The School Subjects Questionnaire was administered to 300 students (15-22years old) in Years 11 and 12 at a Brisbane metropolitan State high school.Ratings of self-concept in eleven specific school subjects and in “allschool subjects” were obtained. Factor analysis of these responsesidentified nine separate facets of academic self-concept. The hypothesisedrelationships among English subject-related self-concepts, Mathsubject-related self-concepts, Creative Arts subjects and Practical Artssubjects were not clearly obtained in this study.

The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the effect of a peertutoring program that was implemented to improve the reading skills of agroup of learning disabled children. The study used peer tutoring strategiesin conjunction with cognitive strategy training techniques to change thereading behaviours of both the tutors and tutees. Emphasis was attached toensuring that reciprocal benefits would be derived by both the tutors andtutees by sharing a task on which there was room for both to gain in skill.The results indicated that learning disabled children can be tutored bypeers who are only slightly better readers and that reading gains accrued toboth parties.

Skills deficit, anxiety, inhibition and cognitive interference models havebeen proposed to explain why people characteristically behave unassertively.Northern American professionals now use omnibus procedures based on theseperspectives to modify attitudes and behaviours associated with shyness. Theinvestigation reported here attempted to examine how effectively an omnibuspackage of procedures based on the three different models translated to theAustralian context. Subjects were young, shy, socially non-assertiveAustralian high school students. The design was quasi-experimental and usedan experimental control group test-retest follow-up design. Results of thestudy showed that subjects expressed stronger assertive belief s and hadmore internal locus of control following the intervention. However, therewas no evidence of significant change in behaviour or in self-concept. Therewas independent evidence that there may have been a “ripple” effect. Reasonsfor these apparently less effective outcomes among Australian students, incontrast with American students, are discussed.

“Tests have been misused to justify race, social class and ethnicdiscrimination as a racial minority”. (Rescheley, 1979, p. 234.)

The assessment of Aboriginal students as a racial minority is both complexand controversial. All too frequently low achievement scores on standardisedtests have placed Aboriginal students in ‘special’ classes for the mildlyintellectually handicapped or in non-academic courses (Clark, Clark &Damm, 1979; Cummins, 1980). This paper aims to provide an explanation of thefactors influencing the testing and assessment of Aboriginal students. Thepaper briefly clarifies the terms ‘testing’ and ‘assessment’; offers supportfor the proposition that Aboriginal students do achieve poorly on bothstandardised and non-standardised tests; and, most critically, discusses thefactors that mitigate against Aboriginal students in assessmentsituations.

This study examined the mutual awareness of counsellors and clients aboutclients' problems and considered the extent to which counsellors and clientsagreed about problems. To investigate these issues data were obtained by theadministration of questionnaires to 10 school counsellors and their next 10adolescent clients. Results suggested that counsellors were aware of clientproblems in 42% of cases. Clients were aware about how counsellors viewedtheir problems in 17% of cases. There was agreement between counsellor andclient about client's problems in 22% of cases. Effects of a number ofvariables on perceptions about problems were also investigated. Type ofreferral (self, other) and approach taken by counsellor did not influenceperceptions. Having background information about clients appeared to impedecounsellors' awareness about problems and degree of agreement betweencounsellors and clients about the nature of problems. Number of previousinterviews with clients and the length of experience of counsellors alsoaffected counsellor/client perceptions.

This paper explores the relative impact of four career counsellinginterventions on six outcome measures for final year students in a Brisbanehigh school. The six measures used were: vocational identity, degree ofdecidedness, number of jobs listed, congruence of expressed (occupationalchoice) and measured interests, internal consistency of expressed interestsand the occupational status of the most preferred occupation. Comparison ofpre- and post-test measures showed that for the low identity group, therewas an increase in vocational identity, congruency, and a listing of fewerjobs after the intervention. It was concluded that no changes were accountedfor by individual counselling interventions. However, there seemed to besome evidence that changes resulted from a group career guidance program inwhich all students participated. The changes noted indicated that studentsgained in vocational awareness and maturity and showed greater selectivityin career decision making over time. Differences were found between male andfemale students in career related attitudes and career choices. Severalapplications of the findings for current practice were considered includingthe use of the My vocational situation and Career information survey instruments for streamlining service deliveryand prioritising student access. The need for further research to resolvesome of the issues raised by the study was discussed.