Changes in personal orientation and critical thinking among adults returning to school through weekend college: An alternative evaluation

Seventy-two returning adult students participating in a weekend social science option showed statistically significant increases on 11Personal Orientation Inventory subscales and theWatson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal. The program involved an interdisciplinary and experiential learning approach. Utilizing t-tests, no significant differences between males and females on the pretest nor on pre-post change were found. This evaluation supports successful experiential learning as effective in continuation and reinforcement of the process of self-actualizing.The author expresses his thanks to Mary Van De Warker for codesigning and coinstructing the Weekend Social Science option with him and to Kathleen Crittenden for her helpful criticism of an earlier draft of this article.     

Using predictions to learn about the self-efficacy of early adolescents with and without learning disabilities

This study used conventional self-efficacy measures as well as predictions of performance to examine the spelling and writing efficacy beliefs of early adolescents with and without learning disabilities (LD). In addition, the study examined two types of global efficacy—self-efficacy for self-regulated learning and general self-efficacy. The students with LD over-estimated their spelling performance by 52% and their writing performance by 19%, whereas the non-LD students were generally accurate in their performance estimates. Students’ performance predictions and self-efficacy ratings were strong predictors of a composite writing performance, but the self-efficacy for self-regulated learning and general self-efficacy scores did not predict writing performance. The article concludes with a discussion of recommendations to improve the calibration and academic functioning of adolescents with learning disabilities.     

Task performance in small group settings: the role of group members’ self-efficacy and collective efficacy and group’s characteristics

The present study extends the literature by investigating the relative salience of self- and collective efficacy in predicting group performance among early adolescents in Indonesia. A total of 435 early adolescents (mean age 11.70 years, 53% female) were randomly assigned to groups of three to four and completed three group tasks (task 1: puzzles; task 2: math; task 3: puzzles). Results indicated that collective efficacy was a more salient predictor of group performance than self-efficacy. Examination of the interaction effects suggested that the positive effects of collective efficacy on task performance were moderated by the levels of individual members’ self-efficacy, that is, when group members’ self-efficacy was high, task performance was lower. However, the debilitating effect disappears in the last task, where self-efficacy no longer undermines task performance when group members’ collective efficacy is high. Interestingly, heterogeneity of the group in terms of gender and ethnicity composition significantly predicted task performance of the group: groups comprising more boys and groups comprising members of different ethnic backgrounds had lower task performance. Findings are discussed in relation to their theoretical contributions and applied implications for classroom teaching and learning.     

Teachers’ Collective Efficacy,Job Satisfaction,and Job Stress in Cross-Cultural Context

This study examines how teachers’ collective efficacy (TCE), job stress, and the cultural dimension of collectivism are associated with job satisfaction for 500 teachers from Canada, Korea (South Korea or Republic of Korea), and the United States. Multigroup path analysis revealed that TCE predicted job satisfaction across settings. Job stress was negatively related to job satisfaction for North American teachers (i.e., teachers from Canada and the United States), whereas the cultural dimension of collectivism was significantly related to job satisfaction for the Korean, but not for North American teachers. For motivation theorists, the results from this study provide evidence that cultural context influences how motivation beliefs are understood and expressed in diverse settings. For educators, this study underlines the importance of collective motivation as a source of individual job satisfaction.     

Writing in Early Adolescence: A Review of the Role of Self-Efficacy Beliefs

This review examines and summarizes 16 research studies examining the writing self-efficacy beliefs of 6th- to 10th-grade students. In the majority of the studies, self-efficacy was found to play a primary role in predicting student writing performance. Students with learning disabilities were found to over-estimate their ability to complete specific writing tasks. Several studies found gender differences, with boys rating their confidence higher than girls, although actual performance did not differ. Grade-level differences in perceived efficacy for writing were found in some studies, but not in others. Most studies emphasized that those working with young adolescents need to be aware of the importance of self-efficacy and other motivational beliefs in conjunction with academic functioning. Difficulties with specificity of self-efficacy measures, and with correspondence between measure and criterial task were found in several studies. The article concludes with suggestions for future self-efficacy research.     

Provision of Counselling Services in Secondary Schools: A Survey of Local Education Authorities in England and Wales

This paper explores the current state of counselling as provided by local education authorities (LEAs) to secondary schools in England and Wales. A questionnaire was sent to all 172 LEAs in England and Wales. The data suggest that the counselling provision is highly variable and somewhat fragmented in scope. The data also indicate that the perception of the role of school counselling services by educational professionals varies considerably, and that there were a number of issues concerning integrated versus decentralized forms of provision. The study has a number of implications for the main stakeholders, including schools, LEAs, pupils and parents, concerning future developments in this increasingly important policy area. These relate to minimum qualifications for counsellors, confidentiality, accessibility to pupils and funding.     

Attitudes of Turkish parents, pediatric residents, and medical students toward child disciplinary practices

OBJECTIVE: The aims of the study were to: determine the attitudes of parents, pediatric residents, and medical students from a Turkish population toward childhood disciplinary methods; ascertain the association of participants' abusive childhood history with their attitudes toward discipline; and assess their attitudes about disciplinary actions, which should be reported as abuse. METHOD: A cross-sectional survey was conducted in Ankara University School of Medicine, Department of Social Pediatrics. Sixty-five parents, 39 pediatric residents, and 106 medical students completed a questionnaire (Survey of Standards of Discipline). This questionnaire was designed to measure sociodemographic characteristics, attitudes toward childhood disciplinary practices, and abusive childhood experiences. There were 43 different disciplinary acts in this questionnaire. The participants were expected to give responses to these acts in three categories: (a) acceptable as discipline; (b) unacceptable as discipline; and (c) unacceptable as discipline-would report to authorities as child abuse. Based on the responses to this questionnaire, we developed the Severity Scale. Using this scale, physical severity scores, verbal severity scores, and total severity scores were measured for each participant. RESULTS: None of the participants accepted life-threatening practices as discipline, but some declared certain abusive disciplinary practices as acceptable. Some forceful disciplinary methods were not considered as reportable by participants. All severity scores of both residents and students were found to be higher than those of the parents (for verbal severity scores p=.042). Also, both verbal and physical severity scores of parents with one child were higher than those of parents with two children (for verbal severity scores p=.044). Ninety-one participants (43.3%) indicated that beating was an acceptable form of discipline. Of parents, 66.9% reported abusive childhood history by their own criteria. Of medical students with an abusive childhood experience, 56.5% accepted beating as appropriate (p=.001). Both verbal and physical severity scores were found to be higher in participants with abusive childhood history. CONCLUSIONS: Abusive childhood history and lack of education regarding appropriate discipline techniques are linked to the acceptance of certain physical discipline practices. Turkey's cultural and traditional norms may be associated with the use of physical punishment, and in some cases, physical abuse. The lack of awareness of abusive discipline methods among physicians constitutes problems for child protection and must be addressed. Thus, educational programs on child disciplinary practices are required to provide an increased awareness of child abuse among health professional trainees and parents in Turkey.     

Exploring the validity of a teachers’ self-efficacy scale in five countries

The purpose of this article was twofold. The first purpose was to test the validity of the Teachers’ Sense of Self-Efficacy Scale (TSES) in five settings—Canada, Cyprus, Korea, Singapore, and the United States. The second purpose was, by extension, to establish the importance of the teacher self-efficacy construct across diverse teaching conditions. Multi-group confirmatory factor analysis was used to better understand the measurement invariance of the scale across countries, after which the relationship between the TSES, its three factors, and job satisfaction was explored. The TSES showed convincing evidence of reliability and measurement invariance across the five countries, and the relationship between the TSES and job satisfaction was similar across settings. The study provides general evidence that teachers’ self-efficacy is a valid construct across culturally diverse settings and specific evidence that teachers’ self-efficacy showed a similar relationship with teachers’ job satisfaction in five contrasting settings.