Mindfulness for education students: addressing welfare as part of the professional training

Students in special education teaching and counselling are exposed to relatively high levels of stress during their studies and their professional career, which are commonly manifested in high occupational burnout. Professional development programmes normally do not address this issue. A practicum course was developed to provide theoretical framework for research on mindfulness, training of self-application techniques, and guidelines for fieldwork teaching of these techniques to children, with the aim of improving quality of life by reducing anxiety and stress levels. Participants of mindfulness and control practicum filled questionnaires at the beginning and end of the year. Significant reduction in stress, rumination and sleep disturbances as well as elevated level of mindfulness were observed in the mindfulness practicum only. The results suggest that mindfulness training can be successfully introduced in traditional academic settings to enhance the personal mental health of future teachers, and subsequently lower their chances to suffer from burnout.     

Current Trends in Practicum Supervision Research

This article presents a conceptual framework and explores the results and implications of practicum research published from 1975–1982. Forty-two studies were found pertaining directly to practicum supervision and were divided into two categories: maximizing effectiveness of the practicum experience and specific techniques in practicum supervision. Overall, practicum supervision was found to be a worthwhile and beneficial experience and a necessary part of counselor education programs. Focusing on the personality characteristics or value systems of supervisors or supervisees, however, produced mixed results in predicting training effectiveness. There was greater consistency in the examination of specific techniques in supervision with positive outcomes resulting from the utilization of microtraining, dual supervision, peer supervision, modeling, and IPR. The use of programmed instruction was not supported.     

Assessing the Practicum

The practicum appears in many different forms in professional education — as field placement, cooperative education, sandwich programs, internship and clinical placement. This review of current literature reveals many different conceptions of the kinds of learning outcomes that can be achieved through learning in the workplace and the contribution that the practicum can make to professional education. In consequence, assessment philosophies and methods are equally varied. Five distinct approaches to assessment of the practicum are identified and the strengths and weaknesses of each are evaluated. While assessment of the practicum in some programs has been very limited, in the best examples cited, integration of the practicum with the educational program has provided opportunities for students to bring together a range of knowledge and skills in a complex natural environment. Well‐designed assessment requirements can make a significant contribution to learning in the practicum by putting pressure on supervisors to structure the opportunities available and by requiring students to identify and reflect on what they have learned.     

Using Cognitive Interventions With Counseling Practicum Students During Group Supervision

The authors argue that students in counseling practicum courses experience many self‐defeating thoughts and anxieties. These worries can impede their performance as new counselors and can have a negative impact on the supervision process. The authors outline innovative methods used by cognitive therapists to address this anxiety. In addition, a model is presented for counselor educators to use cognitive restructuring techniques as a supervision tool. Summary Throughout their studies, counseling graduate students face many possible fears and anxieties that arise from their classroom experiences. The greatest fears and anxieties seem to be related to the counseling practicum experience. This experience is one in which students may feel incompetent, vulnerable, and unskilled as they begin to put their classroom knowledge and experiences into practice. If these fears and anxieties persist, students have a hard time making progress in the area of the counseling relationship and skill building. We have examined how practicum students' fears and anxieties might be addressed, using cognitive interventions. Such interventions allow students to take irrational thoughts and change them to rational thought patterns. This is accomplished by asking students to state their fears verbally, to think about the effects of the fears and the consequences, to think about intervening beliefs and thoughts, and to restate the fears in a rational manner. Our experience suggests that cognitive interventions are useful strategies to help practicum students combat fears and anxieties. Further research might examine the use of other behavioral interventions to address these fears. For example, does role‐playing a counseling technique in supervision make a student less anxious about applying it in a real counseling session? In summary, fear and anxiety can impede the preparation of counselors during their practicum experiences. Understanding the underlying thoughts that cause these fears can help students overcome self‐defeating thought patterns. Cognitive restructuring techniques have been shown to reduce tension and can be used with counseling practicum students to help relieve performance and supervision anxiety.     

Prepracticum Counseling Students' Perceived Preparedness for Suicide Response

The researchers examined how suicide‐response training received before practicum related to degrees of anxiety and confidence for practicum students regarding the treatment of suicidal clients. Results of 113 surveyed practicum students are discussed, along with implications and suggestions for future research.     

The Practicum in Study of Student Development: Its Relation to Counselor Preparation

This paper identifies several kinds of counselor activity for which practicum experiences have been or are being designed. These include individual and group counseling, outreach consultation, supervision of practicum students, and the study of student development. The SSD practicum is seen as sensitizing and predisposing the personnel worker to view action research as a relevant and crucial part of counselor education.     

Developmental practicum experiences of preservice teachers in deaf education: implications for practicum placement and faculty-student collaborative research

The study examined the developmental practicum experiences of second-year graduate students in deaf education. Participants in the study consisted of a convenient sample of five practicum students. Triangulated data for the study came from the researcher's observational notes, e-mail correspondence with participants, and participants' journals. Inductive analysis was used to analyze the data. Results of the study evinced developmental experiences that are different from those reported in previous studies. The results of the study have significant implications for (a) practicum placement of graduate students in deaf education in terms of site-based orientation, use of the clinical model of supervision, opportunities for self-reflection, and periodic practicum seminars; and (b) faculty-student collaborative research in terms of planning, ethical issues, students' time needs, and training.     

The purpose, value and structure of the practicum in higher education: a literature review

The practicum constitutes an integral part of many professional courses in higher education; and is manifest in several different forms depending on the discipline: field experience, cooperative education, sandwich programs, internships, clerkships, clinical practicum, and the like. This paper provides an overview of different ways in which the practicum has been conceptualised, implemented and evaluated in higher education. It focuses attention on the purpose and value of the practicum; the relationship between the practicum and the learning outcomes of a course as a whole; and the structure and placement of the practicum within a course. Findings indicate that whilst the practicum is widely accepted as a valuable and successful component of professional education, it has a number of shortcomings; and the lack of good quality research into the practicum makes it difficult to draw unequivocal conclusions. A number of questions are posed to guide further research into the role of supervision during practicum placements; the kinds of learning goals and outcomes that are best achieved through the practicum; and the impact on student learning of the length and structure of the practicum.     

THE GERONTOLOGY PRACTICUM AS SERVICE-LEARNING

This article argues that the gerontology practicum placement is service - learning when guidance is provided to help students integrate the dual goals of service and learning , and when the requisite components of reflection , analysis , and application are built into the practicum experience . Exit interviews conducted with students and field supervisors supported the idea that the practicum experience offered a balance between service and learning , and it was an opportunity for interdisciplinary teamwork , reciprocal benefits , and professional development . Specific discussion focuses on the pedagogical techniques used to encourage individual and group reflection , the synthesis of experiences with academic training , and the application of new understandings in the field setting .     

INTEGRATING RESEARCH PROJECTS INTO FIELD WORK EXPERIENCES: ENHANCED TRAINING FOR UNDERGRADUATE GERIATRIC SOCIAL WORK STUDENTS

The aging of the U.S. population is creating a growing need for well-trained social workers to serve aging clients and their families. The needs of these clients are often multidimensional, requiring practitioners who are well trained in understanding and applying complex theory, research findings, and practice approaches. Unfortunately, several factors impede best case scenarios in geriatric social work education. These include limited opportunities to study or specialize in aging, a smaller than optimal proportion of social work students seeking such training, and students' frequent fearfulness of research courses and their first practicum field experience. This paper suggests that we can more effectively train social work practitioners (as well as researchers and administrators) by modifying the common practice of teaching research and practice in distinct and separate courses. Specifically, we advocate the addition of an applied research component to the field work portion of students' training. The systematic approach to problem study and explanation, which is the cornerstone of research training, should also be applied to real world practice complexities that students encounter during their field work training and practitioners face in their careers.     

Development of a Pre-practicum Counseling Skills Model

This article presents a model and rationale for training specific counseling skills prior to the practicum experience. Recent research on counseling process and counselor behaviors is integrated into a pre-practicum training laboratory with the following objectives: reducing social behavior inappropriate to professional counseling, learning to tolerate and use silence as a tool, learning to listen, learning to identify feelings through verbal and nonverbal communication channels, developing a repertoire of counselor responses and counseling strategies, and developing a professional self-image. Acquisition of these skills and attitudes in a pre-practicum permits a consultation-professional model for practicum that focuses upon the accumulation of experience rather than skills.     

The Role of Training Providers in Manpower Planning

ABSTRACT

Traditional approaches to manpower requirement forecasting have been unhelpful in enabling technical and vocational training organisations to identify the future skills needs of industry and business. This paper examines the problems faced by institutions in improving their understanding of future training needs. It draws on research In Nigeria and Thailand, as well as existing literature, and highlights techniques which the institutions themselves might initiate in order to improve the information base from which they can plan their provision.     

A national survey investigating consultation training occurring in school psychology programs

The 203 school psychology training programs in the United States were surveyed regarding their approaches to consultation training, and responses were obtained from 60% of these programs. Forty percent of the programs offer at least one course devoted solely to consultation, while 60% do not offer such a course; more of the doctoral programs responding offer consultation training than do the nondoctoral programs; and practicum experience is considered an important aspect of consultation training. It is concluded that a greater emphasis on consultation training may help to promote implementation of this role.     

An Integrative Competency-Based Counselor Education Model

In the proposed integrative competence-based counselor education model, the four major areas of counselor training are defined as theory education, skills training, experiential activity, and practicum experience. For each area we suggest specific objectives, possible courses, appropriate methodologies, and directions for evaluation. The formulation of behavioral curriculum goals and the construction of performance criteria for each aspect of the program are essential for the effective implementation of the model. The distinctive contribution of the model lies in its provision of (a) a series of conceptual definitions and objectives, (b) a sound framework for integrating traditionally conflicting counselor education approaches and for systematizing the student's educational experience, (c) a built-in means for the transfer of training to professional placements, and (d) stimulation of research in the many problem areas to be found in counselor education.     

The Challenges and Tensions in Reconstructing Teacher - Parent Relations in the Context of School Reform: A case study

This paper reports on a comparison of two research approaches of the study of the reflective practice in two different modes of tele‐guidance of the school practicum. The results of two studies were contrasted encouraging the dialogue between researchers coming from different research paradigms. Although the researchers in the two studies shared some perspectives on educational practices and student teachers’ reflection, the studies resulted in two different reports on student teachers’ reflection. Ontological, epistemological and methodological beliefs in both studies are related to a rationalistic and a naturalistic paradigm informing the two research sites. Researchers’ voices in both studies have been interacting, changing and developing but the differences in beliefs between the two sites seem to have contributed to the different analyses and results.     

Practicum experiences as sources of pre-service teachers’ self-efficacy

This study examines physical education pre-service teachers’ (PTs) self-efficacy and practicum experiences as self-efficacy sources through a mixed-method approach. For the quantitative phase, a self-efficacy questionnaire was applied to 141 PTs. Results showed a stronger self-efficacy in the relationship with students and discipline promotion. Lower self-efficacy was linked to instructional strategies. Concerning the qualitative phase, eight PTs were interviewed. PTs with higher self-efficacy reported professional experiences before practicum as mastery experiences. During the practicum they highlighted as mastery experiences: classes’ characteristics, planning and teaching practice; lesson observation as vicarious experiences; and post-lesson conversations as verbal persuasion. PTs with lower self-efficacy reported classes’ characteristics and teaching practice as failure experiences. Lesson observation was linked to negative vicarious experiences and post-lesson conversations were associated to negative emotions and the absence of verbal persuasion. This study’s results have implications inasmuch as they confirm the role of the practicum in teacher education programmes and the importance of training supervisors in the implementation and management of the training experience, thus contributing to PTs’ self-efficacy development.     

A phenomenological study of an international teaching practicum: Pre-service teachers' experiences of professional development

This article reports a research project planned and organized by the School of Educational Studies of Universiti Sains Malaysia to provide an international teaching practicum experience to six pre-service teachers for six weeks in Maldives. Using qualitative data from an open-ended questionnaire and reflective journals, the six pre-service teachers' experience of professional development during their international teaching practicum is examined, analysed and described. The findings show that the six students experienced beneficial and meaningful professional development. Some challenges and limitations of the international practicum are also highlighted. Based on this study, implications for teacher education/training of TESOL/TESL teachers are suggested.     

Reframing the practicum: Constructing performative space in initial teacher education

This paper points to a neglected dimension to Schön's work on the reflective practitioner: his distinctive characterisation of the practicum. We argue that Schön's understanding of the practicum is integrally related to his understanding of the reflective practitioner. The appropriation of the latter concept within programmes of initial teacher education has tended to go hand in hand with a different model of the practicum that regards this as being synonymous with practice in schools. We outline a number of ways in which the practicum, as described by Schön, is significantly different from this. We identify key aspects of Schön's characterisation of the practicum and describe one alternative approach to initial teacher education that uses microteaching as a practicum context. This is a significant issue because concern has been expressed both as regards the quality of new teachers’ reflection and the perceived inability of TEIs to change student–teachers’ preconceived notions of learning and teaching.Whilst research into student teachers’ perceptions of microteaching has generally viewed this process positively, we were interested to research whether this remained the case once students had made the transition to teaching. The voices of recently qualified practitioners who have been through this programme are drawn upon as illustrative of the key features of this process which they identify. The article is a contribution to the discourse upon reflective practice and initial teacher education and also makes a contribution to debate concerning the preferred location of initial teacher education.     

土木工程类高职实践性教学模式探讨

土木工程高职教育实践性教学是培养适应生产、建设、管理第一线高等技术应用型人才的关键教学环节，通过对学生在专业知识的感知、掌握、拓展方面的实践培训，可使学生具备较强的土木工程建设施工综合实践职业技能和职业创新能力，是土木工程高职教育走向市场必经之路。     

Differences among Male A,B, and C Master's Degree Candidates in a Counseling Practicum

Little or no research has been done on the counseling practicum grade as a measure of counseling effectiveness. This study explored the intellective and nonintellective differences among males with A, B, and C grades in the counseling practicum. Significant differences among grade categories were observed on 7 of 17 variables. The nature and direction of the differences among males with grades of A, B, or C suggested that practicum grades tend to make valid discriminations between candidates with high and low potential as counselors.