All of Humanity is Here!

This article describes the personal experiences of a teacher turned counsellor developing a student counselling service in a school setting. It explores how a school seeking to become an emotional literate community enabled the development of a counselling service and a Learning Mentor programme, both of which focused on the needs of individual students. This diverse school community reflected a range of social circumstances from professional affluence to unemployment and deprivation, and it is recognized that emotional need is not confined to those from the latter. Open access to personal support enables every student to really feel that they matter. The significance of relationship is highlighted for its capacity to engender a sense of personal worth and of mattering within the community that is staff and students. Key learning from the development is explored for governors, school leadership teams and classroom teachers, and a culture of open and supportive involvement is seen as a means to enable young people to develop a sense of worth and belonging in the school community and thus in wider adult society.     

Students' Perceptions of Teaching: The research is alive and well

This paper reports on the findings of a study investigating students' perceptions of lectures, seminars and modules in a university school of sociology and social policy. An anonymous questionnaire was used which incorporated both closed and open-ended questions. Results show that students thought lectures were well structured and audible, the latter being linked to easy note-taking. Lecturers were also viewed as enthusiastic and available for discussion and a good student-teacher rapport was reported. On the other hand, students had difficulties with overhead transparencies and the speed at which some lectures were presented. Seminars were reported to be well organised and integrated with lectures but students were less enthusiastic about the modular system, although they felt that module objectives were clear. Students were most dissatisfied with availability of books in the library. The paper ends by presenting some suggestions for future studies.     

Seating arrangements that promote positive academic and behavioural outcomes: a review of empirical research

Seating arrangements are important classroom setting events because they have the potential to help prevent problem behaviours that decrease student attention and diminish available instructional time. The purpose of this synthesis of empirical literature is to determine which arrangements of desks best facilitate positive academic and behavioural outcomes for primary through secondary high school students with a range of characteristics. Eight studies that investigated at least two of three common arrangements (i.e., rows, groups or semi‐circles) were considered. Results indicate that teachers should let the nature of the task dictate seating arrangements. Evidence supports the idea that students display higher levels of appropriate behaviour during individual tasks when they are seated in rows, with disruptive students benefiting the most.