The measurement of teacher efficacy: Hong Kong primary in‐service teachers

This study sought to measure general teacher efficacy levels of in‐service primary teachers in Hong Kong. Participants included 725 Hong Kong in‐service teachers, who were invited to take part in the study. These in‐service teachers came from 28 different primary schools ranging from government, aided, private and direct subsidy schools. The Chinese version of the 12‐item Teachers' Sense of Efficacy (C‐TSE) Scale was applied to investigate the efficacy of the teachers. A factor analysis of these 12 items when male and female datasets were combined led to the extraction of only one factor. But separation of the two datasets led to the extraction of different factor analysis models. This could reflect the different perceptions that male and female teachers had about the formation of teacher efficacy. Overall, this study showed that female teachers were significantly more efficacious than male teachers. Moreover, years of teaching experience showed a weak but significant correlation to levels of general teacher efficacy. Interestingly, educational levels did not have a significant effect on the efficacy of this group of in‐service primary teachers. Overall, the C‐TSE was found to be a valid and reliable scale for measuring the efficacy levels of this particular group of in‐service primary teachers in Hong Kong.     

The myth of the research‐led teacher

This paper examines the contention that achievement in research is a prerequisite for effective teaching in higher education. It also explores university level teaching more generally with the purpose of examining the links between teaching and research. Concept mapping, in particular, is described as a means of exploring both the knowledge structures of experts (teachers and researchers) and the cognitive changes that are indicative of meaningful learning among students. We use the approach to suggest that rich and complex networks are indicative of expert status, but that these are seldom made explicit to students in the course of teaching. Instead, simple, linear structures comprise most lesson plans or teaching sequences. This linearity is often made transparent through the lecturers’ use of PowerPoint presentations to structure teaching. Thus the transmission mode of teaching predominates in HE and evidence of authentic research‐led teaching remains scant. This is likely to reinforce surface learning outcomes among university students and be an impediment to the emergence of expert status. The linear chains that are commonly espoused in teaching lend themselves to rote learning strategies rather than to individual meaning making. The approach we describe here has the potential to reinstate expert status as the prime qualification for teaching in higher education. Where concept mapping is used to share and explore knowledge structures between students and experts, then learning can be shown to occur in ways that are synonymous with research and discovery. Using this approach, the teacher–student distinction becomes legitimately blurred so that the sharing and advancement of knowledge are concomitant. In conclusion, we suggest that this is a basis for a pedagogy that is appropriate to HE and distinct from the compulsory sector.     

The challenges of partnership: an examination of parent–teacher meetings and school reports in the context of partnership

This paper begins with the observation that in education today, partnership is ubiquitous, in that partnership is mentioned in virtually all policy documents emanating from the Department of Education and Science, Ireland. However the lack of a clear understanding of partnership may mean that its usage in educational debate may obscure more than it illuminates. For this reason, a definition of partnership is offered and explained in the first part of this paper. The second part of this paper begins by highlighting the increasing importance of parent–teacher meetings and school reports on children's progress in current education. These two strategies are then examined in the context of partnership. In both cases, the argument is presented that while both strategies can be implemented according to the partnership model, it is possible for schools to conduct parent–teacher meetings and issue school reports that do not conform to partnership. The challenge then for schools is to assess to what extent their parent–teacher meetings and their school reports adhere to the principles of partnership.     

Using teacher ratings of social behavior to differentiate gifted from non‐gifted students

This study investigated the effectiveness of teacher ratings of student social behavior in differentiating a group of 81 elementary‐age gifted students from a control group of 81 age and gender matched non‐gifted students. The School Social Behavior Scales, a recently developed set of rating scales that assesses both social competence and antisocial behavior, was used for the ratings. Gifted students were rated as having significantly higher levels of social competence and lower levels of antisocial behavior than the comparison group, and the individual scores of the gifted students were significantly skewed in the direction of better social‐behavioral adjustment. The findings also indicated the presence of a small subset of gifted students who appeared to have extremely poor social competence and high levels of problem behaviors. The results are compared to previous research on the psychosocial development of gifted children, and important areas for future research on this topic are recommended.     

The story of leading mathematics teachers from teacher‐trainees to key positions

The present study depicts the story of three elementary school mathematics teachers who come from a different socio‐economic background but have similar entrance characteristics for college studies. They have chosen teaching as their first and sole alternative and as their preferred profession in life. All three were integrated into the education system upon graduation from college and, a short time later, less than three years, are playing key roles in the field of education in addition to their teaching practice in class. The study aims to identify unique characteristics of college graduate teachers who undergo an accelerated process of professional development. Their stories illustrate that the attitude towards the discipline (love of the profession, the wish to teach it), the wish to make an impact on what is transpiring in the system, personality variables and the school context in which they work as teachers are major and significant factors in their professional growth.     

Personal variables affecting the perspectives of head‐teachers and teachers towards teacher participation in school decision‐making

The article reviews research which has taken place relating to the influence of certain biographical factors on head‐teacher and teacher perspectives on who should take decisions within schools. The particular biographical factors which are considered are status, sex, age, length of experience and school size. Each is examined independently and shown to have some influence though existing research does not always agree on the type or extent of this influence. The article concludes by stating that whatever this influence might be, it is only one small aspect of the complex decision‐making process.     

Helping students make meaning of authentic investigations: findings from a student–teacher–scientist partnership

As student–teacher–scientist partnerships become more widespread, there is a need for research to understand the roles assumed by scientists and teachers as they interact with students in general and in inquiry learning environments in particular. Although teacher roles during inquiry learning have been studied, there is a paucity of research about the roles that scientists assume in their interactions with students. Socio-cultural perspectives on learning emphasize social interaction as a means for students to make meaning of scientific ideas. Thus, this naturalistic study of classroom discourse aims to explore the ways scientists and teachers help high school students make meaning during authentic inquiry investigations. Conversational analysis is conducted of video recordings of discussions between students and teachers and students and scientists from two instances of a student–teacher–scientist partnership program. A social semiotic analytic framework is used to interpret the actions of scientists and teachers. The results indicate a range of common and distinct roles for scientists and teachers with respect to the conceptual, social, pedagogical, and epistemological aspects of meaning making. While scientists provided conceptual and epistemological support related to their scientific expertise, such as explaining scientific phenomena or aspects of the nature of science, teachers played a critical role in ensuring students’ access to this knowledge. The results have implications for managing the division of labor between scientists and teachers in partnership programs.     

The self‐regulated learning aspect of metacognition: A component of gifted education

As interest increases in the connection between metacognition and gifted, a shift in the definition of giftedness from person to performance variables allows an even closer link to skills of self‐regulatory metacognition such as defining, focusing, persisting, guiding, coping, correcting, reinforcing, and solving. Researchers recommend explicit instructional models that teach specific strategies for disciplined, reflective problem solving while stressing accuracy and persistent concentration. This article provides such a detailed account of a classroom‐tested early childhood pedagogy for gifted learners, especially the underachieving gifted. Teacher and peer modeling of think‐aloud, behavioral demonstration, and cueing of five steps to efficient task accomplishment are outlined with examples. Benefits of productive self‐regulated learning strategies during task periormances are reported from teachers, parents, and students.     

The reflection on the blackboard: student teacher self‐evaluation

A common aim of teacher education is to encourage prospective teachers to analyze carefully their instructional performance. Yet, research on teacher cognition heretofore has concentrated primarily on experienced teachers’ planning and instructional thinking. We need more information on how student teachers think about and engage in the evaluation of their teaching performance. This study used data from initial structured interviews to elicit student teachers’ self‐evaluation concerns and examined the student teachers’ journals, a final written self‐evalution, and tapes from post‐teaching interviews to create a profile of each student teacher's responses about self‐evaluation. In this paper I analyze the student teachers’ pre‐conceptions about success, examine their processes of self‐evaluation, and explore a conception of “interactive self‐evaluation.” I offer suggestions about the conditions that may enable student teachers to enhance their analytical processes.     

Is the motivation to become a teacher related to pre‐service teachers’ intentions to remain in the profession?

This study investigated 198 pre‐service teachers’ intrinsic and extrinsic motivation for becoming teachers and focused on the distinction between adaptive motives, which promote lasting and effective engagement, and maladaptive motives, which promote superficial engagement. We examined the relationships with teacher self‐efficacy, the quality of the teacher training programme, classroom teaching experiences and the time pre‐service teachers expect to spend in the profession. The analyses indicated that female pre‐service teachers and pre‐service teachers with higher prior ability showed more intrinsic adaptive motives. Intrinsic adaptive motives were positively related to the quality of the teacher training programme and the classroom teaching experiences. Pre‐service teachers with positive teaching experiences indicated greater teacher self‐efficacy. Pre‐service teachers with extrinsic maladaptive motives indicated having had negative teaching experiences and they intended to remain in the profession for shorter periods. Teacher self‐efficacy was positively related to the amount of time pre‐service teachers intended to remain in the profession.     

Learning to become a teacher in Australia: a study of pre-service teachers’ identity development

This study aims to examine how pre-service teachers learn to teach in Australia context during their practicum and how this learning experience constructs their identities as teachers through activity theory framework. Data were drawn from interviews with two pre-service teachers, interviews with their supervising teachers and university mentors, lesson plans, and supervising teacher’s feedback. The findings indicate that the two pre-service teachers’ identity formation is a continuing process and an outcome of the collective activity through their interaction with their coordinating teachers, mentors and students. We argue that teachers’ identity formation is related to their agency to seek and offer support to others. The pre-service teachers could produce and reproduce their identity in the relevant community through their agentive action to interact with others.     

The EHE‐EMSAT Project: the development of awareness of electronic mail among student teachers

ABSTRACT

This paper reports the results of a one‐year project designed to develop the awareness of 291 student teachers in the area of electronic mail (e‐mail). The project was successful in increasing the active use of e‐mail and the general awareness of students: the number of active users rose from 17 to 33%, and the number of those able to explain e‐mail to a colleague rose from 12 to 45%. Case study material is presented to illustrate the conditions under which the development of e‐mail flourished with one particular group of modern languages student teachers. Conclusions are drawn concerning the utility of the cascade model of curriculum development in extending electronic communication.     

The pursuit of excellence or the search for intimacy? The forced‐choice dilemma of gifted youth

Educators often fail to recognize that the intellectually gifted differ from their age peers in their social and emotional development as much as in their intellectual and academic characteristics. A dilemma peculiar to gifted youth arises through the interaction of the psychosocial drives towards intimacy and achievement, which complement each other in students of average ability, but which place the gifted student in a forced‐choice situation. If the gifted child chooses to satisfy the drive for excellence he or she must risk forfeiting the attainment of intimacy with age peers; if the choice is intimacy, the gifted may be forced into a pattern of systematic and deliberate underachievement to retain membership in the social group. Homogeneous grouping of gifted students is suggested as a partial solution to this dilemma.     

The appreciation and realisation of research‐based teacher education: Finnish students' experiences of teacher education

Finnish pupils have scored well on international comparative students' achievement tests. Apparently, this is the main reason for the current wide international interest in the Finnish teacher education system and its research‐based approach. The aim of this article is to describe student teachers' perspectives on the research‐based approach. We will report their attitudes towards the approach and what kinds of experiences they have concerning the realisation of the research‐based approach in their studies. The subjects of the research were part of a special group of students, who all had worked as teachers without being officially qualified to do so before they entered teacher education. The research was carried out as a web‐based survey (n = 113). The questionnaire was based on the structure of the curriculum of the teacher education programme, including items from each part of the curriculum. The subjects were asked about both attitudes and experiences. According to our results, the students appreciate the research‐based approach as the main organising theme of teacher education. They presume that this approach is detectable in every part of their studies, as was the case in most of the courses.

Les étudiants finlandais ont obtenu de bons résultats dans les comparaisons internationales de résultats scolaires. Ceci doit être la raison principale de l'intérêt international aujourd'hui répandu pour la formation des enseignants basée sur la recherche. Cet article traite des vues des futurs enseignants finlandais sur l'approche basée sur la recherche. Plus précisément il s'agit de l'appréciation qu'ils portent à cette approche et de sa mise en ?uvre durant leurs études. Les personnes interrogées sont des étudiants en formation multiforme qui ont travaillé comme enseignants sans qualification avant de commencer la formation et dont la plupart travaillent comme enseignants à côté de leurs études. Le matériel a été obtenu par le moyen d'un questionnaire électronique (n = 113). Les parties du questionnaire étaient basées sur la structure du plan d'études et contenaient des thèses sur chacun des modules d'études. L'étude a porté sur les appréciations et les expériences. D'après les résultats, les étudiants apprécient l'approche basée sur la recherche et en général l'attendent également de leur formation.

Die finnischen Studenten haben gute Resultate in den internationalen vergleichenden Schulleistungstesten (PISA). Vermutlich ist dies die Ursache für die heutige weltweite Interesse für die finnische Lehrerausbildungssystem, das auf der wissenschaftliche Research beruht. Die Ursache für dieses Artikel ist, dass wir finden wollten, welcherlei Aspekte die Referendaren/Innen zu ihrem Studium auf der wissenschaftliche Betonung (research‐based) haben. Wir wollen berichten, welcherlei Einstellungen die Studenten zu diesen Betonung der Studium haben und welcherlei Erfahrungen sie in ihren Studium bekommen haben. Die Studenten in diesem Erforschung sind eine speziale Gruppe. Sie haben alle als unqvalifizierte Lehrer vor ihrem Lehrerstudium gearbeitet. Diese Erforschung wurde als einem Survey in Internet verwirklicht (n = 113). Der Survey war auf den Strukturen des Unterrichtsprogramms für die Lehrerstudenten/Innen begründet. Beinhaltet waren auch Thesen aus allen Teilen des Unterrichtsprogrammes. Es wurden sowohl Bewertungen als auch Einstellungen befragt. Nach unserem Resultaten die Studenten bewerten wissenschaftliche Betonung des Studiums und das erwarten sie auch von dieser Ausbildung. So war es in den meisten Fällen der verschiedenen Kursen.

En comparaciones internacionales sobre resultados escolares, los estudiantes finlandeses han obtenido buenos resultados. Ésta es, con toda probablidad, la razón principal por la cual la formación pedagógica finlandesa basada en la investigación es, actualmente, objeto de gran interés a nivel internacional. En este artículo se estudian las opiniones de alumnos de formación de profesores sobre el enfoque investigador de la formación. Con más exactitud, se trata de saber si los alumnos valoran esta orientación y cómo, según sus experiencias personales, se cumple el enfoque investigador durante sus estudios. Los encuestados son alumnos de la formación multimodal de profesores. Han trabajado como profesores no titulados antes de empezar estos estudios, y la mayoría continúa trabajando como profesores también durante la formación. Los datos fueron obtenidos a través de una encuesta virtual (n = 113). Las diversas partes de la encuesta se basaban en la estructura del plan de estudios de la formación de profesores y contenían afirmaciones sobre cada uno de los componentes del plan. Se estudiaron tanto las valoraciones como las experiencias de los alumnos. Según los resultados, los alumnos valoran el enfoque investigador de la formación y, por regla general, también esperan que sea un aspecto importante de sus estudios.     

Accountability and the affective labour of teachers: a Marxist–Vygotskian perspective

This article addresses the issue of affective labour in education in the context of standards-based reforms and accountability. In particular, it focuses on neoliberal strategies of rationalization and control that produce a number of social pathologies, such as alienated teaching and learning and reified social relations between teachers and students. The article turns to affective labour as something that enables teachers to counteract these effects. This argument arises from the analysis of interviews with teachers who continue to generate and sustain the sociality of teaching and learning. Affect directs teachers?? commitment to practice that is governed by feeling, passion and the ethics of care. What gives affective labour such an important position is that it is both outside and beyond accountability and performativity measures. It is identified with the general pedagogical activity that cannot be structured by measuring devices such as students?? test scores or standards. The article concludes with the application of Vygotsky??s ideas about the role of affect in education and argues that affective labour has an expansive power of ontological freedom that cannot be controlled.     

Showtime: the biopolitical performance of ‘effective beginning science teacher’

Cultural Studies of Science Education - Over the past decade, neoliberal practices for ensuring teacher effectiveness have shaped the landscape of education. In the midst of policy mandates for...     

Motivational Characteristics in Mathematical Achievement: a study of gifted high‐achieving,gifted underachieving and non‐gifted pupils

The aim of this study was to examine whether motivational‐emotional variables such as intrinsic orientation toward schoolwork, Mathematics anxiety, academic self‐esteem, attribution of success and failure in Mathematics and situational interest in Mathematics could differentiate different groups of mathematically gifted pupils. The research was based, theoretically, on an interactional model of giftedness. The sample consisted of 147 selected primary school pupils (9‐10 years of age) who were assigned to the following groups for comparison: mathematically gifted achievers (n = 31), mathematically gifted under‐achievers (n = 31) and mathematically non‐gifted pupils (n = 85). The results of a discriminant analysis show that the gifted pupils differ from the non‐gifted ones in attaining higher levels of intrinsic orientation toward Mathematics, lower Mathematics anxiety, lower attribution of success to external factors and effort, as well as in lower attribution of failure to external factors and abilities. Also, gifted achievers have lower attribution of success to effort than gifted under‐achievers and non‐gifted pupils.