Chinese TEFL teachers’ perceptions about research and influences on their research endeavours

English has always occupied a key position in China’s education. The quality of English education depends largely on the quality of the English teaching force. Improving the overall quality of Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) teachers entails advancing both their teaching and research competence. This study, with its focus on Chinese TEFL teachers working in a higher education institution, was set up in a context where Chinese higher education colleges are being transformed into universities and research is becoming a crucial aspect of all teachers’ work. This small-scale case study investigated a group of Chinese TEFL teachers’ perceptions about research and their individual and workplace characteristics that influenced their research endeavours. The findings revealed that Chinese TEFL teachers recognised the significance of research for teaching, professional growth and career advancement. However, lack of individual characteristics such as research and disciplinary knowledge, confidence in research and intrinsic motivation impeded their research efforts. Their institution and departments seemed to encourage research; yet, more specific financial and academic support to start and sustain their research endeavours is required. This study’s findings provide implications for both individual teachers and their institutions to engage TEFL teachers more actively in research.     

What influences teachers’ commitment to a lifelong professional development programme? Reflections on teachers’ perceptions

This article reflects on the implementation of lifelong professional development for teachers in Taiwan based on our analysis and understanding of the participation of elementary and secondary school teachers in the Teacher Professional Development and Evaluation (TPDE) programme. This qualitative account is established based on 34 in-depth teacher reports, which provided insight into the dynamics of teacher involvement in the programme and aided our investigation of whether this programme supports or inhibits continuous, lifelong professional development. Analysis of the data revealed two main factors influencing teachers’ commitment to the programme: self-direction and resource supportability. Based on the findings, we propose and argue that the teacher lifeworld-based approach, which raises awareness of and considers teachers’ own specific situations and purposes, be used as an alternative or supplement to the knowledge- and practice-based professional development approaches advocated in the literature to ensure the attainment of authentic outcomes. Finally, we identify the implications of this policy for teachers’ lifelong and authentic professional growth by suggesting how these programmes might best be put into practice.     

The influences of school climate and teacher compensation on teachers’ turnover intention in China

This study employed survey research to investigate the differential relationships between dimensions of teachers’ job satisfaction (e.g. salary) and their turnover intention, after controlling for demographic variables (e.g. school location). Five hundred and ten teachers from a northeastern city of China participated. The results of the hierarchical multiple regression analyses indicated that (a) teachers were more likely to stay in teaching profession if they worked in urban schools, always wanted to become a teacher or had a realistic view of teaching before they began their career training and (b) a negative relationship existed between teachers’ compensation and their turnover intention. This study offered some implications for Chinese educational policy-makers and practitioners regarding how to remain qualified teachers.     

Relating early childhood teachers’ working conditions and well-being to their turnover intentions

High turnover rates of early care and education teachers reduce the quality of education; unsatisfied teachers, suffering from stress or emotional exhaustion, are less equipped to promote children’s development and more likely to leave the classroom. We used data from a national survey of US early childhood educators (n?=?1129) to examine associations between teachers’ working conditions, well-being, and motivation with professional commitment and turnover intentions to move, leave, or remain. Multiple regression analyses revealed that more intrinsically motivated teachers were more likely to report intentions to move over leave, emotionally exhausted teachers were more likely to report intentions to leave, and lower teacher-reported working conditions predicted intentions to move or leave the field over staying. The results suggest that teachers’ well-being and perceived working conditions relate with their intentions to remain at their job or within the field and to their commitment to the profession.     

Australian teachers voice their perceptions of the influences of stereotypes,mindsets and school structure on teachers’ expectations of Indigenous students

Research demonstrates that teachers’ expectations of students have long-term effects on students’ educational, occupational, health and well-being outcomes. In this Australian-based study, teachers were invited to explore the questions Do teachers have different expectations of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students? Why/why not? The findings provide insight into how teachers perceive the expectations of other teachers in relation to Indigenous learners and highlight the underlying assumptions of those perceptions. Teachers also provide valuable insight into what they feel is needed to address these issues. Recommendations are made to enhance pre-service teacher education and professional development to better support those working with Indigenous learners.     

Newly qualified teachers’ work engagement and teacher efficacy influences on job satisfaction,burnout, and the intention to quit

Teacher policy is high on national agendas and countries are seeking to improve schools. Demands on schools and teachers are more complex and it is expected that a larger number of teachers will enter the profession. Studies indicate that the period when teachers are newly qualified is a peak time for leaving the profession. The purpose of this study was to investigate work engagement and teacher efficacy and their relationship to job satisfaction, burnout and the intention to quit among newly qualified teachers. 750 questionnaires were distributed to teachers who had less than six years experience as a teacher after they had completed their teacher education from one university in southern Norway. 192 completed surveys were returned, a response rate of 25.6%. In line with the hypothesis, proposed work engagement and teacher efficacy are positively related to job satisfaction but negatively related to job burnout and the intention to quit. Practical implications of these findings are discussed.     

Enhancing teachers’ counselling skills: student teachers’ views on a teachers’ education programme

The purpose of this small‐scale study is to investigate the outcomes of a brief teacher education programme by exploring student teachers’ views. The teacher education programme aimed to provide teachers with the opportunity to develop qualities and skills that facilitate communication and to enhance teachers’ competence to apply social and emotional (SEL) programmes’ intervention activities in the classroom. According to student teachers’ estimations, the teacher education programme provided them with new knowledge and experiences in communication and counselling, which they felt they could use in teaching practice. Besides, teachers reported that the programme enabled them to develop their self‐awareness and to adopt a non‐directive attitude during the implementation of SEL programme’s activities.     

Impact of satisfaction and commitment on teachers’ organizational citizenship

This study examined the impact of job satisfaction and organizational commitment on teachers’ organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) in a structural equation model. The study was employed to a group of teachers and their supervisors. The results indicated that job satisfaction and commitment to the school had an impact on OCBs of the teachers and organizational commitment mediated the relation between job satisfaction and OCB.     

Finnish teachers’ views on co-teaching

Co-teaching has become a well-known way of working among Finnish teachers in recent years. Teachers’ collaboration is becoming increasingly important in light of the rising number of diverse students in regular classes. In an ideal co-teaching context, teachers collaborate as equals, recognise and respect each other’s skills and competencies, and strengthen and support each other. In this study, we examine teachers’ views on co-teaching and investigate which background factors explain teachers’ views concerning the benefits and the challenges of co-teaching. The data obtained from Finnish basic education teachers’ (N = 694) responses to an online questionnaire are analysed quantitatively. The results show some differences among the teachers’ views. Subject teachers perceive more challenges in co-teaching than class and special education teachers. Class teachers perceive the fewest challenges. Although teachers are generally interested in co-teaching and some of them co-teach regularly, they also report several barriers to its application. The explanatory factors concerning the differences in teachers’ views are gender, teachers’ co-teaching experiences, the amount of co-teaching per week and working as a class teacher.     

A tribute to ‘unsung teachers’: teachers’ influences on students enrolling in STEM programs with the intent of entering STEM careers

This narrative inquiry examines teachers’ influences on undergraduate and graduate students who enrolled in STEM programs and intended to enter STEM careers. Three National Science Foundation (NSF) scholarship grants sat in the backdrop. Narrative exemplars were crafted using the interpretative tools of broadening, burrowing, storying and restorying, fictionalisation and serial interpretation. Three diverse students’ narratives constituted the science education cases: one from teacher education, another arising from cyber technology and a third involving cyber security. The influence of the university students’ former teachers cohered around five themes: 1) same program-different narratives, 2) in loco parentis, 3) counter stories, 4) learning in small moments, and 5) the importance of the liberal arts in STEM education. The students’ narratives form instructive models for their siblings and other students pursuing STEM degrees and careers. Most importantly, the multiperspectival stories of experiences capture the far-reaching impact of ‘unsung teachers’ whose long-term influence is greatly underestimated by the public.     

Gender and family influences on Spanish students’ aspirations and values in stem fields

Drawing on expectancy-value theory, this study examines gender and family influences on students’ career aspirations and attached values. 796 secondary Spanish students (M age?=?16 years old, S.D.?=?0.81) participated. 53% were boys. The results show that boys and students with mothers who have completed intermediate level education were more interested in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) architecture and technology. Girls and students with highly educated mothers born in Spain were more likely to aspire to STEM health and experimental studies. Furthermore, boys and students planning to pursue STEM-technology studies attached higher extrinsic values to these studies. On the contrary, girls and participants with interest in experimental and health studies attached less extrinsic values to these studies. Moreover, students with highly educated mothers and interested in STEM architecture and technology reported higher extrinsic values. Understanding the interaction of gender and family factors shaping adolescents’ career aspirations in STEM fields seems to be crucial to designing significant and effective school and family grounded interventions.     

Impact of teachers’ career adaptability and family on professional learning

Teachers’ engagement in professional learning is vital to the profession’s sustainability. Their professional learning is influenced by the demands of balancing work, family, and the strain of balancing the two. This challenge is addressed through the notion resilience, operationalized as career adaptability. In a sample of teachers (N = 193), the present research explored the relations between career adaptability, family-to-work conflict (time-based and strain-based), and engagement in professional learning. Structural equation modelling revealed that time-based conflict mediated the relation between career adaptability and strain-based conflict. Strain-based conflict, in turn, negatively predicted engagement with professional development studies. It is recommended that strategies for teachers’ professional learning are inclusive of contextual factors, such as family-to-work conflict, and focused on enhancing their career adaptability.     

The influence of video clubs on teachers’ thinking and practice

This article examines a model of professional development called “video clubs” in which teachers watch and discuss excerpts of videos from their classrooms. We investigate how participation in a video club influences teachers’ thinking and practice by exploring three related contexts: (a) teachers’ comments during video-club meetings, (b) teachers’ self-reports of the effects of the video club, and (c) teachers’ instruction across the year. Data analysis revealed changes in all three contexts. In the video-club meetings, teachers paid increased attention to student mathematical thinking over the course of the year. In interviews, teachers reported having learned about students’ mathematical thinking, about the importance of attending to student ideas during instruction, and about their school’s mathematics curriculum. Finally, shifts were also uncovered in the teachers’ instruction. By the end of the year, teachers increasingly made space for student thinking to emerge in the classroom, probed students’ underlying understandings, and learned from their students while teaching.     

Karma and human rights: Bhutanese teachers’ perspectives on inclusion and disability

The Sustainable Development Goals call on countries to ensure that all children, especially the most vulnerable, are included in education. The small kingdom of Bhutan has made attempts to embrace inclusion in education at the policy level. However, research on inclusion and disability in this context is limited, and there are few studies focusing on the perspectives of Bhutanese teachers. The study presented here was led by the question ‘how are Inclusion and Disability understood by teachers in Bhutan?’ The research aims were to (a) explore the above concepts from the perspective of participants and (b) construct these concepts in a way that is contextually relevant to Bhutan. Data collection comprised qualitative interviews with 15 Bhutanese teachers. Findings revealed that participants saw disability predominantly from a ‘medical model’ perspective, but at the same time held conflicting views as to what inclusion means. They moreover mentioned lack of teacher training as an obstacle to the implementation of inclusion in Bhutan, and some believed that the country is not yet ready for inclusion. We argue that our findings call for Bhutan to strengthen the preparation of its teachers for inclusive education in order to narrow the current gap between policy and practice.     

Irish student teachers’ levels of moral reasoning: context,comparisons, and contributing influences

The moral role of the teacher has long been recognised and this has implications for the selection and education of student teachers. There is growing recognition of the importance of teachers’ capacity to make sound moral judgements and of the influence of teachers’ levels of moral reasoning on their professional practice. The paper presents the findings of a longitudinal study of 102 undergraduate student teachers who completed the DIT 2 measure of moral reasoning, at the beginning, mid-point and end of their four-year degree programme at an Irish university. While these students’ levels of moral reasoning were found to be higher than those of their international peers, more than half of graduating students were reasoning at the conventional level as defined by Kohlberg. These findings are located in the context of Irish education policy and practice. Some possible explanations for the students’ performance are suggested and discussed including their entry characteristics, the status of the teaching profession in Ireland, the nature of their teacher education programme and participation in the Transition Year option.     

Prospective teachers’ attention on geometrical tasks

This study investigates early childhood prospective teachers’ attention to geometrical tasks while designing and using them in the classroom. This is explored in the context of the teaching practice of 11 prospective teachers who taught geometry in early childhood classrooms during the last semester of their university studies. The teaching practice was organized into four stages: design of a lesson plan; classroom implementation; discussion of the lesson with the school practice instructor; and self-assessment report and revision of the lesson. Analysis of data using the Teaching Triad framework (Jaworski, 1994) shows that although the prospective teachers attended to issues of mathematical challenge, sensitivity to students, and management of learning in their planning, in their actual teaching and after class reflection, their attention was focused mainly on management issues. The findings also show that prospective teachers’ attention on geometrical tasks can be developed through a process of reflection on their teaching.     

Reconsidering research on teachers’ professional identity

The studies considered in this review of recent research on teachers’ professional identity can be divided into three categories: (1) studies in which the focus was on teachers’ professional identity formation, (2) studies in which the focus was on the identification of characteristics of teachers’ professional identity, and (3) studies in which professional identity was (re)presented by teachers’ stories. In the studies reviewed, the concept of professional identity was defined differently or not defined at all. Four essential features of teachers’ professional identity could be derived from the studies. Many of the reviewed studies appeared to be studies on teachers’ personal practical knowledge. However, in only a few studies was the relationship between this knowledge and professional identity made explicit. It is argued that, in future research on teachers’ professional identity, more attention needs to be paid to the relationship between relevant concepts like ‘self’ and ‘identity’, the role of the context in professional identity formation, what counts as ‘professional’ in professional identity, and research perspectives other than the cognitive one that may also play a role in designing research on teachers’ professional identity.     

Effects of biology teachers’ professional knowledge and cognitive activation on students’ achievement

This study examined the effects of teachers’ biology-specific dimensions of professional knowledge – pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) and content knowledge (CK) – and cognitively activating biology instruction, as a feature of instructional quality, on students’ learning. The sample comprised 39 German secondary school teachers whose lessons on the topic neurobiology were videotaped twice. Teachers’ instruction was coded with regard to cognitive activation using a rating manual. Multilevel path analysis results showed a positive significant effect of cognitive activation on students’ learning and an indirect effect of teachers’ PCK on students’ learning mediated through cognitive activation. These findings highlight the importance of PCK in preservice biology teachers’ education. Items of the rating manual may be used to provide exemplars of concrete teaching situations during university seminars for preservice teacher education or professional development initiatives for in-service teachers.     

Ecological Pushes and Pulls on Women Academics’ Pursuit of Research in China

Women academics reportedly exhibit lower research productivity than males. This study first quantitatively explored gender differences in research output based on a survey among 309 Chinese academics teaching English as a foreign language (TEFL). Qualitative data obtained through interviews with seven female respondents were analyzed from an ecological perspective. Results showed significant gender differences in domestic publication but no such differences in international publication. Women academics’ pursuit of research was influenced by many factors from and beyond the microsystems of workplace and family, and their coping strategies included soliciting help from seasoned colleagues, attending academic conferences, and joining online communities. The findings highlight the institutional supportive practices and familial environment that are equally important in promoting women academics’ professional development.