Understanding teachers’ motivation for and commitment to teaching: profiles of Chinese early career,early childhood teachers

ABSTRACT

To better understand the reasons underlying attrition and the teacher shortage, and to develop ways to attract and retain high-quality teachers in early childhood education, it is necessary to explore teacher motivation and commitment to teaching. Although previous research has investigated various aspects of teacher motivation and commitment to teaching, little attention has been paid to this in the context of early childhood teachers, especially early career teachers. Drawing upon in-depth interviews with 12 early career, early childhood teachers in mainland China, this study aims to examine early career early childhood teachers’ motivation to teach and commitment to teaching in the Chinese context. Four distinct types of early career, early childhood educators were identified: committed passionate, committed compromiser, undecided, and uncommitted. Each of these had unique motives for teaching and different levels of commitment to kindergarten teaching in mainland China. The four types of early career early childhood teachers identified in this study demonstrate the diversity and complexity of teaching motivation and commitment to teaching in the field of early childhood education. The findings from this study can provide implications for policy-makers and teacher educators to enhance novice teachers’ motivation and commitment to teaching in the early childhood context.     

Reasons for suboptimal learning in medical microbiology

Medical microbiology presents a challenge to undergraduate students, mostly due to its extensive content and complexity of unfamiliar terminology. In addition to a narrative review of the literature, we report findings on students’ motivation for and approach to learning in the Infections module of an undergraduate medical curriculum, and their perceived lack of retention of knowledge acquired in the module, as determined by a self-administered, anonymous questionnaire. When students experienced information overload, they reverted to performance goals and the wrong motivation for learning. Their focus turned primarily to being successful in tests and examinations, and they consequently adopted a surface approach to learning. Surface learning and memorisation of facts without understanding its content usually result in moderate retention of knowledge, which could handicap the development of clinical reasoning. However, the concern about students’ perceived poor retention of knowledge can be laid to rest – the prognosis is not discouraging after all.     

Differential prospective relationships of social-oriented and individual-oriented achievement motivations with achievement goals and affective wellbeing: A 1-year follow-up study

This study aimed to investigate the differential prospective relationships of social-oriented achievement motivation (SOAM) and individual-oriented achievement motivation (IOAM) with student's adoption of specific achievement goals and their affective wellbeing (AWB). A total of 332 Chinese university students (M_age = 19.139; Female = 75%) voluntarily participated in the baseline and the 1-year follow-up surveys of this study. The factor score path analysis results showed statistically significant positive paths from SOAM and IOAM at baseline to performance goals and mastery goals, respectively, at follow-up. Moreover, a statistically significant positive path was found from SOAM at baseline to negative affective experiences, at follow-up, and no association was found between IOAM and AWB, after controlling for achievement goals. The findings suggest the usefulness of raising educators' and parents' awareness regarding the double-edged sword of utilizing socially valued motives to promote performance approach goals in individuals because such values potentially lowering their psychological wellbeing.     

藏族大学生数学学习心理及其相关因素调查报告

对甘南合作民族师范高等专科学校藏汉双语理科教育系的藏汉双语数学教育专业8个年级的153名学生,就数学学习的动机、情感、兴趣、态度、意志和认识6方面进行问卷调查,发现大学生与中小学生具有基本相同的心理特征,在部分动机因素、认识、意志和态度等方面大学生比中小学生有所提高。应增加中小学课程中的应用性知识、突出师范性、教师变换角色．体现学生主体、教师主导的作用,用书面语施教、加强教师的继续教育和促使学生家长了解社会。     

02级英语本科新生情况的调查和分析

本从教育统计学和教育测量学的角度，对02级英语本科新生的情况进行了调查和分析，从中找出学生在入学阶段时的学习动机、学习志向和专业知识结构方面所存在的实际情况和问题，并提出解决问题的的建议和措施。     

赫尔和斯金纳在动机问题上的分歧初探

本文旨在对西方行为主义心理学家赫尔和斯金纳在内驱力强化等有关动机问题上存在的分歧进行对比性分析。     

商务英语学习动机对比分析:个案研究

本文采用问卷调查和访谈相结合的形式,对180名英语专业和非英语专业二年级商务英语学习者的英语学习动机展开调查研究。研究结果表明受试者的商务英语学习动机水平和动机强度均属中等水平且学习动机存在专业和性别上的显著性差异。     

高校贵重仪器网络化管理模式的构建与实践

贵重仪器设备的管理和使用逐渐成为如今各高等院校所关注的问题.为提高贵重仪器设备的使用率,促进资源共享,充分发挥贵重仪器设备的使用价值,暨南大学对此进行改革,改进运行机制和管理手段,建立“贵重仪器设备管理与效益分析系统”,实行网络化管理.该系统具有仪器使用预约管理、仪器使用授权管理、仪器使用收费管理三大功能.同时建立激励机制,培养高技术水平的设备管理人员,形成贵重仪器设备使用与管理的良性循环,使贵重仪器设备更好地为学校教学科研工作服务,更好地创造价值.     

论中小制造业企业实施绿色管理的动因及途径

市场的绿色消费需求、政府的引导与监管、国际绿色化运动浪潮、企业的持续经营目标等是驱使中小制造业企业绿色管理行为产生的主要动因。为此,政府应通过管理体制的绿色转型、公众绿色消费意识的培育、绿色管理资金支持力度的加大、绿色关键技术开发的加强等途径促进中小制造业企业实施绿色管理;从中小制造业企业自身来说则应通过经营理念的转变、企业内部绿色管理体系的构建以及企业间合作的加强等途径来加快实施绿色管理的进程。     

建构主义理论指导下的高职英语口语教学策略

建构主义理论强调要以学习者为中心,通过学生的自主学习、协作学习和情境教学等,让学生主动建构自己的英语口语交际能力和语用能力,为大学英语口语教学提供了新的模式。教师应在建构主义理论指导下,积极更新教学策略,改变传统教学模式,提高教师自身素质,并激发学生学习英语的兴趣和动机。