Whatever Happened to Progressive Education? A comparison of primary school teachers’ attitudes in 1982 and 1996

Two cohorts of teachers working full‐time in Church of England voluntary‐aided and voluntary‐controlled first, primary and middle (deemed primary) schools within the Diocese of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich were invited to complete a questionnaire concerned with teaching styles in 1982 and again in 1996. The data demonstrate a significant shift toward placing greater value on traditional teaching styles between 1982 and 1996.     

Turkish primary school teachers’ perceptions of school culture regarding ICT integration

The current study aimed at identifying Turkish primary school teachers’ perceptions of school culture regarding ICT integration in education. In addition, the current study was designed to investigate factors that might influence their perceptions. The participants were 1540 primary school teachers. The findings revealed that the teachers’ perceptions regarding school culture in both motivational and technical aspects were not positive. Gender, ownership of a personal computer, Internet access, professional experience, and weekly computer use seemed to play an important role in the perceived school culture regarding ICT integration in education.     

Predictors of primary school teachers’ knowledge about developmental dyscalculia

Developmental dyscalculia is a specific learning disability that is described as a heterogeneous and persistent cognitive disorder. Given the need to detect and intervene as early as possible to minimise its effects, teachers’ knowledge about symptoms, characteristics and effective intervention strategies in dyscalculia is essential. Given the lack of research about this topic and measures to evaluate teachers’ knowledge, this study aims to present a literature-based measure to evaluate knowledge about developmental dyscalculia and to investigate the predictors of this type of knowledge. Data were collected from a sample of 175 primary school teachers. The measure presented adequate psychometric properties. Teachers’ personal characteristics such as age and gender did not predict their knowledge about dyscalculia. Being a Special Education teacher predicted a higher knowledge of intervention strategies in dyscalculia and having heard about dyscalculia predicted higher knowledge about not only intervention strategies but also dyscalculia characteristics. The data are discussed, and suggestions for further studies are presented.     

Play-based pedagogy under threat? A small-scale study of teachers’ and pupils’ perceptions of pedagogical discontinuity in the transition to primary school

This study explored teachers’ and pupils’ perceptions of pedagogical discontinuity in the transition from Reception to Year 1. Data were collected through interviews with one Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) teacher and one Year 1 teacher in the same setting. A questionnaire distributed to Year 1 children (n?=?23) provided supplementary data. Findings revealed that teachers and pupils were aware of pedagogical discontinuity in the transition from EYFS to Year 1. Teachers attributed pedagogical discontinuity to the constraints of the National Curriculum. Pressures to ensure children are ‘school ready’ also have implications for bridging pedagogical discontinuity through play.     

A study of teachers’ integration of interactive whiteboards into four Australian primary school classrooms

Interactive whiteboards (IWBs) have become increasingly available in Australian primary schools. However, little is known about how they are being integrated by teachers into their teaching practices. This paper reports on a study of the introduction of IWBs into an Australian public primary school. Data were collected for one day per week over two school terms, involving four classroom teachers. Data collected included a log of time allocation, lesson observations and a series of interviews with the teachers. The study found that participants used IWBs to a varying extent over the course of a teaching week, with lessons that integrated the use of IWBs tending to focus on literacy and numeracy. The technology was readily incorporated into the classroom environment by teachers and considered easy to use. Teachers adopted a range of pedagogical approaches when using the IWBs and these approaches were consistent with those they usually employed in their teaching.     

Predictors of teachers’ use of ICT in school – the relevance of school characteristics,teachers’ attitudes and teacher collaboration

This paper is based on the research question of what predictors (school characteristics, teachers’ attitudes, teacher collaboration and background characteristics) determine secondary school teachers’ frequency of computer use in class. The use of new technologies by secondary school teachers for educational purposes is an important factor regarding school and teaching processes. The use of digital media in schools is, among other things, associated with the goal of supporting learning processes and improving the quality of education. This contribution identifies relevant factors by means of multiple regression analyses of the teachers’ frequency of computer use for instruction in five countries (the Netherlands, Denmark, Australia, Poland and Germany) to get an idea of how to support the frequency of the use of computers in class. The analyses and findings are based on the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA) study of International Computer and Information Literacy Study 2013 (ICILS), which investigates the computer and information literacy (CIL) of secondary school students and the contexts in which students develop CIL in 21 countries. Antecedents concerning school characteristics, teachers’ attitudes and teacher collaboration on the process level and background characteristics of secondary school teachers (N = 8.920) are examined in order to gain further insight into the nature and effect of predictors for secondary school teachers’ in-class use of information and communications technology. The analyses show that there are more country-specific results than similarities between the countries selected. In all countries, antecedents concerning teachers’ attitudes are more relevant for teachers’ in-class use of computers than school characteristics or teacher collaboration on the process level.     

Swedish primary‐school teachers’ attitudes to inclusion – the case of PE and pupils with physical disabilities

Teachers play a decisive role in making inclusive education a reality. The particular case of inclusion in physical education (PE) poses a specific challenge to teaching practice. How PE teachers view inclusion may provide special insights into teachers’ general attitudes toward inclusion and inclusive practices in the general school curriculum. The aim of this study is to investigate Swedish PE teachers’ attitudes to inclusion of pupils with physical disabilities in mainstream PE classes at primary school. The sampling frame was members of the Swedish Teachers’ Union who had registered themselves as PE teachers and who indicated a current e‐mail address (n = 560). Respondents were invited to complete an e‐mail questionnaire with questions covering demographics, general attitudes, support from school management and staff, possible hindrances and personal experiences of inclusion. A total of 221 teachers (39%) responded, equal numbers of males and females with a bimodal age distribution (means of 28 and 44) with an average of eight years of service. On average, Swedish PE teachers are very positive to inclusion of pupils with physical disabilities into general PE. Gender, age, years of service and work satisfaction had no impact on general opinions of inclusive PE. PE teachers with actual previous experience of teaching pupils with physical disabilities were slightly more positive to inclusive PE. Stepwise multiple regressions were used to establish a predictive model of positive attitudes to inclusion based on: (1) having adequate training; (2) having general school support (from management and staff); and (3) demands on resources. This yielded an adjusted R ² that explained 33% of variation in attitudes.     

Understanding teachers as change agents: An investigation of primary school teachers’ self-perception

This study reports on a large-scale survey on primary school teachers’ perceptions of being change agents and the extent to which these perceptions are related to personality and contextual factors. A principal component analysis and confirmatory factor analysis revealed nine characteristics of teachers as change agents. Personality and contextual factors are related to teachers’ perceptions of being a change agent. Four teacher profiles were distinguished according to the varying degrees of teachers’ perceptions of themselves as change agents. This study adds to the further understanding of teachers as change agents, their characteristics and how these characteristics are related to personality and contextual factors.     

Supporting school teachers: primary teachers’ conceptions of their responses to diverse sexualities

Teachers experience a range of situations in the primary school context where students talk about, share ideas and use words and actions that might be described as non-heteronormative in character. This article reports on teachers’ experiences of the ways in which they respond to actions and events they see as non-heteronormative. It identifies six different ways in which teachers conceptualise their pedagogical responses to the situations they encounter: (1) being nonchalant, (2) avoiding a response, (3) being uncertain, (4) maintaining home and school boundaries, (5) protecting students’ well-being and (6) embracing non-heteronormative sexualities. Teachers’ responses to these events are important in that their actions may affect how students interpret and understand the world. Primary school teachers will benefit from support in knowing how to respond appropriately when faced with a scenario or situation that is non-heteronormative in character.     

A comparison of student teachers’ perceptions of school placement experience in Malta and China Compare

ABSTRACT

This study explores the insights about teaching that student teachers elicit from schools when they go on their first school placements. It thereby offers an appraisal of how student teachers experience teaching when still at the relatively early stages of training and how they are socialised into a role where they become protagonists who can create a positive teaching climate in the classroom. The authors approach this study from the perspective of construction of meanings and consider the discourse that takes place in candidate teacher-student interactions in two university settings – in Malta and China, respectively. The study shows how student teachers believe that cultures and cultural differences need to be clearly considered across the curriculum if schools are to promote active learning equitably.     

The conceptualisation of pupils’ problems by Finnish and Norwegian primary school teachers: performance,welfare and behaviour

Drawing on the tradition of childhood studies, this study explores how children’s problems are being conceptualised by primary school teachers in Finland and Norway and what kind of institutional childhood is reflected in those conceptualisations. I use thematic content analysis to analyse data derived from two primary schools in Tampere, Finland, and two in Trondheim, Norway. In both Nordic contexts, problems were conceptualised in terms of children’s performance, welfare and behaviour. The results imply that the welfare (or care) perspective to childhood, along with more instrumental perspectives of learning outcomes and behaviour management, is essential in Nordic primary education.     

Sticky assessments – the impact of teachers’ grading standard on pupils’ school performance

This paper argues that school grades cannot be interpreted solely as a reward for a given school performance, since they also reflect teachers’ assessments of pupils. A teacher’s evaluation of a pupil’s performance, as reflected in the grade awarded, might influence the effort that the pupil invests in learning. Grades might therefore serve as sticky assessments, affecting pupils’ later school performance. Getting discounted grades in year 6 for a given level of maths performance assessed using a PISA-like test has a positive effect on maths test scores in year 8 of elementary education, and also influences later outcomes in secondary education. The empirical analysis tries to minimise the possible bias caused by measurement error in year 6 test scores (unmeasured ability) and employs classroom fixed-effect instrumental variable (IV) regression and difference-in-difference models. The empirical analysis is based on a unique Hungarian individual-level panel data-set containing two observations about the same individual – one in year 6 (12/13 years old) and the other two years later, in year 8 (14/15 years old) of elementary education. The data for three entire school cohorts is analysed – approximately 140,000 individuals.     

Estonian preschool teachers’ views on supporting children’s school readiness

ABSTRACT

Transition from early childhood education to primary school is a complex phenomenon. This situation, moving from one educational system to another, is exciting, but can also be stressful for the child, her family and preschool teachers. Smooth transition to primary school helps children feel secure, relaxed and comfortable in their new environments. The current study, highlighting how Estonian preschool teachers comprehend their pedagogical activities in supporting children’s school readiness, was conducted using semi-structured interviews. There were 15 participants, preschool teachers, who at the moment of research taught in groups where children were between the ages of 6 and 7. As a result of completing the above procedure, research findings highlight that there is a lack of collaboration between preschools, schools and local neighbourhoods, but teachers try different methods individually when introducing school environment to children.     

A critical discourse analysis of teachers’ views on LGBT literature

This article presents a thread of discussion posted to a web-based forum in the context of a children's literature course in one teacher education program in the USA. Participants in the virtual discussion include three preservice elementary teachers and the course instructor (author) on the subject of bringing lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) literature into the elementary classroom. Classroom teachers who lead discussions about race, gender, class, sexuality and inequality are encouraged to create and maintain a safe environment for dialogue. In this article, the author explores how the need to maintain a culture of safety around discussions of sexuality shaped the participants’ views on teaching LGBT literature written for children. Applying the tools of critical discourse analysis, the author demonstrates how events in the discussion unfolded that left normative constructions of sexuality unexamined.     

Students’ views of environments for learning from the primary to the secondary school

Research on transfer has alerted us to the anxieties that students experience as they move from a smaller school to a bigger school, and how the sudden differences in space, size, and their own position within a large organization can affect their identities as learners. Drawing on interviews with students in their first year in secondary school, this chapter examines the differences that students see as important in moving from the primary school to the secondary school. Three topics are discussed: freedom of movement, seating, and classroom display.     

Teachers’ views about pupil diversity in the primary school classroom

The present study explores Greek primary school teachers’ perceptions and views on pupil diversity in the classroom environment. A large-scale survey was carried out in order to examine teachers’ perceptions about pupil diversity and to identify personal and/or educational characteristics that can influence or predict these perceptions. The outcomes of the study reveal that Greek primary school teachers view diversity as a challenge more than as a barrier in teaching and learning, they can recognise at a high level the key elements of differentiated instruction as part of managing pupil diversity in their class and hold a negative-to-neutral stance on traditional curriculum implementation practices. The most influential factors and predictors of these perceptions and views are also presented and discussed.     

Former teachers’ and pupils’ autobiographical accounts of punishment in Italian rural primary schools during Fascism

Despite the prohibition on punishment in the form of emotional, psychological and physical abuse under the Fascist school regulations, it was common – particularly in Italian rural classrooms – for the purpose of managing and disciplining students. Sticks, ‘chickpeas’ or ‘donkey desks’ represent just a few examples of the methods frequently used by teachers to control unruly pupils. These punishments are often recalled by teachers and students in several published and unpublished discourses. This essay, by viewing such memoirs retrospectively, aims to provide a new understanding of the disciplinary practices carried out during 1920–1940 within Fascist Italian schools located in two different rural areas and to investigate the ways in which teachers and pupils look back on this particular aspect of their past.