The Challenge and Opportunity of Competency‐Based Counselor Education

There is increased responsibility for programs to demonstrate evidence of student learning and skill. Application of competency‐based education is delineated, including prior learning assessment and personalized learning. Implications such as awarding credit for experience in admissions or variable clinical training timelines and requirements are explored.     

Coping Styles and Psychological Distress among Hong Kong University Students: Validation of the Collectivist Coping Style Inventory

This study examined the factorial structure of the Collectivist Coping Style inventory (Heppner et al. Journal of Counseling Psychology 53:107–125, 2006) and investigated how the effects of stress-related events on psychological distress are mediated through coping strategies. Three hundred and five Hong Kong university students participated in this study. Confirmatory factor analysis supported the five-factor structure of the original inventory. Although family support was widely used as a means to cope with stressful events, students with specific relationship-related stress reported greater use of avoidance strategies. The mediating effect of coping strategies on the relationship between stress-related events and psychological distress was generally small. Limitations and directions for future research are discussed.     

Demystifying the magic of language: Critical linguistic case analysis of legitimation of authority

This study is an analysis two pieces of discourse which were embedded within a larger conflict in a religious organization over leadership and authority. Faced with a direct challenge to their authority, the elders of the church sought to legitimize their leadership through linguistic performances. Principles from linguistic criticism were used to analyze the nature of the challenge to authority and the resulting legitimation attempt. Specifically the discourse was analyzed in terms of transitivity, modality, grammatical transformations, classifications, speech acts, and implicatures.

The study found that syntactic and semantic structures that challenged authority were ironic, filled with internal contradictions, inviting multiple readings. The most potent linguistic strategy employed was implicature which created double binds for the elders of the church and for members. The elders were disadvantaged in being forced to make any kind of statement regarding their authority. They walked a fine line in trying to place responsibility on the other side for the conflict without appearing to be victims.     

Faculty members’ perceptions of online program community and their efforts to sustain it

This study investigated faculty members’ perceptions of program community and what they do to support it in online graduate programs. Researchers developed and administered an online survey to ascertain perceptions of program community among education and engineering faculty members at United States, land-grant, research-extensive universities. Three hundred forty-four faculty members responded. Most participants thought that fostering community beyond courses was important. Faculty members used a variety of strategies to accomplish this task, including social media, synchronous communication and advising, face-to-face socials and orientations, and cohort models. Yet, many also relied on classroom strategies. Several participants indicated that they and their students lacked the time, resources or interest to pursue program community and that geographical distance and university reward policies complicated its establishment. Differences via discipline, gender and years of online teaching experience were also reported.     

Quality over quantity?: Mentoring relationships and purpose development among college students

A growing number of studies have demonstrated that purpose in life is associated with positive outcomes among adolescents and young adults. The college years represent an important period of both personal and professional growth, including purpose in life. Supportive relationships may play a critical role in the identification and pursuit of purpose. Relationships with mentors, for example, have been linked with purpose among adolescents. The present study examined whether mentoring relationships were linked with purpose among college students (N = 194) from three institutions across the United States. Both aspects of quality (relational health) and quantity (i.e., number of mentors) were examined as predictors of purpose. Students who had at least one mentor reported higher levels of purpose compared to students with no mentors. Among students with at least one mentor, quality of mentoring was significantly associated with a greater commitment to purpose, while the number of mentors was not associated with commitment to purpose. Results are discussed in the context of practical applications regarding student success and purpose formation in higher education settings.     

Cross‐Age Peer Tutoring of Reading and Thinking: Influence on thinking skills

Outcomes for methods to accelerate thinking skills involving some peer interaction have been more consistently positive than those for purely teacher‐directed or materials‐led methods. However, methods involving mainly or only peer interaction are rare. This paper describes and evaluates such a method for peer tutoring in thinking skills, which scaffolds interactive discourse based on a differentiated real book the tutorial pair has chosen to read together. This pilot study aimed to partial the impact on quality of thinking of a peer‐tutored thinking intervention from that of a peer‐tutored reading intervention, controlling for time on task and amount of peer interactivity. Experimental peer tutees were a whole class (n=28) of seven‐year‐olds; experimental tutors a whole class (n=31) of 11‐year‐olds. Comparison tutees were a whole class (n=27) of seven‐year‐olds; comparison tutors a whole class (n=30) of 11‐year‐olds. Classes/teachers within the same school were randomly assigned to conditions. In Phase 1, a paired reading intervention was implemented for six weeks for all groups. In Phase 2, the experimental classes of tutors and tutees engaged in the “paired thinking” (PT) method for 10 weeks, while the comparison group continued with paired reading. Both treatments involved one 20‐minute session weekly. Pre‐ and post‐test assessment of thinking skills and attitude to reading for all participants was conducted and post hoc subjective feedback gathered from participants. The experimental (PT) tutees showed significantly better performance in thinking skills than comparison (PR only) tutees, and some evidence of improved attitudes to reading. However, this was not true for the experimental (PT) tutors. Subjective feedback was very positive from the PT tutees and class teachers, but less positive from the PT tutors. Given the brevity and low cost in time and resources of the treatment, the finding of significant differences in measured thinking skills for the PT tutees is considered encouraging. Recommendations for refining organizational aspects of the implementation of PT and for future research are made.     

Student and teacher co-navigation of a course: following the natural lines of academic enquiry

Using the mountaineering metaphor of ‘natural lines’ this article describes the co-navigation of an honours course by students and teachers. It suggests the benefits and possibilities of going beyond the confines of conventional teaching and learning wisdom (as canonised in the notion of constructive alignment) and offering just and joyful ways for students to explore disciplinary knowledge. We openly explore issues of power between students and teachers in the construction of so-called partnerships, recognising the inherent challenges in moving beyond the prevailing mainstream. We suggest that a natural lines approach enables students to act as genuine co-navigators and to experience disciplinary knowledge in authentic ways and provides rich opportunities for personal reflection and development.     

Responding to university policies and initiatives: the role of reflexivity in the mid-career academic

How do academics make sense of university policies and strategic initiatives and act on them? Interviews were conducted with 27 mid-career academics in different disciplines, different research-intensive university environments and two countries (England and Australia). Data were analysed iteratively utilising a critical realist perspective, specifically, Archer’s modes of reflexivity. The paper argues that individuals’ responses to university policies and initiatives, to changes in policy and policy conflicts, can at least partially be understood through interrogating the modes of reflexivity they employ.