A case study of inclusive school development: a journey of learning

A global recognition of students' rights requires school organizations to recognize, value and provide for diversity. The move towards more inclusive schooling in Queensland, Australia, requires schools to address professional development on two levels: reculturing of the school to reflect inclusive beliefs and values; and enhancement of teacher skills and knowledge to better address the learning needs of all students. The recently developed Index for Inclusion 2000) is one resource that can facilitate the process of professional development and facilitate change in school culture, policy and teaching practice. The process used incorporates a critical friend and peer mentoring model within an action research framework, which together provide benefits for all involved in the professional development process. The journey of learning incorporating the phases of the Index for Inclusion are reported along with discussions for future directions.     

C. H. Patterson on Client-Centered Supervision: An Interview

C. H. Patterson is interviewed regarding the client-centered practice of supervision; theory, components, the question of developmental stages, the supervisory relationship, and roles are elucidated.     

Basic Counselor Skills Training and Counselor Cognitive Complexity

This study examined the relationship between basic counselor skills training and cognitive complexity levels in counseling trainees. Data from graduate counseling trainees enrolled in basic skills training courses and a control group were collected (N = 72). Cognitive complexity levels were measured using the traditional 2‐person form of the Role Category Questionnaire (B. R. Burleson & M. S. Waltman) in a pre‐ and posttest design. Participants exposed to the basic skills training course showed a significantly higher cognitive complexity level than the control group when posttest means were compared.     

Learning in Children's Museums: Is It Really Happening?

This study examined what children learn while they are interacting with exhibits at a children's museum as well as the conditions that facilitate learning. Using naturalistic observations to get information on the kinds of observable learning that occurred in a variety of settings within the museum, the study found that much observable learning did occur and that different contexts supported different kinds and amounts of learning. Learning was more likely to occur with adult interaction than without, and certain types of exhibits invited more adult involvement than others. Examples of learning of relatively higher levels of cognitive complexity and higher degrees of generalizability were observed more rarely than examples of learning of lower complexity and less generalizability. Implications for children's museums and other settings of informal learning are discussed.     

Revisiting the Conceptualization,Measurement, and Generation of Interest

This article provides an overview of recent interest research, focusing on the conceptualization, measurement, and generation of interest. It includes work that reflects differing theoretical backgrounds, research traditions, domains, and participants. Research on interest needs to be theoretically grounded if it is to be generally applicable and inform practice. Investigators must consider their own research questions, including learners’ age and characteristics of the learning context, in relation to the range of conceptualizations in the field. Whereas researchers’ questions should drive research on interest, their conceptualization of interest should inform their choice of measures. In addition, research addressing the ways in which interest might be generated and/or supported to develop should be aligned with both the conceptualization and measurement(s) of interest.     

Evaluation and Dismissal of Students in Master's Level Clinical Programs: Legal Parameters and Survey Results

Evaluation of graduate students in clinical programs may lead to dismissal of “problem” students. Court decisions affecting the parameters of dismissal can be divided into academic and disciplinary cases, with slightly differing requirements for each. Policies that comply with court rulings on due process are described. A survey of master's programs in clinical fields was conducted, and results indicate a 3.3% dismissal rate, a reliance on repetition of course work and personal therapy for remediation, and some inattention to the legal requirements for dismissal, notably those of due process.     

‘Yes,but . . .’: rhetoric,reality and resistance in teaching assistants' experiences of inclusive education

This research examines the role of teaching assistants (TAs) working with children with special educational needs (SEN) in an increasingly complex and diverse context. The role of the TA has been given more attention recently, partly due to the increased focus on their effectiveness within an inclusive education system in a time of workforce reform. The research takes a life history approach to examining the experiences of TAs within inclusive contexts and focuses upon how their backgrounds impact upon their role within the classroom, as well as how their experiences demonstrate ambiguity, tension and contradictions. Rather than a focus on pupil and institutional outcomes, the article analyses the tensions between the policy and institutional frameworks of inclusion and how TAs experience this. TAs' contradictions, tensions, resistance and also pleasures within their work are explored from their own perspectives. The personal interpretations, understandings and day‐to‐day implementation of inclusion are the focus.     

Networking School Teachers to Promote Better Practice in the Teaching of Science across Europe

Teachers are often confined to their classrooms with limited or no time to share with colleagues the difficulties they face, their concerns, and their successful initiatives. This leads to a situation where they end up teaching in ways and approaches they believe to be best with no chance to know how others may be approaching similar difficulties in different and potentially more effective ways. Teachers do not have the opportunity to share and collaborate on projects with other education professionals, as their daily routine confines them to their school premises. This article discusses how the Comenius 3 project 'Hands on Science' has helped to create a network through which regular meetings in the forms of conferences on science for teachers were and are still organised to promote good practice in science teaching. The method used for connecting so many teachers across Europe was through key persons strategically chosen across the different partner countries. The conferences organised by the network differed from academic conferences in that they provided a platform for teachers to share their successes in teaching different aspects of science, particularly through the promotion of the use of experiments and other hands on approaches.     

The Other Canadian 'Mosaic'-'race' equity education in Ontario and British Columbia

While the influence of multicultural and anti-racist education has declined significantly in England and Wales since the late 1980s (as a result of the continuing impact of New Right thinking on education policy), this has not occurred in other countries. For example, in Canada successive federal administrations-irrespective of political hue-have remained firmly committed to Pierre Trudeau's (1971) pluralistic notion of the Canadian 'mosaic' and continued to endorse educational and social policies to promote 'race' and ethnic equality. Despite this, regional devolution has ensured that the responses to these federal initiatives at the provincial level have been varied and that developments in practice have been uneven. In this paper, we draw upon ethnographic data in an attempt to provide a sociological account of these regional differences. Focusing on the perspectives of a sample of 42 'active players' in the field of race equity education (i.e. teachers and youth workers, academics, university administrators, school board officials, equity officers, provincial government officials, consultants, grass-roots activists and representatives of various pressure groups), we compare and contrast the developments in theory, policy and practice in two Canadian provinces: Ontario and British Columbia. Throughout the paper, we underline the importance of grounded research, focusing on the part played by local political and historical conditions in both shaping and modifying the articulation and effects of federal policy.