Averting Role Confusion Between Doctoral Students and Major Advisers: Adviser Disclosure Statements

Doctoral students in counselor education programs and their major academic advisers may unfortunately encounter role confusion in their relationships, affecting both parties personally and professionally. To mitigate misunderstandings, the authors recommend the use of adviser disclosure statements. Advantages for faculty members and students are discussed, and an example of an adviser disclosure statement is presented.     

中职教育中如何做好班主任工作

教师是伟大的,他把未来作为自己的创造蓝图,把学生的心灵做为自己雕塑的对象。在教师这支队伍中,班主任是排头兵,他不仅要教书而且要育人,不仅要培育学生成才,而且要培养学生成人。班主任工作是中职学校教育管理工作中的一个重要组成部分,是强化学生管理和提高中等职业学校教育质量的关键,也是学生学习的楷模,更是和谐社会的引导者。     

Modality and placement of a pedagogical adviser in individual interactive learning

Fifty‐eight graduate students in an education programme took a 40‐minute computer‐based instructional module on introductory statistics with a built‐in solicited guidance mechanism. Students were randomly assigned to programs that used one of four types of advisement: on‐screen digitised video of a human adviser, on‐screen text‐based adviser, pull‐down digitised video of a human adviser or pull‐down text‐based adviser. Results indicated that the on‐screen video‐based adviser condition resulted in higher adviser use than both the text‐based and video‐based pull‐down adviser conditions. Adviser use was significantly correlated with performance during instruction, with time spent during instruction and with television hours watched per week, but not with retention scores. Two non‐significant but suggestive findings were that the video‐based on‐screen advisers were used twice as much as text‐based on‐screen advisers, and active learners used advisement three times as often as passive learners.     

The Academic Dean: a Position in Need of a Compass and Clock

This study examines the changing and multifaceted roles and responsibilities of academic deans in Australian universities. A total of 195 deans from the population of 287 in Australia responded to the survey. Most were male, around 50 years old, married, with fewer than 5 years' experience as dean. One quarter of the sample had more than 5 years' experience as dean. About one third indicated a desire to move on to a higher academic position at the end of their contract with another third interested in returning to their previous academic duties. Deans indicated they are moderately satisfied with the clarity of their role, but more dissatisfied with the pace of work and their workload. The level of stress experienced by deans was moderate, although around 60% of stress in a dean's life arose from the job. Generally, experiences of role‐conflict and role‐ambiguity were consistent across the sample. The varied role of dean is examined in terms of its daily tasks, sources of stress, and leadership attributes and behaviours. The article also includes an analysis of comments provided by deans regarding their major work challenges, perceived effectiveness in dealing with these challenges, and observations on other issues of importance to their role.     

Sex differences in the sources of academic and social guidance sought by secondary school students

Four hundred and five students made up of 220 boys and 185 girls from eight secondary schools in Lagos State of Nigeria were chosen for this study. A survey was undertaken to find out the frequency (or the amount) of guidance services sought by both male and female respondents to each of the following sources: teachers, relations, friends, and trained counsellors on academic and social problems.The results showed that even though the students consulted the four sources of guidance under investigation in this study, there were sex differences in the frequency at which the four sources were consulted. Girls in this study were found to have made greater use of their friends on social and academic problems. Boys were found to have made greater use of their teachers on their academic problems and their relations on social problems.On the basis of the findings in this study, recommendations were made that students be encouraged to consult their teachers and guidance counsellors on academic problems in particular more than they were presently doing: that as much as possible students be discouraged from consulting their friends and relations on social and academic problems; that both the State and the Federal governments should make some effort to increase the provision of guidance and counselling services in Nigerian schools and where counselling services are available, students should be encouraged to make use of them.     

What academic language and learning advisers bring to the scholarship of teaching and learning: problems and possibilities for dialogue with the disciplines

Higher education policy is seeking, in the interest of ‘quality assurance’, to reward teaching and the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL). Academic language and learning (ALL) advisers, who work closely with students to improve their performance in their courses of study, have much to contribute to SoTL. ALL advisers who adopt an ‘academic literacies’ approach share with lecturers in the disciplines an engagement with issues of ‘‐ography’ (i.e. writing in and for a discourse community)—including the relationships between epistemology, form, and language—yet, misconceptions about ALL advisers’ work can prevent discipline lecturers from consulting them when thinking about questions of teaching and learning in their own field. This paper discusses ALL advisers’ access to insights into students’ experiences of learning and of being taught, with relevance both for particular disciplines and for academic culture across the disciplines; their contributions to SoTL; the difficulties they encounter in trying to communicate across the borders of the disciplines; and ways of improving this situation in the context of the new emphasis on encouraging improvement in the quality of teaching.     

Promotion of academic staff

Research studies conducted in the USA, Britain, Australia and New Zealand which examine academic staff's attitude to the promotion procedures in their institutions have all found dissatisfaction with existing promotion practices. In particular academics are reported to be dissatisfied with the undervaluing of teaching excellence in promotion decisions.This paper discusses studies of job satisfaction and staff motivation as background to an interview study at an Australian university. Data concerning promotion issues from interviews with 104 academic staff members are presented and discussed.Interviewed staff at that university see their institution as actively encouraging research through rewards and incentives. But they perceive the university as paying only lip-service to teaching by requiring documentation of teaching performance without rewarding good performance adequately. Many also perceive the university as interested more in publications than in scholarship and some adjust their activities accordingly.     

刍议当前高职生就业的问题与对策

高职生的就业问题是社会稳定的重要因素之一,然而,高职生的就业却不尽人意。这根源包括:高职生自身原因、高职院校工作的失误、社会偏见等诸多因素。各校应当分析问题根源,研究就业市场并结合自身实际情况,更新理念、拓宽渠道千方百计指导好高职生的就业。     

大学新生的学习状况调查与对策研究

通过对大学新生学习状况的调查,发现大部分新生学习兴趣浓厚,有着良好的学习愿望,对专业比较满意;但学习动机比较现实和功利,在学习内容和学习方法适应性上表现的不尽人意,学习活动容易受外界因素影响。为促进大学新生的学习,学校一要加强理想信念教育,引导大学生树立正确的学习动机;二要建立学务指导制度,认真做好学习指导工作;三要加强学风建设,努力创造良好的学习环境。     

Involvement in sedentary activities and academic performance in adolescents: differences according to sociodemographic variables / Implicación en actividades sedentarias y rendimiento académico en adolescentes: diferencias según variables sociodemográficas

This study provides a first-time analysis of the differences in the time dedicated each day to different sedentary activities (SA) (productive, technology-based recreation and social activities) and their relation with the academic performance of Spanish adolescents according to sex, school year and socioeconomic status (SES). The sample was made up of 681 participants (50.2% girls), between 12 and 18 years old, who completed self-reported questionnaires. The likelihood of obtaining lower levels of academic success increase in adolescents who spend two or more hours on social SAs and have a lower SES. With boys, this increases further if they spend four or more hours on SAs involving technology-based recreation and two or less hours on productive SAs. In conclusion, adolescents spend a high number of hours carrying out sedentary activities after school. This is something that needs controlling since it may have a detrimental effect on their academic success, especially among adolescent boys.     

“全员导师制”下的人才培养模式探析——以高职旅游管理专业为例

高职"全员导师制"人才培养模式,是指聘任专业教师担任专职专业导师,聘任来自合作企业的技术人员为兼职专业导师,辅以帮助学生自我管理的辅导员为主的生活导师的人才培养模式。在高职旅游管理专业采用该模式,能有效地使学生具备熟练的业务操作能力、较强的产品营销水平和较高的旅游职业道德素养,使学生成为适应社会需要的高技能型旅游从业者。     

探析教育根本任务下高职辅导员职业素养的提升

教育根本任务——立德树人对教育工作提出了新要求,承担着大学生思想政治教育主要工作的辅导员是完成这一任务的重要保证。辅导员职业素养的高低直接影响着学生素质与修养的高低。因此,在＂立德树人＂的新形势下,辅导员要注重自身职业素养地提升。     

Burnout among university faculty: the central role of work–family conflict

This study examined both direct and indirect associations of faculty burnout with psychosocial work environments, using the job resources-demands framework. A sample of 2,229 faculty members (57.1% male) throughout public universities in the Czech Republic completed a questionnaire comprising measures of burnout and psychosocial work environment characteristics from the Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire II. We formulated a structural model that hypothesised a positive effect of job demands (quantitative demands, work-family conflict (WFC), job insecurity) and a negative effect of job resources (influence, social community, role clarity) on burnout. Results showed that the strongest predictor of burnout was WFC, which had a direct positive effect on burnout and mediated the positive effect of quantitative demands on burnout. Further, a small direct negative effect of age and an indirect positive effect of involvement in research grants and administrative paperwork on burnout were observed. The findings indicate that university management can most effectively address burnout in academic staff not only by implementing policies that reduce WFC, workload and administrative paperwork, but also by providing more job resources to younger faculty and faculty involved in grant-based projects.     

Chinese middle school teacher job satisfaction and its relationships with teacher moving

This study examined teacher job satisfaction in Chinese middle schools from the aspects of school, community, and life and the relationships between these factors and teacher moving. A convenience sample of 294 teachers was approached through a 35-item questionnaire. Data were analyzed using SPSS. Three major results were found: (1) Chinese middle school teachers were dissatisfied with their job in general. (2) Younger, less-experienced, junior teachers were more satisfied. Most groups of teachers were more satisfied with their working conditions, but less satisfied with income. (3) The sub-factors of leadership, professional opportunities, working conditions, and income had significant relationships with teachers’ future career planning. The reasons contributing to job dissatisfaction and teacher retention in schools are discussed.     

体育系实习指导教师管理技能与方法的探讨

本文针对师范院校体育系指导教师在教育实习中的管理技能与方法问题进行探讨．围绕在教育实习期间，作为指导教师，应具备哪些基本素养，有哪些工作职责，应处理好哪些关系，怎样加强对实习生的教育和体育教学工作的管理等问题提出了一些具体要求，内容与方法．以期进一步搞好体育教育实习工作有所启发和帮助”（并与广大同行商榷）     

Are You Satisfied? PhD Education and Faculty Taste for Prestige: Limits of the Prestige Value System

This paper empirically evaluates Caplow and McGee??s (The academic marketplace, 1958) model of academia as a prestige value system (PVS) by testing several hypotheses about the relationship between prestige of faculty appointment and job satisfaction. Using logistic regression models to predict satisfaction with several job domains in a sample of more than 1,000 recent social science PhD graduates who hold tenure-track or tenured faculty positions, we find that the relationship between prestige of faculty appointment and job satisfaction is modified by PhD program prestige. Graduates of high prestige PhD programs value prestige more highly and graduates of low prestige programs value salary more highly. We explain our findings by incorporating reference group theory and a theory of taste formation into our model of the academic PVS, which identifies PhD programs as sites of socialization to different tastes for prestige (a process of cultural transmission) in addition to their well recognized role in transmission of human and social capital. We discuss practical and theoretical implications of our findings in relation to efforts to measure PhD program quality and to understand the structure of academic labor markets.     

Collaborative action research between schools,a continuing professional development centre for teachers and the university: a case study in Spain

This article describes a collaborative action research project developed over the course of the 2011/12 academic year in the Faculty of Education at Cordoba University (Spain). The RIECU school–continuing professional development centre for teachers–university learning network is part of this research process. The aim is to create and consolidate a community of practice made up of continuing professional development advisers to teachers, infant education teachers, university students who are training to become infant education teachers and university teaching staff. The most relevant findings, which respond to the questions raised, are: the action research conducted indicates that teamwork between teacher, adviser, researcher and university student is an effective strategy to facilitate the acquisition of professional competences among student teachers; and student-teachers involved in the case study have evolved in their conception and approach to childhood and have had the opportunity to learn by modelling the professional conduct of their mentor teachers.     

Stress,Coping Strategies and Job Satisfaction in University Academic Staff

This study aims to identify sources of stress and consequent stress levels in university academic staff, to identify the coping strategies used by staff, and to examine the relationship between stress levels and job satisfaction. The study sample, consisting of 414 (305 males and 109 females) academic staff, was asked two open‐ended questions which invited them to specify the five main causes of stress in their lives in general and at work. The Life Stress Scale (LSS) was used to assess academics’ stress levels. A coping strategies list was used to identify the strategies used by academic staff during stressful periods. Two questions were asked to assess the level of satisfaction felt by academics with their jobs. The results indicated that academic staff rate work as the most significant cause of stress in their lives (74%) and conducting research (40.3%) was the main cause of stress at work. Results showed also that 74.1% and 10.4% of the academic staff fall into the moderate and serious stress categories respectively, and that there were no significant differences between males and females in stress levels. There were significant differences between the four academic rank groups in stress levels, with lecturers as the most stressed group. The results also indicated that academic staff use a wide range of coping strategies. A negative significant correlation between stress and job satisfaction (r= – 0.444) was found, indicating an inverse relationship between stress level and satisfaction.     

Advising time inventory: Consequences of the general college individualized baccalaureate degree program on faculty advising,activities, and academic load

Faculty of the General College are assigned advising responsibilities in addition to their teaching load. Full-time members, for example, advise 35–40 students per year. When the College initiated an individualized baccalaureate degree program in 1971, little provision was made for consequent changes on the advising function and the academic load. As a result, advisers, faced with the complex and time-consuming matters that adhere to individualized learning programs, felt mounting pressure. Large numbers of evening school students were attracted to the program and sought advice and, upon admission, expected to be assigned a faculty adviser. The College made no formal acknowledgment of the addition of the non-day school advisees to advisers' loads. Strained by the overburden, faculty participated in this study to identify how much real time they spend in advising, with whom, and on what kinds of activities. Evidence from this study was used to support their request for recognition by the College of the changed nature and full scope of their advising work.The author wishes to acknowledge Drs. Paul J. Feltovich and Thomas Brothen for their help with the researching of this paper.