Divya Jindal-Snape

Theoretical models of culture shock and adaptation in international students in higher education

Theoretical concepts of culture shock and adaptation are reviewed, as applied to the pedagogical adaptation of student sojourners in an unfamiliar culture. The historical development of ‘traditional’ theories of culture shock led to the emergence of contemporary theoretical approaches, such as ‘culture learning’, ‘stress and coping’ and ‘social identification’. These approaches can be accommodated within a broad theoretical framework based on the affective, behavioural and cognitive (ABC) aspects of shock and adaptation. This ‘cultural synergy’ framework offers a more comprehensive understanding of the processes involved. Implications for future research, policy and practice are explored.

Teachers’ attitudes towards inclusion in high schools

This study investigated the attitudes of secondary teachers to inclusion in schools. Three hundred and ninety-one teaching and management-level staff from 19 mainstream and 6 special schools in one local authority in Scotland completed a survey. Overall, teaching staff were pro-inclusion, conditional on adequate support and resources. There was a significant gender difference, with female teachers being more inclusive than their male colleagues. Head Teachers (School Principals) were the most inclusive group overall, followed by Deputy Head Teachers (Vice-Principals). Both were significantly more inclusive than teachers. There was no significant difference between practical and non-practical subjects, but there were differences between departments, with the Special Needs/Support for Learning department being the most inclusive. After the first year in teaching, there was a significant negative change in the attitude towards inclusion. However, length of service was not a significant factor in attitude. Whilst 68% of teachers indicated that they had no qualification in special education, studying for a module in special education after qualifying had a significantly positive impact on attitudes to inclusion. These findings suggest that inclusive education policies have to be more in tune with the views of practising teachers in order to work effectively. Suggestion is also made of the importance of studying inclusive education effectively at the teacher-training stage, and this finding has implications for how institutions prioritise inclusive education.

Motivation of scientists in a government research institute

Purpose – This study seeks to explore the perceptions of scientists regarding the intrinsic and extrinsic factors that motivate them and the role of management in enhancing and maintaining motivation with the purpose of identifying practical recommendations for managers to improve the productivity of scientists.Design/methodology/approach – A total of 18 semi‐structured interviews were undertaken with randomly selected (stratified sampling) scientists working at a government research institute in the UK.Findings – The scientists interviewed were typically motivated by the ability to do high quality, curiosity‐driven research and de‐motivated by lack of feedback from management, difficulty in collaborating with colleagues and constant review and change. Extrinsic motivators such as salaries, incentive schemes and prospects for promotion were not considered as motivating factors by most scientists. Promotion was not a motivator for most of the scientists and many thought that they would never get promoted a...

The importance of peer-support for teaching staff when including children with special educational needs

Policies of inclusion in schools now transcend national boundaries; but much less is known about how teachers interact best with each other in order to establish a successful inclusion environment. School psychologists cannot work in isolation and require being fully conversant with this perennially polemic topic. This article reports on a study in which 43 teachers in three secondary schools across one local authority in Scotland were interviewed on a range of topics related to inclusion. One of the important themes to emerge was the importance of peer-support within staff groups. It was found that teachers could still hold positive attitudes towards inclusion, even if the management team and heads of department within the same school were not regarded as being particularly supportive. Peer support was highlighted as a valuable component enabling teachers to feel that they were able successfully to include children with special needs. Moreover, the importance of peer support was perceived as superseding other support across the three high schools. Some implications for a possible role for school psychologists in helping to establish peer support networks for teachers are considered.

A longitudinal study exploring perspectives of participants regarding reflective practice during their transition from higher education to professional practice

This paper explores the experiences of reflective practice with a group of participants during their transition from higher education to professional practice. A longitudinal study was conducted with a group of nine students when they were on a Masters programme with a follow‐up a year into practice. The findings suggest that as students, they all considered reflective practice to be very important. After transition the importance of reflection had magnified due to the direct relevance of reflection to their practice. The methods of reflection had changed for some and had been embedded into their practice. The participants had strong positive and negative views regarding the teaching and assessment of reflection as students and practitioners. Implications for programme design and practice are discussed.

The Role of Cultural Background and Team Divisions in Developing Social Learning Relations in the Classroom

A common assumption is that students prefer to work together with students from similar cultural backgrounds. In a group work context, students from different cultural backgrounds are “forced” to work together. This might lead to stress and anxiety but at the same time may allow students to learn from different perspectives. The prime goal of this article is to understand how international and home students from different cultural backgrounds build learning and work relationships with other students in and outside their classroom using an innovative quantitative method of Social Network Analysis in a pre-post test manner. In Study 1, 50 Spanish and 7 Erasmus economics students worked in self-selected teams. In Study 2, 69 primarily international students in a postgraduate management program in the United Kingdom worked in randomized teams. The results indicate that in Study 1 learning ties after 14 weeks were significantly predicted by the initial team division and friendship ties. The seven international students integrated well. In Study 2, learning ties after 14 weeks were primarily predicted by the team division, followed by initial friendship ties and conational friendships. Although international students developed strong (multinationality) team learning relationships, international students also kept strong links with students with the same cultural background. As the initial team division had an 8 times stronger effect on learning ties than cultural backgrounds, these results indicate that the instructional design of team work has a strong influence on how international and home students work and learn together.

To Let Students Self-Select or Not That Is the Question for Teachers of Culturally Diverse Groups

When students can self-select their group members, a common assumption is that students prefer to select friends from similar cultural backgrounds. However, when teachers randomize students in groups from different cultural backgrounds, students are “forced” to work together. The prime goal of this study is to understand the impact of two group selection methods on how students from diverse cultural backgrounds build learning and work relations, using an innovative quantitative method of Social Network Analysis in a pre–post test manner. In a quasi-experimental study of 2 × 69 students, in one condition the students were randomly allocated to groups by staff and in the other, students were allowed to self-select their group members. The results indicate that students in the self-selected condition primarily selected their friends from a similar cultural background. The learning networks after 14 weeks were primarily predicted by the group allocation and initial friendships. However, students in the random condition developed equally strong internal group relations but more “knowledge spillovers” outside their group, indicating that the random condition led to positive effects beyond the group.

Intercultural Adaptation of Chinese Postgraduate Students and their UK Tutors

Student sojourners are probably the best-researched group of cross-cultural travellers, as they tend to be located together and are more easily accessed as subjects of research (Zhou, 2006). More recent research has also started to investigate the dynamics of intercultural classrooms, for example considering factors influencing intercultural interaction, including individualism-collectivism (e.g. McCargar, 1993; Liberman, 1994) and teacher-student expectations (Cortazzi & Jin, 1997). Over the past 20 years, an increasing number of researchers have started longitudinal studies to find predictors of intercultural and educational adaptation (e.g. Ying & Liese, 1990, 1991; Kennedy, 1999) and to monitor adaptation over time (e.g. Lu, 1990; Ying & Liese, 1991; Ward & Kennedy, 1996, 1999).

Child Abuse Investigation: Police Officers and Secondary Traumatic Stress

Child protection is an area of police work which has expanded in the last decade, leading to an increase in the number of police officers working in departments which specialise in investigating cases of child abuse. Police officers in this field may be at greater risk of experiencing secondary traumatic stress but there remains a paucity of research in this area of policing. Analogies can be drawn to existing research in policing and with social service workers involved in child protection. The paper finishes off with implications for police forces to ensure safe working environments and appropriate counselling for employees.

Balancing health care education and patient care in the UK workplace: a realist synthesis.

Patient care activity has recently increased without a proportionate rise in workforce numbers, impacting negatively on health care workplace learning. Health care professionals are prepared in part by spending time in clinical practice, and for medical staff this constitutes a contribution to service. Although stakeholders have identified the balance between health care professional education and patient care as a key priority for medical education research, there have been very few reviews to date on this important topic.