Education and Conceptions of Democracy: a reply to Bonna Haberman

Against Bonna Haberman, this article asserts that democratic theory contains diverse models of democracy with markedly different values, visions and experiences of the good life. Education in democratic societies is similarly diverse because of the corresponding difference in values between these models, and in almost all of these cases it is strongly content-based. In one model only, that of the critical citizen of moral democracy, is there any ground for neutrality concerning life choices. All other models are strongly partisan in their visions of the good life.     

‘Building brighter futures for all our children’– a new focus on families as partners and change agents in the care and development of children with disabilities or special educational needs

This paper looks at recent trends in Government policy and practice around supporting and involving parents of children with disabilities and special educational needs (SEN) in their care, development and education. In particular, the paper examines the opportunities offered in the Children's Plan ( DCSF, 2007 ) and Aiming High ( HM Treasury/DfES, 2007 ), and the strong emphasis on earlier intervention and a range of new services to facilitate better partnership with parents (including those from socially disadvantaged backgrounds). Note: In using the term ‘disabled children’, the author is using the broad definition of disability within the Disability Discrimination Acts (DDA) 1995 and 2005. The DDA definition includes the majority of children with identified and significant levels of SEN.     

Laboratory to Classroom: The Practical Application of IPR in a Master's Level Prepracticum Counselor Education Program

This controlled study analyzed the comparative effectiveness of two prepracticum methods on the subsequent interviewing skills of candidates for a master's degree in counseling. One method was based on a theory of counselor developmental tasks and was implemented by a specific use of the Interpersonal Process Recall (IPR) technique. The other, a more traditional prepracticum, consisted of an overview of counseling theories and practices and made extensive use of group discussion presentation and critiques of prerecorded audio- and videotapes. The results of the study indicate that it is possible to incorporate media techniques into a training model within the financial and time limitations of an ongoing master's level program. The IPR training procedures studied were run entirely by advanced graduate students, using one video-recording facility and no faculty time. The statistically significant results of the present study are especially meaningful because they replicate the positive findings of previous studies, and also because the results were obtained in an ongoing course offered by the university and not in a laboratory or special training setting.