Working on What Works: working with teachers to improve classroom behaviour and relationships

The Working on What Works (WOWW) approach, which is based upon Solution-focused Brief Therapy, was implemented in a mainstream primary classroom over a 10-week period. The focus was on improving behaviour and relationships in class. Results demonstrated an improvement in teacher ratings for targets set by the class teacher compared with baseline. Pupils also set, and rated themselves on class targets. Observation of pupils, and their class-ratings, demonstrated a positive impact for these targets. Longer term follow-up suggested that this positive impact was maintained. It is concluded that WOWW had a positive impact on behaviour and relationships within this classroom.     

Attitudes toward teachers as a function of student academic self-concept

The evaluative dimensions students used in assessing their academic self-concept were correlated with judgmental dimensions students utilized in evaluating teachers by means of a stepwise multiple regression analysis. All students evaluated themselves as students in terms of academic skill and ability, interpersonal effectiveness, and quality of scholastic involvement. College students also evaluated themselves on self-confidence and style of intellectual inquiry, while high school students evaluated themselves on their tolerance. All students judged teachers on the dimensions of student/teacher rapport, communicative style, instructional style, and stimulation. Dimensions of student academic self-concept were significantly related to students' judgments of teaching: student interpersonal effectiveness was found to be the most significant overall predictor of high school students' attitudes toward teachers, whereas a student's assessment of his academic abilities was the major predictive variable among college students. Student sex was not a significant predictor of students' attitudes toward teachers except for the dimension of student/teacher rapport among college students, with females rating teachers significantly higher on this dimension than males.     

Reducing disruptive behaviours and improving classroom behavioural climate with class‐wide positive behaviour support in middle schools

Disruptive behaviour in classrooms is a significant challenge for learning in schools and a risk factor for students’ academic achievement and a significant source of teachers’ work‐related stress. Earlier research shows that clear behavioural expectations, monitoring students’ adherence to them and behaviour‐specific praise are effective practices to reduce disruptive behaviour. Although behaviour problems are common in middle schools, most of the interventions have been developed and studied in elementary schools. This randomised study evaluated the effects of a class‐wide intervention on classroom behavioural climate and disruptive behaviour, on teacher‐experienced stress and on the time needed for behaviour management in middle school. The classes were selected for intervention by their teachers on the basis of poor behavioural climate. The intervention was based on teachers’ cooperation; they collectively agreed on clear behavioural expectations, used positive feedback and, if needed, applied consequences in response to high rates of disruptive behaviour. The results indicated medium to large effects on classroom behavioural climate according to teachers’ evaluations, and somewhat more inconsistent effects on classroom behavioural climate according to student evaluations and in the time needed for behaviour management. The behavioural climate of the classes remained at a constant level during the follow‐up. The intervention was well accepted by teachers and students. The results suggest that an easily applicable intervention may produce significant improvements in classroom behavioural climate in middle schools.     

How humor makes or breaks student-teacher relationships: A classroom ethnography in Belgium

Humor characterizes daily classroom interactions and strengthens or weakens student-teacher relationships. Making use of ethnographic classroom observations, we examine how humor relates to student-teacher relationships. Results show that humor in the classroom serves different functions. While teachers use humor to facilitate teaching and learning, students apply it to express their attitudes towards school and teachers. The use of humor varies across classrooms and tracks. Our findings suggest the importance of analyzing the use of humor in classrooms for teachers (in training), and point to broader implications in relationship to the maintenance of and resistance to social inequalities in education.     

Rural classroom environments as contexts for teacher-child relationships

The authors examined the associations between observed classroom management and teacher-child relationships with individual children during kindergarten and Grade 1. We used a sample of nonstruggling and struggling readers and their teachers in rural schools in the Southeastern United States to examine whether gender and struggling reader status explained associations between classroom management and conflictual or close teacher-child relationships. After controlling for child- and teacher-level characteristics, results from multilevel model analyses indicated that stronger classroom management was significantly related to less teacher-rated conflict, but was not related to teacher-rated closeness. Gender was a significant moderator, with boys who were in classrooms with lower levels of classroom management having poorer teacher-child relationships as rated by their teachers. Struggling reader status was not a significant moderator of the association between classroom management and teacher-child relationships.     

试答钱学森之问：加强高校师生互动——基于控制生师比和班级规模的探讨

回答钱学森之问必须考虑师生互动这一重要因素,师生互动对于杰出人才培养的重要性不仅有理论支撑,也得到了实践证明。生师比和班级规模作为影响师生互动的两个重要外部指标,分别从宏观和微观两个层面共同反映师生互动的效果。＂985高校＂作为培养杰出人才的领头羊,其与美国顶尖大学仍有较大差距。通过借鉴美国顶尖大学办学经验,结合学校现状,985高校应缩小生师比、控制班级规模。     

Getting along: How teachers can support children's peer relationships

Peer relationships provide an important context for the young child's social development. Teachers can influence children's developing social competence in a variety of ways. This article describes how teachers can support children's peer relationships by intentionally shaping the classroom's physical and emotional context. With these basic supports in place, teachers can effectively use planned activities and on-the-spot guidance to help children learn to interact competently and form satisfying relationships.     

WOWW: a solution orientated approach to enhance classroom relationships and behaviour within a Primary three class

A Working on What Works (WOWW) approach was utilised over six sessions in a mainstream Scottish primary class to enhance classroom relationships and behaviours. The aim of the intervention was to manage everyday classroom problems within a natural classroom environment. WOWW incorporates positive psychology and implements a solution-focused approach. The quantitative results illustrated an improvement in the teacher ratings and class ratings for the class goals set by the class teacher, and helped the teacher to feel more confident in her class. From the qualitative comments, class teacher and pupils reported a positive experience of WOWW and noticed a difference within the classroom. In summary, WOWW influenced a positive change to relationships and behaviour within the classroom.     

Storied emotional distances in the relationships between beginning teachers and school principals

Recent research has acknowledged the importance of the relationships of school principals with beginning teachers. However, little is known about how emotions inform these relationships from the beginning teacher's side. Applying the concept of emotional geographies, this paper explores the kinds of storied emotional distances that appear in the relationships between beginning teachers and their principals. Based on interviews with beginning Japanese teachers, the results indicate that such relationships may be: (1) very direct and personal; (2) acted out indirectly by the principal as personal facilitator ‘behind the scenes’ or as public gatekeeper; or (3) mediated by the teacher community. The analysis reveals beginning teachers’ personal experiences of these relationships, as well as how such relationships are influenced by organisational and cultural context. Although principals are described as distant figures within the school organisation, they are seen to play an important role in facilitating beginning teachers’ work by connecting with them at a personal level and providing good working conditions by influencing the emotional atmosphere of the teacher community or by sheltering them from parental pressure.     

Collaborative classroom practice for inclusion: perspectives of classroom teachers and learning support/resource teachers

Collaborative practice is integral to effective inclusion. Within schools, teacher collaboration can foster communities of practice through a series of professional relationships that enhance the educational experience and learning outcomes of pupils with special educational needs (SEN). In Ireland, Learning Support Teachers (LSTs) and Resource Teachers (RTs) provide additional support to the increasing numbers of children with SEN in mainstream classrooms. Working alongside Classroom Teachers (CTs), this tripartite of teaching expertise represents an opportunity for whole-school and classroom-based approaches to successful collaborative, inclusive practice.

This article describes the perceptions and experiences of collaborative practice between primary CTs, RTs and LSTs in a cohort of primary schools in the West of Ireland. Using a mixed methods approach, the study sought to establish the nature and extent of collaboration amongst these teachers and to identify the benefits and barriers to implementation.

The findings suggest that whilst teachers are increasingly aware of the value of collaboration, its implementation is largely aspirational, with a series of challenges relating to time constraints, ad hoc planning and limited professional development opportunities most commonly identified as constraints to a consistent approach. The article considers the consequences of this shortfall and options for improved engagement between teachers are identified.     

Three quality professional documents to guide teachers for puberty,relationships and sexuality education

Quality school-based sexuality education is important for all children and adolescents. The global trend towards students’ earlier, longer, and technologically connected pubertal experience makes the timely provision of such education particularly significant. Quality international sexuality education documents are available for teachers developing curriculum-based frameworks and pastoral care programmes, and these variously include policy and structural guidance, equity standards, comprehensive content and pedagogical strategies. This paper aims to compare three such documents for their relevance in meeting the educational needs of students, and their usefulness for teachers and educators. The results show that these three documents, produced by global organisations for multi-national application, provide highly professional and sustainable responses to the dire need for improved sexuality education for all children and adolescents, in formats accessible to any curriculum planner or teacher. Inclusive and timely provision of any of these document frameworks would help enhance sexuality teaching and learning in contemporary primary and secondary schools, and they are highly recommended for use by teachers around the world.     

Knowing me knowing you: building valuable relationships outside the classroom

This small-scale case study begins with some background to outdoor education and residential trips. The article then moves on to look at some of the research around the importance of the child as person and the nature of pupil–teacher relationships in the working environment of the classroom. It then investigates the development of pupil–teacher relationships on a residential trip by discussing the range of interactions which took place. How these interactions may enhance learning back at school is considered as are the benefits of these interactions to newly qualified teachers and to more experienced teachers. The conclusion suggests that outdoor learning should have a stronger place in primary and middle school activity to challenge labeling and create a more effective ‘working consensus’.     

关于建立情感型师生关系的思考

师生关系是高校生活中的一个最基本的人际关系,建立良好的师生关系是当今社会和高校师生的普遍要求。良好师生关系的建立,对学生的学习、性格发展、心理健康等具有重要的影响。这就要求高校教师转变自身角色,尝试建立情感型师生关系。     

Developmental relationships and school success: How teachers,parents, and friends affect educational outcomes and what actions students say matter most

The current paper explores how students’ relationships with their teachers, parents, and friends might differentially impact their academic experience and success, by presenting and integrating the results of two related studies. In the first study, survey methods and structural equation modeling are used to describe the similar and different effects that developmental relationships with teachers, parents, and friends seem to have on middle- and high-school students’ academic motivation, GPA, and perceptions of school climate. Relationships with teachers directly predicted all three outcomes at the middle school level, and motivation and school climate at the high school level. Relationships indirectly predicted high school GPA, through motivation. Student-teacher relationships, and parent-teacher relationships, also indirectly predicted middle school GPA, through motivation. Relationships with parents directly predicted only motivation in middle school. Relationships with friends directly predicted school climate at both levels. The results from Study 1 showed the central importance of teacher-student relationships on student motivation and led the research team to qualitatively look in study #2 at how teachers build relationships that motivate students and how students experience those relationships. Study 2 used student focus groups and a grounded theory, open coding approach to analysis to identify commonly occurring themes describing what practices teachers used successfully, in students’ eyes, to build strong relationships with students and boost their academic motivation. These practices focused on how teachers expressed care, provided support, challenged students to grow, shared power with them, and expanded their sense of possibilities. The mixed methods produce an overall study that uniquely captures both a global and more granular, practice-oriented view of the ways in which differing developmental relationships in young people’s lives affect their connection to and success in school.     

Establishing respectful educative relationships: a study of newly qualified teachers in Ireland

Interpersonal respect is a fundamental aspect of relating to others. This is especially true for teachers, as cultivating relationships is implicit in effective teaching. This three-year qualitative study examines a developing understanding of respect for pre-service teachers that progresses on to their first year’s teaching to examine the influential factors on that understanding. These teachers’ pupils were also asked to comment on their perceptions of respect. The findings indicate that interpersonal respect in an educative relationship is influenced by the level of autonomy afforded pupils and minimising the power differential between teachers and pupils.     

Values of open admissions students,police students,and their teachers

This study compared the values of college open admissions students and of college police students to their teachers' values. It was found that for both groups new students differ from the faculty more than do advanced students, suggesting value changes in the direction of the faculty. Also found was no relationship between students' value similarity to the faculty and their academic success.     

Filipino teachers’ experiences of supportive relationships with colleagues: A narrative-biographical inquiry

The purpose of this qualitative study is to explore teachers’ experiences of supportive relationships with colleagues. A total of fifty (50) public and private elementary and secondary school teachers in the central part of the Philippines were purposively selected as respondents. Guided by a narrative-biographical interview, results of the study yielded four significant themes that describe how Filipino teachers as relational people experience and interpret supportive relationships in the school setting. These include: supportive relationships as (1) a life-giving force; (2) an extension of one’s family; (3) a reciprocal process; and (4) a work still in progress. This paper is a segment of her dissertation entitled: Evolving a Continuum of Filipino Teachers’ Worldview of Pedagogy based on the Narrative-Biographical and Micro-Political Perspectives.     

Working on What Works: enhancing relationships in the classroom and improving teacher confidence

Working on What Works (WOWW) is a solution-oriented classroom management intervention. Following an outline of Berg and Shilts’ WOWW programme in the United States, this paper reviews and evaluates WOWW, which has been implemented as a classroom intervention strategy in a Scottish local authority since 2007. Qualitative analysis of the comments of children and teachers from 12 classes suggests that WOWW may be an effective classroom management intervention that helps teachers to feel more confident and also produces tangible improvements in the way children work and behave. Children also report positive differences in how they perceive their class and teacher.     

Building relationships for learning: the developing role of the teaching assistant

Over the last ten years the role of the teaching assistant has undergone continued change and development. This article identifies many of the different contexts in which teaching assistants support behaviour for learning and further explores some of the challenges raised by workforce remodelling. Barry Groom argues that this could be an opportunity for reinforcing on the skills and attributes teaching assistants have already demonstrated in supporting pupil behaviour and for providing a sustainable framework for continuing professional development.