The impact of the Bologna Declaration on European engineering education

The Bologna Declaration will lead to fundamental changes of the architecture of European higher education. The paper analyses possible consequences for Engineering Education and describes some of the different ways in which European countries have implemented the Declaration. How the application-oriented shorter engineering education should fit into the Bologna scheme remains a major problem.     

Mnemonic artwork-learning strategies: Helping students remember more than “Who painted what?”

In two experiments, a recently devised mnemonic strategy was examined in the context of college students recalling the theme and contents of various paintings. With the painting-artist mnemonic strategy: (a) the artist's name is first recoded as a more concrete proxy; and (b) the recoded stimulus is then related to a prominent feature of the painting. Previous research has demonstrated that such a strategy enhances students' recall of artist names when cued with the associated paintings. The present study extends those findings by demonstrating that the strategy similarly facilitates students' recall of paintings and painting information when cued with the associated artist names. Of three different mnemonic variations included, one that incorporates a verbally described mnemonic interaction into the painting proved most effective. Suggestions for future research and educational implications are included in the discussion.     

School counsellor training,attitudes, and perceptions of preparedness to provide services to students with disabilities in inclusive schools in Turkey

The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of school counsellors’ attitudes and training on their perceptions of preparedness to provide services to students with disabilities (SWD). Participants were 105 practicing school counsellors who completed the Attitudes toward Disabled Persons Scale Form-O (ATDP-O) as well as the School Counsellor Preparedness Survey-Revised (SCPS-R) in a web-based format. A hierarchical regression analysis was conducted with three types of counsellor training (courses, experiences and conferences/workshops) and counsellor attitudes towards SWD. The results revealed that school counsellors’ attitudes and training significantly predicted preparedness with an approximately 10% of variance explained. Out of all four variables, attitudes appeared to be the only significant predictor of preparedness scores. Results also indicated that school counsellors did not feel completely prepared to work with SWD.     

A fresh approach to child protection practice and legislation in Australia

This paper outlines some of the findings and approaches of the Victorian Review. It assesses a stylized "orthodox model" of child welfare law and practice, a model which remains in many Australian jurisdictions and which has its popularity in Britain, Canada, and the United States. It concludes that serious consideration should be given to rebuilding and strengthening these arrangements. This entails emphasis on utilizing laws to serve an educative function and facilitating access by children and families to preventive and support services. It argues that a broad concept of neglect should be adopted and that the "welfare orientation" of the Children's Court requires reconsideration, because the capacity of courts to resolve entrenched structural problems of society has been overrated. Welfare practice, and specifically a community approach to welfare, should shape the primary response to protection of children; judicial involvement should be a last resort.     

Adult recognition of school bullying situations

Bullying and harassment by school peers has received increasing attention as their relation to personal problems and more extreme forms of violence has become better recognized. Emphases of empirical studies have focused on characteristics and behaviours of both school bullies and their victims. There is a need to place these traits and actions into the context of the situation in which they occur, in order to expand the research and allow for the development of more sophisticated and comprehensive educational, prevention and intervention programmes. A total 251 professionals (teachers and counsellors) participated in this empirical study on the ability of professionals to differentiate between bullying and other forms of conflict. Participants were asked to judge the severity of 21 scenarios depicting different combinations of situational characteristics and also whether they constituted bullying situations or not. Results indicated that physical threat or abuse was seen as more severe than verbal or social/emotional abuse, and professionals more often rated physical conflicts as bullying even when they did not fit the definition. The repeated nature of an abusive relationship and an unfair match between participants were bullying situation characteristics found to be related to the responses of more and less effective situation evaluators. Implications for pre- and in-service training of educators were considered based on study results and previous research.     

Argumentation Surrounding Argument-Based Validation: A Systematic Review of Validation Methodology in Peer-Reviewed Articles

Since it was formalized by Kane, the argument-based approach to validation has been promoted as the preferred method for validating interpretations and uses of test scores. Because validation is discussed in terms of arguments, and arguments are both interactive and social, the present review systematically examines the scholarly arguments which appear in 83 papers on argument-based validation methods published in peer-reviewed journals. Findings suggest that scholars generally agree on the nature and importance of argument-based validation but disagree on whether validation should be structured or unstructured, formal or informal. Implications are discussed, including promotion of the Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing (AERA, APA, and NCME) as a foundation for consensus in the field.