Including SENCOs in behaviour improvement: an exploration of the Behaviour and Attendance strands of the National Strategies

In this article Simon Ellis and Janet Tod review the KS3 National Strategy Behaviour and Attendance strand (DfES, 2003a; 2004a) and the Behaviour and Attendance pilot materials from the Primary National Strategy (DfES, 2003b; 2003c; 2003d). Relevant policy documentation is examined in order to explore how the role of the special educational needs coordinator (SENCO) can be interpreted in relation to these strategies. Issues for debate and the implications for emergent practice are highlighted by the authors.     

Assessing the suitability of individual whiteboards for left-handed writers within the Early Years Foundation Stage

In 1998, when Teachers—meeting the challenge of change was published by the English Department for Education and Skills (DfES), one of the most fundamental reforms of the teaching profession was initiated—performance management. In 2005, all schools became subject to ‘Light Touch Validation’ of their performance management policy and procedures. At this significant time, this investigation seeks to explore the views and experiences of teachers in the first-named author's own school, which is a small special school. The author critically investigates the premise of performance management as promoted by the DfES and notes that the emerging literature on the topic focuses strongly on ‘mainstream’ schools where many of the research investigations have proved to be sceptical about the initiative. In contrast, through a survey and documentary analysis the author investigates the views and experiences of teachers in her own school and discovers a largely positive view and experience of performance management.     

Staff Appraisal in the Education Service

Since September 1999, all Newly Qualified Teachers (NQTs) in England who wish to teach in the maintained sector have to complete an induction period. In the light of the introduction of this statutory policy, this article critically examines the key role of the school-based induction tutor in managing the process. It draws upon an analysis of the government's induction circulars (DfEE 1999, 2000; DfES 2001) and uses empirical data from a large, national DfES-funded project which evaluated the implementation of the policy. It is argued that, for the majority of schools the work of the induction tutor within the whole school context, including management by the headteacher, is the major factor in the success of the policy. Further, it is argued that there remain some tensions in the policy between the professional development and the assessment agenda.     

Teacher evaluation,curricular autonomy and professional development: trends and tensions in the Portuguese educational policy

A programme of City Academies was announced by the Secretary of State for Education for England in 2000. These schools would be independent of local government control, have voluntary and private sector sponsors, and would break the cycle of failing inner‐city schools. The first three Academies opened in 2002, and this paper considers how they have fared so far in terms of changes to their student intake and improvements in examination outcomes. Using figures from 1997 to 2003–2004 from the annual school census and from the DfES Standards site, the paper shows that there is no evidence that these schools are, in general, performing any better for equivalent students than the schools they replaced. Although the programme is at a very early stage, this finding is important because it contradicts the claims of the DfES and of the Academies themselves and the determination of the government (at time of writing) to expand the programme to 200 schools.     

The effects of reform: Have teachers really lost their sense of professionalism?

In this article, we reflect upon what research and other evidence tells us about the effects of many years of sustained, centrally initiated government reforms upon teachers’ work, lives and effectiveness. It is important to note that whilst the general intentions of school reform are almost always to improve standards of teaching, learning and achievement in increasingly unstable and turbulent economic and socially fragmented environments, their singular and cumulative effects are not always perceived to be efficacious or beneficial by those whose responsibility it is to enact them. In other words, reform may not always lead to renewal. As we approach the end of the first decade of this century, then, it is important to take stock of what, in some countries, have been 20 years of root and branch reform in schools, in pre-service teacher training (aka education) and in teachers’ conditions of work. Whilst the specifics of reform efforts differ in pace and in the ways they are managed in different countries, the general direction is the same.     

High School Teachers' Use of Data to Inform Instruction

The expectation that teachers will use student achievement data to improve their instruction is a major feature of national and local reform agendas. The theory of action behind data-driven decision making is a mostly causal model of professional action, whereby teachers diagnose weaknesses and implement solutions. The purpose of this article is to examine how high school teachers, situated within their policy and work contexts, use data to inform instructional decisions. Using a framework that draws upon sense-making and co-construction theories on reform implementation, we analyze qualitative data gathered in 4 urban public high schools in the United States. Findings reveal that the process of data use by teachers is complex, multilayered, and influenced by teacher interpretations and social interactions. Teachers used a variety of forms of data to inform their decision making and struggled to reconcile policies promoting data-driven decision making with local beliefs and practices. Implications for research and policy are discussed.     

Chasing improved pupil performance: The impact of policy change on school educators’ perceptions of their professional identity,the case of further change in English schools

Changes in education systems across Europe are a response to perceived needs to improve academic performance. The recent workforce remodelling agenda in England (2003–2005) reflected a growing concern that centralisation and the associated deskilling of teachers had gone too far. The resultant restructuring of the work of teachers, giving roles previously performed by teachers to staff without teaching qualifications, needs to be considered from the perspective of those involved. What is clear from comparative studies is that experiences of the implementation of such policies are influenced by local factors. The study reported here focuses on the effect of a significant policy change on teachers in two English local authorities through a mixture of 557 questionnaires and 86 semi‐structured interviews collected from five secondary and nine primary schools. The data focus on the changing roles of teachers and teaching assistants and the lessons to be learned for system changes beyond remodelling.     

What about research and evidence? Teachers’ perceptions and uses of education research to inform STEM teaching

Abstract

The use of research evidence to inform practice has become an expectation of those working in many professions. There is a dearth of research on teacher use of scholarship to inform their practice. While there is an abundance of research that can be used to inform teacher practice, there are unknowns about how much teachers seek, access, read, apply and share evidence from research to inform their teaching. We address this gap in the literature by surveying inservice teachers about their perceptions and practices for using education research. In our analysis of the data collected from 452 teachers, we found teachers are interested in research and perceive value in research to inform their work. However, we also found that teachers struggle to identify sources of quality research and how to translate research to inform their teaching. Our findings have implications for school administrators seeking to promote teacher engagement in evidence-based practice and educational researchers hoping to have their research translated into K-12 teacher practice.     

Performers and postulates: the role of evolving socio-historical contexts in shaping new teacher professional identities

In this article we investigate the generative causes of variation in the professional identity of new teachers. Building on previous work that has shown a link between professional identity and socio-political context, we argue that the context experienced in late adolescence and early adulthood is particularly significant in shaping how beginning teachers think of themselves as teachers. This finding suggests that the linear response to neoliberal education reform described in much of the critical literature may be too simple to account for the range of ways teachers interact with the system. There is, therefore, a need for greater diversity in research approaches to work with the complexity of social systems in and around schools. To support this call for methodological diversity, we borrow the life story model of identity as a theoretical framework and use a computer-assisted phenomenographic analysis technique to find new ways into the research data.     

Working conditions in urban schools

The recent wave of reform reports in education promulgated a wide variety of recommendations to address identified concerns. This research explores an issue mostly ignored by the reform reports, the working conditions teachers face. Utilizing ethnographic techniques and multisite analyses of in-depth case studies of six schools in two large urban areas, the authors identify five broad categories of stressors in the work environment, including governance/leadership, budget cuts, security, staff relations, and student issues. In addition, two major themes characterizing working conditions for teachers are specified, the no respect syndrome and barriers to teaching. The need to address these issues before attempting to implement the major reforms in the national reports is highlighted.     

The role and effects of teaching assistants in English primary schools (Years 4 to 6) 2000–2003. Results from the Class Size and Pupil—Adult Ratios (CSPAR) KS2 Project

It is widely assumed that increasing the number of teaching assistants (TAs) in the classroom will be beneficial to children, and this is one important aim of the recently implemented Workforce Agreement. But there are still significant gaps in knowledge about many aspects of their deployment and impact. The Class Size and Pupil—Adult Ratios (CSPAR) KS2 study built on earlier findings when the pupils were in reception and Key Stage (KS) 1, and investigated: (1) the deployment of TAs in classrooms and how key parties involved perceived this; and (2) the effect of TAs on interactions involving pupils and teachers in the same classrooms, and on pupil attainments. The study had a longitudinal, mixed method and multi‐informant design. Methods of data collection included: (for the whole sample) questionnaires completed by TAs, teachers and head teachers, assessments of pupil attainments in mathematics, English and science, data on pupil background, and (for a sub‐sample) case studies and a systematic observation study. This study found that the TA's role in KS2 is predominantly a direct one, in the sense of face‐to‐face interactions supporting certain pupils. There was no evidence that the presence of TAs, or any characteristic of TAs, had a measurable effect on pupil attainment. However, results were clear in showing that TAs had an indirect effect on teaching, e.g. pupils had a more active form of interaction with the teacher and there was more individualised teacher attention. This supported teachers' views that TAs are effective in supporting them in this way. The authors conclude that more attention needs to be paid to what they call the pedagogical role of TAs so that they can be used effectively to help teachers and pupils, particularly in the context of the enhanced roles for TAs being introduced as part of the Government's remodelling agenda.     

对高师函授学员学习状况的调查与思考

对196名中小学教师的函授学习状况进行了调查,结果表明,有83.2%的人认为函授教育"促进"了自己的教育工作,77%的人认为函授教育"促进"了自己的班主任工作,60%的人喜欢面授教学这种继续教育的方式,有49%的人在面授时"因获得知识而愉快",等等.但与此同时,函授教育中也存在着亟待解决的问题.例如,有66.3%的人是为了拿文凭而参加函授学习,有54.1%的人认为函授学习的内容陈旧,有46.9%的人对教师的函授教学持"不满意"的态度,有51%的人在面授期间感到"烦躁不安".通过本研究,希望为高师函授教育改革、提高函授教育质量提供心理学的依据和参考.     

Tipping point for teachers? Changing working conditions and continuing learning in a ‘knowledge economy’

The basic argument of this paper is that, in the wake of austerity measures against public education accumulating since the early 1980s, professional teachers at all levels may have been losing control of their jobs and faced decreasing opportunities for continuing their own learning. Empirical evidence is drawn mainly from a unique time series of Canadian national surveys which provide data on the working conditions and continuing learning practices of both teachers and the entire labour force in Canada between 1982 and 2016. The main findings are that there have been major reductions in teachers’ participation in organisational decision-making, sharply declining recent incidence of participation in both continuing further education and job-related informal learning, as well as a strong association between decreasing job control and declining continuing learning trends. The major implication is that teachers’ work and learning may be reaching a tipping point after which established forms of effective teaching may no longer be sustainable. Further studies to confirm these findings and assess their potentially very serious implications are urgently needed.     

Opportunities and Challenges in Collaborative Reform Practice: School–Community Partnerships through Art in Korean Schools

The Korean government’s policy toward art in schools and educational autonomy has recently undergone major directional changes, with the Ministry of Education (MOE) encouraging individual schools to find their own ways to become more self‐regenerating, especially by developing community partnerships through art. This recently published policy direction has the potential to challenge traditional school practice as it demands an initiative role of schools and the active involvement of teachers in building partnerships with local communities. Concerned about the impact of the new school art policy on practice, this article attempts to clarify the opportunities and challenges involved in the expected collaborative reform practice by examining the outcomes reported by pilot schools based on their first year of implementing the new school art policy. To this end, this article first identifies the distinctive aspects of the new policy from previous studies on school–community partnerships developed in Korea over the past decade. This is followed by an identification of practical issues and needs by reviewing the outcomes of recent survey results on the perceptions of teachers who participated in conventional school–community partnership programmes. These results will be compared to the problems found in the outcomes reported by pilot schools. Findings will be discussed to assess implications and provide suggestions. This contextual analysis of practitioners’ responses to new art‐based collaborative reform practices developing in Korea may contribute to an expansion of international discussions about educational reform through art.     

Standards-driven reform years 1–10: Moderation an optional extra?

While externally moderated standards-based assessment has been practised in Queensland senior schooling for more than three decades, there has been no such practice in the middle years. With the introduction of standards at state and national levels in these years, teacher judgement as developed in moderation practices is now vital. This paper argues, that in this context of assessment reform, standards intended to inform teacher judgement and to build assessment capacity are necessary but not sufficient for maintaining teacher and public confidence in schooling. Teacher judgement is intrinsic to moderation, and to professional practice, and can no longer remain private. Moderation too is intrinsic to efforts by the profession to realise judgements that are defensible, dependable and open to scrutiny. Moderation can no longer be considered an optional extra and requires system-level support especially if, as intended, the standards are linked to system-wide efforts to improve student learning. In presenting this argument we draw on an Australian Research Council funded study with key industry partners (the Queensland Studies Authority and the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment of the Republic of Ireland). The data analysed included teacher interview data and additional teacher talk during moderation sessions. These were undertaken during the initial phase of policy development. The analysis identified those issues that emerge in moderation meetings that are designed to reach consistent, reliable judgements. Of interest are the different ways in which teachers talked through and interacted with one another to reach agreement about the quality of student work in the application of standards. There is evidence of differences in the way that teachers made compensations and trade-offs in their award of grades, dependent on the subject domain in which they teach. This article concludes with some empirically derived insights into moderation practices aspolicy andsocial events.     

Teacher professionalism in educational reform: the experiences of Hong Kong and Shanghai

Beginning in the 1990s, the education departments of Hong Kong and Shanghai began to actively initiate reform with a focus on the quality of education. In reviewing the implementation of educational reform in these two societies, we found that Hong Kong teachers tended to only adopt those policies which they felt were beneficial for students' learning, whereas Shanghai teachers tended to conform more to the state's requirements. Teachers in Hong Kong strongly expressed their frustration over the intensification of their work, while teachers in Shanghai seldom expressed disagreement over the state initiatives. Concerning the meaning of teacher professionalism, teachers in Hong Kong were more able than their counterparts in Shanghai to develop their own interpretations. However, at the same time, teachers' work in Hong Kong was still being monitored by the emerging schooling market, while the work of Shanghai teachers was monitored by the state. Teachers' work in both societies can be interpreted as ‘confined professionalism’. In addition, in both of the two societies teachers' awareness of their professionalism was comparatively weak. Further empowerment in this area is needed.     

教师生命价值及其实现

社会转型下的中国基础教育变革是当前人们关注的焦点。近30年来的教育改革历程证明:没有教师的转变就没有学校的转变;没有教师的发展就没有学校的发展;没有教师生命价值的实现就没有学校甚至教育的理想、价值的实现,教师生命价值的实现是学校变革的内生机制。研究教师生命价值的本质内涵、取向偏差及保证体系是基础教育改革研究的新视点。     

教师定期交流的政策困境与对策--基于政策工具的视角

尽管教师定期交流已上升为国家政策,但在各地执行过程中,存在明显的象征性执行、替代性执行等政策缩水现象。在政策工具理论视域下,教师交流政策工具的选择和优化方面尚有较大提升空间。因此,应重新确立政策工具的价值取向,兼顾国家战略、学校利益和教师诉求的平衡;加强对政策工具执行效率的评估,完善教师交流相关制度;加强教师交流政策与其它政策的融合,推动配套制度改革,以逐步实现全员流动,促进师资均衡配置。     

The effectiveness and retention of teachers with prior career experience

As schools and districts seek to recruit teachers, individuals in non-teaching professions are an appealing possible pool. These potential teachers come with work experience and may have expertise that would serve them well in the classroom. While there has been substantial rhetoric assailing the virtues of teachers with prior professional experience, no research that we know of has assessed the effectiveness of these teachers in terms of student learning. This study uses data from New York City to assess the relative effectiveness and retention of career-switchers. It provides some evidence that these teachers are no more effective than other new teachers, and, in fact, they appear to be less effective at raising math scores of elementary and middle school students. There is little difference in overall transfer or leave rates between teachers with prior experience and other teachers, although career-switchers from college recommended programs do appear more likely to transfer schools.     

Teachers' and students' views and attitudes towards a new mathematics curriculum: A case study

The education system in Portugal is in the midst of a period of intensive reform. This paper describes the findings of a qualitative case study focusing on the views and attitudes of teachers and students participating in a pilot curriculum development programme stressing active methodologies and group work, conducted by the Ministry of Education. In particular it discusses their views and attitudes about mathematics, mathematics teaching and curriculum innovation. The teachers were found to struggle with a contradiction: whilst they approved the new orientations, which were seen as adequate and innovative, they complained strongly about the design and implementation of the programme — Students had a generally positive attitude towards mathematics, although there were differences among them. The 7th graders were satisfied with their mathematics classes and with the new curriculum. The 10th graders did not consider the changes as significant in themselves, but expressed concern for their academic progress.