The INSPIRE Project: Using the ‘Unknown’ to Co-construct a Training Course on Humanistic Counselling in Afghanistan

This article details a collaborative project between the University of Strathclyde (UK) and the University of Herat (Afghanistan). The aim was to co-construct a model of training, based on humanistic approaches, in order to enhance counselling services in Afghanistan and to establish counselling training at the University of Herat. Two groups of participants received 120 h training each. In February 2014 a selected group received a further training for trainers. Strengths and limitations of this project are explored as well as its impact on the Afghan community and further developments for counselling in this context.     

Early Integration and Other Outcomes for Community College Transfer Students

The purpose of this study was to explore academic and social integration and other outcomes for community college transfer students. The study used Tinto’s (Leaving college: Rethinking the causes and cures of student attrition, 1993) Longitudinal Model of Institutional Departure and Deil-Amen’s (J Higher Educ, 82:54–91, 2011) concept of “socio-academic integrative moments” to inform the selection and organization of potential predictors. We developed regression models for relationships between demographic and background variables of interest and perceived academic and social integration following the first six weeks at the receiving university. We also included these perceived integration scores in regression models for six outcomes (first and second semester grade point average, first and second semester earned hours ratios, and second and third semester persistence). Academic and previous college background explained the greatest amount of variance in predicting early integration and academic outcomes.     

Increasing Teachers' Adherence to a Classwide Intervention Through Performance Feedback Provided by a School-Based Consultant: A Case Study

Performance feedback (PF) is an empirically supported method of increasing teachers' treatment adherence. In the evaluations of PF to date, however, PF was delivered by someone external to the school. The primary purpose of this case study was to provide an exploratory evaluation of the effectiveness and feasibility of PF when delivered by a school-based consultant to teachers implementing a classwide behavioral intervention. Teacher treatment adherence and student outcomes were also evaluated. Results indicate that overall, (a) teachers demonstrated moderate-to-high, but variable, levels of treatment adherence; (b) when teachers demonstrated lower levels of treatment adherence, the school-based consultant implemented PF with high adherence for 5 weeks, after which adherence varied; and (c) student outcomes improved.     

The importance of having a flexible scope ISO 15189 accreditation and quality specifications based on biological variation – the case of validation of the biochemistry analyzer Dimension Vista

Introduction

Technological innovation requires the laboratories to ensure that modifications or incorporations of new techniques do not alter the quality of their results. In an ISO 15189 accredited laboratory, flexible scope accreditation facilitates the inclusion of these changes prior to accreditation body evaluation. A strategy to perform the validation of a biochemistry analyzer in an accredited laboratory having a flexible scope is shown.

Materials and methods:

A validation procedure including the evaluation of imprecision and bias of two Dimension Vista analysers 1500 was conducted. Comparability of patient results between one of them and the lately replaced Dimension RxL Max was evaluated. All studies followed the respective Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) protocols. 30 chemistry assays were studied. Coefficients of variation, percent bias and total error were calculated for all tests and biological variation was considered as acceptance criteria. Quality control material and patient samples were used as test materials. Interchangeability of the results was established by processing forty patients’ samples in both devices.

Results:

27 of the 30 studied parameters met allowable performance criteria. Sodium, chloride and magnesium did not fulfil acceptance criteria. Evidence of interchangeability of patient results was obtained for all parameters except magnesium, NT-proBNP, cTroponin I and C-reactive protein.

Conclusions:

A laboratory having a well structured and documented validation procedure can opt to get a flexible scope of accreditation. In addition, performing these activities prior to use on patient samples may evidence technical issues which must be corrected to minimize their impact on patient results.     

Perceptions about the Objectives of Student Teaching

Abstract

This investigation examined perceptions of student teachers, cooperating teachers, and university supervisors about the importance and achievement of objectives of the student teaching experience. Perceptions between student teachers and cooperating teachers and between student teachers and university supervisors about the importance of objectives were significantly related. No significant relationship was found between perceptions of cooperating teachers and those of university supervisors. A significant relationship existed between perceptions of student teachers and those of cooperating teachers and between the perceptions of cooperating teachers and those of university supervisors about the achievement of objectives. No significant relationship was found between perceptions of student teachers and those of university supervisors. A comparison of perceptions about the importance of the objectives and the achievement of the objectives showed no significant relationship between the two sets of perceptions. Implications from this investigation included the need for establishment of competency priorities for the student teacher prior to the beginning of the student teaching experience.     

Problematic students of NASP‐approved programs: An exploratory study of graduate student views

This study reports the findings of an electronic exploratory survey of National Association of School Psychologists (NASP) Student Representatives. The purpose of the survey was to gather information about the perspective of graduate students concerning problematic peers and their experiences with them in school psychology training programs. Findings suggest that (a) students are unsure whether or not their training programs have an official procedure in place for dealing with problematic students; (b) the problems they observe most commonly involve poor interpersonal skills; (c) consistent with other mental health programs, school psychology graduate students most often talk with their peers or avoid contact with the problematic peer when they have concerns rather than go to faculty; (d) the majority (49.4%) of the respondents feel that faculty or training directors have the most responsibility for the identification of problematic peers but that students have an ethical duty to provide information to the teaching staff if they feel they have a reason to believe there is a problem of which the faculty is unaware. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Activity Settings and Daily Routines in Preschool Classrooms: Diverse Experiences in Early Learning Settings for Low-Income Children

This paper examines activity settings and daily classroom routines experienced by 3- and 4-year-old low-income children in public center-based preschool programs, private center-based programs, and family child care homes. Two daily routine profiles were identified using a time-sampling coding procedure: a High Free-Choice pattern in which children spent a majority of their day engaged in child-directed free-choice activity settings combined with relatively low amounts of teacher-directed activity, and a Structured-Balanced pattern in which children spent relatively equal proportions of their day engaged in child-directed free-choice activity settings and teacher-directed small- and whole-group activities. Daily routine profiles were associated with program type and curriculum use but not with measures of process quality. Children in Structured-Balanced classrooms had more opportunities to engage in language and literacy and math activities, whereas children in High Free-Choice classrooms had more opportunities for gross motor and fantasy play. Being in a Structured-Balanced classroom was associated with children's language scores but profiles were not associated with measures of children's math reasoning or socio-emotional behavior. Consideration of teachers' structuring of daily routines represents a valuable way to understand nuances in the provision of learning experiences for young children in the context of current views about developmentally appropriate practice and school readiness.     

Recognition,responsibility, and risk: Pre-service teachers' framing and reframing of lesbian,gay, and bisexual social justice issues

This paper presumes teachers play crucial roles in making more just societies and teacher educators must decide how they will participate in and/or shape a global dialog about LGB rights with pre-service teachers. This paper utilizes Fraser's theory of justice to consider curricular change. It examines the values and experiences pre-service teachers bring to their university education that shape their interaction with curricula. Analysis of classroom dialog suggests that pre-service teachers have a more complex understanding of structure and transformation than their nascent language around sexuality allows them to articulate. These optimistic findings lead to proposals for transforming how we teach about sexuality.