Teacher Identity in an Era of Educational Reform: The case of Trinidad and Tobago

The pace of educational reform has been increasing significantly at the global level and teachers have significant roles to play in such reform movements. This paper compares the beginning teacher identity of primary teacher trainees in Trinidad and Tobago with the concept of the teacher that seems to underpin present reform initiatives. Beginning teacher identity, explored through the use of a questionnaire and interviews, is portrayed as images and metaphors. It seems to encapsulate the missionary ideology of teaching and the notion of child-centred pedagogy, with the classroom as the centre of interaction between pupil and teacher. The reforms, on the other hand, look to teachers to support, as well, the decentralisation effort that calls for collaboration with the community, and the promotion of continuous assessment practices that calls for collaboration across grade levels in the school. Both the community focus and the school focus are likely to pose problems for beginning teachers who maintain a classroom focus. The paper highlights the need for reform efforts to take into account the gaps between existing teacher identity images and those envisioned for the reformed system.     

Traditions and Tensions in Leadership: the Ghanaian experience

This paper will explore some of the tensions that arise for Ghanaian headteachers in trying to resolve traditional and tribal expectations with ‘Western’ conceptions of leadership roles and competencies. These are particularly acute in rural communities where expectations of school leaders often reflect, and are constrained by, ascribed status in the tribe or village. Gender issues illustrate these tensions as successive governments initiate strategies to ensure that gender equality concerns are integrated into all their policies and programmes. The starting point for this paper—the process of research itself—sets the scene for an exploration of a complex multi-faceted leadership culture.     

The Last Ten Years of English Poetry

Mr. Mac Beth, the poet and BBC producer, spoke informally to members of the poetry commission, and read a number of poems. The following account has been reconstructed from notes and a recording of that session.     

A Response to the Emperor's New Clothes

In reply to Alschuler's commentary on their original article, the authors argue that portfolios are reliable, valid means for assessing students' progress and for program evaluation.     

Engineering Education Today: The Need for Basics or Specialization

The Engineering profession is as old as mankind itself. It evolved from the work of the mason, the blacksmith and the millwright; but the modem profession was shaped mainly during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The profession itself and the professional bodies played vital roles in the development of the education and training of new engineers. They set standards for competence to practise, which the educational establishments followed by necessity. In a rapidly changing world and a swiftly evolving technology, ideal educational curricula are difficult to establish. Nevertheless, most educators support the thesis that the emphasis of the curriculum should be on the basic and engineering sciences and on humanities, in order to create open-minded engineers, capable of adapting to the new challenges of technology. Training in specialized topics should be left to industry (on-the-job training) and advanced courses. But some professionals do not agree with this, advancing the theory that the new engineer should be able to cope with current industrial problems. The current trends in engineering education appear to be; a broad educational approach in science and technology as well as in the humanities, together with an emphasis on computer applications in every engineering discipline, both for education and for design. More consideration should also be given to engineering design and applications throughout the whole curriculum. In those countries with well-developed technological infrastructures, it is better to keep the basic engineering degree (BSc) to 4 years and enhance the advanced level and specialization degrees (MSc, PhD, etc) to promote the technology appropriate to the country. In less developed countries with limited employment markets and without developed technology, over-specialization may lead to unemployment and an unjustified waste of money. Participation of the students in design and/or research projects should always be encouraged, A comparison between the European and the North American engineering educational systems shows that in Europe undergraduate education is stressed more, whereas in North America advanced courses are better developed. Some comments on the Greek engineering education system are also made.     

Physical Dimensions of Counseling: Perspective for the Helping Professions

Fifteen graduate students in the helping professions registered in a course that teaches helpers to use physical fitness as a counseling medium. The enrolled graduate students were matched with controls in four relevant areas, and both groups were pretested on 7 physiological and 11 psychological variables. The experimental students were given a 10-week treatment of physical fitness training, counseling in health habits, a life-style of well-being, and instruction in how to deliver these kinds of treatments to clients. For eight weeks the students used the skills in working with real clients. The experimental and control groups were posttested on the same variables; and multivariate and univariate analyses revealed significantly positive changes made by the experimental group. This article reports implications for graduate programs in the helping professions.