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 Anticolonial Framework for Urban Teacher Preparation

Our contemporary apprenticeship model of teacher education often places preservice teachers in learning environments where they never witness the types of dynamic and engaged practice they desire to emulate. Either there are structural limits within the classroom placed by school or district leadership or there are preselected veteran mentor teachers who do not value the same kinds of critical practice. These challenges necessitate a radical rethinking of how and where preservice teachers learn their craft. We pose an anticolonial model of teacher development, one that situates teachers and students in collaborative networks where they work powerfully together via Youth Participatory Action Research on projects that have significant social, cultural, and digital relevance. The purposes of this article are (a) to propose the essentiality of anticolonial approaches to reimagine the preparation of preservice teachers and (b) to demonstrate how these approaches are enacted in our own practice within critical, project-based clinical experiences with preservice educators toward the development of an anticolonial model for urban teacher preparation.     

Authentic game-based learning and teachers’ dilemmas in reconstructing professional practice

Teachers who attempt pedagogical innovation with authentic digital games face significant challenges because such games instantiate open systems of learner activity, inviting enquiry learning rather than knowledge acquisition. However, school environments are normatively sanctioned cultural spaces where direct instruction and high-stakes tests are de riguer. In this paper, we draw on the conceptual frame of dilemmatic spaces to illuminate the dilemmas teachers encounter when attempting to reconstruct professional practice in the classroom. We worked with nine teachers who enacted the Statecraft X social studies curriculum. Drawing on coded interview data, our findings suggest that teachers are forced to wrestle with tensions engendered by misalignments that emerge from the innovation's tacit requirement for change and the system's inherent gravitation towards maintaining the status quo. A school culture that cultivates innovative practice based on greater teacher agency is needed for authentic game-based learning to find traction in the classroom.     

Understanding the Induction of a Science Teacher: The Interaction of Identity and Context

The demanding first years of teaching are a time when many teachers leave the teaching profession or discard the reform-minded practice emphasized in teacher preparation. If we are to lessen teacher attrition and more effectively support teachers during their development, a better understanding of what occurs during their induction into the profession is needed. The question that drove this research was what factors influence how a beginning science teacher negotiates entry into teaching? Specifically, we sought to understand how a beginning science teacher’s identities interact with the teaching context; how this interaction shapes his use of reform-minded teaching practice; and how the negotiation of identity, context, and practice influence a novice teacher’s employment decisions. The study involved 2 years of data collection; data included classroom and school observations, questionnaires, interviews, and teaching artifacts (such as lesson plans and assessments). The results demonstrate how conflicts in identities, institutional expectations, and personal dispositions of this novice influenced his transition in becoming a member of his school community. Implications of these interactions for teacher preparation and support are provided.     

LEARNING LESSONS ABOUT DIVERSITY: FIELD EXPERIENCES IN THE PREPARATION OF TEACHERS

Abstract

This article describes one way in which teacher educators can gain a new perspective on integrating theory and practice. By accompanying teachers and student teachers on field trips, teacher educators have the opportunity to enhance their understanding of the day‐to‐day life of a classroom teacher and become a part of the school community.

Participating in a field trip offers a chance to observe classroom management strategies; engage in informal interactions with children, teachers, and parents; develop trust among classroom practitioners; witness emergent curriculum; and participate in authentic assessment.

The author documents a visit to the zoo with kindergarten students, teachers, student teachers, and parents from an urban school and how the visit impacted on her working relationship with cooperating teachers, student teachers, and kindergartners.     

Inequities and Ethical Dilemmas Beyond the Classroom: Joseph’s Story

ABSTRACT

This essay considers school and external factors that influenced a teacher’s decision to pass a high school student, thus allowing him to graduate high school. I explore my role in understanding and then enacting change within the classroom. This article prompts educators to self-reflect on their positionality, moral decision-making, and culturally relevant pedagogies to address inequities within their institutions. This self-study is example of research that informs teachers about the complexities of ethical and moral decision making in the classroom.     

Assessing the productivity of schools through two “what works” inputs, <Emphasis Type="Italic">teacher quality</Emphasis> and <Emphasis Type="Italic">teacher effectiveness</Emphasis>

This paper is a critique of the school education productivity evaluation and two research constructs germane to it, teacher quality and teacher effectiveness. The paper will argue that policy inceptions of teacher quality and teacher effectiveness proxy for the productive capacity of schools and more broadly, school systems. Student achievement scores as determined by high stakes testing are the school education outputs of policy significance in current times while inputs thought to matter are increasingly tapered towards the particular characteristics of classroom teachers, specifically their quality (usually credentials) and effectiveness (teaching behaviours). The paper finds that attributing school system success largely to teachers and their work, especially in terms of their classroom teaching practice(s), distorts the school education policy agenda so that evaluations of school productivity purely serve accountability purposes.     

Nothing to do with me! Teachers’ perceptions on cultural diversity in Spanish secondary schools

One of the key effects of globalisation is the extraordinary increase in migratory movements. Spain, a country traditionally accustomed to emigration, has seen a considerable rise in the influx of immigrant population, with notable demographic, social and cultural transformations. Particularly, since the early 90s, schools have been experiencing increasing ethnic diversity in their student enrolments. Especially, over the last 10 years, their presence has multiplied 10-fold, reaching 9.53% of the total student body. Thus, along with linguistic difference, class, gender or ability, the most characteristic feature of Spanish schools in recent years is their multicultural nature. For these reasons, it seems reasonable to focus on how Spanish schools, and particularly teachers, perceive and manage cultural diversity. This article reports on a multiple case design study concerning the teachers’ views on cultural diversity and the impact on daily practice in their classrooms. Participants included 16 teachers, with experience ranging from 2 to 20 years of teaching, from four Spanish secondary schools. Semi-structured in-depth interviews with the teachers from each school were chosen as the research method. Additionally, the principal and four immigrant student families from each school were also interviewed. Further information was obtained through a focus-group interview with the four school counsellors. Over a six-month period, all the interviews and complementary field work were carried out by a researcher in each school. While recognising the efforts to accommodate ethnic groups and immigrant populations, the results indicated that teachers perceive cultural diversity as a particular problem whose management is marginalised and excluded from the set of school activities and teaching practices. Teachers agree that the issue is one of adaptation, a problem to be solved by the students themselves with the support of school counsellors and other educational specialists. This way, neither school policies nor teaching practices assume the commitments arising from cultural diversity, so we cannot say that teachers incorporate it in their work, putting culturally relevant teaching into practice in their classrooms. While one of the benchmarks achieved in recent years is the presence of educational specialists in schools to address cultural diversity, the next step is to create the conditions to articulate a joint and collaborative effort between the teaching body and these professionals, bringing cultural diversity management closer to the classroom. Another pending challenge would be determining how we can best prepare teachers for organising and managing their culturally diverse classrooms. Teachers in these schools are doing their job without a professional knowledge base concerning multicultural education. Therefore, pre-service and in-service teacher education programmes should consider questions related to multicultural education and classroom management, which are absent or rarely taken into account in teacher training to date.     

Using video-stimulated recall to investigate teacher awareness of explicit and implicit gendered thoughts on classroom interactions

Teachers believe they don’t interact any differently with boys than with girls. However, an examination of the evidence base on gendered student–teacher interactions shows – at times contradicting – unequal interaction patterns for boys and girls. In this study, the videotaped lessons of 13 secondary school teachers in three schools are analysed by both the teachers themselves and the researchers. Video-stimulated recall is used to bring to the surface the thoughts, images and emotions that evoke teachers’ (re)actions in the classroom. Content analysis and thematic analysis of teachers’ recall reveal three things: (1) when recalling specific situations, gender imbalances in the thoughts and images that accompany teachers’ (re)actions come to the surface; (2) "video-stimulated recall" interviewing is a promising method to raise teacher awareness of these gendered thoughts and images; and (3) with a view to practitioners’ professional learning process, it is important for researchers to allow practitioners to co-investigate their practice.     

Working while teaching,learning while working: students teaching in their own class

This paper examines the context of teacher education in which certain students work as teachers whilst at the same time they study in a teacher education programme. The two phenomena that are discussed are the integration of theory and practice, and learning while working. These are located in the wider framework of teachers' pedagogical thinking, and research‐based teacher education. The paper reports on students' experiences of the success of integrating theoretical studies in their work as teachers and the related issue of how a student's everyday grasp of classroom practice has been taken into account in their studies. The paper also raises the issue of the university–school relationship through students' estimations of the impact that their participation in teacher education has brought to the school in which they work and other key aspects of the university–school relationship.     

Teacher Education Programmes and Their Contribution to Student Teacher Efficacy in Classroom Management and Pupil Engagement

This study focuses on how different educational programmes contribute to student teachers efficacy for classroom management and their abilities to provide learning opportunities and good classroom outcomes. Data were gathered from 491 student teachers attending different teacher education programmes in Norway and analysed via structural equation modelling. The results revealed the following: (1) problem behaviour in the classroom has a negative effect on student teacher efficacy, (2) students' perceptions of the integration of pedagogic knowledge and practice supports students' efficacy beliefs, (3) support from supervisors contributes positively to student teachers' efficacy beliefs, and (4) student teachers in university college programmes for primary school teaching report higher teacher efficacy than students in university programmes for secondary school teaching.     

Children's Behavioral Adjustment in Pre-Primary Schools in Tanzania: A Multilevel Approach

Research Findings: The present study concerns children's behavioral adjustment in the context of pre-primary schools in Tanzania. Twenty teachers and 320 children from 20 pre-primary schools participated in the study. Teacher–child relationships, children's behavioral adjustment, and teachers' cultural beliefs were reported by teachers; classroom emotional support was measured through classroom observation. The multilevel findings revealed that high-quality teacher–child relationships and high-quality teacher sensitivity were related to children's prosocial behavioral adjustment. In contrast, observed low-quality teacher–child relationships and low-quality teacher sensitivity were found to be related to children's aggression and anxiety. In addition, teachers' cultural beliefs, concerning play in particular, were found to be related to children's anxiety. The findings support the ecological theory regarding the importance of child characteristics and classroom context in shaping a child's behavioral adjustment in schools. Practice or Policy: The results have implications for pre-primary school teachers in Tanzania, to consider their relationships with children and their sensitivity to children as important aspects for children's behavioral adjustment in schools. They also inform policymakers about the role of pre-primary school teachers in the country.     

Call for papers

This study was designed to reveal the knowledge and skill sets that practicing day treatment and residential treatment EBD teachers view as important, and/or lacking, in novice EBD teachers, and to situate those findings within the larger contexts of teacher attrition and teacher preparation in special education. Primary results suggest that EBD teachers in day treatment and residential treatment centres believe knowledge of and implementation of best practices to be one of the most important prerequisites for effective practice in the EBD classroom, and one of the prerequisites most lacking by novice teachers. EBD teachers also indicated that knowledge of and appropriate use of behaviour management techniques was essential for effective practice, and also was reported to be lacking in novice teachers. In addition, EBD teachers reported a number of areas in which their teacher preparation programmes were perceived as lacking depth. Finally, certain personality attributes were identified as essential prerequisites for effective practice in the EBD classroom. Results are useful for teacher educators, teacher coaches, and school administrators.     

Same school,separate worlds: A sociocultural study of identity,resistance, and negotiation in a rural,lower track science classroom

This ethnographic study examined how rural, lower track, underrepresented students made sense of their place in school and what role school science played in their cultural reproduction. The objectives of the study were to identify key components of science classroom discourse, analyze means of negotiating these components, and explicate participants' beliefs and roles in defining microcultural identities specific to rural, underrepresented school contexts. Eight students and their teacher participated in this study, which drew heavily upon teacher and student revoicing of common events. Results showed that the quality of science instruction was subverted through a process of negotiation between students and teachers in the context of low expectations and the school culture. Implications for research and practice are discussed. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 38: 574–598, 2001     

Beginning literacy: links among teacher knowledge, teacher practice, and student learning

Although the importance of phonological awareness has been discussed widely in the research literature, the concept is not well understood by many classroom teachers. In the study described here, we worked with groups of kindergarten and first-grade teachers (the experimental group) during a 2-week summer institute and throughout the school year. We shared with them research about learning disabilities and effective instruction, stressing the importance of explicit instruction in phonological and orthographic awareness. We followed the experimental group and a control group into their classrooms for a year, assessing teachers' classroom practices and their students' (n = 779) learning. The study yielded three major findings: We can deepen teachers' own knowledge of the role of phonological and orthographic information in literacy instruction; teachers can use that knowledge to change classroom practice; and changes in teacher knowledge and classroom practice can improve student learning.     

Stress and the deputy head

In recent years Ministries of Education in Canada have developed provincially mandated teacher evaluation policies to ensure the provision of effective classroom instruction to students and the professional growth and development of teachers through the assessment of their performance in the classroom and the quality of their teaching practice. Based on an in‐depth study of teacher evaluation practices in a school jurisdiction in the province of Alberta, the researcher concludes that the policy falls short in meeting these intended objectives for essentially three reasons: (1) teacher evaluation is an externally imposed bureaucratic mandate rather than a requirement that emerges from the professional culture of the school that requires an ongoing review of practice by administrators and teachers; (2) the teacher evaluation process is conducted as a distinct and separate process by school administrators, with little connection to other school and district policies or professional development activities; and (3) despite the intended purpose of the teacher evaluation policy, how it is interpreted and implemented is greatly influenced by the attitudes, values and beliefs of the evaluator (administrator) with regard to what constitutes effective teaching, and the role and purpose of schooling in the community. The researcher discusses alternative approaches to teacher evaluation that focus more directly on instructional improvement and the professional development of teachers.     

More than just a group: teacher collaboration and learning in the workplace

Teaching is often characterized as an isolated activity, yet opportunities for teachers to work and learn together in schools are increasing. Underlying this shift is the view that as teachers work on new practices and teaching challenges together, they will express varied perspectives, reveal different teaching styles and experiences, and stimulate reflection and professional growth. Despite strong research interest in teacher learning groups, few studies have looked at the relationship between teachers' conversations and collaboration outside the classroom and their actual classroom teaching. Drawing on data from a larger study of literacy instruction with middle‐school teachers, this article describes how three teachers participated in an ongoing literacy program with a research group. Two were seventh‐ and eighth‐grade language‐arts teachers, the third was a special‐education teacher who taught a substantially separate class of cognitively delayed and learning‐disabled students. Case studies of each teacher draw on meeting observations, classroom observations and interviews to describe how each participated in after‐school meetings, how they used the work of the group in the classroom, and how they brought teaching successes and challenges back to the group. Although each of the teachers participated actively in the teacher learning group and changed their practice, the teachers with the most advanced teaching of literacy practices did not bring that expertise into the teacher group as fully as they might have. The analysis raises questions about how teachers participate and learn and how to structure teacher groups to maximize teacher learning.     

田野课堂与教师文化——以中学语文特级教师肖家芸《向生命鞠躬》教学为例

教师文化是"学校文化"建设的关键,亦是教育改革的重点。新的教育理念能否真正作用于学生,新课程改革能否真正被践行、被落实,都与教师文化极为相关。课堂是解读教师文化的最佳场域,教师的文化样态可以从教师的文化批判力、文化智识,教师的课程观、学生观等多方面察析。通过观察、透视中学语文特级教师肖家芸《向生命鞠躬》一课的教学,可以体察教师的教育智慧,可以解读蕴含于其中的教师文化。而无论是"尊重教师生命,关注教师个性",还是"尊重学生生命,尽显人文关怀",都是"好的"教师文化的显性表征。前者可以帮助我们体认教师的文化批判力和文化智识,后者可以帮助我们体察教师文化中的尊重、平等、全纳、民主等特质。它们直接作用并影响课堂文化品质,进而作用并影响学校文化品质、教育文化品质。     

Promoting teachers’ instructional practices in alternative assessment through teacher collaboration

This paper reports the findings of a study which aims to examine the processes and effectiveness of the collaboration between teachers in their professional learning which some Singapore schools are currently engaged in. The learning process attempted to raise the profile of teacher professionalism in classroom alternative assessment through action research. A total of nine schools participated in this two-year study. Participants included teachers and school leaders. Guided by a university researcher and supported by a cluster superintendent and school leaders, the collaboration helped familiarise teachers with alternative ways of assessing student learning, connect theories with practice in their classroom assessment, and acquire the skills of doing research. Facilitated by a structure that supports the development of partnerships between teachers from different schools, the collaboration focused on teachers working on a common task. The data reveal how teachers took ownership of their own learning through this process and led their peers in their respective schools in curriculum customisation through alternative assessment practices. Such an education reform process, which has driven the effectiveness of the collaborative teacher learning in promoting teachers’ instructional practices, is analysed from four dimensions, namely, (a) macro level (systemic reform), (b) school level (school improvement plans), (c) teacher level (teacher community), and (d) micro level (classroom level). This paper concludes with a discussion of the challenges in sustaining teacher collaboration across schools in Singapore.