Stress, Burnout and Workload in Teachers of Children with Special Educational Needs

Whilst stress in teaching has received much attention in recent years, for teachers of children with special educational needs (SEN) specific stress-related research is relatively rare. This study sought to address this issue by investigating stress, burnout and workload in teachers of children with special educational needs. A postal questionnaire was sent to 56 ordinary schools and eight schools for children with moderate learning difficulties (MLD), eight for children with severe learning difficulties (SLD) and eight for children with emotional and behavioural difficulties (EBD). The schools were situated in inner city, urban and rural areas in the south-east of England. A total of 221 teachers responded. Results indicated that, whilst generalised claims for burnout may not be justified, within all three special school settings there was evidence of a high level of emotional exhaustion as measured by the education version of the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI). In addition, all groups were subject to long hours of work, and work overload was high for ordinary school SEN teachers and teachers working in MLD and SLD settings. Reference to sources of intense stress indicated some differences according to setting but generally implicated workload and challenging behaviour. The conclusions are that further research into stress and burnout of SEN teachers is required if effective coping and preventative strategies are to be designed.     

Models for Curricular Materials Development: Combining Applied Development Processes with Theory

Developing curricular materials for technical and vocational education is particularly challenging because of the comprehensive requirements for technical education and the rapidity with which technical positions are evolving. Well-educated employees are expected to have general communication, reasoning, problem-solving, and behavioral skills in addition to occupation-specific technical knowledge. Furthermore, technical and vocational education materials must meet the needs of various contexts each with its own unique array of factors which must be accommodated. To assist in the process of materials development, this paper presents a comprehensive and contextualized model as a guide for curricular developers. This model was formed through the synthesis of two theoretical and four applied models, with the outline of the applied models occurring as part of a national evaluation of the National Science Foundation’s Advanced Technological Education Program. Examples illuminating the elements of the template are provided.     

Rate of reinforcement and session duration as determinants of within-session patterns of responding

Rats pressed levers for Noyes pellets or keys for sweetened condensed milk reinforcers delivered by multiple schedules. Session length and baseline rates of reinforcement were varied in two experiments. Rates of responding increased during the early part of the session and then decreased for both responses and reinforcers, as well as for all subjects and values of the independent variables. Changes in response rates across the session sometimes exceeded 500%. Respoiise rates peaked approximately 20 min after the beginning of the session, regardless of session duration, when subjects responded on a multiple variable interval 1-min variable interval 1-min schedule. The function was flatter for longer sessions than it was for shorter sessions. The function was flatter, more symmetrical, and peaked later for lower rates of reinforcement than for higher rates of reinforcement. The function appeared early in training, and further experience moved and reduced its peak. Variables related to reinforcement exerted more control over some aspects of this function than did variables related to responding. These within-session patterns of responding may have fundamental implications for experimental design and theorizing.     

Classroom behaviour management strategies in response to problematic behaviours of primary school children with special educational needs: views of special educational needs coordinators

Children identified with special educational needs (SEN) and behavioural difficulties present extra challenges to educators and require additional supports in school. This paper presents views from special educational needs coordinators (SENCos) on various strategies used by educators to support children identified with SEN and problematic behaviours. The data were collected from telephone interviews with six SENCos from the UK’s South West Peninsula. The SENCos were invited to participate because their school was participating in a cluster-randomised trial of a teacher classroom management course (Incredible Years). Using thematic analysis to analyse the data, this paper illustrates strategies deemed by SENCos to be successful in the support of children identified with SEN. The management strategies generated by participating SENCos were then mapped onto those taught as part of the classroom management course for comparison. Findings indicate that strategies from the training programme appear to be appropriate for children identified with both SEN and behavioural difficulties.     

The effectiveness of teaching science with pictorial analogies

This study used a conceptual problem solving test to investigate the effect of a series of pictorial analogies on the concepts of density, pressure, and atmospheric pressure in Year 8 classrooms. The analogies were taught following Glynn's teaching with analogies model. It was found that the students taught with the pictorial analogies scored significantly higher than their counterparts (p<01). In addition, the low achievers benefited more from this teaching strategy than did the high achievers. Further, qualitative analysis revealed that most of the students' alternative conceptions were from preexisting naive intuitions rather than arising from analog instruction.     

The Tower in Red and Yellow: Using Children's Drawings in Formative Research for Alum Simsim, an Educational Television Series for Egyptian Children

Formative Research is an integral part of the development of Sesame Workshop's productions worldwide. It is used to bring children into the television production process and give producers insights into what children like and learn from material as it is being produced. Using examples from a study of six test segments of the television series Alam Simsim, the Egyptian Sesame Street, this paper illustrates how one non-conventional research method-systematic analysis of children's artwork-can be used, in conjunction with other research tools, to gain supplemental feedback from children during formative research of educational television.