Journal of Educational Practice and Research

The Effect of Mindfulness Program on Children’s Attention and Depressive Tendency

Feng-Ying Huang & Ruey-Woei Deng

Previous research measuring the effectiveness of Mindfulness Training for children has reported that such training can produce positive effects on their ability to pay attention and psychological well-being. This current research aims to investigate the effects of mindfulness training programs on Taiwan elementary school third-grade students regarding their attention ability, depressive symptoms, and interpersonal relationships with others.This study consisted of 34 third grade students. The participants were recruited from an elementary school in Taipei during a parent-teacher conference, and by disseminating leaflets, all of whom were randomly assigned to the experimental group or the control group. Students in the experimental group (17 of 34) attended the mindfulness teaching program for ten weeks, with each class lasting 40 minutes. The rest of the students made up the control group and attended a regular reading class for an equivalent amount of time. Both questionnaires and semi-structured interviews with children were used to test the effects of mindfulness intervention. The results from the mixed design of two-way ANOVA analyses revealed significant improvements in attention and a decrease in depression symptoms. Furthermore, children from the mindfulness group also reported developing better strategies for managing their emotions and stress, as well as better interpersonal relationships with their peers. Therefore, the Mindfulness Training Program seems to be a promising intervention program that increases children’s attention and emotion regulation.

The Effectiveness of Interventions to Improve Preservice Teachers’ Bullying Identification

Yu-Hsien Sung & Li-Ming Chen

This study aimed to investigate whether different types of interventions could enhance preservice teachers’ ability to identify bullying incidents. Participants included 427 preservice teachers in Taiwan who were assigned to four groups. The first group received a 1.5-hour training on bullying identification; The second group was given a written definition of bullying and its features. The third group received a written definition with a checklist of three bullying characteristics. The fourth group, the control group, was not given information on bullying. Pretest–posttest designs were employed in this study. The results of the mixed-model two-way ANOVA analysis indicated that the preservice teachers in the first group had significantly higher correct identification scores than those in the second group (d = .88), the third group (d = .82), and the control group (d = .91). Moreover, those in the first group had significantly lower incorrect identification scores than those in the second group (d = -.95), the third group (d = -.59), and the control group (d = -.90). There was no significant difference among the correct and incorrect identification scores of the second group, the third group, and the control group. This study suggests that administrators and policymakers should provide bullying identification training for preservice teachers, rather than merely offer the definition and characteristics of school bullying.

Applying the Deming Cycle Perspective on Pre-service Training Mechanism for Novice Professional and School Counselors in Elementary and Secondary School Settings

Pei-Shan Lee, Yu-Hsien Sung, Li-Fei Wang, & Zuway-R Hong

This study applied the Deming Cycle perspective on evaluating pre-service training mechanism for novice school counselors. First, a pilot study and field observations were conducted. Then, seven experts were purposively interviewed (Average relevant working = 20.3 years, SD = 11.1 years), adding up to 715 minutes of interview time. The result found that the current programs rarely conducted assessment and goal-setting, mixed different background participants, lack inspection for training results and curriculum planning, and need to strengthen system cooperation and learning gap. We suggested: (1)”Plan”- emphasize overall thinking and expert team, assess the needs of organizations and individuals, and set training objectives from learners and practitioners; (2)”Do” - establish a dedicated and single contact window, design two-track and blended-learning modules, flexible adjustment of curriculum structure and use case teaching methods; (3) "Check" - Strengthen training program and effectiveness; (4) "Act" - develop a standardized mechanism and create a progressive cycle.

Evolutions of the National Curriculum Assessment in England and Its Implications for the Assessment of the 12-year Basic Education Curriculum in Taiwan

Sheue-Mei Lu

The British Education Reform Act of 1988 introduced the national curriculum and national assessment in England and Wales. The curriculum was structured into four key stages, and pupils were assessed at or near the end of each key stage (ages 7, 11, 14 and 16). The school performance tables were published to help parents make informed decisions. This article aims to present an account of the development and changes in the England national curriculum assessment from its original blueprint in 1987 to the current time through reviewing official papers, documents, and related academic articles. This article also examines the current assessment projects and programs for the 12-year Basic Education in Taiwan. Based on the recent assessment innovation efforts of the 12-year Basic Education and the assessment experience of England, the author proposes suggestions for the design and implementation of the assessment of the 12-year Basic Education Curriculum as follows: 1) Establish expected achievement standards for each learning stage based on the 12-year Curriculum Guidelines. 2)Enhance the long-term trends monitoring function of National Taiwan Assessment of Student Achievement (TASA). 3)Integrate regional TASA and remedial instruction-technology-based testing programs. 4) Re-clarify the purposes of the Comprehensive Assessment Program for Junior High School Students. 5) Plan and implement comprehensive teacher assessment policies.

A Funeral Duet for Humboldt? The Rise and Decay of Humboldtian Thought in Contemporary Higher Education in Germany

Yuan-Chuan Chang

Between the middle of the 19th century and the Second World War German universities developed into top-notch centers of academia. Wilhelm von Humboldt is widely recognized as a pivotal figure in this development and his ideas have been widely influential throughout the world. Nonetheless, some have called into question the “myth of Humboldt.” In this paper, I investigate the relationship between Humboldtian thought and higher education in Germany on both the practical level and the level of university idea. On the practical level, as a result of the shift to mass education in the 1960s, the Humboldtian thought began to be eclipsed by a new emphasis on competition, efficiency, and achievement. On the level of university idea, there has long been a tense relationship between Humboldtian thought and modern science; further, the industrial revolution lent much impetus to the development of science, which has been further bolstered by institutions characterized by competition and division of authority. Moreover, institutions characterized by role hybridization tend to have an integrating influence on theoretical and experiential research in various fields, which tends to spur scientific innovation. In such a situation, Humboldt’s ideas can be likened to a switchman for steering stagnant German universities back onto the track of research imbued with the spirit of exploration, an approach which has given rise to the so-called “Berlin University model.”

The Significance of Demons in the Consultation Room and Children’s Psychological Trauma

Su-Chen Hung

The purpose of this article is to elucidate the possible implications of related trauma and demon phenomena manifested by children in the consultation room by using the con-cepts of father complex, archetype, the collective unconscious in Jungian psychology and the theoretical framework of object relations. Children in the cases in this article have all lost their fathers and started receiving treatment after having a traumatic response. When trauma occurs in children, it manifests as internal or external symptoms; the traumatic response to bereavement in the two cases in the article was presented as demons and be-ing overly attached to his/her mother. Thus, the topic of demons was touched upon during their treatment. While they originally projected fear of ghosts or love for ghost films as a defense mechanism for the pain of bereavement, after analysis and explanation, they were able to begin dialogue about their loss. To children, the significance of imagining demons lies in their introjection of their mother’s inability to mourn their father’s death. They use their fear of demons as an excuse to accompany their mother while preserving internally the object of great father and pro-jecting the object of bad father in order to display the father complex. Children internalize their father figure again by understanding their demon phenomenon.