The therapeutic effect of peace counselling among Nigerian secondary school teachers

This study examines the therapeutic effect of peace counselling among Nigerian secondary school teachers. 450 Nigerian secondary school teachers voluntarily participated in this study; 225 teachers (103 male and122 female) were used as control group while 225 teachers (103 male and 122 female) were exposed to peace counselling. Those in the treatment group participated in smaller groups made up of 25 teachers each. The teachers in the control group were also given peace counselling after the completion of the study. Two research questions were raised to guide the direction of the study. Teaching related Element of Peace Disturbance Scale (TEPDS) was used as the research instrument to collect pre‐ and post treatment data. Analysis of covariance was employed in the data analysis. The results showed that a significant difference existed between the control and the treatment groups with the latter ascertaining a higher degree of peace than the former. Also a significant difference was recorded between the male and female teachers who were exposed to peace counselling in their expressed peace level. Implications for peace counselling among all teachers functioning at all levels of education and their students were discussed.     

Scottish secondary school teachers' attitudes towards, and conceptualisations of, counselling

This paper presents the findings of two independent questionnaire studies that examined Scottish secondary schools teachers' attitudes towards, and conceptualisation of, school counselling. Seventy-one teachers in a first study, and 33 teachers in a second study, responded to a range of qualitative and quantitative response-format questions that were designed to elicit their feelings and attitudes towards school counselling, and their notions of what counselling was. Results from the two studies confirm previous findings in this area, suggesting that teachers are generally positive in their attitudes towards counselling; valuing, in particular, the independence and expertise of the counsellor. A small minority of teachers, however, were found to hold strongly negative views towards counselling. Teachers also expressed concerns that students might abuse the counselling service, and that the service might not fully integrate with existing guidance arrangements provided by teachers in schools. The study also found that a high proportion of teachers conceptualised counselling in terms of advice-giving.     

Counsellors as teachers

An examination of the arguments for and against the role combination of teaching and counselling leads to a view of counselling as being, in some senses, an ingression into the traditional practices of teaching and, in other senses, an egression from them. The traditional practices of teaching are, therefore, analysed in such a way as to generate items for an inventory to measure 'teacher identification'. The inventory also includes items which invite respondents to reject the ingression of non-teaching principles and practices. En route to the development of the inventory, some observations are made concerning the kinds of role combination with teaching which counsellors tend most to resist.     

Adolescents' attitudes toward confidentiality between the school counsellor and the adolescent client

It is increasingly acknowledged that confidentiality is relative rather than absolute in any counselling relationship. This is particularly the case for minors receiving counselling at school, where third parties such as parents and teachers frequently have access to information about an adolescent client. The Australian Psychological Society's Code of Professional Conduct (1986) states that minors are unable to provide voluntary, informed consent in consulting relationships, although current research does not necessarily support this view. The current study investigated adolescents' attitudes to confidentiality in situations that may commonly arise in school counselling. The study also investigated the third parties to whom adolescents believed information should be disclosed by a counsellor. Respondents were 303 male and 254 female students attending three single-sex nongovernment schools. Ages ranged from 13 to 18 years. Results suggested that the adolescents' attitudes to confidentiality generally corresponded with adult views. Many adolescents wanted more autonomy regarding disclosure of information obtained in a counselling situation than the APS code provides. Parents were the only third party to whom the adolescents generally believed disclosure should be made. There were few age differences, but a wide range of opinions were evident, with female adolescents consistently more strongly in favor of confidentiality than males.     

Item analysis of the 'My Use of Interpersonal Skills Inventory'

A 32-item inventory was designed to provide data concerning the extent to which training in interpersonal and counselling skills was applied by educators in their professional and personal lives. An item analysis of the responses of 82 experienced educators was carried out on three testings completed before, soon after and one year following a training skills course. The item analysis revealed a high level of internal coherence for the inventory, indicating that improvement on any skill was related to improvement in the others. Correlations between the three applications of the inventory indicate an acceptable level of test-retest reliability. Apart from a clear face validity, data are reported confirming that interpersonal and counselling skills reported in the inventory are being applied in terms of reports of specific incidents.     

Counselling values and their relationships with self-efficacy among Chinese secondary school teachers in Hong Kong

Two-hundred-and-ninety-nine Chinese secondary school teachers in Hong Kong were assessed on their endorsement of counselling values using a 19-item self-report checklist, and on their perceived self-efficacy towards helping using the 10-item Schwarzer-Wegner scale. These teachers were found to share the same counselling values as counselling psychologists. They prized most highly the humanistic counsellor qualities, followed by counselling practice with a preventive, developmental and holistic perspective. Their relative endorsement of scientific values suggested that they were not resistant to the promotion of empirically supported and evidence-based treatment approaches. Teachers’ self-efficacy towards helping was also predictable from endorsing values related to interpersonal relationships and diversity in counselling practice. Implications of the findings for improved counselling training for teachers are discussed.     

Counsellor role perceptions and preferences of Zimbabwe teachers of a Shona cultural background

Thurstone's Case V paired comparisons procedure was used to investigate the perceived role status and preferences of counsellor for a sample of Zimbabwe teachers of a Shona cultural backgroud (n = 312) in relation to type of presenting problem (personal; educational; employment) and as the teachers varied by gender, age, level of formal educationa and marital status. Counsellor expertise contrasted those of modern status (psychologist; church pastor; work supervisor) and traditional status (family members; traditional healer; friend). The teachers seemed to have an undifferentiated perception of counselling needs as measured by preferences for helper. Age jand level of formal education were significantly related to counsellor prefernces, with the older and less schooled teachers tending to endorse counsellors of a traditional status. The results are considered with respect to the provision as well as public image of counselling services in an African culture.     

Factors affecting the involvement of teachers in guidance and counselling as a whole-school approach

This study explores factors affecting the involvement of regular secondary school teachers in the whole-school approach to guidance and counselling by interviewing 12 secondary school teachers in Hong Kong. Emerging themes include teachers' ownership of their role in student guidance and counselling, the alignment of their disposition with education policies, school missions and culture, and their philosophy in education. Findings of what these teachers are actually doing in guidance and counselling are presented. Implications for policy-makers, administrators and leaders for comprehensive guidance and counselling programmes are drawn from constraints that limit interviewees' full potential in assisting students.     

中小学教师职业枯竭状况及其与社会支持的关系

该研究提出了中国教师职业枯竭表现的新维度——知识枯竭,检验了四维度枯竭模型在中国的有效性。并采用问卷调查法,对全国679名中小学教师的职业枯竭状况进行了分析,考察了各种人口统计学变量之间的差异,并探讨了职业枯竭各个维度与社会支持之间的关系。结果发现,男教师、教龄在11~20年的教师枯竭程度较高。从社会支持对于教师枯竭的缓解作用来讲,来源于学生和学校领导的支持,以及情感型支持更为有效。     

The Connolly Occupational Interests Questionnaire: Some psychometric data and comments on its use in counselling

Normative data from the Connolly Occupational Interests Questionnaire (COIQ) is reported for polytechnic students and for fifth and lower-sixth forms at a selective high school. The mean profiles show that the COIQ differentiates effectively between course groups. Further data is presented which supports the inherent viability of the inventory in terms of item characteristics and counselling applications.     

Prospective teachers' conceptions of assessment: a cross-cultural comparison

This paper examines the responses of two sample of prospective teachers (New Zealand, n = 324; and Spain, n = 672) to the Teachers' Conceptions of Assessment inventory (English and Spanish respectively). The inventory captures four major intentions for assessment (i.e., improvement, irrelevance, school and student accountability). The conceptions of prospective teachers about the nature and purpose of assessment are relevant, given that (a) much educational assessment is carried out in classrooms; and (b) prospective teachers enter the teacher education programs with significant prior school experience of assessment as pupils. Results of confirmatory factor analysis indicated that the original model was inadmissible and that the best-fitting revised model was only configurally invariant between the two samples. It would appear that lack of teaching experience results in different responses for prospective teachers to those of practicing teachers. Moreover, differences in societal and cultural priorities for assessment use most likely explain the lack of invariance between samples.     

Informal situated counselling in a school context†

The institutional regulation of counselling conversations does not always provide optimal conditions for counselling. Many teachers experience that some “normal” conversations develop into conversations which are of a counselling nature. Conversations which resemble counselling can be optimal counselling opportunities. In this paper we describe and develop these counselling conversations, which we call Informal Situated Counselling.     

The Challenges of HIV/AIDS Counselling in Nigerian Secondary Schools: A Case Study of Kwara State

The study investigated the challenges of HIV/AIDS counselling in Nigerian secondary schools as expressed by school counsellors in Kwara state, Nigeria. The respondents comprised 132 purposively selected counsellors in Kwara state public secondary schools (Male=85; Female=47). Data were collected with the use of a survey instrument and the data were quantitatively analyzed. The study identified the challenges hindering effective implementation of HIV/AIDS counselling in Nigerian secondary schools as ignorance, non-existence of governmental policy on HIV/AIDS counselling in schools and negative attitudes of school administrators, students and teachers to HIV/AIDS. Geographical location and job status had significant influence on the respondents' views of the challenges facing HIV/AIDS counselling in Nigerian secondary schools. The Counselling Association of Nigeria (CASSON) should enlighten Nigerians on the importance of HIV/AIDS counselling in schools.     

From teaching to counselling: An evaluation of the role of microcounselling in the training of school counsellors

During the past 20 years the use of microtraining as a method for training professionals in communication skills has attracted considerable attention. In this paper, the microtraining approach is explained briefly, in terms of the development of microteaching and microcounselling, as a means of training teachers and counsellors respectively. One interesting aspect of the training of teachers is then focused upon, namely the use of microcounselling in the preparation of in-service teachers for the role of school counsellor. The nature of teaching and counselling activities are compared and contrasted, and the resultant difficulties in training teachers to act as counsellors are high-lighted. Finally, a number of procedures for trainers involved in such training are listed, whereby teachers can be encouraged to more readily adopt a style of behaviour appropriate for the counselling context.     

Development and current status of counselling psychology in Taiwan

This article details the three stages of counselling psychology’s development in Taiwan, including pre-legislation, legislation and post-legislation. In pre-legislation stage, a brief historical review of the growth of counselling and guidance is introduced, which is the root of the contemporary counselling psychology. The process of the Psychology Act’s legislation is described in legislation stage and the relationships between counselling teachers and clinical psychologist are also discussed. In the post-legislation stage, the licensure system, training programmes, main professional organizations, work settings, and the major opportunities and challenges for the counselling psychology field are presented. In addition, the article refers to data from a national survey of 124 counselling psychologists to provide a profile of the counselling psychologists in Taiwan.     

Dual realities – The search for meaning: Psychodynamic therapy with physically ill people

Abstract

We summarize Kohut's (1971) bi-polar self which enables counsellors to understand and treat narcissistic behaviours and narcissistic personality disorders in a psychoanalytic framework. After Patton and Meara (1992), we describe Kohut's formulations regarding self-development and disorders of self and how such formulations inform critical components of psychoanalytic counselling with particular emphasis on the explicit and implicit strategies and characteristics the counsellor brings to the process. Finally, we suggest that a promising arena for future theorizing and applications of Kohut's ideas is consultation with parents, teachers and other community leaders to help prevent or remedy psychological self-injuries with systemic interventions outside short-term counselling or long-term therapy.

We have suggested that Kohut's self psychology is a good vehicle for understanding what brings a client to counselling: namely, disorders of the self or self-injury. We review strategies and ‘ways of being’ a counsellor must bring to and offer in the counselling encounter if the work is to succeed. We also examine implicit qualities (beyond the achievement of a mature bipolar self) we believe a counsellor or any facilitator must have if counselling or other helping relationships are to be effective. We purpose further conversations and empirical analyses which specifically and conceptually link critical components of psychoanalytic counselling to self psychology and to essential counsellor traits or virtues that seem intrinsic to good counselling practice.     

教师职业认同与情感承诺的关系：工作满意度的中介作用

基于社会认同理论,采用教师职业认同量表、工作满意度量表和情感承诺问卷对234名中学教师进行调查,考察教师职业认同与情感承诺的关系,以及工作满意度在这一关系中的中介作用。结果表明：（1）职业认同、工作满意度和情感承诺均呈显著正相关;（2）职业认同可以正向显著地直接预测情感承诺,同时又通过工作满意度的中介作用对情感承诺产生间接的预测作用。     

Towards a taxonomy of philosophical counselling

As sympathetic outsiders trying to understand and explain the field of philosophical counselling to other (perhaps not so sympathetic) outsiders, we find ourselves repeatedly asking and being asked two questions: “What is philosophical counselling?” and “What is its relationship to psychological counselling?” In seeking to develop satisfactory answers to these questions, we present a taxonomy of philosophical counselling. This fourfold taxonomy was developed by classifying the work of a range of recognised philosophical counsellors in terms of their declared ends. This taxonomy makes sense of the diversity of the field, while also recognising the underlying coherence. Moreover, the categories of the taxonomy align with existing forms of psychological counselling practice, and in this way the taxonomy enables us to pinpoint the relationship between psychological and philosophical counselling. We end with some consideration of what philosophical counsellors can learn from their colleagues in psychology, especially in relation to the role of empathy and the importance of empirical testing.