Perceived Expectations Related to Promotion and Tenure: A National Survey of CACREP Program Liaisons

The purpose of the present study was to determine the perceptions of expectations and practices that contribute to decisions regarding promotion and tenure for counselor educators. Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs liaisons for 74 counselor education programs responded to an Internet‐based survey about perceptions of promotion and tenure practices in their programs and institutions. The responses indicate that relatively equal emphasis is placed on teaching, scholarship, and service. Implications for defining promotion and tenure criteria are discussed, and recommendations for further research are provided.     

The impact of a thinking skills intervention on children's concepts of intelligence

The study reported was part of a large thinking skills intervention for 11–12-year-old children. This paper focuses on the impact of a thinking skills intervention on children's understandings of intelligence. A total of 178 children (n = 86 girls and n = 92 boys) across six schools participated in the study. Children were individually pre-tested in the classroom using written tasks designed to tap concepts of intelligence (definitions, characteristics, causes of intelligence, and the stability of intelligence: entity versus incremental concepts) and a variety of thinking skills. Schools were allocated into one of three intervention conditions: control condition; individual condition; collaborative learning condition. Children in the individual and collaborative learning conditions participated in an 8-week thinking skills intervention. Children in the individual condition worked individually on tasks to apply the thinking skills whereas learners in the collaborative condition applied the thinking skills on tasks in groups of four. Following the thinking skills intervention all children were individually post-tested using the pre-test measures. The results showed that the intervention had an impact on children's understanding of intelligence. In particular, the collaborative learning intervention led to most improvement in concepts of intelligence. The results are discussed with reference to theories of intelligence concepts and thinking skills interventions.     

Developing the capacity of teacher‐librarians to meet the diverse needs of all schoolchildren: Project ENABLE

US school libraries are required to ensure that schoolchildren and school staff with disabilities have equal opportunity to use and benefit from library facilities and information services under federal law. However, evidence indicates teacher‐librarians (TLs) often lack the training, knowledge and skills to provide programmes and services that meet the needs of students with disabilities. Project ENABLE (Expanding Nondiscriminatory Access by Librarians Everywhere) was created to respond to this shortfall by designing, implementing and evaluating a professional development programme in New York State. The project applies a social model of disability to help 100 TLs, special educators and general educators further develop their skills and resources by teaming together to create an inclusive environment for all students. This is achieved through the use of universal design principles, appropriate assistive and other technologies, an emphasis on person‐first language and sensitivity simulations, a focus on inclusive lesson planning, and by developing collaboration capacity among participant teams. Curriculum development, data collection and analyses are presented. The effect of the Project ENABLE trainings was significant in terms of higher levels of skill and knowledge reported by participants for creating accessible library programmes, advancing inclusive education and building effective collaborations. Drawing from their workshop learning and resources, participant teams developed action plans to implement during the 2011–2012 school year. This project underscores the importance of TLs in the education of all students, including those with disabilities. Higher education and local professional development programmes must place greater emphasis on preparing TLs to perform this role effectively and confidently.     

Electronic journal provision in a health-care library: insights from a consultation with NHS workers

Objective: This study determines the current awareness journal reading requirements of the users of Stockport National Health Service (NHS) Trust's library. The overlap between requirements and the provision of the NHS Core Content resources, four major electronic journal bundles, and the holdings of North West health libraries is also investigated. Methods: A survey of both hospital and Primary Care Trust staff was conducted, and respondents were required to provide a list of their favourite journal titles. Each requested title was assigned a subject code, and the impact factor was noted. Results: From 135 survey responses, 217 journal titles were identified and 33 category codes were utilized. There was little overlap between the request list and the NHS Core Content titles, but substantial correspondence existed between the request list and the print holdings of North West health libraries. Conclusions: Current awareness journal reading requirements will not be met by the Core Content provision alone. Bundles of titles offer value‐for‐money solutions, but may be at the expense of popular titles. Furthermore, the success of regional document supply schemes may be compromised if large numbers of health‐care libraries replace print holdings with similar electronic journal bundles.     

Plain language summaries: Enabling increased diversity,equity, inclusion and accessibility in scholarly publishing

• Plain language summaries (PLS) are accessible, short, peer-reviewed summaries of scholarly journal articles written in non-technical language.
• The aim of PLS is to enable a broader audience of experts and non-experts to understand the original article.
• Here, we outline the evidence base for the value and impact of PLS and how they can enable diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility in scholarly publishing.
• PLS can diversify readership and authorship, address information inequity, include typically under-represented stakeholders and provide an accessible route into scholarly literature.

     

Home-schooling in the Republic of Ireland

Internationally, there continues to be a rise in the popularity of home-schooling. Although the growth in the numbers of families choosing this alternative approach was evident prior to the Covid-19 Pandemic school closures, it appears to have impacted on the decision for some to home-school permanently. Using a scoping review of the literature, this paper considers the research evidence around home-schooling in the United Kingdom and Europe. It then focuses on home-schooling in the Republic of Ireland to assess the change and development of home-schooling over time. In line with trends internationally, Irish administrative data show an increase in the numbers of families engaging in home-schooling in recent years, particularly for students with disabilities. The paper situates these findings within the context of ongoing debates on inclusive and special education in Ireland and the capacity of mainstream schools to educate and include every student.