Mathematics anxiety of some pre-service primary school teachers

The construct ‘mathematics anxiety’ is explored with a sample of first year primary education university students. Self reported measures of anxiety about needing to use mathematics, and anxiety about the prospect of teaching mathematics, are moderately and positively correlated. The factor structure of a set of 13 items related to ‘mathematics anxiety’ is consistent with previous studies and the associations of these factors to other, related measures are explored using multiple linear regression of the factor scores. It is argued that it is likely to be more valuable to investigate ‘mathematics anxiety’ in terms of its composite factors than as a single phenomenon. Directions for future investigations are indicated.     

Developing student voice and participatory pedagogy: a case study in a Spanish primary school

This article describes a case study that is part of a broader research project in which schools set up processes of school improvement inspired by the proposals put forward by students. The project furthers the initiatives of the student voice movement and seeks to implement more participative pedagogical models. This as a whole represents a novel opportunity in the context of Spanish schools. Specifically, in the text we describe an experience in which students work as researchers (SAR) and in which we describe and discuss this process carried out in a primary school through ethnographic tools. The findings allow us to discover in this experience a learning opportunity for the members of the school community and for the school itself. Likewise, the research permits us to verify the existence of certain changes in the preexisting practice architectures that affect the cultural–discursive dimension, the material–economic dimension and the social–political dimension of schools.     

西藏小学教育专业师范生教师口语教学模式初探

教师口语是一门培养学生教育教学语言能力的职业技能课程,是一门具有很强的实践性和人文性的课程,笔者现在一直从事教师口语的教学,就目前的教学实践来看,主要存在的问题有:教师口语课程与藏族师范生的实际相脱节,教师口语课程与西藏小学课堂相脱节,不同专业的教师口语课程开课时间都相同,这些将直接影响到教学效果,下面从以下方面进行初步探讨。     

Listening to learning outside the classroom: student teachers study playground literacies

This article reports on ongoing work in initial teacher education (ITE) where student teachers have been required to observe and record children's play, to describe and analyse this, and to consider the pedagogical implications. They have been introduced to a theoretical background, which takes into account the increasingly multi‐modal nature of literacy practices, and have been shown a methodology for conducting a small‐scale ethnographic research project on the playground. They have been encouraged to consider how the unofficial literacy practices of the children's homes, communities and popular culture might affect the official practices of the school, and to understand how children absorb and recreate texts from beyond the school curriculum. The article reflects the student teachers' findings on school playgrounds, with narratives re‐enacted and drawn from popular media, imaginative use of playground space, and games that explore the pupils' present and future lives. Student teachers begin to recognise the vital role of socio‐dramatic play in the development of emergent literacy. They also develop insights on applying children's expertise outside the classroom to their literacy practices within the school.     

Preparing primary school teachers to teach religious education

Under the guidelines for Initial Teacher Training, all potential primary teachers are required to learn about teaching religious education. However, religious education is not a high priority on ITT programmes and trainees may often have little introduction to it. Given the sensitive nature of religious education, what is the best way to prepare trainees for teaching religious education, and how far do we need to take into account their views about the subject? This article reports on a study involving trainees on a one‐year PGCE course. All the students were preparing to teach in primary schools and were not specialist religious education trainees. The aim of the study was to discover how trainees felt about teaching religious education in the primary school and how far their feelings linked to their views about religion. The conclusions suggest that any effective preparation of the trainees needs to recognise the diversity of their starting points and allow them opportunity to reflect on their views of religion and religious education.     

公共教育学的革命:由教师教育学向学生教育学转变

公共教育学作为师范生的一门必修课，长期以来对师范生向师性的培养并未起到应有的作用，其原因在于该课是以教师能教些什么为出发点而组织的教学内容，即教师教育学；而不是以学生为本所建构的教学体系即学生教育学。     

Global injustice,pedagogy and democratic iterations: some reflections on why teachers matter

Abstract

The article argues teachers matter because of their potential to engage in critical reflection on values associated with connecting the local, the national and the global. Their practice can support those who are dislocated, and who have no place. Teachers matter because they can help us understand how we share humanity and aspirations across many differences. The discussion identifies some similarities between approaches to pedagogy and Seyla Benhabib’s notion of democratic iteration. Both concepts suggest a navigation between the general, the particular and some of the complexities of their contradictions which can guide teachers’ work. Frameworks from cosmopolitanism and the capability approach are explored for detail they provide on how this navigation can be considered in practice across differently politically constituted formations and diverse, unequally situated groups. Drawing on some reflections on work in an international classroom, the conclusion explores some of these navigations across inequalities.     

Listening to teachers: teacher and student roles in the New South Wales Sustainable Schools Programme

This paper reports on an interview study of eight teachers engaged in the Sustainable Schools Programme (SSP) in New South Wales, Australia. Teacher views on key components of education for sustainability are compared with the underlying socially critical approach of the SSP and the NSW policy on environmental education. Their views on active student engagement in the SSP are also revealed. The findings, which indicate that some teachers hold a view of education for sustainability consistent with key assumptions inherent in the SSP, are encouraging. However, remarks by most of the teachers suggest that wider professional support is needed if the SSP, and indeed the NSW policy on environmental education more broadly, are to be implemented as intended.     

No Man's Land: Caring and male student primary teachers

Sixteen male student primary teachers on a primary Initial Teacher Education course were interviewed and their understanding of 'care' explored. Analysis of the data suggests that male student primary teachers have specific gendered understandings of 'care'. Teacher educators need to take account of this in primary Initial Teacher Education courses and to provide students with opportunities to reflect on their understanding of 'care' in relation to their work as primary teachers, and the part gender plays in shaping that understanding.     

中小学教师惩戒权的正当性分析

任何教育教学活动的顺利进行、目标的达成都需要相应的秩序作为保障,惩戒是达成秩序的一种方法,教师对学生违规行为恰当的惩戒也是一种必要的教育手段和有效的管理方法.从中小学生在教育教学活动中可能存在违规行为的角度来看,赋予教师惩戒权利是必要的;从国家、学校、教师、学生及其家长之间存在的复杂的教育法律关系来看,教师作为国家教育职能的直接执行者和家长管理权的委托者,对学生进行惩戒是法律赋予教师的一种管理权力和权利.教师对学生违规行为的惩戒必须考虑学生身心发展规律和特点,其根本目的是促进学生身心健康发展.     

Home-based school teachers in Afghanistan: Teaching for tarbia and student well-being

Teachers in community-based or home-based schools in Afghanistan play a critical role in extending access to education to children who are unable to access the government schools, especially girls. These teachers—men and women—are nominated by the community to teach, without necessarily having teaching experience or even completing their own education. Whilst they may feel under-confident about their teaching skills and need ongoing professional development and support, these teachers nonetheless have a strong sense of their roles in the community, especially with respect to guiding children in their faith and promoting children's ‘tarbia’ (moral and ethical character) and well-being. This paper draws on qualitative data collected though the Healing Classrooms Initiative of the International Rescue Committee (IRC). Using interview and questionnaire responses it presents home-based school teachers’ experiences and beliefs about education and the role of the teacher, and discusses how these constitute alternative qualifications in the context of early reconstruction in Afghanistan.     

An in service training course, (INSET) on ICT pedagogy in classroom instruction for the Greek primary school teachers

To meet the increasing demand for change in the incorporation of ICT in education the Greek Ministry of Education and the Institute of Educational Policy of Greece, launched a nationwide project of in-service training (INSET) of teachers of the second level, training of teachers in the use and evaluation of ICT pedagogy in classroom instruction. The main focus of the study was to evaluate the implementation and effectiveness of this in-service training in the pedagogic use of ICT in classroom-based instruction. Through the data collected and analyzed it is argued that a successful training course could be associated with the selection and utilization of specific research and instruction theories. These theories tailored to the acknowledged different profiles of the teacher-trainees as well as the time and setting of the course could promote effectiveness and produce fruitful outcomes.     

Adaptation in the transition to school: perspectives of parents,preschool and primary school teachers

Background: Transition to school is a highly demanding phase at an intellectual, social and emotional level and is, therefore, an opportunity for growth and development. Despite the greater emphasis given to school transition in Portugal over recent years, namely by means of new educational policies, studies on the adaptation processes involved in the transition to primary school are still scarce.

Purpose: The present qualitative study sets out to contribute to the knowledge on the adaptation process of children to school transition (around age 6) in Portugal, by comparing preschool teachers’, primary school teachers’, and parents’ perceptions about success indicators and relevant factors in the transition to school.

Design and method: In order to collect data, 14 focus group interviews with different participants were conducted, three with preschool teachers (N = 18), three with primary school teachers (N = 13), four with parents conducted before the child’s transition to primary school (N = 14) and four with parents conducted after the child’s transition to primary school (N = 20).

Results: While the preschool and primary school teachers stressed factors of a family nature, such as parental involvement and parental support of children, the parents referred more frequently to the overall running of the school and the characteristics and methodology of the teacher as being relevant to the adaptation process in the first year of primary education.

Conclusions: The findings suggest different factors associated with adaptation to school and also offer clues for designing strategies to facilitate such adaptation. New strategies are needed to facilitate the construction of a robust educational family–school partnership.     

浅析小学英语教师的课堂评价

课堂评价是课堂教学的关键环节,要使课堂教学评价发挥作用,教师课堂评价方法的应用是最为重要的。教师运用正确的课堂评价方法不仅会调动学生学习积极性,而且有利于培养小学生学习英语的兴趣。因此,在小学阶段的英语教学过程中,教师应该运用正确的课堂评价方法,充分发挥教师在课堂评价中的重要作用。     

中小学教师的权利享有与义务履行：问题与建议

当前,我国中小学教师的权利义务现状令人担忧,在权利享有和义务履行方面都出现了一些问题。造成这些问题的原因是多方面的,其中,现行相关法律的不完善是最根本的原因。针对这些问题,应完善相关法律并对中小学教师的法律身份进行重新界定,从而使教师更好地享有权利,履行义务。     

试论中小学教师的学习

在现代知识社会,学习对中小学教师具有特殊重要的意义。学习效果在一定程度上取决于个体对学习的理解和学习方式。理论性学习可以培育教师的学科理论素养,提高理性思考能力。研究性学习属于以高阶思维为主要认知活动的高投入性学习。合作性学习可以促进个体知识经验的聚合和视界的融合,从而实现知识共享。社会化学习是个体学习社会知识,并不断内化和再创造的过程。教师应端正学习态度,提高学习内驱力,将工作和学习融为一体,相得益彰。     

Listening differently: A pedagogy for expanded listening

Mainstream education promotes a narrow conception of listening, centred on the reception and comprehension of human meanings. As such, it is ill‐equipped to hear how sound propagates affects, generates atmospheres, shapes environments and enacts power. Yet these aspects of sound are vital to how education functions. We therefore argue that there is a need to expand listening in education, and suggest that listening walks could provide a pedagogy for this purpose. Using interview data in which early years practitioners reflect on a listening walk, we show how the method can: (i) produce heightened multisensory experiences of spaces; (ii) generate forms of difficulty and discomfort that produce new learning; and (iii) influence practice, particularly practitioners’ ability to empathise with young children. Listening walks function by disrupting everyday sensory habits, provoking listeners to listen anew to their own listening, in an open‐ended way that is not tied to predetermined learning outcomes. The method therefore has wider pedagogic potential for rethinking education and childhood beyond rationality, representation and meaning.     

Student trust in teachers and student perceptions of safety: positive predictors of student identification with school

This study examined the effects of student trust in teacher and student perceptions of safety on identification with school. Data were collected from one large urban district in an eastern state. Participants included 5441 students in 3rd through 12th grades from 49 schools. Students responded to surveys that assessed student trust in teachers, safety and identification with school. Free and Reduced Lunch (a proxy for SES), school level and ethnicity were included as control variables. Two hypotheses guided the study. Hypothesis 1 stated that student trust, safety and identification with school would positively covary. Hypothesis 2 predicted that student trust in teachers and perceptions of safety were school properties that would individually and collectively explain differences among schools in student identification with school. Both hypotheses were confirmed. The results of the hierarchical linear model indicated that student trust in teachers and school safety accounted for 98% of the 22% of variance that exists among schools in student identification. SES, school level and ethnicity were not significant predictors of identification with school. Findings suggest that student trust in teachers and perceptions of safety may significantly contribute to student identification above the effects of SES, ethnicity and school level.