Assessing the counselling needs of high school students in Kenya

The Student Counselling Needs Scale (SCNS) was administered to 867 participants recruited from high schools in Kenya. The data were analyzed using exploratory factor analysis yielding five factors: human relationships, career development, self development, social values, and learning skills were assessed. The findings highlighted the importance of using assessment instruments to identify students’ counselling needs in Kenya.     

Private speech in children with ADHD and their typically developing peers during problem-solving and inhibition tasks

This study compared private speech of children with ADHD and normal controls during problem solving and inhibition tasks. Thirty-two children (16 children with ADHD and 16 matched controls) aged 6–11 years participated. Consistent with previous studies, children with ADHD produced more task-irrelevant and task-relevant external private speech than control children during problem-solving tasks, but did not differ in their use of task-relevant internal private speech. During the inhibition/attention task (Continuous Performance Test-II), children with ADHD produced more task-relevant external and more task-relevant internal private speech, suggesting that they may have employed a less mature strategy to aid in self-regulation. The educational implications of the current study are that there should be an increased awareness of the developmental nature and functional significance of private speech and how private speech usage may differ in children with ADHD.     

Relationships between student characteristics and self‐, peer and tutor evaluations of oral presentations

There are many influences on how assessors grade themselves and others. Oral presentations are useful for exploring such factors in peer, self‐ and tutor marked assessments, being rapidly completed and assessed, commonly used in HE and very difficult to anonymize. This opportunistic study examined the effects of gender and level of attainment on the triangulation of marks awarded to student presenters. Grades generated by peer assessment were associated more strongly with tutor‐awarded marks than those from self‐assessment. For self‐assessment there was a strong effect of gender (female students undervalued their performance compared with tutor grades). Peer assessment produced higher marks than from tutors, perhaps because of the close‐knit community developed during residential courses. For tutor marks, the greatest variability was at the lower end of the scale, whereas peer assessors were most variable when marking students who self‐evaluated or peer assessed highly. Students awarded a narrower range of marks to peers compared with tutors, but when self‐assessing used a larger range. Presentations by students who admitted to little sleep the night before received lower grades from both peers and tutors, but this was not reflected by self‐assessments, suggesting they were unaware of their poorer performances. Sessions with fewer talks (four rather than seven) reduced the ‘dip’ in marks previously observed in the middle of sessions. Findings are discussed in the context of bias in this mode of assessment.     

Counselor Trainee Effectiveness: More Puzzle Pieces?

This study continues the search for meaningful relationships between counselor trainee characteristics and effectiveness. Self-disclosure, dogmatism, locus of control, Machiavellianism, academic aptitude, and sex of counselor trainees were investigated for their relationships to effectiveness during practicum or internship. The nature of these relationships as well as their implications for the counseling profession are discussed.     

Changes in Follow-Up Data Following Marked Changes in a Counselor Education Program

This study compared follow-up data for two groups of master's degree alumni of a counselor education program, one of which graduated before marked changes in the program occurred and the other thereafter. The questionnaire data represented 83.5 percent of the first group and 89.6 percent of the second. Findings concerning the instructional program, advisement, and library services showed significant improvement in appraisal reactions of alumni in six of 12 cases, some deterioration in one. equivocal results in another, and no change in four. Employment data showed an increase from 42 to 71 percent of alumni in counseling and guidance positions. Professional membership data revealed a significant trend toward identification with national organizations. It was concluded that significant changes in much follow-up data occurred after marked changes in the counselor education program studied and that these changes were generally in the direction of further professionalization of counseling and guidance.