Teachers' Conceptions of Proof in the Context of Secondary School Mathematics

Current reform efforts in the United States arecalling for substantial changes in the natureand role of proof in secondary schoolmathematics – changes designed to provideall students with rich opportunities andexperiences with proof throughout theentire secondary school mathematicscurriculum. This study examined 17 experiencedsecondary school mathematics teachers'conceptions of proof from their perspectives asteachers of school mathematics. The resultssuggest that implementing ``proof for all' maybe difficult for teachers; teachers viewedproof as appropriate for the mathematicseducation of a minority of students. Theresults further suggest that teachers tended toview proof in a pedagogically limited way,namely, as a topic of study rather than as atool for communicating and studyingmathematics. Implications for mathematicsteacher education are discussed in light ofthese findings.     

Examining the relationship between teacher organizational commitment and school health in Turkish primary schools

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between teachers' perceptions of organizational commitment and school health in Turkish primary schools. The Organizational Commitment Scale and the Organizational Health Inventory were used to gather data from 323 randomly selected teachers employed in 20 primary schools in Ankara. Results indicated that teacher compliance commitment was negatively related to both identification and internalization. Three dimensions of school health, institutional integrity, principal professional leadership, and morale, negatively predicted teacher commitment based on compliance. However, teacher internalization commitment was positively predicted by these 3 health dimensions. Professional leadership was the only school health dimension that was significant in predicting identification commitment. Two other dimensions of school health, academic emphasis and resource support, were not significant predictors of the commitment factors. Results of the study are discussed in relation to developing the organizational health of schools and improving the organizational commitment of teachers.     

Leaving lessons: learning from the exit decisions of experienced teachers

For most teachers in the United States, teaching is no longer a career-long occupation. This article examines the narratives of a particular group of leavers, former teachers who made significant investments in their teacher training and who taught for at least three years before making the decision to exit. The accounts of these invested leavers are used to look at workplace change as a motivating factor for teacher exit, particularly changes in classroom authority that occur after teachers have begun to feel competent.     

Employee and Workplace Well-being: A Multi-level Analysis of Teacher Personality and Organizational Climate in Norwegian Teachers from Rural,Urban and City Schools

Although teaching is frequently cited as a stressful profession, limited recent Norwegian data is available. This study addressed the extent to which organizational climate and individual and organizational well-being outcomes vary between schools in rural, urban, and city locations. Participants were predominantly female (68%), aged 45+ years (63.2%) and reported 20+ years of teaching experience (51%). Teachers from rural schools reported smaller student and teacher numbers, a more positive organizational climate and better organizational well-being. Multi-level analyses, with teachers grouped within school location, indicated that personality is most strongly associated with employee well-being, and organizational climate most strongly related to school morale and distress. Schools in rural locations are smaller and possess workplace climates that are conducive to positivity in the workplace, and subsequently better workplace well-being outcomes.     

Teacher development in advanced educational technology

Advanced educational technology promises to improve science teaching and learning. To achieve the posited outcomes, however, teachers must have access to, know how to, have the skills to, and want to use the proposed advanced educational technologies in their teaching. In response, for the past eight years with support from the National Science Foundation, BSCS has conductedENLIST Micros — a teacher development to help science teachers improve their use of microcomputers.ENLIST Micros has three phases — Phase one (1984–1986): BSCS designed, tested, and producedENLIST Micros (Ellis and Kuerbis, 1987, 1989) teacher development materials (text, video, and tutorial software) for helping science teachers improve their use of educational technology. Phase two (1986–1989): BSCS designed, developed, tested, and disseminated a staff development model for helping science teachers integrate educational technology into instruction. Phase three (1989–1992): BSCS established Teacher Development Centers to implement theENLIST Micros teacher development materials and staff development model with science teachers throughout the United States.ENLIST Micros has served more than 1500 science teachers in 15 states. Teachers who have participated in the program have improved their knowledge, attitude, and self-efficacy about computer usage and have improved their use of microcomputers in their science courses. Furthermore, as part of the project, BSCS has described the implementation process and has developed recommendations to support improvements in the use of educational technology in science programs.     

Teacher Morale in Western Australia: A Multilevel Model

As part of a larger longitudinal study of Western Australian high schools, 212 teachers were surveyed about their perceptions of the school in which they teach and the management of that school. In particular, teachers responded to questions about the school environment, their morale and the organisational health of the school, and they were asked some self-concept and teaching efficacy questions. A multilevel model was used to investigate the effects of these and other school characteristics on teacher morale (the dependent variable), while accounting for school level differences. This study demonstrated that teacher morale varied between teachers and between schools, with school environment explaining 54% of the variability in morale. That is, when the school environment was positive, teacher morale was higher. The implications of this finding point to the importance of both improving the school environment and teacher morale in order to enhance the health of schools. This is only achieved when teachers believe that their school is improving and has a positive climate. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

An examination of US first-year teachers’ risk for occupational stress: associations with professional preparation and occupational health

Previous research has demonstrated associations between teacher stress and occupational burnout, but few studies have attempted to operationalize a central tenet of most stress theories, namely that teachers’ appraisals of their classroom demands vis-à-vis their classroom resources is a central driver of vulnerability to stress. The research is particularly silent on risk for stress among the most vulnerable workers in the education sector – first-year teachers. The current study, utilizing data from the US National Center for Education Statistics Beginning Teachers Longitudinal study, sought to replicate prior research, conducted with more experienced US teachers, demonstrating that perceptions of classroom demands and resources can be used to classify new teachers according to their risk for stress. In an extension to previous analyses, the current study also examined the association between first-year teachers’ risk for stress and professional preparation. Results from this study aligned with previous findings, teachers classified at risk for stress reported more burnout symptoms (d = 1.48) and less classroom control (d = .62). Teacher education characteristics and exposure to first-year support programming were also found to be associated with first-year teachers’ risk for stress classification. Findings have implications for how US teacher education potentially shapes first-year teachers’ appraisal of their working conditions and corresponding risk for stress.     

Teachers’ Discussions Of Students’ Thinking: Meeting The Challenge Of Attending To Students’ Thinking

The purpose of this article is to describe findings from a study of teachers’ social interaction during discussions about students’ thinking. The goal of the discussions was for the teachers to interpret their students’ thinking as revealed from work on non-routine, thought-revealing mathematical tasks, known as model-eliciting activities. The research reported in this article focuses on instances during the discussions when the teachers engaged in what the researcher termed ‘mini-inquiries’, occasions during which the teachers inquired into why their students thought about the associated model-eliciting activities as they did or when the teachers inquired into the underlying mathematical complexities associated with the model-eliciting activities. During these mini-inquiries, the teachers typically engaged in one of four types of interaction patterns that enabled them to meet some of the challenges of attending to students’ thinking that are described in United States reform documents.     

Causes and effects of teacher conflict-inducing attitudes towards pupils: a path analysis model

A model explaining several causes and consequences of negative teacher–pupil relationships was developed. Data from 109 teachers and 946 high school pupils was analyzed using path analysis. The results suggest that teachers who prefer a custodial approach of controlling pupils, who have lower morale due to school climate conditions and who are less likely to burn out, tend to adopt conflict-inducing attitudes towards pupils. The results also demonstrate a high incidence of educational, psychological and somatic complaints in students whose characterized teachers are perceived as more hostile in their attitude towards pupils. Implications of these findings are discussed.     

Highly committed teachers: what makes them tick? A study of sustained commitment

This article focuses on teacher commitment, and particularly on teachers displaying sustained high levels of commitment throughout their teaching careers (over 15 years). Graduates from one Teacher Education programme responded to an open-ended questionnaire conducted on 10 occasions concerning their work as teachers, from graduation in 1993 to 2013. Out of the 72 who responded on all nine occasions, eight teachers stating high levels of commitment throughout their careers were selected for additional interviews. A framework containing four commitment factors was used as the point of departure. Content analyses of the interview and selected questionnaire data then resulted in a revised framework of five factors: personal, teaching, school context, system context and professional development. Accounts from eight teachers with sustained high commitment illustrate the framework. The article offers an extended framework for understanding and categorising the factors that contribute to teacher commitment.     

教师专业发展的起步:美国新教师入职教育

在美国,中小学新教师入职教育日趋受到重视,对入职生涯第一年的新教师给予教学上的支持和帮助,州和学区制定周密的指导计划,并富有成效地实施,为教师专业发展奠定起步基础。但是,在新教师入职教育的教学中还存在矛盾冲突等问题。     

Perceived autonomy support,relatedness with students,and workplace outcomes: an investigation of differences by teacher gender

Abstract

We examined the role of gender in teachers’ perceived autonomy support (PAS), relatedness with students, workplace buoyancy, and organizational commitment. With 276 Australian secondary school teachers, structural equation modelling showed predominant similarities across gender in associations between PAS, relatedness, buoyancy, and commitment. For example, for both female and male teachers, PAS predicted greater relatedness with students and both factors were positively associated with organizational commitment. However, there were some noteworthy differences across teacher gender. For example, relatedness with students was positively associated with buoyancy for male teachers only. In addition, findings showed that male teachers reported higher levels of workplace buoyancy.     

Professional concerns of beginning teachers of deaf and hard of hearing students

The professional concerns of beginning teachers of students who are deaf or hard of hearing were examined. Five first-year teachers of deaf and hard of hearing students served as participants. Two of the participants were itinerant teachers; three taught in self-contained classrooms. Participants were selected from programs serving deaf and hard of hearing students in rural and urban areas of the midwestern and southwestern United States. To interview the study participants, the researcher used an in-depth phenomenological method employing semi-structured questions and guided by a constructivist paradigm. Data were analyzed using qualitative analysis strategies (Bogdan & Biklen, 1992; Miles & Huberman, 1994). Results showed that concerns of beginning teachers of deaf and hard of hearing students are specific to service delivery models and geography. Participants provided specific recommendations for addressing the concerns of beginning teachers of deaf and hard of hearing students.     

I've Never Viewed Myself as a Researcher,but...

Many teacher education programs in the United States (US) face increasing demands to better prepare teachers for entry into and retention in urban schools. Through a US Department of Education grant, a university–school partnership was formed to develop a community‐based model of teacher preparation that placed pre‐service teachers in urban schools for a full year. Based on questionnaires and interviews with university teacher education faculty, and both pre‐service and novice classroom teachers who took their first jobs in urban schools, this research considers the common concerns and disparate roles that the three groups considered paramount in preparing new teachers for urban schools.     

The Effect of Employment Interview Format on Principals' Evaluations of Teachers

This study compared the effectiveness of structured and branched-format employment interviews in differentiating strong and weak teachers. In addition, the study examined the correlations between principals' ratings and teachers' self-ratings on measures of efficacy, commitment, job satisfaction, and morale. To simulate structured and branched interviews, eight experienced elementary teachers were employed to construct eight videotaped interviews. Four of these teachers were identified as strong, and four were identified as weak teachers based on formal district evaluations. Sixteen elementary principals each viewed two tapes, one representing a branched interview format and the other representing a structured format. Tapes of strong and weak teachers were randomly assigned to principals within each interview format. The principals then rated the teacher on the five scales: overall teaching ability, efficacy, commitment, satisfaction, and morale. Teachers completed a par allel questionnaire before videotaping the interviews. Analysis of the data indicated both interview methods were effective in differentiating between strong and weak teachers on ability, efficacy, commitment, job satisfaction, and morale measures. With certain cautions, this finding supports the common practice of placing great emphasis on verbal interviews to select teachers. There was not, however, a significant difference between the two interview formats; either format seems acceptable. Correlations between the principals' rating and the self-rating of the teachers were significant on the efficacy, job satisfaction, and morale measures; the correlations were not significant on the commitment measure. This finding implies that collection of specific types of survey data before the interview might increase the predictive validity of the interview process; alternatively, it might allow the process to be shortened with little loss of information.     

美国中小学教师流动:现状、成本及启示

美国中小学教师流动现象比较严重,近年来大约有50多万名教师流动。教师的高流动率会影响学校教师队伍的稳定及教育政策的制定,同时高流动也会产生很大的成本,为此美国每年要花费上亿美元的资金来重新招聘、录用和培训替换教师。如何有效地利用资源,降低教师流动率,对美国教师流动成本的分析会给我国教师流动问题的研究以启示作用。     

Teacher commitment trends: Cases of Hong Kong teachers from 1997 to 2007

This article examines the commitment of Hong Kong teachers in the decade after the political transition in 1997, when large-scale education reforms were launched. The life history method was employed to investigate teachers’ self-appraisal of their commitment levels in their career course and factors contributing to such trends. Findings not only affirm the previous view that teacher commitment involves the interplay of personal, workplace and education systemic factors but also illuminate how these factors interplay differently to effect sustained/increased or decreased commitment. ‘Love for students’ is argued to be a crucial personal factor which counteracts unfavorable external conditions to sustain teacher commitment.     

The role of elementary teachers’ conceptions of closeness to students on their differential behaviour in the classroom

While many studies have documented the importance of supportive student–teacher relationships, particularly during students’ formative education experiences, few studies have systematically examined teachers’ conceptions of their relationships. The purpose of this project was to examine elementary school teachers’ conceptions of closeness using a structured interview protocol. Participants included three Caucasian teachers from the United States. Specifically, as part of the protocol, teachers were asked to (1) rate their feelings of closeness for each of the students in their class, (2) describe each relationship, (3) identify patterns of interpersonal closeness and distance across their class, and (4) talk about their understanding of what it means to be close to students. Findings were organised into a grounded model of teacher closeness in which teachers described how their feelings of closeness to students were related to five different teacher's approach orientations. Teachers’ approach orientations may have important implications for the way in which children in the class are privileged or marginalised by their teacher relationship.     

美、加、澳初任教师专业标准及其对我国教师教育的启示

初任教师的专业标准实际上就是新教师的入职门槛,对教师教育具有重要的导向作用。各国的初任教师专业标准既有共同性,都注重专业知识、专业实践、专业责任、持续学习诸方面,又各有特色:美国《InTASC示范核心教学标准》重视发展性、加拿大安大略省《专业实践基础》重视实践性、《澳大利亚初任教师教育项目认证:标准和程序》则具体而易操作。以上三国的初任教师专业标准,对中国教师专业标准的制定以及职前教师教育培养目标的完善有积极的启示作用。