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"human"

This phenomenological research study investigated experiences and concerns that music therapy students have during their preclinical or practicum experiences. Interviews with students were intended to lead to an understanding of these experiences as the students perceived them. Eight students enrolled in undergraduate music therapy practica participated in open-ended interviews over the period of a year, with most students being interviewed 3 times. Six areas of interest emerged from the analysis: challenges encountered by students, means of dealing with challenges, involvement with clients, areas of learning, supervision issues, and structure of practicum. These areas and subcategories under them are presented along with transcriptions from the interviews to illustrate the points. Implications of the research for education and clinical training are discussed.

Dental education is currently under scrutiny in order to most appropriately address community needs for the new millennium. Educational outcomes need to include a commitment to life-long learning, and an emphasis on professional ethics and moral responsibility. These needs are supported by new forms of information delivery with a focus on the electronic media, by student centred and self-directed coursework, and by clinical stimulation. Additionally, at the University of Sydney, selection will follow a first degree. This will allow candidates time for an informed decision to be made for their future professional career and for a period of experience in the tertiary education system.

Objective: To examine pre-service teachers' perceived confidence in teaching violence prevention and the potential effect of violence-prevention training on preservice teachers' confidence in teaching violence prevention. Methods: Six Ohio universities participated in the study. More than 800 undergraduate and graduate students completed surveys. Results: Violence-prevention training, area of certification, and location of student-teaching placement significantly influenced preservice teachers' perceived confidence in teaching violence prevention. Conclusion: Violence-prevention training positively influences preservice teachers' confidence in teaching violence prevention. The results suggest that such training should be considered as a requirement for teacher preparation programs.

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Objectives: To identify the major psychosocial determinants of smoking in adolescents and the school influence on these determinants. Methods: Cross-sectional questionnaire survey in 8th grade (age 14.8 years, n = 459) of 14 schools. Logistic regression with smoking as the dependent, and psychosocial indicators as independent variables. Total climate score for each school computed as the sum of scores of five school-related indicators. Linear regression analysis on aggregate data (school level), controlling for gender, ethnicity, and social class. Results: Five out of 15 tested psychosocial indicators were identified as independent protective factors. The prevalence of smoking decreased steeply with an increasing number of protective factors. In the regression analysis on the aggregate level the mean number of protective factors per school and the prevalence of smoking were significantly related to the school climate score (R2 = 0.650, p < 0.001, and R2 = 0.456, p < 0.001). Conclusions: Provided a causal interpretation of the cross-sectional statistical associations is correct, efforts to improve the general climate in schools appear as a promising strategy to enhance individual protective factors. Longitudinal evaluative studies are needed to prove the effectiveness of such a strategy.

Opportunities to attain important life goals are sequenced in age-graded trajectories that wax and wane throughout life. A prime example of such age-graded opportunity structures is the transition from school to work. The institutions of vocational training in Germany closely scaffold this transition and provide developmental deadlines for attaining the critical transition, namely finding an apprenticeship position. Adjustments of vocational aspirations are investigated with regard to the social prestige of three indicators of aspirations, "dream job," "vocation I am interested in," and apprenticeships applied for. Findings indicate that adolescents progressively adjusted their "dream job" to "job I am interested in" as the deadline approaches. Moreover, overall adolescents matched their school performance to the social prestige of apprenticeships for which they applied. Boys and girls whose motivational orientation did not match their gender prototype attained particularly high levels of achievement and aspiration. © 2002 Elsevier Science (USA).

In the modern labor market what Côté (1996) describes as "identity capital"-comprising educational, social, and psychological resources-is at a premium in entering and maintaining employment. One consequence is the extension of education and training while young people acquire the qualifications and skills that will enhance their employability. In accordance with the perspective of life span developmental psychology, this places particular pressure on those young people growing up in disadvantaged circumstances and lacking support, especially when attempting to negotiate the transition from school to work. A particular policy concern in Britain has been directed at those young people who leave full-time education at the minimum age of 16 and then spend a substantial period not in education, employment, or training (NEET). This article reports the result of analyzing longitudinal data, collected for a subsample of the 1970 British Birth Cohort Study surveyed at age 21, to model the relationship of NEET status to earlier educational achievement and circumstances and to assess the added difficulties NEET poses in relation to the building of adult identity capital. It is concluded that although poor educational achievement is the major factor in entering NEET, inner city living for boys and lack of parental interest in their education for girls are also important. For young men the consequences of NEET lie mainly in subsequent poor labor market experience. For young women, the majority of whom are teenage mothers, the damaging effects of NEET extend to the psychological domain as well. It is concluded that effective counseling targeted at high risk groups, along the lines of the new UK "ConneXions" service, are needed to help young people avoid the damaging effects of NEET and make a successful transition to adult life. © 2002 Elsevier Science (USA).

Despite the historical trend in all Western societies to increase educational participation irrespective of students' social origin, the correlation between parents' education and socioeconomic status and the educational outcomes of their offspring remains a rather universal phenomenon. Although comparative studies have consistently found this association in various nations which differ in many ways in their educational systems, little is known about the mechanism behind this effect. Drawing on the assumption that career decision points are the major gateway for social background influences, we assume that similarities, as well as differences in the structure of the correlation between parents' socioeconomic background and students' school success, can be explained. Using two longitudinal data sets from the United States (N = 1425) and Germany (N = 1755) covering the school careers from Grade 7 to Grade 10, the analyses supported the hypothesis that (a) achievement information is the best predictor of career relevant decisions in both nations, (b) parents' background variables are independent additional predictors of career decision but not for actual learning progress, and (c) the assumed accumulation process of social background influences is more pronounced in the German than in the U.S. school system. © 2002 Elsevier Science (USA).

The paper relates to separate initiatives based on a common philosophy that higher education needs to be more relevant and responsive to the real learning needs of individual students and their employers. In particular, the authors describe how the learning paradigms facilitate the alignment of the career aspirations of the learner with the strategic human Resources needs of employers, how pre-existing learning is evaluated as a foundation for further learning, how learners are made more aware of their own learning, and how the cultural changes in both academia and business impact on an improved overall approach to learning and development of people. To achieve real quality of learning, it is argued, it is necessary to address both specific learning objectives and the nature of the relationship between the learner, business and academia. © 2001 Taylor & Francis Ltd.