Validity evidence for the Chinese version Classroom Appraisal of Resources and Demands (CARD)

The Classroom Appraisal of Resources and Demands (CARD) was designed to evaluate teacher stress based on subjective evaluations of classroom demands and resources. However, the CARD has been mostly utilized in western countries. The aim of the current study was to provide aspects of the validity of responses to a Chinese version of the CARD that considers Chinese teachers’ unique vocational conditions in the classroom. A sample of 580 Chinese elementary school teachers (510 female teachers and 70 male teachers) were asked to respond to the Chinese version of the CARD. Confirmatory factor analyses showed that the data fit the theoretical model very well (e.g., CFI: .982; NFI: .977; GFI: .968; SRMR: .028; RMSEA: .075; where CFI is comparative fit index, NFI is normed fit index, GFI is goodness of fit, SRMR is standardized root mean square residual, RMSEA is root mean square error of approximation), thus providing evidence of construct validity. Latent constructs of the Chinese version of the CARD were also found to be significantly associated with other measures that are related to teacher stress such as self‐efficacy, job satisfaction, personal habits to deal with stress, and intention to leave their current job.     

Qualitative data analysis in cross‐cultural projects

Large‐scale research projects, conducted in a cross‐European context, are increasingly attractive to educational researchers and policy‐makers. However, this form of comparative research across cultures brings problems concerning the standardization of data collection and analysis, particularly where ethnographic research is concerned, as it prioritizes a full range of qualitative research strategies. This paper outlines the use of a universal model and the approaches recently taken by two research teams and contrasts these with another recent nine‐partner comparative European study that used ethnographic methods. We then describe the analytical procedures used in the project, which encouraged participant observation and individual researcher interpretation in order to generate grounded accounts and outline how they were culturally sensitive and meaningful to research teams who used varied analytical approaches. However, this raised difficult issues for the ‘final’ analysis and the production of a loosely coupled research report. Our pragmatic solution was a process of ‘qualitative synthesis’ whereby individual partner reports were collated by the Project Director and treated as data and a grounded theory approach was applied to generate tentative theory in respect of creative learning. The paper concludes by arguing that data generated by a loosely coupled approach to qualitative comparative research which uses a wide range of data collection methods can be effectively analysed with a qualitative synthesis.     

Open Learning and New Technologies in Teacher Education: new paradigms for development

This paper suggests that teacher education is undergoing significant transformation. In most countries there is a recognition that the quality and extent of provision will need to be raised. Open and distance education, utilising new interactive forms of technology, will have a crucial, perhaps major, role to play in this process. The school will act increasingly as a ‘site’ for learning within evolving models of initial and in‐service teacher education. All forms of teacher education will exploit new technologies. There will be an increasing convergence between conventional and open and distance modes of delivery. New assessments of costs and effectiveness will need to be made. Changes in technology has rendered ‘out‐of‐date’ much of the previous evaluative evidence. National and international expertise in open and distance education, new methodologies and teacher education will need to be developed.     

The Reconstruction of Primary Teachers' Identities

Primary teachers have had to reconstruct their identities in response to the reconstruction of the education system. The holism, humanism and vocationalism of the old Plowden self-identity has been challenged by a new assigned social identity signalled in the assault on child-centred philosophy, the diminution of elementary trust, and changes in the teacher role. These challenges have thrown up new dilemmas for teachers, and represent 'fateful moments' in the careers of their identities. In trying to resolve the dilemmas, teachers have engaged in identity work, characterised mainly by identity talk, and a number of emotional and intellectual strategies. The result has been a partitioning of the old Plowden self-identity, with the 'real self' being largely withheld from the new personal identity and the sense of vocationalism being set to one side. The new personal identity in teaching represents a more instrumental and situational outlook, with the substantial self finding more expression elsewhere. Identity work is still in progress and seems set to continue while teachers have to find ways of relating to two or more competing discourses.     

Putting higher education in its place in (East Asian) political economy

ABSTRACT

This article relates changes in higher education (HE) and research in East Asian societies to recent trends in political economy and, in particular, the reorientation of developmental states (DSs) in the region. The DS is oriented to catch-up competitiveness and, as the horizon of development shifts, so do its appropriate institutional forms and strategies. Catch-up competitiveness is guided by economic imaginaries, often linked to geoeconomic, geopolitical, and broader societal imaginaries, whose hegemony depends on particular discursive and disciplinary practices. The shift in the roles of HE and research is related to the reorientation of DSs from export-oriented, investment-led growth to knowledge-intensive, investment-led growth, supplemented in some cases by efforts to create international financial hubs to exploit a global trend towards financialisation. These themes are explored through comparison of selected East Asian economies/societies. The article ends with some general conclusions about the state's continuing role in HE and its internationalisation in the region.     

Making it Happen: a personal account of a teacher education aid project in the Solomon Islands

Secondary teacher education in the Solomon Islands has been non‐existent since an early attempt was abandoned a decade ago. An international aid project now has attempted to implement a carefully wrought plan. This article outlines the plan, describes what actually happened when the plan was implemented, and proposes some principles which might be useful in guiding the efforts of future project managers charged with the responsibility of making things happen in a culture other than their own.     

Digital learning and teaching: Evaluation of developments for students in higher education

Whilst there has been a great deal of activity in the exploration of learning situations, especially with the development of computer-aided learning, the introduction of holistic views of learning situations can be useful. In particular, one current approach is that of supported web-based learning systems to complement traditional teaching. This paper focuses on recent work at Liverpool John Moores University (JMU) for one undergraduate module, which with one other has served to provide a rationale for a web-based teaching, learning and support environment for academic staff and students. The approach has enabled researchers at JMU to explore module/programme support development possibilities on the web from academic, quality and commercial perspectives as well as the cybernetic and evolutionary nature of learning. It has also enabled an exploration of student attitudes and perceptions to the technology, insights into the learning strategies adopted by students and their relation to student learning styles. The emphases in studying this system are appropriateness in terms of pedagogy, quality of content, presentation and technology fit. The innovation has appeal with students, it has flexibility as a delivery platform and there are cost benefits and external commercial possibilities. The development process for academics has been mapped and cost benefits of the web site gauged, in order to develop the strategy of a quality-based web-supported teaching and learning environment, coupled with a suitable support mechanism and evaluation model, for staff and students at JMU.