Das Dilemma des Lehrerberufs sind … die Lehrer?

Zusammenfassung  Lehrerinnen und Lehrer erscheinen in der Forschung zur Belastung und Beanspruchung im Lehrerberuf nicht nur als Informanten über die Belastungsquellen sowie über die Wirkungen und Folgen der beruflichen Beanspruchungen. Sie werden zugleich durch die – in diesem Beitrag kritisierte – dominierende Erfassung individueller Pers?nlichkeitsmerkmale in der Forschung implizit selbst als ma?geblicher Faktor der Belastung und Beanspruchung im Beruf behandelt und empirisch erfasst. Da jedoch in der bisherigen Forschung – so der Kern der Kritik – systematisch in erster Linie nur personenbezogene Merkmale erfasst werden, kann ein Primat dieser Faktoren vor personenunabh?ngigen, bedingungs- bzw. verh?ltnisbezogenen Aspekten sowie die einseitige konzeptionelle Ausrichtung der Forschung nicht empirisch begründet werden. Als Konsequenz aus der diagnostizierten Einseitigkeit werden im Anschluss an arbeits- und organisationspsychologische Zug?nge Forschungsbemühungen gefordert, die sich der Erfassung struktureller, berufsspezifischer Merkmale des Arbeitsplatzes Schule und des beruflichen Handelns von Lehrerinnen und Lehrern und damit einer situations- bzw. bedingungsbezogenen Analyse der Berufst?tigkeit mit Blick auf Belastungen und Beanspruchungen widmen. Auf diese Weise sollte eine ausgewogene empirische Basis für eine differenzierte Analyse und Interpretation von Personenmerkmalen sowie Arbeits- bzw. Situationsmerkmalen geschaffen werden, die schlie?lich in den Versuch der Integration beider Betrachtungsweisen münden kann.

An Investigation of the Effects of School Context and Sex Differences on Students' Motivational Goal Orientations

It is widely postulated that school context characteristics and sex may influence students' motivational orientations. However, relatively little empirical evidence exists to support this postulate. Hence the present study sought to examine both the individual and interactive effects of school and sex differences on students' motivational goals. Participants were 602 middle school students. The effects of school and sex on three academic and five social goals were examined. Results suggest that school and (to a lesser extent) sex differences, as well as the interaction between the two, significantly influence students' motivational orientations. Results are discussed and interpreted within the framework of motivation psychology.     

The university as agent of social transformation: The postmodern argument considered

This is an abridged version of an essay that will appear inThe Imperiled Academy, edited by Howard Dickman, to be published by Transaction this year.     

School Students' Ideas About Air Pollution: Hindrance or Help For Learning?

School students are thought to have an insecure knowledge about the `science' of the air, yet the popular media often feature issues about air pollution, which may either confuse students further, or offer teaching opportunities. This study used a free-form questionnaire to explore 1011 year old students' ideas about the nature of air pollution, and its biological and physical effects. Many think that `gases' pollute the air, using the term in a general, non-scientific sense. However, some students can name individual pollutants (CFCs, carbon monoxide, sulphur dioxide), perhaps because they associate them with well-known environmental problems. Transport and industry were seen as the main sources of pollutants. Most students stated that air pollution will kill plants and animals. Although fewer thought this true of humans, many thought that people will become ill, with a quarter of the students raising the specific problem of asthma. Some students thought that buildings will be unaffected by air pollution, but many wrote that they would be damaged or become discolored. The view that students' ideas from out-of-school sources, coupled with their intrinsic concern for the environment, may offer starting-points for teaching curriculum science is discussed.     

Reduce,manage or cope: a review of strategies for training school staff to address challenging behaviours displayed by students with intellectual/developmental disabilities

Members of a knowledge translation and exchange (KTE) research team assessed the training needs of the teaching staff at a school for individuals with intellectual/developmental disabilities (IDD). In response to this need, KTE researchers retrieved peer‐reviewed articles for training staff working with individuals with IDD who exhibit challenging behaviours. These articles were categorised according to the following training content: (1) interventions designed to reduce the frequency of challenging behaviours; (2) appropriate ways to manage challenging behaviours in the moment to promote safety for all parties and/or to terminate the ongoing behaviour; and/or (3) procedures or perspectives relevant to coping with or ameliorating the negative impacts of challenging behaviours on staff. We then examined the training methods (teaching strategies, training duration) involved in teaching the content and assessed the effectiveness of these programmes. Overall, we found that effective training programmes consisted of workshops, practica and feedback on specific skill performance. Some forms of brief training were effective for increasing staffs' knowledge/skills and reducing the frequency of challenging behaviour.