Why do long‐serving teachers stay in the teaching profession? Analysing the motivations of teachers with 10 or more years’ experience in England

This paper examines the reasons why long‐serving teachers remain in the teaching profession. Interest in teacher retention has grown in recent years, both in the UK and internationally, due to concerns over teacher shortage. However, most research on retention has focused on why teachers leave; this paper aims to fill the gap in our understanding of the positive reasons why long‐serving teachers stay in the profession, and how these reasons change over time. We define ‘long‐serving teachers’ as teachers who have taught for 10 years and more. We draw on a subset of data from an existing, broader study (Menzies et al., 2015 ) on why teachers enter and stay in the profession. In this paper, we draw on questionnaire findings from over 900 teachers with 0 to over 30 years’ teaching experience, and interviews with 14 long‐serving teachers, to understand why long‐serving teachers enter and, more importantly for our purposes, stay in teaching. We find that teachers’ motivational patterns are highly complex and influenced by school‐level and policy contexts. Nonetheless, two prominent retention factors are identified: teachers’ perceived professional mastery and altruistic reasons. Perceived professional mastery is particularly important due to its mutually reinforcing analytic relationships with other reasons. We find that teachers’ identification with intrinsic, altruistic and perceived professional mastery reasons become stronger with years of experience, but in some cases, paradoxically, so does their identification with extrinsic reasons. From our evidence, we suggest policy implications for enhancing the retention of long‐serving teachers.     

Does Felt Gender Compatibility Mediate Influences of Self‐Perceived Gender Nonconformity on Early Adolescents’ Psychosocial Adjustment?

This study evaluated the hypothesis that self-perceived gender nonconformity is distressing to children because it undermines a confident sense of gender compatibility. Participants were 357 early adolescents (180 boys, M age = 12.68 years) in England who responded to questionnaires measuring friendship styles (preoccupied, avoidant), gender compatibility (typicality, contentedness), and adjustment (self-esteem, peer social competence, depression, narcissism). Sex differences in friendship styles indicated that preoccupied and avoidant styles were typical for girls and boys, respectively. Gender-atypical friendship styles predicted poor adjustment, and their impact on adjustment was partially mediated by felt gender compatibility. Results suggest that perceiving gender-atypical attributes in the self undermines adjustment partly because it leads children to feel incompatible with their gender collective.     

Online Plagiarism Training Falls Short in Biology Classrooms

Online plagiarism tutorials are increasingly popular in higher education, as faculty and staff try to curb the plagiarism epidemic. Yet no research has validated the efficacy of such tools in minimizing plagiarism in the sciences. Our study compared three plagiarism-avoidance training regimens (i.e., no training, online tutorial, or homework assignment) and their impacts on students’ ability to accurately discriminate plagiarism from text that is properly quoted, paraphrased, and attributed. Using pre- and postsurveys of 173 undergraduate students in three general ecology courses, we found that students given the homework assignment had far greater success in identifying plagiarism or the lack thereof compared with students given no training. In general, students trained with the homework assignment more successfully identified plagiarism than did students trained with the online tutorial. We also found that the summative assessment associated with the plagiarism-avoidance training formats (i.e., homework grade and online tutorial assessment score) did not correlate with student improvement on surveys through time.     

Sex Differences in the Use of Science and Technology in Children's Cartoons

Television is among the many mechanisms that transmit information about sex-appropriate behavior to children. In order to examine whether television cartoons portray male and female characters using science and technology in a different manner, we examined the amount and type of science and technology utilized by characters in popular children's cartoons. Results revealed that most characters in these cartoons were male who were often depicted using science and technology, usually while being aggressive. When female characters were shown, they were portrayed as both able and prosocial, using science and technology for the greater good of others, rather than for destruction. In addition, female characters performed prosocial behaviors such as caring and sharing, showed self-confidence and explained things to others, and were less angry and violent than were male characters. Our findings suggest that the portrayal of female characters as competent may be successfully linked with the tendency to also show them as prosocial. Despite relatively positive portrayal of female characters, however, their appearance was rare and most likely not the main focus of the action.     

Responsibility of learning: a cross-cultural examination of the relationship of grit,motivational belief and self-regulation among college students in the US,UAE and Turkey

Learning Environments Research - The present study explored the relationship between grit, motivational beliefs and self-regulation among undergraduate students in the United States, the United...     

Serum iron,Folate, Ferritin and CD4 Count in HIV Seropositive Women

HIV infects cluster of differentiation 4 (CD4) T-lymphocytes, monocytes and macrophages resulting in decreased number and function of CD4 cells, changes that affect both cell mediated and humoral immunity. Hematological abnormalities are a common complication of human immune virus (HIV) infection and these abnormalities increase as the disease advances. Anemia is the most common haematological abnormality in HIV seropositive patients and its incidence is strongly associated with the progression of the disease. The aim of present study was to assess the haematological profile of HIV seropositive women and compare them with CD4 count. Two hundred seropositive females (age 18–25 years) attending antiretroviral therapy clinic were selected. Routine gynaecological and haematological investigations were carried out, study samples were drawn and serum iron, folate and ferritin were analysed by chemiluminiscence and CD4 count was determined by using flow-cytometry. Anemia was prevalent in seropositive women especially in those with low CD4 levels. Serum folate and ferritin levels were significantly lower in females with lower CD4 levels. Serum iron levels were higher at low CD4 levels. The mean CD4 count in HIV seropositive anaemic women were lower as compared to non anaemics suggesting that anaemia improves with higher CD4 cell counts. Plasma folate and ferritin levels are sensitive predictor of anaemia in early HIV infections and these patients should have a regular monitoring of their folate and ferritin levels especially with lower CD4 levels.     

The Works of Gilbert Seldes

W.J. Baker's A History of the Marconi Company (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1972–$12.95)

Vishwa Mohan Mishra's Communication and Modernization in Urban Slums (New York: Asia Publishing House, Inc., 1972—$6.95, with paper edition available)

James R. Bradon (ed.) The Performing Arts in Asia (Paris: Unesco [available in this country from New York: Unipub, Inc.], 1971—$3.00, paper)

John A. Lent (ed.) The Asian Newspapers' Reluctant Revolution (Ames: Iowa State University Press, 1971—$12.50)

Richard L. Merritt (ed.) Communication in International Politics (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 19Y2—$15.00)

Gayle Durham Hollander's Soviet Political Indoctrination: Developments in Mass Media and Propaganda Since Stalin (New York: Praeger Special Studies in International Politics and Public Affairs, 1972—$15.00)     

How gay and bisexual men compensate for the lack of meaningful sex education in a socially conservative state

The information shared in schools on sex education in the USA is highly variable depending on the state and sometimes city in which a student lives. Gay and bisexual students living in a socially conservative, primarily rural state such as Oklahoma often receive little information about sexual health information that pertains to their behaviours unless it is discussing the dangers of sex. Using a qualitative approach, 20 gay and bisexual men currently residing in Oklahoma completed semi-structured interviews about their experiences with sex education and alternate ways to compensate for lack of information provided. Participants noted an awareness of the lack of meaningful sex education or if it was offered, a primary focus on abstinence-only until marriage heteronormative curricula. Participants described various ways they compensated for lack of sex education including accessing pornography and information from the internet. With the current socio-political environment of Oklahoma, it is unlikely wholesale changes to the sex education curricula can be made. The importance of public health professionals using the internet and peer educators to deliver inclusive and informative sexual health information remains salient and viable for men who reside in socio-politically conservative areas like Oklahoma.