School violence research has mainly focused on the impact on students. Very few studies, even fewer from a cross-cultural perspective, have examined the relationships between school violence and teacher professional engagement, and the role played by teacher self-efficacy and school climate related factors. The present study utilizes a SEM research methodology to analyze the 2013 TALIS data. The purpose is to understand and compare the relationships in four different cultural contexts; the U.S., England, South Korea, and Mexico. (...) Results indicate, on average, that the significant and negative impacts of school violence on teacher professional engagement are partly mediated by teacher self-efficacy. The negativity of school violence is significantly alleviated by enhancing participation among school stakeholders and improving teacher–student relationships. The relationships among the factors apply across all four cultural systems, though, the effects of factors and variables vary to a degree. The paper also discusses other relevant issues and differences as well as their implications. (shrink)

Teacher Subject Identity in Professional Practicefocuses on a key, but neglected, element of a teacher's identity: that of their subject expertise.Studies of teachers' professional practice have shown the importance of a teacher's identity and the extent to which it can affect their resilience, commitment and ultimately their effectiveness. Drawing upon narrative research undertaken with a range of teachers over a period of 14 years, the book explores how subject expertise can play a significant role in teacher (...) identity, acting as a professional compass guiding teachers at all levels of their professional practice. It reveals powerful individual stories of meaning-making which highlight the dynamic importance of teachers' subject expertise The book's metaphor of a professional compass goes to the heart of teacher professionalism, and provides a valuable mechanism to enable teachers to respond to challenges they face in their daily practice. It enables teachers to consider the moral dimensions of their practice, and can constitute a significant component in professional formation and identity. Throughout the book the importance of subject expertise for teachers' professional practice is explored at a range of scales: from the classroom to broad education policy, and at different stages of a teacher's career which offers readers a deeper understanding of the importance of subject expertise for teachers. Teacher Subject Identity in Professional Practicemakes a significant contribution to an under-researched area. It identifies the role and significance of teachers' subject expertise as a dimension of their teacher identity. The book is key reading for teacher educators, policy makers and researchers with an interest in teachers' professional development and practice. (shrink)

ABSTRACT As a culture-specific phenomenon, academic dishonesty remains an under-researched domain. The purpose of this study was to voice teachers’ perceptions of: the influential factors contributing to AD, the consequences of AD for the quality of teacher–student relationships, and the specific strategies for regulating TSR. Using a qualitative phenomenological design, we attempted to present a detailed description of teachers’ lived experiences regarding the above aims. The participants were English language and Mathematics teachers with different personal and (...) professional characteristics working in public high schools of Iran. Data was collected through intensive semi-structured interviewing and analyzed by a five-step approach applied to phenomenology in psychological research. Data analysis revealed three general themes regarding teachers’ perceptions with several components. We found that the lack of attention and intrinsic motivation were the prominent perceived factors with consequences for TSR. Also, personal talk and active supervision were the common techniques that teachers utilized with students who commit AD to manage and control the TSR quality. The results were discussed with reference to teachers’ academic discipline, gender, and teaching experience. (shrink)

This study aimed to explore the relationship between job-related stress and township teachers’ professional well-being. Based on Job Demand-Resource Model, this study examined the mediating role of teachers’ professional identity and the moderating role of perceived organizational support in this relationship. A total of 24,276 township teachers in China responded to the Teacher Stress Scale, the Teachers’ Professional Identity Scale, the Teachers’ Professional Well-Being Structure Questionnaire, and the Perceived Organizational Support Scale. (...) Results showed that: the professional well-being of township teachers differed significantly in terms of school type and demographic characteristics like age and gender; job-related stress negatively predicted township teachers’ professional well-being, with teachers’ professional identity playing a mediating role; the relation between job-related stress and teachers’ professional identity was moderated by perceived organizational support; and in the moderated mediation analysis, job-related stress positively predicted township teachers’ professional well-being. These findings indicated that township teachers’ professional well-being was influenced by both organizational and individual factors, which provided a theoretical basis and intervention pathways for improving township teachers’ professional well-being. (shrink)

Kindergarten teachers’ professional commitment affects their emotional input and turnover intention, and it is affected by the spiritual and material factors of teachers’ families, kindergartens, and society. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the mediating effect of the dimensions of subjective well-being in the relationship between social support and professional commitment. The study is grounded in human ecology theory and social exchange theory. We surveyed 778 kindergarten teachers from different educational systems in Guangdong Province in (...) China. We used the “Appreciative Social Support” and “Subjective Well-being” Scales and the “Professional Commitment Questionnaire.” The results showed that the four variables of social support, positive affect, life satisfaction, and professional commitment of kindergarten teachers were significantly and positively correlated with each other: social support positively predicted positive affect and life satisfaction, positive affect and life satisfaction positively predicted professional commitment, and social support indirectly influenced professional commitment through the parallel and chain path of positive affect and life satisfaction. This represents a compound multiple mediating effects on professional commitment. (shrink)

Over the last decades, changes within higher education have created increased pressure and uncertainty for academics, increasing their risk for cognitive, behavioral, physical, as well as psychological issues due to high job demands. Specifically, for new academics in teaching roles, their lack of knowledge and skills can contribute to a negative effect of these job demands on their well-being. This study therefore explored how teaching-related professional development programs can enhance new university teachers’ well-being, through semi-structured interviews with 10 (...) university teachers participating in such a program at a mid-sized Dutch university. We pay special attention to the relationship between specific learning activities integrated in the program and various dimensions of the psychological model of well-being by Ryff and Keyes. Using co-occurrence analysis and content analysis, we found that different learning activities had distinct relationships with different well-being facets. For example, formal workshops were mainly related to environmental mastery, a purpose in life and personal growth, while reflecting seemed to be especially connected to teachers’ self-acceptance, and participating in a learning community was mainly related to positive relations with others and personal growth. Our findings have implications for research on teacher well-being as well as for the design of professional development programs for higher education teaching staff. (shrink)

The experience of a teacher educator in England : values-based professional knowledge at stake -- International perspectives on values and professional knowledge in teacher education -- Applied theoretical principles for developing the relationship between trainee teachers' values and their professional knowledge -- The impact of university and school-based training contexts on the development of values-based professional knowledge -- The challenge of a values-based professional knowledge to current teacher education practice.

Teacher professional identity is a characteristic of a teacher, which should be developed in a long, consistent, and progressive process and usually shapes in any specific educational and social context. In addition to several factors influencing TPI, such as university education and empowerment courses, experience seems to play a significant role. Moreover, the role of psychological factors is highly undeniable in the formation and development of TPI. Attributional style is defined as the consistent way by which people can explain (...) the reasons for the occurrence of good or bad events. Besides considering ASs as one of the crucial variables for academic success, it can be regarded as one of the aspects of shaping one’s identity in general and the teacher’s identity in particular. In order to study the relationship between AS and TPI of teachers regarding their experience, two questionnaires were distributed among 317 Iranian English as foreign language teachers, and about 80% returned them. The researchers ran correlational analyses and they came up with a positive and significant relationship between TPI and teacher attributional styles of teachers. Moreover, experienced teachers proved to have a significant difference from novice teachers regarding their TPIs. The findings of this study would hopefully be advantageous for teacher educators to educate pre-service teachers by ways of constructing identity, and they may be applicable for Iranian EFL teachers to know and focus on different aspects of their professional identity. Moreover, they learn how to manage the intervening factors and shape and empower different domains of their PI, such as teaching experience, by means of exploring and knowing their ASs. (shrink)

It is vital that social studies be an integral part of the elementary (Kindergarten-6) curriculum to prepare all children to participate in increasingly diverse democracies. This study's purpose was to investigate how nine planned and implemented social studies professional development activities, outside traditional classrooms, could impact five volunteer K-6 pre-service teachers’ beliefs about their emergent professional identities as social studies educators. This case study explored research questions primarily through qualitative methods. Research implications contribute to possible solutions for (...) (1) helping pre-service teachers understand how professional educators, outside their local areas, create and learn public scholarship to educate diverse democracies, (2) helping pre-service teachers recognize relationships between high quality professional development, networking, organization membership, and professional identity, and (3) sense of belonging as one treatment for U.S. novice teacher attrition rates. (shrink)

Case Learning for Teachers: Strategic Knowledge for Professional Experience is a unique resource for Australian pre-service educators that draws on the author's experiences as an education researcher, lecturer and classroom teacher. This textbook uses a case stories approach to support pre-service teachers in developing the skills of observation and reflective practice necessary for professional experience placements and the transition to the classroom. Part 1 introduces the case learning approach and outlines strategies for reading and writing case (...) stories. Part 2 is structured by the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers. The text includes case stories addressing topics like knowing your students, knowing content, planning for teaching, managing behaviour, diverse learners, assessment, and developing professional relationships in the school setting. Integrating threshold concepts and the case-learning model, the innovative approach taken by Case Learning for Teachers makes it an invaluable tool for pre-service teachers. (shrink)

The present study critically evaluates whether school leadership influences student learning homogenously regardless of school contexts. It examined relationships between four principal leadership variables (envisioning, instructional management, promoting professional development, empowerment) and two types of student outcomes (enjoyment in learning science, science achievement,) in different school contexts (in terms of the availability of science resources, quality of science teachers, and school socioeconomic status (SES)). The sample comprised 248,620 students and 9,370 principals in 35 developed countries who participated (...) in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2015. Latent profile analysis (LPA) showed that schools operated in three types of school contexts with different levels of science resources, proportion of quality science teachers, and school SES. There were also differences in the pattern of leadership practices across the three types of school contexts. Three-level hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) showed that among the four leadership variables, only instructional management was positively associated with students’ enjoyment of science in schools with less science resources and quality science teachers. Therefore, instructional management had compensatory effects for students in less-endowed schools. In contrast, principal leadership related to envisioning, teacher professional development, and empowerment was not positively related to students’ science learning in all three school contexts. (shrink)

This book explores the unique experiences of a sister school network in Canada and China contextualized through the lens of the Reciprocal Learning Project, which supports the relationship between a school network and teacher education exchange program of two countries. Huang uses theoretical viewpoints from teacher learning and comparative education research to analyse and interpret what has happened in the emerging cross-cultural school network. The book juxtaposes teacher learning and comparative education research from Shanghai and Ontario as teachers in (...) the two places interact and provides detailed descriptions of teacher collaboration to show how these collaborations were initiated, developed, and sustained, as well as the impact brought about from these collaborations. The book offers a unique opportunity to examine how Canadian and Chinese teachers receive and react to opportunities of cross-cultural collaboration and learning. (shrink)

This insightful book uniquely charts the events, experiences and challenges faced by teachers during and beyond the COVID-19 pandemic including periods of national lockdowns and school closures. Research-based and evidence informed, this key title explores the multiple media outputs created by teachers in a variety of different socio-economic contexts. The authors reflect on their stories through a series of themed analyses, as well as describe and discuss key issues related to the enactment of teacher professionalism in challenging times. (...) With fascinating vignettes and interview extracts that reinforce the idea that teachers can manage rather than survive, this book unveils a strong sense of moral purpose, professional identity, commitment, care, and resilience. It will be of interest to teachers, headteachers and teacher educators internationally. (shrink)

Teachers’ social-emotional competence is considered important to master the social and emotional challenges inherent in their profession and to build positive teacher-student relationships. In turn, this is key to both teachers’ occupational well-being and positive student development. Nonetheless, an instrument assessing the profession-specific knowledge and skills that teachers need to master the social and emotional demands in the classroom is still lacking. Therefore, we developed the Test of Regulation in and Understanding of Social Situations in Teaching (...) (TRUST), which is a theory-based situational judgment test measuring teachers’ knowledge about strategies for emotion regulation and relationship management in emotionally and socially challenging situations with students. Results from three studies (N = 166 in-service teachers, N = 73 in-service teachers, N = 107 pre-service teachers) showed satisfactory internal consistency for both the emotion regulation and relationship management subtests. Furthermore, confirmatory factor analyses supported the differentiation between the two facets of social-emotional competence. Regarding convergent validity, results from Study 3 revealed a positive association between the profession-specific TRUST and pre-service teachers’ general emotional intelligence. Furthermore, small to moderate correlations with the Big Five personality traits provided evidence for the discriminant validity of TRUST. In Studies 1 and 2, we found evidence for a correlation with external criteria, that is, teachers with higher test scores reported providing more emotional support for students and having better teacher-student relationships. For teachers’ occupational well-being, we found a link with symptoms of depersonalization and job satisfaction, but none for emotional exhaustion. We will discuss the use of TRUST in research, for the evaluation of interventions, in teacher education, and professional development and will illustrate ideas for enhancing the tool. (shrink)

Grasha–Riechmann Teaching Styles have a high potential to be applied in Mathematics especially to help increase teacher educators’ knowledge. However, very little attention has been paid to the study of identifying the teaching style patterns of Mathematics teachers at the primary school National-Type Chinese Primary Schools or Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan Cina SJKC. There is increasing concern about how this teaching style related to the teaching experience. This study aims to identify the patterns of Grasha–Riechmann Teaching Styles among primary school (...) Mathematics teachers and the relationship between Grasha–Riechmann Teaching Styles with teaching experience. The quantitative approach through a survey was applied to 97 Mathematics teachers of SJKC Kepong, Kuala Lumpur using the simple random sampling method. The instrument was adapted from the Grasha–Riechmann Teaching Styles Questionnaire, which measures five teaching styles such as Personal Model Teaching Style, Expert Teaching Style, Formal Authority Teaching Style, Delegator Teaching Style, and Facilitator Teaching Style. The patterns showed that the Personal Model Teaching Style is the most dominant, and the Facilitator Teaching as the least dominant style. The Spearman’s Rho Correlation also reported a very weak significant correlation between Grasha–Riechmann Teaching Styles with the teachers’ Mathematics teaching experience, specifically for Expert, Formal Authority, and Facilitator Teaching Styles. The study provides practical implications for educators’ professional development to diversify the training of teachers by experience and adapt them to the needs of student learning in primary school. These findings trigger ideas to get a better understanding by other demographic variables such as gender, age, and complexity of Mathematics subject. (shrink)

Teachers Behaving Badly? is concerned about sexual behaviour that may occur between adults working in and connected to the school, and teacher/older pupil relations, initiated by both parties. Leaders faced with trying to sort out these issues find that they are not always clear-cut. Often there are no easy resolutions and the consequences may be potentially explosive for the individuals concerned, for the school, and for the community.

This paper considers the way in which Christian Religious Education (RE) teachers articulate the difficulties and challenges they experience both in school and with their peers as they navigate their way through their Initial Teacher Education. The paper offers a unique exploration of the relationship between elements of the three discourses of faith identity, emerging professional identity and the requirements of a performative teacher training context. Semi-structured interviews were undertaken with 184 student RE teachers across three universities. (...) It became clear that all students interpreted the Standards and policy guidelines ambiguously, as being value-laden or value-free. The idea of the 'good teacher' as someone who was, by very definition, neutral and objective immediately made the faith position of students problematic. This is a key point in relation to the notion of performativity and education and the disproportionate impact it made on Christian students. It appeared as though many Christian students were concerned to stress that although their faith was personally important for them it was not something that contributed to their understanding of a 'good teacher'. (shrink)

Boredom is a psychological phenomenon that is defined as a state of hatred or incompatibility with any kind of repetitive experience in situations where liberation from instability is not possible and has several consequences. Boredom is one of the important causes of decreased motivation in EFL learners, and it is necessary to identify the factors affecting it. Therefore, this literature review addresses the state of boredom in relationship with teachers’ immediacy and professional commitment. Reviewing the literature has revealed (...) that while teachers’ immediacy and professional commitments affect EFL learners’ boredom, other factors such as individual differences and environmental factors are in action. However, many studies confirmed that teachers play the most important role in decreasing or increasing learners’ state of boredom. The findings are significant for teacher educators to design more appropriate teacher education programs. (shrink)

In a professional learning community, teachers are organized into teams, committed to meeting on a regular basis to study their teaching strategies and the effects of those strategies on the students in their classrooms. Whatever the organizational structure, the teams have one goal, that is to improve teaching so that student learning is improved.

Drawing on teacher interviews, written teacher reflections, teacher research proposals, and research papers, this study explored the outcome and process of teacher learning during their participation in a continuing professional development program. It has been found that the teachers changed their conceptions of research over the course of learning concerning the nature, purpose, and process of research and the relationship between teaching and research. Dialogic exchanges and reading research papers, along with the scaffolding of the teacher educator, enabled (...) the teachers to validate their practices, link others’ perspectives up to their own, and re-situate research in light of their current practices. The findings provide insights into the nature of teachers’ conceptual change and how learning opportunities can be better built into continuing professional development programs. (shrink)

This publication addresses the issue of mental health of teachers and staff as a key to education reform. Many teachers suffer from the crippling effects of isolation, cynicism, and discouragement. In order to be personally effective, teachers must demonstrate initiative, commitment, compassion, and dedication to children, positive characteristics that depend upon how teachers feel about themselves. Materials are offered for the teaching professional including: practical ideas, suggestions, and prescriptions for developing teacher self-esteem; and suggestions for (...) learning to work with others in more productive ways. Following a foreword by Robert W. Reasoner, a former superintendent of schools in San Jose, California, the book is organized into seven chapters: (1) Integrity with a Capital I; (2) Life's Decisions--Chance or Choice? (3) The Three Ts--Tell the Truth, Tell the Truth, Tell the Truth; (4) If It's To Be, It's Up to Me! (5) You and Me and Them; (6) Working Relationships Take Work; and (7) What Works, Works. (LL). (shrink)

Success in Professional Experience develops fundamental knowledge, skills and competencies, which help to build meaningful relationships within educational communities.

Transparency of textbook activities, i.e., the degree of easiness for teachers to process and comprehend them, needs to be researched in terms of both materials design and materials use. This article reports on a study that investigates the impact of teachers’ professional experience and transparency of textbook activities on teachers’ actual perception of the transparency of materials. The study adopted a mixed-methods design and collected quantitative data via a five-point scale survey from 115 secondary school (...) class='Hi'>teachers as well as interview data from 15 informants. Data analysis reveals that both teachers’ professional experience and transparency of textbook activities affect the degree of easiness teachers perceived as they understand and interpret the activities for pedagogical purposes. However, discrepancy exists between transparency in materials design and transparency in teachers’ perception. Lack of pedagogical knowledge about the relationship between teaching objectives, steps, and assessment and strong existing cognitive schemata developed from the stereotype of processing a familar set of teaching materials might hamper teachers’ perception of transparency. (shrink)

Recently, research capability has received an overwhelming and remarkable interest among academics and practitioners. This is timely since the Department of Education had institutionalized research and encouraged teachers to engage in it to support evidence-based practice, decision-making, policy, and program development. On these premises, a study was carried out to assess the research capability of public teachers in Malaybalay City, determine its correlates and determinants. It utilized descriptive, correlational, and explanatory designs. It administered survey questionnaires to 92 participants. (...) Data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The results revealed that teachers were slightly capable of conducting research and having neutral attitudes toward it, motivated to write research, had a high level of difficulties in research processes, and moderately capable of action planning. They also show evidence of potential in mentoring. Further, mentoring and action planning skills, motivation to write research, attitudes toward research, and the number of studies completed by teachers were the correlates of their research capability at different magnitudes of the relationship. Notably, the research capability of teachers had a low, negative but significant relationship with their age and accumulated years of service. Thus, this capability deteriorates as they age and accumulate years of service. The motivation to write research, the number of studies completed, and age were the determinants of research capability. It was concluded that research capability can be determined and predicted by how motivated teachers are to write research, how productive they are in research, and how young they are when they engage in this rigorous endeavor. The study identified and recommended topics for continuing professional development. (shrink)

Recently, research capability has received an overwhelming and remarkable interest among academics and practitioners. This is timely since the Department of Education had institutionalized research and encouraged teachers to engage in it to support evidence-based practice, decision-making, policy, and program development. On these premises, a study was carried out to assess the research capability of public teachers in Malaybalay City, determine its correlates and determinants. It utilized descriptive, correlational, and explanatory designs. It administered survey questionnaires to 92 participants. (...) Data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The results revealed that teachers were slightly capable of conducting research and having neutral attitudes toward it, motivated to write research, had a high level of difficulties in research processes, and moderately capable of action planning. They also show evidence of potential in mentoring. Further, mentoring and action planning skills, motivation to write research, attitudes toward research, and the number of studies completed by teachers were the correlates of their research capability at different magnitudes of the relationship. Notably, the research capability of teachers had a low, negative but significant relationship with their age and accumulated years of service. Thus, this capability deteriorates as they age and accumulate years of service. The motivation to write research, the number of studies completed, and age were the determinants of research capability. It was concluded that research capability can be determined and predicted by how motivated teachers are to write research, how productive they are in research, and how young they are when they engage in this rigorous endeavor. The study identified and recommended topics for continuing professional development. (shrink)

After acquiring knowledge of the neuroscience of learning, memory, stress and emotions, teachers incorporate more cognitive engagement and student-centered practices into their lessons. However, the role understanding neuroscience plays in teachers own affective and motivational competencies has not yet been investigated. The goal of this study was to investigate how learning neuroscience effected teachers’ self-efficacy, beliefs in their ability to teach effectively, self-responsibility and other components of teacher motivation. A pilot training-of-trainers program was designed and delivered in (...) Liberia combining basic neuroscience with information on social, emotional, behavioral and mental health issues faced by students. Tier I of the professional development was a 2 weeks workshop led by a visiting neuroscientist. A subset of the 24 Tier I secondary science teachers formed a Leadership Team who adapted the content to the Liberian context and subsequently led additional workshops and follow-up sessions for the Tier II secondary science teachers. Science teachers in both tiers completed the affective-motivational scales from the internationally vetted, multiscale Innovative Teaching for Effective Learning Teacher Knowledge Survey from the OECD. Tier II teachers completed the survey in a pre-post-delayed post design. Tier I teachers completed the survey after the workshop with their attitudes at that time and separately with retrospective projections of their pre-workshop attitudes. Ten of the 92 Tier II teachers participated in structured interviews at follow-up. Statistical analysis of survey data demonstrated improved teacher self-efficacy, self-responsibility for student outcomes, and motivation to teach. Qualitatively, teachers expressed more confidence in their ability to motivate students, engage them through active learning, and manage the class through positive rather than negative reinforcement. Teachers’ own self-regulation improved as they made efforts to build supporting relationships with students. Together, these results demonstrated that (i) teacher affective-motivational attitudes can be altered with professional development, (ii) basic neuroscience, as knowledge of how students learn, can improve teacher competency, and (iii) a training-of-trainers model can be effective in a low and middle income country for disseminating neuroscience knowledge, increasing teachers’ knowledge of students’ social and emotional needs, and promoting educational improvement. (shrink)

This title merges Jennifer Scoggin's straight-talking blogger persona, Mrs Mimi, with her years of research and teaching to combine relatable classroom stories with research on best literacy practices, in an effort to help teachers rediscover or redefine who you are and the type of literacy teacher you want to become. At the heart of this book is teacher happiness and empowerment - reconnecting with your inner fabulous to give the best possible literacy instruction to your students.

This paper aims to investigate the relationship between Italian teachers’ well-being, socio-demographic characteristics and professional background. Using data from the 2015 wave of the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) we considered information collected by the questionnaire completed by a total of 6,491 teachers in the sampled schools. Moving from existing literature on teachers’ well-being, we investigate several aspects related to the teachers’ working environment, career motivation and investment, and job satisfaction. We assess the variability (...) in the observed outcomes attributable to school factors and heterogeneity between disciplines. Measurement models are combined in a multilevel setting in order to define teachers’ well-being on a broad perspective while accounting for the multiple sources of heterogeneity due to several factors (e.g., discipline, teacher professional background, and individual differences) occurring at different levels of the data structure. In general, results show that the teachers’ positive perception of the working environment in terms of availability of adequate human and physical resources, and professional development opportunities, provide a substantial state of well-being at work, and are related to teachers’ job satisfaction. Moreover, results highlight the key role of transformational leadership in defining a teacher’s well-being. Findings and implications are discussed. (shrink)

Introduction: A is for [a positive] attitude -- Teaching is a privilege -- Your attitude sets the tone for the classroom -- We are all driven by basic needs -- You are a role model -- Everyone has a life story -- Parents and guardians are your allies -- Character education, violence prevention, and multiculturalism are not separate programs -- Teaching is like acting -- It is counterproductive to fight human nature -- You must have a reason for everything you (...) do -- Communication is the basis of relationships -- Reflection is the key to your continued growth -- Conclusion: final thoughts -- Epilogue: a classroom story. (shrink)

This study reports on a longitudinal inquiry into professional identity construction among six novice cross-border English language teachers from mainland China, who completed their pre-service teacher education in Hong Kong (HK) and began their teaching practice in local HK schools. The findings indicate that the participants navigated obstacles in teaching by deploying their own multiple languages as a cultural and linguistic repertoire. The findings also show that the teachers experienced difficulty legitimising their professional identity in the (...) teaching community, where contextual issues and power interplays mediated the process. Furthermore, it is found that the participants? commitment to teaching was negatively influenced by their non-legitimate position in the teaching community and the discordance between their teaching beliefs and the norms and values of their workplace. This study suggests that complex inter-relationships between marginal status in and legitimate membership of the community, between historical and cultural background, present practice, and future expectations, between social discourse and personal location, are involved in the process of identity construction. Measures to legitimate these teachers? position and to transform the linguistic and cultural repertories of these teachers into valuable resources of the local schools are suggested. Implications for future research are outlined. (shrink)

This paper examines the concept of 'professional trust' and argues that trust is an essential component of what it means to be a 'professional'. The first part of the paper discusses the nature of trust in general and attempts to establish two main points: that we are all involved in relationships of trust and that all trust involves risk. The second section examines the idea of professional trust and draws on an analysis of knowledge provided by (...) Michael Oakeshott that divides knowledge into two components, 'information' and 'judgment'. The central argument is that the exercise of judgement through the possession of 'discretionary powers' is central to being a professional, but that judgement itself resists reduction to propositional formulation because it is essentially tacit and individual. The paper's focus is fairly narrow and does not examine, for example, the role of trust in teacher--pupil relationships, how trust may be related to learning or the role of trust in the pursuit of collaborative educational research. (shrink)

Originally published in 1979, the aim of this work was to analyse the occupational role of the university teacher, with the help of data collected within a specific university institution. This involves examining both what is expected of university teachers and what they actually do, and accounting for the patterns which their activities exhibit. Since the university teacher's occupation is multi-faceted it is necessary to examine several areas of activity including teaching, research and 'external' professional activities, as well (...) as a number of types of relationships in which lecturers are involved. Data is presented and interpreted from interviews with the staff of four selected departments of a British provincial university (classics, pure mathematics, civil engineering and psychology) and also from questionnaire surveys of staff and students. Sociologically the university may be regarded as an organisation or institution, and the behaviour of its members understood through the notion of 'social role'. On the educational side of the study the central concern is with the teacher-pupil relationship. We are also confronted with a basic human problem of how employed people weave elements to give meaning to their working lives. (shrink)

The way in which educators choose to engage with learners and to offer opportunities to share knowledge of both the physical world and the world of ideas is an ongoing area of international research interest but remains diffuse and difficult to systematise. This idiosyncratic quality underscores the privileged position of teachers as creative professionals. By exploring Claude Lévi-Strauss’s conception of how and for what purpose we share knowledge within society, this paper explores the relationship between perceptions of teachers’ (...) professional role and the challenges they face working within formal education systems. The artisan quality of teachers’ practice, gained through experience, association and personal commitment, makes possible a visualisation of teacher professionalism as bricolage that, when read alongside theories of teacher agency, generates an affirmative picture of how teacher professionalism may be reframed as creative and responsive rather than homogenous and mechanistic. (shrink)

With an emphasis on self-study and the connections between the personal and the professional domain, the authors reflect upon their teaching practice on a postgraduate theatre-based course using the research methodology of a/r/tography. The aim was to develop understanding of teacher/student roles and how these can affect learning. Through researcher reflexivity, focus groups and questionnaires, data were captured from students/participants responding to a video of the researcher’s solo performance work. The research presents itself through three a/r/tographic renderings. First, the (...) experience of seeing tutors in unfamiliar roles is considered. Second, the impact of witnessing tutors taking risks as a performer and being vulnerable is discussed and, lastly, the work illuminates new ways of opening up as teachers. The authors explore how the student’s/participant’s perception of them as tutors seemed to change after witnessing them as artists and how this impacted upon student’s learning for their own assessed performance pieces. (shrink)

Considering the significant contribution of teachers’ professional triumph in the prosperity of students, the current study aims to investigate the existence of any relationship among three factors influencing teachers’ success: immunity, mindfulness, and engagement. Furthermore, we attempt to investigate whether English as a foreign language teachers’ immunity and mindfulness can predict their work engagement. To this end, a Likert-scale questionnaire including items on teacher immunity, mindfulness, and work engagement was distributed to 582 EFL teachers in (...) China through the WeChat application by employing a convenient sampling. To analyze the collected data, the Spearman Rho correlation index and linear multiple regression analysis are employed. The findings are that there does exist an indication of a direct relationship among EFL teachers’ immunity, mindfulness, and work engagement. Also, it is found that immunity and mindfulness can predict EFL teachers’ work engagement. The current study’s findings support the necessity of training language teachers to cope with the EFL context adversities. (shrink)

As has been shown by several studies, teaching is a highly stressful occupation (Johnson et al., 2005), and most teachers experience work stress. Long-term stress decreases job satisfaction and can result in chronic exhaustion which can develop into burnout syndrome. Implications of burnout syndrome are strongly negative both for the personal and professional life of teachers. As burnout syndrome puts teachers’ well-being, quality of the teaching process and relationships with students at risk, it is important (...) to seek ways to avoid teachersÉ’ burnout. Many studies have confirmed the protective role that coping strategies play in managing stressful situations, teacher’s self-efficacy or social support. In previous studies, a negative connection was found between burnout syndrome and job satisfaction. Job satisfaction is a crucial element in the definition of wellbeing. We find wellbeing rather not as a resource for burnout prevention but as an opposite state to burnout syndrome. The paper presents a quantitative survey on burnout syndrome and related variables among Czech elementary school teachers (n = 2,394). According to burnout score, two subgroups were selected – teachers with no burnout manifestations and teachers with developing/developed burnout syndrome. Through the statistical analysis, these two groups were compared in job satisfaction, self-efficacy, coping strategies, and social support. The study shows significant differences between the two groups of teachers... (shrink)

This book seeks to educate principals, counselors, teachers, coaches, support staff, and students about sexual misconduct, while providing a training model to prepare school staff to avoid sexual misconduct, to encourage school leaders to upgrade their supervision efforts, and to provide needed outreach and intervention before sexual misconduct occurs. To help eliminate sexual misconduct in schools, this book provides step-by-step training procedures that can be used as part of the schools' staff development program to teach educators about the importance (...) of setting boundaries. Real-life case studies documenting inappropriate teacher-student relationships are included. The major focus of this second edition is to alert educators to the effects of unrelenting school reform efforts, which have become a distraction at best and a barrier at worst to dealing with problems such as sexual misconduct. This book provides a roadmap of what needs to be done to restore each educator's mission to being committed to their students' well-being before it is too late. (shrink)

Women Activating Agency in Academia seeks to create and expand safe spaces for scholarly, professional and personal stories and assemblages of agency. It provides readers with the opportunity to connect with the strategies women are using to navigate academe and the core values, linked to trust, relationship, wellbeing and ethics of care, they live by. The collection offers the stories of women academics from around the globe and across disciplines and showcases their efforts to meaningfully listen and converse in (...) order to resist self-audit and diminished identities. Reflections come from a range of responsive, personal and aesthetic techniques, including writing groups, guided autobiography, auto-ethnography, collective activism and slow scholarship. Chapters engage with themes and ideas such as agency, neoliberalism, ontological security, androcentricity, identity and collegial support, which manifest in unique ways for female academics. The focus in this volume is what really matters to women in the academy, as they share their efforts to 'be' themselves in their work, to 'care for themselves and others' and to 'count what isn't counted'. It aims to prove how collaborative storytelling and discussion can empower female academics to preserve and achieve these ambitions. (shrink)

In the face of challenging circumstances, many teachers turn to spirituality for sustenance and strength. Yet spirituality’s place in education and in educators’ lives has long been a matter of confusion and contention, not least because of the ambiguity of the term in its common usage. What is its relationship to religion? And what defines it? In this article, I submit that the later work of Michel Foucault offers a helpful approach to spirituality that displaces those questions—drawing attention away (...) from beliefs and/or attitudes professed, and towards the process of practical self-transformation that subjects undertake for the sake of a truth that is actualised in the body. To be spiritual in this sense is more a matter of what one does than what one believes or who one is. To offer a sense of why it matters in the lives of educators, I draw on the experiences of a San Diego high school teacher confronting interlocking personal, professional, and political challenges as a detailed example. (shrink)

Professional ethics, in general, deals with justified moral values that govern the work of professionals. Profession is an expertise who is committed to promote a distinctive public good, such as learning or education. Professionals are committed to special duties to make services available, maintain confidentiality, secure informed consent for services, and be loyal to clients, employers, and others with whom one has fiduciary relationship. Professional ethics deals with theoretical issues which seek to understand how the justified moral values (...) governing professionals are linked to wider values. It also deals with practical issues as to how to apply duties in particular contexts. Professional values include principles of obligation and rights, virtues, personal moral ideals as manifested in the great lives. Given such a Western idea of professional ethics, it is indeed fascinating to trace professional ethics in the Upaniṣads. The Upaniṣadic sages since time immemorial have shown the path to peace and progress for all humanity, not only by laying down theoretical ideals or speculation, but by actually applying truths in their practical life. They have demonstrated the practical application of the ethical ideals or moral values in the personal and professional life and proved that self-realization alone can not only save man from misery but promote to the state of highest bliss. The standards laid down by them have been followed practically by people even today. Gītoponiṣad states that whatever action is performed by the great is imitated by the common people; whatever standard is set by him is followed by them. The Kaṭha Upaniṣad prescribes professional values to the extent that not he who has not ceased from evil conduct can obtain Him by knowledge. Good conduct as a value is thus emphasized here. In Taittirīya Upaniṣad, for instance, the teacher prescribes certain values in the form of commandments: speak the truth and practice virtue. Thus, it is evident that the Upaniṣadic teacher is not only concerned about the intellectual progress of the student but also its personal and professional life as well. The paper is a humble attempt to explore the roots of professional ethics in the Upaniṣadic ethics. (shrink)

The pandemic in 2020 made online learning the widely used modality of teaching in several countries and it has also entered the spotlight of educational research. However, online learning has always been a challenge for disciplines that require hands-on practice. For art teaching or training, online learning has many advantages and disadvantages. How art teachers embrace and adapt their teaching for online delivery remains an unanswered question. This research examines 892 art teachers' attitudes toward online learning, using learning (...) environment, need satisfaction, mental engagement, and behavior as predictors. Structural equation modeling was used to explore the relationship between these four dimensions during these teachers' participation in an online learning program. The results reveal significant correlations between the learning environment, need satisfaction, mental engagement, and behavior. Moreover, this study reveals the group characteristics of art teachers, which can actually be supported by online learning programs. These findings provide insights into how art teachers view and use online learning, and thus can shed lights on their professional development. (shrink)

Alasdair MacIntyre's argument, that teaching is not a social practice, has been extensively criticised, and indeed teaching is normally understood more generally to be a form of generic activity that is a practice in its own right. His associated proposition, that teachers are practitioners of the discipline they teach, has, however, received considerably less attention. MacIntyre himself recognised that for teachers to be understood as being part of the discipline they teach, a broader definition of what is meant (...) by ‘discipline’ would be required. In order to achieve this, it is necessary to make a distinction between a ‘discipline’ and a ‘profession’ and not to conflate the practice of the discipline with the practice of professional academics. Such a distinction makes it possible to argue that teachers are engaged in the practice of the discipline they teach. As recent developments in social epistemology and the sociology of knowledge have suggested, it is indeed not just possible, but arguably necessary, to understand teachers in these terms. In seeking to understand what it means to be a teacher, there is thus much to be gained from further reflection as to the relationship between a teacher and his or her academic discipline. The reconsideration of this relationship might well cause us to challenge the idea that teaching is a form of generic activity. (shrink)

Introduction -- Ethics and research -- Twenty questions : ethical research dilemmas and PHD students -- Research pitfalls for new entrants to the academy -- Scientists behaving badly: insights from the fraud triangle -- Slicing and dicing : ex ante approaches -- Slicing and dicing : ex post approaches -- Retraction : mistake or misconduct? -- Double-blind review in the age of google and powerpoint -- Ethics in research scenarios : what would you do? -- Thought leader : Michael A. (...) Hitt on ethics in research -- Ethics and teaching -- Beyond course content : ethical dilemmas in teaching -- Teaching and ethics : a critical incident -- Peer pressure or, I thought i was out of high school -- Teaching versus preaching: conversational ethics in the classroom -- My students want to friend me! boundaries and relationships with social networks -- What do we do when students despair? : considering pedagogical caring -- From content to relationship -- It's not just rate my professor anymore! : ethics and student evaluations -- Student recommendations : to give, or not to give, that is the question -- Thought leader : Robert A. Giacalone on "broken when entering" -- Ethics in professional life -- Codes and conflicts of interest -- When is a job offer really a job offer in the academy? -- Attending professional meetings -- Peer reviewing -- Managing university service work -- Tribalism -- Outside appointments -- Consulting -- Media engagement -- Thought leader : Andrew H. van de Ven on ethics and professional life -- Conclusions -- Connecting the dots : themes, practices and considering what's next -- Index. (shrink)

Hrvatski odgojno-obrazovni sustav se, kao i sustavi u drugim zemljama, u današnjem vremenu suočava s različitim izazovima – od porasta rizika u mentalnom zdravlju i vršnjačkog nasilja do nezadovoljstva učenika školom. U odgovaranju na te izazove potrebno je krenuti od kontekstualnih faktora, poput odnosa učenika i nastavnika. Budući da je brižan odnos nastavnika i učenika ključan preduvjet za cjeloviti razvoj učenika te njihov školski uspjeh, nužno je utvrditi prepreke koje mogu ugroziti razvoj takvog odnosa. U dosadašnjim istraživanjima uočeno je kako (...) učenici i nastavnici u određenim uvjetima različito percipiraju i doživljavaju brižnost nastavnika, što može onemogućiti razvoj njihove bliskosti i povezanosti. Stoga, cilj ovoga rada je prikazati, analizirati i interpretirati razlike u viđenjima brižnog ponašanja nastavnika iz perspektive učenika i nastavnika. Dok nastavnici svoju brižnost najčešće shvaćaju u kontekstu podrške koju pružaju učenicima u procesu učenja, učenici ju pak shvaćaju u osobnijem kontekstu i osjećaju bliskosti s nastavnikom. The Croatian educational system, like the systems in other countries, nowadays faces various challenges, from the increase of mental health risks and peer violence to students’ dissatisfaction with school. In responding to these challenges, it is necessary to start from the contextual factors, such as the teacher–student relationship. Since a caring teacher–student relationship is a necessary prerequisite for the holistic development of students and their school success, it is important to identify obstacles that may jeopardize the development of such a relationship. Previous researches show that students and teachers in certain conditions perceive and experience caring differently, which may prevent the development of their closeness and connectedness. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to present, analyse and interpret differences in perceptions of the caring behavior of teachers from the perspective of students and teachers. While teachers most often perceive their care in the professional context, students understand it in a more personal way. (shrink)

During the preschool years, the socio-emotional responses children receive from interactions with teachers are incorporated into their own social behaviors. This is one of the key ways in which children acquire social and emotional skills. Based on field studies, it can be found that this learning process is not simple imitation of children, but of a more complex context of group interaction. To further clarify the impact of kindergarten teachers’ emotion on the sociometric status and behavior of 3–5 (...) year-old children in their classes, the researchers chose a Montessori mixed-age kindergarten in Beijing as the field site and observed five classes within the kindergarten over a 2-month period in this ethnographic case study. The study found that the power gap between teacher and pupil spreads rapidly to all children in the classroom as a result of the teacher’s emotions, and even stimulates power stratification within the children. In addition, there are differences in the social behaviors between the children of different levels of power. As preschool children are in a critical developmental window when social knowledge is being accumulated and social skills are being acquired, using power relations within the kindergarten classroom as an entry point to analyze the impact of teachers’ emotions on children’s social behavior provides a new breakthrough for the professional development of early childhood education and the better achievement of educational goals. (shrink)

This study explored the factorial and concurrent validity of a scale developed for assessing teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs in engaging with diversity in early childhood education settings. According to tests of measurement invariance, the conceptualization of the constructs varied to some extent between Finnish student teachers and qualified teachers. Qualified teachers reported, at the item level, higher confidence in engaging with diversity in mainstream early childhood classrooms than student teachers. Structural equation modeling demonstrated that for both (...) groups, higher levels of reported confidence in planning and implementing inclusive teaching–learning interactions were related to a higher level of closeness during interactions with children. The evidence for concurrent validity may imply beneficial and reciprocal influences between teachers’ confidence in their professional competence and close teacher–child relationships. The implications of the study are discussed from the perspective of teacher training and professional development in the early childhood education context. (shrink)

Almost a hundred years ago, John Dewey clarified the relationship between democracy and education. However, the enactment of a 'deeply democratic' educational practice has proven elusive throughout the ensuing century, overridden by managerial approaches to schooling young people and to the standardized, technical preparation and professional development of teachers and educational leaders. A powerful counter-narrative to this 'standardized management paradigm' exists in the field of curriculum studies, but is largely ignored by mainstream approaches to the professional development (...) of educators. This paper argues for a reconceptualized, differentiated, and 'disciplined' approach to the professional development of educators in democratic societies that builds capacity for curriculum leadership. In support of this proposal, we amplify the tenets of Dewey's pragmatic social and educational philosophy, which have long been at the heart of democratic educational thought, with Badiou's more contemporary thinking about the important relationships between truth as inspirational awakening, subjectification as existential commitment, and ethical fidelity as 'for all' action. (shrink)

When (if ever) may a professional deceive a client for the client's own good? Under what conditions (if any) is whistle-blowing morally required? These are just some of the questions that scholars as diverse as Michael D. Bayles, Thomas Nagel, Sissela Bok, Jessica Mitford, and Peter A. French confront in this stimulating anthology. Organized around philosophical issues such as the moral foundations of professional ethics, models of the professional-client relationship, deception, informed consent, privacy and confidentiality, professional (...) dissent, and professional virtue, the volume illuminates the complex ethical issues that arise in journalism, law, health care, counselling, education, engineering, business, politics, and social science research. A variety of pedagogical aids--including clear introductions to and study questions for each set of readings, concrete cases designed to focus discussion, and an appendix on preparing cases and position papers--makes the text invaluable for both students and teachers of professional ethics. (shrink)