Do we need more male primary teachers? Tensions and contradictions in the perspectives of male and female trainees

Primary teaching Initial Teacher Training courses across the UK have been under pressure from central government, Ofsted and the media to recruit more male students to their courses with the aim of increasing the proportion of males in the primary teaching workforce. This is because increasing the number of male role models in primary schools has been mooted as the solution to boys’ underachievement, especially in reading and writing. There is, however, little evidence showing any correlation between boys’ educational outcomes and the number of male primary teachers in schools. The purpose of the project reported in this paper was to ascertain the beliefs of the future primary school workforce about this focus on the need for male role models in schools. A mixed-methods approach was employed: 120 male and female primary trainees were surveyed and a further 48 took part in group interviews, all of whom were based in an Initial Teacher Training department in a university in North West England. Results indicated that although aspiring teachers felt that males and females could make equally good role models for children their personal value systems perpetuated the myth that boys need male role models to achieve better educational outcomes.     

Why are there still so few men within Early Years in primary schools: views from male trainee teachers and male leaders?

One of the challenges facing the Early Years (EY) sector is how to encourage more male practitioners to counterbalance a largely feminised workforce. Using case studies of male trainees at different stages of their primary undergraduate Initial Teacher Training course at one university, we attempt to consider data why there is under-representation of men within the leadership strata in EY settings. Questionnaires and interviews were conducted with the male sample groups and male leaders in primary schools to gain an overview regarding gender stereotyping. Our findings suggest that male trainees enjoy working in the EY sector, but they need mentoring by strong leaders to help them overcome the perceived contextual barriers of male stereotypes in that setting. In conclusion, we consider some of these barriers of stereotypes, attitudes, values, beliefs existing and the actions needed in addressing such stereotypes if a long-lasting change is to happen.     

Learning to See in Classrooms: What are student teachers learning about teaching and learning while learning to teach in schools?

Using sociocultural understandings of learning, the authors probe a rationale for training programmes which are extensively school based and involved school‐based teacher mentors as supporters of student teachers' learning. They ask what it is that student teachers are learning while in schools and how that learning is supported. Drawing on evidence from a study of 125 student teachers on two training programmes, the authors suggest that student teachers' learning is heavily situated and that students are not acquiring ways of interpreting learners that are easily transferable, but they are learning about curriculum delivery. It also seems that there is a participatory version of training which is not underpinned by an understanding of the implications of learning through participation and which, as a consequence, does not make the most of the strengths of mentors.     

Are male teachers headed for extinction? The 50-year decline of male teachers in Australia

Whilst an international shortage of male teachers has received much research attention, to date, no study has tracked the trajectory of male teachers in any country. Drawing on annual workplace data, we calculated the proportion of male teachers in Australia from 1965 to 2016. We separate the data for Government and non-Government (Independent and Catholic) schools, and for primary and secondary schools. Findings indicate a strong decline in male representation in the Government sector. A similar rate of decline is observed in both primary and secondary schools. Of significance to educators, policy makers, and the public - no current Australian workforce diversity policies aim to redress this decline. This strong decline is not matched in the Catholic sector, however.     

‘These boys are wild': constructions and contests of masculinities at two Jordanian high schools

In Jordan, gender equality is often depicted as an important social concern in policy texts, national media, and reports by international development institutions. In these reports, ‘gender' is often synonymous with ‘women’, and efforts are directed to improving parity in social and economic outcomes. This article argues that males are often overlooked or invisible in such accounts, and are more readily visible as obstacles to gender equality or embodiments of masculine crisis. Drawing upon ethnographic work in two government high schools for boys, I analyse everyday practices and social experiences of male students and teachers in schools to argue that they constitute an overlooked site to analyse the construction of gendered subjectivities. Mainstream accounts fail to account for how schooling is constitutive of gender struggle for boys, and how this struggle is connected to the changing nature of social membership in Jordan spurred in part by social and economic pressures.     

Who teaches the teachers? A RCT of peer-to-peer observation and feedback in 181 schools

This paper evaluates a widely used, low stakes, teacher peer-to-peer observation and feedback program under Randomized Control Trial (RCT) conditions. Half of 181 volunteer primary schools in England were randomly selected to participate in a two-year program in which three fourth and fifth grade teachers observed each other. We find that two cohorts of students taught by treated teachers perform no better on externally graded national tests compared to business as usual. However this masks large heterogeneity; in small schools, where there is only one class per grade, we find negative impacts of the training (0.1-0.18SD), whereas we find positive impacts in larger schools (0.06-0.17SD). We outline and explore potential mechanisms for this and conclude that centralised one-size-fits-all teacher training interventions may be harmful.     

Who are the future teachers in Turkey? Characteristics of entering student teachers

This exploratory study examines the background characteristics, socio-cultural values and pedagogical beliefs that entering student teachers bring with them into the faculties of education and explores their possible implications for teacher education in the Turkish context. The study comprised 18,226 first-year student teachers from 51 faculties of education who participated in the study by responding to a three-section questionnaire developed by the research team. Their responses indicate that students entering education faculties typically come from families of lower-middle socio-economic status living in urban areas, tend to possess more traditional than secular-rational values and have not yet formed clear pedagogical beliefs.     

Do digital divisions still persist in schools? Access to technology and technical skills of teachers in high needs schools in the United States of America

Technology use in schools has great potential to improve student learning outcomes. However, it is imperative that teachers possess a set of technical skills required to implement high‐quality technologies in the classroom. Research conducted during the late 1990s and the early 2000s had pointed to the existence of a digital divide that existed in schools within the United States of America (USA), with higher‐needs schools typically having less access to technology than their lower needs counterparts. The purpose of this paper is to examine whether there is any indication of current differences in technology access, skills and classroom integration practices as reported by teachers participating in an online professional development initiative. The researchers found that, while significant differences existed between teachers in high need and non‐high need schools in the USA, context is a vital component of considering any persisting digital divides.     

What are secondary students’ expectations for teachers in virtual school environments?

A recent evaluation of the new North Carolina Virtual Public School (NCVPS) in the USA revealed numerous expectations for virtual school teachers from secondary students. Specifically, students expected their teachers to actually teach rather than moderate a course shell, supplement course shells with content and projects that illustrate relevance, provide for both content and peer interaction, and respond to questions and provide feedback quickly. The data suggest a possible content‐related interaction where a limited course shell can be bolstered by a proactive teacher, but potentially flounder among teachers who do not expect or know how to supplement an online course. Data further suggest a potential communication‐related interaction where increased opportunities for student–student and student–teacher interaction could potentially decrease the actual or perceived need for individualized attention that is particularly challenging for virtual teachers to provide. These results can be used to establish teacher expectations and design professional development experiences that prepare teachers to undertake divergent roles unique to online instruction.     

What drives the quality of schools in Africa? Disentangling social capital and ethnic divisions

Two important lines of research have shaped our understanding of the ability of communities to engage in collective action. The first proposes ethnic division as a key determinant, with more ethnically-heterogeneous countries having worse economic performance and fewer public goods. The second focuses on social capital as a major determinant of the ability to engage in collective action. We expect trust among community members, a widely-used measure of social capital, to be an important and positive determinant of school quality.Our work here aims to disentangle the relative effects of ethnic fractionalization and social capital on school quality. We instrument both social capital and ethnic fractionalization by using historical information on the settlement patterns of ethnic groups in Sub-Saharan Africa. Our empirical strategy is implemented by combining four datasets, including district-level Afrobarometer data, covering 16 Sub-Saharan countries.We find a large positive effect of trust on practical aspects of schooling, such as maintaining buildings or providing textbooks. In sharp contrast, ethnic fractionalization is found to have a very limited effect, if any. We propose a simple model of public-good provision that explores a channel by which social capital and ethnic division may (or may not) affect the provision of local public goods such as schools.     

What predicts disaffection in Irish primary schools?

Internationally there is now a growing body of research on student school engagement. Much of this research highlights the association of school engagement with a range of social, behavioural and academic outcomes. Less attention is paid to factors predicting disaffection among young children across various dimensions using nationally representative data-sets. This paper addresses this gap in research by exploring factors that are related to school disaffection in Irish primary schools. Drawing on a nationally representative study of nine-year-olds, the multivariate analysis reveals that disaffection is associated with a number of personal and institutional factors. While the data relate to the Irish situation, the paper raises a number of issues also of interest to an international audience.     

Student teachers’ understanding of multicultural education in public schools

Abstract

As schools in South Africa become increasingly multicultural, pressure is being put on them to meet the needs of all learners. The South African Schools Act, No 84 of 1996, affirms the recognition of all forms of diversity in public schools. It seems clear from media reports, however, that diversity in schools is not readily accepted and that teachers are largely held accountable for racial prejudice in schools. This raises the question whether teachers fully understand multicultural education as a means to adequately manage diversity in schools. Against this background, a project was undertaken to establish what student teachers’ understanding of multicultural education is, and what they regard as the most important aims of multicultural education. Data were obtained by the use of semi-structured questions serving as a self-report instrument. The data collected were consolidated and categorised into themes. It became clear from the data that most respondents showed a seriously deficient conception of the nature, aims and material manifestations of multicultural education. It is therefore recommended that teacher education programmes should be scrutinised to ascertain whether they are providing the right kind of knowledge content to prepare student teachers to function competently in multicultural schools.     

What row are you in?

M:Good evening,Mrs Read.Nice to see you again. R:Hello,Meimei.Nice to see you. M:What row are you in R:I'm in Row 14.What about you     

Iranian EFL teachers’ effectiveness of instructional behavior in public and private high schools

Over recent decades, educators have recognized the crucial importance of teaching environment and contextual factors in teaching and learning outcomes. Public and private schools are among those teaching contexts that have been in competition for teaching quality and effectiveness for many years. This study investigated the effectiveness of some English teachers in these two school contexts in a foreign language setting, Iran. Seventy-six public and private high schools in a small city in Iran were selected, and their English teachers’ performance was evaluated by an external observer and self-evaluation using a high-inference observation instrument and a questionnaire. The result of the data analysis showed that English teachers who worked in private schools were more effective teachers than their colleagues in public schools. The results also revealed that teacher effectiveness and their years of teaching experience and age were weakly but significantly related. Furthermore, it was found that teachers’ type of university degree and the location of schools (disadvantaged vs. privileged areas of the city) were not related to teachers’ effectiveness.     

Lesbian and gay teachers’ experiences of ‘coming out’ in Irish schools

Lesbian, gay and bisexual teachers have struggled with managing their sexual identities in contexts where heteronormative policing has resulted in deep silences and misrepresentation. However, many teachers have tried to counter this by ‘coming out’ or engaging with a process of disclosure. This paper draws on qualitative research with eight self-identified lesbian and gay teachers in primary and second-level schools in Ireland. Findings suggest that, for these teachers, the process of disclosure is valuable and fulfils a desire for openness and honesty. However, they continue to struggle with their teacher identities and aspects of their school culture. This paper argues that the complexities faced by these teachers in negotiating the process of disclosure are an illustration of the privileged position afforded heterosexuality in the Irish education system and the dividends that accrue to those who occupy a ‘normal’ sexual identity.     

Variation in teachers’ conceptions of alternative assessment in Singapore primary schools

Alternative assessment is an increasingly common and popular discourse in education. The potential value and benefit of alternative assessment practices are premised on significant changes in assessment practices. Many alternative assessment practices seek and promise alternatives to tests and examinations. However, labelling a practice as ‘Alternative Assessment’ in itself is not a guarantee of meaningful departure from existing practice. Such alternative assessment practices risk retaining and perpetuating the same limitations and adverse consequences of tests and examinations they claim to avoid. Recent developments in the assessment system in Singapore have given rise to increased attention to alternative assessment as a means of alleviating negative effects of testing and high stakes examinations. The success or limitations of these attempts are helpful in understanding how alternative assessment can be understood and used in different ways, and how each way of experiencing alternative assessment may be more suited to supporting learning than others. In this article, the results of a phenomenographic study on teachers’ experiences of alternative assessment in Singapore are presented. Three conceptions of alternative assessment are identified, each depicting a particular way of understanding and using alternative assessment in schools. These findings are subsequently examined in terms of the potential for teachers to understand and use alternative assessment to enhance students learning in sustainable ways.     

What if teachers learn in the classroom?

This study focuses on exploring teacher learning in terms of teachers’ professional agency embedded in the classroom. Teachers’ sense of professional agency is related to perceiving instruction as a bidirectional process, use of students as a resource for professional learning and continuous reflection on teaching practices. Accordingly, the capacity to cross the boundaries in teacher learning contributes active professional agency and, consequently to work-related well-being. Hence, the interrelations between teachers’ sense of professional agency and the burnout they experienced were also analysed. Altogether 2310 Finnish comprehensive school teachers, including primary, subject and special education teachers, completed the study survey. The results indicated that active professional agency, promoting both learning and well-being, requires not just reflecting and adapting but also efforts to learn at work. Moreover this requires not just self-directed and active professional practice but also learning at the boundaries and creating new professional knowledge together with students and colleagues.     

Patriotism in British schools: teachers’ and students’ perspectives

Because there are good arguments both for and against loving one’s country, patriotism should be taught as a controversial issue in schools. But is this pedagogical approach practically viable in the British educational context? Here we report on a small‐scale survey of teachers and students in secondary schools and show that their perspectives and practices are highly compatible with our recommended approach.