Employee and Workplace Well-being: A Multi-level Analysis of Teacher Personality and Organizational Climate in Norwegian Teachers from Rural,Urban and City Schools

Although teaching is frequently cited as a stressful profession, limited recent Norwegian data is available. This study addressed the extent to which organizational climate and individual and organizational well-being outcomes vary between schools in rural, urban, and city locations. Participants were predominantly female (68%), aged 45+ years (63.2%) and reported 20+ years of teaching experience (51%). Teachers from rural schools reported smaller student and teacher numbers, a more positive organizational climate and better organizational well-being. Multi-level analyses, with teachers grouped within school location, indicated that personality is most strongly associated with employee well-being, and organizational climate most strongly related to school morale and distress. Schools in rural locations are smaller and possess workplace climates that are conducive to positivity in the workplace, and subsequently better workplace well-being outcomes.     

The challenges of beginning teachers in urban primary schools

This study provides insight in the variety of urban-related challenges that beginning teachers experience in urban schools. Literature on urban teaching focuses on teaching children from low socio-economic status (SES) and/or culturally diverse backgrounds. In many European cities, however, schools are populated by both children from relatively high and from low-SES backgrounds. This study examined the problems and challenges of beginning teachers in Dutch urban primary schools. Teachers were interviewed at schools with different student populations. Results showed that, although many of the challenges that beginning teachers experienced concern the same themes, their actual manifestation differed related to schools’ student populations. For instance, the problem of ‘parental contact’ referred to both the extreme involvement and demands of highly educated wealthy parents at some schools and the diverse backgrounds of parents at other schools. Results of the study can be used to develop adequate preparation and support for beginning urban teachers.     

Improvement Efforts in Rural Schools: Experiences of Nine Schools Receiving School Improvement Grants

Low-performing schools in rural settings can face challenges common to all struggling schools, such as low student motivation and maintaining a qualified teaching staff. However, aspects of rural schools’ settings, such as the distance from urban areas and the commute between the schools and the students’ and teachers’ homes, can exacerbate the challenges that rural schools face. This article focuses on the experiences of nine rural schools that were part of a study for the U.S. Department of Education on the school improvement process in a purposive sample of 35 schools receiving federal funds through the School Improvement Grants (SIG) program. In particular, it examines how respondents in the rural schools perceived that the schools’ rural setting influenced the schools’ challenges and improvement actions and presents findings on the recruitment and retention of teaching staff, an activity integral to school improvement efforts under SIG.     

Turning the tide: creating Professional Learning Communities (PLC) to improve teaching practice and learning in South African public schools

Abstract

Poor learner performance in South African schools raises concerns related to lack of commitment and accountability from school leaders and teachers with no common vision to promote a culture of high learner performance. This paper provides a literature overview of research available on the impact of professional learning communities (PLC) on effective teaching and practices to promote higher levels of learning amongst students; the nature of PLCs; their essential characteristics, developmental stages and challenges; and an assessment of the benefits of PLC in schools and the challenges of PLC from other researchers’ observations. PLCs are necessary to encourage collaborative teamwork on essential outcomes and intervention activities in learning. Finally, I conclude by exploring how South African schools can benefit from the practices of professional learning communities which endeavour to improve teaching practices and poor learner achievement.     

普通小学随班就读教师教学调整策略的城乡比较研究

本文采取问卷调查的方法,对农村与城市已经参加随班就读的小学教师运用的教学调整策略进行调查与比较分析。结果发现:( 1 )教师教学调整策略包含教学的针对性、计划性与弹性;( 2 )农村和城市被调查的随班就读教师在教学调整策略方面总的来说没有显著差异,但农村教师似乎比城市教师更加注意针对随班就读生进行教学调整;( 3)无论农村还是城市教师对随班就读生的教学调整都没有受到师资培训的类型、时间等因素的影响。     

Accounting for Variation in Science and Mathematics Achievement: A Multilevel Analysis of Australian Data Third International Mathematics and Science Study (Timss)

One of the most consistent themes evident in the literature dealing with rural education is that of rural disadvantage. Much research and literature indicates that students from rural schools receive an education that is inferior to that of students from larger urban or suburban schools. Of the matrix of factors reported to lead to that disadvantage, geographical isolation and the extent to which it restricts access is reported to result in rural schools not having the same standard of resource allocation as urban schools where access is not a problem. This study addresses the issue of resource availability in rural and urban Australian schools and includes the variables: students' attitudes towards science and mathematics and career aspirations of these students. The analysis includes socioeconomic status and gender of these students and investigates how these variables relate to student achievement. Do students in rural schools have the same educational opportunity as students in urban schools? In this study a multilevel model is used which takes into account the classroom level variance in student achievement as well as individual variance and school level variance.     

How student teaching in an urban setting affects teacher candidates' career motivations

This is a qualitative study to determine changes in the motivation of senior student teachers to teach (at the elementary, early childhood, and secondary levels) in an urban setting during the student teaching internship in an urban public school. Emerging themes include roles of classroom teachers, discouragement from tenured teachers, school bureaucracy, views of students, relationships with cooperating teachers, candidates' views about subject matter, and their views about themselves. The findings indicate that motivation to teach changed during student teaching. This cohorts' experiences strengthened their confidence and commitment to teach in culturally diverse urban public schools rather than discouraging them. This research supports a contextual approach to understanding motivation and challenges educators to reflect on several issues of preservice training as well as collaboration with teacher practitioners. With a knowledge of what attracts teachers to the occupation and an understanding of how that attraction is influenced by field experiences in urban schools, programs which prepare teachers may be better able to educate teachers who want to teach in urban schools and can perform successfully in that setting.     

Urban schools' teachers enacting project‐based science

What teaching practices foster inquiry and promote students to learn challenging subject matter in urban schools? Inquiry‐based instruction and successful inquiry learning and teaching in project‐based science (PBS) were described in previous studies (Brown & Campione, 1990 ; Crawford, 1999 ; Krajcik, Blumenfeld, Marx, Bass, & Fredricks, 1998 ; Krajcik, Blumenfeld, Marx, & Solloway, 1994 ; Minstrell & van Zee, 2000 ). In this article, we describe the characteristics of inquiry teaching practices that promote student learning in urban schools. Teaching is a major factor that affects both achievement of and attitude of students toward science (Tamir, 1998 ). Our involvement in reform in a large urban district includes the development of suitable learning materials and providing continuous and practiced‐based professional development (Fishman & Davis, in press; van Es, Reiser, Matese, & Gomez, 2002 ). Urban schools face particular challenges when enacting inquiry‐based teaching practices like those espoused in PBS. In this article, we describe two case studies of urban teachers whose students achieved high gains on pre‐ and posttests and who demonstrated a great deal of preparedness and commitment to their students. Teachers' attempts to help their students to perform well are described and analyzed. The teachers we discuss work in a school district that strives to bring about reform in mathematics and science through systemic reform. The Center for Learning Technologies in Urban Schools (LeTUS) collaborates with the Detroit Public Schools to bring about reform in middle‐school science. Through this collaboration, diverse populations of urban‐school students learn science through inquiry‐oriented projects and the use of various educational learning technologies. For inquiry‐based science to succeed in urban schools, teachers must play an important role in enacting the curriculum while addressing the unique needs of students. The aim of this article is to describe patterns of good science teaching in urban school. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 43: 722–745, 2006     

中学新语文课程标准对师范院校语法课的影响及对策

近些年来,语法教学在中学语教学实践中不断“淡化”,语新课程标准则进一步明确了这种“淡化”理念,这对师范类中系的语法课教学提出了严峻的挑战。本以中学语新课程标准为参照,反思了目前师范类高校语法课中存在的弊端,并提出相应的一些建议和对策。     

Contribution of a professional development programme to the quality and retention of teachers in an urban environment

This study examined the effects of a professional development programme aimed at equipping teachers for the challenges of teaching in urban schools. The contribution of the programme to teacher quality and teacher retention was evaluated using a mixed research design in which both quantitative (N?=?133) and qualitative (N?=?42) approaches were used. The results showed a significant effect of the programme on teacher knowledge and self-efficacy. Furthermore, teachers greatly appreciated the programme and they perceived a positive impact on their competences, self-efficacy and professional orientation. The opportunity to share experiences within a network of teachers was considered the most valuable element of the programme.     

Private schools and the millennium development goal of universal primary education: a census and comparative survey in Hyderabad,India

Development literature suggests that private schools serving the poor are not part of the solution to meeting the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) of universal primary education. The study conducted a census and survey of schools in notified slums of Hyderabad, India, to contribute to the sparse literature on the nature and extent of private schools for the poor. Of 918 schools found, 60% were found to be private unaided (PUA), enrolling about 65% of total enrolment. On a range of indicators, including pupil–teacher ratio, teaching activity, teacher absenteeism, and classroom and school inputs such as blackboards, desks, chairs, toilets and drinking water, PUA (including unrecognised) schools were found to be superior to government schools. Objections to a role for private schools in meeting the MDG target are explored and challenged.     

Educating science teachers for the sociocultural diversity of urban schools

This interpretive study of the preparation of science teachers for urban high schools explored the extent to which learning to teach was facilitated by the methods courses, cooperating teachers and university supervisors. Because the methods course was minimally effective in addressing the needs of teaching low track students from conditions of poverty the methods instructor, Tobin, decided to be a teacher-researcher with such students. He joined Smith, a student teacher and Seiler, a doctoral student, in an investigation that examined learning to teach in a graduate teacher preparation program. In an endeavour to gain a first hand grasp on the challenges of teaching African American students placed in a low track program of study the three authors of this paper co-taught science in an urban high school. The paper incorporates rich perspectives gained from the teacher-researchers and theoretical frameworks associated with resistance, habitus and learning to teach by co-teaching. The paper advocates co-teaching as an essential component of teacher education programs.     

Education for all: Experiences of principals at rural secondary schools in Mpumalanga province

Abstract

This article deals with the challenges in the implementation of education for all as experienced by principals in rural secondary schools in Mpumalanga. Interventions which have been implemented on national and provincial level to improve teaching and learning are not equally successful in schools countrywide. The central phenomenon of interest involved the determination of the management and leadership views of rural secondary school principals concerning their ability to ensure Education for All. A theoretical grounding of the situation was developed through a literature review. Interviews were conducted with principals in rural Mpumalanga to collect empirical data for the research. Two main aspects that emerged from the study, was the impact that change, tradition and culture have on teaching and learning in the rural secondary schools in Mpumalanga.     

How do school resources and academic performance differ across Australia’s rural, regional and metropolitan communities?

This study uses data from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) to gain a better understanding of how academic performance and resources vary across rural–urban school communities in Australia. While it is well known that schools in rural areas have difficulty recruiting and retaining teachers, the degree to which schools in larger sized communities across Australia also face this problem is less understood. Moreover, very little is known about the degree to which shortages of instructional materials and equipment are associated with rural–urban location. The analysis includes 353 schools across eight community types that range in size of <1,000 people in small country towns to more than a million people in large capital cities. School principals reported the degree to which instruction in their school is hindered by a shortage of resources, which include qualified teaching staff and instructional materials and equipment. The findings highlight the extent to which school resources vary across geographic location, as reported by school principals. Principals of schools in the centre of large cities were the least likely to report that shortages of teaching staff or instructional materials hinder learning, while principals in rural and remote communities were the most likely to report that such shortages hinder instruction. These differences closely mirror student PISA academic performance and school socioeconomic composition. PISA data indicates that schools located in small rural communities have the lowest socioeconomic profiles, the lowest academic performance and the largest shortages of teaching staff and instructional materials, while schools in central neighborhoods of large cities enjoy the highest socioeconomic profiles, the highest academic performance and the fewest shortages.     

School Art — What's in it?

In 2003/4 NFER undertook a study of the content of the art curriculum in secondary schools in England on behalf of the Arts Council England (ACE) and Tate Galleries [1]. In 18 schools, eight of which were identified as engaged with contemporary art practice (referred to throughout the article as the CAP schools), 54 art teachers were asked to describe the content of their most recently completed art module. ‘Content’ was taken as: the media and materials in which pupils worked; the artistic and cultural references used to support the teaching; the skills taught; and the thinking processes used. They were also questioned about the factors that influenced their choice of curriculum content and the aims that guided their choice of content. Most of the teachers (excluding the heads of department) were asked which of a set of six art images they would include in their teaching, and the reasons for their decisions. Teachers in the CAP schools were also asked to explain why they chose to include contemporary art. The findings revealed substantial differences between the two cohorts of schools, not all of which were related to the inclusion of contemporary art practice. A preoccupation with the teaching of skills was more apparent in the randomly selected schools, which also drew very heavily on the early twentieth century for their artistic references. Unsurprisingly, the CAP schools drew heavily on contemporary references, but included many from other periods, cited twice as many references overall, and had a generally more eclectic view of the purposes of teaching art.     

Negotiating the constraints of schools: environmental education practices within a school district

The purpose of this study was to explore environmental education (EE) practices within elementary and secondary schools. Using complementary mixed-methods (survey and focus groups), we detail these practices in schools (n?=?58) within one school district. Our findings are categorized according to classroom teaching conditions affecting EE, and whole-school perspectives of the supports and resources for EE in these schools. Our analyses reveal that while typical normative teaching and cultural constraints of schools are still evident (e.g. curriculum standards, school-level organization), there are identifiable practices involving administrators and teachers negotiating these challenges due to their personal commitment to schools and the environment. In particular was a provincial environmental certification program called Ecoschools supporting environmental educators’ initiatives at their respective schools. We conclude with a discussion of recommendations based on an interpretation of our findings in relation to the school reform literature on how to enhance EE in schools and propose future research opportunities.     

Environmental education in primary schools: a case study with plastic resources and recycling

This paper aims to examine teachers’ use of strategies and approaches in integrating Plastic Resources Education (PRE) into primary school life in order to overcome the challenges encountered during implementation to promote environmentally friendly practices. Case studies with eight Hong Kong teachers from PRE-participating primary schools were invited to take part in focus group interviews, to explicate their personal stories and experiences associated with the PRE implementation in primary schools. Based on the data collected from the teachers’ sharing, several challenges which are commonly reported in the previous literature, including lack of time, shortage of manpower, and insufficient pupil engagement were found. The teachers tackled the barriers by using different strategies to improve pupils’ involvement as well as getting support from the relevant stakeholders of school management and parents. The case studies provide crucial and relevant information which can be used as a reference for other schools to integrate PRE more efficiently to facilitate learning.     

Alternatively Certified Teachers in Urban Small Schools: Where Policy Reform Meets the Road

In this study we explore the experiences of new teachers in urban schools at the intersection of three major policy agendas—alternative certification, new teacher retention, and the small schools movement. We examine alternatively certified teachers’ perceptions of the rewards and challenges of teaching in small schools, the support neophyte teachers seek and receive in these unique educational settings, and the reality of small school implementation in a modern urban environment. The findings have implications for policy-makers, urban school reformers, teacher educators and professional developers, administrators and teachers working to create and implement effective policy for twenty-first century urban schools.     

Using lotteries to evaluate schools of choice: Evidence from a national study of charter schools

This paper draws on data and experiences observing and analyzing school lotteries from the National Evaluation of Charter School Impacts (Gleason et al., 2010) to describe the challenges associated with lottery-based research. In that study, covering 36 charter middle schools in 15 states, we found that charter schools did not affect student achievement or behavior on average, although there was substantial variation across schools. In this paper, we discuss the prevalence of oversubscribed charter schools at the time the study was conducted (the 2005–2006 and 2006–2007 school years), which was lower than commonly reported. We then describe how the sample of schools that participated in the study compared to all other charter middle schools nationwide, to provide some insight into the generalizabilty of findings from lottery-based studies. In general, oversubscribed charter schools were more likely to be located in urban areas and serve a higher-achieving population of students than those without excess demand. We also describe common features of school lotteries and waitlists, and examine implications of these features for a school's ability to support a lottery-based study. Finally, we summarize lessons learned for conducting lottery-based research on charter schools, drawing on our observations of the schools’ lotteries and analysis of the data from these lotteries.