Art and Design: Assessment and Public Examinations

This paper originally was prepared for presentation to an international audience - I make this point because readers familiar with formal assessment of art and design in the United Kingdom will feel that they are familiar with many of its key points. However the very familiarity of the various examination procedures sometimes may obscure the basic principles on which they have been developed and there may be value to be derived, from time to time, from reiterating some of these principles. So, when appropriate, I intend to illustrate points by referring to some recent art and design assessment developments and documentation in England and Wales. However I should stress that it is not my intention to argue that any of the British approaches necessarily should be seen as ideal models to be emulated by others: in practice, it is generally recognised that these approaches are far from perfect and all the assessment procedures to which I refer tend to be in an almost constant state of revision and development.     

Counselor Use of Multifactor Intelligence Tests,or: What Happened?

The initial purpose of this study was to determine how counselors used information yielded by multifactor intelligence tests. Data from questionnaires sent to secondary school counselors in two states, however, revealed enormous percentages of nonclassifiable responses regarding these tests. The proportion of nonclassifiable responses varied from 38 percent on questions concerning where different scores were recorded to 70 percent on questions concerning which IQ scores were most and least predictive of scholastic achievement. Consequently, the study concentrated on the reasons for the large number of unusable responses. The findings seemed to indicate a tendency on the part of counselor educators to downgrade the importance of accurate test interpretation.     

Educational Assessment: reply to Andrew Davis

Assessment is at the heart of teaching as it provides a necessary condition for judging success or failure. It is also necessary to ensure that providers of education are accountable to users and providers of resources. Inferential hazard is an inescapable part of any assessment procedure but cannot be an argument against assessment as such. Rich knowledge may be the aim of education but it does not follow that it is the aim of every stage of education. Teaching to tests is the most natural way of ensuring that teaching matches assessment. Failure to assess places public education in jeopardy.     

Cognitive Style in Counselor Education: A Comparison of Practicum Supervisors and Counselors in Training

The authors compared practicum supervisors and counseling students in training in terms of dominant cognitive style and related cognitive style of counselors in training to supervision process and outcome measures. A sample of 18 supervisors and 46 students completed the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. After at least six supervision sessions, supervisors rated the counseling students on the Counselor Evaluation Rating Scale and the students rated the quality of the supervision relationship using the Barrett-Lennard Relationship Inventory. Supervisors had a stronger Thinking orientation and less variability on the Sensing-Intuiting orientation than did counselors in training. In contrast to previous research, a strong relationship between the cognitive style of counselors in training and supervision process and outcome measures was not detected in this study.     

Elizabeth Anderson interviewed by John White

The distinguished US philosopher Elizabeth Anderson, who teaches at the University of Michigan, answers questions put to her by John White about educational aspects of her work in moral and political philosophy. She begins by describing her indebtedness to Dewey in his views on developing students’ capacities for intelligent enquiry and as citizens in a democracy. She elaborates on this in her emphasis on children learning fraternally together with others of diverse class, racial and ethnic backgrounds. She also discusses the control of education, looking at the role of the state and other political authorities in education, the charter school movement and home schooling. Well‐known for her views on democratic equality (as distinct from equality of fortune) and on an adequacy criterion of fairness, she shows how these ideas apply to education for a democratic society. This takes her into critical discussions of equality of educational opportunity, education as a positional good, and the rich variety of educational aims fitting a democracy of equals. Anderson has also written about the errors of theistic religion as well as two award‐winning recent books on the imperative of social integration and on the authoritarian powers of employers. Developing these thoughts in an educational direction, she writes here about religious and moral education, problems with assimilationist and multicultural approaches to schooling, and preparation for work as an educational aim.     

Deciding for Others

In this paper, I offer Brighouse et al some friendly suggestions for expanding the notion of ‘educational goods’, pose some challenges for their book's decision-making framework and offer an opportunity for them to fill some small, but interesting lacunas. I start by comparing their typology of desirable educational outcomes with alternative classificatory schemes. I then suggest that certain processes and relationships might constitute ‘educational goods’. Building on the discussion of outcome-typologies, I ask Brighouse et al to indicate how knowledge contributes to flourishing and to comment on whether false belief might sometimes constitute an educational good. I then ask for a response to the view that their decision-making framework may seem objectionable to some by endorsing a particular conception of the good life. I pose four questions regarding for whom educational goods are good, the objectivity of the decision-making procedure, and possible lacunas regarding the issues of decision maker legitimacy and resolving disagreement. The paper concludes with an account of my own pedagogical uses of the book's most helpful framework.     

European Languages and Culture in Hong Kong: trade or education?

Hong Kong Government policy is to promote Hong Kong as an international education hub for the region. This may be more rhetoric than reality. The article surveys the historical background of Hong Kong in terms of its role as a trading centre, a gateway to China and a meeting place for East and West for which interchange with European languages and cultures has been important. The development of education policy within Hong Kong as far as the European dimension is involved is also reviewed. In addition, the development of global trade in educational services is touched upon which thus far has been heavily Anglo-centric. In terms of Hong Kong itself, an analysis is presented of overseas educational programmes available in Hong Kong from Europe. The extent of European languages and studies provided in the school, university and lifelong learning sectors is surveyed. The work of European consulates in promoting languages and culture through such organisations as the Alliance Française, Goethe Instituta, etc. is another important part of provision. The article makes passing reference to the neighbouring territory of Macau and the importance there of Portuguese.
The article concludes that for European studies and languages, the role of Hong Kong as a trading and financial hub has been a more significant stimulant than the Hong Kong government's policy for Hong Kong to be an international education hub.