Peer and teacher supports in relation to motivation and effort: A multi-level study

This study examined adolescents’ perceptions of peer and teacher supports in relation to internalized values, academic self-efficacy, efforts to learn, and goal orientations at the individual and classroom level in a sample of middle school (n = 169) and high school (n = 71) students from 6 schools (15 classrooms). Novel approaches to assessing classroom-level effects included use of coefficient of variation scores to capture consensus among student reports and use of cluster-robust standard errors to account for clustering. At the individual level, significance tests for indirect pathways and formal mediation indicated that relations between perceived peer expectations for prosocial behavior and effort and mastery orientation were mediated by internalized value; and, the relation between perceived emotional support from peers and effort was mediated by self-efficacy. At the classroom level, teachers who were perceived similarly by students with respect to provisions of emotional support also tended to have students who reported high levels of internalized value, and a high degree of student consensus concerning their teacher’s value for subject matter was related positively to their internalized value and effort. Consensus of student reports concerning internalized value was a negative predictor of performance orientation.     

Measuring characteristics of teacher professional development

The primary purpose of the study was to create and psychometrically test an instrument which measured teachers’ perceptions of characteristics of professional development. The sample consisted of elementary teachers from five school districts in Washington State participating in a district improvement initiative. Results of exploratory factor analysis resulted in a five-component solution which provided evidence of construct validity. All components/subscales had moderate to strong internal consistency as measured by Cronbach’s alpha. The secondary purpose was to determine if characteristics of professional development predicted teachers’ use of new knowledge and skills, and student learning outcomes, thus contributing to the predictive validity of the instrument. There was a slight, but significant, correlation between Active Learning in Classroom and teachers’ use of new knowledge and skills, as measured by classroom observation scores. A small negative correlation emerged between Collective Participation and student learning, as measured by student scores on the state’s mathematics assessment. Potential uses of the instrument, called Characteristics of Teacher Professional Development (CTPD), are discussed.     

Factors affecting writing achievement: mapping teacher beliefs

The intersection of teacher beliefs with writing achievement in schooling is a key concern of this paper. The paper reports part of a two‐year Australian study that set out to examine in detail how it is that teachers judge Year 5 students' literacy achievement using writing as the case instance. In what follows, we examine the data in the form of concept maps that the teachers them selves made available showing their beliefs about, and insights into the factors that affect student writing achievement. Drawing on these maps, we highlight the range of teacher‐identified factors, including those relating to in‐class behaviour, motivation, attitudes to school learning, social and cultural backgrounds, oracy and even life circumstances. Additionally, we address how the identified factors function, operating either as standalone elements or within a dynamic network of inter‐relationships.     

Measuring teacher efficacy to implement inclusive practices

The purpose of this study was to develop an instrument to measure perceived teacher efficacy to teach in inclusive classrooms. An 18‐item scale was developed on a sample of 607 pre‐service teachers selected from four countries (Canada, Australia, Hong Kong and India). Factor analysis of responses from the sample revealed three factors: efficacy in using inclusive instruction, efficacy in collaboration and efficacy in dealing with disruptive behaviours. The alpha coefficient for the total scale was 0.89. Alpha coefficients for the three factors ranged from 0.85 to 0.93. Reliability analysis for the total scale as well as factors for each country suggested that the scale provides a reliable measure of pre‐service teacher perceptions of self‐efficacy for inclusion across different countries.     

Effort is virtuous: teacher preferences of pupil effort,ability and grading in physical education

Based on contemporary psychological approaches to attribution and emotions, this paper reports on three groups of pre‐ and inservice teachers and their preferences for different grading criteria for pupils based on the amount of effort and ability displayed in physical education. Consistent with our hypothesis derived from social psychological theories of social emotion, we found a clear preference for working with pupils who show effort. Two primary education student samples preferred students to achieve success in PE through effort rather than ability, whereas a sample of secondary PE teachers had a slight preference for high effort and high ability. This confirms other attributional research where ‘effort is virtuous’. As far as grading procedures were concerned, all three groups preferred to use pupil progress and effort the most. Scores on physical fitness tests and the performance of pupils relative to others were the least preferred options. Effort‐based grading procedures were correlated with a preference for pupils who showed high effort. All groups showed a preference to work with pupils who try hard and to grade them on this, as well as personal progress. There was little desire to assess pupils normatively.     

Measuring preservice teacher self-efficacy in music and visual arts: Validation of an amended science teacher efficacy belief instrument

The Science Teacher Efficacy Belief Instrument has been a widely reported measure of teachers' personal efficacy and outcome efficacy beliefs. This pilot study examined if the instrument could be amended for use in The Arts learning area. A small cohort of 110 Graduate Diploma of Education preservice teachers participated in the pilot. Factor structures were examined through confirmatory factor analyses. The model displaying best fit consisted of six items measuring outcome expectancy and 10 items related to teaching efficacy. Measuring self-efficacy is important as many teachers who teach the Arts in Australia and internationally are not subject specialist teachers.     

Measuring child–staff ratios in child care centers: Balancing effort and representativeness

Child–staff ratios are an important quality indicator. They are often collected by observing one randomly selected classroom several times during a 2-h period on a single day. However, it is unclear whether these measures represent the ratios that children actually experience during most of their time in care. This study compared ratio data collected from a single classroom during a 2-h period on a single day with data collected from multiple classrooms in the same center during 8-h periods over 10 days. Analysis of data from 77 child care centers found moderate correlations between the two measurement methods. Ratios measured during a 2-h period from a single classroom on a single day tended to underpredict ratios measured from multiple classrooms and multiple days. Results suggest that the representativeness of ratio measurements can be improved by lengthening the observation period and especially by measuring ratios in multiple classrooms.     

Measuring teacher motivation: The missing link between professional development and practice

This study explores an important but less explored outcome of professional development, teachers’ motivation to integrate professional development into practice. We developed a scale that measures teachers’ motivation to implement professional development in their classrooms. Three samples of teachers (N = 1388) were used in an iterative process of scale development and validation. Results suggest this scale is a reliable tool to measure teachers’ expectations for successful implementation, value for implementing, and the perceived costs of implementing.     

Measuring Chinese teacher professional competence: adapting and validating a German framework in China

ABSTRACT

The study presented in the paper has the following goals. The first is to review and compare teacher competence frameworks developed in Eastern (Chinese) and Western (German) contexts, exemplified for the domain of mathematics. Major similarities of the two contexts could be reconstructed in the conceptualization of teacher competence as a multidimensional construct comprising knowledge, teaching-related skills and beliefs. Distinct differences could be identified as well, with the Chinese frameworks including a wider range of teacher-competence facets and emphasizing more teaching-related competencies than the Western (German) frameworks. The second purpose is to adapt and validate a German framework of the measurement of mathematics teacher competence in a Chinese context. This adaptation and validation uses exemplarily mathematics teacher, in detail follow-up-studies of the international Teacher Education and Development Study: Learning to Teach Mathematics (TEDS-M). With the integration of a qualitative approach (e.g. elemental validity) and a quantitative approach (e.g. construct validity) to validate the framework, the results of both approaches suggest a satisfactory validity for the adaptation. Overall, the results point out that the examined teacher competence framework and its instruments can be used for comparative analyses in Germany and China.     

The expectations of parent members of school governing bodies regarding teacher workload in South African schools

Abstract

The South African Schools Act, No. 84 of 1996 (SASA), provides parents with opportunities to serve on the governing bodies of public schools. In this context, members of school governing bodies may hold unique sets of expectations, which may influence the type of education to which a school community aspires. This article reports on an investigation into middle-class, public primary school governing body expectations of teacher workloads from a South African labour law perspective (Minnaar, 2008). The expectations of parent members of school governing bodies were examined to determine whether they were aligned with or diverged from the law. The findings provided evidence that although governing body expectations of teachers were aligned with prevailing education labour law, the open-ended nature of such law, together with omissions and silences, allows legal space for individual and contextual interpretation and implementation and may consequently intensify the workloads of teachers.     

Factors affecting the impact of teacher education programmes on teacher preparedness: implications for accreditation policy1

The purpose of this study was to provide guidance to policy‐makers about the standards that might be appropriate for accrediting teacher education programmes. The study was commissioned by the Victorian Institute of Teaching (VIT), a statutory body established in 2001 by the Victorian state government with responsibility for the registration (licensing) of teachers and the accreditation of teacher education programmes.

The study investigated the characteristics of effective initial teacher education programmes, as reported by teachers who have just finished their first year of teaching. A survey instrument was distributed in 2004 to all registered teachers who had graduated from their teacher education programme in 2002, taught in 2003 and were now one month into their second year of teaching in 2004. In total, 1147 teachers returned completed questionnaires, from all universities in the state.

Teachers who reported that they were well prepared to meet the demands of their first year of teaching were more likely to have completed courses that gave them deep knowledge of the content they were expected to teach, and how students learned that content, as well as skill in: diagnosing students' existing levels of understanding of the content; planning activities that would promote further development of understanding; and assessing the extent to which development had taken place. The paper concludes with implications for accreditation policy.

On constate, à l'échelle internationale, un intérêt accru pour les procédures d'évaluation et d'accréditation des programmes de formation des maîtres. Le but de cette recherche est d'apporter des repères aux personnes chargées de la réglementation concernant les standards qui pourraient servir à l'accréditation de ces programmes de formation. Cette recherche est menée à la demande du Victorian Institute of Teaching (VIT), une organisation chargée de l'accréditation des enseignants et des programmes de formation dans l'état de Victoria (Australie).

Cette recherche porte sur les caractéristiques des programmes de formation initiale efficients, tels que les perçoivent les enseignants qui viennent de terminer leur première année d'enseignement. En 2004, un questionnaire a été distribué à tous les enseignants accrédités, sortis diplômés de leur programme de formation en 2002, ayant enseigné en 2003 et qui en étaient au premier mois de leur deuxième année d'enseignement en 2004. En tout, 1147 enseignants diplômés de toutes les universités de l'état ont répondu au questionnaire.

L'analyse des réponses révèle des variations significatives concernant l'efficience des programmes. Les programmes efficients sont ceux qui donnent aux nouveaux enseignants une connaissance approfondie de ce qu'ils sont censés faire pour aider les élèves à apprendre ainsi que de la manière dont les élèves apprennent. Ces programmes donnent aux enseignant la capacité d'évaluer chez les élèves le niveau de leur compréhension du contenu enseigné. Ces programmes aident les enseignants à planifier des activités qui encouragent le développement des élèves et à mesurer l'amplitude de ce développement.

Les auteurs montrent dans cette présentation comment ces résultats peuvent guider le choix des standards utilisés lors de l'accréditation des programmes de formation des maîtres.

Ziel der Studie ist die Bereitstellung von Handlungsempfehlungen für politische Entscheidungsträger im Hinblick auf Standards, die zur Genehmigung von Lehramtsstudiengängen herangezogen werden können. Die Studie wurde vom Victorian Institut of Teaching (VIT) in Auftrag gegeben, welche im Jahr 2001 als eine Körperschaft des öffentlichen Rechts von der Regierung des Bundesstaats Victoria eingerichtet wurde und verantwortlich für die Zulassung (Lizenzierung) von Lehrern und die Genehmigung von Lehramtsstudiengängen ist.

Die Studie untersuchte die Eigenschaften einer effektiven (Erst‐)Ausbildung, welche von Lehrern berichtet wurden, die gerade ihr erstes Jahr als Lehrer beendet hatten. Für die Erhebung im Jahr 2004 erhielten alle registrierten Lehrer einen Fragebogen, die ihre Ausbildung in 2002 abgeschlossen hatten, in 2003 unterrichtet hatten, und die zu dem Zeitpunkt der Erhebung den ersten Monat im zweiten Jahr als Lehrkraft absolviert hatten. Der Fragebogen wurde von 1147 Lehrern aller Universitäten im Bundesstaat ausgefüllt.

Lehrer, die berichteten, auf die Anforderungen im ersten Jahr als Lehrer gut vorbereitet zu sein, besuchten Kurse und Seminare, die ihnen ein vertieftes Wissen über die zu unterrichtenden Lehrinhalte und darüber, wie Schüler diese Inhalte lernen, vermittelten. Außerdem wurden in diesen Kursen und Seminaren Fähigkeiten erlernt zur Einschätzung von bereits bei Schülern vorhandenem Verständnis der Lehrinhalte, zur Planung von Aktivitäten für die weitere Entwicklung des Verständnisses und zur Bewertung des Ausmaßes dieser Entwicklung. Die Arbeit schließt mit Implikationen für die Zulassung von Lehramtsstudiengängen.

El propósito de este estudio consistió en proporcionar orientación a las instancias políticas acerca de los estándares que podrían ser apropiados para la acreditación de programas de formación de profesores. El estudio fue encargado por el Victorian Institute of Teaching (VIT), una institución creada en 2001 por el gobierno del estado de Victoria con la responsabilidad de llevar a cabo el registro (licencia para enseñar) de los profesores y la acreditación de los programas de formación de profesorado.

En el estudio investigamos las características de los programas eficaces de formación inicial docente, desde el punto de vista de los profesores que habían finalizado su primer año de enseñanza. En el año 2004 se distribuyó un cuestionario a todos los profesores acreditados que habían finalizado su graduación como profesores en el año 2002, y que habían enseñando en 2003 y que se encontraban en ese momento en el primer mes de su segundo año como docentes. El cuestionario lo respondieron 1147 profesores de todas las universidades del estado.

Los profesores que afirmaron estar preparados para dar respuesta a las demandas de su primer año de enseñanza habían realizado cursos que les proporcionaron un conocimiento más elaborado de lo que de ellos se esperaba para que pudieran ayudar a los alumnos a aprender, asimismo conocían cómo aprenden los alumnos, así como poseían habilidades para diagnosticar los niveles previos de comprensión del contenido por parte de los alumnos, planificaban actividades que podrían promover un desarrollo de los alumnos y evaluaban en qué medida ese desarrollo tenía lugar. El artículo concluye con implicaciones para la política de acreditación.     

Learning from video: Factors influencing learners' preconceptions and invested mental effort

Explored in this article are factors that influence learners' preconceptions of television, the mental effort they invest in processing a video-based lesson, and their achievement. It is proposed that learners' preconceptions of the effort required by a medium directly influence the amount of effort they invest in processing a lesson presented through that medium, and that the amount of mental effort learners invest in a mediated lesson influences the quantity and quality of the information they gain from the lesson. Factors that influence learners' preconceptions and mental effort include the characteristics of the media, the characteristics of the task, and the characteristics of the learners. Research findings regarding learners' preconceptions of television and the mental effort expended in processing a video-based lesson are reviewed. Practical implications and issues for future research that arise from the literature are identified.     

Science teacher characteristics by teacher behavior and by student outcome: A meta-analysis of research

A meta-analysis was conducted of studies which addressed characteristics (gender, course-work, IQ, etc.) as the independent factor, and: (1) their teaching behavior in the classroom (questioning behavior, teaching orientation, etc.); and (2) student outcome characteristics (achievement, attitude toward science, etc.) as the two dependent factors. The population under study was science classes, ranging from kindergarten through twelfth grade, located in the United States, and the teachers of these classes. The studies integrated were reported in dissertations, journal articles, and other forms. Relationship data obtained from the studies were converted to Pearson product moment correlations. In general, quite low relationships were found between teacher background characteristics and (1) their touching behavior in the classroom and (2) student outcome characteristics. Summary tables showing the relationships are presented along with discussion of the strongest relationships.     

Learning to teach with the web: Factors influencing teacher education faculty

Professional development at postsecondary institutions has primarily been supported through a central faculty development center. With purposive sampling, this small case study explored the ways in which teacher education faculty members were influenced to participate in decentralized professional development focused on learning to teach with WebCT. Results suggest that university faculty were influenced by both intrinsic factors (including convenience, comfort, common interests, and future purposes) and an extrinsic factor (external pressures). This research suggests that these factors also contributed to the faculty's satisfaction with the professional development. A follow-up interview explored how faculty coped with budgetary limitations and encouragement to pursue other distance education technologies.     

Factors relating to regular education teacher burnout in inclusive education

The aims of the research were to identify the environmental factors that relate to the work of regular school teachers who have students with special needs in their classroom, and to find out the correlation between these factors and teacher burnout. A total 330 primary school teachers filled in a questionnaire that had three parts: (1) personal background data; (2) the Friedman’s burnout questionnaire; and (3) environmental features typical of the work of school teachers that include students with special needs in their classroom, in four areas: psychological features, organizational, structural and social. Results show that the background data that related significantly to burnout was teachers’ attitudes towards inclusion. The more positive the attitude was, the more the teacher experienced burnout in the category of self‐fulfilment. This finding was contrary to the hypothesis of the research. Two other background variables were found to relate to the de‐personalization aspect of burnout, teaching higher‐grade students and having an additional administrative role in school. Two other findings that were found to correlate with higher burnout rates were the number of students with special needs in class (more than 20%) and very little assistance provided to the teacher. Three environmental factors were found to have negative correlation with burnout: the organizational factor, the psychological and the social, with the latter being the most significantly negatively correlated with burnout—i.e. the less social support the teacher experienced, the higher was her level of burnout.     

Measuring teacher beliefs about curriculum orientations using the modified-curriculum orientations inventory

Although curriculum orientations are widely discussed in educational literature, the extent to which teachers and other educational specialists in the United States hold these curriculum orientations is neither well documented nor well known. The relationships between a teacher's beliefs and the five dominant curriculum orientations (Academic Rationalism, Behavioural, Humanistic, Social Reconstruction and Cognitive Process) are unclear. Therefore, it is difficult to discuss the nature of how these curriculum orientations influence teacher choices and their execution and implementation of educational policy. This study replicated the 2002 research of Cheung and Wong in Hong Kong. A sample of 308 teachers in the United States participated. Findings indicate that the reliability and validity of the data were weak to moderate, and gender, level, subject speciality and experience influence a teacher's value of the particular curriculum orientations. The research also indicates that the construct of complementary pluralism (a strong positive relationship between the orientations of an individual teacher) does not exist with the same level of intensity for teachers in the United States. Rather, the theoretical opposition of the curriculum orientations is a practical opposition.     

From assistant teacher to teacher: challenges and pathways in situated pre-service teacher education

Vocational pathways to Higher Education have a key role in opening teacher education to under-represented groups but bring with them particular challenges. Teacher educators need to address the challenges faced by these learners, of not only connecting their learning but also challenging their knowledge, and doing so in an invested work environment. This paper shares my experiences as a teacher educator working with two groups of Indigenous and non-Indigenous para-professional pre-service teachers in remote and urban Central Australia. I identify four key role-shifting challenges individuals face in developing their professional practice and locate them in two interdependent areas: social sphere challenges arising out of the situated learning setting of professional experience, and those occurring in the personal sphere of professional identity. I suggest that the new ways of mentoring and the development of student’s reflexive capacity needed to address these challenges can best be mobilised by re-positioning the role of professional identity at the centre of both professional experience and academic learning.