITY PROBLEMS

There are a number of international organizations or bodies, which create a framework for international co‐operation in higher education in the European region. (In some cases such co‐operation may involve only some of these countries, while in other instances it may cut across the outer boundaries of the European region).

In 1978 a new organization was created by the Council of Europe's Standing Conference on University Problems (CC‐PU) whose terms of reference are: “as a committee of experts under the authority of the new Council for Cultural Co‐operation (CDCC):

• to organize or encourage cooperation among European nations in the field of higher education and research;

• to propose activities to the CDCC for inclusion in the annual programme of activities;

• to promote relations among European universities and institutions

  of higher education and research”.

The first meeting of CC‐PU was held from 20 to 21 December 1978 in Strasbourg. Professor Dominique Rivier, Rector of the University of Lausanne was elected as its Chairman and as its Vice‐chairman, Professor Paul Sabourin from the Cabinet du Ministre aux Universites (France).

The following information concerns issues discussed during the first meeting of the Conference; these were the Council's Cultural Co‐operation (CDCC) activities in promoting student mobility in the countries of the European Community3 and interrelations between employment and training.     

The Ideology of Health Education in Schools

This paper examines the dominant themes which underlie many of the health education materials used in schools, and explores whether these are the most appropriate if health education is to make a significant contribution to either children's health or their education.

The overall approach to health education is identified as highly individualistic in its emphasis on individual responsibilities, attributes and skills necessary for achieving health. Contradictions, distortions and gaps inherent in this model are revealed. These contribute to identifying this kind of health education as an ideology, which serves least the needs and interests of those children who are likely to experience the greatest ill‐health.

The ways in which this approach is inappropriate for schoolchildren are illustrated by a case study, which compares the drinking experiences of a group of children with the alcohol education materials designed for them.

To conclude, improvements to both health education for slow learners and more generally to health education in schools are discussed. These include the development of an approach which is both child‐centred, and critical in locating individual choices about health within the social, economic and political contexts of local communities and wider society.

     

Education for the Teaching Profession: Upstart or Start‐up?

Robert Howsam prefaced his paper with the story of The Velveteen Rabbit, a very ordinary, cheap rabbit who was loved by his owner for only an hour on Christmas morning, and spurned by the other toys‐‐those which were expensive, mechanical, very modern, or exquisitely detailed‐‐until he felt very insignificant and commonplace. His only friend was the Skin Horse. The oldest inhabitant of the nursery, he was battered, bald and showed his seams, but he was also wise and experienced.

"What is REAL?”, asked the Rabbit one day, when they were lying side by side near the Nursery fender, before Nana came to tidy the room. “Does it mean having that buzz inside you and a stick‐out handle?"

“Real isn't how you are made”, said the Skin Horse. “It's a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real.”

Rabbit also learned that becoming Real sometimes hurt, and that it takes a long time. “That's why it doesn't often happen to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept.”

Eventually the Boy and the Rabbit became inseparable. One night, when Rabbit was left in the garden, an annoyed Nanny, having had to collect him, chided the Boy for making such a fuss over an old toy.

“You musn't say that’, said the Boy. “He isn't a toy. He's Real.”

And Rabbit was happy.

Real rabbits, who found him one day in the garden, laughed at hint when he said he was Real, but, in time, when he was old and shabby and about to be burned with all the other toys after a scarlet fever infection, the nursery Magic Fairy appeared. She was going to turn him into a Real rabbit.

“Wasn't I Real before?”, asked the little Rabbit.

“You were real to the Boy”, the Fairy said, “because he loved you. Now you shall be Real to everyone.”.     

UNDERGRADUATE COMPETENCIES WHICH FACULTY VALUE

Concern about the quality of higher education in the United States has led to vigorous debate about desired outcomes and assessment methods. Identifying desired outcomes in behavioural terms is one way to proceed to evaluation.

What general competencies should undergraduates attain? The purpose of this research was to identify the commonalities in what faculty value as desired characteristic behaviours for undergraduate students.

Performance evaluation provides a specific method for Identifying explicit behaviours which are associated with successful performance of a given role. Faculty at Drake University in Des Molnes, Iowa, were asked to rate the Importance of 111 selected behaviours. Factor analysis was used to analyse the data. The first seven factors were Personal Development, Research Activities, Conscientiousness, Self‐Confidence, Student Activities and Community Service, Oral Communication Skills, and Questioning.

Comparison of these research results with desired outcomes Identified by four other American universities shows many similarities. This method could be used by other universities to provide faculty with a research‐based beginning toward formulating competencies for a common core curriculum for undergraduates.     

Desiderata for Research into Historical Concepts of Teacher Training: an attempt to update research into the history of teacher training in Germany

Summary A study of the history of teacher training in Germany reveals some fascinating blind spots which have been ignored for decades.

Pedagogical historiography must now liberate itself from Prussian dominance and take a keener interest in the activities which took place away from the better‐known centres of reform.

The basically bipartite teacher training system for a tripartite school system has evolved into contradictory models of integration in the different federal states.

     

Cognitive Style and Problem Behaviour in Boys Referred to Residential Special Schools

The paper considers aberrant behaviour in the context of cognitive style with reference to both diagnosis and treatment.

Aims.

The aims of the study were to investigate whether the style of pupils with behaviour problems was different from that of children with no reported problems, and also to consider how pupils of different style manifested their problem behaviours.

Sample.

The sample comprised 83 male pupils aged 10‐18 years from two residential special schools.

Method.

The sample were given the Cognitive Styles Analysis to assess their positions on the Wholist‐Analytic and Verbal‐Imagery style dimensions. The pupil records of the special school pupils who were at the extreme of the style dimensions were also examined.

Results.

When their style characteristics were contrasted with a Comparison Sample of 413 12‐16‐year‐old males attending 10 secondary schools, the special school pupils had a significantly higher proportion of both Wholists and Verbalisers, than the Comparison Group. Further, the inspection of the records indicated that the types of social behaviour and behaviour problems exhibited varied with style, and particularly on the Wholist‐Analytic dimension.

Conclusion.

The results were considered to have implications for the origins and treatment of problem behaviour.     

UNESCO SEMINAR ON THE USE OF RADIO AND TELEVISION IN TEACHER TRAINING

The UNESCO International Seminar on Experience Gained from the Polish NUHT System in the use of Radio and Television in Teacher Training was held in Warsaw from 24‐28 January 1977.

We give below information on the main elements of the Seminar's activities.     

CREATION OF A CENTRE FOR INTERNATIONAL CO‐OPERATION AND SERVICES AT THE OPEN UNIVERSITY

During the late 1960s the United Kingdom was one of many countries which faced a potential educational crisis arising from a growing demand for post‐secondary education linked with inadequate resources for its conventional provision.

“Distance learning” techniques, providing an alternative form of study based on multi‐media methods outside formal educational systems, have emerged in response to this new demand.

Within the sector of higher education the Open University of the United Kingdom is one of the most comprehensive distance learning systems.

Many requests have been made to the University for information on distance education and for advice and assistance in establishing similar ventures elsewhere. In response to these developments the University Senate has created recently a Centre for International Co‐operation and Services (CICS).

We give below information on the main functions of this Centre within the framework of the Open University activities.