No description available.

'Would training in how to observe young children improve the child care student's ability to make objective observations? Would training improve their ability to identify the areas of development as exemplified in their observations? Could a practical and usable slide set be developed for the teaching of observational techniques to the high school child care student? How could the improvement in observational techniques of the child care services student be evaluated? These questions were the bases for planning this study. Therefore, it was the purpose of this study to develop and test a teacher-made slide set, depicting children's behavior, to be used in training high school child care services students to objectively observe and record children's behavior, and to classify the children's behavior as to the area of development exemplified"--Introduction. / Typescript. / "March, 1976." / "Submitted to the Department of Home Economics Education in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science." / Advisor: Mary Lee Hurt, Professor Directing Paper. / Includes bibliographical references (leaf 44).

Adult learning models have emerged that help social work students to make links between their lived experiences, narratives, and their developing identity as practitioners. This educational methodology involves students exploring and co-constructing their own personal and professional narratives through dialogue, sharing them within a reflecting team format. Reflecting teams emerged out of the work of family therapist Tom Andersen, and have been further developed for practitioner education by narrative therapist, Michael White. A detailed description of the learning model is provided, with an overview of the orienting principles and some guidelines for application. / The educational practice of reflecting processes is examined through a conceptual framework drawing on the ideas of Mikhail Bakhtin (1895-1975) and Lev Vygotsky (1896-1934). Bakhtin was a literary theorist, philosopher, and teacher who was interested in language, literature and human consciousness, and was fascinated with dialogue in relationship as a site of knowledge construction as well as a model for understanding the dialogic nature of human consciousness. Vygotsky was a psychologist, cultural theorist, and activist who conceptualized learning as a social process that occurs in relationship. He also investigated language as a psychological/cultural tool, and was curious about human consciousness as "inner speech." Their writings act as a theoretical foundation for the dissertation, providing a series of heuristic devices or lenses through which to view reflecting processes: individual/social, self/other, outer word/inner speech, language, monologue/dialogue, and authoritarian/internally persuasive discourse. / The dissertation includes an alternative to traditional academic rhetorical style in the form of conversations between various writers. Drawing on Bakhtin and Vygotsky, a dialogical genre is developed as an approach to engaging with the texts of Andersen and White. In developing this methodology, the dialogic form of inquiry is expressed in a conversation between Bakhtin, Vygotsky and a student persona. This dialogic genre also occurs as an extended series of conversations in the format of a reflecting process between Andersen, White, Bakhtin, Vygotsky, and a student, Mishka. The dissertation concludes with an overview of Bakhtin's exploration of moving from monologue to dialogue and from authoritarian to internally persuasive discourse, and how this is accomplished by means of the "penetrated word" and transformative discourse in the context of relationship.

M.A. (Social Work) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

M.A. (Social Work) / The workplace, as an arena for social work practice, demands a paradigm of service delivery, addressing needs on both a micro and macro level. The social worker is in the ideal position to facilitate organization development by addressing individual and environmental issues. Social workers are however trained in generic social work practice and therefore do not necessarily posses the required skills to work on a macro level Within the workplace. A training programme to train social workers in organization development therefore needed to be developed. During the literature study it was found that the ecological perspective provides a useful theoretical framework when bringing about organizational development in social work practice. Due to the dual focus. on the person and environment, the ecological perspective as discussed in chapter two, serves as the basis for a programme in organizational development. An overview of organization development, as intervention strategy, is given in chapter three. The functions, characteristics and underlying values are discussed, and the development process is positioned within the ecological perspective. The final chapter of the literature study focuses on an organization development programme, suitable for the social work practitioner within the workplace. The training model is described in chapter five and chapter six offers an overview of the research methodology used. An integrated developmental research model serves as methodology whereby this research is conducted. The training model is designed and a pilot test conducted to determine the social worker's attitude towards this intervention strategy in organizational development. The analysis of research data (See chapter 7) obtained from administering the questionnaires showed that social workers (westem Province Command, South African National Defence Force) found in-service training for social workers practising within the workplace as a necessity. Proper contextualisation of individual problems is essential to address issues on macro level. The final chapter deals with specific conclusions and recommendations regarding in-service training of social workers wtthtn the workplace. The value of a macro orientation to social work practice inthe workplace was found necessary for effective service delivery.

No description available.

No description available.

In this paper the researcher discusses the importance of specialized training for workers in child welfare who are responding to allegations of child sexual abuse in the context of custody/access disputes. The researcher has implemented an experimental design involving two matched groups of staff, equally sized, from an Ontario child welfare agency. Participants were requested to complete a pre-test and post-test which measured the priority assigned to a set of fictitious scenarios developed for the project. A training session was offered to the experimental group prior to the post-test. / The outcome data suggests that the training affected the coding which members of the experimental group applied to scenarios. The experimental group tended to consider dynamics related to the issue of custody/access when assessing the priority of response time given to a referral. The control group evidenced no consideration of such dynamics. / The researcher has included a number of recommendations within the analysis section so that future applications of similar studies may be improved. The conclusion of this study clearly states that adequate worker training is essential in order that objective, reliable, and competent service is available to child welfare clients.

No description available.

This study used a survey designed to identify content areas for preservice orientation for child care workers agreed upon by the educational community and the directors in the "trenches" where application of knowledge and theory is crucial to the provision of quality day care. The survey, devised from a review of the literature, elicited information about six content areas: Child Development, Communication and Interpersonal Skills, Environment, Curriculum, Health and Safety, and Nutrition. Participants were 88 Early Childhood Educators (ECE) and Child Care Practitioners (CCP). It contained 30 items to be rated on a five point scale. The interval scale ranged from 1 Strongly Disagree to 5 Strongly Agree. The survey instrument was field tested and revised. The responses were analyzed to identify differences in the judgment of participants concerning the content areas for preservice orientation for child care workers. A demographic profile was constructed from the data. Additional participant comments indicated the concerns of time, depth of content, identification of staff backgrounds and affordability. Collectively, the results of this study identified significant differences in the judgment of ECE and CCP groups regarding the content areas for preservice orientation training. The hypotheses were measured using parametric statistical measures--the t-test and the Pearson correlation. Only in the Child Development component was there a significant difference between the two groups. Participants reported that this area was not considered important since the child care worker needed to have this skill prior to being hired. No significant difference was found between the two groups for the other components: Communication, Interpersonal Skills, Environment, Curriculum, Health and Safety and Nutrition. The correlations between years of employment and judgment concerning the content areas were not statistically significant. The correlation between the groups and the subscales were not statically significant. The results support the researcher's selection of content areas to be included in preservice orientation and her recommendation that a preservice orientation package be developed to provide assistance to center directors who are responsible for training. States' preservice orientation requirements recommend number of hours and content. This study provides a rationale for specific content agreed upon by eminent theorists and practitioners.