Staff development: Old dogs can learn new tricks

Abstract

Peer coaching, study groups, and mentoring are all valuable methods for staff development. When all three can occur during the same year with a group of veteran teachers, the result is a learning community that enhances shared professionalism. This article describes such a year in which four veteran teachers came to teach in a residential high school for gifted and talented adolescents. This article reports that the focus from the perspective of the staff developer, as well as the focus from the perspective of three of the four teachers, emphasizes the power of these formats for professional development.     

‘Push on through’: Children’s perspectives on the narratives of resilience in schools identified for intensive mental health promotion

Child mental health is a growing concern for policymakers across the global north. Schools have become a key site for mental health interventions, with new programmes aimed at promoting ‘resilience’, through which children may maintain or regain mental health during adversity. As one of the first studies to explore the early impact of intensive mental health promotion in schools from children’s perspectives, we adopt a governmentality approach to consider the logic and techniques of such programmes with a specific focus on England. An innovative visual methodology was used to focus on student perspectives of mental health interventions in school. Young peoples’ photo representations of mental health were collected and used to stimulate focus group discussions with 65 students aged 12–14, across seven schools. ‘Resilience’ was seen to be the key organising concept for mental health interventions in schools. The concept was viewed as narrowly focused on attitude towards—and performance in—school work, with individuals being encouraged to ‘push on through’ difficulties to achieve success. Young people were critical of this approach, suggesting several alternatives. These included increased access to independent mental health professionals, safe spaces within schools and mental health education that addressed the social and affective dimensions of mental health difficulties.     

WHY WE NEED TO TAKE RISKS

我们为什么需要冒险？这个问题,也许很多人都没有考虑过,因为过着平淡稳定的生活,让我们满足,让我们舒适。但是如果反过来,温水青蛙的故事对我们同样是个警示。这里,让我们从心理学专业的角度看起,找出我们需要冒险的理由吧!     

English renewed: Visions of English among teachers of 1966

This article examines the way in which curriculum renewal in English teaching in the late 1960s was brought about largely through the democratic process of teacher participation. It describes the role that the newly formed National Association for the Teaching of English (NATE) played in creating the process in conjunction with American colleagues from the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) at the 1966 Dartmouth Conference. The author, who participated in this event, describes the values debated at this conference which underpinned reform and which were subsequently tested out and implemented in England by practitioners in schools, supported by NATE local branches. He asks the reader to consider the ways in which this process of reform differs from the ways in which processes of curriculum change are currently structured.     

Action Learning: More Than Just A Task Force

Action learning, as it is often implemented in the U.S., differs little from a typical cross-functional task force. Those characteristics of action learning that originated with Reginald Revan's work and that have such potential to change both organizations and participants are often absent in the Americanized version of action learning. Outlined here are the principles that underlie Revan's work as well as an explanation of why they are so critical to both individual development and organizational problem resolution. These principles are then contrasted with a case study of a Fortune 500 company which implemented the more Americanized version. The benefits of that implementation are explored as well as a discussion of the learning difficulties the teams experienced.     

Examining the relationships between challenge and threat cognitive appraisals and coaching behaviours in football coaches

Previous research demonstrates that sports coaching is a stressful activity. This article investigates coaches’ challenge and threat cognitive appraisals of stressful situations and their impact on coaching behaviour, using Blascovich and Mendes’ (2000) biopsychosocial model as a theoretical framework. A cross-sectional correlational design was utilised to examine the relationships between irrational beliefs (Shortened general attitude and belief scale), challenge and threat appraisals (Appraisal of life events scale), and coaching behaviours (Leadership scale for sports) of 105 professional football academy coaches. Findings reveal significant positive associations between challenge appraisals and social support, and between threat appraisals and autocratic behaviour, and a significant negative association between threat appraisals and positive feedback. Results also show that higher irrational beliefs are associated with greater threat, and lesser challenge cognitive appraisals. However, no associations were revealed between irrational beliefs and challenge cognitive appraisals. Additionally, findings demonstrate a positive relationship between age and training and instruction. Results suggest that practitioners should help coaches to appraise stressful situations as a challenge to promote positive coaching behaviours.