Background
Teaching and caring for pupils during the COVID‐19 pandemic has been a challenge for many teachers, and its impact on teachers’ mental health and well‐being (MHWB) should be of great ...national and international concern.
Aim and participants
This study examines 24 primary and secondary school teachers’ MHWB experiences across three time points (April, July, and November 2020) using longitudinal qualitative trajectory analysis.
Method
We used a mixture of inductive and deductive coding, based on the Job Demands–Resources Model, to identify the job demands (aspects of the job that can be physically or psychologically costly) and job resources (aspects of the job that can buffer the effects of job demands and promote achievement and growth) teachers reported experiencing across the three time points.
Results
Generally, teachers’ MHWB seemed to have declined throughout the pandemic, especially for primary school leaders. Six job demands contributed negatively to teachers’ MHWB (i.e., uncertainty, workload, negative perception of the profession, concern for others’ well‐being, health struggles, and multiple roles) and three job resources contributed positively to their MHWB (i.e., social support, work autonomy, and coping strategies).
Conclusions
Policymakers and practitioners can support teachers’ MHWB by engaging in more collaborative communication and ensuring greater accessibility to sources of social support. These discussions and provisions will be crucial in supporting teachers, and thereby the educational system, both during and after the pandemic.
Teachers' pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) is highly important for effective design and implementation of school teaching. Thus, the current status, development and efficacy of this knowledge, its ...relationships with teaching quality parameters, and its impact on students' learning processes and success, require rigorous examination. Thoroughly validated, objective and reliable test instruments that are highly sensitive to changes in variables of proven knowledge‐related relevance in teacher education are also required. Previous attempts to design such instruments for assessing science teachers' PCK have largely focused on mathematical content. Therefore, here we present an instrument (the pedagogical content knowledge in biology inventory, PCK‐IBI), based on conceptualizations of teachers' professional competence, for assessing secondary school pre‐service biology teachers' PCK. In a series of three evaluations and refinements it was tested with samples of N = 274 and N = 432 German pre‐service as well as one sample of n = 65 German pre‐service and n = 35 German in‐service biology teachers. Item analysis, scale analysis and empirically obtained indicators of validity suggest that the final 34‐item‐version of the PCK‐IBI is unidimensional, provides objective test scores and enables reliable and valid registration of pre‐service biology teachers' PCK. Thus, hypotheses regarding specific aspects of the model on which the PCK‐IBI's construction is based on are empirically supported. The results of our study provide empirical support for the instrument's potential utility.
The Malaysian Education Blueprint (PPPM) 2013-2025 has spurred significant reforms in the Primary School Standard Curriculum (KSSR) and Secondary School Standard Curriculum (KSSM), particularly ...concerning classroom-based assessment (CBA). CBA evaluates students' understanding and progress, informs instruction, and enhances the learning outcomes. Teachers with robust pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) are better equipped to design and implement effective CBA strategies that accurately assess students' comprehension and growth, provide personalised feedback, and guide instruction. This study aims to investigate the relationship between PCK and CBA among English as a Second Language (ESL) secondary school teachers in Selangor, Malaysia. A 5-point Likert-scale questionnaire was administered to 338 teachers across 27 regional secondary schools in Selangor. The Covariance-based structural equation modelling (SEM) was used to analyse the data. The findings revealed that the secondary school teachers demonstrated a high level of PCK, with content knowledge (CK) obtaining the highest mean, followed by pedagogical knowledge (PK) and pedagogical content knowledge (PCK). The CBA practices among these teachers were also found to be high. SEM analysis showed a positive association between PK and CBA practices and between PCK and CBA. However, no positive association was observed between CK and CBA practices. In order to enhance teachers' PCK and ensure the effective implementation of CBA, which is crucial for student learning outcomes in Malaysian ESL secondary schools, it is recommended that continuous professional development opportunities be provided, specifically focusing on PCK and CBA.
The transition to secondary school can be a challenging period for adolescents. Although several questionnaires exist to measure transition‐related concerns, there is a need to develop a ...comprehensive survey for assessing the knowledge and skills that adolescents require to adapt effectively to a new school. Thus, the purpose of this study was to develop and investigate the psychometric properties of a preliminary self‐report tool (PSTRS) for identifying the presence or absence of factors that facilitate transition to secondary school and are important for adolescent understanding of well‐being. The PSTRS was developed in a series of stages that involved a systematic review of the school transition literature, a review of psychometric scales, empirical data of adolescents' well‐being conceptualizations, expert reviews, and a pilot study. Seventy‐one items were compiled to collect information on 20 school, social, physical, psychological, and spiritual components. Cronbach's alpha for the survey was 0.943 in a sample of Year 8 NZ intermediate school students (N = 471). Test–retest reliability was 0.866 in a subsample of 121 participants. Single‐measures ICCs of subscales ranged from 0.501 to 0.943. The PC analysis resulted in a three‐component factor structure. The PSTRS and its subscales positively correlated with well‐being and negatively correlated with anxiety. Overall, PSTRS appears to be a reliable and valid tool for determining adolescent readiness to transition to secondary school. PSTRS data may be useful for researchers, school professionals, psychologists, and policymakers to better understand positive school transitions. Implications for future research and practice are discussed.
Practitioner points
Data provides preliminary support for the integrity of the new Positive School Transition Readiness Survey, which is a self‐report measure that can be useful for researchers and school professionals to determine adolescent readiness to transition to secondary school.
The preliminary self‐report tool (PSTRS) is comprised of several short psychometrically sound subscales that present a quick and convenient way to identify the presence or absence of factors that facilitate transition to secondary school and are important for adolescent understanding of well‐being.
The preliminary validation demonstrated good test−retest reliability and construct validity of the PSTRS.
Increases in school stress among adolescents are a growing concern. Although perfectionism and parental expectations have an important role in school stress, their joint influence has not been ...evaluated nor have analyses taken a multidimensional perspective of school stress into consideration. The aims of this study were to analyze the role of self-oriented perfectionism and parental expectations in school stress, and to explore their potential moderation effect in the associations between school stress and health complaints in adolescence. Sample consisted of 4,768 secondary-school students (52.1% girls; M = 13.74) aged 11 to 17 years (M = 13.74) from 54 high schools in Andalusia (Spain), and school stress was measured using ASQ-S questionnaire. Results show that high self-oriented perfectionism and parental expectations were significantly associated with higher levels of school stress. In addition, the three variables school stress, self-oriented perfectionism and parental expectations were significantly associated with health complaints, and self-oriented perfectionism moderated the relationship between stress of school-leisure conflict and health complaints. These findings should be taken into consideration for future research and the development of interventions aimed at reducing school stress among adolescent students.
Although menthol was not banned under the Tobacco Control Act, the law made it clear that this did not prevent the Food and Drug Administration from issuing a product standard to ban menthol to ...protect public health. The purpose of this review was to update the evidence synthesis regarding the role of menthol in initiation, dependence and cessation.
A systematic review of the peer-reviewed literature on menthol cigarettes via a PubMed search through May 9, 2017. The National Cancer Institute's Bibliography of Literature on Menthol and Tobacco and the FDA's 2011 report and 2013 addendum were reviewed for additional publications. Included articles addressing initiation, dependence, and cessation were synthesized based on study design and quality, consistency of evidence across populations and over time, coherence of findings across studies, and plausibility of the findings.
Eighty-two studies on menthol cigarette initiation (n = 46), dependence (n = 14), and cessation (n = 34) were included. Large, representative studies show an association between menthol and youth smoking that is consistent in magnitude and direction. One longitudinal and eight cross-sectional studies demonstrate that menthol smokers report increased nicotine dependence compared to non-menthol smokers. Ten studies support the temporal relationship between menthol and reduced smoking cessation, as they measure cessation success at follow-up.
The strength and consistency of the associations in these studies support that the removal of menthol from cigarettes is likely to reduce youth smoking initiation, improve smoking cessation outcomes in adult smokers, and in turn, benefit public health.
Sexual harassment (SH) in schools is unwanted and unwelcome behavior of a sexual nature that, when severe, offensive, and pervasive, creates a hostile environment that is prohibited under Title IX of ...the Education Amendments of 1972. In the current mixed methods study, using analyses of school policies and reports, and student survey and qualitative data, we examined (a) whether public high schools’ policies about SH were in compliance with Title IX guidance, (b) whether SH policies were related to alumni's knowledge and attitudes about their schools’ SH policies, and (c) whether SH policies were related to alumni's experiences with and reporting of SH. Results indicated that, of the 172 school districts within one state, only one‐fourth of the school districts had SH policies in which SH was clearly defined and in which there were noted consequences for perpetrating SH. Despite students experiencing SH, very few students ever reported SH to an adult at school. However, of the small number of students who reported SH to an adult at school, 87.5% went to a school with an explicit SH policy. Many students stated that they did not report SH because they did not trust adults to handle it fairly or effectively.
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