First-person authority and Self-Knowledge as an Achievement

There is much that I admire in Richard Moran¿s account of how first- person authority may be consistent with self-knowledge as an achievement. In this paper, I examine his attempt to characterize the goal of psychoanalytic treatment, which is surely that the patient should go beyond the mere theoretical acceptance of the analyst¿s interpretation, and requires instead a more intimate, first-personal, awareness by the patient of their psychological condition. I object, however, that the way in which Moran distinguishes between the deliberative and the theoretical attitudes is ultimately inconsistent with a satisfactory account of psychoanalytic practice; mainly because, despite Moran¿s claims to the contrary, such a distinction is still inspired by a Cartesian picture of the self. I argue that, in the light of his distinction, Moran may emphasize that an agent¿s psychological dispositions should be permeable to her decisions and projects, but is forced to reject the idea that permeability could go the other way too. I explore Bernard Williams¿ notion of acknowledgment and Simone Weil¿s distinction between two notions of necessity, in order to articulate a notion of receptive passivity which may help us to characterize this second direction of permeability. I finally outline why receptive passivity (and, thereby, the double direction of permeability) is crucial in order to identify the goal of psychoanalytic treatment and, derivatively, to understand how a certain kind of awareness may have a significant therapeutic effect

A Curriculum for Excellence: a review of approaches to recognising wider achievement

The is the report of work undertaken by the Quality in Education Centre of the University of Strathclyde on behalf of Learning and Teaching Scotland into Recognising WiderAchievements of young people both in and out of school.Desk research and empirical research were undertaken in January and February 2007. This short timescale inevitably limited the extent of the work undertaken. The views ofstakeholders were sought through interviews and questionnaires. Definitions of wider achievement have been emerging in the UK since four key areaswere identified by the DfES (DfES, 1984). These were recognised in 'National Records of Achievement' and included recognition of achievement (exams and other activities), motivation and personal development, curriculum organisation, and a document of recordthat is 'recognised and valued'. Further policy development in the 1990s and into this century raised further issues including the range of activities and variation in types oflearning, equity of access to opportunities, and challenges of assessment

Proposals to introduce regulations for mandatory training for governors and clerks to the governing body and for local authorities to provide a clerking service for governing bodies

"This consultation document outlines the proposals to introduce regulations to make specific governor training and clerk to the governing body training mandatory and to set out the scope and content of that training. It also outlines the proposals to introduce a requirement in regulations that all local authorities in Wales must provide a clerking service for governing bodies if requested" - inside front cover

How might teachers enable self-confidence? A review study

In the context of learner-centred learning and curricular reform, self-confidence is invoked as an important construct. However, there is no easily available research-informed guidance on what self-confidence means for the professional teacher. This study uses the analytic technique of Concept Analysis to review psychology and education literatures to provide a 'take-home' message for teachers. The review identifies conceptual artefacts (ideas, theories, concepts which explain, connect, predict or apply knowledge) that the teacher can appropriate in order to enable learner self-confidence. These conceptual artefacts are classified in three groups: characterising self-confidence; self-judgements of confidence; and factors that influence the development of self-confidence. The review finds self-confidence to be a robust and stable psychological construct, best promoted through teachers' attention to learners' development of knowledge and engagement in socially designed learning activities. It further finds that teachers' attention to activities which involve learners' self-regulation are of importance