Relationships between school climate,bullying and delinquent behaviours

Given that schools are, potentially, powerful sites for influencing adolescent behaviour, it is important that there is greater understanding of the psychosocial aspects of the school climate that can be leveraged for this purpose. The research reported in this article used structural equation modelling (with data from a sample of 6120 students at Australian high schools) to examine the influence of the psychosocial school-level environment on students’ self-reported experiences of bully victimisation (i.e. being victims of bullying) and engagement in delinquent behaviours. Further, we examined whether bully victimisation mediated the relationships between school climate variables and delinquent behaviours. School connectedness and rule clarity were negatively associated with both bully victimisation and delinquency (p < 0.05), and teacher support was negatively associated with bully victimisation (p < 0.01), confirming the importance of these aspects of the school-level environment. However, affirming diversity and reporting and seeking help both had positive influences on bully victimisation (p < 0.05), raising concerns about the ways in which these aspects of the school-level environment might have been promoted. Importantly, bully victimisation was found to mediate the influence of five of the six school climate constructs on delinquent behaviours (p < 0.001). This study advance our understanding of how specific aspects of the school climate influence the prevalence of bullying and delinquent behaviour, adding weight to the call for educators to actively monitor and enhance psychosocial aspects of the school climate in order to improve student behavioural outcomes.     

Reading,engagement and higher education

ABSTRACT

This article explores the close association between higher education and reading. I draw on the resources of literary studies to illuminate the phenomenon of educational ‘engagement’. I explore the accounts of reading offered in the phenomenological literary theory of Rita Felski and Marielle Macé and extend their ‘stylistics of existence’ into higher education to elaborate engagement’s ‘eventful’ character: it is not in the power of teacher or student to ‘bring about’ engagement. In place of pedagogical ‘method’, I demonstrate how Padraig Hogan’s treatment of education as the ‘courtship of sensibility’ is consistent with this phenomenological treatment of engagement. I am thus able to illustrate how engagement is in tension with instrumental approaches to teaching and learning. I conclude by offering an ethical relation of mutual belonging to subject matter as a corrective to the centrality of ‘knowledge’ in recent attempts to unify the different degrees and objects of engagement.     

GENDER DIFFERENCES IN STUDENT MOTIVATION AND SELF-REGULATION IN SCIENCE LEARNING: A MULTI-GROUP STRUCTURAL EQUATION MODELING ANALYSIS

The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of students?? motivational beliefs (learning goal orientation, task value and self-efficacy) in science learning on students?? self-regulation in the science classroom. The study also examines the moderating effect of gender on the proposed relationships. Data were collected from 719 boys and 641 girls across grades 8, 9 and 10 in 5 public schools in Perth, Western Australia. Results from structural equation modeling analysis indicated that all 3 motivational constructs were strong predictors of students?? self-regulation in science learning. The multi-group analysis to examine gender differences revealed that the influence of task value on self-regulation was statistically significant for boys only. The findings present possible opportunities for educators to plan, and to put into practice, effective intervention strategies aimed at increasing students?? self-regulation in science learning. The core feature would be to target and develop students?? motivational beliefs of learning goal orientation and self-efficacy in science learning. Additionally, for boys, the intervention strategies would be to elevate boys?? perspectives of science task value.     

Development and validation of an instrument to assess primary school students’ perceptions of the learning environment

Over the past 40 years, numerous instruments have been developed to assess the learning environment for a variety of purposes. Despite this plethora of available surveys, there are few that have been developed for use at the primary school level, and even fewer that have been comprehensively validated. This article describes the development of a long-overdue learning environment survey that is suited to primary school students. Evidence to support the validity of the survey, in terms of translation and criterion validity, was guided by Trochim and Donnelly’s (2006) construct validity framework. A pilot test involving one class of 30 students and interviews with six students was used to examine the face validity of individual items. Analyses of data collected from 609 students in 31 classes supported the convergent, concurrent, discriminant and predictive validity, the results of which were all satisfactory. This article is significant in that it provides educators and researchers with a valid tool to assess the learning environment. The instrument, named the Classroom Climate Questionnaire—Primary (CCQ-P), is described and its practical advantages and limitations are discussed.     

School-level environment and outcomes-based education in South Africa

In this study, we developed and validated a questionnaire to assess teachers’ perceptions of their actual and preferred school-level environment, investigated whether teachers involved with Outcomes-Based Education (OBE) perceive the school-level environment differently from those who are not, and investigated factors in the school-level environment (such as resources and staff freedom) linked with a school’s likelihood of successfully implementing OBE. The study involved modifying and validating an existing questionnaire to make it suitable for assessing the school-level environment in South Africa, as well as adding to the School-Level Environment Survey (SLEQ) the scales of Familiarity with OBE and Parental Involvement. Analysis of data collected from 403 teachers provides evidence for the validity and reliability of the new SLEQ-SA. MANOVA for repeated measures revealed a statistically significant (p < 0.01) difference between teacher perceptions of their actual school environment and the one that they would prefer for all seven SLEQ-SA dimensions. When MANOVA was used to examine whether teachers involved in OBE perceive their school-level environments differently from those who are not, statistically significant differences emerged for two of the seven school-level environment scales, with teachers involved with OBE perceiving significantly more Familiarity with OBE and Work Pressure. The constraints faced by teachers are wide ranging and include a number of factors such as a lack of material resources and large class sizes. The results provide valuable information to policy-makers, principals and researchers that potentially could help to guide the implementation of OBE.     

Head Teachers' Perspectives on School Drop-Out in Secondary Schools in Rural Punjab,Pakistan

This study investigates head teachers' perspectives of the school dropout problem at public secondary schools in rural Punjab, Pakistan. The study is based on qualitative methods and included interviews to collect primary data. Sixteen districts of the Punjab where secondary school dropout rate is above 20% were purposively selected for the study. The findings indicate that—other than some socioeconomic and individual factors—different exam patterns at primary, elementary, and secondary levels; easy promotion policy in early classes; English medium syllabus; substandard educational background of students; high failure rate in class 9; and top-down pressures on teachers to perform nonacademic duties are major causes of children dropping out from school. The findings of the study suggest that only through implementation of a socio-culturally compatible syllabus—a corresponding examination system for all levels—allowing students to repeat class 9 in case they fail, setting teachers free from nonteaching duties and providing extra financial support to economically underprivileged students can significantly prevent school dropout at secondary level. The study further argues that easy promotion policy in early classes may retain more children at school but it causes high rates of dropout from secondary classes.     

Associations between school climate and student life satisfaction: resilience and bullying as mediating factors

Learning Environments Research - Because adolescent life satisfaction is associated with important affective, behavioural and health-related outcomes during both adolescence and later life,...     

Teachers’ views of their school climate and its relationship with teacher self-efficacy and job satisfaction

The purpose of this study, in part, was to confirm the factor structure of the School-Level Environment Questionnaire, which assesses six school climate factors that can be considered important for improving schools. The study also tested a research model of the relationships between the school climate, teachers’ self-efficacy and job satisfaction. The participants included 781 Western Australian high-school teachers in 29 schools. When the data were analysed by means of structural equation modelling, teacher self-efficacy and teacher job satisfaction were both related to school climate dimensions and there was also a relationship between teacher self-efficacy and job satisfaction. These results provide practical information for improving school climate and suggest that it is worthwhile for school principals to consider factors within the school climate and how they might be enhanced.     

Helping children build self-esteem

Children in day care and early childhood programs are becoming more at-risk in the development of appropriate self-esteem. This is evidenced by a number of inappropriate practices in some programs. These practices include a heavy emphasis on testing, homogeneous grouping, the use of a large number of worksheets, heavy drill, and long periods of sitting and listening (Manning & Manning, 1981). Teachers and day care providers can have a great impact on a child's self-esteem. This article is concerned with helping teachers by answering the following questions: What is self-esteem? What are the requirements for high self-esteem? What can a teacher do to encourage appropriate self-esteem?     

Weaving an interpretivist stance throughout mixed methods research

ABSTRACT

A recurring debate in mixed methods research involves the relationship between research methods and research paradigms. Whereas some scholars appear to assume that qualitative and quantitative research methods each necessarily belong with particular research paradigms, others have called for greater flexibility and have taken a variety of stances toward the integration of paradigms and methods in mixed-method studies. In this article, we review these arguments and stances, positioning ourselves in favour of flexible (but intentional) integration of any research method with any research paradigm. We then draw on a recent study of teachers’ experiences of professional development to provide an illustration of how a single paradigm can be used to inform the entirety of a mixed methods study, including study design, data collection, analysis and reporting. This illustration is particularly noteworthy since past mixed-method studies that have been grounded in a single paradigm have typically used the post-positivist paradigm, whereas our study involved an interpretive stance and a social constructivist epistemology. This article may, therefore, provide a useful resource for those considering the design of mixed methods studies as well as a practical demonstration to support theoretical claims in support of moving away from binary methods–paradigm associations and assumptions.