Career coping styles: differences in career attitudes among secondary school students

The types of difficulties associated with career attitudes were studied using Super’s model of career maturity (1990) in a group of 620 Portuguese students from grades 9 and 12. A cluster analysis identified four styles with different patterns of association between time perspective, attributional beliefs, self-esteem and career attitudes. The adaptive style showed more committed career attitudes, and the other three styles—superficial, insecure and pessimistic—showed lower levels of career maturity. Implications for career counselling are further discussed.     

Career guidance in the Middle East and North Africa

The results are presented of a policy-focused review of career guidance services in 10 Middle East and North African countries. A range of economic, political, socio-cultural and educational factors which seem likely to have constrained the development of such services, and to have influenced the forms they have taken, are discussed. A number of drivers for change are outlined, the nature of the main current services is described, and a number of common issues are explored. Six broad themes are identified for the future development of career guidance services within the region.     

The challenges of making school guidance culturally responsive: narratives of pastoral needs of ethnic minority students in Hong Kong secondary schools

Many Hong Kong schools are concerned about the growing number of ethnic minority students. How they are supported and how the diversity of their pastoral needs is fulfilled become critical. This article examines teachers’, students’ and parents’ narratives of the cross‐cultural experience of ethnic minority students from India, Pakistan, Philippines, Nepal and Thailand, and the diversity of those students’ pastoral needs. The qualitative data were collected from interviews, through which the constructs of 32 teachers and 32 students from three secondary schools were explored. Four groups of focus‐group interviews were conducted, in which 15 parents were involved. This article argues that to implement the ethos of caring, it is not only necessary for the school to promote the intercultural sensitivity of all practitioners, but equally important to develop a connected school system where ethnic minority students and parents can be consistently supported in the subsystems of classroom, school and home.     

Sex differences in the sources of academic and social guidance sought by secondary school students

Four hundred and five students made up of 220 boys and 185 girls from eight secondary schools in Lagos State of Nigeria were chosen for this study. A survey was undertaken to find out the frequency (or the amount) of guidance services sought by both male and female respondents to each of the following sources: teachers, relations, friends, and trained counsellors on academic and social problems.The results showed that even though the students consulted the four sources of guidance under investigation in this study, there were sex differences in the frequency at which the four sources were consulted. Girls in this study were found to have made greater use of their friends on social and academic problems. Boys were found to have made greater use of their teachers on their academic problems and their relations on social problems.On the basis of the findings in this study, recommendations were made that students be encouraged to consult their teachers and guidance counsellors on academic problems in particular more than they were presently doing: that as much as possible students be discouraged from consulting their friends and relations on social and academic problems; that both the State and the Federal governments should make some effort to increase the provision of guidance and counselling services in Nigerian schools and where counselling services are available, students should be encouraged to make use of them.     

A comparison of the guidance received and desired by black and white pupils in South Africa

A survey was conducted of 692 black and white high school pupils in sixteen South African high schools. A questionnaire requested information regarding pupils' perceptions of the extent to which they actually received guidance services in twelve areas listed in official syllabi. Subjects were also asked to indicate which of these dimensions they wished to receive, and their preferences in this regard. Results indicated that black pupils received guidance significantly less than did whites, and that they had a commensurately stronger desire for such input. In their ordering of preferred areas in which Guidance should be provided, there were certain commonalities and a few differences in the responses of black and white pupils. It was concluded that the inadequacies in the guidance system, particularly for blacks, are associated with the nature of the apartheid society. Accordingly, changes in the guidance system are seen as dependent upon pervasive reform of that society.     

Career decision-making of high school students in Kenya

The aim of this study was to identify importantfactors that influence career decisionmaking of highschool students in Kenya. The study indicates thatrural students tend to seek help from parents andteachers more than urban students, and that parents,more than career teachers, play a major role in thecareer decision-making of students. Findings alsoindicate that gender, selfconcept and vocationalstereotyping are among the major factors thatinfluence career decisions of high school students inKenya.     

High school science enrollment of black students

How can the high school science enrollment of black students be increased? School and home counseling and classroom procedures could benefit from variables identified as predictors of science enrollment. The problem in this study was to identify a set of variables which characterize science course enrollment by black secondary students. The population consisted of a subsample of 3963 black high school seniors from The High School and Beyond 1980 Base-Year Survey. Using multiple linear regression, backward regression, and correlation analyses, the US Census regions and grades mostly As and Bs in English were found to be significant predictors of the number of science courses scheduled by black seniors.     

Assessing the counselling needs of high school students in Kenya

The Student Counselling Needs Scale (SCNS) was administered to 867 participants recruited from high schools in Kenya. The data were analyzed using exploratory factor analysis yielding five factors: human relationships, career development, self development, social values, and learning skills were assessed. The findings highlighted the importance of using assessment instruments to identify students’ counselling needs in Kenya.     

Validity of Childhood Career Development Scale scores in South Africa

The purpose of this study was to provide evidence of the construct and concurrent validity of the Childhood Career Development Scale’s (CCDS) scores among South African primary school children. Using a sample of 808 children in grades four through seven, evidence for the CCDS’s construct validity was provided using confirmatory factor analysis, with eight factors confirmed. Evidence for the CCDS’s concurrent validity was also presented by analyzing the relationship between subscales of the Childhood Career Development Scale and measures of self-esteem, locus of control, and children’s industry. The CCDS continues to emerge as a promising theoretically-driven assessment tool.     

Tranformation in South Africa: The changing role of the guidance counsellor

Guidance counsellors can play an important contributing role in the reconstruction of education in South Africa. As Guidance and Counselling (G&C) should be a central program in the overall educational system, a program that is holistic with an emphasis on preventive. promotive and developmental approaches is proposed. The implications for training G&C personnel within such a program are examined.     

Educational needs for multicultural hearing-impaired students in the public school system

This article provides information on the educational problems and needs of hearing-impaired students from three major multi-cultural groups, the Afro-American, Hispanic, and Asian. The focus is upon identification and programming for these needs within the public school system, based especially upon experience within the San Diego City Schools. The factors addressed include: demographic shifts and the dropout rate among these students, and cultural considerations for education. Specific educational considerations discussed include: assessment, programming, bilingual education, curriculum and instructional strategies, teacher-training and program models.     

Mathematical literacy of school leaving pupils in South Africa

This paper discusses some results of South African (SA) grade 12 pupils on an international test of mathematical literacy, administered in the framework of the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) under the auspices of the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA). Three questions are addressed: (1) What are the strengths and weaknesses of SA school-leavers in mathematical reasoning and social utility from an international comparative perspective?: (2) What is the growth of SA pupils' mathematical literacy from grade 8 to 12? (3) What are the background variables that influence the level of mathematical literacy of SA school-leavers? Finally some implications of the results for SA education will be discussed.     

Guidance needs of black first year students in a developing country

The guidance needs of 348 Black first year university students were investigated. The results indicate that help with academic problems (subject and course choice and study skills) should receive priority in planning university guidance services for this population group. The need for adequate financial support also proved to be a significant problem with the students. As predicted, help with making career plans did not figure as a major need, although the time variable (first week of the academic year) may have influenced the results. Contrary to a stated hypothesis, help needed with personal problems proved to be the least required service. Another important need identified was a lack of sufficient educational, occupational and personal information. Some of the recommendations made to provide adequate guidance services include sufficiently staffed guidance bureaus, the lengthening of the academic year for freshmen, non-technical information pamphlets, combining computer scoring of standardized tests with the do-it-yourself approach in order to provide reliable information and a mobile career guidance unit.     

怎样提高中专生英语口语表达能力

中专生英语口语表达能力是中专英语教学的重点,也是难点,为了解决这个问题,本文提出了朗读、背诵、复述、表演、利用有利条件进行练习等方法以提高学生的英语口语表达能力,并提出了几个解决怕说错而不敢说英语心理障碍的方法。     

Departmental differences in attitudes to special educational needs in the secondary school

As trends in favour of inclusion continue, questions arise concerning the extent to which teachers in mainstream schools feel prepared for the task of meeting pupils' special educational needs. Little previous research has considered how the subject taught impacts upon the attitudes of mainstream teachers towards pupils with special educational needs. In this article, Jean Ellins, research fellow at the University of Birmingham, and Jill Porter, senior lecturer at the University of Bath, report on their research into the attitudes of teachers in one mainstream secondary school. Building a detailed case study using documents, records of pupil progress, an interview and a questionnaire using a Likert-type attitude scale and open-ended questions, these researchers set out to explore distinctions between the attitudes of teachers working in different departments. Their findings suggest that the teachers of the core subjects, English, mathematics and science, had less positive attitudes than their colleagues. Further, pupils with special educational needs made least progress in science where teacher attitudes were the least positive. Jean Ellins and Jill Porter review the implications of these findings and make recommendations for future practice and further enquiry.     

建立大、中专在校学生自我管理机制

随着全国大学本科及大专科考就读人数逐年增招,所以高素质大、中专生源日益凸显乏人,初中应招的高职大、中专学生多数是由于家庭困难或渺于前途而选择接受中专教育,以便捷于早日就业。     

对中职学生德育教育的几点思考

当前中职学校学生的思想道德状况总体上看主流是好的,但由于受社会多种复杂因素的影响,部分中职学生心理素质脆弱,缺乏抗挫折教育和感恩意识。本文围绕营造良好的家庭环境、校园环境、社会环境等方面提出了对中职德育工作的几点的思考。     

The contradictions of scientific management as a mode of controlling teachers'' work in black secondary schools: South Africa

Using teaching as a labour process, this paper shows how teachers' work is controlled by the state. By using data collected from the Lebowa bantustan in South Africa, the analysis focuses on structural/material constraints on teachers' work; how scientific management has been transferred from industrial corporations to South African black schools as a post-1976 reform strategy, to bring control over teachers and students at a time when the system of education of blacks was characterised by massive student and teacher protests. However, contradictory developments emerged whereby teachers responded and resisted these controls in a variety of ways in different work contexts. Since the research was conducted in the late 1980's, the paper seeks to discuss how widespread scientific management ideas are in the post-apartheid era.     

Special educational needs in primary and secondary school brochures in England

The enhanced status of the school brochure in governmental strategy and the reasons for its study provide the opening considerations. There follow a presentation of the sample of brochures and an examination of changes that have occurred over time to the nature of the requirement concerning information about special educational needs which should be included. In the primary school brochure a major feature of SEN is its presentation in the form of a continuum of individual learning, with the addition of in-school support or technical external support. The primary brochure now places more emphasis upon policies for the able pupil, but the presentation of SEN matters to the lay reader as self-evidently true, without clear exposition, persists. The secondary school brochure reveals changes in the arrangements for SEN pupils, in-class support having increased and withdrawal from class decreased. The emphasis upon enrichment measures for able pupils has grown, but the question of the absence of a statement concerning SEN persists.