Postmodernism and the Education of the Whole Person

In some recent discussions the implications of postmodernism for education have been wrongly conceived. An alternative approach is offered and this is used as a means for challenging any grand design in the provision of schooling and in the conception of education. Through this, ideas of the whole person implicit in much educational theory and practice (including personal and social education) are questioned. With some reference to the work of Stanley Cavell an attempt is made to show the sort of thinking which might inform education, avoiding both the relativistic and complacent excesses of postmodernism and the explicit systematic planning of the grand design.     

The Relationship between Supervisory Behaviors and Perceived Supervisor Expertness,Attractiveness, or Trustworthiness

This study examined relationships between (a) various supervisor behaviors and (b) trainee perceptions of supervisor expertness, attractiveness, and trustworthiness. Results are presented and future research discussed.     

Effects of Supervisor Style on the Learning of Empathy in a Supervision Analogue

Effects of supervisor style (techniques-oriented, counseling-oriented, and placebo-oriented) and the presupervision conditions of audio modeling versus no modeling were examined in a supervision analogue. Six groups of 18 trainees heard three sets of recorded client statements and responded as counselors. Supervised groups had two 15-minute conferences with supervisors between sets 1 and 2 and between sets 2 and 3. Control groups received no supervision. Among supervised groups only those trainees receiving the techniques-oriented supervision showed significant improvement in rated level of empathy. Significant learning effects from the presupervision use of audio modeling were also found.     

The Duty to Warn: A Potential Issue of Litigation for the Counseling Supervisor

At a time when the courts are increasingly called on to settle disputes, the mental health profession finds itself vulnerable to litigation under legal doctrines that were previously limited to the medical establishment. The possibility of being sued by a client is not limited to individual practitioners. Counseling supervisors and administrators in counseling centers are likely to be named co-defendents. This likelihood is reinforced by recent decisions that have held counselors, supervisors, counseling centers, and sponsoring institutions responsible for the public threat posed by clients. This article describes elementary principles of law involving supervisors and counselors and explores the ramifications of these doctrines in reference to “the duty to warn.” Suggestions for avoiding litigation are also offered.     

How to Improve your Impact Factor: Questioning the Quantification of Academic Quality

A broad‐scale quantification of the measure of quality for scholarship is under way. This trend has fundamental implications for the future of academic publishing and employment. In this essay we want to raise questions about these burgeoning practices, particularly how they affect philosophy of education and similar sub‐disciplines. First, details are given of how an ‘impact factor’ is calculated. The various meanings that can be attached to it are scrutinised. Second, we examine how impact factors are used to make various ‘high stakes’ academic decisions, such as hiring and promotion, funding of research projects and how much money is to be awarded to a particular area. By focusing on a particular practice, problems with the application of the metric generally are outlined. Finally, we offer some general observations about the unintended consequences and other problems arising from the widespread use of this metric, including attempts to ‘game the system’. We argue that the use of impact factors increasingly shapes the kind of topics and issues scholars write on, their choices of methodology, and their choice of publication venues for their work. Technical measures and mechanisms tend to ‘colonise’ the qualitative and professional judgments that must also be part of the process of evaluation, and for which bibliometrics alone cannot offer a substitute.