980 research outputs found
Sort by
An analysis of individual and departmental geographical stories, and their role in sustaining teachers
No full textTeaching can be a hard job, and sustaining teachers throughout their career can be a challenge, facing pressure from performativity, increasing accountability, and increases in teacher workload. Geographical stories offer an important source of inspiration, helping to sustain teachers. Findings are presented from an ethnographic study of secondary school geography departments in England. Every teacher in these departments told compelling stories about their personal histories that have led them to being a geography teacher. The areas of subject specialism they claim are not arbitrary, but are often described through narratives in which events from childhood, schooling, and university are re-told, emphasising their long-standing acquaintance with, and passion for certain geographical issues. Departmental organisational types are discussed, and significant differences between departments are highlighted. Within departments, teachers’ individual geographical stories may be re-told to construct collective narratives. These departmental, collective stories position teachers in relation to one another, and offer a further dimension of support for teachers’ identity and status. Further research – particularly longitudinal studies – is suggested as one way of developing understandings about the ways in which teachers' individual stories might be re-told in dialogue with the collective stories told by their departments. Implications for initial teacher education include increasing beginning teachers’ awareness of the distinctiveness of departments, and tailoring developmental work with them to take more explicit account of the specific contexts in which they are learning to teach
Teachers’ views of the impact of school evaluation and external inspection processes
No full textThe research explores the views of teachers about how their teaching is evaluated by others. The tensions between evaluations motivated by the drive to improve practice (school self-evaluation) and evaluation related to external accountability (external evaluation – inspection) are considered, linked to findings and ideas reported in the literature. The study was undertaken using interviews (which included reflection on critical incidents during inspection) and incorporated the use of drawings as a research tool. Much of the data gathering and analysis were undertaken by five Third-Year undergraduate Education Studies students working under the direction and tutorage of the author (Hopkins). The findings validated those reported in the literature about the negative experiences of external evaluation (inspection) and point towards ways in which these might be reduced. The use of drawings alongside semistructured interviews proved to be a particularly powerful means of eliciting teachers’ thinking and feeling. The involvement of undergraduates as co-researchers provided them with a rich and authentic opportunity to gain insights into the professional world of teachers which they were preparing to join
Assessment instruments on children‘s internalizing behaviour: A review of their psychometric properties, functioning and applications
No full textThe study aims to summarize assessment instruments for teachers and practitioners to record externalized and internalized problems in children. The author sampled articles on children‘s psychopathology over the last twenty-five years, selected checklists and rating scales with multiple citations, and reviewed their properties. Most instruments use teachers and parent-report forms. Only a few instruments assess a number of different disorders. The psychometric properties of these instruments are presented in tables. Discussion and recommendation for teachers and researchers on which assessment instrument is the best to use when rating children’s behaviour, indicated that the rater must define in advance the goals of assessment, taking into consideration the factors that the instrument measures and its psychometric properties. The use of more than one instrument is recommended
Are mental toughness and mental health contradictory concepts in elite sport? A narrative review of theory and evidence
No full textAthlete development and management encompass a complex interaction of biological, 2 psychological, and social factors. Within elite sport, multidisciplinary sport science and 3 medicine teams play an important role in achieving an optimal balance between preventing 4 athlete ill-health and optimizing health and performance. The psychological aspects of athlete 5 health and performance have gained increased attention over the past two decades, with much 6 of this research concerned with the mental health of athletes and the concept of mental 7 toughness. Recently, it was proposed that mental health and mental toughness are 8 contradictory concepts in the world of elite sport. Although an interesting proposition, this 9 claim was not substantiated. Thus, the purpose of this narrative review was to evaluate theory 10 and evidence regarding the thesis that mental health and mental toughness are contradictory 11 concepts in the world of elite sport, with the view to advance scholarly knowledge and inform 12 professional practice. A critical evaluation of this literature suggests that mental toughness 13 may represent a positive indicator of mental health, or facilitate its attainment, rather than be 14 at odds with it. When implemented alongside multilayered approaches to organizational 15 change (e.g., group structures, policies), mental toughness could be used as a ‘hook’ to attract 16 athletes into settings that can open dialogue on the importance of mental health and improve 17 knowledge of key issues (e.g., stigma, symptoms)
Performance over professional learning and the complexity puzzle: lesson observation in England’s further education sector
No full textAttempts to measure the quality of teaching and learning have resulted in an overreliance on quantitative performance data and the normalisation of a set of reductionist practices in England’s further education sector in recent years. Focusing on lesson observation as an illustrative example and drawing on data from a national study, this article examines the application of observation and its impact on further education teachers’ practice. In viewing lesson observation through a complexity theory lens and contextualising it against the wider neoliberal backdrop of the marketisation of education, we seek to critique the inadequacies of current reductionist approaches to teacher evaluation, whilst simultaneously opening up a debate regarding the consequences of seeing classrooms as complex adaptive systems. In focusing on performative models of lesson observation in particular, the article exposes what we perceive as some of the epistemological and methodological shortcomings of neoliberalism in practice, but also offers an alternative way forward in dealing with the contested practice of evaluating the quality of teaching and learning
Unintended knowledge learnt in primary science practical lessons
No full textThis study explored the different kinds of unintended learning in primary school practical science lessons. In this study, unintended learning has been defined as student learning that was found to occur that was not included in the teachers learning objectives for that specific lesson. A total of 22 lessons, taught by five teachers in Korean primary schools with 10- to 12-year-old students, were audio-and video recorded. Pre-lesson interviews with the teachers were conducted to ascertain their intended learning objectives. Students were asked to write short memos after the lesson about what they learnt. Post-lesson interviews with students and teachers were undertaken. What emerged was that there were three types of knowledge that students learnt unintentionally: factual knowledge gained by phenomenon-based reasoning, conceptual knowledge gained by relation- or model-based reasoning, and procedural knowledge acquired by practice. Most unintended learning found in this study fell into the factual knowledge and only a few cases of conceptual knowledge were found. Cases of both explicit procedural knowledge and implicit procedural knowledge were found. This study is significant in that it suggests how unintended learning in practical work can be facilitated as an educative opportunity for meaningful learning by exploring what and how students learnt
Empathy ability in children with motor coordination disorders
No full textAim: Children with motor coordination problems are known to have emotional difficulties and poor social skills. The current study investigated whether children with poor motor abilities have poor emotion recognition skills when they are compared with typically developing children without movement difficulties. Method: For the examination of empathy ability the Greek version of the self-completed questionnaire Empathy for children and adolescents was used (Empathy Index for children and Adolescents; Bryant, 1982). Participants were divided into two groups of 30 school-age children each with chronological age ranged from 7-15 years. All participants from the Group A were diagnosed with motor difficulties as well as developmental coordination problems. Comparison group was consisted of 30 school- age children without motor coordination disorders or any other developmental disorder. Results: Findings indicated that performance of the children with coordination disorders were characterized by relatively poor scores in comparison with the typically developing children without movement difficulties. Practical implications and recommendation for further research on empathy ability in children with motor difficulties are discussed
Castles, siegeworks and settlements: Surveying the archaeology of the twelfth century
No full textThis volume presents twelve reports on archaeological investigations carried out at sites across England in support of a project investigating the so-called ‘Anarchy’ of King Stephen’s reign in the mid-twelfth century. Sites and their landscape settings are analysed through topographical and geophysical survey, as well as LiDAR and viewshed analysis, supported by cartographic and archival research. The reports examine sites at Burwell (Cambridgeshire), Castle Carlton (Lincolnshire), Corfe (Dorset), Crowmarsh (Oxfordshire), Faringdon (Oxfordshire), Hailes (Gloucestershire), Hamstead Marshall (Berkshire), Malmesbury (Wiltshire), Mountsorrel (Leicestershire), Rampton (Cambridgeshire), Wellow (Nottinghamshire) and Woodwalton (Cambridgeshire). The results help characterise the archaeological potential of this turbulent and controversial period, shedding new light on the castles, siegeworks and settlements of the twelfth century as well as antecedent activity and later phases of reuse
The Church of England’s pray one for me intercessory prayer site : a virtual cathedral?
No full textOver the past decade there has been a growing number of studies examining the prayer content of people's personal prayers left in intercessory church-related contexts. Since 2012, these studies have extended to include the cathedral intercessory prayer board and the online intercessory prayer site. Both 'the cathedral' and 'the online site' are distinctive contexts for intercessory prayer in terms of their openness and accessibility for a broad range of people, who are allowed to enter and use these prayer facilities. What is not known, however, is whether the cathedral prayer board and the online site are functioning in similar ways. This study presents an analysis of 500 prayers posted on the Church of England's 'Pray One for Me' (POFM) website over a period of six months in 2012. The analysis employs the ap Sion Analytic Framework for Intercessory Prayer (apSAFIP), which distinguishes among prayer intention, prayer reference, and prayer objective. The results of the analysis are compared with the results from recent cathedral studies employing the same analytic tool, and it is concluded that these two prayer contexts are functioning differently
Tennyson and Blake: Benjamin Jowett’s copy of Blake’s Illustrations of the Book of Job on the Isle of Wight
No full textAlfred, Lord Tennyson not only owned books by or on William Blake, he was part of a larger network of enthusiasts who wrote about Blake or collected his works. These included Francis Taylor Palgrave, Richard Monckton Milnes, the Rossettis and Benjamin Jowett. Tennyson’s interest in Blake, as this essay will prove, predates the general Blake revival propelled by Alexander Gilchrist’s Life of Blake, ‘Pictor Ignotus’ (1863). Tennyson, in fact, may have contributed to the revival when he decided to display Blake’s Job on his drawing room table on the Isle of Wight in the early 1860s. Tennyson’s visitors would have been able to handle the now quite rare book, generally considered to be Blake’s masterpiece as an engraver and designer