The impact of media representation of disabilities on teachers' perceptions

The study investigates a link between media portrayal of disabilities and its influence on teachers' perceptions of their students. By using semi‐structured interviews and questionnaires, participants (N = 8) gave an insight into their perceptions of the impact TV programmes and films have on their understanding of disability and teaching style. The findings reveal that the participants found the majority of media to sensationalise disability, perpetuate stereotypes and lack appropriate representation of people with disabilities in general. The teachers within the sample also acknowledged media as impacting their understanding, awareness and knowledge of disabilities and approaches, but they did not see it as impacting their teaching practices directly.     

高校教师教学能力现状分析及对策——以升本院校为例

教师教学能力的提升是一个渐进的系统工程,需要教师个人、管理者及学生的共同努力。教师要树立终身学习的理念,不断进行教学反思,提升教学创新能力。高校要改进教师绩效评价体系,鼓励和引导教师加大教学性投入;进一步完善教师培养培训体系,提高教师整体教学能力;充分发挥教学名师和教学团队示范作用,帮助青年教师尽快成长。     

Researching teachers' and parents' perceptions of dialogue

While there has been a great deal of research done on parent involvement and the challenges of conducting effective dialogue in parent–teacher meetings, less attention has been paid to how teachers and parents themselves perceive dialogue. The purpose of the present article is to study whether deliberative principles are vital to teachers' and parents' perceptions of dialogue. The study seeks to answer this question by initiating qualitative interviews with teachers and parents. The findings show that deliberative principles are definitively vital to the participants' perceptions of dialogue. They include basic deliberation values and procedural aspects of deliberation. However, it must be noted that the informants also include aspects that are not highlighted as core elements of deliberation, especially the importance of good relational qualities and informal talk. They also assign the professional a moderator role in parent–teacher meetings. Practical implications are discussed.     

Hyperactive children's perceptions of teachers' classroom behavior

The relationship between hyperactive behavior and children's perceptions of teachers' behavior was investigated. Particular attention was paid to two aspects of teacher behavior—acceptance and demand. An extensive literature review supported the position of viewing hyperactive behavior from a situational and an interactional perspective. The literature also indicated that children's behavior is affected by their perceptions of adult behavior. The subjects were 92 boys enrolled in 8 regular elementary school classrooms. Children's perceptions of acceptance and demand in their teacher's behavior were measured by administering a partial form of the Teacher Behavior Questionnaire to classroom groups. Observed levels of hyperactive behavior were measured by having the subjects' teachers complete the Conners Abbreviated Questionnaire for each boy. Using correlational analyses, hyperactive behavior was found to be significantly related to both variables in the directions of less perceived acceptance and greater perceived demand. The combination of these two measures accounted for 16% of the variance between hyperactivity and student perception of teacher behavior. On group comparison measures, hyperactive boys perceived significantly less acceptance and greater demand than did their nonhyperactive peers.     

Chinese teachers' perceptions of students' classroom misbehaviour

This study focuses on Chinese teachers' perceptions of students' classroom misbehaviour. A questionnaire was designed to assess teachers' general concerns about classroom management, teachers' perceptions of the most frequent and troublesome types of misbehaviour, and teachers' perceived needs for help with improving classroom management. A total of 244 responses were collected, from lower elementary to high school teachers in two provinces in mainland China. In general, the majority of Chinese teachers (65.6%) do not think that classroom management is a great concern. They perceive ‘daydreaming’ to be the most frequent and troublesome misbehaviour. This contrasts with many prior studies in Western settings where ‘talking out of turn’ has been reported as the biggest concern. In addition, Chinese teachers are eager to understand the psychological reasons behind student misbehaviour. They also suggest that the Chinese system of ‘teaching for testing’ should be reformed.     

Post-primary science teachers' perceptions of primary science education

Post-primary science teachers in Victoria were asked to express views about primary science curriculum design and implementation. They were also asked about the value of continuity between primary and post-primary science education. The post-primary teachers generally had favourable attitudes to primary science education and considered that cooperation would be useful-though it is not common at the moment. However, the data revealed a considerable range of opinion. Post-primary science teachers' views about primary science curriculum are similar to those of primary teachers themselves, but many post-primary teachers would place more emphasis on formal or textbook knowledge. Post-primary teachers see a number of systemic problems in implementing primary science education but their positive perceptions suggest the value of encouraging more structured links. The notion of continuity across the two sectors was well supported. Specializations: science education policy and practice, teacher education, school effectiveness. Specializations: science education, teacher education in science.     

Beginning teachers' perceptions of school human resource practices

Human resource (HR) management is defined as the sum of activities employed by an organization to attract, develop, and retain people with the appropriate knowledge and skills for effectively and efficiently achieving organizational goals. An understanding of the HR practices in schools is important, as the assembly of a team of qualified and committed teachers, directly or indirectly, affects the quality of instruction in general and in particular in Hong Kong, where a high wastage rate of new teachers has been recorded. The literature has emphasized the importance of each HR element in school and yet not much work has been done that attempts to link the various HR elements together, even though the complementarities and interdependencies among these practices have been acknowledged. The present study aims to provide a general picture of the HR practices in schools from the perspective of beginning teachers, using a quantitative methodology. In addition, the link between these practices and the beginning teachers' commitment was also examined. The findings confirm the complexity and diversity of HR practices in Hong Kong schools and suggest that the practices in the areas of Training and Development and Working Conditions warrant special attention as they are linked to the affective commitment of new teachers to schools.     

Student teachers' perceptions of poverty and educational achievement

This paper reports on a mixed methods study carried out within the Initial Teacher Education (ITE) programme at the University of Oxford on the ways that the course sought to frame and address the link between poverty and poorer educational outcomes. The study was concerned with the views held by ITE students on the effects of poverty on pupils' learning, well-being, and educational achievement. The paper initially explores why these questions are important, how they are framed internationally, and how they relate to current education policy, particularly in England. Data were collected from student teacher pre- and post-PGCE course questionnaires and a focus group discussion. The findings showed a tendency for student teachers to associate low achievement more strongly with family and cultural factors than with socio-economic or school factors, although there was some evidence that the thinking of some students changed during their programme. Implications for policy and practice in ITE are discussed with a view to ensuring that the social justice commitments espoused by many such courses are actually enabled more effectively to influence the learning experiences of beginning teachers.     

The development of an instrument for assessing students' perceptions of teachers' knowledge

The purpose of this study was to describe the development and validation of an instrument on Student Perceptions of Teachers' Knowledge (SPOTK) in relation to their pedagogy. Features of teachers' knowledge from the research literature related to instruction, representation, subject matter knowledge, and knowledge of how to assess students' understanding were used to generate categories in the SPOTK. The result of a pilot study with 634 Taiwanese junior high school students showed high reliability of the scales, a good factor structure, and provided suggestions to delete weak items. In the main study, for which nine to ten items under each category were generated making a total of 37 items in the SPOTK, the instrument was administered to 1879 Taiwanese and 1081 Australian junior high school students varying in grades, sex and ability levels. Reliability and validity measures of the instrument were established based on Cronbach alpha and factor analysis. After the validating process, 28 items remained in the final instrument and reliabilities of the scales ranged from 0.97 to 0.82. Comment is made about the differences between Australian and Taiwanese students' responses and suggestions for using the instrument in future research.     

Measuring teachers' and student teachers' perceptions of practice-based research in PDS and non-PDS settings

Professional Development Schools (PDS) have been established to realise supportive and stimulating environments for practice-based research activities for both teachers and student teachers. The questions investigated in this study concerned the perceptions of experienced teachers and student teachers with respect to different aspects of practice-based research in PDS and non-PDS settings and to what degree these perceptions differed. For this purpose, the Questionnaire on Teacher Research was developed. Respondents (N = 102) were asked for their perceptions of the research environment, their research motives, the research process and perceived (learning) outcomes. The questionnaire appeared to be a valid, reliable and sensitive instrument.     

CHALLENGING BEHAVIOUR: The impact of challenging student behaviour upon teachers' lives in a secondary school: teachers' perceptions

In this article, Tina Axup, an educational psychologist working in Southend‐on‐Sea, and Irvine Gersch, director of educational and child psychology programmes at the University of East London, describe a small‐scale study of teachers' attitudes regarding the impact of student behaviour on their professional lives. Anecdotal evidence within a local authority educational psychology service suggested that increasing teacher concern about student disruptive behaviour was causing significant professional anxiety. Tina Axup formulated a brief questionnaire to explore teacher perceptions of the student responses that appeared to cause them stress. Although it is difficult to generalise from the results because of the small sample size and low return, the most frequently selected behaviours seen as challenging were found to be ‘low level’, ‘verbal’, ‘work avoidance’ and ‘out of seat behaviour’. The most frequent teacher reactions were said to be ‘frustration’, ‘bewilderment’, ‘shock’ and concern about the impact on other students in the class. The key favoured coping strategies reported included behaviour management techniques, praise and trying to understand the difficult behaviour, while personally talking to peers, switching off after the lesson, taking exercise and talking to family and friends. For future help, the preferred teacher options included the employment of more specialist behaviour support staff. Tina Axup and Irvine Gersch discuss the implications of these findings and identify further areas for research.     

Exploring teachers' perceptions of children's imaginative writing at home

This study explores an area of writing that has been largely neglected – children’s imaginative writing at home. In an educational climate dominated by the standards agenda and top‐down directive discourses, this study draws inspiration from children who are creating opportunities for writing themselves and are developing agency through their writing at home. The positive approach to reading advocated in Margaret Clark’s (1976) seminal work on ‘young fluent readers’ has been very influential. Rather than reporting what children are unable to do, Clark explored the early experiences and home setting of competent pre‐school readers, posing the question: what can they teach us? Taking this lead, one of the premises of this study is that we should similarly seek to understand the experiences of young competent writers so that we can learn more about children who choose to write of their own volition outside of school. This paper presents the findings of the preliminary phase of an ongoing doctoral study. Drawing on questionnaire data, it specifically focuses upon Year 5 and 6 teachers’ views of children’s imaginative home writing, exploring problems of identification and teachers’ perceptions of their pupils as imaginative writers at home.     

教师课堂教学行为与学生课堂参与的关系——基于问卷调查的心理学实证研究

本研究通过对411名高中生进行了团体问卷调查,探讨了各类教师课堂教学行为对学生课堂参与行为的影响。结果发现：①教师的积极教学行为对学生课堂参与有显著的预测作用,其中教学技能、支持帮助维度预测力最大;②教师教学行为对不同学习效能感水平学生的课堂参与作用不同。低效能感学生的课堂参与受教师的消极教学行为尤其是不公平行为的负性影响更多,受教师积极教学行为的积极影响较少。     

High school teachers' perceptions of cyberbullying prevention and intervention strategies

Recent meta‐analyses indicate that bully prevention programs produce minimal change in student behavior. This study examined 66 high school teachers' perceptions regarding the effect of cyberbullying on students, which intervening strategies teachers would use when dealing with cyberbullying, and which prevention strategies would assist in preventing cyberbullying. Almost one fourth of teachers indicated cyberbullying does not have long‐lasting negative effects and that cyberbullying “prepares students for life.” Fewer than half of teachers favored implementing a formal cyberbully prevention program. Teachers perceived the following strategies as most helpful in addressing cyberbullying: increasing parental involvement, warning students about consequences for cyberbullying, and increasing consequences for cyberbullying. School administrators should consider teachers' perceptions before implementing prevention programs that target cyberbullying. Additionally, strategies should consider fostering greater teacher buy‐in, thus improving intervention fidelity and creating a unified effort focused on decreasing student cyberbullying. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

ESL student teachers' perceptions of a short-term overseas immersion programme

In recent years there has been an increasing demand for teachers to develop the international knowledge and skills necessary to help promote their students' global perspectives. The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government has seized the initiative to provide mandatory overseas immersion programmes for pre-service English teachers to enhance their language proficiency and cultural understanding. This study involved a group of Hong Kong English language student teachers who joined a six-week immersion programme in Auckland. The aim of the present investigation was to address our dearth of knowledge as to the impact of such a programme on student teachers, and the benefits that they could derive from it. Several obstacles that might hinder maximal benefits were also identified.