Perceived Competency in Working With LGB Clients: Where Are We Now?

Lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) clients use counseling services at higher rates than their heterosexual counterparts, yet current training for counselors may be inadequate. In this online study, 234 graduate counselor education and counseling psychology students completed the Sexual Orientation Counselor Competency Scale ( Bidell, 2005 ) and provided information about their training in working with LGB clients. Participants viewed themselves as more competent on the Awareness and Knowledge subscales than on the Skills subscale. Increased level of training (doctoral vs. master's), number of LGB clients seen in practica, and attendance at LGB‐focused workshops and conferences were associated with increased competence. Implications for programmatic development are discussed.     

The Multiple Subfunctions of Attention: Differential Developmental Gateways to Literacy and Numeracy

Attention is construed as multicomponential, but the roles of its distinct subfunctions in shaping the broader developing cognitive landscape are poorly understood. The current study assessed 3‐ to 6‐year‐olds (N = 83) to: (a) trace developmental trajectories of attentional processes and their structure in early childhood and (b) measure the impact of distinct attention subfunctions on concurrent and longitudinal abilities related to literacy and numeracy. Distinct trajectories across attention measures revealed the emergence of 2 attentional factors, encompassing “executive” and “sustained–selective” processes. Executive attention predicted concurrent abilities across domains at Time 1, whereas sustained–selective attention predicted basic numeracy 1 year later. These concurrent and longitudinal constraints cast a broader light on the unfolding relations between domain‐general and domain‐specific processes over early childhood.     

Secondary school students’ perceptions of working life skills in science-related careers

ABSTRACT

School students demonstrate a lack of interest in choosing science studies and science-related careers. To better understand the underlying reasons, this study aims to examine secondary school students’ perceptions of working life skills and how these perceptions relate to the skills of the twenty-first century. The participants in this study were 144 Finnish 7th graders (aged 13–14 years). Using a questionnaire and qualitative content analysis, we examined their perceptions of working life skills in ‘careers in science’ and ‘careers with science’. Results reveal that although students have a great deal of knowledge about working life skills, it is often just stereotyped. Sector-specific knowledge and skills were highlighted in particular but skills related to society, organisation, time and higher order thinking, were often omitted. Results also indicate that students do not associate ‘careers in science’ with creativity, innovation, collaboration or technology and ICT skills. Conversely, according to the students, these careers demand more sector-specific knowledge and responsibility than ‘careers with science’. We conclude that students need more wide-ranging information about scientific careers and the competencies demanded; such information can be acquired by e.g. interacting with professionals and their real working life problems.     

Representational Classroom Practices that Contribute to Students’ Conceptual and Representational Understanding of Chemical Bonding

Understanding bonding is fundamental to success in chemistry. A number of alternative conceptions related to chemical bonding have been reported in the literature. Research suggests that many alternative conceptions held by chemistry students result from previous teaching; if teachers are explicit in the use of representations and explain their content-specific forms and functions, this might be avoided. The development of an understanding of and ability to use multiple representations is crucial to students’ understanding of chemical bonding. This paper draws on data from a larger study involving two Year 11 chemistry classes (n = 27, n = 22). It explores the contribution of explicit instruction about multiple representations to students’ understanding and representation of chemical bonding. The instructional strategies were documented using audio-recordings and the teacher-researcher’s reflection journal. Pre-test–post-test comparisons showed an improvement in conceptual understanding and representational competence. Analysis of the students’ texts provided further evidence of the students’ ability to use multiple representations to explain macroscopic phenomena on the molecular level. The findings suggest that explicit instruction about representational form and function contributes to the enhancement of representational competence and conceptual understanding of bonding in chemistry. However, the scaffolding strategies employed by the teacher play an important role in the learning process. This research has implications for professional development enhancing teachers’ approaches to these aspects of instruction around chemical bonding.     

Developing online problem‐based resources for the professional development of teachers of children with visual impairment

This article presents a summary of the results from phase 1 of a two‐phase research project. Drawing on the principles of problem‐based learning (PBL), the aims of phase 1 were to design, develop and evaluate a set of flexible online teaching resources for use within a virtual learning environment. Participants in the project (n = 10) were volunteers from students registered on a two‐year distance education programme of study for specialist teachers of children with visual impairment. Two case scenarios were developed for the project, each of which was based around a fictitious support service for teachers of children with visual impairment. Following a campus‐based study day, the participants were assigned to one of two ‘PBL Activity Groups’ and completed a series of tasks within each case scenario. Participation in the project was supported by members of the Project Team over a period of one semester, following which participants were asked to provide feedback through an online questionnaire. A summary of the feedback is presented, and key findings discussed. The results suggest that, with appropriate resources, adequate preparatory training and effective tutor support, online PBL can be an effective method for supplementing the continuing professional development of specialist teachers studying through distance education.     

Feminism and ‘the schooling scandal’

In this paper I outline an approach towards policy analysis that takes governmentality as its point of theoretical orientation and begin to apply this approach to my research into the recently raised compulsory school‐leaving age in Western Australia. I aim to demonstrate the methodological potentials of this approach by giving examples of the thinking and practices that shape and condition the policy. I commence by situating the school‐leaving age policy within a broader field of reforms occurring under the general banner of neoliberalism and argue that the policy is primarily concerned with the conduct of students classified at ‘educational risk’, and with transforming these students to become more visible, participative and engaged in their schooling. By focusing on the policy rationalities and technologies, and drawing on Foucault’s notion of governmentality, I explore the forms of knowledge and practical strategies that are deployed in this policy field. I contend that this particular deployment narrowly constructs young people’s experiences of schooling in ways that do not allow for a broader debate about their declining school attendance and what should be done to address it     

What ever happened to …? ‘Personalised learning’ as a case of policy dissipation

While a great deal of attention has been given to evaluating how well policies are implemented, that is, how well they are realised in practice, less attention has been paid to understanding and documenting the ways in which schools actually deal with the multiple, and sometimes opaque and contradictory demands of different ‘types’ of policy. This paper addresses the question of how it is that some education policies ‘fail’ to translate into a continuing and effective set of practices in schools, and instead, are subjected to processes of dissipation and mutation. In this paper, we take as our case personalised learning (PL) launched in England in 2004. In understanding complex processes of enactment, the challenge is to understand how policies differ and analyse why some policies ‘work’ in ways that are unexpected – not as failures of implementation but as mutations. As a ‘case’ of policy dissipation, PL highlights the changing relationships between national and institutional imperatives, and the creative mutations to which some policies are subject within schools. It is not that they have no effects, but rather their effects are marginal or nuanced rather than immediate and obvious.     

Trainee teachers,gender and becoming the ‘right’ person for the job: care and authority in the vocational habitus of teaching

Drawing on a qualitative study of 32 UK student teachers, this paper asks what constitutes the vocational culture of teaching by exploring contradictory discourses of care and authority as they are presented to, and interpreted by, trainee teachers along their journey to becoming newly qualified teachers. Introducing the concept of ‘vocational habitus’ in relation to teaching, ‘ideal teacher narratives’ recounted by respondents are examined and mismatches between the expectations of individuals, institutions and wider policy contexts are explored. The later part of the article focuses specifically on three trainee teachers who struggled more than other research participants with their new roles as teachers. Their experiences suggest that simultaneous and gendered notions of caring and commanding respect can present considerable obstacles for the acquisition of a ‘successful’ vocational habitus. In light of proposed changes to teacher training in England, this paper argues that for government teacher education policies to be successful, they need to demonstrate an awareness and consideration of these contradictory notions.     

Students Connecting with the Elderly: Validation as a Tool

In this article we respond to the call to action that is the crisis among seniors called The Silver Tsunami! We describe the education of students through the use of Feil's Validation Therapy. There are growing concerns among social service providers regarding the rapid increase of the elderly population and the lack of adequate staff to provide care for our seniors. If we as educators, agency administrators, or committed family members ignore this call to action, the cycle of the employee “revolving door” will continue with inadequately trained and emotionally disconnected personnel working with aging persons. Frontline workers are the backbone of any agency. They are the ones who interact with seniors and their loved ones and collaborate with other medical and community professionals. We, as their teachers, must enhance their knowledge and skills so they many continue to provide service to the second most vulnerable population.     

Young,talented and injured: Injury perceptions,experiences and consequences in adolescent elite athletes

Even though injury is common in elite sports, there is still a lack of knowledge of young athletes’ injury perception both during and after injury. The aim of this mixed-method study was, therefore, to explore, in-depth, data on injury consequences and adolescent elite athletes’ perceptions and experience of injury. Three hundred and forty adolescent elite athletes (age range 15–19), from 16 different sports, were bi-weekly monitored over 52 weeks using a valid questionnaire. Twenty athletes from the same cohort were interviewed in focus groups about injury experience and perceptions. The results show that the average bi-weekly prevalence of injury was 38.7% (95% CI 37.3–40.1), with 30.0% (n?=?102) of the athletes injured for more than half of all reporting times. An overarching theme from the focus groups highlighted the risk among young athletes of a loss of identity while injured. The findings support several suggestions that may improve the rehabilitation process and enhance rehabilitation outcomes: (a) provide clear pathways to the medical team, (b) recognize the identity loss, (c) involve the injured athletes with the rest of the teammates and (d) educate athletes about how to interpret pain signals. Future research should explore and evaluate the effectiveness and generalization of such interventions.