Moral Development of Professional and Paraprofessional Counselors and Trainees

This article discusses a study that compared the moral development of professional and paraprofessional counselors and trainees; measuring the effects training programs had on their cognitive moral development. The results revealed that the professional group has a higher level of moral development, and counselor training has no effect on moral development.     

Older Peer Counselor Training

This article relates an older peer counselor training program which was developed for paraprofessional volunteers, 55 and over, to assist elderly widowed people in their adjustment process. The training had three goals: to develop group cohesiveness, to broaden trainees' understanding of widowhood adjustment, and to develop one-to-one interpersonal skills. Training outcomes, including the findings of pre- and posttest assessment of attitudes, indicate that the training program was effective in eliciting widowhood and counseling attitude change, and in providing the trainees with the opportunity for personal growth. The results replicate other studies, demonstrating that procedures employed to train young counselors can be used to train elderly paraprofessionals.     

Some call it guts …

In many universities students are widely used as peer resources and paraprofessional aids. This essay contends that their training is frequently minimal and that training programs presently available tend to be narrowly focused and overlapping. A multidimensional, experientially based training model operating from within a speech communication framework is developed. Speech communication instruction provides the conceptual foundation for this mode of paraprofessional training.     

Attitudes Toward Counseling Among Asian International and Native Caucasian Students

Asian international and native born Caucasian students indicated the source of help they would go to first if they had a personal problem; rated the importance of four counselor characteristics: ethnicity, university degree, age, and gender; and completed Fischer and Turner's scale of attitudes about seeking professional psychological help. There was no difference between Asian and Caucasian Students in the sources of help they would seek. Asian students indicated it was more important that a conselor be or similar ethnicity and older. There were no ethnic differences in attitudes toward professional help. Women were no ethnic differences in attituses toward professional help. Women were more likely to report indicate a need for help regardless of ethnic group. Caucasian women were more tolerant of the stigma of being a client, likely to report interpersonal openness, and to express confidence in mental health practitioners than Asian women or men form either group. Colleges should consider the use of older paraprofessional counselors of the same nationality as interantional student clients.     

Experiences of paraprofessionals in US preschool special education and general education classrooms

A substantial challenge confronting public education systems across the world is the employment and retention of high‐quality paraprofessionals (also known as teaching assistants and educational assistants). The current study expands upon previous research by employing a mixed methods design to examine the relationship between paraprofessionals' perceptions of their responsibilities and the corresponding satisfaction and issues relating to their job in the USA. Analytic induction through the generation of themes was used to analyse the qualitative data and revealed that paraprofessionals perceive or demonstrate issues relating to three primary domains: confusion of responsibilities in different contexts, relational power dynamics between paraprofessionals and teachers, and satisfaction based on both monetary compensation and recognition. In addition to the qualitative findings, researchers designed the paraprofessional perception survey, a quantitative survey measuring the concept of paraprofessional perceptions relating to their job. Results from the survey analysis revealed similar findings across domains. Additional results, practice implications and directions for future research are discussed.     

高校女性辅导员的角色冲突与调适对策

高校女性辅导员因有自己的性别特质、心理特点,且承担着更多的婚姻家庭责任,在辅导员这一角色扮演中,有着自身特有的角色冲突。其中角色内冲突主要表现为女性辅导员的自身角色局限性与辅导员的角色要求之间的冲突以及女性辅导员的自身发展与辅导员职责之间的冲突;而角色间冲突主要表现在职业角色与家庭角色间的冲突。女性辅导员的角色冲突容易引发职业倦怠,对辅导员队伍稳定及学生教育管理工作易产生负面影响。针对角色冲突问题,可从高校和女性辅导员自身两个层面人手采取相应的调适对策。     

《生情笔记》与辅导员专业知识的发现和创新

辅导员专业知识的发现和创新是辅导员将自身＂隐性知识＂显性化的过程。《生情笔记》可以通过记录形成辅导员专业知识的素材,通过反省提升辅导员对专业知识的敏感度,通过加深情感促进辅导员的专业学习,从而成为辅导员隐性知识显性化的有效途径。基于《生情笔记》的辅导员专业知识的发现和创新模式主要有案例归纳法、阅读延伸法和新知应用法,并应遵循＂自我中心＂原则和分享合作原则。     

“Para aquí today, para afuera tomorrow”: Uncertainty in urban bilingual paraprofessionals’ work in the age of NCLB

Urban paraprofessionals are often overlooked but key participants in the optimal functioning of schools. In light of the recent changes and increasing demands regarding paraprofessional qualifications stipulated by the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), this study focuses on urban bilingual paraprofessionals and their beliefs about work in the context imposed by the law. The participants cite their own experiences with motherhood and insiders’ understanding of diverse communities as the most compelling skills they bring to their jobs, challenging NCLB’s requirements for instructional paraprofessional qualifications. Implications for policy-making that address the worth of “life experiences” as an asset for diverse settings are offered. Her research interests center on the possibilities and challenges that urban schools pose, on school reform approaches, on teacher preparation, and on effective educational approaches for low-income, culturally and linguistically diverse (LCLD) students.     

A practical observation procedure for monitoring four behaviors relevant to classroom management

The authors present a quick and simple procedure for observing four behaviors relevant to classroom management: student disruption, student attention, and the teacher's use of both positive and negative events. Five paraprofessional teacher aides observed 28 elementary and middle-school teachers and their classes on 10 occasions both at the beginning and at the end of the school year. The paraprofessional aides, quickly trained, manifested high interrater reliabilities. Stable estimates of all four target behaviors were obtained by averaging the data from only four or five consecutive observations. Strong, consistent intercorrelations between the four behaviors were found, and the intercorrelations were in the expected directions. Thus, the procedure yields reliable, stable measures of four important classroom behaviors, and it is practical to use.     

高校辅导员工作的双主体性探索

高校辅导员是高校学生工作的骨干力量,是大学生成长成才的良师益友,其工作的开展对于高校的发展和大学生的成长都具有着重要意义。辅导员工作的双主体性包括辅导员的主体性和大学生的主体性两方面;当前高校辅导员工作缺乏适应性、技巧性、敏锐性、示范性和互动性;实现辅导员工作双主体性的有效途径是：加强辅导员与大学生、辅导员与辅导员、大学生与大学生之间的互动。     

宏观视域下高校辅导员专业化建设的路径研究

高校辅导员的专业化建设包含宏观和微观两个层面。宏观层面是指从国家政府的视角推进辅导员专业化的系列措施;微观层面是指辅导员个人的专业化成长的过程。从宏观看,辅导员的专业化建设包括学科专业化建设、教育专业化建设、人格专业化建设三个方面。在师范院校设立辅导员专业,构建辅导员专业的学科体系是推进学科专业化的重要途径。加强辅导员的团队管理及实现研修培训的常态化是推动辅导员教育专业化的必然选择。把好辅导员的入口关、注重辅导员的人格取向是推动人格专业化的重要途径。     

专职辅导员队伍建设若干思考——基于政策文本分析

专职辅导员的工作职责在政策文本上是明确的,但在实际工作中专职辅导员实际承担的工作任务远远超出其工作职责范围。相关政策文本对专职辅导员选聘标准、培训机制等有明确规定。但对专职辅导员的职业素质要求有待各校细化。     

Current legal trends regarding abortions for minors: a dilemma for counselors

According to several US Supreme Court decisions, minors have the right to abortions, yet various conflicts cause some uncertainty for counselors and other professionals working with minors. In defining the role of the school counselor with regard to abortions, Duncan and Moffett (1974) explained that counselors should establish a setting for clients to examine feelings and evaluate alternatives. They advised counselors against imposing their views and attitudes on clients. Walleat (1975) summarized the counselor's responsibilities as follows: view abortion in relation to the student's total involvement rather than a crisis situation; work in conjunction with other community and school programs; help students "process" information; and help students use information about abortion, even when schools fail to supply that information. Additionally, Walleat emphasized that there were possible legal and ethical issues regarding schools providing abortion information. The extent to which schools can or should provide abortion information to minors is unclear. Burgum and Anderson (1975) made some recommendations to help counselors avoid lawsuits regarding abortions. They suggested that counselors give advice only in those areas in which they are competent according to their education and work experience. In view of the proposed legislation and legal shift toward parental notification, counselors of minors should strongly encourage their clients to discuss their situation with parents. The major questions are: how far must counselors go in providing information to parents of minors; and is the legal responsibility strong enough to require counselors to break confidentiality under certain conditions. Until a major court case or legislation addresses these questions, the school counselor's role is undefined. Because parental notification about abortion for minors is unclear, professional guidelines are urgently needed to aid counselors. Professional counseling groups need to address the unresolved issues in a position paper or other materials. Until such time, the following recommendations should prove of value to counselors: counselors should urge minors to discuss abortion plans with parents and involve families in the counseling process, if possible; counselors should consider the social mores of the community; counselors should work through their national, state, and local professional organizations for directions and guidelines on abortion counseling and dissemination of abortion information for minors; and counselors should be knowledgeable about appropriate referral agencies dealing with abortions.     

Counselor Self-Awareness and Counseling Effectiveness

It has been assumed that counselor self-awareness is important to counseling effectiveness. The purpose of the present study was to determine if there were differences in perceived effectiveness between counselors who said they related self-awareness to their counseling role and counselors who believed self-awareness was unrelated to their role. Those counselors who did not relate self-awareness to counseling received higher client ratings of effectiveness than did counselors who related self-awareness.     

高校辅导员职业生涯发展维度的压力调适机制研究

高校辅导员对于大学生健康成长具有重要意义,但是其职业化发展尚处于不完善阶段,在这个过程中辅导员由于多种因素产生压力,出现职业懈怠、心理失衡等不良反应。在改善辅导员工作环境的同时,辅导员通过认识自我、认知压力、认识学生、完善自身等进行自我调适,这对于其职业生涯发展具有重要意义。     

论辅导员的综合素养与学习型辅导员的成长

辅导员队伍专业化、职业化发展目标对辅导员的综合素养提出了全新的要求,这一目标的实现亟需辅导员队伍不断提升自身的马克思主义理论素养、思想道德素养、人文社会科学素养和实际工作能力素养。而学习型辅导员的培育和成长则是辅导员综合素养提高,专业化、职业化发展的根本保障。     

School Counselor Preparation in Kenya: Do Kenyan School Counselors Feel Adequately Prepared to Perform Their Roles?

School counselor training in Kenya is a relatively new phenomenon. This study examined Kenyan school counselors’ perceptions of the adequacy of their preparedness to perform their roles within the school setting. The survey was administered to 105 school counselors in four counties. The findings revealed that Kenyan school counselors perceived themselves as being adequately prepared; however, participants revealed deficiencies in their preparation and ability to deal with a wide range of student issues. Implications of these findings to the training of school counselors and counselor training programs are discussed.     

新升格本科院校女性辅导员的困境与培养研究

新升格本科院校有其自身的特点,高校女性辅导员是高校学生工作上作的主力军,也有其自身的特点,如何提高女性辅导员的整体素质,加强女性辅导员培养,是进一步改进大学生思想政治教育工作的重要课题,从新升格本科院校女性辅导员面临的困境出发,提出了进一步加强女性辅导员培养的措施。     

The Role of Community College Financial Aid Counselors in Helping Students Understand and Utilize Financial Aid

Financial aid counselors are a primary source of information that many students rely upon to understand financial aid and how to pay for college. However, little is known about financial aid counselors at America's community colleges and their interactions with the students they serve. Using original survey data, this study examined the role these counselors play in helping community college students understand and make use of financial aid. The majority of counselors in the sample reported the counselor-to-student ratio at their college was one counselor for every 1,000 students (or higher), suggesting these counselors do not have the time or resources to meet the needs of every student who needs their advice. Counselors also identified common pitfalls their students experience during the financial aid process. These findings serve as the basis for recommendations intended to improve the utilization of financial aid among community college students.