Getting closer: workplace guidance for lifelong learning

The purposes of this article are twofold. First, it considers the policy links between guidance and lifelong learning, highlighting in particular the implications of findings from a recent study by the Organisation for Economic Co‐operation and Development (OECD). Secondly, it critically compares two approaches to workplace guidance about education and training, drawing upon evaluations of various initiatives organized by trade unions and employers in Denmark and the UK. These evaluations are based on qualitative data collected from in‐depth interviews with those responsible for organizing and giving the guidance, as well as those who received it. Five interviews were conducted with recipients of guidance in each country, either face‐to‐face or by telephone, using a semi‐structured interview schedule. The conclusions suggest some issues that need to be addressed by guidance practitioners and policy makers, including employers and trade unions.     

The Role of Confidence in Lifelong Learning

The key objectives and targets of the Learning and Skills Council's (LSC, 2001) corporate plan concerned with increasing participation in education, enhancing workforce training, and raising the achievement of young people and adults are all dependent upon breaking down the barriers and obstacles that stand in the way of facilitating meaningful learning and progression. However, even after the well-documented 'situational' and 'institutional' barriers have been overcome, what McGivney (1993) calls the 'dispositional' obstacles--linked to learners' attitudes, perceptions and motivations--still need to be addressed by tutors and mentors. A crucial aspect of such dispositions in the learner's confidence and its role as an inhibitor or facilitator of learning. Although widely used--most recently in the DfES (2002) publicity about adult literacy gains--the concept of 'confidence' is, in the main, little understood and tends to be used imprecisely and rhetorically. This paper will seek--through the examination of a range of studies involving confidence and cognate concepts, in addition to original research on students learning to teach in the post-school sector--to offer some suggestions for enhancing the management and support of learning in this important sphere of work.     

Training Professionals in Industrial Design. Les Ateliers: a French experience

The Ecole Nationale Superieure de Creation Industnelle, Les Ateliers, was opened in November 1982 under the auspices of the French Ministry of Industry and Culture. This article gives an idea of the aims of this new French industrial design school and the education structure adopted in order to reach them. A case study illustrates the policy of partnership with industry.     

Acquiring Cultural Knowledge for Counselors in Training: A Multifaceted Approach

In the cross-cultural counseling literature many writers have suggested that counselors and counselor trainees should acquire knowledge about ethnic minority populations. More concrete suggestions are needed, however, regarding specific structures through which such knowledge might be gained. In this article the authors describe a multifaceted approach to acquisition of cross-cultural knowledge that is a culmination of experiences and activities the writers have used in a course titled Counseling Ethnic Minorities. This approach is based on the premise that knowledge and cultural sensitivity can be achieved through a combination of cognitive, affective, and behavioral procedures. The course includes assessment of cultural knowledge, reading ethnic literature, multicultural action planning, and small-group presentations. Students taking this course have judged the multifaceted approach to be a valuable experience for acquiring cross-cultural knowledge and for developing cross-cultural sensitivity. Most participants viewed the course as an important beginning to a lifelong process of learning.     

Students With Learning Disabilities: Homework Problems and Promising Practices

Students with learning disabilities are more likely than other students to have problems doing homework. In this article, we describe how deficits in language, attention, memory, and organizational skills as well as in reading, writing, and math affect homework performance. We describe family and school factors that may exacerbate-or ameliorate-their problems as well as the intervention research that has included students with learning disabilities. At this point, there appears to be a huge gap between the strategies successfully applied in intervention studies and teachers' preferences for interventions, a serious issue that spills over and has a negative influence on family life. Nonetheless, an emerging area of intervention research suggests that effective efforts to improve homework completion, accuracy, and test performance may require parental involvement, peer cooperation, self-monitoring and graphing, "real-life" assignments, teachercollaborative problem solving, or all.     

Engaging Preservice School Counselors and Principals in Dialogue and Collaboration

School counselors should be prepared to address student concerns and school problems in collaborative ways and to work cooperatively with school principals. The authors describe an innovative seminar designed to help students in school counseling and in school administration to develop a greater appreciation of the roles, responsibilities, and perspectives of each other in their respective professions.     

Teachers' Use of Textbooks: Practice in Namibian science classrooms

Incidences of prescribed textbook usage in science classrooms in Namibia have been analysed using an approach adapted from linguistic analysis. Aspects of pedagogic purpose, text genre, and the social interactions between teachers and learners were used to characterise teacher and learner engagement with textbooks, and thus categorise their usage in relation to a national policy of learner-centred education. Results indicate a teacher dominated textbook use and a low frequency and restricted range of textbook references per lesson, with some 40% of the Senior Secondary classes observed making no use of their textbook in class. The major uses of textbooks in class were for diagrams and data, and to verify factual information. Occasionally, questions in textbooks were used as homework to test and/or consolidate knowledge. Pupils rarely initiated a reference to a textbook. It is suggested that if learners are to benefit fully from the investment in textbooks then their teachers need to be helped to use the resource in more constructive ways.     

Teaching Group Counseling Skills: Problems and Solutions

The authors discuss ethical and professional issues regarding group counseling and argue that it is challenging to meet or exceed the standards established by the American Counseling Association's Council for the Accreditation of Counseling and Related Education Programs for teaching principles and theories, leadership skills, and group counseling methods for effective group practice. This task is especially difficult for counselor education programs that do not have doctoral students who can provide instruction and group leadership. The authors present a model involving 2 courses that allow for mastery of skills and solve practical dilemmas of providing an experiential group experience and leadership opportunities.