Classroom behaviour and academic achievement: how classroom behaviour categories relate to gender and academic performance

Latent profile analysis was used to identify different categories of students having different ‘profiles’ using self-reported classroom behaviour. Four categories of students with unique classroom behaviour profiles were identified among secondary school students in Oslo, Norway (n = 1570). Analyses examined how classroom behaviour categories are related to gender and school performance and whether a dual understanding of gender in school is helpful when trying to explain achievement differences as supposed to classroom behaviour categories. Analyses showed that gender was a better predictor of school achievement than classroom behaviour categories, even though the behaviour categories did contribute to the explanation of variance in students’ academic marks above and beyond gender.     

Education as a ‘risky business’: Theorising student and teacher learning in complex times

This paper employs sociological literature on risk and the commodification of education to explain current schooling practices in a context of increased concerns about students’ behaviour and results on standardised tests of achievement. Drawing upon teacher and student learning practices in three school sites in south-east Queensland, Australia, the article reveals how specific tests, packages and programmes have been employed as technologies of governance to minimise the risk of adverse student behaviour, maximise student outcomes on standardised tests, and provide teachers with discrete learning experiences construed as improving such outcomes. The sum total of these foci is the construction of education as an increasingly ‘risky business’ which employs a myriad of products and tests to manage perceived and actual risks. The paper also reveals how these products and processes constitute student misbehaviour and inadequate teacher and student learning as ‘risk objects’ requiring constant intervention, but which also inhibit inclusion in schooling settings, and challenge teachers’ professionalism.     

Some possible effects of behaviour management training on teacher confidence and competence: evidence from a study of primary school teachers in Hong Kong

This study aims to explore the relationships between the extent and perceived quality of teachers’ experience of training in behaviour management (BM), and their awareness of the nature and extent of behavioural problems among school students, and their confidence in their own competence to deal with such problems. Teachers (n = 183) from Hong Kong primary schools were surveyed. The results showed that gender, age and whether teachers have received training had no significant influence on teachers’ awareness, conception and confidence regarding BM. A negative correlation was found between teachers’ levels of satisfaction in relation to their training experiences and their perceptions of the level of problematic behaviours among students, and the impact of students’ problematic behaviour on their teaching. A positive correlation was found between teachers’ levels of satisfaction in relation to their training experiences and their confidence in their own competence to deal with students’ problematic behaviour.     

Complicating ‘student behaviour’: exploring the discursive constitution of ‘learner subjectivities’

When educators consider ‘student behaviour’, they usually think about ‘problem behaviour’ such as disruption or defiance. This limited and limiting view of ‘student behaviour’ not only fails to acknowledge children as educational actors in a wider sense, but also narrowly positions educators as either in control or out of control of their classroom. Mainstream educational psychology’s responses to ‘challenging behaviour’ point educators to numerous ways to prevent its occurrence, through, for example, changing their disciplining approaches and techniques. However, much of the advice directed at improving student behaviour fails to interrogate the core notion of ‘student behaviour’ itself, as well as the conceptual baggage that it carries. The focus is squarely on eliminating ‘problem behaviour’ and often resorts to a pathologisation of students. Meanwhile, when considering ‘student behaviour’ through a Foucauldian post-structuralist optic, behaviour emerges as something highly complex – as spatialised, embodied action within/against governing discourses. In this opening up, it becomes both possible and critical to defamiliarise oneself with the categorisation of ‘challenging behaviour’ and to interrogate the discourses and subject positionings at play. In this paper, we pursue this task by asking: what happens with the notion of ‘behaviour’ if we change focus from ‘fixing problems’ to looking at the discursive constitution of ‘learner subjectivities’? What does it become possible to see, think, feel and do? In this exploration, we theorise ‘behaviour’ as learning and illustrate the constitution of ‘learner subjectivities’. Drawing on two case scenarios, we explore how children accomplish themselves as learners and how this accomplishment links the production of subjectivity and embodied action, and illustrate how ‘student/child behaviour’ appears significantly different to what mainstream educational psychology would have us see.     

Beyond you and me: stories for collective action and learning? Perspectives from an action research project

This paper explores the combination of storytelling and reflective action research as a means to effect change and learning within and across communities and organizations. Taking the complex challenge of ‘pro-environmental behaviour change’ as an example, the paper reflects on the experiences of a pilot project run for the UK government that took place over two years with five community groups in rural England. The research question centred on how the stories of ‘older’ (aged 50+) community advocates might be amplified and inspire wider change via a systemic action research approach. This paper describes the project and shares insights into how behaviour change might occur in this action-based learning context challenging more Newtonian conceptualizations of change. Some of the methodological and practice challenges and conundrums that arose are discussed including authenticity, ownership and ethical issues of voice and ownership. Parallels and distinctions between story-based action research and action learning are identified and the role of narrative in inducing action is considered. The paper concludes by reflecting on future directions and the overall potential there is for ‘narrative action learning’ to address those wicked systemic problems that transcend organizational boundaries and that are faced by real people in our communities and society as a whole.     

Overview of Native-speaker English Teacher Versus Non-native-speaker English Teacher

As much more non-native-speaker English teachers teach alongside native-speaker English teachers, either in China or any other non-English-speaking country, research on the differences between native-s...     

在线评论结构模型构建及实证分析

在线评论成为影响消费者购买决策的重要方面,已经引起国内外学者的关注。为了探讨在线评论重要的构成因素,设计了在线评论模型,并对模型进行测试。同时对消费者进行调研以及数据采集,且根据调查结果进行数据分析。研究发现：使用在线评论的消费者可以分为四类：产品偏好型、网站信任型、多目标型和评论者非偏好型。本研究意义在于,深入了解在线评论消费者的特征;指导企业和评论者正确发布在线评论的内容。     

音乐作品中旋律的表现特征

音乐是一种抽象艺术,音乐的诸多要素如和声、复调、曲式、配器已有一套完整的理论体系,而旋律写作只有重复、模进、变奏外等几种手法,旋律写作的抽象反映了旋律的创造空间的博大、深广,旋律的发展是千变万化、五彩缤纷的,不可能也不需要归纳成有限的条款,否则,旋律就会变得僵硬无魂。旋律的丰富性和精巧性特征反映了作曲家的聪明才智、创作灵感与创造能力。     

大学生习武动机研究

文章采用文献综述法,对我国近年来发表的关于大学生习练武术的研究文献进行了分析,总结了当代大学生的习武动机。文章进一步对大学生习武动机的激发、培养与大学生习武的内部动机、外部动机方面进行了评述,并指出了今后研究的方向。     

男女比例失调原因探析

近年来亚洲许多国家面临男女比例失调的问题,这越来越受到有关国家甚至全世界的关注和重视。在中国,这个问题更为突出。男女比例失调在整个亚洲范围内,表面上看是由于亚洲的法律与文化对女性的轻视导致的,事实上导致男女比例失调的因素是多方面的。深入探究男女比例失调的原因,有助于为有效控制男女比例提供理论支持和政策导向。