Max Biddulph

An evaluation of the long-term outcomes of small-group work for counsellor development

Abstract A questionnaire was designed which enquired into the long-term professional applications and outcomes of Rogerian small-group and Tavistock Group Dynamics training. The 92 respondents were graduates of either a Masters degree or a Diploma in Human Relations or Counselling Studies in a university course where a ‘small-group’ module was a compulsory element of the taught course. Respondents were drawn from graduates of these one-year full-time or two-year part-time courses over a 21-year period. All respondents were involved either directly in professional or voluntary counselling, in the application of counselling skills in their work, or in training in counselling and counselling skills at work. The respondents reported no loss of learning gains over time: ascribed the application of many specific counselling skills to the small-group training process; reported on the affective component of the learning process; and provided only minimal evidence of forms of psychological damage which could be d...

Sexualities Equality in Schools: Why Every Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual or Transgender (LGBT) Child Matters

Abstract In an increasingly complex global society, schools frequently have to re-examine their understanding of the social and cultural dimensions that constitute ‘community’. One such dimension is the sexual orientation of individuals who make up this group. Historically, this has been a difficult task, given the tension that exists between sexuality and education and the heteronormative practices within schools. Consequently, individuals who identify as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual or Transgender (LGBT), are thought to be LGBT or who are connected with the LGBT community, have frequently found themselves in a marginalized and vulnerable position. In the case of young people, the consequences of this include lowered self-esteem, absenteeism, underachievement and, in some cases, suicide. Given the mantra that Every Child Matters, schools now have a strategic opportunity to formulate new responses in supporting this group. A key question in this article relates to the ways in which the dimensions of strategy can be integrated into ‘joined-up’, effective action.

Rules of Engagement: Boys, Young Men and the Challenge of Effective Sex and Relationships Education

Abstract Over the last decade, the relationship between boys, young men and sex and relationships education (SRE) is one that has been characterised by a history of problematising. One of the main difficulties lies with young mens engagement with the subject, and in this article I make a retrospective examination of recent classroom experience with young people and training with professionals who deliver SRE. In the exploration of how best to engage this client group, I argue that masculinity and sexuality are potent issues in their lives and an understanding of these helps explain patterns in young mens behaviour, sexual health and attitudes towards SRE. Autoethnography is used as a method of enquiry to produce short vignettes in which I evaluate my successes and failures with four different boys and young men in terms of engagement. From these primary data, I have distilled four key domains in the form of a framework that I offer as a springboard for researchers, policy-makers and practitioners to consider more positive implications for future practice.

Surviving and Thriving: A Small‐scale Study of the Role of Group Work Training in Developing Teachers’ Professional Practice

This paper presents two case studies from a small-scale qualitative study which the writers have undertaken. In each case, a participant from a number of years ago reflects on their memories of and feelings about the small group training component of an MA in Human Relations programme in which they had been involved. They go on to consider how they feel these experiences affected their subsequent professional practices. The writers conclude by discussing the implications of what these former students say.

Stories of self. Tracking children’s identity and well being though the school years

continues in therapy and eventually simply ‘gets better’. Each of these cases is discussed from legal, practice and therapeutic perspectives, and the roles of therapist as ‘mediator’, ‘law enforcer’, ‘protector’ and ‘enabler’ respectively are examined. By this means, the ethical, legal and professional principles and dilemmas presented in Part I are rehearsed and applied in a most informative way. The stage is thus set for the concluding part where recent developments in regard to the key elements of children’s rights, ethical choices, privacy and confidentiality are brought together to argue for therapy as providing the ‘confidential space’ in which the child can be empowered. As the authors say on the last page:

‘Queer’ and ‘Teacher’ as Symbiosis? Exploring Absence and Presence in Discursive Space

This chapter explores absences and presences in the narratives of queer men who work in the UK as educators in the 11-18 secondary phase of education. Implicit in the role of educator are professional skills enabling teachers to not merely be coaches or imparters of knowledge, but to be intimately involved in professional relationships with students and colleagues. Thus educational communities consist of a complex web of social relations in which individuals are profoundly exposed and implicated on a daily basis. This intense environment is a rich territory for considering queer absences and presences, particularly in terms of the discourses that enable and disable their expression.

Sex and Relationships Education: Humanity and Empowerment in Pastoral Care

Sexuality is an integral part of being human. Gargi Bhattachararyya (2002), in her book Sexuality and Society, argues that it is the absolute kernel of human experience that transcends all contexts, all cultural influence and any trace of fashion. This special edition of Pastoral Care in Education provides a timely examination of the role of the pastoral curriculum in the form of Sex and Relationships Education (SRE) in helping young people to acquire and explore sexual knowledge, in a way that is empowering for them. Good practice in SRE is always sensitive to the context and stakeholders in the community in which it is being delivered; that said, SRE is also a contested arena and it feels impossible in writing this editorial to make statements that will not be interpreted as ‘political’ in some way. The politics to which I refer are the politics of sexuality, eloquently articulated by Gayle Rubin (1993) in the form of the ‘Charmed Circle’ or ‘acceptable’ and ‘unacceptable’ faces of sexuality. In the 21st century, our globalised culture is impacting on our understandings of sexuality in a number of ways. Although there is a commonality about sexual experience, which enables it to cross the boundaries of time and space, nationality or ‘nationhood’ is significant in determining discourses of sexuality in any geographical location. Not only are nations geographically distinct, but they are culturally distinct in relation to sexuality. Conceptualising discourses around sexuality in this way provides an insight into the extraordinary variety that this creates. Not only will nations have culturally specific discourses about sexuality but so will regions within them, cities, districts, individual schools and social sub-groups within those school communities.

REVIEWS.: EDITOR: MAX BIDDULPH

In February 2007, UNICEF (United Nations Children’s Fund) Innocenti Research Centre, published report card 7: Child Poverty in Perspective: An Overview of Child Well-being in Rich Countries. ISBN–1088–89129–43-3 (downloadable from http://www.unicef-icdc.org/). This extensive review of literature and research, focused on 21 rich countries in the world, draws on sources such as the OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) and the World Health Organization’s survey of Health Behaviour in School-age Children (HBSC) aged 11, 13 and 15. The review scrutinised 40 indicators from the years 2000–2003 including poverty, family relationships, and health and is the first study of childhood across the world’s industrialised nations. UNICEF states that the primary objective of the review is to assess ‘whether children feel loved, cherished, special and supported, within the family and community, and whether the family and community are being supported in this task by public policy and resources’. Key criteria include data on material well-being, family and peer relationships, health and safety, behaviour and risks, and children’s own sense of well-being (educational and subjective). In its findings, UNICEF reports that: