Personal Development through Profiling: A Critique

Although a great deal of research and evaluation is currently being conducted into profiles and records of achievement, relatively little is still known about how pupils themselves respond to such recording. Material drawn from reviewing sessions is used to highlight some of the potentially important issues in this respect and how the outcomes are likely to differ from the counselling situation. Among these issues are teacher domination, differences between high- and low-achieving pupils, and gender variations in response. Stress is placed on the need for further systematic study of this aspect of profiling if we are to avoid instituting a procedure that, far from being a source of motivation, is perceived by pupils as just one more imposition on them.