How times change: Secondary teachers' job satisfaction and dissatisfaction in 1962 and 2007

In this article we explore the level of job satisfaction and the sources of job dissatisfaction for 210 secondary school teachers in southwest England and compare our results with the results from a similar study published in 1962. Using anonymous questionnaires, we asked 210 secondary teachers in southwest England (63% female) to rate their level of job satisfaction and to rate 16 sources of job dissatisfaction that we adapted from the 1962 study. Teachers in 2007 rated their job satisfaction significantly lower and ordered the sources of job dissatisfaction significantly differently than did teachers in 1962. Whereas teachers in 1962 were most concerned with external sources of job dissatisfaction (e.g. salary, condition of buildings and equipment and poor human relations), teachers in 2007 expressed the most concern about factors relating to teaching itself (e.g. time demands and pupils' behaviour). The changes in sources of dissatisfaction hold true for male and female teachers, with no difference in rankings according to years of teaching experience.     

The Relation of Story Structure to a Model of Conceptual Change in Science Learning

Although various reasons have been proposed to explain the potential effectiveness of science stories to promote learning, no explicit relationship of stories to learning theory in science has been propounded. In this paper, two structurally analogous models are developed and compared: a structural model of stories and a temporal conceptual change model of learning. On the basis of the similarity of the models, as elaborated, it is proposed that the structure of science stories may promote a re-enactment of the learning process, and, thereby, such stories serve to encourage active learning through the generation of hypotheses and explanations. The practical implications of this theoretical analogy can be applied to the classroom in that the utilization of stories provides the opportunity for a type of re-enactment of the learning process that may encourage both engagement with the material and the development of long-term memory structures.     

Encouraging a “Romantic Understanding” of Science: The Effect of the Nikola Tesla Story

The purpose of this paper is to discuss and apply the notion of romantic understanding by outlining its features and its potential role in science education, to identify its features in the story of Nikola Tesla, and to describe an empirical study conducted to determine the effect of telling such a story to Grade 9 students. Elaborated features of the story are the humanization of meaning, an association with heroes and heroic qualities, the limits of reality and extremes of experience, a sense of wonder, and a contesting of conventions and conventional ideas. The study demonstrates the learning benefits of encouraging a romantic understanding through a story that is structured explicitly around the identified features, in this instance in the context of the production and transmission of alternating current electricity. Quantitative and qualitative analyses of journal entries showed that the group of students who were encouraged to understand the concept of alternating current romantically (the experimental group) became more involved with both the content and the context of the story than a comparison group of students who were taught the concept explicitly, without a context (the control group). The students in the experimental group also performed statistically better on a science-content test taken 1?week and again 8?weeks after the indicated teaching intervention. This finding, along with the content analyses of students?? journals, provided evidence of romantic understanding of the science content for those students who listened to the Tesla story.     

The relationship between inclusion and academic achievement in English mainstream schools

This article presents the key findings and discusses the implications of a major study that explored the relationship between academic achievement and the inclusion of pupils with special educational needs (SEN) in mainstream schools in England. It is based on a statistical analysis of nationally held data on all pupils in England that is collected at the end of each of the 4 key stages, when pupils are aged 7, 11, 14, and 16. The analysis considered the relationship between academic achievement and inclusivity having controlled for a range of other variables. Findings indicate that there is no relationship between academic achievement and inclusion at the local authority (LA) level while there is a small but, for all practical purposes, insubstantial relationship at the school level. In addition, there is also a large degree of variation at the school level, suggesting strongly that there are other factors within a school's make up, rather than its degree of inclusivity, that impact on the average academic achievements of its pupils. The overall conclusion, therefore, is that mainstream schools need not be concerned about the potentially negative impact on the overall academic achievements of their pupils of including pupils with SEN in their schools.     

The occupational commitment and intention to quit of practicing and pre-service teachers: Influence of self-efficacy, job stress, and teaching context

The purpose of the present study was to explore the occupational commitment and quitting intention of practicing and pre-service teachers. We used a cross-sectional survey design to examine the impact of teachers’ self-efficacy, job stress, and contextual factors on occupational commitment and quitting intention of 434 practicing teachers and 379 pre-service teachers. Results revealed that similar factors—self-efficacy, job stress, and teaching context—influence the occupational commitment and quitting intention of practicing and pre-service teachers. Pre-service teachers displayed higher levels of commitment and less overall stress than practicing teachers. We conclude the article with implications for theory and practice, and suggest avenues to extend this line of career stage research.     

Investigating pre-service teacher motivation across cultures using the Teachers’ Ten Statements Test

Motivations for choosing teaching as a career were investigated in 200 pre-service teachers from Canada and Oman. We used a novel structured qualitative approach and two theoretical models to analyze how pre-service teacher career-choice motivation varied according to cultural context. The results of the study showed that Canadian participants made more self-references, and expressed higher levels of individual-focused motivation and social utility value as career motivators than did Omani participants. Participants from Oman expressed greater endorsement of teaching as a fallback career and higher levels of socio-cultural influences than Canadian participants. Results extend teacher motivation “teacher motivation theory” by investigating socio-cultural influences.     

Relations of mathematics self-concept and its calibration with mathematics achievement: Cultural differences among fifteen-year-olds in 34 countries

We examined the effects of mathematics self-concept (MSC) and MSC calibration on mathematics achievement through multilevel analyses of the mathematics tests and questionnaire responses of 88,590 15-year olds who participated in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development's (OECD) Program for International Student Assessment (PISA). Students with higher MSC or MSC calibration had higher mathematics scores. Students' MSC was more strongly linked to mathematics achievement in countries that were wealthier, more egalitarian, more tolerant of uncertainty, or more flexible regarding gender roles. Calibration of MSC was more strongly linked to mathematics achievement for boys, for low-achievers, and for students in countries that were wealthier, more egalitarian, or more tolerant of uncertainty. Students overestimating their mathematics competence often had low mathematics scores.     

Teaching in the Yukon: Exploring teachers’ efficacy beliefs,stress, and job satisfaction in a remote setting

This article presents a mixed methods examination of teachers’ job beliefs in the Yukon Territory in northern Canada. In Study 1 we used questionnaires to examine job beliefs for 221 teachers from the Yukon and western Canada. Teachers’ self- and collective efficacy and workload stress were lower for Yukon teachers, but levels of overall stress and satisfaction were similar across settings. In Study 2 we conducted interviews to examine how geographical, community, and cultural factors were related to Yukon teachers’ job beliefs. Results showed that job stress and job satisfaction were influenced by physical and human geography, level of connection with the community, and by the community's cultural transitions. The findings highlight the influence of cultural and community factors on teachers’ working lives.     

SEN inclusion and pupil achievement in English schools

This paper presents and discusses the key findings from a study funded by the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) that explored the relationship between achievement and inclusion in mainstream schools in England. Overall the results indicate that, although there is a small statistical relationship between inclusion and academic achievement, this is unlikely to impact on a school's overall performance. This is partly because of the large degree of variation among schools, suggesting that there are other factors within a school's make up rather than its degree of inclusivity which impact on the average achievements of its pupils. This was confirmed by the findings from a number of case study visits. The overall conclusion from the study is that mainstream schools need not be concerned about the potentially negative impact on the overall academic achievements of their pupils through including pupils with special educational needs (SEN) in their schools.