Microteaching: An integral part of a science methods class

Conclusion The peer teaching experience can be an informative and most rewarding experience for the science methods student but only if it is well organized and carried out in a conscientious manner. The students can gain valuable insights into the planning, teaching, and evaluation of different science teaching strategies, which could serve them well in their future teaching profession.     

Children learning about war: Children living with peace

Timmy, age four, walked slowly into the child care center, giving no outward indications of concern. Cautiously, he turned to his teacher asking, “Is that war over?” When his teacher shook her head in response, he shrugged his shoulders simply and replied, “Then I'm not riding any tricycle today. I don't want it to get a SCUD bomb on it.” With this in mind, he walked to the block area and began building.     

Teachers’ Emotional and Behavioral Support and Preschoolers’ Self-Regulation: Relations With Social and Emotional Skills During Play

Research Findings: Drawing from a Dutch sample of 113 Dutch children (M age = 37 months, SD = 3.5) from 37 early care and education classrooms (19 child care centers and 18 preschools), this study examined whether the relation between classroom emotional and behavioral support and children’s observed social integration and positive mood in a play situation depends on children’s observed behavioral self-regulation. Multilevel analyses revealed a positive association between emotional and behavioral support and children’s social integration for children low on behavioral self-regulation, but there was no such association for children high on behavioral self-regulation. Contrary to our expectations, children low on behavioral self-regulation showed more integration in the case of relatively highly supportive classrooms but not less integration in classrooms that were low in support. For children’s positive mood, a positive association with emotional and behavioral support was found, and no association was found with behavioral self-regulation. Practice or Policy: This study’s findings highlight the importance of emotionally and behaviorally supportive classroom experiences for young children’s social and emotional skills. Moreover, results hint that experts should perhaps not see children low in behavioral self-regulation as always at risk for poorer social outcomes.     

中国甘肃省农村地区为低收入家庭服务的民办学校

在甘肃省农村地区,研究小组发现586所民办学校,这些民办学校目前拥有59,958名在读学生。出于研究比较的原因,研究小组同时调研了309所农村地区的公办学校。研究结果表明尽管公办学校与民办学校的生师比相等,但是与公办学校相比,民办学校的女童入学率更高。尽管公办学校与民办学校收取相同的学费,但是民办学校教师的工资远远低于公办教师。仅有少量的民办学校得到当地政府的资助。研究结果表明建立民办学校的主要原因是因为公办学校距离太远。公办学校与民办学校在教学活动中没有显著性差异。本文阐述了这些研究结果对于中国和国际发展机构在制定教育发展政策方面的启示。     

Morphology and spelling in French students with dyslexia: the case of silent final letters

Spelling is a challenge for individuals with dyslexia. Phoneme-to-grapheme correspondence rules are highly inconsistent in French, which make them very difficult to master, in particular for dyslexics. One recurrent manifestation of this inconsistency is the presence of silent letters at the end of words. Many of these silent letters perform a morphological function. The current study examined whether students with dyslexia (aged between 10 and 15 years) benefit from the morphological status of silent final letters when spelling. We compared, their ability to spell words with silent final letters that are either morphologically justified (e.g., tricot, “knit,” where the final “t” is pronounced in morphologically related words such as tricoter, “to knit” and tricoteur “knitter”) or not morphologically justified (e.g., effort, “effort”) to that of a group of younger children matched for reading and spelling level. Results indicated that the dyslexic students’ spelling of silent final letters was impaired in comparison to the control group. Interestingly, morphological status helped the dyslexics improve the accuracy of their choice of final letters, contrary to the control group. This finding provides new evidence of morphological processing in dyslexia during spelling.     

Introduction to the special issue on the dynamics of written word production: methods,models and processing units

Reading and Writing - During the three past decades, written production models were essentially aimed at proposing a static view of the processes implemented to produce words. However, there are an...     

Preschool teachers’ perceptions of school learning environment and job satisfaction

We report a survey of 100 preschool teachers from 15 preschools in Singapore using a modified instrument called the Pre-School Level Environment Questionnaire. The aims were to explore differences in actual and preferred perceptions of preschool teachers’ school-level environment and to investigate the relationship among preschool teachers’ profile, preschool learning environments and job satisfaction. Quantitative data using paired samples t tests indicated that there were significant differences in teachers’ actual and preferred perceptions of their preschool learning environments except for the scale of Work Pressure. Logistic regression revealed a positive influence of Resource Adequacy on preschool teachers’ job satisfaction.     

Compliance through care and commitment: why young people do as adults ask

Although the behaviour of young people is often a focus for concern, most young people do as they are asked. This paper presents findings from a qualitative study across four educational settings that set out to explore reasons for this compliance. Forty-four young people (aged 12–21) participated in interactive focus groups and 21 practitioners were interviewed. A critical exploration of the authority relationships between the young people and the participating adults was undertaken. The research was designed to explore the relevance of the typology of authority relationships proposed by Dennis Wrong for educational settings. The findings confirmed the applicability of his work; however, the paper argues that an additional basis for authority relationships characterised by ‘care and commitment’ should be included. The results suggest the potential for long-term caring relationships, authenticity and professional competence as key factors in enhancing compliance in educational settings.     

Gendered Career Choice: is sex‐stereotyping the cause or the consequence?

The interaction between school pupils’ schematic representations of ‘social’ and ‘technical’ roles and the impact that the ‘sex‐typing’ of careers has on occupational choice were investigated using stimulus vignettes. Questionnaire data pertaining to occupational choice were collected from first‐year university students enrolled on courses designated as either ‘social’ or ‘technical’. The prototypical in‐group positions for the two occupational areas were calculated and used as the basis of vignettes depicting either a male or female school pupil experiencing difficulty in deciding whether to pursue a technical or socially oriented career. The vignettes were presented to 107 school pupils aged 16‐18 who were asked which career area they thought the target pupil was likely to choose. Results indicate that subjects were able to identify correctly the prototypical characteristics utilised in the vignettes and that these were of greater importance in their expectation of course choice than the ‘sex’ of the target pupil.     

The professional development needs of special needs assistants in Irish post-primary schools

According to government policy in Ireland, special needs assistants (SNAs) may be employed in post-primary schools to support students deemed to have chronic and serious care needs. There is currently no national policy regarding the continuing professional development (CPD) of SNAs, to meet the requirements of their role. This study investigated the CPD needs of SNAs, working in post-primary schools, in the Border, Midland and Western region of Ireland. Findings from a survey of SNAs and principals revealed that while the majority agreed CPD for SNAs should be compulsory, an ad hoc approach to provision of CPD prevailed, and barriers to CPD were identified. Findings also indicated that CPD in supporting students with Emotional and Behaviour Disorders was a key requirement identified by principals and SNAs. Supporting students with Autism Spectrum Disorder and promoting student independence were also identified as areas for CPD. The need for a national policy with regard to CPD for SNAs is highlighted.