Models of Competence and Teacher Training

The use of competence as a basis for the education and training of teachers has become commonplace. Department for Education (DfE) circulars 9/92 (DfE, June 1992) and 14/93 (DfE, November 1993) have indicated the way forward for competence‐based teacher training. This paper suggests that it is possible to identify three models of competence which seem to dominate research. The first is broadly behaviourist in its approach and depends largely upon the inculcation of domain‐specific behaviours. The second can be termed a process model, which attempts to map out the process of competent action in terms of flexibility. The third may be described as a cognitive model, since it attributes such importance to knowledge and understanding in underpinning competent action. Each of these models is examined in relation to certain key variables: their interpretation of knowledge and understanding, methods of assessment, and forms of training. A final section draws attention to important factors which operate in competent performance and which must be realised in any competency approach to the training and education of teachers.     

A cross-cultural study of values of Germans and Americans

The Rokeach Value Survey was used as the instrument to study the values of German and American university students. The Survey was translated into German by the hack-translation method. It was administered to 199 students in Germany in May, 1982 and to 231 students in the United States in the fall. 1982. The results show the differences as well as the similarities between the two groups in their value orientations. The distinct differences between the two groups are: (1) the Germans are more competence oriented in the means they desire to attain their end-states of existence; however, their end-states of existence are society-oriented and interpersonal. (2) The Americans are morality oriented in the modes of conduct they desire to attain their end-states of existence: their end-slates of existence are more personal or self-centered and intrapersonal than those of the Germans. Thus, the means to the end, as well as the end, differ for both groups.     

Processes of Early Childhood Interventions to Adult Well‐Being

This article describes the contributions of cognitive–scholastic advantage, family support behavior, and school quality and support as processes through which early childhood interventions promote well‐being. Evidence in support of these processes is from longitudinal cohort studies of the Child–Parent Centers and other preventive interventions beginning by age 4. Relatively large effects of participation have been documented for school readiness skills at age 5, parent involvement, K‐12 achievement, remedial education, educational attainment, and crime prevention. The three processes account for up to half of the program impacts on well‐being. They also help to explain the positive economic returns of many effective programs. The generalizability of these processes is supported by a sizable knowledge base, including a scale up of the Child–Parent Centers.