Addressing South African Pre-service Teachers’ Sentiments,Attitudes and Concerns Regarding Inclusive Education

This article recounts the findings of a study that investigated pre-service teachers’ attitudes and concerns regarding inclusive education and their degree of comfort when interacting with people with disabilities after completing courses on inclusive education. One hundred and eighty pre-service teachers from one higher education institution in South Africa completed the Sentiments, Attitudes and Concerns about Inclusive Education Scale. They were all being prepared to teach at either the primary (41%) or secondary (59%) level of education. Pre-service teachers’ mean scores on the sentiments scale increased following the intervention (p < 0.001), as did the mean scores on the attitudes scale (p < 0.001). However, mean scores related to their concerns decreased (p = 0.01). With respect to the latter finding, as a result of the intervention the pre-service teachers became more worried about resources to support inclusive education (p < 0.001), the reality of large classes (p = 0.01) and their workload (p = 0.04). Recommendations based on the research findings are made, suggesting that the quality of courses on inclusive education should be enhanced in higher education institutions.     

Elementary Teachers＇ Perceptions About Implementation of Inclusive Education

The Disabilities Education Act was introduced in June, 1997 in the Turkish Education System. The Act states that schools have a duty to educate children with disabilities in general education classrooms. All children with disabilities should be educated with non-disabled children at their own age and have access to the general education curriculum. The philosophy of inclusive education aims at helping all children learn in regular classrooms. Children learn at their own pace and style within a nurturing learning environment because schools are important places for children to develop friendships and learn social skills. Children with and without disabilities learn together and from each other in inclusive classes. On the other hand, when children attend classes that reflect the similarities and differences of people in the real world, they learn to appreciate diversity. The aim of this study is to examine the perceptions of teachers about implementation of inclusive education in elementary schools. In order to collect data for this study, a questionnaire which consisted of eight open-ended questions was developed and administered to 66 elementary school teachers. The teachers worked at primary schools and taught 1-5 grades. They were asked to write their opinions and experiences about the implementation of inclusive education in the elementary schools. Primary school teachers generally have a positive attitude about inclusive education and its philosophical and psychological foundation. However, they express that they encounter some difficulties in implementing inclusive classrooms. A crowded classroom is a main obstacle to obtain desired objectives in educational activities. The levels of students＇ disability are related to effectiveness of classroom management. The effectiveness of inclusive education depends on not only the teachers＇ quality but also the school administrators＇. Some superintendents assess the effectiveness of teachers in inclusive and regular classrooms in the same way.     

What is an ‘Interesting Curriculum’ for Biotechnology Education? Students and Teachers Opposing Views

Of concern is an international trend of students’ increasing reluctance to choose science courses in both their final years of secondary school and tertiary levels of education. Research into the phenomenon indicates an influencing factor to be the ‘uninteresting curriculum’ (OECD 2006) of school science. This paper presents an exploration of what biotechnology key ideas students and teachers consider to be interesting. A survey was constructed and completed by 500 Australian students and their 35 teachers. Interviews were conducted with a sample of students and teachers. The Chi-square statistics revealed a significant difference between the student and teacher survey responses in four of the six a priori factors. A rank ordering of the key ideas, based on whole group mean scores, indicates only a small overlap in modern biotechnology key ideas of interest to both the students and teachers. The results suggest the key ideas teachers are interested in and incorporate into their curriculum, are not the key ideas students are interested in learning about. This mismatch is particularly prevalent and problematic in situations where curriculum choice is available within a mandated framework or syllabus, which is the case for these teachers and students. The study also found students withdrawing from biology courses in post compulsory settings due to lack of interest and perceived lack of relevance of the course.     

Student Teachers’ Knowledge About Chemical Representations

Chemical representations serve as a communication tool not only in exchanges between scientists but also in chemistry lessons. The goals of the present study were to measure the extent of student teachers’ knowledge about chemical representations, focusing on chemical formulae and structures in particular, and to explore which factors related to the education in school and university contribute to inter-individual differences. Using a quantitative cross-sectional design, 322 students from 12 German universities in different stages of their university education were tested with the Chemical Representations Inventory (CRI, Taskin, Bernholt, & Parchmann, 2015). In addition, a short questionnaire was administered containing demographic data and possible factors that could have an effect on students’ success in solving the items of the inventory. The data was analyzed by using Rasch modeling. The results show that student teachers’ knowledge about chemical representations is quite low, with an average of students’ total achievement of 50 % in the corresponding inventory on chemical representations. A multivariate linear model revealed that passing exam(s) in organic chemistry at university, the grade of school leaving certificate, gender as well as studying chemistry in upper secondary school on basic and advanced levels are significant predictors of student teachers’ knowledge. In total, these predictors are able to explain 30.3 % of the variance in the test results. The dominance of school-related variables in the regression analysis indicates that school education seems to be still important after several years of studying and is not equalized by education at university.     

Kindergarten Teachers’ Conceptions of Environmental Education

A written questionnaire was used to obtain information regarding Greek kindergarten teachers’ personal views on the concept of Environmental Education (EE). The questionnaire was also designed to obtain the teachers’ views relative to a series of theoretical and methodological issues concerning the application of EE. It was ascertained that the prevalent conception of the kindergarten teachers includes the following: (a) it is directed towards a knowledge-centered type of EE, (b) it is primarily centered on nature and its protection in terms of EE content, (c) it aims not only to shape citizens willing to adopt environmental measures recommended by the experts, but who will also actively participate in social actions for the protection of the environment, (d) it favors learning procedures in the environment with field study activities, (e) it must be compulsory in the kindergarten level.     

Preservice Elementary Teachers’ Beliefs About Science Teaching

In this study, a Beliefs About Teaching (BAT) scale was created to examine preservice elementary science teachers’ self-reported comfort level with both traditional and reform-based teaching methods, assessment techniques, classroom management techniques, and science content. Participants included 166 preservice teachers from three different US universities. Analyses revealed significant correlations among participants’ confidence level with assessment techniques, classroom management, teaching methods, and science content and number of science methods and science content courses taken. A significant difference was observed among the students enrolled at each university. Overall, study participants felt more comfortable teaching biology concepts than teaching chemistry concepts, physics concepts, or both.     

Common Concerns of Student Teachers

过了暑假,你也许要进入实习阶段。第一次走上讲台,面对学生。第一次走进办公室与你的未来同行和指导老师面对面。你做好准备了吗?以下文章将回答你所关注的问题。     

Preservice Elementary Teachers’ Ideas About Scientific Practices

With the goal of producing scientifically literate citizens who are able to make informed decisions and reason critically when science intersects with their everyday lives, the National Research Council (NRC) has produced two recent documents that call for a new approach to K-12 science education that is based on scientific practices, crosscutting concepts, and disciplinary core ideas. These documents will potentially influence future state standards and K-12 curricula. Teachers will need support in order to teach science using a practices based approach, particularly if they do not have strong science backgrounds, which is often the case with elementary teachers. This study investigates one cohort (n = 19) of preservice elementary teachers’ ideas about scientific practices, as developed in a one-semester elementary science teaching methods course. The course focused on eight particular scientific practices, as defined by the National Research Council’s A Framework for K-12 Science Education: Practices, Crosscutting Concepts, and Core Ideas (2012). Participants’ written reflections, lesson plans and annotated teaching videos were analyzed in fine detail to better understand their ideas about what it means to engage in each of the practices. The findings suggest that preservice elementary teachers hold promising ideas about scientific practices (such as an emphasis on argumentation and communication between scientists, critical thinking, and answering and asking questions as the goal of science) as well as problematic ideas (including confusion over the purpose of modeling and the process of analysis, and conflating argumentation and explanation building). These results highlight the strengths and limitations of using the Framework (NRC 2012) as an instructional text and the difficulties of differentiating between preservice teachers’ content knowledge about doing the practices and their pedagogical knowledge about teaching the practices.     

How Has Reform in Science Teacher Education Programs Changed Preservice Teachers’ Views About Science?

Reforms are typically criticized for failing to bridge the gap between practitioners and researchers and for the lack of research support provided prior to implementation. Research has indicated that preservice teachers’ understandings of high-quality science teaching are formed by teacher training programs. The purposes of this study are to investigate views about science in preservice teachers in old and new teacher training programs and to determine whether and how these two programs shape teacher trainees’ views of science. A total of 459 students from a 4-year elementary science teacher training program participated in the study. A 41-item instrument was used to collect data. Four factors were extracted from the data, explaining 41.58% of the variance, and the reliability was found to be .86. There were significant differences for both males and females between the old and new programs. However, no difference was found between males’ and females’ total scores. In addition, students from the two programs had significantly different scores on the sub-scales of “Anxiety” and “Uncertainty”. For example, males in the new program had significantly higher scores on the “Anxiety” and “Uncertainty” sub-scales. The overall increase in science course hours and decrease in science method course hours in the new program may account for these findings.     

Developing an Instrument for Identifying Secondary Teachers’ Beliefs About Education for Sustainable Development in China

Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) has been recently recognized as an important area in the new Chinese educational reform. As teachers play a pivotal role, knowing and developing an effective and easy-to-use instrument for tapping teachers’ beliefs is essential. This article reports an attempt to develop an instrument with mixed methods. The finalized instruments comprise two subscales with satisfactory reliability indices obtained. Sustainability values (VSD) consists of four dimensions: respect and care for the community of life; ecological integrity; social and economic justice; and democracy, nonviolence, and peace. Teaching beliefs of ESD (TESD) consists of three dimensions: relevance to daily life; students’ need in the future; and integrated teaching. With these validated instruments, future research and potential problems will be less strenuous.     

Teachers’ Continuing Professional Development and Higher Education

This paper presents and analyses data gathered from a survey of teachers in a range of secondary school English departments. It seeks to establish the ways in which teachers perceive their subject knowledge Continuing Professional Development (CPD) needs and the ways in which they would like to engage with Higher Education (HE) English as part of their CPD. It also explores teachers’ reasons for wishing to undertake such study, and the ways in which they believe such studies could contribute to their development. Finally, it goes on to consider some of the constraints on CPD and the possible implications of this for Higher Education Institutions. The interface between schools and HE has, historically, been limited. However, engagement in CPD is one of the most significant ways in which dialogue between secondary and HE teachers of English can be fruitfully established.     

Finnish Elementary School Teachers’ Attitudes Toward Gifted Education

This study examined Finnish elementary school teachers’ (N = 212) attitudes toward the gifted and their education. On a general level, teachers’ attitudes toward gifted education were slightly positive. Teachers saw that gifted students have social value and that they need special services. The results of teachers’ attitudes toward specific gifted education options were in line with earlier Finnish research, because teachers supported differentiated teaching but were more negative toward acceleration or separating the gifted into their own groups. However, despite the strong support for differentiated teaching for the gifted, teachers’ positions toward practice were more skeptical.     

Swiss Elementary School Teachers’ Attitudes Toward Forest Education

This article investigates benefits and challenges of forest education in view of 257 Swiss elementary school teachers (1st–3rd grade), by means of a written questionnaire and 15 in-depth interviews. Two thirds of the teachers carried out forest education during normal lesson hours (mean visits = eight per year). Forests were clearly considered as an educational setting, and especially suitable for the enhancement of personal and social skills. Setting rules was seen as indispensable for successful forest education and a must to communicate to “novice” teachers. Moreover, the didactic of forest education should be implemented in teacher education curricula.     

Examining Secondary Special Education Teachers’ Literacy Instructional Practices

This study presents findings from a survey of secondary special education teachers who teach reading. Respondents were 577 special education teachers from a large Midwestern state who completed an online or mail survey. Results based on quantitative and qualitative analyses indicate predominant foci of secondary special education teachers’ reading instructional practices were teaching vocabulary and comprehension, engaging in ongoing formative assessment, and incorporating technology into instruction. Major themes included the widespread use of commercial reading programs and a bifurcation of instructional roles. These findings are discussed in relation to the national discourse on adolescent literacy and current schooling initiatives including the Common Core State Standards and Multi-tiered Systems of Support.     

Teachers’ Voices on Integrating Metacognition into Science Education

This study is an attempt to gain new insight, on behalf of science teachers, into the integration of metacognition (MC) into science education. Participants were 44 elementary school science teachers attending an in-service teacher-training (INST) program. Data collection was carried out by several data sources: recordings of all verbal discussions that took place during the program, teachers’ written reflections, and semi-structured individual interviews. Our study provides a qualitative analysis of the 44 teachers’ voices as a group, as well as a detailed case-study narrative analysis of three teachers’ stories The findings show that the teachers’ intuitive (pre-instructional) thinking was incomplete and unsatisfactory and their voices were skeptical and against the integration of MC. After teachers had mastered the notion of MC in the INST program, the following outcomes have been identified: (a) teachers expressed amazement at how such an important and relevant issue had been almost invisible to them; (b) teachers identified the affective character of metacognitive experiences as the most significant facet of MC, which acts as a mediator between teaching and learning; (c) the complete lack of learning materials addressing MC and the absence of supportive in-classroom guidance were identified as the major obstacles for its implementation; (d) teachers expressed a willingness to continue their professional development toward expanding their abilities to integrate MC as an inseparable component of the science curriculum. The implications of the findings for professional development courses in the field of MC are discussed.     

Teachers’ Understanding of Interactive Approaches in Special Education

This paper considers the adoption of interactive approaches in the history of special education and addresses teachers’ use and conceptualisation of interactive approaches. Teachers in special schools and units in the United Kingdom were asked whether they used interactive approaches and, if so, what this meant in their context. Interactive approaches were reported to be used by two-thirds of the sample and what this meant to the 58 respondents, from different areas of special education, varied considerably. Their responses are compared with the central elements of interactive approaches in the literature. Areas of consensus are discussed and a relative lack of emphasis on process amongst the teachers is identified.