Impact of teachers’ professional development on school improvement—an analysis at Bangladesh standpoint

This study seeks to describe the teachers’ professional development activities in Bangladesh and explores the hypotheses about the relationship between teachers’ traditional professional development activities and school improvement. Data from a representative sample of City secondary schools from Bangladesh (n = 127) were gathered through questionnaires from 127 principals and 694 teachers. Hierarchical multiple regression analysis was used in this research. This study found significant impacts of some of teachers’ professional development activities on school improvement. Also found that the maximum school improvement can be achieved if schools put more emphasis on teachers’ collaboration, in-service training and classroom observation and less emphasis on individual action enquiry. The findings of this study provide important information for the policy makers, educational managers and especially for the headmasters and teachers concerned with the improvement of teachers’ quality in secondary schools of Bangladesh. This study adopts a concurrent approach of data collection and analysis.     

Perceived severity of school bullying in elementary schools based on participants’ roles

The purpose of this study was to examine the perceived severity of school bullying among participants with different roles (victims, bullies, bullies/victims and non-involved individuals) and to determine whether interactions between type of bullying and participant roles exist. Two Olweus-like global items and a revised School Bullying Severity Scale for elementary students were used in this study. A total of 1816 valid surveys completed by students in grades 5 and 6 (mean age = 11.5, SD = .84) were collected. Data were analysed using a mixed-model two-way ANOVA. The results revealed a significant main effect of type of bullying. Physical and verbal bullying were perceived as more severe than relational and cyberbullying. A significant two-way interaction between bullying category and participant role was also identified. Bullies did not perceive the four types of victimisation behaviours differently, whereas victims and bullies/victims both rated physical victimisation as most severe and cyber-victimisation as least severe. However, effect sizes were small. Implications for bullying prevention and intervention are discussed.     

Are students in receiving schools hurt by the closing of low-Performing schools? Effects of school closures on receiving schools in Sweden 2000–2016

This article aims to investigate how students in receiving schools are affected by school closures. The effects are analyzed in a quasi-experimental study of all Swedish middle schools that received displaced students from 2000 to 2016, utilizing family fixed effects. The results show that the inflow of displaced students had a negative effect on student outcomes in the receiving schools in terms of average grades and test scores and that this effect increased over time. However, student achievement among nondisplaced students in the receiving schools was not affected by the inflow of displaced students, even when the displaced students came from relatively low-performing schools.     

The effect of schools on school leavers’ university participation

ABSTRACT

This paper considers the role that schools have in determining whether school leavers participate in higher education or not. It examines the association between schools and university participation using a unique dataset of 3 cohorts of all young people leaving maintained schools in Wales. School “effects” are identified, even after controlling for individual-level factors, such as their prior attainment, socioeconomic circumstances, ethnicity, and special educational needs. Schools appear to have a particular “effect” on the likelihood that a young person enters an elite university. However, the findings suggest the concept of a school “effect” on higher education participation is not straightforward – schools appear to have different levels of effectiveness depending on the gender of the young people and the nature of their higher education participation. These findings are considered within the policy contexts of school effectiveness and widening access to higher education.     

Mainstream and immigrant students’ primary school mathematics achievement differences in European countries

European Journal of Psychology of Education - The few studies on the achievement differences of mainstream and immigrant primary school students in large-scale assessments point to an achievement...     

Violence in German schools — what school counsellors can do

This article describes child and adolescent violence in variousforms in Germany today. Sociological and psychological research provides variousexplanations, but a more comprehensive systemic approach seems to be necessary inorder to develop multi-modal methods of prevention and intervention.Twelve basic methods of prevention are briefly described as well as variousimportant therapeutic approaches. A model case is used to explain threelevels of prevention/intervention which school counsellors can apply: (a)client-centered counselling with various alternatives for the change ofperception, self-concepts and motives of people involved, (b) combinations of educationalmethods of prevention in a particular school according to circumstances, and(c) therapeutic intervention by counsellors themselves or in cooperation withexternal specialists. Competent counsellors who know their limits and are able tocooperate can play a key role in the prevention of violence and in aggression therapy.     

Catholic schools or school quality? The effects of Catholic schools on labor market outcomes

This paper studies the effects of attending a Catholic high school on students’ labor market outcomes. Using data from the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study, I find that Catholic schooling is significantly associated with higher wages over the careers even after taking into account possible selection into Catholic schools with instruments. Using matched school quality data for public and Catholic schools, I further find that Catholic and public schools are different in various aspects of school quality measures and that these differences explain most of Catholic school effects. Among the school quality variables, teacher quality and the number of math courses taken are estimated to matter the most for students’ later earnings in the long run.     

Impact of university lecturers’ intervention in school mathteaching

Some schools in the neighbourhood of Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University (SMU) in South Africa persistently yielded poor mathematics results in the past years. This was of concern since maths is the main subject for many opportunities, including admissiontoSMUstudy programmes. Some SMU maths lecturers partnered with local schools to prepare the students in these schools. The aimwas to improve maths teaching and matric maths results. The teachers were assisted with maths concepts of most difficulty. This article describes the initiatives by some academics of SMU in achieving this.     

Contribution of rural roads improvement on children’s school attendance: Evidence in Cambodia

This study used quantitative and qualitative data collected in rural Cambodia after road improvements to investigate whether children living along better-conditioned roads attend basic education school more. The quantitative analysis revealed that the road conditions did not influence children's attendance, while suggesting significant influences of school travel distance as well as household’s ownership of two-wheeled vehicles and its member composition. The qualitative analysis complemented these results by confirming that improved roads motivated households to purchase those vehicles for easing children’s schooling; and household members’ appreciation of education and socioeconomic characteristics influenced their children’s education attainment.     

Teachers’ views on spirituality for adolescents in high schools across countries

Based on a study of 1689 high school teachers across 132 high schools in 12 countries, this paper discusses their views on spirituality for high school adolescents. In general, they favoured spirituality for adolescents and its inclusion in the curriculum. Specifically teachers from European countries, US, Canada and Australia attested the relational consciousness aspect of spirituality, which enabled adolescents to form and preserve meaningful social relationships and build their altruistic potential. Log regression analysis showed that spiritual assessment of adolescents was perceived as comprehending their spiritual starting point, specifically by those from European countries, US, Canada and Australia. Further, they perceived spirituality as an integral part of the moral science and value education curriculum, with the main curricular objective as cultivating adolescents’ spiritual sensibilities and mindfulness. The study provides the nuances of such as curriculum on spirituality in the high schools in terms of knowledge, skills and attitude components.     

The impact of school culture on schools’ pupil well-being policy-making capacities

Pupil well-being has been an important topic in educational research for some time. Differences between schools in their influence on the well-being of their pupils are attributed to the policy-making capacities of the school. Little is known about schools’ policy-making capacities with regard to pupil well-being, and the impact of school culture on these policy-making capacities. This study addresses these questions using a quantitative research approach. The results show that teachers rate the policy-making capacities of their school, with regard to pupil well-being, in largely positive terms and that these policy-making capacities are mainly affected by flexible perspectives of effectiveness within the culture of schools.     

Transfer to and study at secondary school in Finnish school culture: developing schools on the basis of pupils’ experiences

This chapter is a based on a study that examined, first, Finnish comprehensive school pupils’ transfer to secondary school and, second, the ways in which pupils’ experiences of schooling can contribute to the development and planning of an undivided comprehensive school system. Traditionally, Finnish discourse on the flexibility of the transfer has concentrated on the teacher's role as the central transformative force in bridging the gap between primary and secondary school. The voice of the pupils, who experience the changes, has tended to be regarded as of minor importance. When moving towards a fuller understanding of the transfer experience, it is important not only to include the pupils’ perspective but to examine, first, the school community and the factors promoting and/or preventing its functioning and, second, the learning environment of the adolescent. The results of the study clearly show that the pupils are able to assess the qualities of their school as a learning environment and to cope with the changes that result from the transfer to secondary school. Pupils were also ready to participate in developing a more unified comprehensive school system, but expressed their school experiences in a manner reflecting their developmental stage of adolescence and the prevailing school cultures. Thus, it remains the professional task of the teacher to analyse and interpret these messages in order to identify the key ingredients needed for developing such a system.     

Teacher leadership in university–school collaboration for school improvement (USCSI) on the Chinese Mainland

Educational Research for Policy and Practice - This article presents the findings of a qualitative study on teacher leadership in the context of university–school collaboration for school...     

Pain without gain?: Impact of school rationalisation in India

Alarmed by declining enrolment in government schools and potentially adverse academic, administrative and fiscal consequences associated with it, policy makers in India have initiated experimenting with closure of government schools with low enrolments (‘small’ schools), an exercise commonly referred to as ‘school rationalisation’. However, the impact of this policy on access to schooling and learning remains empirically unexplored. Utilising ASER 2014 data, this paper asks three key questions: (a) what are the characteristics of villages in which ‘small’ schools are located?, (b) what options would students have if ‘small schools’ were to be closed, and finally (c) what are the differences in characteristics of ‘small’ and non-‘small’ schools? Results indicate that the villages which have ‘small’ schools are more disadvantaged in terms of essential public services such as all-weather roads leading to village, availability of government health facilities or banks and post offices. Additionally, these villages are less likely to have an alternative to the ‘small’ school, either government or private. Results also show that ‘small schools’ are much more likely to have multi-grade teaching. They are less likely to have basic infrastructural facilities. Interestingly, learning levels are unlikely to be different in ‘small’ schools than non- ‘small’ schools even after controlling for child, household and village attributes. Thus, the analysis suggests that school rationalisation can potentially have severe consequences on children’s access to schools without any meaningful impact on learning levels in a ‘business as usual’ scenario.     

Teachers’ and school leaders’ perceptions of commercialisation in Australian public schools

This paper explores teachers’ and school leaders’ perceptions of commercialisation in Australian public schools, reporting on findings from an open-ended survey question from an exploratory study that sought to investigate teacher and school leader perceptions and experiences of commercialisation. Commercialisation, for the purposes of this paper, is understood as the creation, marketing and sale of education goods and services to schools by for-profit providers and often includes (but is not limited to) the provision of curriculum content, assessment services, data infrastructures, digital learning, remedial instruction, professional development and school administration support. Our account highlights that commercialisation is prevalent in the day-to-day practice of Australian public schools. The perceptions of teachers and leaders suggest that commercialisation is complex, with both affordances and challenges. Respondents acknowledged that aspects of commercialisation are necessary for successfully running schools and classrooms in the 21st century, but also noted that there is a fine line beyond which these seemingly innocuous services become perilous. Concerns focused on how particular services are leading to the deprofessionalisation of teachers as they have less autonomy over what to teach and how to teach it. Moreover, teachers and school leaders reported being perturbed by the idea that commercial providers and services might work to replace teachers in the future. Drawing on these data we argue that growing commercialisation in Australian public schools clearly requires an ethical debate that schools, education professionals, policy makers and interested publics are yet to have.     

Real school improvement: is it in the eye of the beholder?

The outcomes of a school improvement programme were measured in 26 primary schools over one year. Authorised pupil and staff absences and staff turnover decreased, and unauthorised pupil absences significantly increased (p < 0.05). Fixed-term exclusions significantly decreased (p < 0.001). The self-esteem of 316 pupils aged between 4 and 11 before and after programme implementation showed a significant increase (p < 0.001). Staff self-esteem also increased significantly (p < 0.05) and provided a significant indicator of programme sustainability (p < 0.05). Thematic analysis of data from staff interviews demonstrated that the effectiveness of school improvement programmes rested on staff participation in terms of capacity, perceptions of change and stability of the school before programme implementation. These elements were incorporated into a model of school improvement. Goal Attainment Scores were significantly correlated with fidelity of programme participation (p < 0.05). Feedback indicated that there was more to school improvement programmes than simply buying one “off the shelf.”     

The impact of school management practices on educational performance: Evidence from public schools in São Paulo

This study examines the causal impacts of a school management program on educational outcomes in São Paulo/Brazil, estimated with the use of a fuzzy regression discontinuity design. I conclude that specific management practices such as performance monitoring, targets setting and incentive schemes have significant positive impacts on 8th-graders' math scores, especially on low performance students. I was unable to obtain similar results for language. I further investigated whether these results were associated with student or staff selection and infrastructure investments or whether they were actually driven by changes to pedagogical and managerial practices. My findings suggest that the latter explanation is more plausible.     

Does choice matter for school choice? An instrumental variables analysis of the effect of choice on parental satisfaction in charter schools

I employ ordered probit regression and a new instrumental variable to compare the Fall 2015 parental satisfaction survey results of open-enrollment charters to district-conversion charters. Choice status in Arkansas charter schools is largely beneficial to parental satisfaction. Specifically, parents with children in open-enrollment charters had between a 17-percentage point and 32-percentage point higher likelihood of grading their current school as an A or responding as Highly Satisfied in six of nine quality categories. I find no evidence that parents rate the quality of schools similar to the analysts at the Arkansas Department of Education or that satisfaction differs in oversubscribed schools.     

School leaders’ identification of school level and teacher practices that influence school improvement in national numeracy testing outcomes

Since 2008, all Australian students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 have been assessed in literacy and numeracy through an annual National Assessment Program—Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) test. In 2015, a team of mathematics education researchers across Australia conducted a nationwide research project to identify school practices and policies that were consistent between schools that showed growth and/or improvement in their NAPLAN numeracy results. This paper reports findings from three case study schools, using a school improvement framework to interpret evidence gathered from the schools’ principals and school leaders. The study has particular implications for policy makers and school leaders who may be seeking ways to improve mathematical practices in their own jurisdictions and schools.     

Impact of the educational use of Facebook group on the high school students’ proper usage of language

This study examines impact of the educational use of Facebook group on the high school students’ proper usage of language. The study included thirty students who attend 11th grade in a high school in Trabzon, Turkey. Firstly, preliminary data about Facebook usage of students were obtained to understand the factors that motivate students to use Facebook and whether they use them for the educational purpose or not. Then, a Facebook group was created, in which a literature teacher was assigned as the guide of the group. This study lasted twelve weeks. The students’ assignments such as compositions, poems, and vignettes, discussions, the teacher’s views and observation, data from the interviews with participants were analyzed in this study. Results from this study indicated that that Facebook group was effective on issues such as development of writing abilities of students, communication and cooperation between teacher and students, and cooperation and communication among students. The original idea for this research was to determine that proper usage of language can be improved in social context if Facebook group is created as a flexible online community with interactive and reflective activities, effective tool of sharing and communication. This study demonstrates how Facebook can successfully be used in educational environment appropriately.