Showing papers on "Professional development published in 1978"

Staff Development and School Change.

Abstract: The desultory status of staff development as education's neglected stepchild is changing. Until recently, there was little interest in the professional development of experienced teachers. Teacher-training institutions were preoccupied with preservice education and local school districts were struggling to accommodate burgeoning student enrollments and build new schools. But now issues related to staff development have moved to center stage. One reason for the new status of staff development is the recognition that many of the \"Great Society\" education reform efforts fell short primarily because planners seriously underestimated teacher-training needs. In retrospect, it was unrealistic to expect that classroom teachers could bring about significant change in the services provided to such special student groups as the disadvantaged and the bilingual without substantial in-service education. In the absence of such training, it is not surprising that the result of many reform efforts was, disappointingly, more of the same. An important lesson of the socalled \"Decade of Reform\" (1965-1975) is that even the \"best\" educational practice is unlikely to fulfill its promise in the hands of an inadequately trained or unmotivated teacher. We have learned that the problem of reform or change is more a function of people and organizations than of technology.

Teacher Concerns as a Basis for Facilitating and Personalizing Staff Development.

Abstract: Although some guiding concepts do exist, others that could be of real assistance to staff developers in designing and delivering relevant activities need to be developed. Staff developers must be able to meet the individual needs of teachers who face a wide variety of issues and problems. Diagnosing teacher needs and providing relevant staff-development activities is a major goal of the research on the change process that is being conducted at the Research and Development Center for Teacher Education at the University of Texas at Austin. Change aspects are constantly confronted with the technical problems of innovation adoption and the needs of individuals involved in the process. Although staff-development activities may not be targeted toward the adoption of a particular innovation,1 both staff developers and change agents face the problem of matching interventions with client needs.

The consulting process in action

Abstract: Preface. Consultation: An Expanding Process. Phases in Consulting. Interventions: Making Decisions and Ensuring Quality. Consultant Roles. Ethical Dilemmas and Value Guidelines. Designing Participative Learning. Diagnostic Analysis, Progress Assessment, and Evaluation. Examples of Consultation in Action. Guidelines for International Consulting. Skills, Competencies, and Professional Development. The Consultant As Change Facilitator. Implications for the Future of Consulting. Annotated Bibliography.

Enriching Personal and Professional Development: The Experience of a Support Group for Interns.

Abstract: A pilot support group for interns was established at Boston City Hospital early in the internship year to deal with the personal and professional issues arising out of the stresses of the internship. This report describes the functioning of this group, including a statement of goals, content of weekly meetings, and evaluation by group members. In general, the interns felt that the experience was positive and especially valuable in terms of providing support for personal/professional role conflict.

Correlates of Daily Newspaper Performance in New England.

Abstract: A crucial question for communication scholars and professionals is what makes one newspaper a strong, positive force within its community and another a weak, perhaps even negative influence in its locale. The question lies a t the heart of press criticism, and its answer is central to an understanding of the role of mass communication in a modern society.1 Yet relatively little empirical research has been brought to bear on this question.2 The dearth of empirical research on press performance is particularly striking given the central role of the media in mass-communication theory. Lasswell's functionalist perspective on the press posits that media perform in ways to better serve the communities in which they operate.) DeFleur and Ball-Rokeach, McQuail, and Wright, among others, have modified and extended that frame-

Socializing the direct service practitioner in the ways of supervisory management

Abstract: Despite the emergence of programs for training administration specialists in social welfare, most lower and middle-management jobs will continue to be filled by direct service practitioners who have little or no formal preparation for this kind of practice. This paper argues that the transition from direct service to supervisory management is characterized by a number of social-psychological discontinuities and impediments to effective socialization that should be explicitly recognized and addressed in educational programs. The paper concludes with several suggestions regarding ways in which degree and staff development programs might be designed to facilitate preparation for supervisory management.

A Framework for Staff Development

Abstract: In the past, when there was a high degree of teacher turnover, it was possible to bring teachers into the school whose values and experience were consonant with change goals and who, it was hoped, could effect the desired change with a minimum of training. But as Mann has pointed out, school faculties have become relatively stable;1 thus, change has to be accomplished by working with the existing staff. This fact, coupled with a concern for making school change, has led to a new emphasis on staff development.

Staff Development for School Change: Theory and Practice.

Abstract: The approach to staff development described here has been developed as part of a federally funded Teacher Corps project, which involves a large state university and the public school system of a city in a collaborative effort to prepare teachers for change. The change, initiated and planned by the superintendent of schools, focuses on one school and is complex. It requires a change in space: there will be a move from an eighty-year-old high school facility to a new, flexible-space building in September 1978. It requires a change in numbers: the student population and staff will increase by one-third. It involves a change in orientation: the new school is designated a \"community school.\" It requires a change in organization for curriculum and teaching: the flexible space of the new building requires a repertoire of new behaviors and materials. Finally, the change involves a change in role expectations and norms: the job specifications for the principal and teachers are noticeably different from those for other professionals in the school system. The task of the staff-development program, then, is to prepare staff in an existing school facility for their roles in a new flexible-space building. With a funded life of three years, the project is in its final year.

A Survey of the Relevance of Legal Training to Law School Graduates.

Abstract: Perhaps the most important question for legal educators is whether particular aspects of legal education are more valuable than others for lawyers in various activities. To answer this question we need to know more about what legally trained people do. What are they doing? How do their legal skills help them in their roles as attorneys, judges, corporation executives, owners of businesses, stockbrokers, union officers or government officials? Is there something about legal training which is an advantage to people, even if they do not practice law? The research project described in this article attempted to determine the activities of the legally trained, the use to which they put their legal skills, and their views of the utility of various aspects of their legal training. In order to understand the relevance of legal training to the roles and duties of practicing and non-practicing legally trained persons, we need to make some sense out of the variety of their activities. To do this we need several kinds of information. First, we need an account of their activities, that is, what they do, and an idea of which activities are most important. Second, we need to assess the opinions of legally-trained people about the relevance of certain aspects of their legal training to their professional and non-professional activities. Third, we need to know the essential skills they use in their work. To meet the needs for information about legal and nonlegal activities of legally-trained people, a review of relevant literature was conducted. Building on the results of these studies, a survey of a sample of 1,600 legallytrained persons from six law schools and three career stages (the classes of 1955, 1965, and 1970) was conducted. The survey provided information about legally-trained people's occupations, the extent of their legal and nonlegal activities, the skills they used in their work, and their perception of the value of their legal training in their activities. This article first describes the earlier studies of lawyers' opinions of the role of their legal educations in their careers. Then the sample and survey used in this study are described. The general results concerning alumni professional employment, areas of legal practice, and views of the importance of general knowledge and skills in their work are described in the following section. The results for groups of lawyers pursuing different kinds of careers ( e . g., solo practitioners, practitioners in large firms, legal educators, etc.) are explored in the next section. The results were also analyzed in other ways to compare groups of special interest. These analyses compare the careers and views of men and women law school alumni, of alumni at different stages of their careers, of alumni who had attended law school part-time and full-time and of alumni who had different academic records in law school. Finally, the implications of the study are discussed.

A Political Perspective on Staff Development.

Abstract: Staff development in education is a curious phenomenon; it resembles the world's search for eternal peace. The citizens of the world seek the end of war and violence, yet somehow it always eludes their grasp. Similarly with staff development—everyone extolls its merits and sees the need for it. Many even agree on what characterizes an effective staff-development program. Yet the lament from the vast majority of those who are subjected to staff-development activities is that they are ineffective and generally a failure.

Psychiatric education and training of Asian and Asian-American psychiatrists.

Abstract: The Asian and Asian-American physician in a standard psychiatric residency is faced with discrimination at several levels, as well as special problems of professional role confusion and personal identity, all of which can create barriers to professional development and productivity. Further, most standard psychiatric residencies do not include teaching or supervision specific to treating Asian patients. The author proposes the establishment of a specialized program, focusing on ethnic minority groups, within a general psychiatric residency; he discusses specific features of such a program. This approach may help to alleviate the problem of inadequate resources for handling the mental health problems of Asian-Americans and underutilization of mental health resources by this group.