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Personal and Professional Effectiveness Assignment: Spring 1998.
Diploma in Careers Guidance, College of Guidance Studies, Swanley.
Cole Davis
Self-analysis and action plan, related to gifted children in
a context of equal opportunities.
PART ONE: SELF-ANALYSIS:
Choice of subject:
My work experience and training has involved experience of a
wide range of equal opportunities issues and categories of
special needs. Within Brent and Hackney Social Services, I
worked with clients and colleagues from a wide range of ethnic
backgrounds; this work also raised issues relating to diverse
sexual orientations. I have studied gender issues, including
conducting a questionnaire survey which supported previous
research on women in the workplace. I also have experience or
knowledge of people with emotional and behavioural disturbance,
mental illness and dementia, learning disabilities, autism,
sensory impairment, and physical and multiple disabilities, as
well as ex-offenders, the sexually abused and abusing, and
children with skin disorders.
I decided to select a group with which I had little overall
knowledge or formal contact, gifted children. This arbitrary
decision, however, elicited deep emotional responses.
Gifted children: an overview
"Golden lads and girls all must,
as chimney sweeps, come to dust." Shakespeare, Cymbeline.
The identification of gifted children is problematic. George
(1992) cites the gloomy educational assessments of Beethoven,
David Bellamy, Winston Churchill, Roald Dahl, Albert Einstein and
Isaac Newton. Teachers are now assisted by checklists, to
counteract biases such as the perceived 'attitude' of some gifted
children, and also by tests of aptitude and general intelligence
(Denton and Postlethwaite, 1985). (Space precludes a discussion
of the nature of intelligence; the assumption here is that as
most measures of ability correlate strongly with 'g', general
intelligence is the primary consideration, differential intellect
to be considered here as 'aptitudes'. C.f. Guilford [1956] and
Thurstone [1938] for alternative perspectives).
High intelligence does not necessarily predict a creative
bent, although many studies settle on about IQ 120 as a minimum
basis for producing lasting creative work (Freeman, 1991).
Assuming IQ is used as a rough guide, there is little consensus
amongst schools about the level corresponding with giftedness; in
Britain, this ranges from more than 120 to 140 and above, 3% to
1% of the school population (National Association for Gifted
Children, 1991). It would seem reasonable, however, to assume a
close general relationship between giftedness and intelligence.
Modern concern with intelligence started with Francis Galton's
study of 'Hereditary Genius' in 1869. Rapid Advancement Classes
for high achievers were conducted in New York City from 1900.
Lewis Terman started a monumental programme (1925-9) in which he
studied the progress of children with IQs of 140 or above (well
within the top 1% of the school population).
Terman and his successors came to three particularly important
conclusions about the nature of high intelligence: firstly, there
is no support for the popular notion of compensating weaknesses
or deficiencies in character, stability or health (Freeman, 1991,
supports this, but notes that the wearing of spectacles is
significant!); secondly, creative and original talent is rare and
unpredictable; third, general intelligence is the most important
psychological variable currently measurable and, despite large
individual changes in IQ, "the most stable and predictive over
the life span." (Butcher, 1968).
A large proportion of Terman's subjects proved to be richly
talented, although not necessarily possessing 'genius'.
"This single study remains the most convincing
demonstration of how astonishingly well the one much
criticised variable, measured intelligence, can predict
level of achievement for decades." (Butcher, 1968).
Whilst not being a thoroughly reliable predictor of future
performance, intelligence can thus be seen as an asset on the
whole rather than a disability. Deficits are likely to be in
their environment, in parenting, social circumstances and
education (Young and Tyre, 1992).
Joan Freeman, between 1974 and 1978, studied children
identified as gifted by their parents, matched with two control
groups of children, one of equal intelligence but not seen as
gifted, the other being a random sample. Social behaviour,
frequently being described as 'difficult', tended to mark out the
'gifted' group from the children of equal ability, as did living
in unusual circumstances. "All of the children's achievements
were found to be directly related to educational provision
(whether at home or school) and to the example rather than the
expectations of their parents." (Freeman, 1991).
A follow-up study between 1985 and 1988 found that not all the
highly intelligent young people fulfilled their extremely high
promise.
"The reasons were partly due to their personal
circumstances, but also to inadequate educational
provision. However, some schools had abused their
pupils' potentials by force-feeding them for
examination honours, and most did not provide an
adequate preparation for university life and work.
Teachers often seemed unwilling to be close to their
pupils, and an improvement in counselling seems vital.
Such matters as self-confidence and personal
relationships can be as important in education as the
often excellently taught mastery of skills and
knowledge." (Freeman, 1991).
Parental attitudes, whether discouraging or over-zealous,
could lead to peculiar role-playing which might in turn lead to
unfortunate reactions from fellow pupils, including bullying, or
under-achievement through fear of failure. Cultural attitudes
may have a bearing. Impoverished backgrounds can fail to nourish
learning and may lead to feelings of discomfort or direct
snobbery at prestigious universities (Freeman, 1991). Poor
educational provision may be a factor, as well as 'force-feeding'
for examination honours.
Vocationally, 'university potential' may be the strait-jacket
worn by the very able. This may be intended to boost confidence,
but does not lead to sensible course choice for those who can do
most things well; drop-outs are not uncommon. Others may not
want university at all (wanting to engage in crafts, for
example), or may not be emotionally ready for higher education.
Unfortunately, academically gifted individuals would seem less
likely than others to receive vocational guidance. (Freeman,
1991)
Such a situation may impact upon gifted girls, who may need to
be more psychologically independent than boys to reach their
potential and may need to be made more aware of untraditional
career routes (Freeman, 1996).
Boys, however, may be more prone to family discord than girls
(Quinton and Rutter, 1985), with drastic effects upon the
achievement of individual potential:
"... distress had not acted like the grain of sand
under the shell of the oyster - none of these unhappy
children looked ready to produce any pearls of art or
poetry. In fact, they had generally achieved less well
than those of the same ability who had enjoyed peace of
mind. Though there were hopeful signs that some had
begun to grow out of their childhood problems, others,
such as some young scientists, appeared to be
entrenched in a poor self-image for life. I hazard a
guess that in spite of their innate brilliance, they
will not mature into Einsteins or Linus Paulings."
(Freeman, 1991)
Perhaps the category of interest should be 'the potentially
highly able' rather than 'gifted children.'
Personal views on equal opportunities
To begin with, I affirm my antagonism to unfair discrimination
in recruitment, working conditions and provision of services.
The bases of discrimination are normally membership of minority
or lower status social categories, but may also be the personal
dislikes of those doing the discriminating (for example,
irrelevant considerations of personality or looks).
Conventionally, however, interest in equal opportunities tends to
centre around race, gender, and selected special needs.
My challenge to equal opportunities is that the theory often
leads to either broad and complacent sounding utopias or to
narrow issue-focused views of the world. The former in practice
means that apparently caring and inclusive policies allow
injustices to be visited upon individuals in the interests of
appearing to be fair-minded; many job applicants, for example,
have attended interviews, revealing their intentions to their
current employers in the process, only to find that an insider
has been earmarked, the remainder of the shortlist existing to
provide credentials for a recruiter wanting to be seen as
'working towards equal opportunities'. Issue-focused equal
opportunities, on the other hand, allows the exclusion of those
minorities not registered by statute, policy or fashion: real
examples experienced or observed by myself have included "I don't
want to be ageist, but ...", "you're only an agency staff" and
"white members of staff"....
Perhaps the most pernicious practice to be promoted widely by
practitioners of careers guidance, management and occupational
psychology is that of networking. Given the tendency of like to
mix with like, and the most dominant grouping to be white and
middle class (and male in the upper echelons), no better designed
method of perpetuating indirect discrimination, including
institutionalised racism, could be inaugurated without a word of
protest.
The greatest improvements in attitudes have been created by
legislation to prevent victimisation and unnecessary exclusion
(in Britain, the Race Relations Act, 1976; Sex Discrimination
Act, 1975, 1986; and Disability Discrimination Act, 1995) and,
where extremities have been avoided, in specifying acceptable and
unacceptable modes of language. The success of the latter is
demonstrated by the point that some words and attitudes used in
1960s situation comedies would now be considered embarrassingly
out of date by most television viewers; indeed, the previously
pioneering concept of comedies focusing on mixed race
relationships no longer seems saleable to a media industry
dominated by viewer ratings.
As well as work still to be done in what are now almost
traditional areas, including fairer recruiting of people from
diverse ethnic origins and promotion of women at the highest
levels, we may attempt to circumscribe the tendency of people to
discriminate unfairly against anyone not protected by law.
Perhaps the move forward is to promote the achievement of
individual potential in all cases. Such a direction does not
move on a course away from gender issues (including undereducated
males) or ethnic diversity, but attempts general fairness for
those who can - at times with assistance - perform a function,
aspire to a qualification, or attain a lifestyle.
The professional challenge of the gifted:
Gifted children are apparently part of an elite, probably in
the top percentile of the population in terms of I.Q. and maybe
from middle class homes. They may still be educationally
disadvantaged (not catered for), socially disadvantaged (poor or
within an unaccepting community) and emotionally unsettled (maybe
from a dysfunctional family). Their needs may be overlooked,
however, given the current - understandable - emphasis on the
plight of those requiring the diminishing number of manual jobs.
It would seem clear that the careers adviser should be taking
into account individuals' characteristics and backgrounds - as
with all clients - including intellectual capacity. The latter,
however, should not mean an automatic 'graduate calibre'
response, unqualified by these other factors.
Careers services and other promoters of labour market
information - e.g. The Independent newspaper - should perhaps be
a little cautious in their tendency to equate the word 'graduate'
with 'high-flier'. Aspirations, motivation and personality may
militate against such generalisations, but individuals may be
become frustrated by their inability to meet what would appear to
be common performance norms. A need for self-awareness should be
included in discussions of entry into the labour market.
It is not necessarily the case that highly able clients
require additional support, especially in the face of the many
more obviously needy clients. It is suggested, however, that
practitioners and careers services should not be skimping on
assisting individuals because of their intellectual assets. A
high I.Q. does not guarantee knowledge of opportunities, mature
decision-making, or happy transitions.
Personal challenges:
Apart from the challenges to careers advisers generally, there
are personal issues which I need to consider.
Whilst bright and studious (noting Edison's ratio of
inspiration to perspiration), I would not consider myself
outstanding in terms of intellect or achievement. At the same
time, a formally measured I.Q. of 154 (within the top 2% of the
British population) suggests that I am at least potentially very
able.
In terms of bias, therefore, I must consider whether or not I
am overly concerned by the fate of the highly able. Given that I
chose this grouping as a category not dealt with in my previous
career, this does not seem particularly likely. It is
nevertheless a consideration for the future.
The opposite has been the case until now. I have failed to
consider their needs until dealing with this assignment and,
along with many others, could therefore be seen to have
indirectly discriminated. Provision of services to the
potentially highly able has been excluded from my agenda.
More plausible as a likely problem is the possibility of
feeling jealous or a subconscious desire to compete. Apart from
being less than gifted, such feelings may emerge from resentment
in terms of social class and relative disadvantage.
I come from a lower middle class background, with my
grandparents' generation emerging from the immigrant population
of London's east end. As an adolescent, I was not brought up to
be particularly ambitious. Whilst my parents were keen on me
becoming the first member of my family to attend university,
their career suggestions were either lower than my ability
warranted or were unrealistic when considered alongside my
personal strengths and weaknesses. These were the results of an
understandable lack of knowledge. (My family education gave me
one insight: the real 'Del Boy' and Lovejoy were generally not
harmless characters).
The town to which my family had moved made me aware of social
differences. At the Jewish Sunday school, my brother and I were
clearly different in terms of class and were sometimes treated as
such. I attended a secondary modern school, having failed the
local equivalent of the 11-plus, abandoned in many parts of the
country.
Within the school, I learned how to fight in self-defence and
became hardened to anti-semitic abuse, from pupils and the
occasional teacher. I was encouraged by my father to react
violently rather than to complain and became a fairly pugnacious
adolescent, who whilst not physically provocative, no longer
backed away from confrontations.
The social deprivation of a dysfunctional family has become
clearer to me in recent years through recent events and a
parallel growth in my understanding of psychology.
The writing of this piece of work coincides with the
anniversary of an event which has marred my life and that of
other members of my family. My mother's suicide led to the
resurfacing of feuds and disturbing reminiscences from various
members of my family.
Over at least three generations, acts of physical and
emotional abuse have been endemic in some of the relationships
within my family. The tangled skein came together over many
years to produce the bitter harvest of one early February six
years ago.
I have been disadvantaged compared to many other people with
similar levels of ability. In the past, this was only evident to
me as being 'different' from most of my fellow students at
university and having very little financial backing.
A modest and unconventional social background (compared to
some) may also be seen as the precursor to more direct and recent
emotional disturbance. My bereavement in traumatic and confusing
circumstances (police questioning, grandparental grief-ridden
arm-twisting, and helping to organise bodyguards for the funeral)
led to bouts of clinical depression, with some effects upon my
ability to form relationships and to hold down increasingly
demanding jobs, with ensuing financial problems tightening the
'vicious circle'.
In the year that followed the bereavement, I completed the
final year of another degree, in psychology at the Open
University, with a First Class continuous assessment average.
This occurred in spite of periods of intense emotional
disturbance (including leaving that year's summer school early).
My examination performance - never my strongest point - let me
down and I received a lower second, ruining my ambitions to apply
for clinical psychology training.
In order to strengthen my qualifications, I entered Birkbeck
College's distance learning MSc in occupational psychology via a
waiting list. Fellow students tended to be successful managers
and psychologists from respectable backgrounds. The feedback
from my own study group was interesting. I was still seen as
'different', well-liked by most, and capable of producing
original ideas. Applications for jobs in this discipline were
met with rejection, however, presumably because of my poor degree
classification and undistinguished work background (in basic
grade and junior management social care, although this does not
do justice to achievements within these posts). The prevalence
of networking in the recruitment process, most gaining contracts
through personal contacts, also worked against me.
In many respects, then, I resemble the potentially able people
who failed to surmount barriers erected by circumstance. It is
nevertheless my personal responsibility to continue to strive for
excellence and, perhaps, happiness. Much of this lies within
providing for others and 'doing no harm'.
Given the above background, it is possible that I may be
inclined to belittle - if only privately - the very real
emotional and social problems of people from more serene
backgrounds. I also need to guard against envy of people who -
sometimes with considerably less effort - are likely to do better
than me and to have a happier life. My duty is to facilitate
such an end!
I am assisted, however, by the fruits of experience: I know
the dangers of uncontrolled anger and the potential damage caused
by the exercise of various forms of power, emotional as well as
physical and am more likely to understand the feelings of others
with similar experiences. The divorcing of emotional leverage
from professional practice is one of the lessons of assertiveness
training (c.f. Murdock and Scutt, 1993).
A brief 'SWOT' analysis follows, on which to build an action
plan. Given that SWOT is generally a management tool (for
example, referring to threats from organisational competitors),
it has been somewhat amended in this context.
Strengths:
Knowledge leading to understanding and empathy with people
suffering from social alienation, emotional disturbance,
frustration, and uneasy awareness of intellectual strengths.
Intellectual ability allowing me to adapt:
Current and previous professional training and experience:
counselling skills, guidance skills, teaching/training,
psychological assessment, stress interventions, special needs.
Maturity to deal with weaknesses.
Weaknesses (or 'points for development')
Impulsive personality.
Occasional vulnerability to depression (especially January; other
people's post-Christmas blues combined with the upcoming
anniversary).
Getting older (employers generally do not support, regardless of
equal opportunities campaigns and the related media support).
Possible feelings of envy or competition, based upon similarities
and differences with some clients.
Opportunities
Fresh career start with DCG (with potential advantages as a
qualified psychometric test user and NVQ assessor).
Wide band of potential employment (colleges as well as companies,
Ireland and other countries, possible self-employment as an
occupational psychologist in further future).
Networking, if I choose.
Threats
Economic downturn (current far eastern economic downturn may have
implications for the west).
Higher education attitudes to my degree classification (London
University did not even shortlist me for a recent guidance post).
Employers' attitudes to my accent and modest employment record (a
fellow university student from the old days said I would always
sound like a barrow boy).
Some employers may consider me over-qualified.
PART TWO: ACTION PLAN:
Objectives:
a: gaining first hand experience of working with potentially able
people who need assistance;
b: using my self-knowledge to enhance such assistance;
c: linking my findings to research and theory (in that order, as
I am very much an empiricist);
d: maintaining good quality personal performance, emotionally as
well as behaviourally.
Actions:
a: casework as a full-time careers worker: possible free-lance
work as an occupational psychologist;
b: private reflection and, where appropriate (more in adult
guidance), some self-disclosure in interviews; discussion within
professional supervision and/or appraisal sessions;
c: private reading and research, including submissions to
journals; discussions in supervision, where possible and
appropriate;
d: private reflection: supervision/appraisal sessions.
Time and environments:
a: dependent upon where I am able to get a job, but there should
be opportunities within most careers guidance settings, during
and after gaining DCG Part Two: possible extension to independent
sector (e.g. tutorial schools where young people are often
uncertain of their futures) as a weekend free-lance occupational
psychology commitment;
b: as above;
c: part of ongoing supervision for occupational psychology
Chartering (part-time, over some years);
d: ongoing, in and outside of work; life-long.
Evaluations
a: assess where possible and tactfully record potential discord
in action plans (e.g. lack of harmony between ability and
personal aspirations, parental ambitions, social difficulties),
then measuring effectiveness in terms of employment, training and
job satisfaction outcomes, as well as client satisfaction with
the guidance process; the latter and efficiency, the relationship
between input and output, is likely to be carried out by the
careers service in most instances, with my contributions to
action plans, returns and audits, although I may do this myself
during future free-lance work;
b: record overviews of behavioural aspects of such work, omitting
identifiable features, in continuous professional development
(careers) and in recordings for chartering as an occupational
psychologist: the emotional aspects would generally be a matter
for private self-evaluation, except where there is evidence of
direct transference or countertransference (c.f. psychoanalytical
theory), the latter being discussed with the occupational
psychology supervisor;
c: recording in occupational psychology chartering file and CPD
(careers and/or occupational psychology); possible research
articles, which would include statistical analyses of validity,
whether or not data measures what it purports to measure, and
reliability, its general stability;
d: as b.
APPENDIX
In recognition of the relationship of this assignment to
Accreditation of Prior Learning, a few areas of course material
not selected for inclusion are now briefly discussed.
In terms of learning style, I prefer relatively linear
processes. Unlike some more holistic thinkers, I prefer
scientific reductionism and am inclined to think in terms of
cause and effect; Newtonian philosophy still suffices for most
purposes.
Freeman (1991) would argue that this is an outcome of
emotional disturbance affecting concentration, leading to the
adoption of a strategy of successive mental processing. She
assumes that simultaneous processing yields more efficient
methods; given my poor examination results, I begin to concur.
"... nearly all children from emotionally disturbed
backgrounds so often fail to develop their full
potentials. Instead, a child may exercise his or her
talents by becoming streetwise instead of schoolwise."
Whilst such toughness is apparent in my character, I have
blended this with a continued enthusiasm for learning. An
analysis of my style, using the Kolb model, suggests that I am
fairly rounded in the elements referred to.
Force-field analysis, as pioneered by Kurt Lewin, is a method
of identifying and weighing up the forces of momentum and
resistance to necessary changes. I felt that this would be of
more use in consideration of a specific problem-solving task
rather than the more general and personal issue discussed.
Johari's Window (see the work of Rom Harre) is a graphical way
of examining the relationships between the known and the unknown,
within one's public and private domains.
Transactional Analysis may be used in applying psychodynamic
principles to professional life. I do not deny the existence of
transference and countertransference, referred to as 'ego-
states', the effects of parental injunctions (Berne, 1964) and
even the existence of life 'scripts' (Berne, 1974). I do not
believe, however, that they come into play as much as followers
of Freudian psychology would like us to believe. Moreover, my
personal experiences of the use of T.A. and other
psychotherapeutic techniques within the workplace would indicate
that these are intrusive and damaging. This is supported by
Masson (1992) who considers therapy of all kinds to be an
imposition of a therapist's version of reality onto others and by
Eysenck who considers psychotherapy to be both inferior to other
therapies, such as behaviour therapy, (1960) and positively
injurious to clients (1952).
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Berne, E. (1964) Games People Play. London: Penguin.
Berne, E. (1974) What Do You Say After You Say Hello? London:
Corgi.
Butcher, H.J. (1968) Human Intelligence: Its Nature and
Assessment. London: Methuen.
Cattell, R.B. and Cattell, M.D. (1973) High School Personality
Questionnaire. Illinois: Illinois Institute for Personality and
Ability Testing.
Denton, C. and Postlethwaite, K. (1985) Able Children:
identifying them in the classroom. Windsor: NFER-NELSON.
Eysenck, H. J. (1952) The effects of psychotherapy: an
evaluation. Journal of Consulting Psychology, 16, pp 319-324.
Eysenck, H. J. (1960) The Effects of Psychotherapy. New York:
International Scientific Press.
Freeman, J (1991) Gifted Children Growing Up. London: Cassell.
Freeman, J. (1996) Highly Able Girls and Boys. London:
Department of Education and Employment.
George, D. (1992) The Challenge of the Able Child. London:
David Fulton.
Guilford, J.P. (1956) The structure of intellect. Psychological
Bulletin, 53, 267-293.
Masson, J. (1992) Against Therapy. London: Harper-Collins.
Murdock, A. and Scutt, C. (1993) Personal Effectiveness.
Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann.
National Association for Gifted Children (1991) According to
their needs: a description of and commentary on good practice in
schools. Northampton: National Association for Gifted Children.
Quinton, D. and Rutter, M. (1985) Family pathology and child
psychiatric disorder: a four-year prospective study. In A.R.
Nicol (ed.), Longitudinal Studies in Child Psychology and
Psychiatry. Chichester: Wiley.
Terman, L. (1925-9) Genetic Studies of Genius. Stanford, CA:
Stanford University Press.
Thurstone, L.L. (1938) Primary mental abilities. Psychometrics
monographs Number 1.
Young, P. and Tyre, C. (1992) Gifted or Able? Buckingham: Open
University Press.
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