Students' Self-Concept and Academic Achievement in Zimbabwe: A Preliminary Study

Students' personal beliefs about their capabilities to learn influence their motivation and learning. This study determined the relationship between self-concept and academic achievement of Zimbabwean primary school students. A qualitative approach was used to collect data from 75 pupils (36 girls, 39 boys: age range 9–12 years). Data were also collected from five of the students' teachers. Pupils' perceptions of comments or feedback from classmates and teachers comprised the self-concept measures. Academic achievement was measured using teachers' ratings of pupils' academic performance. Pupils who reported receiving positive comments from classmates and teachers were more likely to be rated by their teachers as having higher academic achievement compared to those who perceived themselves to be less favourably regarded by teachers.     

Career support needs of learners with historical disadvantage: an exploratory study

This study explored the career support needs of learners from a historically disadvantaged rural South African school setting. Participants were a convenience sample of 20 high school learners (females=60%; males=40%; age range 15–17 years; schools grades 9–10). They completed focus group interviews relating to their career awareness and needs. The data were thematically analysed. The results suggested learners have significant in-school career awareness and support needs. The learners accessed career related information informally from social networks they were using out of school rather than in the educational setting.     

Jean Calvin dans l'école italienne: Analyse de quelques manuels en adoption dans les lycées italiens

Abstract

This is a comparative, analytic study of eight history text books used in Italian state secondary schools with respect to the presentation and image of John Calvin that is found in them. While very variable, the overall minimalist and often mediocre quality of the account of Calvin (as well as of the Reformation) is considered. There is understandable marginalization due largely to little lasting impact of Calvin in Italy. Further, it is concluded that any evaluation of the Genevan Reformer in these school books relates more to traditionally perceived Calvinist ‘culture’ than to the actual life, work, and thought of Calvin, and so is somewhat inadequate in the context of modern Italian education. The situtation also reflects a regrettable lack of coordination between the school teaching of history and extensive progress made in research.     

Primitivism and the Analogy between Colors and Values

The analogy between colors and values is strongly interlinked with the idea that these properties are by nature dispositions or response‐dependent properties. Indeed, that colors are essentially visible, and values are inherently motivational, cries out for a dispositional or a response‐dependent account. Recently, Primitivism has challenged the viability of the dispositional account of colors, taking the apple, for instance, to be “gloriously, perfectly, and primitively red.” Unsurprisingly, the attack on the dispositional account of colors has found a moral analogue in the view that values are sui generis irreducibly primitive properties. The question this article addresses is whether given Primitivism the analogy between colors and values is preserved; or in other words, whether Primitivism breaks the bond between the dispositional account and the analogy between colors and values.     

‘If I knew where the enemy,or even Germany was,we could have fired in that direction’: Bion's experience of war

The role of a child psychotherapist's gender is not often considered in terms of treatment outcome. This paper discusses how aspects of being a male child psychotherapist influenced the successful treatment of a very young boy with Asperger's Syndrome. The paper highlights how the nature of his very early relationship with his mother and the absence of his father were the basis of his difficulties resulting in that diagnosis. It shows that his desire to seize the opportunity of working with a male enabled him to understand his feelings about his father, why it was so difficult to want to be with him and not his mother, and why he could not be without her.

Le rôle joué par le sexe du psychothérapeute d'enfants dans les effets du traitement est rarement pris en compte. Dans cet article, l'auteur montre qu'à un certain niveau le fait d'être un psychothérapeute homme eut une influence sur la réussite de la thérapie d'un très jeune garçon présentant un syndrome d'Asperger. Selon l'auteur, la nature de la relation précoce entre ce petit garçon et sa mère, ainsi que l'absence de son père, étaient à l'origine des difficultés qui conduisirent à ce diagnostic. Il montre que le désir de l'enfant de se saisir de l'occasion ainsi offerte de travailler avec un homme lui permit de comprendre trois éléments essentiels : ses sentiments à l'égard de son père, la raison pour laquelle il lui était tellement difficile de vouloir être avec lui plutôt que de rester avec sa mère, et ce qui faisait qu'il ne pouvait pas se passer de celle-ci.

Die Rolle des Geschlechts des Kindertherapeuten wird nicht oft bezüglich des Behandlungsergebnis in Betracht bezogen. Dieser Artikel diskutiert, wie Aspekte dessen, ein männlicher Kindertherapeut zu sein, die erfolgreiche Behandlung eines sehr kleinen Jungen mit Asperger Syndrom beeinflussten. Der Artikel unterstreicht, wie die Art seiner frühen Beziehung zu seiner Mutter und die Abwesenheit seines Vaters die Grundlage seiner Schwierigkeiten bildeten, die zu dieser Diagnose führten. Es zeigt, dass sein Wunsch, die Gelegenheit zu ergreifen, mit einem Mann zu arbeiten, ihm ermöglichte, seine Gefühle seinem Vater gegenüber zu verstehen, warum es so schwierig war, mit ihm und nicht seiner Mutter sein zu wollen und warum er nicht ohne sie sein konnnte.

Riassunto: Il ruolo che gioca il sesso dello psicoterapeuta infantile non è solitamente considerato in relazione al risultato del trattamento. In questo articolo si discute come il fatto di avere un terapeuta maschile abbia influenzato per certi aspetti il risultato positivo del trattamento di un bambino molto piccolo che soffriva della Sindrome di Asperger. L'articolo illustra come la natura della sua primissima relazione con la madre e l'assenza del padre furono alla base delle sue difficoltà che portarono alla diagnosi. L'articolo mostra come il desiderio del bambino di lavorare con un terapeuta maschile gli ha permesso di capire i suoi sentimenti verso il padre, perché era così difficile voler restare con lui e lo stesso non succedeva con sua madre, e perché non poteva restare senza di lei.     

Notes on unintegration and disintegration from historical and developmental perspectives

Frances Tustin: Autistic States in Children, Published by Routledge and Kegan Paul Ltd. 1981 Price £12.50.

B.A. Farrell The Standing of Psycho-Analysis Published by Oxford University Press. 1981. Price £3.95.

Helen Featherstone: A Difference in the Family. Life with a Disabled Child. Published by Basic Books Inc. 1980.

Martin Richards: Infancy. World of the Newborn. The Life Cycle Series. Published by Harper &; Row. 1980. Price £2.25 (paperback).

Jerome Bruner: Under fives in Britain. Published by Grant McIntyre. 1980. £10.95 (hardback), £4.50 (paperback).     

The development of work discussion groups in educational settings

This paper describes the application and development of the work discussion method within educational settings. In the first section of the paper, I outline some key contextual factors that are important to consider when setting up work discussion groups within schools. A number of case examples are then described, illustrating a range of central issues that can emerge. By developing a deeper understanding about the meaning of behaviour and the emotional factors that impact on teaching and learning, I hope to demonstrate how work discussion groups can help teachers to develop their capacity to manage the challenges of their work, role and relationships with pupils. More broadly, I hope to illustrate how these groups can help to promote a learning environment for all, in which development and growth is promoted at a personal, professional and whole school level.     

Getting lost

This paper seeks to explore the process, challenges and journey of setting up counselling within a boys’ public school setting, as an independent practitioner. It looks at the structure and way in which the service was set up and what had to be changed and adapted as time went on. The school had a strong reputation for pastoral care but had come to recognise that there were some issues that it was neither possible nor appropriate for school staff to deal with. So, whilst the school could and did provide containment for many of its pupils, there were those who got lost or were outside of the culture. This seemed to get reflected in my own experience. Setting up counselling in a school is not straightforward, and like the process of therapy itself, it takes time and is not a linear process. Although the service grew steadily, there were factors that led to my finally resigning from the post – I also got lost in the system. There is also a comparison with setting up a service under the auspices of an organisation at the same time.     

Addressing Cultural Factors in Development of System Interventions

SUMMARY

The purpose of this article is to address various issues concerning multicultural interventions at a system level. Diversity is presented through a different conceptual approach and specific implications for school psychological practice are addressed. In this theoretical context an alternative model of school psychological services that was developed in the Greek educational system is presented and a primary intervention program is described as a paradigm of multicultural system/community intervention. Finally, the components of a transnational approach to multicultural system/community interventions that provides the basic procedural guidelines to developing effective, culturally sensitive interventions in the school environment is proposed.     

控制还是适应:次级控制研究的两种取向

次级控制是人在控制动机受威胁时的一种应对策略,它最初被定义为个体试图适应世界,顺应形势的过程.该概念在发展中被赋予了不同的解释,产生了所谓控制取向与适应取向的分歧.这两种取向在次级控制与首要控制的关系,次级控制与控制感的关系,以及次级控制的跨文化一致性问题上存在着分歧.近年来补偿性控制模型与健康领域的次级控制研究分别在概念上和功能上提供了整合两取向的可能性.未来研究应致力于进一步整合两取向的定义,扩展其研究的视野,并通过更多地使用实验法,来加强对其影响因素的研究.