With all learning institutions pre-maturely closed on 20 March 2020 and all citizens advised to self-isolate in a bid to control the spread of COVID-19, it was hypothesized that COVID-19 would ...negatively impact on the performance of students in the 2020 Grade 12 national examinations vis-à-vis mathematics, science and design and technology subjects. An observed steady increase in the number of COVID-19 confirmed cases and the low levels of technology use in secondary schools in Zambia due to limited technology resources signifies a very difficult period in a young country which has just rolled out a nation-wide implementation of STEM education, This study collected data from three teachers at a public secondary school in Chipata District of Eastern Province in the Republic of Zambia. The Head of Department for Mathematics, the Head of Natural Sciences Department and one science teacher were interviewed. Semi-structured interviews via mobile phone were used to collect views of what these specialists thought would be the COVID-19 effects on the general performance of students in their subject areas. Results of this study revealed that there is likely to be a drop in the pass percentage of secondary school students in this year’s national examinations if the COVID-19 epidemic is not contained in the shortest possible time considering that the school academic calendar was abruptly disturbed by the early untimely closure of all schools in the country.
As in many countries worldwide, as part of the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown schools in Germany closed in March 2020 and only partially re-opened in May. Teachers were confronted ...with the need to adapt to online teaching. This paper presents the results of a survey of early career teachers conducted in May and June 2020. First, we analysed the extent to which they maintained social contact with students and mastered core teaching challenges. Second, we analysed potential factors (school computer technology, teacher competence such as their technological pedagogical knowledge, and teacher education learning opportunities pertaining to digital teaching and learning). Findings from regression analyses show that information and communication technologies (ICT) tools, particularly digital teacher competence and teacher education opportunities to learn digital competence, are instrumental in adapting to online teaching during COVID-19 school closures. Implications are discussed for the field of teacher education and the adoption of ICT by teachers.
Since the early 2010s the literature has shifted to view feedback as a process that students do where they make sense of information about work they have done, and use it to improve the quality of ...their subsequent work. In this view, effective feedback needs to demonstrate effects. However, it is unclear if educators and students share this understanding of feedback. This paper reports a qualitative investigation of what educators and students think the purpose of feedback is, and what they think makes feedback effective. We administered a survey on feedback that was completed by 406 staff and 4514 students from two Australian universities. Inductive thematic analysis was conducted on data from a sample of 323 staff with assessment responsibilities and 400 students. Staff and students largely thought the purpose of feedback was improvement. With respect to what makes feedback effective, staff mostly discussed feedback design matters like timing, modalities and connected tasks. In contrast, students mostly wrote that high-quality feedback comments make feedback effective - especially comments that are usable, detailed, considerate of affect and personalised to the student's own work. This study may assist researchers, educators and academic developers in refocusing their efforts in improving feedback.
Autonomy-supportive teaching is the adoption of a student-focused attitude and an understanding interpersonal tone that enables the skillful enactment of seven autonomy-satisfying instructional ...behaviors to serve two purposes-support intrinsic motivation and support internalization. Using self-determination theory principles and empirical findings, researchers have developed and implemented numerous teacher-focused and methodologically-rigorous interventions to provide teachers with the professional developmental experience they need to learn how to become more autonomy supportive. The findings from 51 autonomy-supportive teaching interventions (including 38 randomized control trials) collectively show that (1) teachers can learn how to become more autonomy supportive during instruction (autonomy-supportive teaching is malleable) and, once learned, (2) this greater autonomy-supportive teaching produces a wide range of educationally important student, teacher, and classroom climate benefits (autonomy-supportive teaching is beneficial). Recognizing this, the article shows how the recent surge in autonomy-supportive intervention research has advanced the conceptual understanding of the nature of autonomy-supportive teaching and clarified its potential to improve educational practice.
Inclusive education is an approach to education aimed at providing adequate support to all students regardless of their abilities in regular schools. Teachers, as the primary carriers of the ...educational process, often have dilemmas about what is the best way to support students with developmental disabilities in regular classrooms. In this regard, the goal of this paper is to examine teachers' attitudes on what are the best strategies for supporting students with developmental disabilities in regular schools. Additionally, I examined what teachers believe is the best way to support them in order to implement inclusive education. The sample for this research consisted of 375 teachers (294 or 78.4% females and 81or 21.6% males) from Bosnia and Herzegovina (BIH). Teachers believe that the best strategy is to create positive, and motivating classroom environment followed by adapting the environment in such a way that it suits all students, and collaborative learning, or helping students to learn from each other. Teachers believe they could best be supported through the help in making Individualized Educational Programs. I conclude the paper with certain recommendations on how to improve inclusive education in BIH.
The phenomenon of diverse families has expanded in recent years. Although it has important implications in the field of education, this issue has been largely overlooked in the research on early ...education in Israel. The aim of the present study is to examine the attitudes of Israeli kindergarten teachers towards diverse families and the practices they use in this context. For this purpose, we conducted a qualitative study, using in-depth, semi-structured interviews among 20 Jewish-Israeli state kindergarten teachers. The main findings are that, overall, the attitudes of kindergarten teachers towards diverse families are positive, and they use different practices for dealing with family diversity and integrate this issue in their routine educational activities. Despite this, due to various factors, the positive attitudes are not always implemented in practice. These findings highlight the need to guide kindergarten teachers to work with diverse families, preparing them to adapt to the changing society.
Using the descriptive survey design and a sample of 142 teachers from eight inclusive schools in Cape Coast Ghana, the study investigated teachers' attitude, their perception about resources they ...need for the effective implementation of inclusive education (IE) and the impact of IE on pupils. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyse the data. Results showed that teachers have a relatively positive attitude towards IE, and indicated the resources needed for the successful implementation of IE. Furthermore, their perceptions of the impact of IE on pupils were positive. Additionally, there was a weak statistically significant positive correlation between teachers' attitude about IE and their perceptions about its impact on pupils. It was recommended among other things that to sustain the practice of IE, teacher needs must be met. These include sufficient TLMs, information about special needs and disabilities, training on how to effectively teach pupils with SEN, training on adapting instructional materials for pupils with SEN and training on how to promote social interaction. Teachers need to be given, training and information on all aspects of IE.
Considerable research has examined the positive educational experiences of students of color assigned to teachers of the same race or ethnicity. Underlying this research is the belief that the ...cultural fit between students and teachers has the potential to improve a child’s academic and nonacademic performance in school. This comprehensive review examines the extent to which Black and Latino/a students (1) receive more favorable ratings of classroom behavior and academic performance, (2) score higher on standardized tests, and (3) have more positive behavioral outcomes when assigned to a teacher of the same race/ethnicity. Assignment to a same-race teacher is associated with more favorable teacher ratings, although the relationship differs by school level. There is fairly strong evidence that Black students score higher on achievement tests when assigned to a Black teacher. Less consistent evidence is found for Latino/a students.
The purpose of this article is to describe the current state of knowledge and practice in the flipped learning approach in engineering education and to provide guidance for practitioners by ...critically appraising and summarizing existing research. This article is a qualitative synthesis of quantitative and qualitative research investigating the flipped learning approach in engineering education. Systematic review was adopted as the research methodology and article selection and screening process are described. Articles published between 2000 and May 2015 were reviewed, and 62 articles were included for a detailed analysis and synthesis. The results indicated that flipped learning gained popularity amongst engineering educators after 2012. The review revealed that research in engineering education focused on documenting the design and development process and sharing preliminary findings and student feedback. Future research examining different facets of a flipped learning implementation, framed around sound theoretical frameworks and evaluation methods, is still needed to establish the pedagogy of flipped learning in teaching engineering.
The prosperity of inclusion of students with disabilities largely rest on the attitudes of mainstream teachers. Few studies explore the relationship among school climate, teachers' attitude on ...inclusion and teachers' efficacy in China. This study surveyed 266 general teachers in China to understand the role of teachers' efficacy on inclusive education between school climate and teachers' attitude. The results indicated that teachers hold positive attitudes towards inclusion on average, especially in the dimension of affection. Additionally, school climate, teachers' efficacy and teachers' attitude were significantly associated, and the mediating effect of teachers' efficacy between school climate and teachers' attitude were proved by mediation analyses. The findings suggested that creating more inclusive school climate and improving general teachers' knowledge and skills on inclusive education, especially the skills on collaboration with others, which could contribute to promote more positive attitude on inclusive education of general teachers.
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