Affordances of teacher professional learning in secondary schools

It is commonly understood that teachers in secondary school should develop throughout their career in order to stay as an essential factor in student learning. Schools can offer opportunities to link teachers’ professional learning to their school practice with a positive impact on teachers’ motivation to learn and the effectiveness of their learning. In this field study, teachers, school leaders, policy-makers, educational consultants and educational scholars were asked for their perceptions of conditions for teacher learning in school and of interventions in school to enhance teacher professional learning. These conditions and interventions were understood as affordances in schools that enable and support teacher professional learning. The main affordance in school these stakeholders mentioned was an open, but critical way in which teachers share their practices, collaborate and reflect upon their teaching practice. Collaborative practices seem to stimulate many interventions of teacher professional learning in school. Two implications of this finding are discussed. First, we suggest that the maximum teaching time should be reduced, team teaching should be more implemented or classes should be scheduled in such a way that teachers can meet. Second, distributed leadership approaches match with our findings about the role of school leaders in teacher professional learning.     

对中小学教师管理适切性的思考

中小学教师管理在一定范围内不同程度地存在着很多问题,提高教师管理的适切性对重新认识教师管理的意义和促进教师的发展都有一定的价值.促进教师管理适切性的关键在于:校长要增强领导意识,把握"用人之道";管理者服务意识、保障意识的确立;发挥专业管理、人际关系的影响;鼓励教师自我管理,追求教师的精神生命自觉.     

中学英语教师职业兴趣的调查研究

文章使用霍兰德的职业自我探索量表调查了135名中学英语教师的职业兴趣。调查结果显示:女性英语教师的典型兴趣为社会型,而男性英语教师典型兴趣为社会型、管理型。不同性别的中学英语教师都具有典型的社会型特点,即对人和善,容易相处,关心自己和别人的感受,喜欢倾听和了解别人,也愿意付出时间和精力去解决别人的困扰。但男性更喜欢在为人服务的单位中,从事管理或教育行政等相关工作。     

Leadership for effective teacher training transfer in Kuwaiti secondary schools

This article reports on the findings of a study undertaken to examine the links between leadership practices of a transformational nature and the transfer of teacher training in the public high schools in Kuwait. The participants in the study were teachers who had undergone mandated professional development (PD) aimed at improving teaching practice in English language classes in these schools. The purpose of the study was to examine these teachers’ perceptions of the leadership behaviors of their Heads of Department that increased their motivation and supported their efforts to transfer their learning from PD sessions to their classrooms, and the extent to which practices identified as successful related to transformational leadership characteristics.     

中等职业教育师资建设不可忽视校本培训

本文在深入分析我国中等职业教育师资培训现状的基础上，提出了校本培训是传统职教师资培训体系的重要补充。阐述了校本培训在职教师资建设中的作用，呼吁中等职业学校要广泛开展校本培训，并进一步提出了推动中等职业学校开展校本培训的建议。     

Bullying in Italian schools: the role of perceived teacher unfairness

The principal aim of the study is to examine the role of perceived teacher unfairness in predicting bullying behaviour. Data were taken from the “Health Behaviour in School Aged Children” project, a cross-sectional survey investigating health behaviours among early adolescents in selected European countries. Bullying behaviour (bully, victim, and bully/victim), perceived teacher unfairness and others confounding factors were measured through a self-administered questionnaire filled out by a representative sample of 4,386 (48.4% males) Italian students (11, 13, and 15 years old). Covariates included demographic characteristics, socioeconomic status, school performance and other psychological factors. After adjusting for age and gender, teacher unfairness showed a significant association with being a bully (OR = 1.59; CI = 1.40–1.80) and a bully or victim (OR = 1.47; CI = 1.21–1.78). This relationship remained significant after additional adjustment for several potential confounding factors. Results show that characteristics of the school setting such as teacher unfairness can be significant predictors of involvement in bullying behaviour among early adolescents.     

百年中师优良传统:解析与承续

中师在一百多年的办学实践中,积累了培养小学教师的优良传统和宝贵经验,可以概括为特别注重师范生职业情意培养、教学技能训练、行为规范养成和师范文化建设等。反思当下小学教师培养中存在的问题,主要是对培养小学教师的院校把关不严格;师范生源总体状况不理想;一些院校培养小学教师的模式不恰当。因此,在小学教师教育高教化的背景下,应吸收和借鉴百年中师的优良办学传统和经验,积极探索小学教师培养的特点和规律,坚持综合培养、有所侧重,注重整体设置、一以贯之,重视知识教学、技能训练,加快体制创新、统筹规划,实行免费教育、定向培养,切实提高小学师资培养质量。     

The managerial role of the principal in promoting teacher professionalism in selected Eastern Cape schools

Abstract

In the last two to three decades teachers’ work has been plagued by problems internationally. These problems include a growing dissatisfaction of teachers about their working conditions (characterized by heavy workloads and low salaries), the growing attempts by governments to control teachers’ work and the increasing negative public image of the teaching profession. This negative public image of teaching is manifested in the failure of the profession to attract enough students and the fact that those who are already in the profession want to leave. These factors had, inter alia, lead to a collapse of professionalism amongst teachers in general.

There are, however, also other factors that have an influence on the professionalism of school teachers. It is argued in this article that the management role of the school principal is a crucial factor that influences teacher professionalism. This influence can be either positive or negative, depending to a large extent on how effectively the principal is managing the school. This article, derived from an empirical case study undertaken among a number of secondary schools in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa, is an attempt to conceptualise the important and pivotal managerial role of the principal in promoting professionalism amongst teachers in this province.     

Exploring teacher views of multi-level language classes in New Zealand secondary schools

This paper explores New Zealand teacher views of multi-level language classes, an increasingly common practice where learners at different curriculum and year levels are combined into a single class due to declining learner numbers. Findings from exploratory qualitative surveys and interviews show that the majority of teachers do not feel supported within their school and have not received professional development for this significant change to their practice which they feel devalues language learning. Teachers feel that multi-level classes are hard work, increase their workload, and negatively impact on their well-being, student learning and assessment grades.     

Perceptions of the educational counsellor's role in Kuwaiti secondary schools

The counselling literature has frequently reported problems of conflict and ambiguity within the counsellor's role, and its possible dysfunctional effects. Early studies in Kuwaiti secondary schools have suggested that conflicting perceptions of the educational counsellor's role may exist, which need to be addressed if the guidance programme is to be improved. This study examined differences in perceptions of the role of educational counsellors held by students, teachers and counsellors themselves. Questionnaires were completed by a sample of 300 students, 300 teachers and 30 educational counsellors located across Kuwait's five educational zones. Their ratings of the importance of 20 counsellor activities revealed differences in perceptions between the three groups of respondents, indicating that role conflict and ambiguity may indeed be a problem. Possible reasons for this, with specific reference to the Kuwaiti context, are discussed.     

The principal's role in restoring a learning culture in township secondary schools

Abstract

The establishment of a learning culture in schools is important for education to take place. The erosion of the learning culture which often culminated in the poor academic performance of Grade 12 learners in township secondary schools has been a cause for concern for many years. The Department of Education's countless efforts to rectify the situation have been to no avail. This article endeavours to establish the contribution that school principals can make towards resolving the problem. As manager and instructional leader of the school, the principal is in a suitable position to address this problem, and it is also his or her primary responsibility to lead and guide the school towards the attainment of good academic performance. The article discusses the principals' role in restoring a learning culture in township secondary schools. It discusses the management strategies or functions that principals can employ to restore a positive school culture. The management strategies were obtained by means of an interview from the principals of effective secondary schools. The literature study and the views of the principals obtained by means of a questionnaire confirm the effectiveness of the strategies in restoring a learning culture.     

The role of teacher trust in segregated elementary schools: a multilevel repeated measures examination

This study aims to investigate how teachers’ trust in their students relates to reading comprehension achievement in socially and ethnically segregated elementary schools in Flanders (Belgium) by taking into account class composition characteristics. It is examined how student variables, ethnic diversity and the proportion of non-native students in the class, and teachers’ trust in their students relate to reading comprehension achievement and learning growth. A 3-level multivariate repeated measures analysis was conducted. At 2 measurement occasions, reading tests and questionnaires were administered to a sample (n = 417) of 7- and 8-year-old students in 32 classes. Teachers’ trust in their students was found to be a key factor relating to learning growth in reading comprehension, and mediated the relationship between the level of ethnic diversity in the class and learning growth. Teachers with a higher level of trust in their students seem to foster more learning growth in reading comprehension.     

中职班主任队伍专业化之我见

班主任是班级的组织者、领导者和教育者，是对学生进行思想品德教育的骨干力量，是学生德、智、体全面发展的引路人。班主任工作的复杂性与特殊性都需要有一支专业的班主任队伍。如何建立一支专业化的班主任队伍，建议从以下几方面入手。     

学生的主体作用在中职生物教学中的发挥

在中职阶段生物教学活动开展的过程中,教师要突破以往理论教学方面的局限,更好地提高课堂教学的主动性,真正地帮助学生实现综合素质的发展。基于中职学生素质和特点,强化教学过程和创新教学方法。本文对中职生物教学中发挥学生主体作用进行了分析和探讨。     

Teachers talking: the role of collaboration in secondary schools in Bangladesh

Teacher collaboration and support given from one teacher to another, focused on improving teaching and learning in the classroom, are notable by their absence in secondary schools in Bangladesh. This article identifies a number of constraints to developing a collaborative culture including the difficulty of the curriculum, the perceived low ability of many students, the teachers' own educational background and contextual factors which influence teachers' motivation. It suggests that informal collaboration for mutual support has the potential to increase teacher motivation but that this will only be achieved through building more collaborative ways of working through formal programmes grounded in classroom observation. It questions the validity for Bangladesh teachers of the model of teacher development programmes focused on teacher collaboration which emphasise teaching the ‘perfect’ lesson and suggests that without attention to student learning such programmes are unlikely to lead to increased collaboration or improved teacher practice in schools.     

The teacher as moral educator: comparative study of secondary teachers in Catholic schools in Australia and Ireland

This paper considers the role of the teacher in relation to moral education in Catholic schools in Australia and Ireland. Literature pertaining to faith-based schooling, the moral role of the teacher and moral education across the curriculum in both countries is outlined. The paper draws on a small-scale study involving a survey with 154 respondents and individual interviews with nine teachers. Some interesting country differences emerged that are indicative of cultural settings. These include pedagogical practices, the nature of teacher–student relationships and levels of awareness of schools' founding charisms. Some implications for moral education in faith-based schools are identified.     

The problems of the beginning teacher in the Arab schools in Israel

This article focuses on the problems of beginning teachers in the Arab sector in Israel. The participants were 146 beginning teachers, 5 mentors, and 5 advisors. The research measurements included an open-ended question and a semi-structured interview. Our research revealed many different cultural aspects related to most of the problems of the beginning teachers. These problems are accompanied by difficult conflicts within the beginning Arab teachers who are exposed to western democratic educational models which are partially rejected by traditional Arab culture and society. The expectations of the teacher to become an agent of change in Arab society are not fulfilled in the first year, in which he/she tries to fit into the school, as well as the culture from which she/he comes and to which he returns. The problems which the beginning teachers report are related to didactic and disciplinary knowledge, adjustment to the organizational climate and culture of the school, problems of work overload, and individual differences among the pupils.