Effects of school organizational conditions on teacher professional learning in China: The mediating role of teacher self-efficacy

Current education reforms have increasingly advocated schools to create facilitative organizational conditions to promote teacher learning. However, limited research has examined the effects of different aspects of school organizational conditions on teacher professional learning in China. Using a sample of 339 primary and secondary school teachers in Shanghai, this study examined the effects of three aspects of school organizational conditions (i.e., learning-centered leadership, learning opportunities, and cultural barriers) on teacher professional learning in China, with a particular focus on the mediating role of teacher self-efficacy as an important psychological condition. The results showed that two aspects of school organizational conditions (i.e., learning-centered leadership and learning opportunities) had significant and positive effects on teacher learning. Teacher self-efficacy significantly mediated the effects of both learning-centered leadership and cultural barriers on teacher professional learning. Practical implications are also discussed.     

Preparing preservice teachers to make instructional decisions: An examination of data from the teacher work sample

The purpose of this American study was to examine student teachers’ ability to make instructional decisions as they engaged in teaching. We examined the narrative accounts provided by 150 student teachers within their teacher work samples (TWSs). Results indicated that most student teachers were able to implement some aspects of instructional decision making, such as noting a specific difficulty with student learning and making an on-the-spot adjustment in their instruction. However, other elements of instructional decision making were less likely to be implemented. For example, student teachers relied on a limited range of formative assessment strategies and instructional modifications, and very few provided a sound rationale for their choice of modification. These results suggest that novice teachers may benefit from more opportunities to reflect and critique upon authentic learning experiences as they complete their teacher preparation programs. Finally, the TWS appears to represent a viable method for examining the instructional decisions of student teachers.     

Teacher self-efficacy and teacher burnout: A study of relations

The purpose of this study was partly to test the factor structure of a recently developed Norwegian scale for measuring teacher self-efficacy and partly to explore relations between teachers' perception of the school context, teacher self-efficacy, collective teacher efficacy, teacher burnout, teacher job satisfaction, and teachers' beliefs that factors external to teaching puts limitations to what they can accomplish. Participants were 2249 Norwegian teachers in elementary school and middle school. The data were analyzed by means of structural equation modelling using the AMOS 7 program. Teacher self-efficacy, collective efficacy and two dimensions of burnout were differently related both to school context variables and to teacher job satisfaction.     

The relative strength of relations between different facets of teacher motivation and core dimensions of teaching quality in mathematics - A multilevel analysis

Teacher self-efficacy and teacher interest are two key facets of teacher motivation that are important for high-quality teaching. Little is known about the relative strength of the effects of teacher self-efficacy and interest on teaching quality when compared with one another. We extend previous research on teacher motivation by examining the relations linking mathematics teacher self-efficacy and interest with several relevant dimensions of teaching quality as perceived by teachers and students. Participants were 84 mathematics teachers (61.2% female) and their students (1718 students; 48.5% girls). Based on doubly latent multilevel models, we found that teacher-reported self-efficacy in instruction was positively related to teacher-reported cognitive activation, classroom management, and emotional support in mathematics classrooms. Teacher-reported educational interest showed positive associations with both student- and teacher-perceived emotional support. Future research is advised to focus more strongly on the unique relations between different teachers’ motivational characteristics and relevant dimensions of teaching quality.     

Teacher effectiveness and teacher growth from student ratings: An action research of school-based teacher evaluation

Teacher effectiveness evaluations are considered an effective mechanism for promoting teacher growth. We implemented teacher effectiveness evaluations in three Chinese secondary schools over two years and (a) developed an action research framework for school-based teacher evaluations composed of five links, i.e., purpose and consensus, data collection and analysis, data interpretation and feedback, data use, and evaluation of the actions and (b) found that “school-based” instruments of student ratings have valid statistical properties, and teacher effectiveness can be regarded as a single-factor holistic concept in different schools. We also (c) analysed 2-year longitudinal data and identified changing trajectories of teacher effectiveness as an example for data feedback and use. Teacher effectiveness presents changing trajectories for different subgroups, representing different ecologies in three schools and provides insights for teacher growth. A (d) meta-evaluation of the actions shows that most teachers are positive about this evaluation, although differences are observed between schools.     

Multitasking and synchronous work: Complexities in teacher work

Teacher work is described as increasing in complexity and intensity. Reasons for this include societal changes, reformed and increased work tasks, and the changed moral and normative character of teacher work, but also teachers' experiences of doing more than one thing at the same time, and of thinking about one's work at all times. The concept of multitasking is discussed as it relates to teachers' activities. The study is based on data collected with an organizational sampling method (OSM). The concept of synchronous work is developed and discussed as it relates to structural influences, involving concepts that conflict in some respects. It is concluded that the confrontation between teacher engagement and structural and social constraints can lead to work satisfaction, frustration, indifference or ignorance.     

An ecological perspective of teacher retention: An emergent model

The aim of this study is to examine the characteristics of an ecological school culture conducive to the retention of novice teachers. Twenty novice teachers were selected randomly from 20 different schools in Israel. The qualitative research findings revealed that an ecological school culture conducive to the retention of novice teachers possesses a multi-dimensional framework characterized by categories such as organizational practices, peer communication, individual aspects, community, working conditions and teacher status. The research findings can contribute to reshaping guidance procedures and practices best-suited to novice teachers, which will ultimately aid in the retention of quality teachers.     

Achievement and engagement: How student characteristics influence teacher judgments

Teachers' judgments of student characteristics are affected not only by the characteristic in question, but also by other factors. This article presents three studies examining whether students' achievement influences teachers' judgments of their engagement (as a proxy for motivation) and vice versa. First, a field study was conducted with N = 52 teachers and N = 1135 students. Structural equation modeling revealed an effect of student achievement on teacher judgments of student engagement and an effect of student engagement on teacher judgments of student achievement—above and beyond the association of each student characteristic with teacher judgments of that characteristic. These results were then replicated in two experimental studies involving a computer simulation of an instructional situation, the Simulated Classroom, with N = 40 and N = 181 teacher candidates, respectively. The psychological determinants of the effects observed are discussed, as are their practical implications.     

General,collective, and domain-specific teacher self-efficacy among Chinese prospective and in-service teachers in Hong Kong

This study assessed two global (general and collective) and seven domain-specific sets of teacher self-efficacy beliefs among 273 Chinese prospective and in-service teachers in Hong Kong. While teachers generally reported having the highest confidence in teaching highly able learners and the least confidence in classroom management, there were significant teacher group differences. Among four groups of teachers, the experienced teachers reported the highest level of global and domain-specific teacher self-efficacy, suggesting that there could be a trend of rising teacher self-efficacy as a teacher went through preparation and teaching practice to becoming a novice and then a more experienced teacher.     

A “top-down” analysis of high school teacher motivation

Classroom instruction may be affected by school contexts that are increasingly performance-driven because of legislative demands. Interpreting this as a need to investigate the relationships between school context and classroom practice, this study took a “top-down” approach by examining contextual elements of school goal structure and teacher community on teachers’ sense of self- and collective efficacy, and classroom goal structures. After collecting data from teachers in four Midwestern high schools, results indicated that teachers in highly performance-oriented schools reported significantly less adaptive motivational beliefs, lower community, and more performance-oriented instruction than teachers in a low performance-oriented school. Furthermore, a path analysis revealed that classroom goal structures were significantly and indirectly related to teacher community. We discuss how academic context may affect teachers’ motivational beliefs as well as classroom practices, and make recommendations for future research and practice.     

An alternative model of special education teacher education socialization

The process of organizational socialization sheds light on the difficulty of a university program to effectively socialize its special education teacher candidates into believing and acting on theories of inclusion for students with disabilities in public schools. In general, people are socialized by prior experiences, then the university, then the workplace. In this case, the workplace socialization exists prior to participation in the university setting and in conjunction with it potentially complicating traditional university socialization. This study explores how prospective special education teachers in a moderate/severe special education teacher credential program adopt, adapt, and redefine the concept of inclusion. An analysis of their use of the term “inclusion” in semi-structured interviews draws attention to the degree to which they have or have not been socialized into believing and acting on inclusion at their schools.     

An education for sustainable development self-efficacy scale for primary pre-service teachers: construction and validation

A scale was developed to assess primary school Teachers’ Self-Efficacy on Education for Sustainable Development (TSESESD). It includes four domains of competences: values and ethics, systems thinking, emotions and feelings, and actions. The scale development is consistent with key principles of educational and social psychology research. Nine hundred twenty-four (924) primary education student teachers and 88 in-service primary teachers participated in the study. Findings demonstrated that TSESESD has good psychometric properties, strong validity and reliability scores, adequate internal consistency (Cronbach α?=?0.97), and satisfactory mean inter-correlation of items within domains (M?=?0.78). TSESESD is considered a reliable instrument for teacher preparation programs aiming to develop primary school teachers’ self-efficacy in ESD.     

Teacher support and math engagement: roles of academic self-efficacy and positive emotions

The current study assessed 869 elementary school students in China using self-report questionnaires, to examine the multiple mediating effects of academic self-efficacy and positive academic emotions (enjoyment and relief) in the relations between teacher support and academic engagement (cognitive, behavioural and emotional aspects) within a math class. The results indicated that teacher support exerted a direct and significant impact on the three aspects of math engagement. Both academic self-efficacy and enjoyment mediated the relations between teacher support and the three aspects of math engagement, whereas relief did not mediate such relations. Moreover, teacher support affected math engagement through multiple paths from academic self-efficacy to both enjoyment and relief. Relief displayed a smaller effect on the three aspects of math engagement than enjoyment did. However, we did not find substantial difference in the underlying mechanisms of different aspects of engagement. Limitations and educational implications were also discussed.     

The impact of teacher immediacy and perceived caring on teacher competence and trustworthiness

This research investigated the impact of teacher caring and teacher immediacy on student perceptions of teachers' credibility. While the results of the two studies conducted indicated the presence of strong main effects for teacher caring and immediacy and strong negative effects for teacher non‐caring and nonimmediacy on the various dimensions of teacher credibility (as hypothesized), significant interaction effects were observed between caring and nonimmediacy on both dimensions of credibility studied (competence and trustworthiness). In most cases, when teacher caring was low, whether the teacher was in the immediate or nonimmediate condition made no significant difference—both produced negative perceptions of teacher credibility. In contrast, when teacher caring was high, teacher nonimmediacy significantly lowered perceived credibility. Probing of the interaction results suggested that high verbal caring tends to soften the negative impact of teacher nonimmediacy. The results of these studies demonstrate that teachers should maintain high verbal caring to preserve their credibility in the classroom. Implications for teacher training and suggestions for future research are discussed.     

Development and validation of Teacher Intentionality of Practice Scale (TIPS): A measure to evaluate and scaffold teacher effectiveness

Teacher evaluation instruments frequently fail to support teacher growth and improvement—particularly in critical constructs surrounding pedagogical content knowledge that promote student growth and achievement. The current study details the development and validation of the Teacher Intentionality of Practice Scale (TIPS), an observational protocol designed to measure intentional teaching practices and provide support for teacher growth over time. Findings suggest that TIPS provides a valid and highly reliable research-based teacher observational instrument that also serves as a professional development model to help scaffold the growth and improvement of K-12 educators. This paper details the theoretical foundations of TIPS, reports reliability and validity measures (including both Exploratory and Confirmatory Factor Analyses), and discusses applications and implications of TIPS for teacher evaluation and professional development.     

Giving up the lottery ticket: Finnish beginning teacher turnover as a question of discursive boundaries

Teachers leaving the profession is an increasing trend also in Finland, which is interesting because many of the explanations found in other international contexts do not apply. The Finnish context, in which teachers are not controlled officially in any way, offers a unique context for investigating implicit control mechanisms and their relationship to teacher turnover. The research shows how intersecting discourses work in ways that may lead to self-exclusion of beginning teachers who cannot find a subject position within school. This happens unofficially and implicitly in a context that explicitly emphasizes teacher freedom, autonomy and societal appreciation. Teacher turnover provides tool for making visible the discursive boundaries that might otherwise stay hidden.     

An emotion focused approach in predicting teacher burnout and job satisfaction

This study aimed to find out the correlations between in-service teachers’ emotional, burnout and job satisfaction in Turkey. To this end, the Teacher Emotion Inventory (TEI), Job Satisfaction Questionnaire and Maslach Burnout Inventory were administered to 564 in-service teachers in a wide range of disciplines. According to confirmatory factor analysis, the five-factor model of TEI was successfully confirmed within the current study. In addition, joy and love dimensions exhibited positive correlations with job satisfaction. The love and fear dimensions significantly predicted job satisfaction with a medium effect. Love, sadness, and fear dimensions significantly predicted teachers’ burnout with a medium effect.     

Situated case-based knowledge: An emerging framework for prospective teacher learning

While the use of situated cognition theory in teacher education programmes has the potential to teach prospective teachers, research on teacher knowledge and learning from a situated perspective has been slow to emerge in reference to prospective teacher education. In this paper, we present a situated case-based knowledge framework to explain the development of prospective teachers’ knowledge and beliefs. The framework includes conceptual case knowledge, strategic case knowledge, and the shared identities and beliefs of practicing teachers. In addition, we summarize findings from a study wherein the situated case-based knowledge framework was applied to support prospective teachers’ learning, as well as discuss implications for research and practice.     

Situated learning theory and the pedagogy of teacher education: Towards an integrative view of teacher behavior and teacher learning

Lave and Wenger have greatly influenced existing views of learning and teaching, but relatively little has been written about the implications for the understanding of teacher behavior and teacher learning, and for the pedagogy of teacher education. Based on their work, a three-level model of learning is used to analyze the friction between teacher behavior in practice and the wish to ground teachers' practices in theory. Supported by empirical data on teacher learning and brain research, this model reconciles the situated learning perspective with traditional cognitive theory, and leads to concrete implications for the pedagogy of teacher education.     

Impact of distributed leadership on teacher job satisfaction in China: The mediating roles of teacher autonomy and teacher collaboration

Teacher job satisfaction is a heated topic worldwide. Among the possible factors influencing teacher job satisfaction, distributed leadership is very important one. Given very few studies have investigated the effects of distributed leadership on teacher job satisfaction through teacher autonomy and teacher collaboration, this paper is important. It is expected to provide international readers with a better understanding of how these variables are practised in the Chinese context. Specifically, we aim to achieve two goals. The first goal is to investigate the direct impact of distributed leadership on teacher job satisfaction and the second one is to explore how distributed leadership indirectly affects teacher job satisfaction through teacher autonomy and teacher collaboration. The data are from the 2018 Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS) (n = 3976). Structural equation modeling revealed statistically significant positive effects of distributed leadership on teacher autonomy, teacher collaboration, and teacher job satisfaction, respectively. The further analyses indicated that the indirect effects of distributed leadership on teacher job satisfaction through teacher autonomy and professional collaboration were statistically significant. However, distributed leadership had no indirect effect on job satisfaction via exchange and co-ordination. Based on the findings, we propose some suggestions to improve teacher job satisfaction, such as strengthening communications between school leaders and teachers, and providing adequate autonomy to teachers. The detailed relationships among these variables are discussed in connection with Chinese educational context.