Educational Discourse: meaning and mythology

ABSTRACT Behaviourism and instrumentalism continue to exert an important influence in education. Its discourse is infected with scientism, especially in the language of curriculum design and methodology. Theory and practice are peculiarly impervious to criticism from philosophy of education: however pertinent and accurate this may be, it seems to fail to reach the heart of the problem. This paper looks for a different approach. An apparent digression (into another form of educational discourse) is used to provide an alternative focus for criticism. This exposes problems in conventional analyses and presents a new basis for questioning the health of educational discourse.     

Perceived Problems and Sources of Help For American Indian Students

One hundred-Fifty American Indian and fifty non-Indian 11th- and 12th-grade students were surveyed to assess self-reported problem areas and persons perceived as potential sources of help. Problems indicated by Indian students in metropolitan, rural, and boarding schools are noted, as well as those of non-Indian students. Problems likely to be discussed with counselors or with significant others are identified and different patterns of persons nominated as providing help are described. Although we caution against over-generalization, the findings are intended to increase the understanding of those concerned with training counselors to work with Indian youth.     

Scenarios for the Future of Teacher Education in Europe

In this paper four scenarios are presented which illustrate possible futures of teacher education in Europe. These scenarios are the result of a project of Research and Development Centre 19 of the Association for Teacher Education in Europe. 1 The four scenarios differ from each other in their emphasis on four driving forces: pragmatism, idealism, individualism and social coherence. Each scenario is described in terms of characteristics of society, education and teacher education, roles of teachers and teacher educators, and is illustrated in a short scene.     

Interactive Multimedia for Engineering Education

Our main educational objective is to support the new, multi-faceted, dynamically changing learning experiences that real life imposes on us and on our students. We have to recognize that traditional, mass produced, highly controlled static and rigid educational methods cannot cope with the increased amount of information, knowledge and inferencing requirements of this rapidly changing world. The life cycle of critical design and manufacturing technologies is contracting. Concepts such as time-to-market, total quality management, local design, global manufacture, concurrent or simultaneous engineering, parallel design and manufacturing, intelligent design and intelligent manufacturing systems are widely accepted. These new technologies require multi-skilled and well-educated engineers and managers as well as flexible and feedback-controlled manufacturing technologies, such as cellular manufacture, computer-integrated manufacturing, concurrent engineering and flexible manufacturing system. It is important to recognize that we are living in an era when the customers, not the designers or salesmen, are the kings. Customers require increasingly better products at a lower cost. In other words, products require continuous improvement and change, therefore flexible design and manufacture and the appropriate level of automation must be provided throughout the life cycle of product development. In the education business the customers are the learners, i.e. students entering access courses, college and university courses, mature students who are prepared to study in the evenings at home, at the university, or in open learning centres. Furthermore, there are a large number of continuing education students and other professionals seeking new focused knowledge in this rapidly changing and extremely competitive world.     

A Multidimensional Analysis of the Mental Health of Graduate Counselors in Training

The mental health of graduate counselor trainees was examined. Trainees demonstrated more psychopathy than did the normal population on 6 of the 10 scales used.     

Salient Effects of Practice Poster Sessions on Counselor Development: Implications for Research Training and Professional Identification

This study examined the effects of a 2-step practice poster session on first-year doctoral students' self-efficacy beliefs about making professional presentations, and evaluated the usefulness of an active-learning teaching assignment. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected from participants after each of 2 practice poster sessions. The results (a) suggest that the relatively brief training exercise significantly increased participants' self-efficacy to give scholarly presentations, and (b) replicate earlier reports about the usefulness of the learning assignment.