Sensitivity Training as an Integral Phase of Counselor Education

A four-day T-Group was conducted conjointly with counselor education staff members and practicum students. At the end of the T-Group significant gains were made on the Barrett-Lennard Relationship Inventory, a measure of Rogers' conditions of a helping relationship. Three months later clients of the group members rated them on the same measure. A number of significant correlations were found. A follow-up questionnaire anecdotally supported the findings.     

Developing teachers’ capacities in assessment through career-long professional learning

Abstract

In a context of increasing demand for quality and equity in education and a sharp focus on accountability, classroom teachers are also expected to support and improve learning outcomes for pupils in response to their individual needs. This paper explores three issues: how teachers understand assessment in relation to their students’ learning, the curriculum and their pedagogical choices; how teachers’ capacity to use assessment to improve students’ learning can be developed through career-long professional learning (CLPL); and how teachers’ learning can be implemented and sustained in schools, both locally and nationally. In considering these issues, recent thinking about learning and assessment and CLPL are considered alongside empirical evidence from the development and implementation of assessment processes and approaches to professional development in Scotland. The paper emphasises the importance of a dynamic framework of CLPL that recognises the individuality of teachers’ learning needs and the consequent need for tailored professional learning opportunities with different combinations of support and challenge at school, local and national levels.     

Contextually responsive transfer: Perceptions of NNES on an ESL/EFL teacher training programme

Post-training reflections from nine overseas NNES students were recorded in relation to the extent to which they perceived potential applications of what they had learned in a Contextually Responsive Teacher Training (CRTT) programme in the learning–teaching contexts into which they were returning as English as a Second or Foreign Language (ESL/EFL) teachers. Pragmatic issues in home contexts concerning resources generally and textbooks particularly were seen to threaten the viability of what was learned. Significantly, all participants projected disillusion with home country context rather than with foreign country training as a personal resolution of the mismatch. Implications are drawn for preventative redesign in relation to the Australian programmes.     

Maternal goal factors in adaptive and maladaptive childhood perfectionism

In this project, 72 middle school students responded to a questionnaire tapping three aspects of perfectionism: self‐striving, socially‐prescribed perfectionism, and concern for mistakes. Their mothers completed a questionnaire assessing goal expression along three dimensions defined as direct expectations (e.g., ‘I set high standards for my child’), controlling expectations (e.g., ‘Only outstanding performance is good enough in our family’), and noncontingent encouragement (e.g., ‘Trying hard is more important than being the best’). Path modelling, using SmartPLS, revealed that direct expectations were associated positively with students' self‐striving, but negatively with socially‐prescribed perfectionism. Controlling expectations were associated with socially‐prescribed perfectionism. Hence, adaptive and maladaptive aspects of students' perfectionism appear to be associated with differential patterns of maternal goal expression.     

Empowering early years workers to identify and target areas of difficulty in pre‐school children

This paper reports on a project aimed at providing skills and resources to support nursery staff in identifying areas of strength and need in 3‐ to 5‐year‐old children. The six participating nurseries were all in areas of high socio‐economic disadvantage. Staff were trained to administer, score and interpret a wide‐ranging screening inventory. Following the assessment of children at nursery entry, staff were given support in developing appropriate programmes of activities to address the weaknesses and build on the strengths identified for individual children. All the children were reassessed following a period of six months. Although time was a major issue, staff were generally positive about the screening process and recognised the worth of early identification and intervention. While 46% of 173 children screened at the start of the project had significant difficulties in some area of development, only 6.9% remained at risk on the screening measure following tailored input. Systematic screening was identified as important for alerting staff to difficulties that might otherwise go unnoticed.