Young Girls' Notions of 'Femininity'

This paper focuses on discourses which surround the notion of femininity and how these emerge in the play of girls within the nursery classroom. Two stories told through the play of three 4 year-old girls are used in locating the girls' emergent understanding of what it is to be a woman. I then consider the implications of these stories with reference to my teaching. I enquire whether it is possible within the context of the classroom to reconcile different discourses which surround notions of femininity and if there is a means to generate alternative discursive practices.     

Lifelong Learning in the European Union: whither the Lisbon Strategy?

This article traces the Lisbon strategy back to the White Paper issued by President Jacques Delors in 1993 on Growth, Competitiveness, and Jobs as the launching point for the structural reform agenda needed to turn around the massive unemployment crisis and proposing a combination of policies for the structural reform of the labour market and stability‐oriented macroeconomic policies designed to stimulate economic growth. The centrality of education and training in the Lisbon strategy is seen as key to the lifelong chances of every citizen linked to the need for Europe to compete on the basis of a knowledge‐based economy if it is to maintain its high social standards. Describing the first years of the Lisbon strategy as ‘a stuttering start’, the mid‐term stock‐taking which offered European leaders the opportunity to fine‐tune or radically modify the strategy is analysed. The article highlights the paradox that, although human capital is claimed to be Europe's most precious resource, there is inadequate focus on the weakest aspects of current systems. It also focuses on policy and financial levers which need to be mobilised within Member States as well as the implications for national budgets. It suggests the prioritisation of a small number of areas on which to concentrate efforts and echoes the Council calling for a ‘quantum leap’ in the ambition of the EU to ensure that the necessary follow‐up is given to meet the challenges. Finally, a strong argument is put forward to take steps to move towards a unified set of proposals for lifelong learning.     

A National Survey of the Program and Enrollment Characteristics of Counselor Education Programs

ACES sponsored a national survey of state supervisors of guidance and counselor education institutions and of nontraditional institutions offering graduate degrees in guidance and counseling in order to secure information regarding (a) the licensure of guidance counselors, (b) the use of a competency-based approach to the certification of counselors, (c) the manpower needs for persons in guidance and personnel work, and (d) the program characteristics of counselor education institutions. Only a relatively small number of states anticipate becoming involved in the licensure of conselors in the foreseeable future; 53.6 percent of the states expect their certification of counselors to be competency-based within 2 to 5 years, and 76.1 percent of counselor education institutions have decided to make their programs competency-based but progress is slow. There is an oversupply of BA-level guidance persons, school counselors, and doctoral-level persons seeking faculty positions; there is a strong preference for ethnic minorities and women to fill counselor education positions; and abnormally high faculty/graduate ratios were reported for many institutions.