Teacher efficacy: Toward the understanding of a multi-faceted construct

To explore dimensions of teacher efficacy, the responses of 310 teachers to a modified version of the Gibson & Dembo (1984) [Journal of Educational Psychology, 76, 569–582], scale were factor analyzed, yielding three factors. Personal efficacy concerned teachers' beliefs about their ability to perform specific behaviors. Outcome efficacy referred to teachers belief that student outcomes were attributable to their actions. We believe these two factors represent the efficacy expectations and outcome expectations of Bandura's model of self-efficacy. The third factor, teaching efficacy, concerned teachers' beliefs about the influence of external factors, including the home, heredity and television violence, on the impact of teaching.     

Teacher lust: reconstructing the construct for mathematics instruction

Two collegiate mathematics courses for prospective elementary and middle grades teachers provide the context for the examination of Mary Boole’s construct of teacher lust. Through the use of classroom observations and instructor interviews, the author presents a refined conception of teacher lust. Two working aspects of the construct were identified: (1) enacted teacher lust; an observable action that may remove an opportunity for students to think about or engage in mathematics for themselves; and (2) experienced teacher lust; an internal impulse to act in the manner described. Empirical examples of each facet, differences between conscious and unconscious interactions with teacher lust, along with potential antecedents are discussed.     

Teacher efficacy in Teaching and Teacher Education

The author reviews twelve of 111 articles focusing on teacher efficacy published in Teaching and Teacher Education since 1985. The twelve articles are placed in three sections that include a) instruments, factor analyses, and cultural influences, b) participants, contexts, and teacher instruction, and c) teacher wellness. These sections offer research and studies from various teacher efficacy investigators that share insights, understandings, and interpretations. The selected TATE articles provide a plausible (expanding) sphere of growing and developing research and studies in teacher efficacy.     

Teacher efficacy: An investigation of Economics teachers

Abstract

In an era of unprecedented curriculum change it is not surprising that many South African teachers have begun to question their ability to affect learner performance. Teachers have to engage with a changing learner culture, with new curriculum content and are under pressure to embrace different teaching strategies without fully understanding the theoretical principles on which they are based. In this paper the authors explore high-school Economics teachers' beliefs about their capacities to influence learning. This paper is based on a quantitative empirical investigation into Economics teachers' efficacy beliefs about the teaching of Economics. Economics teachers from each of the 45 Department of Education delineated districts in KwaZulu-Natal province were selected to be participants in the study. We argue that while Economics teachers perceive their role as important in the learning process, male teachers in particular see the teacher as the dominant influence on learner performance, and are more confident than female teachers of their knowledge and teaching abilities.     

Teacher efficacy and teacher competency ratings

This cross-validation study investigated the relationships among teacher sense of efficacy, superintendents' ratings of teacher competency, and selected demographic and background variables. One hundred fifty-five teachers from 15 districts in a Southeastern state participated in the study. Multiple regression indicated variables significantly related to efficacy scores were: competency rating by superintendent, birth order, and whether the teacher would again choose teaching as a career. Using discriminant analysis, superior and average competency teachers could be differentiated from low competency teachers on the basis of four significant variables, one of which was efficacy scores. This analysis placed 80.52% of the teachers in the appropriate group, and accounted for 29% of the variance in groups. Analyses also indicated some support for the consistency of superintendents' ratings of teachers across districts.     

教师效能感测量研究综述

教师效能感的研究已经有近四十年的历史,教师效能感所依托的理论从控制论、自我效能理论发展到新近的整合模型,不同理论背景下的教师效能感定义大同小异,但结构却各不相同.从心理测量的角度对教师效能感进行了梳理和归纳,对以控制论、自我效能论和整合论为基础的教师效能感量表进行全面介绍和比较.最后指出,新的测量量表应用中需关注教师效能感的迁移问题、跨文化适用性问题,以及领域特殊性取向和领域一般性取向下教师效能感量表的比较研究.     

大学教师：一项学术性职业

大学职能的成功发挥有赖于对大学教师职业属性的把握和理解.大学教师职业成长与变迁的历史与实践证明,大学教师是一项以知识传播和科学探索为内容的学术性职业,是一项与大学发展密切相关的学术性职业,是一项需要学术自由权利呵护的学术性职业.     

Teacher Morale: an individual perspective

Drawing on qualitative research evidence, this article offers an interpretation of morale which focuses on individual needs fulfilment. Three conceptual areas are discussed: morale as a group or an individual phenomenon; the dimensionality of morale; and the relationship between morale and satisfaction. It is suggested that work on morale has often been weakened by misinterpretation and misapplication and that what has often been presented as morale is, in fact, group cohesiveness or job satisfaction. Inappropriate generalisation has tended to obscure the intricacies of morale and greater attention should now be paid to the individuality of influential factors. Salary and working conditions may be much less influential on morale than is generally thought. More significant, it is suggested, is the extent to which the job fulfils the individual's ‘ideal’.     

Solving Physics Problems: The Conceptions and Practice of an Experienced Teacher and an Inexperienced Teacher

The results are described of two case studies on the conceptions and classroom practice of two Portuguese physics and chemistry teachers on the role of problem solving in the teaching/learning of science. One of these teachers was a novice and the other had about 20 years of teaching experience. The data were obtained from a questionnaire, a semi-structured interview, classroom observation, personal documents, and stimulated recall. The analysis was carried out with instruments organised into categories and specific indicators. The results showed there to be major differences between the intention behind the new curricula, the teachers' conceptions, and their practice. Some suggestions are put forward on the basis of these results for the initial and ongoing education of secondary education teachers of physics and chemistry in Portugal.     

教师合作:教师发展的一个重要路径

20世纪80年代以来,教师合作作为教师发展的一种方式获得广泛的关注,成为国际教师教育研究领域中一大热点问题。本文认为,所谓教师合作,就是教师们为了改善学校教育实践,以自愿、平等的方式就共同感兴趣的问题,共同探讨解决的办法,从而形成的一种批判性互动关系;教师合作有助于激发与强化教师发展意愿、提高教师个体反思能力、促进学校组织学习。     

Teacher Exchange: an alternative for staff development

This study examines the part that planned exchanges of teaching posts can play in broadening professional experience and enriching individual schools. The survey draws heavily upon the experiences of some 25 teachers and their schools who have participated in the Berkshire Primary Teacher Exchange Scheme since its inception in 1983. The organisation and administration of the scheme are outlined, and the major part of the survey examines the experiences—elicited by interview and questionnaire—of the teachers who participated; their motives in applying for a one-year exchange of posts; the practical difficulties and opportunities of working in another school for a fixed period; and their assessment of the personal and career benefits of taking part in the scheme. The views of headteachers and others are considered in assessing any beneficial effects in terms of curriculum enrichment and staff development for participating schools—benefits which may be offset by a break in continuity of staffing. The views of teachers who had sought unsuccessfully to participate in the Berkshire scheme are examined and their reasons for failing to obtain a suitable exchange are consider

Practice in other local authorities which operate exchange schemes is examined and alternative approaches consider Given the paucity of references to exchange programmes and planned experience within the corpus of educational literature, a number of studies drawn from the field of general management training are considered for their relevance to educational practice.

The report concludes that teacher exchange can be a worthwhile, fulfilling and cost-effective alternative to the more traditional forms of in-service training, and one which offers significant benefits to the school and the education service in terms of a more motivated teaching force with a broader perspective of the profession in which they work, and hence more receptive to organisational change. Exchange was found to be particularly valuable for teachers in mid-career who did not seek or were not destined for further promotion. Particular problems centred around the difficulties of matching pairs of suitable applicants, and the often rather haphazard nature of the exchange experience, and suggestions are offered for improving practice in these areas.     

Teacher education in schools: an international comparison

Learning at the workplace is an important development in teacher education in secondary education. In this study we look at the school‐linked models for teacher education that exist in England, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden. The characteristics of these models and their possible consequences for the quality of teachers are investigated. We observed among others a substantial variation between countries on matters of integration between the institution and the school, the emphasis on academic or practical training, embedding of teacher education and duration of teacher education.

La formation en alternance constitue un point culminant au sein des Instituts Universitaires de Formation des Maîtres. Dans le cadre de cette recherche, nous avons voulu examiner quelques modèles de formation dans un certain nombre de pays de l'Union Européenne, en l'occurrence, la France, l'Allemagne, le Royaume‐Uni, les Pays‐Bas et la Suède. Ce travail porte sur les caractéristiques de ces modèles et leur impact sur la qualification professionnelle des Maîtres. Force est de constater des différences substantielles entre ces pays en ce qui concerne le degré d'intégration entre les Instituts et les établissements scolaires, l'articulation pratique‐théorie, la validation de la formation, la titularisation et, enfin, la durée de la formation.

En la formación (universitaria) de los profesores se ve un desarrollo importante: el aprendizaje por el futuro profesor (participando) en el centro escolar. En el cuadro de esta investigación examinamos algunos modelos para la participación de los centros de formación de los profesores en los institutos escolares, en los países Francia, Alemania, el Reino Unido, Holanda y Suecia. Se han analizado las características de estos modelos y sus posibles consecuencias para la calidad profesional de los profesores. Comprobamos e.o. que existen diferencias destacantes entre los países mencionados en cuanto al grado de integración entre los centros de formación de profesores y los institutos escolares, el enfásis en la formación práctica o contrariamente en la formación teórica de los futuros profesores, los métodos de examinación y la validación y la duración de la formación del profesor.

Lernen am Arbeitsplatz ist eine bedeutsame Entwicklung in der Lehrerausbildung. In dieser Untersuchung betrachten wir Modelle für das berufliche Lernen in der Schule in Frankreich, Deutschland, Großbrittannien, den Niederlanden und Schweden. Untersucht wurden die Merkmale dieser Modelle und die möglichen Konsequenzen für die Qualität von Lehrern. Wir stellen unter anderem wesentliche Differenzen zwischen den Nationen fest im Grad der Integration zwischen Ausbildungsinstitution und Schule, in der Gewichtung der akademischen gegenüber der praktischen Ausbildung, in den Prüfungsmethoden und in der Dauer der Lehrerausbildung.     

Practice in Teacher Education: an Israeli perspective

This paper describes prevailing models of teacher education programs in Israel and tries to explain their variability regarding the student‐teaching component. It is argued that this variability is the result of holding different views regarding three core factors: professional (the way teaching is perceived as a profession), epistemological (the way the knowledge base of teaching is created and acquired), sociopolitical (ownership claims regarding this knowledge base). The combined effect of these three factors is a variety of teacher education programs especially in terms of their practical components. These differ in timing, organization, location, intensity in actual student teaching and reflection, amount of supervision and control. Different modes of practicum emerge, ranging from technical ones deriving from competency based approaches to constructivist reflective ones. Among the constructivist practicums some are based on interactionist modes of meaning construal, some are social or dialectical type of knowledge construction and some emphasize the collective structuring of meaning within the community of practice. The many types of teacher education and student‐teaching programs in existence in Israel, reflect this variability of approaches.     

大学英语教师与ESP教师的角色对比与转换

为了适应我国目前对ESP教师日益增长的需要，越来越多的大学英语教师开始尝试ESP教学本文通过对大学英语教师与ESP教师的角色的对比，提出了从大学英语教师转换到ESP教师的可能性以及如何从大学英语教师转换到ESP教师。     

构建开放式地理教学

构建开放式地理教学有利于引导学生学习对生活和终身发展有用的地理,有利于发展学生批判性思维,培养创新精神。构建开放式地理教学,教师要努力开放教学思路和教学形式;设法引导学生思维开放,但需把握好开放的度;要充分开放渠道,不断丰富和利用地理课程资源。     

Ten Years of Teacher Workshops in an Environmental Problem-Solving Model: Teacher Implementation and Perceptions

Abstract

In this study, the authors focus on quantitative and qualitative methods to examine the training model for Investigating and Evaluating Environmental Issues and Actions (IEEIA). The authors examined (a) the relationship between IEEIA implementation rates and type of training; (b) workshop participants' perceptions of support for their use of IEEIA and the relationship between those perceptions and implementation; and (c) workshop participants' perceptions about the impact of the instructional approach on themselves, students, administrators, colleagues, parents, and the community. A direct-mailed questionnaire was used to collect data from 132 teachers who had participated in IEEIA training between 1990 and 1999. Interviews were conducted with a purposive sample of 8 workshop participants. More than half of the teachers used the approach. Participants of extended or multiple trainings tended to use IEEIA more than their counterparts. Support after the workshop was important to implementation; IEEIA teachers perceived that it had positive impacts on themselves, students, and others.     

Teacher as token dispenser: Effect of an observer

Data were collected on rate per minute of administering token reinforcement for one male and six female teachers enrolled in a behavior modification course. Data were obtained from record cards maintained by pupils for tokens received during an observer-present condition and for an observer-absent condition. Comparison of reinforcement rates for observer-present vs. absent indicated significantly higher rates of token delivery (p <.025) in the observer-present condition. The observer effect has important implications for those programs in which assessment procedures introduce an observer into the classroom to collect data on changes in teacher behavior.     

浅谈英语专业教师兼任班主任工作

高校专业课教师兼任班主任工作,可以更好地将教书育人结合起来。本文分析了英语专业教师兼任班主任工作的角色定位,及其在学风建设方面的作用,探讨了英语专业教师兼任班主任时,如何更好地将专业教育与德育教育协调统一起来。