Make or break: the role and support needs of academic advisors in work-integrated learning courses

ABSTRACT

The role of academic advisors in work-integrated learning courses is crucial to student success, yet poorly understood. This research aimed to understand the role and support needs of academic advisors by conducting interviews, a survey, and a focus group within a service learning program in Queensland, Australia. Participants identified rewards in observing student transformation and supporting students to contribute to social justice causes. However, the role had high demands in terms of pastoral support. Although academic advisors reported strong support mechanisms, they identified gaps in supporting them to meet the needs of international students and students with mental health issues. Academic advisors need strong mentoring or supervisory support to deal with diverse student issues, clear processes for tracking and managing students, training and resources to deal with special needs students, and opportunities for team building and bonding. Supporting academic advisors could help to better support students to successfully complete internships.     

Psychological distress in grandmother kinship care providers: the role of resources, social support, and physical health

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of the present study was to investigate predictors of psychological distress in grandmother kinship care providers. More specifically, it was hypothesized that social support, family resources, and physical health would predict psychological distress in grandmothers raising grandchildren. METHOD: One hundred and two grandmothers raising grandchildren in parent-absent homes completed the Brief Symptom Inventory, Short Health Form-36, Family Resource Scale, Family Support Scale, and a questionnaire requesting background and demographic data. RESULTS: Results indicated that psychological distress was predicted by family resources, participants' physical health, and to a lesser extent, social support. CONCLUSION: The findings indicate that family resources, social support, and physical health affected psychological distress in grandmothers raising grandchildren. Grandmothers who reported fewer resources, less social support, and poorer physical health tended to experience higher levels of psychological distress. This study suggests that greater attention be given to interventions aimed to decrease psychological distress and improve the financial resources and physical health of grandmothers raising grandchildren.     

The role of the support teacher in Australia

In Australia, similar to European countries, there has been a continuing increase in the number of students with special needs who are now being educated in regular schools. Regular classrooms have become more diverse with the inclusion of a greater proportion of students with a range of disabilities and learning difficulties. Support for these students is provided through a number of different avenues and varies between the states and territories. All jurisdictions, to some extent, provide support teachers whose role it is to assist these students. This paper firstly considers the education of students with special needs in the Australian context and the support that is available to them. A more detailed account is subsequently provided on the specific role of the support teacher in Queensland.     

Improving medical education: Improving patient care

Is medical education unique among all other educational disciplines? Why does it not seem to conform to the rules laid down by universities for every other faculty? We explore the ways in which particular elements pertaining to medical education have been perceived historically and consider the ways in which medical educators and students have struggled to address the challenges that these ‘differences’ present. The paper then identifies and enumerates areas of commonality across the spectrum of education. We conclude by suggesting that some of the ‘differences’ and ‘difficulties’ of education within the clinical context may be artefacts of a rather narrow and introverted approach to the subject area. We argue that the discipline may be better served by the adoption of a more eclectic and collaborative approach to educational research and practice, aimed at developing an evidence-based, theoretically robust subject area.     

The role of medical museums in contemporary medical education

From the early 19th century until the most recent two decades, open‐space and satellite museums featuring anatomy and pathology collections (collectively referred to as “medical museums”) had leading roles in medical education. However, many factors have caused these roles to diminish dramatically in recent years. Chief among these are the great advances in information technology and web‐based learning that are currently at play in every level of medical training. Some medical schools have abandoned their museums while others have gradually given away their museums' contents to devote former museum space to new classrooms, lecture halls, and laboratories. These trends have accelerated as medical school enrollment has increased and as increasing interest in biological and biomedical research activities have caused medical schools to convert museum space into research facilities. A few medical schools, however, have considered the contents of their museums as irreplaceable resources for modern medicine and medical education and the space these occupy as great environments for independent and self‐directed learning. Consequently, some medical schools have updated their medical museums and equipped them with new technologies. The Anatomical Museum of Leiden University Medical Center in The Netherlands and the Medical Museum of Kawasaki Medical School in Kurashiki, Okayama, Japan, are two examples of such upgraded museums. Student surveys at Leiden University have indicated that all students (100%) found audio‐guided museum tours to be useful for learning and majorities of them found guided tours to be clinically relevant (87%). However, 69% of students felt that museum visits should be optional rather than compulsory within the medical training curriculum. Anat Sci Educ 3:249–253, 2010. © 2010 American Association of Anatomists.     

Realising graduate attributes in the research degree: the role of peer support groups

This paper discusses the role of peer support groups (PSGs) in realising graduate attributes in the research degree. The literature indicates that top-down embedding of graduate attributes has met with only limited success. By taking a bottom-up approach, this paper shows that PSGs offer an opportunity to improve the graduate attribute outcomes of universities. This paper presents the experiences of research students in three PSGs in New Zealand, Australia and Malaysia, and the results of an exploratory opinion survey that required past and present PSG members to share their learning experiences about the development of graduate attributes. The participants favoured five attributes: communication, critical thinking, self-motivation, research organisation and teamwork. Viewing the development of graduate attributes through the lens of the students adds to our understanding of how PSGs help them to develop graduate attributes and contribute to university efforts to instil these attributes by taking into account experiential learning.     

Children in care or in need: educational progress at home and in care

ABSTRACT

By age 16 the attainment of most children in or on the edge of out of home care has fallen well behind the average for their age. This paper uses the English National Pupil Database to examine how much of this falling behind occurs before the age of seven, and how any subsequent decline relates to time in care as against time outside it. We compare the previous progress of three groups of 16-year-olds: 5175 looked after by the state (CLA), 17,392 in need but not in care (CIN), and 22,567 children matched with the CLA or CIN on initial attainment, special educational needs, and eligibility for free school meals. We found that the attainment of the CIN and those CLA not yet in care was around one standard deviation below the cohort average at age seven. It then fell relative to their peers while their rate of unauthorised absences and exclusions grew. Removal from home to care appeared to halt or greatly reduce this decline but did not, on average, reverse it. We conclude that educational interventions for CLA should also include CIN, start before seven, target both school and family, and exploit the educational opportunity which care provides.     

Change and renewal: the role of a change team in improving student support

How do open and distance learning institutions review and renew themselves to ensure their continued fitness for purpose? Here we report on the work of a change team in the UK Open University, a Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning created to examine, innovate and improve student support. The existence of the Centre for five years from 2005 to 2010 enabled us to facilitate an extensive programme of practical support activities and to influence long-term university policy development. We are aware that very few institutions will have the luxury of such long-term funding (and do not expect it to be available again in the United Kingdom any time soon). However, we believe that there is much in models of change that can be applied more generally to improve learner support.     

Therapy of incest survivors: abuse or support?

A preliminary study examined the self-reports of 30 adult incest survivors related to professional help received for personal concerns and incest-related problems. Subjects rated the helpfulness of services received from 12 categories of professionals or groups commonly sought for counsel. Subjects utilized 113 professionals (53 male, 60 female) and spent an average of 36 sessions (9 months) in helping relationships. Chi-square analysis indicated a significant relation (p less than .001) between sex of professional or helper and rating of helpfulness of individual sessions. The trend indicated by this data suggests that male helpers were seen longer and rated lower than females. Additional information provided indicated that the most helpful categories of interventions included (1) validation; (2) advocacy; (3) empathic understanding; and (4) absence of derision or contempt. Practices or attitudes considered harmful were (1) blaming the victim; (2) lack of validation; (3) negative or rejecting responses; and (4) exploitation or victimization of the client. Sexual involvement with the person in the helping role was reported by 23% of the sample; an additional 23% reported other forms of exploitation or victimization. Results of the study are discussed using the conceptual framework of trauma-based disturbances. Reliving experiences, revictimization dynamics, and dissociative processes are speculated to be involved in the high incidence of exploitation of adult incest survivors by persons in helping roles.     

PE: Movement in the Right Direction

The subject working group appointed to advise the Secretary of State on physical education in the National Curriculum reported in June and its recommendations for attainment targets, programmes of study and statements of attainment were published in August in its final report. Dr David Sugden, reader in education at Leeds University, comments on the relevance of the proposals for pupils with special needs.     

The role of self-concept in medical education

Much research has acknowledged the importance of self-concept for adolescents’ academic behaviour, motivation and aspiration, but little is known about the role of self-concept underpinning the motivation and aspiration of higher education students in a specialised field such as medical education. This article draws upon a programme of research undertaken over the past three years examining the psychosocial determinants of success in educating home-grown doctors for regional communities. Interviews conducted with Australian medical students found that self-concept is a dynamic and multidimensional phenomenon that emerges through social activity and plays a crucial role in shaping their motivation and aspirations. For these students in a specialised field in higher education, self-concept not only influences their study performance, but also forms part of their personal and career development. Because of the significant level of interaction between the self and the social environment, the development of self-concept through a holistic and systemic facilitation of essential psychosocial drivers of success is essential in higher education.     

刍议大病医疗救助体系的完善

目前有效的大病救助方式覆盖率太低,大病医疗保障体系覆盖面较窄.而过度医疗现象又普遍存在.缺少对大病医治方案的有效监督.商业医疗保险所起作用太小,我国目前大多数大病患者看不起病.若能改变救助方式,提高大病互助金覆盖率及覆盖面,改进医保个人帐户资金管理方式,同时建立大病医治方案监督制度,倡导加强商业保险业的社会责任感,倡导健康的生活方式,应能较大缓解目前大病医治所面临的困境,解决目前大病救助不足、资金短缺的难题.     

Managing change in the primary school: What we have learnt about the role of external support

Criteria for placement of pupils into bands and the subsequent effect of banding on educational and post‐educational careers were investigated in a longitudinal study of two cohorts of comprehensive school pupils. The abiding influence of social class and measured ability in early assignment of pupils to bands was observed, and a disjunction demonstrated between a banding system with the potential for flexibility and the reality of the situation where it was marked by ossification and early tracking of pupils to differential educational destinations. The notion of the school as an enduring conservative force is investigated, the banding system being both an outcome and a determinant of this conservatism. The data is used to raise methodological questions involved in investigating complex issues, and implications are drawn for teacher behaviour in banded comprehensive schools.     

Children at play: the role of peers in understanding the effects of child care

Although the studies of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) Early Child Care Research Network (this issue) and of Watamura, Donzella, Alwin, and Gunnar (this issue) identify the potential of child care to affect children's adjustment, how these effects are produced remains unclear. In this commentary, it is argued that there is a need to expand child care research by considering one of the most important, but unrecognized, contributors to child care effects-peers. Research is reviewed that suggests that children's interactions in same-sex peer groups at child care affect their short- and long-term adjustment. We consider how research on early peer influences can inform the findings of the NICHD Early Child Care Research Network and Watamura et al. studies, aswell as contribute to the next generation of child care research.     

Campus climate: The role of teacher support and cultural issues

ABSTRACT

The literature on campus climate has mainly focused on diversity and demographic variables within single or multiple university campuses from one country. There is a need to investigate campus climate further with regard to cultural issues and the role of teachers. This study thus proposed to examine perceived teacher support as a mediator of the relation between institutional and psychosocial variables of the campus climate of two universities from two culturally distinct countries. To achieve this goal, 980 Brazilian and Portuguese university students answered the Institutional and Psychosocial Campus Climate Inventory. Findings showed significant differences in how students from two different countries described their campus climate and how both Brazilian and Portuguese students described their institutional climate more accurately than their psychosocial climate. Moreover, results from a mediation analysis revealed that perceived teacher support mediated the relationship between students’ perceptions of the institutional readiness of their university and their sense of well-being, as well as newcomer adjustment. A moderation analysis showed that the country of origin moderated the relationship between students’ perceived teacher support and newcomer adjustment. Implications for developing a positive campus climate are discussed.     

Bridging the Cultural Divide: The role of the home‐school support worker

A three‐year Home Office funded project placed social work trained home‐school support workers on the staff of secondary schools with the aim of reducing school exclusions. Data from the project evaluation enabled an analysis of the possibilities and limitations of social work in school settings. A qualitative evaluation methodology was adopted with extended periods of fieldwork in the seven project schools and the use of a variety of qualitative and quantitative data collection techniques. It is argued that, if schools are to be successful sites for social work, the tensions arising from the different cultures of teachers and social workers must be recognised and addressed. A number of factors were found to be crucial for assisting social work trained support workers to become accepted in schools. The support worker role resulted in a variety of benefits for teachers, thus enabling the project to act as a bridge between social work and educational cultures.     

论医生的高度注意义务

医生职业关乎患者的生命与健康,所以必然决定医生在执业时须对患者负有不同于对一般人的高度注意义务。通过对医生执业的高度注意义务的内涵、原则、基本内容以及医生违反高度注意义务的判断标准的论述,为正确规范医患关系,公平、合理地解决医患纠纷提供参考,从而消除医患之间的信任危机,构建和谐融洽的医患关系。     

超越“学科论”和“研究领域论”之争——对我国高等教育学学科建设方向的思考

过去三十多年来,我国高等教育学界整体上是在经典学科框架下建设和发展高等教育学的,这种学科建设取向对促进高等教育学发展发挥了重要历史作用,也带来了学科建设和发展方向上的问题。超越"学科论"与"研究领域论"之争,建设作为现代学科的高等教育学,是我国高等教育学发展的方向。     

Care or scare: the safety of youth in congregate care in New York City

OBJECTIVE: This qualitative study examined stakeholders' perceptions of the safety of youth ages 12 and older living in congregate care facilities within the New York City foster care system. The study explored the youth's physical safety, the safety of their personal belongings, the physical conditions of congregate care settings, and the relationship between staff quality and youth safety. METHOD: The study involved interviews with family court judges, representatives of private child welfare agencies, attorneys who represent children in foster care, social workers, representatives of advocacy and other relevant organizations in New York City, and former foster youth who had been placed in congregate care settings. RESULTS: Safety in congregate care environments was an issue of significant concern. Threats to the youth's safety were found to emanate from peer-on-peer violence, stealing of personal belongings, inappropriate staff conduct, and the poor physical conditions of facilities. Youth's sense of safety was strongly linked to staff quality, including staff ability to relate effectively to youth and to maintain control of congregate care environments. CONCLUSIONS: Existing regulations in New York State appear to have had little effect in ensuring the safety of youth in many group and residential care facilities. Steps to improve safety outcomes for youth in these settings are proposed.