Critiques the Kahn and Gelso (1997) and Kahn and Scott (1997) articles (both in this issue) based on the author's experience as an advisor to graduate students in counseling psychology. Discusses factors that influence the career choices of counseling psychology doctoral students. Presents alternative criteria for evaluating research productivity…

Sixty-two French-Canadian women undergraduates participated in a study analyzing the effects of private self-consciousness on attribution. Shows women with high private self-consciousness, when told they performed well, attributed success to more internal, stable, and controllable factors than other subjects. In no-outcome conditions, no…

Discussion of self-efficacy as a predictor of acceptance of innovative practices focuses on a study of early childhood administrators in Illinois and their use of microcomputers for administrative and instructional purposes. Dependent and independent variables are described, including gender differences, attitudes about computer technology, and…

Forty Australian fathers met in discussion groups to explore issues they identified as meaningful and significant to them in their roles as fathers. Topics included role perception and expectations, participation in child rearing, work and family issues, and father-child relationships, all having implications for family educators, teachers, and…

Discusses a study of the inclusion of crisis intervention training in teacher preparation programs. Reports that, although few teachers receive training as part of coursework, most are expected to perform crisis intervention at some level. Presents findings showing self efficacy improves with short-term training that includes recognition and…

Three studies involving 79 teacher leaders, 4 school empowerment experts, and 387 secondary school teachers indicate that the 38-item School Participant Empowerment Scale (SPES) may tap 6 dimensions of empowerment within the school organization identified in the literature. The SPES effectively measures perceived empowerment in school settings.…

Rethinking the middle-level schooling process means reevaluating curriculum, instruction, and assessment practices; addressing organizational structure and attendant issues (grade configuration, grouping patterns, and the master schedule); and examining staffing issues, particularly the teacher's role. The proof of the process lies in student…

The influence of ability, self-efficacy, positivity of role-modeling, and role conflict on higher-level career aspirations was investigated among women majoring in (1) mathematics, physical science, engineering; and (2) biological sciences. Differences between the two groups fit the model. Findings suggest interventions to increase women's…

Investigated relationships between personal and academic attributes of and affective differences between 1985 and 1991 teacher candidates. Significant differences existed between concerns and anxieties about teaching and confidence about becoming teachers. Relationships existed between affective characteristics and gender, planned level of…

Maintains that the introduction of poststructuralist theory in moral education is often damaged and weakened by referencing the models of liberal humanism. Argues that the introduction, use, and analysis of various narrative strategies can support a poststructuralist teaching effort. Includes examples of this from an elementary mathematics class.…

Explores student attitudes toward and expectations about a science methods course. Science-teaching skills associated with personal survival were prominent both in the expectations of the prospective teachers and in what they valued from such a course. Focus on personal concerns made a difference in the confidence with which teachers approach…

The results of a survey of 158 teachers and 969 students at 2 elementary and 2 middle schools revealed that middle school teachers and students perceived the school culture as more performance-focused and less task-focused than did elementary school teachers and students. (MDM)

Reviews research on teacher efficacy, concluding that teachers who believe they are effective set more challenging goals for themselves and their students, take responsibility for student outcomes, and persist when faced with obstacles to learning. The article suggests that efforts to improve schools should include attention to teacher efficacy.…

The relations between motivational constructs, effort, self-efficacy and worry, and statistics achievement were investigated in a sample of 360 undergraduates in Malaysia. Both trait (cross-situational) and state (task-specific) measures of each construct were used to test a mediational trait (r) state (r) performance (TSP) model. As hypothesized,…

An analysis of 100 Flemish high-school students' attitudes towards French and English (both "foreign" languages) revealed complex links between personality factors, gender, politicocultural identity, communicative behaviour and foreign language attitudes. Attitudes towards English were found to be much more positive than those towards French,…