Concerns of First‐Year Teachers in Australian Catholic Schools

Fifty primary and 52 secondary teachers were interviewed about their concerns and fears as first‐year teachers in Catholic schools. Teacher variables of gender and maturity, as well as school variables such as socio‐economic status (SES), non‐English speaking background (NESB), school size and primary/secondary level were examined as sources of difference in expressed concerns and needs. Ranked concerns associated with meeting individual differences were ranked highest followed by ‘Content’, ‘Control’ and ‘Motivation’, ‘Teaching Migrants’, ‘Record Keeping’ and ‘Communication’. Open‐ended responses differed from ranked responses with ‘Efficacy’, ‘Control’ and ‘Content’ the most frequently mentioned fears. In general, no significant differences were found between rankings of concerns for primary/secondary levels or for teacher gender. However SES, NESB and teacher tender were significantly related to concerns for certain subsets of data.     

The Perceptions of the Teachers as a Basis for Co‐operative Planning of In‐service Activities

The main objective of this study was to develop a method of planning of in‐service activities which ‘pay attention’ not only to the contents of the message to be transmitted (what to say), but also to the perspective of the teachers, i.e. their perceptions and concerns about the educational activity they are being trained for. During the implementation of a new curriculum, a sample of experienced and successful biology teachers were observed and interviewed about the desirability, feasibility and actual use of some recommended methods of teaching. A second sample, consisting of high‐ranking teachers, was then interviewed on their own opinions on the same topics and about the opinions of their observed peers. In view of the responses of the teachers, it became clear that the nature of the ‘training’ activities would have to match the variety of the responses of the teachers, otherwise they would definitely not meet the demands of effective communication with the teachers.     

Class‐Room Discipline: power,resistance and gender. A look at teacher perspectives

Class‐room discipline, an issue of ‘power’ and ‘control’ for many teachers and students, is investigated in relation to teachers' attitudes towards stereotyped models of masculinity and femininity. Two important issues are considered; firstly, that what is generally regarded as appropriate gender behaviour by teachers plays a major role in determining their approaches and responses to the behaviour of boys and girls in the classroom. This paper focuses on the experiences of girls and teachers' traditional perceptions of femininity and it is believed that the stereotyped, often middle‐class assumptions made by many teachers, which make up an overall view of how girls ‘should’ behave, have serious effects on girls' motivation, self‐esteem, reputations, their ability to fulfil their educational potentials and their futures. It will also seriously affect their class‐room behaviour. Secondly, stereotyped beliefs around women, men and power in our society, can influence the discipline measures of teachers, particularly male teachers, so that ‘controlling’ students in the class‐room becomes paramount, at any cost. The predominantly authoritarian regimes that were incorporated in the structure of the schools that were part of this research, were perpetuated through the ideology of ‘hegemonic masculinity’ that dominates within most levels of the schooling system.     

Assessing the Concerns and Professional Development Requirements of Beginning Teachers in their First Term of Teaching

Beginning teachers in Queensland Catholic primary schools were surveyed before, during and after their first term of full‐time teaching practice in order to identify predominant concerns and professional‐development needs. Anticipatory concerns about personal adequacy dissipated quickly after teaching began, allowing concerns over student‐learning needs and class control to emerge. By the end of the first term, teachers were beginning to feel more confident and relaxed in their role. Most had maintained a preference for discovery/inquiry methods of teaching although issues such as students’ classroom behaviour, the availability of teaching resources and time pressures were beginning to exert an influence on their choice of teaching styles. The results are interpreted in the context of beginning teacher induction programmes, and recommendations are made regarding areas in which beginning teachers need particular assistance during their first teaching term.     

Observations and student perceptions of the quality of preservice teachers’ teaching behaviour: construct representation and predictive quality

Observations and student perceptions are recognised as important tools for examining teaching behaviour, but little is known about whether both perspectives share similar construct representations and how both perspectives link with student academic outcomes. The present study compared the construct representation of preservice teachers’ teaching behaviour as perceived by trained teacher observers and students. It also examined the predictive power of both measures of teaching behaviour for student academic engagement. The theoretical framework of teaching behaviour used in this study is based on evidence-based research derived from empirical teacher effectiveness research. The study was part of a national project that included 2164 students and 108 teachers in The Netherlands. Results suggest that, although observations and student perceptions of teaching behaviour shared similar theoretical considerations, the construct representations seemed to differ to some extent. Furthermore, although both perspectives are significant predictors of student academic engagement, student perceptions appeared to be more predictive of their perceived academic engagement than observations. Implications for research on learning environments and teacher education are discussed.     

Pre‐service teachers’ preconceptions,misconceptions, and concerns about virtual schooling

Over the last decade, online distance education has become a common mode of study in most states in the USA, where it is known as virtual schooling (VS), but many people have misconceptions about it. Pre‐service teachers’ personal histories as students and their preconceptions, misconceptions, and concerns influence pre‐service teacher training experiences. A qualitative study of an introductory field experience course that included this new mode of schooling for the first time analyzed the personal journals and online discussion responses of 65 pre‐service teachers in the USA. Analysis identified that common misconceptions and concerns included career threat, viability of VS, academic dishonesty, reduced interaction, teacher feedback, and lack of rigor. The curriculum innovations in this innovative teacher preparation program were shown to address these misconceptions and concerns and facilitate understanding and acceptance of VS as an alternative form of education by many of these pre‐service teachers.     

The reflection on the blackboard: student teacher self‐evaluation

A common aim of teacher education is to encourage prospective teachers to analyze carefully their instructional performance. Yet, research on teacher cognition heretofore has concentrated primarily on experienced teachers’ planning and instructional thinking. We need more information on how student teachers think about and engage in the evaluation of their teaching performance. This study used data from initial structured interviews to elicit student teachers’ self‐evaluation concerns and examined the student teachers’ journals, a final written self‐evalution, and tapes from post‐teaching interviews to create a profile of each student teacher's responses about self‐evaluation. In this paper I analyze the student teachers’ pre‐conceptions about success, examine their processes of self‐evaluation, and explore a conception of “interactive self‐evaluation.” I offer suggestions about the conditions that may enable student teachers to enhance their analytical processes.     

Classroom Transactions of Student‐Teachers of Science

Summaries

English

The report describes a study of the teaching behaviour of student‐teachers of science disciplines during the one‐term teaching practice of the English ‘Post‐Graduate Certificate in Education’ course, using the Science Teaching Observation Schedule by Eggleston et al.

The results suggest that in several behavioural dimensions, students and teachers achieve a close match. These dimensions, it is suggested, could represent the ‘stable’ elements in the students’ perception of science teacher behaviour learnt during their time as pupils, or they might represent ‘safe’ transactions which do not involve students extensively in problems of classroom management and control.

For other behaviour categories, it was found that students tended to behave less like experienced teachers as the training practice proceeded, but this was to some extent determined by the subject taught. Physics student‐teachers substantially maintained their similarity to experienced teachers, whilst chemistry and biology students drifted away. The nature of these drifts is discussed.     

Bullying: teachers’ views and school effects

Fifty‐one teachers completed a questionnaire and 20 teachers were interviewed about bullying. The teachers taught at two Outer London schools with high proportions of ethnic minority pupils where pupils had previously reported significantly different incidences of bullying. Analyses of the teachers’ responses indicated that at the school where pupils had reported a higher incidence of bullying, teachers were significantly more likely to perceive behaviour as bullying, observe bullying and have pupils report bullying to them. The majority of teachers interviewed endorsed gender differences in type of bullying. Only a minority of teachers believed that there were clear‐cut bully typologies but most believed that there were typical victim personalities. These results are discussed within a phenomenological approach to bullying.     

The relationship between teacher’s autonomy support and students’ autonomy and vitality

Abstract

Within education, some teachers’ interpretation of professionalism emphasizes conformity to the perceived norms of collective associations. Unprofessional behaviour, often equated with ‘unethical’ behaviour, is seen by many to be that which threatens solidarity and loyalty to colleagues. Informal norms typified by casual collegial relations as well as more formal attachments to organized unions or teachers’ federations exert a significant influence on individuals’ behaviour within the group. Professional ethics, in this sense, become concerned primarily with how one relates to colleagues rather than how one fulfils moral responsibilities to students. Qualitative findings from interviews with elementary and secondary school teachers suggest that, as a result of an ethic of collegial loyalty, some teachers experience personal moral and ethical dilemmas that they find difficult to resolve. Some respondents acknowledged that this can enable serious situations to be ignored or ‘covered up’. This paper examines some of the tensions and dilemmas experienced by teachers and raises questions about the ethical adequacy of defining professionalism in terms of inter‐colleague behaviour.     

The road taken: professional pathways in innovative curriculum development

This article describes the phases that teachers went through in their engagement with innovative teaching strategies as part of a school‐based research consortium linked to a university department of education in England. The teachers recorded their experiences and responses in diaries which gave access to their dominant feelings and concerns during the innovation. The diaries were analysed to investigate changes in the entries over time. The six phases were: initiation, novice, concerns, consolidation, expansion and commitment. The analysis also indicates the changing nature of professional support that was important during each of these phases. The conditions that characterized the ‘working space’ created by the teachers are discussed and particular emphasis is given to the fact that they collaborated with each other and with outside agents. Evidence from later interviews is used to suggest that these conditions have had a lasting impact on the schools. Further these conditions are related to the concept of social capital and the school research coordinator exploiting a ‘hole’ in the organization. It is argued that social capital among teachers and school leaders is critical to large‐scale change.     

Teacher Verbal Feedback Directed Towards Secondary Pupils with Challenging Behaviour and its Relationship to their Behaviour

There is a body of evidence that has linked teachers’ verbal feedback to pupils with pupil behaviour. In this study teacher verbal behaviour that was directed towards those pupils that the teachers had nominated as being especially difficult to teach was examined. A series of lessons was observed in a secondary school. The quality and quantity of teacher verbal feedback directed to the class as a whole and to the designated pupils was recorded, as was the on‐task behaviour of the pupils. It was found that the designated pupils were less on‐task than their peers and were more likely to ‘shout‐out’ in lessons. However, they were found to behave appropriately in well run lessons, where on‐task rates were high for all pupils. Teachers tended to give more attention to the designated pupils in the form of positive feedback directed towards their work, but also negative attention directed towards their behaviour. A positive relationship was found between teachers’ use of positive feedback and on‐task rates of the designated pupils. The results are discussed both in terms of the strategies used by teachers but also the effect that labelling of the pupils might have on the behaviour of the teachers and the pupils themselves.     

Supervisors’ Inner World: professional perspectives

The study presents an attempt at revealing some professional perspectives of student‐teachers’ supervisors. The discussions of 12 supervisors in a teachers’ college were protocolled and content‐analysed. Content‐analysis yielded several guiding perspectives: professionalism, values, structure and organisation, integration. In addition, some personal distinct profiles emerged differentiating between emotional and rational orientations. Findings shed some light on the inner world of student‐teachers’ supervisors and these may contribute to better understanding of their supervisory behaviour and guide their professional development.     

EUROPEAN DISSERTATION SUMMARIES

To alleviate teachers’ reluctance toward practical work, there has been much discussion on teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge, teaching materials, and failsafe strategies for practical work. Despite these efforts, practical work is still regarded as a challenging task for many elementary science teachers. To understand the complexity of teachers’ conflicts in practical work, this study examines teachers’ ideas about teaching and learning that influence teachers’ decision‐making and action on teaching practical work. More important than knowing technical–rational aspects of practical work is to understand the internal contradictions that teachers have to resolve within themselves regarding their capabilities and beliefs about science teaching and practical work. Using stories and experiences of 38 third‐year university students in a science method course in Korea, we seek to understand the conflicts and negotiations that they experience as they make decisions regarding practical work throughout their course. Reflective writings and group discussions on their lived experiences and concerns were used to probe participants’ ideas on teaching using practical work. From written and verbal data, themes were saturated in terms of the aspects which could (dis)encourage their practice. Results suggest that there are multifactorial challenges in pre‐service teachers’ understandings and concerns in practical work. Besides time, materials, and curriculum, pedagogical assumptions and values also compositely challenge the minds of teachers. As the pre‐service elementary teachers negotiated within themselves the importance of science in classroom and social levels, the question is raised about their identities as pre‐service elementary teachers to appreciate the balance between science teaching and practical work.     

Primary School Teachers’ Perception of Pupils’ Undesirable Behaviours

Summary This paper reports on a questionnaire survey of teachers’ attitudes towards 16 selected undesirable behaviours carried out in all of the 79 state primary schools in Malta and Gozo. The responses of the 844 participants showed that stealing, cruelty/bullying and rudeness/impertinence are perceived as the three most serious behaviours in pupils. Significant boy/girl differences in the seriousness of behaviour were observed in 14 of the behaviours as rated by the total teacher sample, in 9 of the behaviours as rated by male teachers, and in 14 of the behaviours as rated by female teachers. The greatest boy/girl differences in the ratings of the behaviours was that for untidy in personal appearance as perceived by male teachers. Teacher‐sex was also found to be a significant moderator of the teachers’ attitude towards seven of the behaviours.     

Academic optimism: an individual teacher belief

In this study, academic optimism as an individual teacher belief was investigated. Teachers’ self‐efficacy beliefs were measured using the short form of the Teacher Sense of Efficacy Scale. One subtest from the Omnibus T‐Scale, the faculty trust in clients subtest, was used to measure teachers’ trust in students and parents. One subtest from the Organizational Climate Index was used to measure academic emphasis. Pupil Control Ideology was used to measure teachers’ beliefs about classroom management. Constructivist teaching subscale of the Teacher’s Belief Survey was used to measure teachers’ instructional beliefs and practices. Organizational Citizenship Behaviour Scale was used to measure teachers’ citizenship behaviour. Life Orientation Test was used to measure dispositional optimism. The findings indicated that teachers differed in the extent of their academic optimism. The findings also indicated that teacher’s sense of academic optimism is positively and significantly related to student‐centred teaching, citizenship behaviour and dispositional optimism. The findings further indicated that student‐centred teaching beliefs, dispositional optimism and citizenship behaviour emerged as significant predictors of individual teacher’s academic optimism. Lastly, the findings revealed that teaching phase is the only teachers’ biographical variable that is a significant predictor of academic optimism.     

Reducing disruptive behaviours and improving classroom behavioural climate with class‐wide positive behaviour support in middle schools

Disruptive behaviour in classrooms is a significant challenge for learning in schools and a risk factor for students’ academic achievement and a significant source of teachers’ work‐related stress. Earlier research shows that clear behavioural expectations, monitoring students’ adherence to them and behaviour‐specific praise are effective practices to reduce disruptive behaviour. Although behaviour problems are common in middle schools, most of the interventions have been developed and studied in elementary schools. This randomised study evaluated the effects of a class‐wide intervention on classroom behavioural climate and disruptive behaviour, on teacher‐experienced stress and on the time needed for behaviour management in middle school. The classes were selected for intervention by their teachers on the basis of poor behavioural climate. The intervention was based on teachers’ cooperation; they collectively agreed on clear behavioural expectations, used positive feedback and, if needed, applied consequences in response to high rates of disruptive behaviour. The results indicated medium to large effects on classroom behavioural climate according to teachers’ evaluations, and somewhat more inconsistent effects on classroom behavioural climate according to student evaluations and in the time needed for behaviour management. The behavioural climate of the classes remained at a constant level during the follow‐up. The intervention was well accepted by teachers and students. The results suggest that an easily applicable intervention may produce significant improvements in classroom behavioural climate in middle schools.     

Classroom Behaviours which First and Middle School Teachers in St Helena Find Troublesome

This paper discusses the findings of an enquiry into teachers’ perceptions of troublesome behaviour. A questionnaire was distributed to 54 first and middle school teachers on the island of St Helena, in the South Atlantic. The enquiry forms one part of a broader study which is monitoring the effects of the introduction of broadcast television upon preschool and school‐aged children's social and academic behaviour and leisure habits, in St Helena. A total of 50 teachers returned completed questionnaires, resulting in a return rate of 93%. Only 28% of teachers considered that they were spending more time than they ought on problems of order and control. Out of the total sample, 42% of teachers considered ‘talking out of turn’ to be the most disruptive behaviour. ‘Facing away from work’ was the next most disruptive behaviour (identified by 25% of teachers). ‘Talking out of turn’ and facing away from work’ were also identified as the most commonly occurring behaviours (by 43% and 16% of respondents, respectively). ‘Talking out of turn’ was also identified as the most disruptive and most frequently occurring behaviour of particularly troublesome children. The survey also examined the perceived frequency of occurrence of particular behaviours ‘around the school’, the most commonly occurring of which was ‘unruliness whilst waiting’. The paper concludes with discussion of the kinds of proactive and reactive responses which teachers can make to the above mentioned misbehaviours.     

Why do long‐serving teachers stay in the teaching profession? Analysing the motivations of teachers with 10 or more years’ experience in England

This paper examines the reasons why long‐serving teachers remain in the teaching profession. Interest in teacher retention has grown in recent years, both in the UK and internationally, due to concerns over teacher shortage. However, most research on retention has focused on why teachers leave; this paper aims to fill the gap in our understanding of the positive reasons why long‐serving teachers stay in the profession, and how these reasons change over time. We define ‘long‐serving teachers’ as teachers who have taught for 10 years and more. We draw on a subset of data from an existing, broader study (Menzies et al., 2015 ) on why teachers enter and stay in the profession. In this paper, we draw on questionnaire findings from over 900 teachers with 0 to over 30 years’ teaching experience, and interviews with 14 long‐serving teachers, to understand why long‐serving teachers enter and, more importantly for our purposes, stay in teaching. We find that teachers’ motivational patterns are highly complex and influenced by school‐level and policy contexts. Nonetheless, two prominent retention factors are identified: teachers’ perceived professional mastery and altruistic reasons. Perceived professional mastery is particularly important due to its mutually reinforcing analytic relationships with other reasons. We find that teachers’ identification with intrinsic, altruistic and perceived professional mastery reasons become stronger with years of experience, but in some cases, paradoxically, so does their identification with extrinsic reasons. From our evidence, we suggest policy implications for enhancing the retention of long‐serving teachers.     

Educating Student Teachers to Use Small Groups in Secondary‐school Music Classrooms

The use of small groups in teaching classroom music is often accepted in the literature and by expert teachers as a natural part of a music‐education programme. However, research indicates that the classroom teacher commonly does not make use of small‐group activities and that, when small groups are used, the results are not always positive. This article describes a teacher‐education course aimed at developing student teachers’ abilities to manage small groups in the secondary‐school music classroom, and reports the perceptions of both student teachers and teacher‐observers when the students applied their learnings in the practicum setting.