Generalizability and Validity of the Use of a Case Analysis Assessment to Make Visible the Quality of Teacher Candidates

The use of case analysis as an accountability measure for demonstrating teacher candidates abilities to meet targeted course, institutional, and state teaching standards for student motivation and classroom management was evaluated. The findings supported the generalizability of case analysis ratings made using a standards-based scoring rubric, and the ratings were shown to differentiate levels of performance in accordance with those standards. Support for the content representativeness of the performance assessment was also obtained using criteria suggested by Crocker (1997), including the realism, frequency, necessity, and importance of the targeted teaching behaviors to actual teaching practice. The findings also provided initial support for the predictive validity of the case analysis assessment for appraising candidates overall abilities to manage a public school classroom.     

SCHOOL ANXIETY INVENTORY: RELIABILITY AND VALIDITY EVIDENCE IN A SAMPLE OF SLOVENIAN ADOLESCENTS

The purpose of this study was to examine the reliability and validity of the School Anxiety Inventory (SAI) using a sample of 646 Slovenian adolescents (48% boys), ranging in age from 12 to 19 years. Single confirmatory factor analyses replicated the correlated four‐factor structure of scores on the SAI for anxiety‐provoking school situations (Anxiety about School Failure and Punishment, Anxiety about Aggression, Anxiety about Social Evaluation, and Anxiety about Academic Evaluation), and the three‐factor structure of the anxiety response systems (Physiological Anxiety, Cognitive Anxiety, and Behavioral Anxiety). Equality of factor structures was compared using multigroup confirmatory factor analyses. Measurement invariance for the four‐ and three‐factor models was obtained across gender and school‐level samples. The scores of the instrument showed high internal reliability and adequate test–retest reliability. The concurrent validity of the SAI scores was also examined through its relationship with the Social Anxiety Scale for Adolescents (SASA) scores and the Questionnaire about Interpersonal Difficulties for Adolescents (QIDA) scores. Correlations of the SAI scores with scores on the SASA and the QIDA were of low to moderate effect sizes.     

Mori Akira's Education for Self‐Awareness: Lessons from the Kyoto School for Mindful Education

What does it mean to educate for self‐awareness? How does this fit within education, with its other objectives, and other learning processes? These are key questions for more comprehensive versions of the mindful education movement. In order to provide some responses to these questions from a cohesive philosophical position, this article examines the philosophy of education of Mori Akira (1915–1976). It closely analyses his philosophy of self‐awareness (jikaku), while drawing comparisons with other Kyoto School philosophers. In order to fully understand Mori's particular conception of self‐awareness, it traces how this idea developed throughout his entire career: from his first book, The Philosophical Quest for Educational Ideals (1948), which focusses on the questing self‐awareness of the teacher, to the early–middle period (particularly The Practicality and Inwardness of Education, 1955, and Philosophical Anthropology of Education, 1961), which develops a systematic view of the self‐awareness of students, and to his final book, The Fundamental Principles of Human Formation (1977), which re‐examines generativity in light of uncertainty and death. What this trajectory shows is a view of education centred on self‐awareness and dynamically wrestling with key educational paradoxes, potentially deepening the philosophical grounding of mindful education.     

Back to Square One: The “Re‐depoliticizing’ of Civic Education in Hong Kong

This article argues that the development of civic education in Hong Kong can be divided into three phases chronologically: (1) before 1984: “depoliticization” by the state and the school; (2) 1984‐1997: “politicization” of the intended curriculum; and (3) 1997 onwards: “re‐depoliticization” of civic education and official confirmation of nationalistic education. In general, for phases one and two, the development is described as moving from de‐politicization to politicization, in response to the political development of Hong Kong from a British colony towards the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) of People's Republic of China. The article continues by exploring the third phase in detail with reference to the official document: Learning to Learn: Life‐long Learning and Whole‐person Development and the official speeches of the Chief Executive, Tung Chee Hwa. A phenomenon of re‐depoliticization of civic education is identified, together with a strong upheaval of nationalistic education. This leads civic education “back to square one"—"re‐depoliticized”. The article concludes by highlighting that the development of civic education in Hong Kong is a typical example of how civic education reflects the political context of the society.     

The influence of social interaction on meaning construction in a virtual community

As proposed by social constructive theorists, meaningful learning and individual development were achieved through social interaction. To foster social interaction among students, this study formed an online learning community in which they played multiple roles as writers, editors and commentators. In playing different roles, they read peers' texts, edited peers' errors, evaluated peer editors' corrections and finally reconstructed their own texts. Results of this study showed that the multiple roles they played allowed them to have opportunities to view their own texts from others' perspectives. Based on these perspectives, they were more willing to acquire information from and contribute information to peers. All of this extensive information acquisition and contribution resulted in meaning construction of texts as active students improved their final drafts in both local revision (grammatical correction) and global revision (the style, organisation and development of a text) after receiving and evaluating feedback from peer editors. Their final drafts were very different from those of passive students whose first and final drafts were almost the same despite some grammatical revisions. This study suggests that, rather than relying only on an examination of students' final drafts, there may be benefits in teachers encouraging students to actively participate in social interaction by reading peers' texts, editing peers' errors and evaluating peer editors' corrections during text revisions.     

Student–teacher relationships matter: Moderating influences between temperament and preschool social competence

Ecological approaches to preschool assessment, which consider both within‐child and environmental variables, are considered best practice for school psychologists. This study employs such a model to investigate the interactive influence of child temperament and student–teacher relationship quality on peer play behaviors. Parents of 44 preschool children (25 girls, 19 boys) ranging in age from 40 to 68 months (mean [M] = 53.00) and primarily White (92.9%) provided ratings of their children's temperaments on the Behavioral Style Questionnaire. Their teachers completed the Student–Teacher Relationship Scale and the Penn Interactive Peer Play Scale. Results indicate that (a) student–teacher relationships characterized by low conflict and low dependence are associated with less disruptive peer play, and (b) the association between temperament and disruptive play is attenuated in low conflict student–teacher relationships. Implications for school psychologists include the importance of student–teacher relationships in the context of preschool assessment and intervention planning. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Development and validation of Kindergarten Environment Rating Scale

The authors present the development and the validation of the four‐dimensional, twenty‐five‐item, five‐point Kindergarten Environment Rating Scale (KERS). The Cohen’s Kappa of the items indicates acceptable reliability for the instrument. The content validity and confirmatory factor analysis indicates that the data obtained using the KERS could differentiate the kindergarten environmental quality in reality, as they proposed to do. As previous literature pointed out, the quality of kindergartens in this study varied greatly across different types and different areas. How to create and utilise the physical environment and how to interact with and provide appropriate support for young children are still common difficulties for kindergartens.     

Educating through Television in Nigeria

In highlighting the nature of educational television in Nigeria, the author traces the development of television in Nigeria, discusses aspects of instructional and educational television and looks at their importance in Nigerian education and national development. Some of the educational programmes broadcast on Nigerian television are described and the major problems facing the television industry are discussed. The author proposes some recommendations for solving those problems.