Choosing teachers: Exploring agency and structure in the distribution of newly qualified teachers

This paper theorises aspects of the distribution of newly qualified teachers in England, which is not arbitrary but patterned with differential effects upon socially distanced learners. As part of a larger project exploring the sociological strategies and stratification whereby teachers choose, and are chosen, for their first teaching post, I consider here the stories of Susan and Ben. These two newly qualified teachers of mathematics both accepted posts in schools while on initial teacher education courses but quickly relocated to increase the harmony between their teaching dispositions (habitus) and the type of school (habitat) in which they were to be working. Bourdieu's sociological tools are mobilised to theorise aspects of teacher distribution and the potential inequity resulting from the aggregation of such strategies and ‘corrections’.     

Improving the learning of newly qualified teachers in the induction year

Newly qualified teachers of mathematics and science are a precious resource and it important that they are provided with appropriate support and challenge during their first year in post. This study examines the developing thinking and practice of a group of such teachers in England and the influence of their mentors within the workplace context of the school. We argue that thinking and practice is restricted by the concern to ‘fit in’, by the belief that behaviour management should be addressed before teaching can be developed and by a lack of attention to the development of pedagogical thinking. We conclude that there is a need to change the beliefs and practices of induction mentors and develop their skills in discussing pedagogical ideas. This is most likely to be achieved within a school‐wide culture of continuing professional learning.     

高职院校教师绩效考核存在的问题及对策

绩效考核作为评估和改善教师表现的一种有效手段,它为教师的奖惩、晋升、培训、解雇等决策提供重要的信息依据,对加强高职院校师资队伍建设,实现学校整体目标起着重要作用。对此本文分析了高职院校教师绩效考核存在的问题,指出绩效考核目的不明确、岗位职责不清晰、考核标准不科学等弊端,提出建立有效的高职院校教师绩效考核体系的对策和建议。     

Induction: the experiences of newly qualified science teachers

This research focused on the induction year entitlement in England, with particular reference to timetable, formal assessment meetings, lesson observations and provision of an induction tutor and a named external contact. Pooled data from a postal questionnaire, with a 60% response rate (n = 92), were analysed from three consecutive cohorts of newly qualified science teachers (2003–2006). Focus group interviews and telephone interviews with 20 newly qualified teachers and 20 induction tutors were also used to collect data. The majority of the sample of newly qualified teachers received the main entitlements in their induction year but serious concerns persist for a significant minority. Implications for the induction of all newly qualified teachers, irrespective of their subject area, school and policy‐makers, are identified.     

Individualism to Collaboration: The significance of teacher culture to the induction of newly qualified teachers

This paper draws upon qualitative data collected as part of a study of the implementation of new arrangements for the monitoring and support of newly qualified teachers (NQTs) in England (DfEE, 1999). Interview data from NQTs, induction tutors and head-teachers are used to demonstrate the significance of teacher culture to the experience of teachers during their first year in post. We locate the cultures within which NQTs work on a continuum that we characterise as moving from highly individualised, through structural collaboration to spontaneously collaborative. The new arrangements appear to have made the greatest impact on schools where the culture is one of structural collaboration. Individualised cultures are problematic for NQTs, while spontaneously collaborative cultures provide a highly supportive and developmental environment independently of the mandatory arrangements.     

Establishing respectful educative relationships: a study of newly qualified teachers in Ireland

Interpersonal respect is a fundamental aspect of relating to others. This is especially true for teachers, as cultivating relationships is implicit in effective teaching. This three-year qualitative study examines a developing understanding of respect for pre-service teachers that progresses on to their first year’s teaching to examine the influential factors on that understanding. These teachers’ pupils were also asked to comment on their perceptions of respect. The findings indicate that interpersonal respect in an educative relationship is influenced by the level of autonomy afforded pupils and minimising the power differential between teachers and pupils.     

Induction needs of a group of teachers at different career stages in a school in the Republic of Ireland: Challenges and expectations

This study examines the induction needs of a group of teachers at different career stages working in a socially disadvantaged secondary school in the Republic of Ireland. 44 teachers participated in the study, 11 of whom were student teachers, 11 of whom were newly qualified teachers and 22 of whom were experienced teachers returning to the school after an extended career break (4) or new to the school having previously worked in a different school (18). Through the use of both quantitative and qualitative techniques, including 44 questionnaires and nine semi-structured interviews, this study examines how a school-based induction programme can best accommodate the needs of a diverse group of teachers at different career stages.     

Professional agency in a university context: Academic freedom and fetters

Professional agency is an urgent topic in academic contexts, albeit relatively unexplored, and elaborated with contradictory conclusions on its extent and characteristics. To contribute to the discussion, this multimethod study investigated professional agency within a Finnish university. We utilised questionnaire data and interviews to explore agency, as manifested in influencing at work, developing work practices, and negotiating professional identity. We found that overall, these three dimensions of agency were manifested fairly substantially, and in a similar manner among the academic staff. The study further emphasises the social nature of professional agency, and presents theoretical and empirical considerations for future research.     

Teachers or learning leaders?: where have all the teachers gone? gone to be leaders,everyone

This paper traces the dramatic proliferation of leadership roles in English primary and secondar schools, due mainly to central government education policy of the past two decades. This has transformed schools from relatively simple to highly complex organizations and has impacted on the working conditions of, and demands on, teachers, together with many aspects of schooling. These changes are illustrated with typical examples of schools' leadership structures and their functioning. Interview data provide teachers' views on, and reactions to, the changes in school leadership. The paper also reviews the ways in which teacher education institutions have responded in terms of providing initial and in‐service education and training to equip the profession for this new and developing challenge. It examines the reception of such programmes by teachers and the reported impact on schools' management and the role of leadership within it.     

建立科学学习中心网络,深化科学教师专业发展——英国科学教师专业发展及其启示

在新世纪之初,英国科学教师被认为从事着关系国家存亡的事业,因而其专业发展受到了英国政府的优先关注.2003年国家投资5,100万英镑创建了10个科学学习中心以促进全国科学教师的专业发展.本文介绍和分析了英国科学学习中心创建的背景、结构和功能以及课程设置情况,并据此提出了对我国科学教师专业发展的若干启示.     

The well‐being of teachers in Flanders: the importance of a supportive school culture

Research on the well‐being of teachers was conducted at the request of the Department of Education in Flanders, Belgium. The goals were: (1) to construct an instrument for the Education Inspectorate; and (2) to conduct a survey in order to identify school‐related conditions relevant for teachers’ professional well‐being. Based on literature and panel discussions with teachers and principals, a questionnaire was constructed, tested and subdivided in subscales following a factor analysis. The questionnaire was administered to a representative sample of elementary (covering both nursery and primary schools, children aged 3–12) and secondary school teachers. A multilevel analysis reveals how differences in scores can be explained at school level.     

提高农远教师培训有效性若干问题的绩效分析

为更好地提高农远工程教师培训项目的有效性,应以绩效观念为基础,将绩效管理而不是绩效评估贯穿项目始终;将绩效管理过程模式和绩效技术过程模式、六西格玛法的理念整合,提高项目系统绩效;通过建立学习型组织使农远工程教师培训项目得以延续,促进项目系统绩效的维持。     

Mentoring of new teachers as a contested practice: Supervision,support and collaborative self-development

This article examines contested practices of mentoring of newly qualified teachers within and between Australia (New South Wales), Finland and Sweden. Drawing on empirical evidence from a variety of studies, we demonstrate three archetypes of mentoring: supervision, support and collaborative self-development. Using the theory of practice architectures, we show that (1) these three forms of mentoring represent three different projects: (a) assisting new teachers to pass through probation, (b) traditional mentoring as support, and (c) peer-group mentoring; and (2) these different projects involve and imply quite different practice architectures in the form of different material-economic, social-political and cultural-discursive arrangements.     

A study of novice teachers: Challenges and supports in the first years

In recent years, it has been reported that an alarming number of teachers are leaving the profession in the first three years after graduation from a pre-service program. This phenomenon is common in North America and it is essential that educators identify the challenges surrounding new teachers and provide supports to assist them. The vast majority of literature surrounding new teacher induction and mentorship support is void of the Canadian context and the novice teacher voice. In this study, Ontario graduates from a two year pre-service program were surveyed and 5 teachers were selected for case studies. Participants found administrative leadership, refining the mentorship selection process, hiring practices, and district-sponsored supports as positive factors necessary for them to grow into the profession.     

贵州省高校教师职业生涯发展调查分析

以职业生涯发展的理论为基石,对贵州省高校教师职业发展现状进行调查分析,探讨贵州省高校教师职业生涯发展中存在的主要问题,为贵州省高校教师职业生涯发展进行有效管理和贵州省高校开展教师职业生涯管理提供依据。     

新建本科院校联合培养专业硕士的可行性

新建本科院校的办学质量逐步提升,为获得独立硕士学位授予权,可以尝试联合培养专业硕士研究生,着重抓好学科建设、师资队伍建设和基础建设,并结合保山学院的实际情况论述了联合培养的可行性。     

Diary-based strategy assessment and its relationship to performance in a group of trainee teachers

Our work is based on the study of learning strategies used by a group of trainee teachers in a real learning situation, and how this use of strategies influences the results of the learning process. We use a diary as a tool to assess the learning strategies and compare the results obtained with those using an inventory. Our findings indicate that the deliberate use of strategies (measured by diaries) has a positive effect on knowledge acquisition, with the qualitative analysis method of the verbal protocols noted in the diaries proving more valuable than the use of traditional inventories.     

Becoming a teacher of early reading: charting the knowledge and practices of pre‐service and newly qualified teachers

Education policy in England requires student teachers to demonstrate effective teaching of early reading, including systematic synthetic phonics, in order to qualify to teach. Although there is a range of literature about initial teacher education, little is documented about how pre‐service or ‘student' teachers develop specific knowledge and practices for teaching early reading and how they apply these in their first term as newly qualified teachers (NQTs). This research used a primarily qualitative longitudinal, collective case study design involving seven lower primary (3–7 years) postgraduate certificate in education (PGCE) students enrolled at one university in the East Midlands of England. Semi‐structured interviews, classroom observations and documentary analysis with the students and their teacher mentors were used to gather data from entry onto the course to the participants' first term as qualified teachers. A thematic analysis was applied in conjunction with deductive observation codes developed from a previous study. Findings indicate a broad continuum of progression in student and newly qualified teacher knowledge and practice for teaching early reading which could be used to inform university organisation, mentoring and school participation. They highlight the influence of school cultures on the experiences of student and pre‐service teachers.     

The impact of leadership and management on the construction of professional identity in school learning mentors

This paper explores the perceptions of school learning mentors with respect to their professional development and emerging professional identity. Although tentative, the emergence of two distinct professional identities is reported in this study: first, an instrumental technical identity characterized by compliance; and second, a creative professional identity characterized by an active involvement in the creation of one’s own professionality. Emerging differences in identity appear to be influenced by feelings of security in school learning mentors’ role definition and sense of purpose and by the power differential they perceive between themselves and qualified teaching staff. The findings have implications for the present workforce remodelling agenda in England and Wales, intended, in part, to facilitate the work of teachers via greater professionalization of learning support assistants. It is suggested that the leadership and management of schools hosting learning mentors and other learning support assistants should further consider their approach to the professionality of this important group of workers if frustrated identity claims, dissatisfaction, poor morale and their exit from the education service is to be avoided.     

新时期高职高专院校系部学生管理体系的构想

新形势下，高职高专院校学生管理工作面临许多新情况、新问题。以知识型高技能人才培养为培养目标的高职教育对高职院校学生管理工作又提出了新要求。笔者就如何以学生为本，抓规范管理，促人才培养为主线，对新时期高职高专院校学生管理体系提出了一些构想。