Leadership for effective teacher training transfer in Kuwaiti secondary schools

This article reports on the findings of a study undertaken to examine the links between leadership practices of a transformational nature and the transfer of teacher training in the public high schools in Kuwait. The participants in the study were teachers who had undergone mandated professional development (PD) aimed at improving teaching practice in English language classes in these schools. The purpose of the study was to examine these teachers’ perceptions of the leadership behaviors of their Heads of Department that increased their motivation and supported their efforts to transfer their learning from PD sessions to their classrooms, and the extent to which practices identified as successful related to transformational leadership characteristics.     

Building learning communities: foundations for good practice

The School of Health Sciences at the University of Birmingham provided opportunities for the development of student learning communities and online resources within the neurological module of the BSc Physiotherapy degree programme. These learning communities were designed to facilitate peer and independent learning in core aspects underpinning clinical practice, thus laying the foundation for the development of effective clinical reasoning. This paper examines some of the problems that staff encountered, including the lessons that they learnt through the design, development, and implementation processes of the module, and the subsequent modifications that were made. Student experiences of this course are also included, as they provided staff with further insights into the ways in which these problems impacted upon their preparation for clinical practice and how the module might be improved for future cohorts. From an analysis of the problems that staff encountered and then sought to resolve, and of student experiences of the course, this paper identifies foundations for good practice in the development and delivery of innovative learning and teaching methods.     

Children's Attitudes and Behavioural Intentions Towards Peers with Disabilities

This study used the theory of reasoned action to investigate determinants of primary school children's attitudes and behavioural intentions towards peers with physical disabilities. The influence of children's own attitudes toward working with peers with physical disabilities in regular classes and subjective norms provided by their teachers, principals, and parents were used to predict behavioural intentions to befriend and interact with classmates with physical disabilities. The participants were 143 fourth and fifth grade primary school students, their mothers, teachers, and school principals. The students completed an attitude questionnaire and a behavioural intention scale. Their parents, teachers, and principals completed a similar disability attitude questionnaire. The results supported the predictions made by the theory of reasoned action. Children's own attitudes towards the inclusion of peers with disabilities was the strongest predictor of behavioural intentions to interact with a classmate with a physical disability. The attitudes of teachers, principals, and parents were also significant predictors of intentions. However, only the attitudes of parents and school principals accounted for any more variance than children's attitudes alone. The implications of these findings are discussed in terms of developing whole class interventions to promote the social integration of children with physical disabilities.     

The role of the school climate in high school students’ mental health and identity formation: A South Australian study

The well‐documented increase in student mental health issues in Australia and growing recognition of the need for education to play a part in students’ identity formation prompted this study. The research reported in this article sought to identify specific elements of the school climate that were likely to influence the interplay of adolescent health and development and students’ identity formation. The aim was two‐fold. First, the study examined the relationships between students’ perceptions of the school climate and self‐reports of wellbeing, resilience and moral identity; and, second, the interrelationships between the three outcome variables were explored. Two surveys, one to assess students’ perceptions of features of the school climate, and another to assess students’ wellbeing, resilience and moral identity, were administered to 618 Year 11 students from 15 independent schools in South Australia. Structural equation modelling was used to investigate hypothesised relationships between students’ perceptions of their school climate and self‐reports of wellbeing, resilience and moral identity. Our results indicated statistically significant and positive relationships between school‐climate factors and each of the three outcome variables. Further, indirect relationships (mediated largely by resilience) were found between school‐climate factors and students’ wellbeing. Our findings could be used to guide schools in building tangible, purposeful environments that engender well‐balanced, positive, resilient citizens with strong moral identities.     

Critics and performers as storytellers

Thinking based on narrative concepts provides a useful perspective from which to perceive and enhance the process of performance criticism. In narrative terms, the critic and performer each tell stories from their own angles of vision. The critic's and performer's stories are influenced by information that is both private and public and achieve credibility based upon their narrative probability and fidelity.     

Exploring the Association Between Integrated Therapy and Inclusive Education

Sue Mackey (Lecturer and Course Co-ordinator, Child Health Therapy Programme) and Jill McQueen (Lecturer and Research Fellow, Rehabilitation Research Unit) at the University of Southampton, consider the terms 'integrated therapy' and 'inclusive education' (as indicators of emerging philosophies in education and therapy), explore the links between them, and assess the extent of their success in practice.     

Discourses and Identities in a Multi-lingual Primary Classroom

This paper argues that, whether it is officially accepted in education policy and school curricula or not, where bilingual children are present in classrooms, so are their languages, and those languages are put to use in their learning. The increasingly sophisticated technologies of sound and visual recording have opened up new possibilities in revealing the sub rosa world of pupil interaction, and the part that languages play in the construction of pupil identities in the classroom. A detailed study of children at work in one inner city primary classroom illustrates the way in which pupil identities are jointly constructed through interaction. Children are not passive pawns in the socialisation processes of the school, but active participants, taking up different positions within the alternatives open to them through both pedagogic and peer discursive practices.     

Pedagogies on the edge: researching complex practice in youth and adult community education

This research arose from our involvements in adults and community education, adult literacy, youth issues, and in researching the new movement in Australia for the inclusion of ‘generic skills’ in education and training curriculum. We recruited twenty-two practitioners in Adult and Community Education (ACE) in a participatory action research approach to assist us in exploring how ‘generic skills and attributes’ are fostered in the context of adult and community education and to theorise pedagogies of ACE in the light of the changed demographic of those who access ACE programs (especially disaffected young people and older unemployed men). A ‘Framework for ACE Pedagogy’ was one outcome of the research. In this paper we describe the five ‘elements’ which we found to constitute ‘The Teacher’ in ACE. The elements include: personal engagement with learners; self-reflection on one's teaching and one's own learning journey; improvisation and risk-taking; awareness of relations of power; and having patience and trust in the learning process.     

Paint-by-Number Teachers and Cookie-Cutter Students: The Unintended Effects of High-Stakes Testing on the Education of Gifted Students

This study examined the utility of the Gifted Composite (GC) formula derived from selected subtests on the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scales, Fifth Edition (SB5) for evaluating intellectual giftedness. A sample of 52 children were administered both the SB5 and Woodcock-Johnson Tests of Achievement, Third Edition (WJ-III ACH). The ability of the Full-Scale IQ (FSIQ) and the GC to predict reading and math achievement were compared. Though both the FSIQ and GC significantly predicted standardized achievement test scores, the FSIQ explained more of the variance. Sequential regression analyses suggested that the SB5 factor scores preformed differently in their contribution of unique variance to the predictions. The inclusion of working memory scores in the calculation of the FSIQ appears to account for the difference in predictions between the FSIQ and GC for reading but not math skills.     

Teaching Gerontology in Counselor Education

ABSTRACT

Mental health needs of older persons are projected to grow significantly over the course of the next years. Consequently, the need for training counselors to work with the aging population is presented. Addressed are 4 curriculum models, as well as areas of training related to geriatric counseling, that can be incorporated into counselor training programs. Finally, specific suggestions and procedures for counseling the elderly are included.