Teachers’ Attitudes towards Disruptive Behaviour and their Use of Internal Referral

This study offers a very neat demonstration of something which conventional wisdom holds: that our actions reflect our beliefs. But the topic under investigation is a challenging one – teachers’ uses of ‘referral systems’ in school. The evidence suggests that referrals reflect teachers’ beliefs – not, therefore, the pupils’ behaviour. We do not know of a study of this sort anywhere in the literature on school behaviour, yet these findings have major implications for those pastoral systems which have become distorted into discipline systems. Michael examines these with care, taking pains not to be simply ‘pointing the finger’.

Michael Evans has been teaching physical education and mathematics in London for seven years. Currently in his second secondary post as Head of Year, Michael is working to complete his MA at the University of London Institute of Education. In his spare time he heads for the hills, wind and rain of Scotland.     

新课程理念下中学英语教师信念与课堂教学关系调查

通过访谈,结合问卷调查和实际课堂教学观摩,研究新课程理念下中学英语教师的教学信念与实际课堂教学的情况,结果发现中学英语教师的传统信念已经被现代先进的教师信念所替代。但是,这些信念在实际教学中的执行程度并不高,其主要原因是目前的社会文化环境和课堂教学实际制约了教师信念的实施。     

Initiating Change in Prospective Elementary School Teachers' Orientations to Mathematics Teaching by Building on Beliefs

Many mathematics educators have found thatprospective elementary school teachers' beliefsinterfere with their learning of mathematics.Often teacher educators consider these beliefsto be wrong or naïve and seek to challengethem so prospective teachers will reject themfor more generative beliefs. Because of theresilience of prospective teachers' beliefs inresponse to these challenges, teacher educatorscould consider alternative ways of thinkingabout and addressing beliefs, particularly thepotential of building on rather than tearingdown pre-existing beliefs. Data from anearly-field experience linked to amathematics-for-teachers course provideevidence that when prospective teachers workintimately with children, in this case tryingto teach 10-year-olds about fractions, theexperience has the intensity from which beliefscan grow. Most of the prospective teachers inthe study were surprised that mathematicsteaching was more difficult than they hadanticipated. They began to consider theimportance of providing children time to thinkwhen solving mathematical problems. The changedescribed in the study is incremental ratherthan monumental, suggesting that building uponprospective teachers' existing beliefs will bea gradual process.     

The Case for Restructuring the UK Secondary School

Chris Watkins was a member of the first NAPCE executive in 1982, and has continued on that committee and on the London committee ever since. He was chair of NAPCE from 1992 to 1994, and is currently chair of the Publications Committee. He has been a maths teacher in a large secondary school, a teacher in charge of a unit for pupils whose effect on school was disruptive, and a trained school counsellor.
He is now head of the academic group 'Assessment, Guidance and Effective Learning' at the University of London Institute of Education, where his current areas of work include school behaviour, mentoring, tutoring, personal–social education – all centrally linked to effective learning in classrooms and school. He is course tutor to the MA in Effective Learning and the MA in School Development, and is involved in consultancy to schools and training others in consultation. Current research projects include 'The Violence-resilient School' and 'Learning about Learning'.     

高师学生师德教育手段之探讨

高等师范院校的培养目标是未来的教师,教师师德的影响是深远悠长的,因此,加强在校师范生的师德教育是迫切的、重要的。进行师德教育的手段是多方面的,主要有多渠道灌输、管理教育、示范教育、自我教育、环境熏陶等。我们就应当在传统的教育方法中,贯穿新的教育内容,培养在校师范生的师德情感、增强他们的师德信念,养成良好的师德行为习惯和师德品质。     

Struggling with workload: Primary teachers’ experience of intensification

During the last two decades teachers in many countries have found themselves facing new demands and changes. In his “intensification thesis” Apple, M.W. [(1986). Teachers and Texts. A political economy of class and gender relations in educations. London: Routledge] made a powerful attempt to conceptualize and explain these changes: the growing economic oriented perspective on education leads to an intensification of teachers' work. This paper, which reports on qualitative–interpretative case studies in Flemish (Belgian) primary schools, contributes to a more refined understanding of teachers' working conditions. Using “experience of intensification” as a central concept, the authors call for a refined understanding of the complex interplay of teachers' professional selves, the cultural and structural working conditions in the school and the different “calls for change” they have to deal with. Based on multiple case studies, the authors demonstrate that the experience of intensification is mediated through processes of interpretation and sense-making that are influenced by the organizational working conditions as well as teachers' sense of professional identity.     

A national perspective on teachers' efficacy beliefs in deaf education

Teachers' sense of efficacy, or the belief that teachers have of their capacity to make an impact on students' performance, is an unexplored construct in deaf education research. This study included data from 296 respondents to examine the relationship of teacher and school characteristics with teachers' sense of efficacy in 80 different deaf education settings in the US. Deaf education teachers reported high overall efficacy beliefs but significantly lower efficacy beliefs in the area of student engagement than in instructional strategies and classroom management. Teachers' years of experience showed a significant relationship with efficacy beliefs, yet it was the teachers' perceived collective efficacy of their educational setting that ultimately predicted teachers' sense of efficacy. These findings lend credence to the need for further examination of school processes that influence teacher beliefs and attitudes in deaf education settings.     

关于小学教师对学生注意问题的认识及策略的研究

本研究采用质的研究方法,探讨了小学教师对学生注意问题的内隐认识和采取的教育策略。研究发现:学生的注意问题在小学阶段是一个很普遍而且使教师十分困扰的问题;教师的认识既有合理之处也有非科学认识参与其中;教师的策略反映了一定的因材施教能力,同时表现出小学教师教育技能亟待提高的现状;有些教师对"多动症"的估计超过在儿童群体中大约5％的ADHD儿童的平均水平;学校环境中,"班容量"是一个影响教师对学生注意问题准确认识不容忽视的因素。     

Adapting Reform Ideas in Different Mathematics Classrooms: Beliefs Beyond Mathematics

The goals of this study are to understandelementary school teachers' beliefs andpractices and to unveil factors that influencethe way teachers adapt mathematics reformrhetoric when trying to adopt it. In theresearch, I searched for beliefs beyondmathematics that influence teachers' decisionsand choices for teaching mathematics. Workingwith children from different socioeconomicbackgrounds, teachers interpret reform indifferent ways. Based on their concept of students' needs, teachers select which partsof the reform documents are appropriate fortheir students. While children from uppersocioeconomic backgrounds experience problemsolving, those from lower socioeconomicbackgrounds undergo rote learning. Because notall children have the opportunity to learn thesame quality mathematics, the emerging concernof this study is the issue of equity inmathematics teaching.     

Support teachers' beliefs about the academic achievement of students with special educational needs

José Castro Silva, lecturer in sciences of education, and José Morgado, assistant professor, both work at the Instituto Superior de Psicologica Aplicada in Lisboa, Portugal. In this article, they describe their study of support teachers' beliefs about the academic achievement of school students with special educational needs. The 'support teachers' who were the subject of this study work in mainstream schools where the majority of pupils with special educational needs are educated in mainstream classes run by 'general teachers'. The work of the support teachers is supervised and supported by 'special education team co-ordinators'. The study reported here set out to elicit the support teachers' beliefs about the factors that contribute to success at school for pupils with special educational needs. Results suggest that the support teachers consider that factors including 'school climate', 'curriculum design' and 'teaching approach' contribute significantly to achievements among these pupils. On the other hand, analysis reveals that the support teachers attribute difficulties and lack of achievement significantly to 'out-of-school' contextual variables. These findings are related to a detailed review of the literature and the authors discuss the implications for policy, practice and professional development.     

The Emerging Pracitces of a Novice Teacher: The Roles of His School Mathematics Images

The relationship between teachers' beliefs about mathematics and its teaching and learning, and their classroom practices, has been investigated in many studies. The results of these studies are by no means unanimous, and the purpose of the present report is to contribute to a further understanding of the significance of one teacher's beliefs and images of school mathematics on his teaching practices. The article presents a novice teacher whose images of school mathematics were strongly influenced by the current reform of mathematics education. The study focuses on how the teacher coped with the complexities of the classroom. On the basis of the teacher's role within the classroom interactions, the construct of critical incidents of practice is developed, and some of the results of previous research in the field are re-examined. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Enfield TVEI Goes 'Special'

The London Borough of Enfield was one of 14 LEAs chosen to pilot the Technical and Vocational Education Initiative (TVEI) in September 1983. A unique feature of the scheme at the time was the inclusion of West Lea, a school for delicate children between five and 16, among the 12 schools and two colleges of further education taking part. Terence Bailey, senior adviser, special education, and Michael Hearn, assistant education officer (TVEI), London Borough of Enfield, describe the experiment, following up the theme of the December 1987 issue on new national curriculum and training initiatives 14–19.     

The structure of primary and secondary teachers' attributions for pupils' misbehaviour: a preliminary cross-phase and cross-cultural investigation

The purpose of this study was to see if systematic contrasts in educational culture and curricular emphases might affect the underlying structure of teachers' attributions for children's behaviour. Thus, responses to a questionnaire developed from earlier work by Miller and colleagues (2000, 2002) were gathered from primary and secondary school teachers in England and the Republic of Ireland. Exploratory factor analyses revealed that teachers participating in the study appear to have attributed pupils' misbehaviour at least as much to teachers' and adult behaviours as much as to any distinctive parental or home factors. The structure of primary and secondary teachers' attributions appears to have differed, with primary teachers distinguishing between their own and parental influences on children's behaviour. However, contrary to expectation the demands of the curriculum did not seem to have figured highly in these teachers' perception of causes of misbehaviour. Finally, some speculations on possible differences in relative weighting between English and Irish teachers' views are offered. Teachers in the Republic of Ireland appear to have attached greater importance to children's personalities and pressures on children. Further, teachers in primary schools in England seem to have rated their classroom management strategies and other more general adult behaviours as more important associates of behaviour than did their counterparts in the Republic of Ireland. The implications of the findings are discussed in relation to cultural and curricular differences and teachers' constructions of behaviour and special educational needs.     

Intention and practice in school science education

This paper reports on a study of the mismatch between science teachers' stated purposes and their actual teaching of science in a secondary school. Factors affecting teachers' practices include their personal beliefs about teaching, learning and the purposes of science education, the school program and the school culture. Specializations: science and technology education, professional development.     

Are teachers' beliefs incongruent with their observed classroom behavior?

The study forcuses on an on-going question of whether teachers' beliefs are incongruent with their observed classroom behavior. The setting for the study is a Protestant high school in a large southwestern city. In particular, two teachers are studied. Elicitational questioning and classroom observations are used as procedural methods for data collection. Congruency/incongruency is determined qualitatively, i.e., by comparing observed patterns of teacher classroom behavior with their elicited beliefs. Findings indicate that congruent and incongruent beliefs must be understood in terms of a clustering effect of beliefs in belief systems. Moreover, such findings can be used in understanding teacher decision making processes and classroom teaching strategies.     

文化生态理论视域下的国外教师信念研究

教师信念深受社会环境(课堂、学校、家庭、国家、社会等)的影响,教师信念与教师教学行为处于互动关系,即教师的信念产生于教师实践和教师生存环境,受制于其所处环境中的价值观和文化,同时也影响教师的自我认同和教学效能感,而教师在教学实践活动中进行的反思和积累的经验也可以改变教师已有的信念。改善社会文化、政策层面的大环境,可以引领教师信念的改变。学校文化和基于学校教学实践的教师培训体系为教师信念反思、促进教师专业发展提供有利条件。     

How teachers’ beliefs about learning and teaching relate to their continuing professional development

Teachers’ continuing professional development (CPD) can improve teacher quality and teaching practice, yet teachers differ greatly in the extent to which they engage in CPD. In extensive research into which factors affect teachers’ participation in CPD, the effects of teachers’ beliefs have received limited attention, despite their strong influences on people’s working and learning. Teachers’ beliefs about learning and teaching in particular influence their teaching practices. Does a comparable relationship exist between these beliefs and teachers’ own learning or participation in CPD? To explore this relationship, 260 Dutch secondary school teachers completed a survey that focused on the teachers’ student-oriented and subject matter-oriented beliefs, as well as on teachers’ updating, reflective and collaborative activities. Because teachers’ characteristics reflect both belief dimensions, this study relied on cluster analysis, which revealed three distinct belief profiles. These results indicated that teachers’ beliefs about learning and teaching relate to their participation in CPD: the more a teacher’s profile is student oriented and subject matter oriented, the higher his or her participation in CPD. The results have implications for enhancing teachers’ reflections on their beliefs about learning and teaching, in conjunction with participation in CPD.     

中小学教师教学工作评价方案的设计与探讨

从学校对教师教学工作评价时出现的问题出发，根据现代教育评价理论，在深入分析教师整个教学工作的基础上，设计了中小学教师教学工作评价方案。     

癸卯学制之前的中国师范教育

我国自古就有尊师重道的传统,而培养师资的师范教育直到清末才出现。清末师范学堂并非像欧美、日本那样出于普及教育的客观需要而产生,而是在社会发生重大变革的情况下,在师范教育思想产生的过程中出现的,这些早期师范学堂的创办,无疑对清政府制定师范教育政策产生重大影响。