Special education trainee teachers’ perceptions of their professional world: motives,roles, and expectations from teacher training

To open a window into perceptions entailed in the professional world view of special education teacher trainees, three research questions were developed: (a) What are their motives for joining the profession? (b) How do they perceive the role of the special education teacher? and (c) What are their expectations from teacher training? The research was carried out using a qualitative approach. Ninety-three students about to begin their professional training in special education in an Israeli teacher-training college completed a questionnaire consisting of five open questions. The data were analyzed according to the grounded theory approach. The research findings showed that the trainees chose special education because they wanted to belong to a group of teachers perceived as the most ethical; one that considers its mission to help ‘vulnerable’ individuals, mold their characters, and ‘have an impact on society.’ The role of special education teachers was perceived mainly as caring for students and their parents; the trainees expected that during their training, they would become completely familiar with the range of disabilities and how to deal with them, as well as learn about themselves and strengthen their teaching skills. The world of special education was perceived as ‘mysterious,’ having a high moral standing; as a closed profession, in that relations are limited to teacher, child, and parents; but with a spiritual aspect. The professional world of special education as perceived by the teacher trainees was different than that actually waiting for them, and for which teacher training institutes must prepare them.     

Cultural sensitivity: American and British teacher trainees compared ‐ a response to Thomas Deering

How effectively are teacher trainees prepared for teaching ethnic minority pupils? What part does practical teaching experience play in developing the cultural sensitivity of trainees? Do American and British trainees differ in their levels of cultural sensitivity and, if so, what are the causal factors involved? This article is a critical response to Deering, who has identified these as his research questions. While welcoming the attention given to an important subject, we question the appropriateness of Deering's research procedure and challenge his interpretation and discussion of the findings.     

Bare Pedagogy and the Scourge of Neoliberalism: Rethinking Higher Education as a Democratic Public Sphere

A new form of bare pedagogy is emerging in higher education focused on market-driven competitiveness and even militaristic goal-setting, while critical pedagogy, with its emphasis on the hard work of critical analysis, moral judgments, and social responsibility (critical pedagogy that goes to the very heart of what it means to address real inequalities of power among faculty and administrators) withers. This occurs while at the same time critical pedagogy poses a series of important and often-ignored questions such as: What is the role of teachers and academics as public intellectuals? Whose interest does public and higher education serve? How might it be possible to understand and engage the diverse contexts in which education takes place? What is the role of education as a public good? How do we make knowledge meaningful in order to make it critical and transformative? How do we democratize governance?     

环境管理投入、债务融资成本与企业可持续性增长——中国旅游酒店上市公司实证研究

环境管理成本与绩效是目前学术研究热门话题。国内学者对环境管理的成本与绩效理论意义与实践意义的研究大都停留在道德与简单的会计绩效层面。作为中国国民经济增长最快行业之一的旅游与酒店业,其行业特征与环境管理密切相关。以2009年至2011年中国沪深证券交易所A股旅游酒店板块上市公司为样本,实证研究了旅游酒店行业公司环境管理投入对企业可持续性增长的影响。研究结果表明,公司环境管理投入有助于降低债务融资成本,而债务融资成本的降低可有效帮助企业实现可持续性增长,从企业融资角度解释了环境管理的意义。     

What’s involved in ‘the work’? Understanding administrators’ roles in bringing trans-affirming policies into practice

ABSTRACT

Researchers have concluded that policy implementation is a process of mutual adaptation between policies and implementers. Our study draws attention to that relationship, especially with respect to policies that challenge assumptions about sex, gender, and sexuality. We focus on how six administrators in one United States school district understood ‘the work’ of bringing the district’s Guidelines for Supporting Transgender and Gender Nonconforming Students into practice. Our analysis of interview data focused these questions: How do administrators describe their motivation and commitment to engage in the work? What puzzles of practice do participants name? How do they talk about the work of implementation? What does that work mean/involve in everyday practice? What were their roles? We found that implementation was locally defined and enacted; participants’ sense-making, their roles in enacting the Guidelines, and the puzzles they negotiated were influenced by their unique contexts. We share examples of diverse cases in an effort to create policy knowledge.     

Ten Years of Puzzling about Audience Awareness

The decisions evaluators make regarding how to work with teachers through the annual evaluation process can have a positive impact on teacher growth and student learning. In this article, the author examines the quality of feedback and how administrators use and provide this feedback to teachers through the evaluation process. What constitutes quality feedback? How does quality feedback support teachers' instruction? How can the supervision and evaluation process offer both teachers and administrators an opportunity to work together to improve student learning? The evaluation process should support the goal of maintaining a high level of quality instruction. In the end, the goal is to increase student learning by improving the effectiveness of teaching.     

Craft Education in Finland: Definitions,Rationales and the Future

The status, content, and social factors influencing craft education in Finland, a standard subject in comprehensive schools, were examined during interviews with craft teachers, craft teacher preparers, and educational administrators. In this paper, the following areas are examined: How are crafts defined? What rationales and cultural and social factors keep craft education robust and what factors threaten it? What is perceived as the future of craft education? The status, content, and social factors influencing craft education in Finland, a standard subject in comprehensive schools, were examined during interviews with craft teachers, craft teacher preparers, and educational administrators. In this paper, the following areas are examined: How are crafts defined? What rationales and cultural and social factors keep craft education robust and what factors threaten it? What is perceived as the future of craft education? interviewees for teaching craft in schools fell into five categories: craft provides 1) cognitive development in several dimensions, 2) learning about living in the world, 3) Finnish traditions and culture, 4) social and individual growth, and 5) a break from the demands of academic subjects. All interviewees seemed to agree that teaching crafts in Finland is changing in terms of how teachers are prepared, who writes curriculum, the content of the curriculum, and the configuration of craft in the comprehensive school curriculum. Some interviewees portended a decline in craft education in public schooling, while others embraced change as part of nation building.     

Strengthening Agricultural Education and Training in sub-Saharan Africa from an Innovation Systems Perspective: A Case Study of Mozambique

Abstract

This paper examines how post-secondary agricultural education and training (AET) in sub-Saharan Africa can contribute to agricultural development by strengthening the capacity to innovate—to introduce new products and processes that are socially or economically relevant to smallholder farmers and other agents. Using the AET system in Mozambique as a case study, this paper examines the role of AET within the context of an agricultural innovation system. This innovation systems perspective offers an analytical framework to examine technological change in agriculture as a complex process of interactions among diverse actors who generate, exchange, and use knowledge, conditioned by complex social and economic institutions. The paper argues that while AET is conventionally viewed as key to the development of human capital, it also has a vital role to play in building the capacity of organizations and individuals to transmit and adapt information, products and processes, and new organizational cultures and behaviors. The paper emphasizes the importance of improving AET systems by strengthening the capabilities of organizations and professionals; changing organizational cultures, behaviors, and incentives; and building innovation networks and linkages. The paper offers several recommendations to enhance the effectiveness of AET for agricultural innovation and development. Key reforms include aligning the mandates of AET organizations with national development aspirations; inducing change in the cultures of AET organizations through the introduction of educational programs and linkages beyond the AET system; and enhancing innovative individual and organizational capacity by improving incentives to forge stronger links between AET and other stakeholders.     

Reflection on their first five years of teaching: understanding staying and impact power

Teacher turnover in urban schools is occurring at a breakneck pace; thus, it is important for us to understand the characteristics of teachers who stay and succeed in these settings. In order to address this need, this study examines the preparation and induction experiences of teachers who completed a Transition to Teaching – a funded urban apprenticeship program. Three research questions guided the study: (1) How do participants describe the characteristics that influence their five-year retention? (2) How do participants describe their success as teachers? and (3) How do participants describe the professional support they received in their preparation program and during the subsequent four years after completing the program? Quantitative and qualitative data via interviews, focus group, and an examination of teachers’ district performance scores were utilized, as a means of understanding teachers’ staying and impact power. Staying power refers to the ability to endure or last within challenging contexts by possessing strength enough to persevere. Impact power refers to their ability to influence student learning. Four assertions describe the factors influencing developing teachers who stay and have impact as they teach in challenging urban schools, suggesting that these teachers possess a strong work ethic, seek specific resources to improve pedagogy, have the knowledge and skills necessary to differentiate instruction, and seek teacher leadership opportunities in their schools. This study suggests several implications for teacher educators, educational leaders, administrators, and researchers working with new teachers in urban schools or with populations that are predominantly children of color.     

Appropriateness of Teachers' Test-Preparation Practices

What two standards can teachers and administrators use to decide whether a particular way of preparing students for a test is appropriate? How do five commonly used test-preparation practices stack up to these standards? How do educators and school board members view these five practices?     

Evaluation of School Administrators’ Brand and Crisis Management Skills on Disability Services

ABSTRACT

The aim of this study is to enable teachers to evaluate the crisis management skills of the administrators in terms of school development. The study has been carried out on a sample group consisting of 376 teachers (sample) working in 10 secondary schools and high schools. The study is a survey research based on the use of a quantitative method. In this survey, the scale of “the evaluation of the crisis management skills of the school administrators by teachers in terms of school development (OGAÖTDÖ)” developed by Tokel has been used. In addition, it has been analysed with the independent ANOVA test to determine whether or not it differs according to the factor of professional branches. When the research findings are examined, it has been determined that teachers answer positively to the question directed about crisis management skills of school administrators (X ? = 3.52) on disability services. As a result, it has been concluded that school administrators have adequate crisis management skills and they need a reputation for the quality.     

Reviews

Civilized life at LSE The Trouble at LSE, 1966–67. HARRY KIDD. Oxford University Press. 25s. Basic salaries at universities World study of examinations Studying educational administrators How are teachers educated? A crisis of maladjustment AUT story The aspirations of sixth-form applicants     

论循证教学的发展向度和功能限度

循证教学具有求真(以最佳证据支持最佳实践)、民主(研究者、管理者、教育者和受教育者的共同参与和协调)、共享(证据的无边界传播)、高效(以最低成本获取最大利益)等积极价值,但同时也存在着证据拒斥经验、技术僭越艺术、规范腐蚀创新、科学凌驾于价值之上的局限及风险。循证主体只有致力于平衡与弥合循证教学过程中出现的多重张力,循证教学才会走得更稳、更远。     

高职院校教务管理新探索

从历史的角度来看,学校的教务管理,应该算是一个相对成熟的领域。广大的教务管理工作者在实践中积累了丰富的经验。然而,近几年中涌现出的新建高等职业院校却给有效实施教务管理提出了新的挑战。如何应对?一是正确认知新建高职院校的特点,二是正确认知这些特点在教务管理上的反映;三是在此基础上进行教务管理理念和实践上的创新。     

Do local contributions affect the efficiency of public primary schools?

Are public schools that rely on local resources for a greater share of their financing more cost-effective? Could financial decentralization lead to more efficient schools? This paper attempts to answer these questions using cost, financial sources and student achievement data from Philippine primary schools, which are financed primarily from central sources but which also raise funds from other sources, to differing degrees. It concludes that schools which rely more heavily on local sources, such as contributions from the local school board, municipal government, parent-teacher associations (PTA) and other sources are more efficient—i.e. have lower cost, holding constant for enrollment and quality. A 1% increase in the share of financing coming from local sources will lead to a decline in total costs of 0.135%, or about the cost of providing for a place for one more student.     

必要的张力:构建现代大学与政府关系的基本原则

如何认识现代社会中大学与政府的关系,如何在大学的管理、运营过程中调整大学与政府的关系,是许多国家高等教育实践和理论研究经常面对的重要课题。在大学与政府间保持一种必要的张力,是保持两者关系的动态平衡,亦是构建现代大学与政府关系的基本原则。战后日本国立大学与政府在一些重要问题上的冲突与调和所反映出来的两者关系的变化,也许是说明大学与政府间张力关系的一个例证。     

Effects of “nonrational” influences on decision making in higher education: A simulation test

The purpose of the present study was to determine if a nonrational model of decision-making was used by college administrators in three typical areas of college operations. Were the value positions taken by three college constituency groups (faculty, students, community board) on problems in curriculum, student affairs, and personnel influencing decisions made by administrative groups? In a simulation study, information describing a mythical community college was prepared, using the dimensions of the management-information system CAMPUS (Comprehensive Analytical Methods for Planning in University Systems). Three simulated problems within the hypothetical community college setting were administered to teams of decision makers each composed of three junior college administrators. Junior college administrators did not use the nonrational model in reaching group or individual decisions in the three simulated problem areas. Administrators did not respond in a significant manner to the influence of college constituency groups in reaching decisions. The type of problem being considered (curriculum, student affairs, and personnel) was a significant factor in determining decision alternatives selected by administrators. Both the rational and nonrational models of decision-making as used in this study appear inadequate to explain administrative decisions. It is tenable to posit that decision-making is influenced at least as much by previously learned responses of the decision-makers, and it may need to be considered as an important element in any model of decision-making.     

Associations between motivation to learn,basic skills,and adult education and training participation among older adults in the USA

ABSTRACT

The objective of this study is to examine the associations between the motivation to learn, basic skills (i.e. literacy and numeracy), and organised adult education and training (AET) participation among the middle-aged and older adults in the USA. Rapid technological advancement and globalisation necessitate individuals to engage in lifelong learning to actively participate in society. However, little is known about the roles of motivation to learn and basic skills in the AET participation in the U.S. adult population. We obtained the data from the 2012/2014 Programme for International Assessment of Adult Competencies restricted-use file and adults aged 50 years and older (n = 2,580) are included. Structural equation models are used to examine (1) any AET, (2) formal AET and (3) non-formal AET participation as a function of the motivation to learn latent construct, literacy, numeracy, and other covariates. Results showed that the motivation to learn, literacy and numeracy are all positive predictors of non-formal AET participation. Only motivation to learn is associated with formal AET participation. Findings from this study may inform future interventions as well as policy changes to promote specific types of organised AET programmes among older adult population in the USA.     

辽宁、浙江两省中小企业融资比较与启示

提出辽、浙两省中小企业融资“五Z一线”比较模式;从融资环境、融资结构和融资方式三个层面对两省中小企业融资现状进行有针对性的比较;揭示中小企业融资风险承受主体、融资主体应扮演的角色和理顺融资规律、融资技术与融资艺术三者关系以及中小融资理念决定融资动机与行为进而决定融资状态的逻辑关系。