Educational reform: Implications for educational psychologists

The Holmes Group report, titled Tomorrow's Teachers (1986), and the report of the Carnegie Forum on Education and the Economy, titled A Nation Prepared: Teachers for the 21st Century (1986), contain major reform proposals that have implications for educational psychologists. To understand the nature of these proposals, we performed a content analysis of the Holmes and Carnegie documents and constructed a 149-item survey instrument. Three separate mailings were conducted to solicit volunteer respondents from the initial Holmes Group, Division 15 of APA, and the Teacher Education Council of State Colleges and Universities (TECSCU). A principal components analysis with varimax rotation was performed on data collected from 1039 respondents, and three factors were found to underlie the survey instrument: Incremental Changes, Sweeping Changes, and Financial Changes. A multivariate analysis of variance on the three factor scores revealed that the Holmes Group more strongly supported Incremental and Sweeping Changes than did TECSCU respondents, and that Division 15 members more strongly endorsed Sweeping Changes than did TECSCU. Recommendations are made for involving educational psychologists in the reform process.     

Participation of psychologists in multidisciplinary team evaluations

State implementation plans required by PL 94–142 were collected and reviewed to determine whether psychologists were mentioned as appropriate members of multidisciplinary evaluation teams. Questionnaire data from 625 directors of special education also were analyzed to determine the frequency with which psychologists actually participated on the evaluation teams. The review revealed an apparent reluctance on the part of states to specify psychologists as appropriate team members. When psychologists were mentioned, school psychologists and other types of psychologists were identified with near equal frequencies. Even though states' implementation guidelines infrequently identified psychologists for participation on multidisciplinary teams, 81% of the surveyed teams actually included a psychologist. However, psychologists' rate of participation varied among the states. Implications of the minimum state requirements and varying participation of psychologists among states are discussed.     

Inclusion,the law,and placement decisions: Implications for school psychologists

A summary of the provisions of statutes and regulations relevant to the topic of inclusion is presented. Summaries of court decisions and federal agency policy letters that have interpreted these mandates are also offered. Finally, the implications of these mandates for the practice of school psychology are also discussed. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

The identification of alienated parents and children: Implications for school psychologists

This study sought to determine which factors associated with parents and children were the best predictors of parental alienation. The levels of alienation of parents of 49 students in two selected fourth-grade classrooms in a Midwestern urban school district were assessed using the Dean Alienation Scale. The levels of parental alienation were compared with parent and child variable. High levels of alienation were associated with single, unemployed female parents, whose child was a female with few perceived friends. The degree of alienation was not related to the race, achievement, or attendance of the student. However, a weighted combination of the 12 variables was significant in terms of predicting the parental level of alienation.     

Equalities and Gay and Lesbian Young People: Implications for educational psychologists

This paper describes the work of one Educational Psychology Service in examining educational issues around gay and lesbian young people, and exploring how educational psychologists may be able to make a positive contribution. Set within a whole service approach to equalities, the paper suggests concrete ways in which the profession can make a difference for this potentially vulnerable population of young people.     

Problematizing the processes of participation in networks: working through the rhetoric

Participation in networks, both as a concept and process, is widely supported in environmental education as a democratic and equitable pathway to individual and social change for sustainability. However, the processes of participation in networks are rarely problematized. Rather, it is assumed that we inherently know how to participate in networks. This assumption means that participation is seldom questioned. Underlying support for participation in networks is a belief that it allows individuals to connect in new and meaningful ways, individuals can engage in making decisions and in bringing about change in arenas that affect them and that they will be engaging in new, non-hierarchical and equitable relationships. In this paper, we problematize participation in networks. As an example, we use research into a decentralized network – described as such in its own literature – the Queensland Environmentally Sustainable Schools Initiative Alliance in Australia – to argue that while network participants were engaged and committed to participation in this network, ‘old’ forms of top-down engagement and relationships needed to be unlearnt. This paper thus proposes that for participation in decentralized networks to be meaningful, new learning about how to participate needs to occur.     

Cooperative learning and team culture in schools: Conditions for teachers’ professional development

The study done in Slovenia examined grammar and elementary teachers’ perceptions of cooperative learning. The sample consisted of 542 Slovene elementary and grammar school teachers, who teach Slovene. The main question of the research was how teachers assess the value of group learning in comparison to individual forms of learning. From their perceptions, we can draw conclusions about their development, the introduction of group work within lessons and about the encouragement of pupils towards collaborative learning. The main finding of the research is that elementary school teachers place greater importance on group learning than grammar school teachers. In addition, when teachers are grouped according to their years of experience (seniority), there are differences in their assessment of group learning. However, it is not possible to get a linear pattern from the results (e.g. showing that years of experience do or do not contribute to the perception of the importance of group learning), a finding which supports the critical opinion that teachers’ experience depends not only on the quantity (years of experience), but also on the quality of experience.     

Educational reform: Implications for educational psychologists—A comment on Benton and Hoyt's study

Stephen L. Benton and Kenneth B. Hoyt have studied the reactions of TECSCU members contrasted to those of Holmes Group Members to the recommendations made in the Holmes Group and the Carnegie reform reports. This paper agrees with several observations made by these authors, including the elitist nature of the Holmes Group and the ignoring of educational psychology and other teacher-education faculty, but it disagrees with some of the causes behind these accusations, some attributed to naivety of the Holmes Group leaders and others attributed to their purposeful, self-serving goals. This paper has focused on those report recommendations that are educationally unsound and it has offered explanations with supportive information.     

The participation of schools in the recruitment of teachers: evaluating new procedures in Germany

Traditionally, in Germany, the centralized state school administration oversees the staffing of its schools. Specifically, the administration assigns new teachers to designated schools. During the last decade, some German Bundesländer have established new procedures for hiring new teachers. Since 1997 the Bundesland Nordrhein‐Westfalen (NRW) has implemented a new recruitment system. Now local schools can advertise their own teacher vacancies and select among candidates. The purpose of this is to support the school in developing and realizing a special ‘school profile’: a certain pedagogical programme that is distinctive for a school. The results of the empirical study show that the schools in general appreciate the new staffing procedure very much. They like it because now the school has the opportunity to select among different candidates on the basis of a personal appraisal. Support for the school profile seems to be not so important. So this innovative procedure is very well accepted—but not for the reason it was originally installed for.

En Allemagne le processus de sélection et d'embauche d'enseignants est traditionnellement géré par la commission scolaire. L'inspection scolaire attribue les instituteurs aux écoles à partir de listes de candidats. Au cours des dix dernières années, quelques Bundesländer ont toutefois introduit une nouvelle forme d'embauche. Le Bundesland Rhénanie‐du‐Nord‐Westphalie (NRW) a également établi un nouveau système de recrutement en 1997. Les écoles elles‐mêmes peuvent mettre en concours leurs postes libres et faire leur choix parmi les candidats. Cette procédure vise à soutenir les écoles dans leurs efforts à développer un profil pédagogique particulier et de le réaliser. Les résultats d'évaluations montrent que les écoles apprécient beaucoup cette nouvelle forme d'embauche, puisque elles ont désormais la possibilité de faire leur choix à partir d'une impression personnelle. Par contre, l'aspect de soutien du profil pédagogique ne semble pas avoir autant d'importance pour les écoles. Cette nouvelle forme est donc très appréciée— mais pas forcément pour les raisons pour lesquelles elle a été introduite.

Tradicionalmente son las autoridades escolares en Alemania quienes realizan el procedimiento de la selección y contratación del cuerpo docente. A base de las listas de los solicitantes, las autoridades reparten a los docentes capacitados entre los centros educativos. Sin embargo, algunos estados federales han implementado, en los últimos diez años, un nuevo procedimiento de contratación del profesorado. Desde 1997, el estado federal alemán de Renania del Norte‐Westfalia (NRW) ha establecido un nuevo sistema de ingreso en la función pública docente. En consecuencia de ello, los mismos centros educativos ahora ya tienen toda la autonomía para ofrecer un empleo y eligir a sus candidatos. El objetivo de este procedimiento es de apoyar los centros educativos tanto en el desarrollo del perfil escolar específico como en la realización del mismo en la práctica. Las investigaciones empíricas demuestran que los centros estiman en mucho este nuevo procedimiento de empleo. Lo aprecian porque tienen la posibilidad de escoger, en virtud de una impresión personal, el candidato apropiado. Si éste apoya o no el perfil escolar les parece ser de menos trascendencia. De modo que se aprecia mucho este nuevo procedimiento de empleo aunque no sea por la razón pensada.

Traditionell wird in Deutschland der Prozess der Auswahl und Einstellung von Lehrern durch die Schulbehörden vollzogen. Auf der Basis von Bewerberlisten weist die Schulaufsicht ausgebildete Lehrer den Schulen zu. Im Laufe der letzten zehn Jahre haben jedoch einige Bundesländer ein neues verfahren der Lehrereinstellung eingeführt. Seit 1997 hat auch das Bundesland Nordrhein‐Westfalen (NRW) ein neues Rekrutierungssystem etabliert. Jetzt können Schulen selbst ihre freien Lehrerstellen ausschreiben und zwischen Bewerbern auswählen. Der Zweck dieses Verfahrens ist es, die Schulen in der Entwicklung und praktischen Realisierung ihres besonderen Schulprofils zu unterstützen. Die Ergebnisse der empirischen Untersuchungen zeigen, dass die Schulen dieses neue Einstellungsverfahren sehr schätzen. Sie schätzen es, weil die Schule nunmehr die Möglichkeit hat, zwischen geeigneten Bewerbern aufgrund des persönlichen Eindrucks zu entscheiden. Die Unterstützung des Schulprofils scheint für die Schulen weniger bedeutsam zu sein. So wird dieses neue Verfahren also sehr geschätzt—aber nicht aus dem Grund, weswegen es eingeführt worden ist.     

Conceptualisations of multicultural education among teachers: Implications for practice in universities and schools

This study examined teachers' conceptualisations of multicultural education (MCE) within the setting of a laboratory school affiliated with a university campus in south eastern USA. This unique setting provided the researchers with an opportunity to study multiculturalism as a whole-school construct and in terms of how universities teach multicultural education. The analysis of data collected from a school-wide survey and group interviews with teachers revealed a) the importance of how language is used in teachers' conceptualisations of MCE, b) patterns of congruence and divergence in these conceptualisations and c) the implications of these conceptualisations for the teaching of MCE in universities and its implementation as school-wide practice.     

论职业学校“双师型”教师队伍建设

职业学校要培养适应21世纪需要的应用型劳动者,要求教师既要有扎实的理论知识,更要有熟练的专业操作技能,这就需要培养一支＂双师型＂教师队伍。文章从职业学校＂双师型＂教师队伍建设的必要性、现状及建设思路三个方面进行了探讨。     

A different result of community participation in education: an Indonesian case study of parental participation in public primary schools

Parental participation in school management is regarded as a good thing according to the rationale that local people know better and are able to be more responsive to their own needs. However, little is understood about the implications of the School Operational Support policy for community participation in education. This study investigated parental participation in the context of education decentralisation with regard to the changing situation in which the Indonesian government provides sufficient funds for school operational costs. Using a qualitative inquiry, researchers collected data through document analyses, questionnaires and interviews with stakeholders of two public primary schools in Depok, Indonesia. The study found that prior to the Free School Program, parental participation was limited to parents’ financial contribution and associated matters. However, since school was made free, parents’ involvement in school budgeting has become very limited; they are no longer engaged in the planning of allocations, and neither they nor the school committees are able to make inputs into decision making; even the functions of the school committees are limited to rubber stamping the school budget.     

谈中职学校校长的工作思路

新时期职业学校的校长,必须充分重视"环境、目标、能力"三大要素在职业学校发展中的重要作用,依据"‘内外兼顾,跳出学校办学校、跳出校园谋发展’、‘整体谋划,系统构思’、‘抓住重点、强力突破’"的原则,以运动的观念、改革的意识、发展的理念,建构"环境、目标、能力"三位一体、动态工作思路。     

Extracurricular participation and academic achievement in minority students in urban schools

Restructured extracurricular activities are a component in many of the proposed solutions for the educational problems of minority students in urban schools. This study investigates the relationships between participation in traditional extracurricular activities and the academic achievement levels of minority male and female students in poor urban schools. Using a national data base, we found that, in almost 50 percent of the cases, male student participation in extracurricular activities was associated with lower achievement levels. For female students, the results were mixed. In 23 of the 90 different analyses run, females who participated in extracurricular activities were found to have higher achievement levels than nonparticipating females. In 6 cases, female participants had lower achievement levels. In the remaining cases, no differences were found. Reasons for and implications of the results are examined.     

Extended services in schools: developing resources to prepare student teachers for a rapidly changing working environment

The role of schools in providing extended services to their communities continues to undergo change and development. This has raised issues regarding the training of student teachers who are increasingly likely to take up appointments in schools offering extended services. This research project investigated the development of resources to prepare student teachers for a changing working environment. The project used a case study approach to gather data from primary and secondary schools providing extended services. From these case studies training materials were developed and trialled with focus groups of students in initial teacher training. Findings demonstrate the importance for tutors in initial teacher education to have access to authentic school‐focused materials to assist them in equipping students for the realities of school life.     

Educational psychologists: the early search for an identity

Contemporary society’s expectations of educational psychology, and of a role for educational psychologists within these expectations, were major themes of, and subtexts to, many of the papers delivered at recent annual courses of the Association of Educational Psychologists (AEP). The distinctive contribution of educational psychology and a perceived “identity crisis” of its practitioners was the subject of examination in recent issues of Educational Psychology in Practice. Within this context it may be both salutary and heartening to review the aspirations of educational psychologists, during a period from the mid‐1960s to the late‐1980s, to shed their stereotype as psychometricians, and later as gatekeepers to special education, in favour of a supportive role to pupils, teachers and parents. Articles published in this journal and its predecessors are drawn upon to illustrate the earlier search by educational psychologists for a role and a status within the local government field. Reference is also made to the author’s experience of working as an educational psychologist from the early 1950s to the end of the 1980s.     

Implementing the ‘integrated approach to learning’: Implications for integration in the curricula of primary schools in the Caribbean

Child-centred theories of education are lauded highly in Caribbean curriculum guides, and yet, this investigation into the implementation of an integrated approach to learning in Jamaican primary schools revealed little evidence of child-centredness in the classroom. Pupil-initiated talk was minimal. Teachers dominated the lessons and posed few ‘open’ questions to stimulate the children's thinking. Although the integrated approach to learning led to more democratic staff relationships, the teachers' own inadequacies in terms of their knowledge competence, lack of resources and materials, inflexible prescribed curricula and restrictive examination procedures all served to undermine its effectiveness. ‘Discovery’, ‘questioning’, ‘enquiry’, still remain elusive ideals.     

The contribution of schools to moral development: A working paper in the theory of action

In what is essentially a working paper, an ideal typical and analytical concept of moral action is derived from the general theory of action. The concept is described in terms of the pattern-variable scheme, with moral action seen as involving the choices of affective neutrality, quality, universalism, and diffuseness. This model of moral action is then used to hypothesize an end state of moral development. The definition of this end state involves the specification of the analytical choices to the human condition, which is a given of all human action and the most universal point of reference for moral action in relation to human communities. The full development of moral action is thus seen to involve the capacity for involvement with others as whole persons; for relating to people in terms of their humanity; for respecting the moral autonomy and liberty of others; and for resolving moral issues by reasoning, which implies flexibility in relation to specific situations. A major part of the paper is devoted to an examination of some social structural features of schools, indicating the considerable extent to which schools ordinarily inhibit the development of such moral capacities in children.