THE DYNAMICS AND MANAGEMENT OF THE DISCONTINUITY-BASED TRAINING EXPERIENCE: A STUDY OF THE U.C.E.A. NATIONAL LEVEL INTERNSHIP PROGRAM

Issues in the management of the discontinuity based training experience were studied using data gained in an evaluation of the University Council for Educational Administration (U.C.E.A.) National Level Internship Program (N.L.I.P.).;In discontinuity based programs, interns are given year long work-like experience in a field, functional role, or institution relevant to but distinct from the intern's background and career interests. This is done to increase the intern's sensitivity to a field which is interdependent with his own and to support cross-fertilization of knowledge. An example of this type of internship would be placing an Environmental Protection Agency regulatory official for one year in a plant management position with a petrochemical company. In the N.L.I.P., which is the subject of this study, doctoral level interns were placed in work situations discontinuous in two major ways from their prior experience and career orientation: (a) Interns were placed in the field "opposite" to their training, i.e. special educators were placed at general education agencies and general educators at sites primarily concerned with special education. (b) Interns were placed in national level settings; although their training and prior experiences were at the local level.;Discontinuity based internships are particularly subject to two types of problems: (a) "programming" errors in which the tasks and opportunities of the internship assignments do not sufficiently overlap with the intern's skills and learning objectives; and (b) "discontinuity-shock", the unintended side effects of the discontinuity (and associated disruptions) on the intern's performance and sense of well being. These problems are studied primarily in terms of the N.L.I.P.'s selection, placement, and "transition period" management functions.;Information was gathered over three years of the N.L.I.P. through a cycle which consisted of studying the results of procedures, facilitating change based on such data, and then studying the results of these changes. Several channels of data collection and dissemination were used, including interviews, questionnaires, phone polls, and meetings. . . . (Author's abstract exceeds stipulated maximum length. Discontinued here with permission of school.) UMI.