Valid inferences of teachers’ judgements of pupils’ reading literacy: does formal teacher competence matter?

The primary aim of this study was to investigate whether and, if so, how formal teacher competence relates to the relationship between pupil reading achievement and teachers judgements’ of pupils’ reading achievement. The data come from the Swedish participation in the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) 2001 in Grade 3. Information was obtained from pupils (N = 5271) and teachers (N = 351). Analyses were conducted using multilevel structural equation modeling (SEM) with random slopes. Teacher competence was operationalized using multiple observed indicators and defined as a latent variable. A higher correspondence between teacher judgements and pupil reading achievement for teachers with higher competence was found. The results highlight the importance of teacher competence in assessment practice.     

Native Language Self-Concept and Reading Self-Concept: Same or Different?

In assessing verbal academic self-concept with preadolescents, researchers have used scales for students’ self-concepts in reading and in their native language interchangeably. The authors conducted 3 studies with German students to test whether reading and German (i.e., native language) self-concepts can be treated as the same or different constructs. Compared with other facets of academic self-concept, reading self-concept was more highly related to reading test scores (Study 1) and German self-concept to German grades (Study 2). In Study 3, reading and general school self-concepts demonstrated similar relations to German grades. The findings of the 3 studies, albeit indirect, supported the specificity matching principle and caution researchers against applying reading and native language self-concept scales uncritically to infer verbal self-concept.     

Formal Teacher Competence and its Effect on Pupil Reading Achievement

The main aim of this study was to investigate the impact of formal teacher competence on pupils' reading achievement. The data comes from the Swedish participation in PIRLS 2001 in grade 3. Information was obtained from pupils (n = 5271) and teachers (n = 351). The analyses were conducted using 2-level structural equation modeling. Teacher competence was operationalized with multiple observed indicators and defined as a latent variable. Two measures of achievement were used: PIRLS 2001 reading test results and teacher judgement of pupil performance in the Swedish language. The results reveal that teacher competence was positively and similarly related to both achievement measures. No selection effects in terms of pupil socioeconomic status were found. The current study provides evidence for a strong impact of teacher competence on pupil reading achievement.     

How Simple is the Simple View of Reading?

According to the Simple View of Reading, reading ability can be divided into decoding and language comprehension. In the present study, decoding and comprehension's contribution to reading ability was studied both in children with reading difficulties and in children with typical reading ability. Decoding and comprehension was further divided into sub-components, and the contribution from non-verbal ability and general processing speed was also studied. The results demonstrated that decoding made the largest contribution to reading ability for children with reading difficulties, while language comprehension contributed the most for children with typical reading ability. The contribution of non-verbal ability was not significant, and general processing speed only made a significant contribution to decoding for typical children. The two factors in the Simple View of Reading, decoding and comprehension, together explained less of the variance in reading ability for children with reading difficulties than for children with typical reading ability.     

Educational policy for citizenship in the early years in Australia

Understandings of young children as active and capable citizens, while evident in discourses of early childhood education and research, are not widely reflected in the policy for the early years of schooling in Australia. This paper makes an analysis of the gaps and tensions between discourses of young children as active citizens and policy for citizenship education at the national level in Australia and at the Queensland State level. There is a widespread discourse within early childhood that regards young children as citizens and democratic participants in their own lives, as a reflection of the oft-cited Article 12 in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. However, educational policy and curriculum for citizenship in Australia, by and large, adheres to age and stage understandings of children that deem young children unable to conceptualise and/or articulate ideas of what it means to ‘be a good citizen’. We ask which discourses are being harnessed in educational policy for citizenship in Australia, what discourses are silenced or ignored and what this tells us about how young children are thought about in Australian politics and education.     

Exploring the Actual and Potential Rhetoric-reality Gaps in Environmental Education and their Implications for Pre-service Teacher Training

The mismatch between the advocated views of theorists and the teaching realities in school environmental education is widely recognised. There is relatively little research examining the advocated practices of teachers themselves, other than already environmentally active teachers, to indicate the nature of the 'potential' rhetoric-reality gap that might exist if all constraints were removed, and teachers had a completely free choice in designing their own environmental education programmes. This article identifies such gaps by exploring current practices and teachers' views on selected components of environmental education, across a complete teacher training partnership. This information has been used to help prioritise the content and approaches used by pre-service teachers when conducting school-based environmental activities. The investigation reveals that although most schools lack a written policy on environmental education, most have a positive attitude towards the large majority of selected components and these are usually addressed in school. Teachers are not generally compelled to deliver aspects of environmental education that they deem inappropriate. Of the 10 components not currently addressed by most of these schools, the findings suggest that five would be added if constraining factors were removed, but a further five would remain absent. The overall potential rhetoric-reality differences in this case study are thus smaller than the actual existing differences, but still fall short of some theorists' goals. Within the pre-service training programme, efforts have been concentrated on components that are: (i) currently practised in most schools; and (ii) receive a positive response from most teachers, and this has resulted in markedly improved feedback from schools and trainees alike.     

Self-efficacy and the stages of exercise behavior change.

This study examined the application of constructs concerning stage of readiness to change and self-efficacy to exercise. We developed two scales to measure stages of change for exercise behavior. Prevalence information on a sample of 1,063 government employees and 429 hospital employees was then obtained. Next, the ability of a questionnaire measuring exercise self-efficacy to differentiate employees according to stage of readiness to change was tested. Results from both stages-of-change scales revealed that 34-39% of employees were regularly participating in physical activity. Scores on efficacy items significantly differentiated employees at most stages. Results indicated employees who had not yet begun to exercise, in contrast with those who exercised regularly, had little confidence in their ability to exercise. Continued work at understanding the stages of exercise behavior and exercise self-efficacy could yield important information for enhancing exercise adoption and adherence.