Development and validation of a questionnaire measuring teachers’ motivations for teaching in higher education

A lot of research has been done into the motivations in teachers in primary/secondary education and into student motivation. However, teachers’ motivations for teaching in higher education are rarely studied. A growing interest exists though in the professional development of teachers in higher education, of which motivation is an important aspect. This article, therefore, focuses on the development and validation of a Dutch questionnaire for teachers’ motivations for teaching in higher education. The questionnaire is based on three earlier developed questionnaires, including the following motivational aspects: efficacy, interest, and effort. Confirmatory factor analyses were conducted with the data of 231 higher education teachers. The results of our explorative study showed that after modifications, including the removal of two out of three efficacy-aspects (‘outcome efficacy’ and ‘teaching efficacy’), this instrument is sufficiently reliable and valid to use in educational practice and research. Future research into the use of the questionnaire in different contexts is desirable.     

Collaborative Partisans in a World of Change and Uncertainties: Responses to Staff Support Developments in the Education of ‘Difficult-to-teach’ Pupils across Cultural Boundaries

The Family Service Units is a national charity working in some of the most deprived areas of the country. This paper is concerned with one part of its work, The Connections Project. This project aims to develop non-punitive anti-bullying partnerships between young people, schools, adults in the community and other agencies. This article focuses on a particular aspect of this project, the Support Code, which seeks to promote an ethos of proactive mutual support. The development is described and the teachers’ reactions are explored. Though this work is currently being undertaken in primary schools, much is applicable to the early years of secondary education too.     

University students’ emotions,life-satisfaction and study commitment: a self-determination theoretical perspective

Based on self-determination theory, this study seeks to explore whether a study environment that provides relevant conditions for students’ basic psychological need-satisfaction can lead to more positive and less negative emotional experiences. It also addresses the question of how emotions experienced in the university context are related to students’ overall life-satisfaction and study commitment. German students in teacher education programmes (N = 792) participated in the study by completing questionnaires. The results (estimated by path-modelling) reveal that students’ emotions can be predicted by a variety of environmental conditions associated with different basic psychological needs. Altogether, the model is able to explain 28.5% of the variance in positive emotions and 39.6% in negative emotions. The strongest predictor of students’ positive and negative emotions was the perceived relevance of the study material, a factor related to the need for autonomy. This perceived relevance also had a direct impact on study commitment. Furthermore, positive relationships with peers proved to be of importance for positive and negative emotions as well as for overall life-satisfaction. As expected, emotions at university predicted life-satisfaction and study commitment, with a particularly strong association between positive emotions and study commitment. The results point to the necessity to support study conditions that facilitate the fulfilment of students’ basic psychological needs in order to ensure students’ emotional well-being and enhance study commitment.     

Fostering teacher educators’ professional development in research and in supervising student teachers’ research

Most teacher educators who work at institutes for higher vocational education have faced a new role since the European Community aimed to upgrade the general quality of education. Research tasks have been added as a new important core business for institutes that used to be mainly focused on education. Teacher educators therefore have to become familiar with research knowledge and skills, and with the skills to supervise student teachers in conducting research. Professional development activities have been set up to prepare them for it. In this explorative study, we investigated the extent to which four different professional development activities within three Dutch institutes for teacher education contributed to the knowledge and skills needed for these new tasks. We gathered data by interviewing 12 teacher educators. In addition to some striking differences, we found corresponding positive experiences in all four activities. Exchanging experiences and discussing issues with colleagues was perceived to be the most outstanding part of each activity. This research has yielded necessary insights into constructing professional development activities. It is clear that any professional development activity about research should be consistent with teacher educators’ daily practices and concerns.     

Effects of gluteal kinesio-taping on performance with respect to fatigue in rugby players

Kinesio-tape^® has been suggested to increase blood circulation and lymph flow and might influence the muscle's ability to maintain strength during fatigue. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the influence of gluteal Kinesio-tape^® on lower limb muscle strength in non-fatigued and fatigued conditions. A total of 10 male rugby union players performed 20-m sprint and vertical jump tests before and after a rugby-specific fatigue protocol. The 20-m sprint time was collected using light gates (SMARTSPEED). A 9-camera motion analysis system (VICON, 100 Hz) and a force plate (Kistler, 1000 Hz) measured the kinematics and kinetics during a counter movement jump and drop-jump. The effect of tape and fatigue on jump height, maximal vertical ground reaction force, reactivity strength index as well as lower limb joint work were analysed via a two-way analysis of variance. The fatigue protocol resulted in significantly decreased performance of sprint time, jump heights and alterations in joint work. No statistical differences were found between the taped and un-taped conditions in non-fatigued and fatigued situation as well as in the interaction with fatigue. Therefore, taping the gluteal muscle does not influence the leg explosive strength after fatiguing in healthy rugby players.     

Promoting students’ self-determined motivation in maths: results of a 1-year classroom intervention

European Journal of Psychology of Education - Especially for students in lower achievement levels, there is a significant negative trend in academic self-determined motivation across childhood...     

Lehrerbildung fur den Unterricht Behinderter Kinder in der UdSSR

This article is presented as an interim report on an inquiry which is being conducted at the German Institute for International Educational Research at Frankfurt/Main. The authors being by outlining the organisational structure of special school teacher training at the Faculties of Defectology which have been established at a good number of Colleges of Education. However, the emphasis is laid on identifying current curricular innovations with special regard to the experiments at the Lenin College of Education in Moscow. In the following section specific attention is paid to the function of correspondence studies in the initial and in‐service training of special school teachers. The article is concluded by some remarks about the social status that teachers enjoy in the Soviet Union and by some basic comparison with trends in special teacher education in both Germanies.     

Comparing the Validity and Output of the GT1M and GT3X Accelerometer in 5- to 9-Year-Old Children

The purpose of this study was to compare the validity and output of the biaxial ActiGraph GT1M and the triaxial GT3X (ActiGraph, LLC, Pensacola, FL, USA) accelerometer in 5- to 9-year-old children. Thirty-two children wore the two monitors while their energy expenditure was measured with indirect calorimetry. They performed four locomotor and four play activities in an exercise laboratory and were further measured during 12 minutes of a sports lesson. Validity evidence in relation to indirect calorimetry was examined with linear regression equations applied to the laboratory data. During the sports lessons predicted energy expenditure according to the regression equations was compared to measured energy expenditure with the Wilcoxon-signed rank test and the Spearman correlation. To compare the output, agreement between counts of the two monitors during the laboratory activities was assessed with Bland-Altman plots. The evidence of validity was similar for both monitors. Agreement between the output of the two monitors was good for vertical counts (mean bias =??14 ± 22 counts) but not for horizontal counts (?17 ± 32 counts). The current results indicate that the two accelerometer models are able to estimate energy expenditure of a range of physical activities equally well in young children. However, they show output differences for movement in the horizontal direction.