Professional Mentoring Report Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Professional Mentoring Report - Coursework Example It is based on a sequence of questions, which could be used within an assessment relating to self assessment. 2 Self Assessment Currently I am enrolled for completing my bachelors in â€Å"Computing in Application and Support†. However, my short term objective is to complete the current semester. Furthermore, my medium term objective is to complete my degree program successfully with terrific scoring points. Moreover, my long term objective is to become a computer teacher/ instructor. However, in the current scenario, I am in the process of completing my short term objective i.e. to complete the current semester with substantial scoring marks. Selecting my current field related to computing contains certain factor that inspired me to set my long term objectives as a computer teacher / instructor. 3 Personality Profile I have a great interest swimming. I like listening to all types of music and attend a variety of concerts and shows. I love to travel and experience different cu ltures and countries. I also have a flare in learning computing technology in which I am studying in the hope to take my interest as a career. In the year 2000, I complete my ECDL certification from Castleblayney College. In fact, I experienced interaction with computing devices via ECDL. (, ECDL / ICDL for Life - European Computer Driving Licence Foundation) â€Å"ECDL sets the foundation for Certified Computer Skills with these three advancements: Communicate with friends and family   Connect with virtual communities of like-minded people through, for example, web browsing, email, or blogs Interact using online technologies, for example,  Instant Messaging, webcams, Internet telephony, or online education and entertainment† Moreover, getting through ECDL, I learnt how to utilize the Internet enabled computing devices to interact with online technologies. For example, online shopping, online banking, communicate with friends and colleagues via instant messaging, accessin g news etc. Furthermore, after being inspired by the online capabilities of revolutionary technology, I decided to enroll in a website development course from Monaghan Institute in the year 2001, immediately after completing my ECDL. In order to enhance my computing skills, I completed level 5 with majors in Information Technology from FETAC (Further Education and Training Awards Council) in the year 2008 with a remarkable highest grade i.e. Distinction. Inspiration came from personal interest in computing technologies. Furthermore, high scores in level 5 motivated me enroll in FETAC level 6, majoring in Advanced IT and Business Administration. The FETAC level 6 was completed in the year 2009. Moreover, in the same year I was enrolled for a degree program. However, my work experience is contradicting as compared to my education in computing technologies, I maintained a pace for practicing computing along with business administration. There were many options available for me, but the reason for choosing computing technologies is only because of the inspiration from revolutionary computing technologies with new inventions. As I learn more and more, it becomes more interesting for me that also suits my â€Å"self motivation† factor. 4 Self Analysis 4.1 Passion Without passion, it is unattainable to become a terrific teacher. If I do not uncover subjects overwhelming, how can I foresee my students to? This is not a significant issue, but worth mentioning, as still it is always vital to accentuate. I have a passion for learning

Assisted Suicide Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Assisted Suicide - Essay Example A suitable way to deal with the matter is increased participation and involvement of the government in the cases of assisted suicide, to discourage the patient and the families from going for assisted suicide and provide them with medical help and resources to reduce the load on the patient and the family. Why Assisted Suicide should be Illegalized There are innumerable justifiable and reasonable arguments against assisted suicide. Firstly, it is a murder from the religious perspective. Secondly, there are many past cases in which the family members regret having led the patient to assisted suicide. Thirdly, there are always chances of recovery. Proponents of the assisted suicide criticize the illegalization of assisted suicide considering it driven by the religious beliefs of the people in power. However, â€Å"the most current opposition coalitions include many people and organizations whose opposition is based on their progressive politics. Among those are disability rights group s; many nationally prominent disability rights organizations oppose the legalization of assisted suicide† (â€Å"Why Assisted Suicide†). We live in a democratic society where everybody has a right to live. In this context, assisted suicide is subjugation of the rights of the person who is being killed. Even if the consent of the patient is involved, it mostly happens because of the family pressure upon the patient. In an attempt to get free from their responsibility, family members tend to induce negative feelings and emotions in the patient that lead him/her to opting for the assisted suicide. Brian Johnston is an anti-euthanasia activist. In his book, he writes, â€Å"In addition to their own emotional needs, it is the family and friends, more than anyone else, who will influence the mood and mindset of the patient. They may, even unwittingly, reinforce negative thoughts and attitudes.† (Johnston 17). In a vast majority of cases, assisted suicide of a family me mber leaves the rest of the family particularly the parents with a life-long trauma and guilt. They are not able to forgive themselves for being so selfish at a point in time back in their life when they got rid of their loved one when even the personal consent and will of the deceased was not involved. In certain cases, assisted suicide of one family members leads to subsequent suicides committed by the guilty conscious family members. According to a research conducted by the UK Voluntary Euthanasia Society (VES) in 2003, at least 30 per cent of the suspects of assisted suicide commit suicide. Deborah Annetts, the chief executive of VES says that the number of sufferers is much greater than the 30 per cent statistic of the suicide committers (â€Å"Impact of Euthanasia†). Proposal to Reduce the Cases of Assisted Suicide The government should form a committee to look after the cases of assisted suicide to make sure that most of the patients are saved from being killed. The go vernment should deem all such cases of assisted suicide illegal in which the consent of the patient is not involved. In cases where the consent of the patient is involved, once the family as well as the patient have given their consent to go for the assisted suicide, the case should be referred to the committee. The committee should extend help to the patient to make him/her aware of the possible effects of assisted s

Quantum Optical Model Nonintegrability Quantum Fluctuation

Quantum Optical Model Nonintegrability Quantum Fluctuation Nonintegrability and quantum fluctuations in a quantum optical model Nilakantha Mehera and S. Sivakumarb Abstract Integrability in quantum theory has been defined in more than one ways. Recently, Braak suggested that a quantum system is integrable relating the number of parameters required to specify the eigenstates and the number degrees of freedom (both discrete and continuous). It is argued that the dependence of uncertainty product of suitable operators on the atom-field interaction strength is distinctly different for the integrable and nonintegrable cases. These studies indicate that the uncertainty product is able to identify the nonintegrable systems from the integrable ones in the context of this new definition. Introduction A classical dynamical system with n degrees of freedom (DOF) is integrable, Liouvillean integrable to be precise, if there are equal number of suitable constants of motion (COM) that have vanishing Poisson bracket among themselves and with the Hamiltonian1.. Otherwise, the system is nonintegrable. While this definition is based on a sound mathematical footing, the situation in quantum dynamics is not very clear, essentially arising from the difficulty in defining or identifying DOF in quantum theory2. One possibility is define integrablity by the existence of sufficient number of observables which commute with the Hamiltonian and pair-wise commute among themselves. However, this is wrought with difficulties as it may not be possible to arrive at classical limits of some quantum systems. One such example is the case of a single two-level atom interacting with a single mode of the electromagnetic field. The former is a discrete DOF (finite dimensional Hilbert space) and the later is a continuous DOF (infinite dimensional Hilbert space). While the continuous DOF, namely, the electromagnetic field, has a proper classical limit, the two-level atom does not have a suitable classical limit. According to a new definition introduced by Braak, a system is integrable if the number of parameters required to specify the eigenstates of the Hamiltonian is equal to the sum of the number of discrete DOF and continuous DOF2. This definition does not involve the existence of constants of motion, though all such cases are covered by this definition. In this new definition of integrability, some of the nonintegrable systems based on the Liouvillean definition become integrable. A simple example of such a system is the Rabi model describing the interaction between a two-level atom and a single mode of the electromagnetic field with Hamiltonian3; (1) Here, are Pauli matrices, is the atomic transition frequency, () denote the annihilation (creation) operators of field with frequency. is the atom-field coupling constant. This Hamiltonian has only one COM, namely itself. Since there are two DOF, the field and the two-level atom, the Hamiltonian is nonintegrable in the sense of Liouville. However, exploiting the parity symmetry in , the system has been shown to be integrable2. Another interesting case is the rotating wave approximation of , yielding the well known Jaynes-Cummings model4,5: (2) This Hamiltonian has two COM, the Hamiltonian itself and the operator for the number of excitations . Existence of these two COMs renders the Hamiltonian integrable. The eigenstates are labelled by two parameters,an integer n corresponding to the number of excitations and the total energy. Also, both the Hamiltonians and exhibit level-crossings of the eigenvalues as the interaction strength g is varied, which is an indication that the models are integrable2. Level-crossing refers to the phenomenon where in the eigenvalues depend on the interaction strength g in such a way that the eigenvalues corresponding to two different eigenstates become degenerate at a specific values of g and reverse their order for other values of g. Nonintegrable Model : An interesting modification to to make it nonintegrable is to break the à ¯Ã‚ Ã… ¡2 symmetry by adding and this leads to; (3) Within the scope of the Braak’s definition of integrability, this model is integrable only when ÃŽ µ is an integral multiple of ω/2. This is also borne out by the existence of level crossings as shown in Fig.1. This criterion is sufficient for nonintegrability. We assume resonance . For the results presented here, it is assumed that =1 and ω=1. In Fig. 1, the absence or presence of level-crossing indicates respectively the nonintegrability or integrability of the Hamiltonian . Fig.1.Energy level (En) as a function of g for different à °Ã‚ Ã…“â‚ ¬. Level crossing occurs if à °Ã‚ Ã…“â‚ ¬=0 and 0.5 indicating integrability. No level crossing if à °Ã‚ Ã…“â‚ ¬=0.3, indicating nonintegrability. Inset shows larger view of level crossing. A pertinent question in this context is to know those features that distinguish a nonintegrable atom-field system from an integrable one. One answer to this query appears to be that uncertainty product of a pair of suitably defined operators show markedly different characteristics. Since the system is nonintegrable, it is formidable to construct an analytical solution. Therefore, extensive numerical experimentations have been carried out and the results are presented here which support the claim stated above. Nonintegrability being a feature of the Hamiltonian, it is natural to expect that the eigenstates carry signatures revealing this feature. To explore this, we define two self-adjoint operators of the two-level atom, , , where () is the atomic raising (lowering) operator. The commutation relation implies that the value of the product of uncertainties lies between 0 and 1/2. The uncertainty relation of above operators is . whereis expectation value in any eigenstate. In Fig. 2, the uncertainty product is plotted as a function of the atom-field interaction strength for different values of à °Ã‚ Ã…“â‚ ¬: à °Ã‚ Ã…“â‚ ¬= 0, 0.5 and 1.0 corresponding to the integrable case and a few other values of à °Ã‚ Ã…“â‚ ¬ corresponding to nonintegrable case. It is seen that as the parameter g is increases, the uncertainty product attains its maximum allowed value of  ½ for the integrable cases. On the other hand, for the nonintegrable cases the uncertainty product falls below the limit of  ½. In order to establish that the uncertainty product is very sensitive to the nature of the the integrable and nonintegrable cases, the plots corresponding to values of à °Ã‚ Ã…“â‚ ¬ very close to integrable cases have been chosen. Fig.2.Uncertainty product () as a function of the atom-field coupling constant g. Different plots correspond to different values of à °Ã‚ Ã…“â‚ ¬: integrable cases: à °Ã‚ Ã…“â‚ ¬=0, 0.5 and 1.0, nonintegrable cases: à °Ã‚ Ã…“â‚ ¬=-0.01,0.01, 0.49,0.51,0.2 and 0.4. In any plot, the uncertainty is plotted for the eingenstates corresponding to the first fifty eigenvalues. For instance, in the second row in Fig. 2, the sudden change in the nature of uncertainty product as à °Ã‚ Ã…“â‚ ¬ assumes values 0.49 (nonintegrable), 0.5 (integrable) and 0.51 (nonintegrable) respectively are shown. In order to bring out the features more clearly, the probability distribution of the uncertainty products in different eigenstates are shown in Fig 3 corresponding to the respective figures in Fig. 2. The sharply peaked probability distribution indicates integrability. Fig.3. Probability distribution of the uncertainty product for all the eigenstates for a particular value of g, chosen to be 1.2 here. Any higher value of g yields the same results. Summary Identification of nonintegrability in an interacting atom-field system is possible by the concentration of uncertainty product near a particular value as the atom-field interaction strength is increased. This feature seems to be related closely to the nonintegrability, also supported the absence of level crossings. This feature has been found to be able to identify nonintegrability in many other models that have been studied. In essence, suitable uncertainty product is able to identify nonintegrability, which is often difficult to establish analytically or numerically. Nevertheless, our analyses raise some important questions for which answers are to be found: Is it possible to arrive at the existence of this feature using only the definition of nonintegrability used here? Given a Hamiltonian, how to identify the correct observables whose uncertainty product will concentrate as the interaction strength is increased? How to extend this idea if the number of atoms is larger? References: M.V. Berry and M. Tabor, Proc. R. Soc. A 356, 375 (1977). D.Braak, Phys.Rev.Lett. 107, 100401(2011). I. I. Rabi, Phys. Rev. 49, 324 (1936); 51, 652 (1937). E. T. Jaynes and F.W. Cummings, Proc. IEEE 51, 89 (1963). C.Gerry and P.L. Knight, Introductory Quantum Optics (Cambridge University Press, UK, 2005).

Discovering Books :: essays research papers

Richard Selzer / Discuss how reading books changes my life Richard Wright, in his essay â€Å"Discovering Books,† explains how reading books changed his outlook on life and eventually his life itself. The first book that widened his horizons was an overtly controversial book by H. L. Mencken. I have a story not so dissimilar from his. Coming out of High School, I had in my possession the perspective that I knew everything. So I started, straight off the bat, working in a variety of menial jobs, which would have lead me to a dead end, for as the good jobs in today’s society required college degrees. So, after working for two years with a white-collar full of frustration, I decided it was time to take matters into my own ink-stained, carpal tunnel syndrome-stricken hands. I immediately gave my two-weeks notice, and pontificated about going to college. Headed along the yellow brick road towards the registration office, I was intercepted by my malevolent manager, the â€Å"Ineffable John† as he was called by my fellow co-workers, and he said unto me, â€Å"Michael, you don’t want to go to college, stay here and you shall have bestowed upon your unworthy head all which you need to know. Here, fill up my coffee cup.† With his words still echoing in my mind, I wanted to sprint down the hallway, pole-vault over the cubicle prisons, hurdle the water ration cooler, and dive through the double-paned sliding glass doors. This spectacular display of athletic ability would have been terrific, but the ball and chain still shackled to my ankles would have slightly hindered my escape. One week after my pre-resignation notice and John’s wise words of discouragement, my manager’s secretary, Mary, who just had a baby earlier that day but wouldn’t take unpaid sick leave, approached me and said, â€Å"Don’t listen to John, college is a sure ticket to get out of this galley, otherwise you’ll end up having a baby and coming to work on the same day because this company doesn’t provide maternity leave.† A week later I was walking out the double-paned sliding glass doors and into college life. In the counselor’s office, my counselor advised me towards taking a psychology class, seeing as it is a requirement for an AA degree, and because I did not know what sort of degree I wanted at the point. So, I agreed to take the class. Bob Rice was the eccentric instructor of this introduction to the wonderful religion of psychology.

Effectiveness of EL interventions for facilitating children’s social and emotional development

1.Introduction The aim of this paper is to present a critical evaluation of the effectiveness of interventions focused on emotional literacy to facilitate children’s social and emotional development. To complete this aim, the first section will describe the cognitive theories of Piaget (1929) and Vygotsky (1986) in regards to child development and present the current understanding of the concept of emotional literacy (EL). The second section will present a critique of studies that initiated EL interventions for children and discuss their results in light of the two aforementioned theories. The last section of this essay will present the final concluding remarks and recommendations for efficient EL interventions. 2.Theories of Cognitive Development in Children Cognition is defined as the study of processes involved in the correct understanding and the correct interaction with the environment. Hence, cognition encompasses all these cognitive processes, attempting to explain ways in which humans understand their world. A total of seven of these processes (perception and memory, thinking and knowing, learning, reasoning, using language and problem solving) have been described in the study of cognitions (Palaiologou, 2016). Two of the most eminent cognitive psychologists, Jean Piaget (1929) and Lev Vygotsky (1986), developed two very distinct theories with regards to the way in which children attain development. Piaget argued that children attained development through various stages by which they construct knowledge (the so called schema). The schema would change according to the age of the child, as they would begin to perceive the environment in different ways. For example, teaching children letters and numbers at one schema and reading and writing at another. Thus Piaget set a strong emphasis on the environment in which the child grew up, as a strong contributor to his/her development. Reminiscence of this theory can be seen today in practical terms, where school environments are adapted to suit the learning needs of children of various ages (Saracho, 2012; Palaiologou, 2016). Vygotsky (1986), on the other hand, did not view child development as an individual process which resulted from environmental interaction, but as the result of social interaction (Justice and Sofka, 2010). The researcher introduced the term zone of proximal development to signify actions that the child can learn from others and the zone of actual development to signify actions that the child can maste (Justice and Sofka, 2010)r. From this perspective, Vygotsky (1986) argued that the process of learning is characterized by a partnership between the child who learns and the adult who substantiates the learning needs of the child through social interaction (Justice and Sofka, 2010). Currently, in the most classroom environments, the cognitive model of Piaget (1929) is used, in which children pass through development stages that are mandatory. However these stages cannot be correlated with children who, under social cultural influence, have to acquire behaviours that their counterparties only acquire later in life. For example some children may learn reading and writing earlier than their counterparties. In this regard, Biddulph (1995) makes a connection between failure in cognitive tasks at an early age and aggressive behaviour among children in primary schools arguing for the importance of EL. In Piaget’s model, emotional literacy is disregarded in favour of cognitive literacy, which leaves children exposed to negative emotions and subsequent problematic behaviour (Sherwood, 2008). At this point, it is important to explain the notion of EL. This is defined as a set of skills that encompass the ability to recognise, comprehend, manage and express appropriately emotions. EL is also referred to as emotional knowledge (Park and Tew, 2007). Other definitions of this concept describe it as the practice of thinking collectively and individually about the way in which emotions shape actions and use this understanding for attaining an enhanced thinking capacity (Park and Tew, 2007). One other possible definition of this term describes EL as a process of interaction by which a better understanding of personal and collective emotions is achieved. This understanding of emotion is then used to inform actions (Park and Tew, 2007). Social and emotional developments in children have been connected with EL as well as with academic achievement as many of the skills need for attaining academic success are similar with skills that come with EL (Brian, 2006). These include the use of language, cooperation with teachers and peers as well as being able to listen. At the same time, EL promotes a safe and caring environment for children in which positive relations are established which in return provide emotional security to children and help them reach their developmental potential (Brian, 2006). 3.EL Interventions Several EL interventions that aim to achieve child social and emotional development have been implemented. These will be discussed in the following sections. From the literature, studies testing their efficiency have been extracted. According to the setting and approach used by these interventions, three types of EL interventions have been distinguished: EL interventions under the form of educational programmes, EL interventions that focused on parental involvement and School Based EL. The following sections will assess the efficiency of the EL categories interventions identified.3.1.EL Delivered by Educational ProgramsA pilot study conducted by Gimenez-Dasi, Fernandez-Sanchez and Quintanilla (2015) demonstrated that children as young as 2 years old can benefit from EL interventions. The study contained a total number of 54 participants who were randomly assisted to control and experiment group. Baseline measurements were taken and the intervention was applied. In this case, the inte rvention to the experimental group consisted of a 30-min session per week for a period of six months. The EL training was delivered by a teacher who had been previously trained in this procedure. Anova analysis of the two groups showed that the intervention group had higher scores in affective knowledge and social competence but both group maintained roughly the same level of emotional regulation capacity (Gimenez-Dasi, Fernandez-Sanchez and Quintanilla, 2015). The authors conclude that this intervention was efficient, at least in part, in improving EL in children as young as 2 years old. A similar population was studied by Camil et al. (2010) who conducted a meta-analysis study of 123 comparative interventions with EL and control groups for pre-school children. In the selected studies the EL intervention was delivered either by direct intervention in a pedagogical manner or via inquiries which set a stronger emphasis on student participation. The authors found thatEL interventions which focused on cognition tend to have a descending effect through time. Simply put, the effects did not last. Direct intervention EL showed some positive effects for cognition yet individualisation had a more significant impact. Burger (2010) also argues that EL intervention programs have some short-term and long-term effects even for children from disadvantaged backgrounds. Going back to the theories of Piaget and Vygotsky it can be argued that quality social interactions aids child development even under an improper economic environment, hence Vygotsky approach of information transfer s eems more efficient for EL. Another study conducted by Humphrey et al. (2010) with children in the age group of 6 to 11 years old noted that EL has been attained and maintained by children seven weeks following the intervention. Similar to the methodology used by (Gimenez-Dasi, Fernandez-Sanchez and Quintanilla (2015), Humphrey et al. (2010) divided the 253 children participating in the study in control and intervention groups. The conclusions of this study have demonstrated improved EL skills in children when data was analysed from self-reporting questionnaires, but the same results were not present when self-reporting questionnaires from parents and students were assessed (Humphrey et al.,2010). This renders questionable the efficiency of the intervention, especially since the duration of the programme was only 7 weeks and data was collected under the influence of participant reporting bias by self-reporting questionnaires. Liew (2012) argues that self-regulatory interventions that aim at achieving social and emotional development need to be administered in conjunction with temperament-based frameworks. In other words, cognition and learning comes easier when there is a self-regulatory mechanism already in place. As this author argues, separating the two does not provide long lasting EL effects (Liew, 2012). One way to analyse this statement is to assume that EL interventions in schools may be more successful as they will encompass both cognitive as emotional development. The next section will analyse these aspects.3.2.EL School InterventionsOne such study (Brown and Aber, 2011) analysed results upon delivering an intervention consisting of social-emotional learning with literacy development for children’s social, emotional, behavioural, and academic functioning. The intervention lasted for two years, with 1,184 children from 18 elementary schools taking part in this experiment. As with the previ ous two studies discussed (Gimenez-Dasi, Fernandez-Sanchez and Quintanilla 2015; Humphrey et al., 2010) baseline measurements were taken and children were randomly assigned to the intervention or control group. Two years after the intervention, children in the intervention group noted improvements in self-report of hostile attribution bias and aggressive interpersonal negotiation strategies. Lower levels of depression have also been recorded in this group. Teachers in the participating schools also reported less instances of aggressive behaviour, higher attention skills and higher social competent behaviour in these children (Brown and Aber, 2011). Denham and Brown (2010) discuss the notion of Social–emotional learning (SEL) and its possibility to aid child social and emotional development through an integrated framework (Appendix 1) that encompasses school, parents and peers for aiding achieving development. At the same time, the authors link SEL with academic success and note that this model may be adjusted to a variety of variables which would suit the child’s development needs (i.e. student teacher interaction or child parent interaction) (Denham and Brown, 2010). Given that the framework accounts for a the main relationships that are defined by social interaction, by the skills needed to obtain positive interaction and by accounting for the environment and self-regulatory mechanisms, it can be argued that its application may be highly effective. Nevertheless, due to its complex nature, the framework may also be difficult to apply and may also require high levels of cooperation between children, parents and te achers for it to be implemented. Durlak et al. (2011) conducted a meta-analysis study researching the effects of SEL in various schools. A total number of 270,034 participants were accounted for from the 213 analysed studies. The participants were followed up from kindergarten through high school. By contrast with control groups, children that were involved in SEL programs showed significant improvements in attitudes, social skills as well as emotional skills. Additionally, academic performance and behaviour were also improved by 11 percentile-point gain in contrast to control groups. Upon analysing the results, Durlak et al. (2011) concluded that the most successful SEL programs focus on four distinct areas, combining them for attaining optimal results. These are strategies that include emotion, behaviour, cognition and communication. As the authors argue, EL programmes which do not include all these components may achieve only short term benefits and may also be less successful. Kramer et al. (2009) obtained similar results in a qualitative study design involving 67 student participants and 67 parents/caregivers. The implemented SEL strategy was delivered via a new curriculum named Start Strong. The programme was developed two years prior to this study, and included various EL strategies including behavioural and cognitive tasks (Merrell et al., 2007). Kramer et al. (2009) investigated not only the effects of this curriculum for SEL but also potential barriers to implementation of such programs in schools and the support provided by local educational authorities. Based on the analysis of the collected information, the authors concluded that there were statistically noticeable improvements in child behaviour and emotional skills. These effects were maintained in the 6-week follow-up measurements. The authors also identified barriers to implementation, such as limited understanding of the programme, lack of interest and limited resources delivered by local au thorities.3.3.Parental InvolvementOther researchers followed the lines of the theory developed by Vygotsky in regards to exploiting the notion of zone of proximal development. Thus, a series of studies investigated the effects of parental involvement for child EL. Sheridan et al. (2010) argue that parental engagement is connected with a series of adaptive skills in children who are in the pre-school age group. The authors conducted a randomised control trial with a longitudinal approach using parental involvement as an EL strategy. A total number 220 children participated in the research and data was collected for a period of four years. The authors noted that significant differences were observed between the control and the intervention group in self-control, aggression and anger and other behavioural problems. Furthermore, differences were also noted in initiative behaviour, attachment and anxiety and withdraw behaviours. While the authors concluded that parental involvement play s a significant role in child development of emotional and social skills and overall EL, Sheridan et al. (2010) also note that this area needs further exploration. In a similar study conducted in Australia, Havighurst et al. (2014) analysed the effectiveness of EL intervention that involved parents and teachers for children with severe behavioural issues. Professionals delivering the intervention had background training in EL while parents involved in the experimental group were trained via the Tuning in to Kids (TIK) method, developed by Havighurst et al. (2009). Positive results of using this tool for training parents in being more emotionally attentive with their children have also been reported by Wilson et al. (2012). The results obtained by Havighurst et al. (2014) in measuring the real world effects of the TIK intervention as an EL strategy showed that children of parents who attended TIK obtained significant behavioural improvements, including higher levels of behavioural control, social positive interaction, empathy and better emotion understanding. 4.Conclusion Based on the studies analysed in regards to EL interventions, a series of conclusions can be drawn. Initially it is important to point out that almost none of the EL strategies follow the approach of Paige in regards to environmental implications for development and stages of learning. However, some notes to different age groups and the effects of the EL strategy were made. In this regard, Gimenez-Dasi, Fernandez-Sanchez and Quintanilla (2015) showed that children as young as two can obtain some benefits from EL, yet the small age may be a factor for which behavioural control was not achieved. Moreover, if looking at programme interventions and school-based interventions, it is notable that these studies focused on bringing in a professional or training a professional to teach children EL. This in return implies that Vygotsky theory of knowledge transfer from adults to children is the preferred approach for EL. This becomes particularly evident in EL strategies that aim for parenta l involvement, where children of parents who are taught to be more emotionally aware of their child’s social and developmental needs, obtain positive results in EL. As it was noted, interventions that are delivered with focus on only one area (behaviour, emotion, cognition and communication) do not bring efficient or lasting effects, especially if they are delivered for a short period of time and if there is little interest or understanding of the intervention (Liew, 2012)Moreover, some frameworks are extensively complex and their complexity may act as a barrier for implementation. Effective EL strategies must begin early, preferably in the pre-school period especially considering that good EL plays a strong part in cognitive capacity. Furthermore, effective EL interventions must include all four areas of development and should be relatively easy to apply and understand. Also, effective EL strategies must be implemented over an extensive period of time and benefit from parent al involvement. References Biddulph, S. (1995). Manhood: An action plan for changing men’s lives (2nd ed.). Sydney: Finch Publishing. Burger, K. (2010). How does early childhood care and education affect cognitive developmentAn international review of the effects of early interventions for children from different social backgrounds. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 25(2), 140–165. doi:10.1016/j.ecresq.2009.11.001 Camilli, G., Vargas, S., Ryan, S., & Barnett, W. S. (2010). Meta-Analysis of the Effects of Early Education Interventions on Cognitive and Social Development. , 112(3), 579–620. Denham, S. A., & Brown, C. (2010). â€Å"Plays nice with Others†: Social–Emotional learning and academic success. Early Education & Development, 21(5), 652–680. doi:10.1080/10409289.2010.497450 Durlak, J. A., Weissberg, R. P., Dymnicki, A. B., Taylor, R. D., & Schellinger, K. B. (2011). The impact of enhancing students’ social and emotional learning: A Meta-Analysis of school-based universal interventions. Child Development, 82(1), 405–432. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8624.2010.01564.x Gimenez-Dasi, M., Fernandez-Sanchez, M., & Quintanilla, L. (2015). Improving social competence through emotion knowledge in 2-Year-Old children: A pilot study. Early Education and Development, 26(8), 1128–1144. doi:10.1080/10409289.2015.1016380 Havighurst, S. S., Duncombe, M., Frankling, E., Holland, K., Kehoe, C., & Stargatt, R. (2014). An emotion-focused early intervention for children with emerging conduct problems. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 43(4), 749–760. doi:10.1007/s10802-014-9944-z Havighurst, S. S., Wilson, K. R., Harley, A. E., & Prior, M. R. (2009). Tuning in to kids: An emotion-focused parenting program-initial findings from a community trial. Journal of Community Psychology, 37(8), 1008–1023. doi:10.1002/jcop.20345 Humphrey, N., Kalambouka, A., Wigelsworth, M., Lendrum, A., Lennie, C., & Farrell, P. (2010). New beginnings: Evaluation of a short social–emotional intervention for primary?aged children. Educational Psychology, 30(5), 513–532. doi:10.1080/01443410.2010.483039 Jones, S. M., Brown, J. L., & Lawrence Aber, J. (2011). Two-Year impacts of a universal school-based social-emotional and literacy intervention: An experiment in Translational developmental research. Child Development, 82(2), 533–554. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8624.2010.01560.x Justice, L. M., & Sofka, A. E. (2010). Engaging children with print: Building early literacy skills through quality read-alouds. New York: Guilford Publications. Kramer, T. J., Caldarella, P., Christensen, L., & Shatzer, R. H. (2009). Social and emotional learning in the kindergarten classroom: Evaluation of the strong start curriculum. Early Childhood Education Journal, 37(4), 303–309. doi:10.1007/s10643-009-0354-8 Liew, J. (2012). Effortful control, executive functions, and education: Bringing self-regulatory and social-emotional Competencies to the table. Child Development Perspectives, 6(2), 105–111. doi:10.1111/j.1750-8606.2011.00196.x Matthews, B. (2005). Engaging education: Developing emotional literacy, equity and co-education. Maidenhead, England: Open University Press. Merrell, K. W., Parisi, D. M., & Whitcomb, S. A. (2007). Strong Start–Grades K-2: A Social and Emotional Learning Curriculum. Journal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics, 29(5), 438. doi:10.1097/dbp.0b013e31818af9be Palaiologou, I. (2016). Child observation: A guide for students of early childhood. London, United Kingdom: SAGE Publications. Park, J., & Tew, M. (2009). Emotional Literacy Pocketbook. Hampshire: Teacher’s Pocketbooks. Piaget, J. J. (1929). The Child’s Conception of the World. New York: Harcourt Brace. Saracho, O. N. (2012). An integrated play-based curriculum for young children. New York: Taylor & Francis. Sheridan, S. M., Knoche, L. L., Edwards, C. P., Bovaird, J. A., & Kupzyk, K. A. (2010). Parent engagement and school readiness: Effects of the getting ready intervention on preschool children’s Social–Emotional Competencies. Early Education & Development, 21(1), 125–156. doi:10.1080/10409280902783517 Sherwood, P. (2008). Emotional literacy: The heart of classroom management. Australia: Australian Council Educational Research (ACER). Vygotsky, L. (1986). Thought and Language. Cambridge: MIT. Wilson, K. R., Havighurst, S. S., & Harley, A. E. (2012). Tuning in to kids: An effectiveness trial of a parenting program targeting emotion socialization of preschoolers. Journal of Family Psychology, 26(1), 56–65. doi:10.1037/a0026480 Appendix Denham and Brown (2010) SEL Model. p. 655.

Bad Therapy

In the book â€Å"Bad Therapy: Master Therapists Share Their Worst Failures† by Jeffrey A Kottler it shows how other therapists use psychotherapy and how the therapists deem certain sessions as bad therapy. When the authors began this work their aim was to create an opportunity by which some of the most prominent therapists in the field could talk about what they considered to be their worst work in order to encourage other practitioners to be more open to admitting their mistakes. The authors are among the 22 therapists who agreed to participate in the project.The result of the interviews, all conducted over the telephone is this collection of short and very readable accounts. The credentials of the list of contributors to the book are impressive. In the preface the authors explained that they selected the participants because all were prominent and influential, had a body of published work and years of clinical experience. Arnold A. Lazarus, a pioneer of Behavior Therapy is among the writers. Between them, the authors alone have written over 70 books on counseling and psychotherapy. The majority of these therapists are working in a public professional life.They write books, run training courses, lecture and demonstrate their techniques to large professional audiences. They produce tapes and videos of their work. Throughout the text there are many references to the anxiety stirred by the nature of the subject on which these therapists were asked to reflect this because of the possibility of a lawsuit and laws. Each chapter is a narrative account of the conversation the authors had with the therapist who was asked to talk about incidences in his or her clinical practice which evoked uncomfortable memories, feelings of regret or guilt, or a sense of failure.Strong emphasis is laid upon what can be learned from the mistakes. I found this and the more general reflections on the theme of what makes therapy bad helpful to me considering a career in the clinic al practice. The refreshing honesty of the therapist’s accounts that gave me a sense of the tensions that arise during these sessions, â€Å"projecting an image of perfection†, and â€Å"stories of miraculous successes† (p. 189) or the â€Å"stunning failures† (p. ix). These words made me reflect on the nature of idealization and its opposite, devaluation on what success and failure means in therapy.It also helped me to reflect on the high expectations we put on ourselves as therapist to train well and to be viewed as doing a good job in the eyes of our clients, peers, trainers and supervisors. There is an uncertainty to what we view as good and what is bad in therapy. Good and bad can become intertwined with emotionally charged meaning along the success-failure road and their use is dependent upon expectations of good techniques or good interpretations. The value of the ordinary human contact with the client can get caught up in an anxiety ridden preoccu pation with the right way of doing things.At the beginning of the book, the authors state that they â€Å"tried for a cross section of representative styles and theoretical orientations† (p. x). But none of the 22 contributing therapist practices in the psychodynamic tradition. The therapeutic relationship is known as being important and the interaction between therapist and client is very much the basis of what happens in these accounts but the term â€Å"transference† is used only once or twice and not explained.The term â€Å"countertransference† is used in several places and in the context of some exploration of interpersonal dynamics but this is not explained either as a concept or as a useful frame within which to understand what happens in the emotional field between therapist and client. One of the few exceptions occurs in the discussion between the authors and Richard Schwartz (p. 51-52) in which the therapist talks about the importance of noting counte rtransference thoughts or behaviors, commenting that many therapists do not think about their own emotional responses to their clients.In several accounts, the therapist was left with a hangover of guilt or regret as a result of the bad therapy practiced. If a detailed exploration of the transference and countertransference dynamics had been possible then I suspect the focus of what was bad might have been shifted from it being a bad technique or an unfortunate intervention or maybe strategy to the kind of understanding that psychoanalytic psychotherapists are more familiar with.Also the impact of unconscious projection and introjections upon ourselves and our client’s behavior or emotional response, an example was given of this occurrence in the first chapter when the therapist, Kottler, briefly describes how he got mad at a client who would not dump her abusive boyfriend, and told her not to come back because he could not help her and then hoped she received better care els ewhere from another therapist.If a way of attempting to unravel what happened in this session were to think about the repetitive actions of an explosive situation in the client’s life during the session, the conclusion that this was bad therapy would be different. The kind of understanding that a psychodynamically trained therapist or counselor brings on some of these accounts made gave me a sense of what could happen during a session, such as Jeffrey Kottlers confession to sometimes feeling invisible and irrelevant as part of the personal process he encountered in interviewing the contributors (p.195). Both authors remarked that the contributors did not â€Å"go deeper† (pgs. 195, 197). Neither really explains what they meant by this and I suspect a similar sentiment is felt by many therapists. I felt there was a certain lack of depth and substance to the book because of the absence of consideration of the workings of the unconscious mind. The meaning of â€Å"bad th erapy† must be deemed by individuals reading the book.But in the book bad therapy means â€Å"In summary, bad therapy occurs when either the client or the therapist is not satisfied with the result and when that outcome can be traced to the therapist’s repeated miscalculations, misjudgments, or mistakes† (p. 198). It would be very interesting to extend this question of what makes for bad therapy by opening a clinically orientated debate among psychodynamic counselors and psychotherapists. What is the difference between bad practice and bad experience in psychotherapy and counseling would be a good question to pose.Both the therapists and clients may from time to time have a bad experience of each other or of the effects of our words or of feelings which cannot be thought about or adequately contained in a single moment. If we are open enough to be available to receive our client’s projections and be affected by emotions unconsciously intended to be a commu nication, we will no doubt feel the bad emotions or the mental state being projected. It will be enough to call this countertransference.If a bad experience is not able to be recognized then transforming the experience into something understandable in terms of the need of the client or even the mental state of the therapist it could become an example of bad therapy. What makes for bad therapy cannot be limited to doubtful strategies or mistimed interpretations or the wrong techniques. We are human in relationship to another and constantly affected by the emotional impact the other has on us if we are not really emotionally present to the client for some reason or if the client is using the therapist to communicate his or her experience of not being responded to emotionally.The point is that therapists need to find ways of transcending the experience so that it can be understood or changed by being given the benefit of thoughtful reflection. This may be a result of consulting our int ernal supervisor or of talking with a trusted peer group or external supervisor or consultant. Another related question has to do with the responsibility we take upon ourselves for monitoring and understanding what we call countertransference. In the book the point is made, several times, which we can all too easily label or blame our clients for their bad behavior or resistance or ability to make us feel tired, angry or irritable.Are we so focused on what the client does to us and on using this as a helpful therapeutic tool that the therapist will lose sight of their own state of mind or emotion which Freud cautions in relation to countertransference may be interfering with therapist’s ability? We need our peer colleagues and supervisors to help monitor therapists state of mind and reactions to their clients so that the ability to enter into the experience of the encounter with the client does not turn into a case of bad practice due to the absence of reflective thinking or insightful monitoring.I would recommend â€Å"Bad Therapy† to both trainees and the more experienced counselors and psychotherapists for its very thought provoking and interesting content as well as the unusual opportunity to gain insight into the mind and emotions of the practitioner at work. Reference: Kottler, J. A. , & Carlson, J. (2003). Bad therapy: Master therapists share their worst failures. New York: Brunner-Routledge.