Counselor Education Courses in Program Evaluation and Scientific Research: Are Counselors Being Prepared for the Accountability Press?

Counselor education programs listed in Counselor Preparation 1980 were surveyed to determine the proportion of required coursework devoted to instruction in scientific research and program evaluation. Regardless of area specialization, department size, or academic unit in which the program is housed, responding counselor education programs were found to devote approximately twice as much required instructional time to scientific research as to program evaluation. A rationale and suggestions for change are presented.     

The Effect of Touch on Perception of Counselors

The authors examine observers' perceptions of counselors using touch as part of the client-counselor interaction. Results indicate that touch conveys a sense of caring but does not encourage understanding or client self-disclosure.     

Coordination of Clinical Supervision in Practicum and Internship Programs

The authors examine practicum/internship coordination, viewing it as a system. Important components of the system are identified, and their impact on the system is explored.     

Cyprus' Accession to the European Union and Educational Change: a critique

Cyprus will soon become a member of the European Union. The negotiations for its the access have ended and as from next year it will represent one of the countries that will expand the EU. The member countries of the EU have progressed in the field of education, they have high requirements from their schools and offer quality education (although there is no homogeneity amongst their educational systems). Therefore, the future accession of Cyprus to the EU raises many questions regarding the situation of its education system in comparison to the other Members. With a focus on change, this article studies the situation that prevails in Cyprus and examines the different barriers that hamper the development of its educational system. The authors then discuss a number of ways to achieve educational change.     

Using an External Quality Audit as a Lever for Institutional Change

Higher education in Australia is little different from university sectors around the developed world. It has experienced declining levels of public funding, increasing dependence on competitively sourced domestic and international income and increased consumer-style pressures from a growing fee-paying student body. The establishment of the Australian Universities Quality Agency (AUQA) in 2001 and the commencement of institutional quality audits in 2002 adds a new mechanism for public accountability. Five Australian universities of technology, members of the Australian Technology Network (ATN), are taking a collaborative approach to the development of institutional responses to the new quality agenda. A key theme of their collective response to this development is to focus on how the prospect of an external audit can provide a positive driver internally for improving institutional quality management.     

Moral Development and Empathy in Counseling

Of interest to counselor educators are variables associated with helper empathy. The authors investigated the relationship between empathy and moral development. Students enrolled in a facilitative skills development course completed a measure of moral development before making their first counseling audiotape. After approximately 12 weeks of skills training, they were subsequently rated for their demonstration of empathic understanding to client statements on an analog videotape and on a counseling audiotape made for their course evaluation. Empathy ratings of their responses to the analog videotape correlated .61 (p < .001) with moral development scores and .35 (p < .05) with supervisory empathy ratings of their final audiotape and moral development scores. Implications for counselor education are discussed.