Traditions and Tensions in Leadership: the Ghanaian experience

This paper will explore some of the tensions that arise for Ghanaian headteachers in trying to resolve traditional and tribal expectations with ‘Western’ conceptions of leadership roles and competencies. These are particularly acute in rural communities where expectations of school leaders often reflect, and are constrained by, ascribed status in the tribe or village. Gender issues illustrate these tensions as successive governments initiate strategies to ensure that gender equality concerns are integrated into all their policies and programmes. The starting point for this paper—the process of research itself—sets the scene for an exploration of a complex multi-faceted leadership culture.     

Targets,Assessment for Learning,and Whole-School Improvement

This article develops the idea that there is something of a gap in theory and practice regarding the relationship between whole-school targets and individual targets. I suggest that subject, year or key stage leaders have an important mediating and cohering role to play. I argue that all of the work in schools concerning the use of targets for school improvement, for performance management and for individual pupils' progress, rests on effective assessment for learning. Significant research is referred to in support of six main propositions, and guidance is offered on how they might be implemented.     

Professional Development in Counseling Older Persons

Because of belated attention to gerontology, most counselors concerned with older persons seem to require initial professional development rather than renewal. Development calls for enhancement of both knowledge and attitudes; interrelated areas delineated in this article. Knowledge needed includes stages and tasks encountered over the life span, recognition of individual variations on life-span themes, and specific information on such significant phases as career change, retirement, and death and dying. Attitudes, composed of cognitive and affective elements, may require intensive efforts to supplant stereotypes with unbiased views and appreciative feelings. Consideration is given to the relative merits of coursework, fieldwork, and other experiences in effecting attitudinal change. Programs and courses presently available are indicated and future prospects proposed, toward improvement of professional development in counseling older persons.