Teacher stress and pupil behaviour explored through a rational-emotive behaviour therapy framework

Using the psychological framework of rational-emotive behaviour therapy, the principal aim of this study was to establish whether irrational beliefs, self-efficacy or pupil behaviour predicted teacher reports of stress. A secondary aim was to establish whether these variables, in addition to teachers’ verbal feedback to pupils in class, predicted on-task pupil behaviour. Participants consisted of 58 teachers from five secondary schools, who completed three self-report questionnaires examining teacher stress, self-efficacy and irrational beliefs. In addition, both teachers and pupils were systematically observed in class using a structured schedule. The results indicated that high self-reported irrational beliefs and low self-efficacy predicted high levels of teacher stress. In addition, high self-efficacy and low levels of negative comments directed at pupils’ social behaviour and academic work in the classroom predicted high levels of on-task pupil behaviour. The implications for supporting teachers in these areas are discussed.     

The evolution of trust in information technology alliances

As strategic alliances become an increasingly important weapon for companies in achieving a competitive advantage, an important subject of investigation has become those factors that contribute to the success of the alliance. Trust between the alliance partners has been proposed to be one of those critical success factors. The high levels of uncertainty and interdependence that characterizes high technology alliances make trust particularly important in these contexts. Very little is known, however, about the process of trust creation or erosion in strategic alliances. This study addresses this shortcoming in cross-sectional trust research by utilizing a longitudinal survey design to examine the antecedents and outcomes of trust formation between strategic alliance partners. We contrast a transaction cost economics view of trust with a social exchange perspective to more fully explore what may influence changes in the level of trust between partners. Results suggest that the development of trust was not a function of the formal incentive systems that transaction cost economists deem necessary to prevent opportunistic behavior. Conversely, factors from social exchange theory – communication, shared values, and relationship equity – provide a more thorough explanation of what contributes to the development of higher levels of organizational trust. Finally, this study provides evidence that as trust increases between partners, the alliance benefits by displaying higher levels of dependence, higher levels of partner learning, and higher levels of performance.     

Enriching the Scholarship of Teaching: Determining Appropriate Cross-Professional Applications Among Teaching, Counseling, and Psychotherapy

When teaching is construed as facilitating learning rather than imparting knowledge, it becomes an educational helping relationship. In this light, teaching can be understood to share important characteristics with other helping professions, such as counseling and psychotherapy. As teaching is further conceptualized within this paradigm, confusion can develop regarding appropriate applications of concepts from related helping professions to teaching contexts. This article introduces and illustrates an appropriateness criterion that attempts to remove this confusion and thereby facilitate important cross-professional collaborations and further conceptual development of the teaching-as-helping paradigm.     

A probabilistic model of information retrieval: development and comparative experiments: Part 2

The paper combines a comprehensive account of the probabilistic model of retrieval with new systematic experiments on TREC Programme material. It presents the model from its foundations through its logical development to cover more aspects of retrieval data and a wider range of system functions. Each step in the argument is matched by comparative retrieval tests, to provide a single coherent account of a major line of research. The experiments demonstrate, for a large test collection, that the probabilistic model is effective and robust, and that it responds appropriately, with major improvements in performance, to key features of retrieval situations.Part 1 covers the foundations and the model development for document collection and relevance data, along with the test apparatus. Part 2 covers the further development and elaboration of the model, with extensive testing, and briefly considers other environment conditions and tasks, model training, concluding with comparisons with other approaches and an overall assessment.Data and results tables for both parts are given in Part 1. Key results are summarised in Part 2.     

Stepping Out of the Box: Rethinking the Failure of ICT to Transform Schools

Despite initial certainty ofpolitical purpose and considerable optimismregarding its effects on teaching and learning,the evidence of school inspector reports in theUSA, Scotland and England suggests thatinformation and communications technology (ICT)remains, at the beginning of the 21stCentury, a marginal force in the education of5–12 year-olds. Explanations for this havetypically been sought in analyses, byresearchers working in the `mainstream' ofschools and teacher education adopting anessentially rational or hyper-rational approachand focusing on inadequacies in resourcing,curriculum policy and training. Yet, othercurriculum changes have taken place despitecomparable barriers; teachers have made themwork. Consequently, it is not possible toexclude the potential for explanation which maylie beyond the essentially rational, systematicand structural arguments offered so far.Alternative avenues explored here include thesocial anthropological concepts of symbol,language, ideology, ritual and myth applied to20th-Century cycles of educational change, thesociological concept of subculture and humancomputer interaction (HCI) theory and models oftechnology acceptance.