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Teaching Assistants (TAs) play an important role in most major universities. Interest in the training and development of TAs has increased in recent years, particularly in the U.S.A. In Canada very little research has been conducted regarding the work and status of TAs. The study provides a portrait of TAs in Canadian universities: their number, roles, remuneration, preparation and training, and policies governing their duties and responsibilities. Many universities had only a limited knowledge of the number of TAs employed, their qualifications for the tasks they are assigned and their training and supervision. The need for improving TA experience is clear and the establishment of a National Clearinghouse of TA-related materials is proposed.

This study investigated the enhancement of assertive outcome via the addition of emphasis on development of a therapist-client facilitative relationship. Three assertive conditions were run for 8 wk. at 2 hr. per week. One condition concluded sessions with a 15-min. discussion, another with 15 min. facilitative interchange, the third in the usual behavioral training manner. All three used modeling, role-playing, imagery, and feedback. Significant changes in assertion were noted in all three conditions. While gains between conditions were not significant, clients, irrespective of treatment, who perceived higher levels of facilitative conditions had lower post-treatment scores of discomfort associated with assertive behavior. Results suggest support for an enhancer or additive effects of a facilitative relationship between therapist and client on change in assertiveness following the behaviorally oriented training program. Training in assertiveness was conceptualized as a two-stage process, an initial stage of realistic self-assessment and assessment of the situation, followed by a stage in which acquisition and practice predominate.

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This study compares the motivation and the quality of criticism responses of 697 undergraduates who were divided into three levels of situation legitimacy (high, moderate, and low) and two levels (top versus bottom 40 percent) of anxiety related to previous generalized assertiveness behaviours. The impact of gender was also studied. The results showed the legitimacy of the situation for a critical response (preassessed with peer hold-out groups) significantly affected participants' motivation to criticize as well as the quality of their critical responses, notwithstanding the poor quality of all criticism responses. Anxiety related to previous global assertiveness was related to high motivation but not to quality of criticism responses. There were no gender effects. Results are interpreted within an avoidance learning paradigm wherein the connotative meaning of criticism is incongruent with harmonious long-term relationships so that it is suppressed until virtually forced by the specifics of highly legitimate situations. ~TRODUCTIONAssertive behaviour has been a major focus of behaviour research and therapy. Studies examining the link between social cognition and assertive behaviour have found that high versus low assertive people differ in frequency of positive and negative self-statements (Bruch,