Counselling the Gifted and Talented in France: Minimizing Gift and Maximizing Talent

After a presentation of the French school system, we describe how the three principal practices—acceleration, enrichment, and special classes—for the education of the gifted are functioning in France. Then, we deal with the counselling of the gifted through 1) the presentation of the professional involved in these tasks, 2) the role played by the parent associations of gifted children, and 3) the identification practices. For the talented, there are many practices, from primary education onwards, which allow schooling to be reconciled with sports studies or artistic tuition. The concept of “dual project” is introduced: the need for sportsmen/women to elaborate their career plan at the same time as their sporting project. The conclusion stresses that in France, measures for the gifted are not clearly laid out; whereas, provisions benefiting from clear and explicit information have been made for the talented and are encouraged by various institutions.     

Human capital background and the educational attainment of second-generation immigrants in France

In this paper, we study the impact of parental human capital background on ethnic educational gaps between second-generation immigrants using a large data set conducted in France in 2003. Estimates from censored random effect ordered Probit regressions show that the skills of immigrants explain in the most part, the ethnic educational gap between their children. Fluency in French and the length of their parents’ stay in France also matter. The impact of the immigrants’ education on the educational attainment of their children further depends on their country of origin, their place of schooling, and their proficiency in French.     

Fetters or Freedom: Dual Relationships in Counselling

Dual relationships occur whenever one person assumes more than one role in a relationship with another person. They may be unavoidable and are not necessarily harmful but there is always a potential for a conflict of interest and exploitation; because of this a number of Western professional counselling organisations have prohibited all dual relationships. Whilst this is essential for sexual dual relationships it can be too rigid for non-sexual ones because of the different cultural, social or geographical circumstances. Examples of non-sexual dual relationships such as acceptance of gifts, barter, attendance at social events and the use of touch are all explored to find appropriate and constructive ways to use them.     

Homophobia in Counselling Practice

Current attitudes of counselling practitioners towards sexual and gender differences raise the possibility that minority clients may experience re-traumatisation due to in-session expressions of therapist homophobia. This paper explores these issues through a qualitative study that examines client and counsellor narratives on homophobia in counselling. The results describe specific examples of homophobic behaviour by counsellors. While individual examples might appear mundane on the surface, the frameworks they invoke and their pervasiveness constitutes a considerable threat to the counselling relationship. The paper argues that homophobia in counselling practice is a significant issue that requires sensitive, critical and applied analysis that redirects therapeutic efforts in the future.     

加拿大:移民的国家

加拿大的历史是移民迁入的历史。在印第安人和因纽特人没有从亚洲到来的时候,加拿大广袤无垠的土地还是一片荒莽。加拿大与亚洲只隔着一道浅浅的白令海峡,几万年前,白令海峡就成了连接亚加的天然陆桥。亚洲人沿着这道陆桥进入加拿大,逐渐发展为加拿大的土著民族。     

A Counselling Experiment in Brazil: Difficulties and Opportunities

This paper compares the No Blame approach to bullying with the ecosystemic approach to changing problem behaviour. It suggests that there are several similarities between the two approaches: they are both applicable in particular kinds of situation; their success depends to a great extent on the people using the technique, in particular the degree to which they can bring the quality of genuineness to the situation; they are not directly concerned with punishment, truth or control; and they challenge the assumptions teachers make about children's problem behaviour. A key point is the need for teachers to recognize that bullying is a natural event (in so far that it is a regular one) and the need to suspend their own feelings of anger and repugnance. As the writer points out, ‘a process which fails to engage the bully and makes no attempt to enhance feelings of concern and understanding is unlikely to bring about any fundamental change in behaviour’. Though written at a fairly theoretical level, what the writer says has direct relevance to practice in schools.     

South African First-Year Students' Counselling Needs and Preferred Counselling Sources

This study investigated the personal career andlearning skills needs of first-year universitystudents and their preferred counsellingsources. Respondents completed structuredquestionnaires assessing their needs andpreferred counselling sources (n = 1292). Respondents expressed a preference for lecturesand professional help outside the university. They selected only five of forty two items forwhich they desired individual counselling. Knowing the preferred sources of counsellinghelp desired by clients would enable a betterservice and referral system.     

Counselling women: Information from diverse ethnic cultures

The bulk of the literature on counselling women relates to the North American context. Recognizing the inherent limitation and bias in this relatively narrow perspective, the paper was an attempt to expand the boundaries of our knowledge on issues in counselling women beyond the North American scene.Paper presented at the Eleventh International Round Table for the Advancement of Counselling, Aarhus, Denmark, August 1984. I would like to thank my colleagues who authored portions of this paper, as will be duly noted. For information about particular aspects of the paper, readers are encouraged to write to the individual authors.     

美国学校心理辅导: 历史、现状、动向及其启示

美国学校心理辅导有近百年的发展历史,在辅导内容、辅导方法和辅导人员上都已经非常成熟。近年来,美国学校心理辅导出现了发展性心理辅导全面渗透、系统合作、参与特定文化咨询的多元文化主义的新动向,对我国学校心理辅导的发展提供了有益的启示。     

Counselling the Micronesian client

The Micronesian client comes from a strategically important Western Pacific area that bears its own unique culture. To serve the Micronesian client more than adequately, the therapist needs an awareness and understanding of the culture of the Micronesians. The role their culture plays upon the development of the Micronesian and upon the psyche of the Micronesian is explored.     

Counselling for New Careers

Flemish post-secondary students(N = 2,880) were profiled for favouring orrejecting three new work arrangements. Threestepwise discriminant function analyses wereperformed to separate the groups that were forand against telehomework, agency work, andfreelance work. Predictors were demographicvariables (anticipated graduation year,academic area), attributes (willingness toengage in new careers, proactive personalityand work values), and expectations aboutemployers. The classification results werecross-validated. Findings indicated thattomorrow's workforce wanted to meet therequirements of new careers (mobility, lifelongretooling, work-family balance). Four groups ofwork values differentiated thosefavouring/rejecting telehomework, agency work,and freelance work. Anticipated graduationyear, academic area and proactive personality,characterised further respondents for andagainst agency work and freelance work.Expectations about employers did not split thegroups with respect to their preference for thethree new work arrangements. Implications forcontemporary and future roles for careercounsellors were discussed.     

Psychosocial Counselling in Nepal: Perspectives of Counsellors and Beneficiaries

The aims of this qualitative study were (1) to add to the understanding of the growing field of psychosocial counselling in Nepal, and (2) gather concrete points for improvement of services. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with clients (n = 34), para-professional counsellors (n = 26) and managers (n = 23) of organizations in which psychosocial counselling was taking place. The main findings were that stakeholders generally presented a positive view of the significance and supportive function of psychosocial counselling, while providing useful suggestions for improvement. Matters of ongoing training and supervision, confidentiality and integration of counselling within mainstream care provision need to be addressed and potentially adapted. Implications for other non-Western countries with little mental health resources are discussed.