ISPCAN Child Abuse Screening Tool Children's Version (ICAST-C): Instrument development and multi-national pilot testing

ObjectiveTo develop a child victimization survey among a diverse group of child protection experts and examine the performance of the instrument through a set of international pilot studies.MethodsThe initial draft of the instrument was developed after input from scientists and practitioners representing 40 countries. Volunteers from the larger group of scientists participating in the Delphi review of the ICAST P and R reviewed the ICAST C by email in 2 rounds resulting in a final instrument. The ICAST C was then translated and back translated into six languages and field tested in four countries using a convenience sample of 571 children 12–17 years of age selected from schools and classrooms to which the investigators had easy access.ResultsThe final ICAST C Home has 38 items and the ICAST C Institution has 44 items. These items serve as screeners and positive endorsements are followed by queries for frequency and perpetrator. Half of respondents were boys (49%). Endorsement for various forms of victimization ranged from 0 to 51%. Many children report violence exposure (51%), physical victimization (55%), psychological victimization (66%), sexual victimization (18%), and neglect in their homes (37%) in the last year. High rates of physical victimization (57%), psychological victimization (59%), and sexual victimization (22%) were also reported in schools in the last year. Internal consistency was moderate to high (alpha between .685 and .855) and missing data low (less than 1.5% for all but one item).ConclusionsIn pilot testing, the ICAST C identifies high rates of child victimization in all domains. Rates of missing data are low, and internal consistency is moderate to high. Pilot testing demonstrated the feasibility of using child self-report as one strategy to assess child victimization.Practice implicationsThe ICAST C is a multi-national, multi-lingual, consensus-based survey instrument. It is available in six languages for international research to estimate child victimization. Assessing the prevalence of child victimization is critical in understanding the scope of the problem, setting national and local priorities, and garnering support for program and policy development aimed at child protection.     

Anticipatory socialization of graduate students

Most observers in higher education and most faculty agree that more student-oriented teachers are needed; but there is no consensus on how to get them. Options include finding new faculty and/or changing present faculty. The latter seems practically impossible, since most faculty are intransigent, and faculty development is addressed to too few. Graduate education, too, is unlikely to change, as present faculty guide its directions. The alternative is to find students with the proper dispositions on entrance to graduate schools. The question addressed herein is whether among current admittees to graduate schools there are sufficient numbers of persons with orientations significantly different from those of current faculty. The article reports on empirical assessments of preferences for 320 discrete tasks in the academic role by accepted graduate school applicants and younger and older faculty.This paper was presented at the 17th Annual Meeting of the Association for Institutional Research, Montreal, Canada, May 9, 1977. The research was supported by a grant from the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education, Department of Health, Education and Welfare.     

OPPOSISJON VED HANS‐JÖRGEN GJESSINGS DOKTORDISPUTAS

Den 17/3 1959 forsvarte Hans‐Jørgen Gjessing sin avhandling, En studie av lesemodenhet ved skolegangens begynnelse, Oslo 1958, for den filosofiske doktorgrad ved Universitetet i Oslo. Den oppnevnte komite besto av professor Wilhelm Sjöstrand, Uppsala (1. opponent), professor Johs. Sandven, Oslo (2. opponent) og professor Sigurd Nørstebø, Trondheim. Doktorandens selvvalte forelesningsemne var Den diagnosogene teori om stammingens årsaker, og det oppgitte forelesningsemne var Metodeproblemer ved utforskningen av anv‐ og miljøfaktorenes innvirkning på den individuelle variasjonen.     

Early Childhood Teacher Education in Australia

The complexity of preparing personnel for early childhood services seems common to many countries of the world. Issues and problems include length of courses, pre‐requisites for entry to courses, core curriculum content, age range covered in courses, education and care elements and practicum requirements. This paper discusses early childhood teacher education provision in Australia and acknowledges that teacher educators in countries of the world have much to share and the discussion of solutions can only better the preparation of early childhood courses. A common theme is the need to raise the status and strengthen the early childhood profession by the provision of quality courses.     

Board effectiveness: Identifying and measuring trustee competencies

What characteristics define and describe effective boards of trustees in colleges and universities? Do effective boards differ in any systematic ways from ineffective ones? The present paper traces the development and testing of a conceptual framework of board competencies and analyzes alternative approaches to measurement. We focus on issues of theory development, on the use of a combination of qualitative and quantitative research methods, and on suggestions for further study of this crucial aspect of higher education.