Talking about Assessment: Mentor-student dialogues about pupil assessment in initial teacher training

This is an account of a study, conducted over the period of one extended school placement lasting a term, which monitored the dialogues between student teachers undertaking their school-based initial training and their mentors. The study took place in the context of the increasing emphasis placed on pupil assessment in England and Wales and the increasing prominence of school-based work in initial teacher training. This particular analysis focuses on the extent and kind of attention within the dialogues given to the assessment of pupil learning, and the ways in which school-based mentors model assessment practice through their formative discussions with student teachers. The evidence suggests that the dialogues are tending to define assessment in terms of examinations, tests and class control rather than in terms of pupil learning. While this suggests that there is scope for continued development of the mentoring role and the interpretation of initial teaching competences, it also adds to existing evidence that pupil-assessment is an area of difficulty for many experienced teachers.     

Current Perceptions of the Doctor of Philosophy and Doctor of Education Degrees in Counselor Preparation

Results of a survey of program coordinators of counselor preparation programs addressing current perceptions regarding the doctor of education and doctor of philosophy degrees are presented and implications are discussed.     

Baccalaureate Programs in Counseling: Follow-up and Implications

Several counselor education programs across the country have become increasingly involved in the training of helping professionals at the undergraduate level. This article reports the results of a follow-up study of the first 144 graduates of the baccalaureate programs offered in the department of Counseling and Personnel Services at the University of Missouri-Columbia. The author also describes what the graduates did initially on completion of their programs and suggests several implications that baccalaureate programs have for colleges of education, counselor education programs, and the helping and human services professions in general.