Visions and missions: Are they useful? A quick assessment

Where is an organization heading and why is it going there are vital questions and yet they are largely ignored or assumed. When they are considered, rarely does the process recognize the answers to these questions as forms of objectives. We explore the “ideal vision” that all organizations should share and the process for constructing and aligning the organizational mission to meaningfully guide performance and measurably add value to our shared society in concert with advancement of organizational self‐interest. We conclude with an eight‐point inspection for useful visions and missions.     

The effects of the recession on workers' moral,ethical, and interpersonal behavior

This article presents study findings from 50 members of the Los Angeles workforce, who were also college students. The study attempted to discover the perceptions of these workforce members about the effects of the recent economic downturn on their work environment. Some interesting findings emerged from this study. Explanations are offered, and the authors encourage readers to conduct their own simple survey to discover the impact of the recession or other changes on their workplaces.     

Children's Individual Experiences in Early Care and Education: Relations With Overall Classroom Quality and Children's School Readiness

This study examined relations among children's individual experiences, global classroom quality, and school readiness. Preschool children from low-income backgrounds (N = 138; M = 62.16 months; SD = 3.93; range = 55?70) were observed in their early care and education settings, and their language and cognitive skills were assessed. Research Findings: Individual children in classrooms with small group sizes had higher quality individual experiences even though global classroom quality was not necessarily better. Higher levels of global classroom quality did not ensure that every child in the classroom was engaged fully in available interactions and activities. Children with disabilities were generally enrolled in classrooms with higher global quality and had higher quality individual experiences than those without disabilities; however, children without disabilities enrolled in these inclusive classrooms did not necessarily have a higher level of individual experiences than those in non-inclusive classrooms. Children's individual experiences and the global quality of their classrooms were associated with their social skills. Only the quality of children's individual experiences was found to be related to the quality of their relationships with teachers. Practice or Policy: Ratings of children's individual experiences provide information beyond that provided by global ratings of classroom quality and have potential for informing efforts to individualize educational programs.     

Consultation for Gifted Hispanic Students: 21st-Century Public School Practice

The authors offer a consultation approach that grew from a review of literature on the differential participation rates of various U.S. demographic groups in programs for gifted and talented children and from two small evaluation studies of consultation efforts to increase the number of Latino English language learners in gifted and talented education (GATE) programs. The authors suggest the efficacy of combining consultation models (i.e., administrative, case, and conjoint behavioral consultation) to achieve greater equity in the identification of Latinos for GATE programs. The apparent link between family factors, especially socioeconomic status, and participation in GATE suggests the efficacy of using findings from consultation research to implement programs in public schools that support the exceptional success of diverse young people.     

The Effects of Training and Performance Feedback During Behavioral Consultation on General Education Middle School Teachers' Integrity to Functional Analysis Procedures

Gickling's model of curriculum-based assessment (CBA) has been linked to problem identification and intervention development and is used in several school consultation approaches. This article uses Ellis's (2001) three levels of research criteria to examine the use of CBA in a school consultation model. Aside from the need for more psychometric data, available research has consistently supported the theoretical soundness and demonstrated the effectiveness of CBA. However, there is evidence that CBA lacks widespread and consistent implementation. Areas for future research and implications for practice are included.     

Relationships and early career teacher resilience: a role for school principals

Given the current climate of high levels of teacher attrition, it is critically important that we understand what keeps early career teachers in the profession. This paper reports early findings from a project addressing the question: ‘What conditions are conducive to promoting teacher resilience and retention in the first two years of teaching?’ The research aims to identify the internal strengths and external strategies that promote resilience in early career teachers. School leaders and first year teachers from 59 schools across two states in Australia contributed to in-depth, open-ended interviews in which they talked about the experiences of beginning teaching. From this data, narrative portraits were developed and emerging themes documented and analysed. A strong emerging theme is how relationships with principals influence teachers’ feelings of personal and professional well-being, with both negative and positive effects reported. This paper uses portraits of two early career teachers to examine this theme. The findings provide important insights for principals who wish to foster resilience in early career teachers.     

‘I actually listened,I'm proud of myself.’ The effects of a participatory pedagogy on students' constructions of academic identities

Academic literacy practices can be alienating for new undergraduates, yet academic success depends on writing in ways that the academy deems acceptable and is related to the identity positions available to students. I describe an intervention in which aspects of academic practice were made visible and students participated collaboratively in academic writing in a first-year, first-semester, Education Studies module. Student-managed audio recordings show that, in contrast to much research evidence, students did not reject academic identities but rather used their talk to ‘tell themselves’ as academic. I discuss methodological and pedagogical implications arising from the findings and conclude that collaborative participation in academic practice and the associated talk require students to position themselves as participants in that practice and may be a way to reduce alienation and enable students to construct the self as ‘academic’.     

Staff development in a climate of economic rationalism: A profile of the academic staff developer

Abstract

This paper emerged from the findings of a study investigating the efficacy of a staff development programme, called TRAC (Teaching, Reflection and Collaboration), offered through Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia. Participants in this study indicated an express need for academic staff developers to foster a range of skills when seeking to implement exemplary staff development programmes. One of the most crucial skills stipulated by participants was the ability for staff developers to offer development opportunities which effectively cater to the current hectic, competitive and outcome‐driven climate academics face. Other skills considered by participants to be pivotal for the development and implementation of exemplary staff development programmes included well‐developed human relation and interpersonal skills, facilitative skills and skills in co‐ordinating and networking.

This paper begins by ‘setting the scene’, briefly outlining the TRAC programme and the author's research experience of this programme. Subsequently, it discusses the skills required of the developer instigating such a programme. In doing this, it aims to encourage developers to reflect on the efficacy of their own skills with a view to making appropriate changes. Thus, in attempting to trigger change in developers’ practice, this paper represents a vehicle for ‘development of the developers.’     

Understanding leading as travelling practices

In this paper, we propose the concept of leading as travelling practices in order to understand how enhanced pedagogical practices ‘catch on’ in educational sites. Drawing on parallel case studies in Australia, Sweden and Norway, we analyse how leading practices moved within and between settings, transforming the discursive, material and social conditions for teaching and learning. We examine the composition and ecological connections of these leading practices with professional learning and pedagogical practices in schools and pre-schools. We conclude that practice-informed lens can shed new light on the spread of practices, which foster the conditions necessary for transformed pedagogy.     

Perceived social support and domain-specific adjustment of children with emotional and behavioural difficulties

The perceived availability of social support has been documented as a protective mechanism among adults and adolescents. However, little research has explored the role of social support among children with emotional and behavioural difficulties (E/BD). The current study sought to investigate the effects of perceived social support from family, friends and teachers on domain-specific adjustment for children with E/BD. Fifty-four teacher-nominated children for E/BD completed questionnaires on perceived social support and behavioural, emotional and social functioning. Results suggest a pattern of intercorrelations between indices of child-rated social support and behavioural, emotional and social indicators of adjustment. Specifically, domain-specific social support was found to predict domain-specific adjustment outcomes for children with E/BD, once demographic variables were held constant. Interventions that are child-centred and domain-specific are suggested.