Trainees' Expectations for the Supervisory Process: Testing a Developmental Model

Based on Stoltenberg's developmental theory and the literature on supervision as a social influence process, a prediction model of trainees' general expectations for the supervisory process was tested. Beginning and advanced practicum students and interns completed a self-efficacy inventory and indicated their outcome expectancies for supervision with respect to their own and their clients' development. Dependent variables were expectations for supervisors' attributes (expertness, attractiveness, trustworthiness) and role (evaluation, support). All of these process dimensions were significantly predicted from trainees' self-efficacy and outcome expectancies, while level of training was of minimal predictive value. In general, trainees expected supervisors to be significantly more trustworthy than expert, more expert than attractive, and more evaluative than supportive.     

M.A.S.S.: A Model for Producing Transfer

Transfer is the application in the workplace of the knowledge, skills and attitudes learned in training. With transfer, trainers hope to link training to increased job performance. However, training alone will not produce transfer. To affect job performance as a result of training, trainers must intentionally promote transfer using a variety of strategies based on known principles of human performance technology. The MASS model, presented in this paper, brings together four of these principles. According to the MASS model, trainers who promote transfer (and who thereby become performance technologists) 1) Motivate trainees to learn and use the training material; 2) increase trainees' Awareness of when to use new skills and ideas; 3) enable trainees to master and to apply Skills; and 4) give trainees psychological and physical Support on the job. When performance technologists follow the MASS model, they can expect to produce trainees who apply at work what they have been taught in training. Use of the model is illustrated with two examples.     

Self-regulatory teaching in mathematics: relations to teachers' motivation,affect and professional commitment

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between teachers' reports on self-regulatory strategy use in mathematics instruction and individual motivational and affective factors. Two hundred and ninety-two Greek primary school teachers responded to two questionnaires assessing (a) the strategies they use themselves to plan, monitor and evaluate mathematics instruction and (b) the strategies they use to activate and enhance students' self-regulated learning in mathematics. Path analysis showed that teachers' self-regulation strategies both for their own teaching and for enhancing students' self-regulation in mathematics were predicted by their self-efficacy beliefs in teaching mathematics, the value they attribute to mathematics and their emotional commitment to their profession. Teachers' enjoyment of mathematics teaching did not directly predict their reported use of self-regulatory instructional strategies. The implications of the study are related to the development of teachers' training programmes in self-regulated instruction.     

Effects of Counselor's Ordinal Position When Involved in Role Play Practice in Triads

To investigate the effects of the order of being the counselor when involved in role-play practice, 36 novice trainees were assigned to counseling triads and then to the levels of ordinal position—counselor first, second, or third. Each participant also served as a client and as an observer within the triad. No difference among the three ordinal positions was found in the trainees' abilities to produce reflection of feeling responses. Similarly, there were no differences between those trainees who functioned as as observers before being the role-play counselor. There was a significant positive linear trend, however, for ordinal position (i.e., the accuracy of the trainees' reflection of feeling responses steadily improved from first counselor role play to third counselor role play). These results are discussed from a social-learning theory perspective.     

Learning to teach: some perceptions of trainee teachers of mathematics on working collaboratively in the classroom

This paper examines trainees' perceptions of the impact, on secondary mathematics trainees, of collaborative school‐based work involving small groups of trainees, a university tutor and a class teacher. The findings suggest that trainees' become better able to plan and deliver a coherent yet diverse sequence of lessons, that their awareness of children's learning styles and misconceptions was raised and that preconceived notions about teaching and learning were challenged and mediated. A few trainees found the experience unhelpful and threatening. The role of the tutor was found to influence trainees' responses to the program and, to an extent, moderate the effects of variations in teacher involvement. Some implications are discussed.     

Microcounseling: Techniques in Assessing Clients' Attitudes toward Guidance Tests

Microcounseling techniques were used to conduct an experimental study. The objective was to train naive college students who were interested in counseling to assess clients' attitudes toward guidance tests. A correlation of .797 was obtained between clients' ratings of attitudes toward tests and the trainees' ratings of clients' attitudes toward tests. Findings were consistent with the results of other microcounseling studies. Individual differences among the trainees were noted and comparisons were made between the trainees' own ratings, judges' ratings, and clients' ratings of trainees. Lack of a control group imposes a serious limitation on interpretation of the results.     

The Effects of Group Supervisor Roles on Practicum Students' Interview Behavior

This study investigated the effects of two supervisory roles (restrictive and nonrestrictive), when used within the small group practicum seminar, on counselor trainees' ability to emit understanding, affective, and exploratory responses in their final counseling interviews at the end of training. These results were compared to those of a control group that did not use a supervisor. Significant differences were observed only in the ability of the trainees to emit understanding responses.     

Stopping to thinks school‐based and higher education‐based primary student teachers' reflections on their learning

This paper examines trainees' perceptions of the impact, on secondary mathematics trainees, of collaborative school‐based work involving small groups of trainees, a university tutor and a class teacher. The findings suggest that trainees' become better able to plan and deliver a coherent yet diverse sequence of lessons, that their awareness of children's learning styles and misconceptions was raised and that preconceived notions about teaching and learning were challenged and mediated. A few trainees found the experience unhelpful and threatening. The role of the tutor was found to influence trainees' responses to the program and, to an extent, moderate the effects of variations in teacher involvement. Some implications are discussed.     

The Usefulness of Educational Research for Trainee Teachers' Learning

In this paper the authors argue that subject-related educational research can play an important role in trainee teachers' learning since it provides a disciplined perspective from which trainees can derive new ideas and understandings related to their own developing practice as well as a critical basis from which to formulate, examine and justify their views through reference to a wider, collective pool of experience. However, the authors strongly argue that research will only contribute usefully to trainees' learning provided certain fundamental principles governing the inclusion of research within the structure of the training course as a whole are applied. In the first section of the paper the authors define ten necessary principles which determine the conditions for successful use of research-based ideas in trainees' learning. Research-based ideas introduced on a training course, it is argued, must be seen by trainees, and subject mentors, to have a significant practical relevance with regard to classroom practice. The ideas and arguments must be carefully selected and strategically integrated within a course and must elicit informed critical evaluation. The second half of the paper consists of two illustrative examples of how these principles are applied in the integration of two research-based ideas ('inductive grammar teaching' and 'Interpretations of History') on the Modern Foreign Languages and History PGCE courses at the University of Cambridge School of Education.     

Do students' self-efficacy beliefs moderate the effects of performance goals on self-regulatory strategy use?

We examined whether perceived self-efficacy moderated the relationship between performance goals and self-regulatory strategy use in two different samples of 178 and 108 Norwegian post-secondary students. Using multiple regression with interaction terms, we found that perceived self-efficacy moderated the relation between performance-avoidance goals and reported use of self-regulatory strategies for students in a competitive, performance-oriented context. Specifically, in that context, there seemed to be a negative effect of increased performance-avoidance goal orientation for students with high self-efficacy and a positive effect of increased performance-avoidance goal orientation for students with low self-efficacy. While the nature of this moderator effect is not consistent with what has previously been suggested by researchers using a goal orientation framework, our findings point to the importance of examining self-efficacy moderator effects in different study contexts.     

Adaptive and effortful control and academic self-efficacy beliefs on achievement: A longitudinal study of 1st through 3rd graders

The linkages between self-regulatory processes and achievement were examined across 3 years in 733 children beginning at 1st grade (M = 6.57 years, S.D. = .39 at 1st grade) who were identified as lower achieving in literacy. Accounting for consistencies in measures (from 1 year prior) and for influences of child's age, gender, IQ, ethnicity and economic adversity on achievement, results indicate that adaptive/effortful control at 1st grade contributed to both academic self-efficacy beliefs at 2nd grade, and reading (but not math) achievement at 3rd grade. Although academic self-efficacy did not partially mediate the linkage between adaptive/effortful control and achievement, academic self-efficacy beliefs were positively correlated with reading and math. Results support the notion that early efforts to promote children's self-regulatory skills would enhance future academic self-beliefs and achievement, particularly in literacy.     

The Relationship of Facilitative Functioning to Effective Peer Supervision

This study was conducted to investigate the process of peer supervision. The criterion used was counselor trainees' growth in facilitative functioning. The study sought to ascertain whether the facilitative counselor trainee was also the effective peer supervisor, to provide information on evaluating the peer-supervisory experience, and to shed light on the most effective techniques of supervision. Peer supervisors were found to be effective in improving the performance of counselor trainees in the core dimensions of empathy, respect, genuineness, and concreteness. A significant positive correlation was found between peer supervisors' level of empathy in the counseling relationship and the trainees' ratings of supervisors on the relationship questionnaire. No significant correlation was found, however, between the trainees' ratings of their supervisors and the improvement demonstrated by the trainees in the core conditions. In addition, no significant correlation was found between the extent of the trainees' improvement and the supervisors' level of functioning as counselors. The relationship between trainees' responses to the supervisor role-analysis form and their improvement in counseling skills suggested that the most effective supervisors were structured, didactic, and more technique oriented.     

Becoming a lecturer in further education in England: the construction of professional identity and the role of communities of practice

Further education colleges in England offer a wide range of post‐school education and training provision. Recently they have undergone major transformations that have resulted in considerable changes to the work of those teaching in them. In this paper we examine how cultures of learning and teaching in colleges are affected and how the nature of professional identity has changed. The paper considers the formation of professional identity amongst a group of trainee lecturers completing a one‐year full‐time teacher‐training course at a university in the English Midlands. Lave and Wenger's work on apprenticeship to communities of practice is used to examine the effect of trainees' teaching placement on the development of professional identity. Rather than identifying effective processes of increasing participation in existing communities of practice, a strong sense of marginalisation and alienation amongst trainees was observed. The paper argues that this is detrimental both to trainees and experienced lecturers if they are to actively engage in building new forms of professionalism for the future.     

Trainee Change through Teacher Training: A case study in training English language teachers in Spain

In the course of giving greater importance to trainees' previous knowledge about and experience of teaching and learning foreign languages, the role of teacher training courses as agents of change has recently been questioned. Through a research project reported in this article I tried to find out to what extent two teacher training courses I was recently involved in caused trainees to change their points of view in relation to some of the fundamental issues involved in teaching. Special attention was given to the sources of these modifications, particularly to the role that teaching practice plays in them.     

The Effects of Leaderless Encounter Group Experiences on Helping Skills Training

The effects of an audiotaped leaderless encounter group on training in basic helping skills were examined. Trainees undergoing the Danish and Hauer (1973) training program were assigned to a weekly encounter group or to a didactic lecture-discussion group. No changes in trainees' self-actualization, trait or state anxiety, or rated verbal helping behavior were found due to participation in the encounter group. Significant positive changes in verbal helping behavior were found for all trainees. The importance of evaluating training experiences for helpers-in-training is noted.     

Next Steps for Mind,Brain, and Education: Strengthening Early‐Career Development

An increasing number of scholars are being trained in the field of mind, brain, and education (MBE), yet discussions of trainees' needs and how to meet them are rare. We, the inaugural International Mind, Brain, and Education Society (IMBES) Trainee Board, identify three broad needs of MBE trainees: guidance and support, greater access to and connections among the MBE community, and professional development. We report a first step to address these needs: a daylong trainee conference, which included sessions to foster connections among trainees, provide mentorship from MBE leaders, and provide knowledge and skill building for careers. Attendees' survey results suggest the conference successfully supported trainees' development. As substantial trainee needs remain, we offer specific ways that principal investigators, institutions, funding agencies, future IMBES trainee boards, and the MBE community can further address trainees' needs to support early‐career development and strengthen the MBE field generally.     

Effects of Client Race‐Ethnicity on Perceptions of Counselor Trainees: Study 1 and Study 2

The authors investigated the impact that racial stereotypes have on counselor trainees' perceptions of the attributes and behaviors of ethnically diverse male clients. Two studies were conducted in which participants were counselor trainees (Study 1, N = 58; Study 2, N = 75) who received a case study in which a male student sought counseling for problems affecting his school work. No differences were revealed in Study 1. In Study 2, counselor perceptions of client attributes differed across client race–ethnicity. The results are discussed in terms of their implications for training counselors, particularly regarding multicultural courses and workshops.     

Old habits die hard: literacy practices of pre-service teachers

Reading methodology in pre-service teacher training may not be effective because of the literacy beliefs and practices of the trainees. This paper examines the reading practices of a group of pre-service teachers (n=29) in Singapore. Their personal approach to reading revealed that the majority split reading into two domains: leisure reading and academic reading. Trainees use multiple strategies in reading but these are confined to their leisure reading; for academic reading, they adopt a different set of strategies that are geared to remembering rather than comprehension or evaluation. These representations of reading and the associated strategies are developed and reinforced during their schooling. Due to the lack of congruence between the training and trainees' own representations, trainees fall back on remembered routines during their teaching.     

Training special educators: sustaining professional development in special school placements

With the rapidly changing demographic due to survival rates from medical advances, the need to strengthen training on SEND is now recognised, and special school placements valued, having been previously marginalised within initial teacher training. Practices developed since 2008 at one university to support progression of trainees to gain advanced and specialist skills in SEND were evaluated for effectiveness. This involved ten school mentors, 14 primary trainees on four‐week extended enrichment placements and three trainees with prior experience on final formally assessed seven‐week placements in special schools. This article presents the resulting consolidated developmental placement structures and a proposed compulsory one‐week model for trainees to gain core skills, underpinned by a shared understanding of trainee professional development needs and related support systems. Quality mentoring practices and sustaining trainees' emotional learning journey were integral to their developing pedagogical skills and understanding, so endorsing the debate for more humanistic approaches to teacher training.     

Two types of voluntary undergraduate attrition: Application of Tinto's model

Tinto's model of institutional attrition was tested by comparing undergraduate students who had dropped out from Washington State University (WSU) one year prior to the study with a control sample of students who continued at WSU. Tinto's constructs of individual attributes, past educational experience, goal commitment, institutional commitment, social integration, and academic integration were operationalized using variables obtained from precollege records, academic records at the university, and a post-withdrawal survey. Setwise discriminant function analysis was used to discriminate between the attrition sample and the control sample using Tinto's constructs. Variables measuring individual attributes, past educational experience, institutional commitment, and academic integration all contributed significantly to the discriminant function when all other variables were controlled for. Tinto's model was also able to explain the differences between those attrition students who transferred to another institution and those who dropped out of higher education. Those that dropped out had a significantly lower academic ability, lower academic integration, lower goal commitment, and lower social integration.