Academic stress, parental pressure, anxiety and mental health among Indian high school students

This work investigates the academic stress and mental health of Indian high school students and the associations between various psychosocial factors and academic stress. A total of190 students from grades 11 and 12 (mean age: 16.72 years) from three government-aided and three private schools in Kolkata India were surveyed in the study. Data collection involved using a specially designed structured questionnaire as well as the General Health Questionnaire. Nearly two-thirds (63.5%) of the students reported stress due to academic pressure – with no significant differences across gender, age, grade, and several other personal factors. About two-thirds (66%) of the students reported feeling pressure from their parents for better academic performance. The degree of parental pressure experienced differed significantly across the educational levels of the parents, mother’s occupation, number of private tutors, and academic performance. In particular, children of fathers possessing a lower education level (non-graduates) were found to be more likely to perceive pressure for better academic performance. About one-thirds (32.6%) of the students were symptomatic of psychiatric caseness and 81.6% reported examination-related anxiety. Academic stress was positively correlated with parental pressure and psychiatric problems, while examination-related anxiety also was positively related to psychiatric problems. Academic stress is a serious issue which affects nearly two thirds of senior high school students in Kolkata. Potential methods for combating the challenges of academic pressure are suggested.

School counsellors' and students' attitudes to online counselling: A qualitative study

An exploratory qualitative study was conducted to examine the perceptions and attitudes of both school counsellors and students to online counselling. Focus groups were conducted with two groups of school counsellors and six groups of secondary students. It was found that counsellors were hesitant to use online counselling because they were not convinced that it was effective and without the necessary online skills, they were concerned they would not be competent to deal with potential litigious and security pitfalls. Students were generally positive about the opportunity to access the school counsellor online. Implications for practice and future research are discussed.

Empowering innovative and active citizens: Design education in an Australian independent school

Consumerism is arguably one of the strongest forces affecting society today. Its affect on young people and their ability and desire to create, design, and innovate is cause for concern. It has been suggested that design, when viewed as “a fundamental category of meaning making” (Cope and Kalantzis, 2010, p.597), can be conceived as a “foundational paradigm for representation and action” (Cope and Kalantzis, 2011, p.49). As a component of a general education, it has the capacity to give future generations a framework for collaborative creative and critical thinking required for business innovation, while developing resourceful optimism, motivation, morality and the citizenship needed to develop awareness and resilience to this ideology (Design Commission, 2011; Design Council, 2011). However, to date clearly defined frameworks and empirical data surrounding design education integration in secondary school contexts and its impact on innovation and active citizenship in Australia, is extremely limited. This paper will explore the value of a hands-on and collaborative design-based education model in an independent secondary school environment in Australia and its effect on students’ self- perception, core beliefs, empowered participation and ability to innovate towards sustainability. Following is an overview of relevant literature, the research question, and potential significance and contribution of this research.

The SCOTS corpus and TEFL: Discovering and Using Strategies of Spoken English in Finnish Upper Secondary Schools

Suomen koulutuspolitiikasta vastaavat viranomaiset ovat reagoineet kansainvälisten kommunikaatiotarpeiden asettamiin haasteisiin ja muuttaneet yhden lukion A-tasoisen vieraan kielen kurssin sisällön vastaamaan suullisen viestinnän tarpeita. Tutkimuksessa selvitetään, miten englannin puhestrategioita voi opettaa suomalaisille lukiolaisille ja mitä metodeja on käytettävissä puhestrategioiden oppimisen arvioimiseksi. Vastaan asettamiini kysymyksiin aikaisemman tutkimuskirjallisuuden ja englannin kielen lukio-opetuksesta keräämäni aineiston avulla. Keskeisiä elementtejä tutkielmassa ovat erityisesti pragmaattinen kompetenssi ja kolme yleisen tason puhestrategiaa (keskustelun aloittaminen, oman puheenvuoron säilyttäminen sekä keskustelun ylläpitäminen). Aineistossa on mukana 65 ensimmäisen vuosiluokan lukiolaista (luokka A ja B) Helsingistä ja Espoosta. Opetusmateriaalina on käytetty SCOTS korpusta; tarkemmin määriteltynä puhetiedosto nimeltä Conversation 20: Four secondary school girls in the North East. Tiedostossa esille tulleet, kolmeen puhestrategiaan liittyvät fraasit, sanat ja rakenteet havainnollistettiin opiskelijoille mm. AntConc - konkordanssiohjelman avulla. Opiskelijat tekivät myös kirjallisia ja suullisia harjoituksia, jotka liittyivät puhestrategioihin. Neljälle vapaaehtoiselle opiskelijalle suunnattu toinen suullinen tehtävätyyppi vapaamuotoisine keskusteluineen äänitettiin, transkriboitiin ja tuloksia arvioitiin mm. eurooppalaisen viitekehyksen avulla. Lisäksi B - luokka vastasi kyselylomakkeeseen, jossa kysyttiin heidän mielipiteitään esim. hyödyllisimmästä testioppitunnista sekä heidän osallistumishalukkuudestaan uudelle pitkän englannin kahdeksannelle syventävälle kurssille. Tutkimustulokset ovat kannustavia ja osoittavat, että puhestrategioita on mahdollista opettaa jo lukiotasolla. Vaikka tutkimuksessa käytetty lähestymistapa oli opiskelijoille osittain uusi, valtaosa heistä myönsi oppineensa uutta englannin kielen keskustelurakenteista. Lisäksi vapaaehtoisten opiskelijoiden äänitetyt ja transkriboidut keskustelut tarjoavat hyvän lähtökohdan mahdolliselle jatkotutkimukselle.

Strengthening Incentives for Student Effort and Learning: Michigan’s Merit Award Program?

[Excerpt] One of the primary reasons American students learn a good deal less during secondary school than students in other industrialized nations is that they devote less time and intellectual energy to the task.1 Accountability systems designed to get teachers to try harder and set higher standards will not produce more student learning if [as one high school teacher put it] “students are sitting back in their desks, arms crossed, waiting for their teachers to make them smart (Zoch, 1998, p. 70).” Learning is not a passive act; it requires the time and active involvement of the learner. In a classroom with 1 teacher and 25 students, there are 25 learning hours spent for every hour of teaching time. Learning takes work and that work is generally not going to be as much fun as hanging out with friends or watching TV. If students cannot be motivated to give up some time socializing or watching TV so that they can learn difficult material and develop high level skills, the time and talents of teachers will be wasted.

Kasvilajien tunnistaminen, oppiminen ja opettaminen yleissivistävän koulutuksen näkökulmasta

The purpose of the research was to determine how well Finnish pupils and students of different ages recognize plant species, which variables explain recognition of plant species, what plants and nature mean to the subjects and how plant species identification should be taught in general education in Finland. The subjects were pupils from: every class level of the primary schools (grades 1 6); lower- secondary school (grades 7 9); high school (grades I II); university departments of teacher education and classroom teachers and teachers from university involved with environmental teaching and also experts from education and botany. A total of 883 people took part in the research. Both quantitative and qualitative research methods were used. The quantitative methods were: a) plant species recognition test, where 70 plant species photos were shown to subjects and b) an experiment in which three experimental groups had a plant recognition test on the nature trail and the three comparison groups were tested on recognition of the same species in classroom. The testing materials consisted of 31 real plants outdoors and 31 photos taken of these real plant species that were shown to pupils from fourth, fifth and sixth classes (grade levels) from primary school. The qualitative methods were a questionnaire administered to pupils from elementary school and high school and students from the department of teacher education, to teachers from university and interviews, where 3 5 pupils and students who recognized the plant species best or worst in the recognition test were selected to be interviewed. Furthermore, classroom teachers from primary school and experts were interviewed. The research results showed that on average plant species were recognized insufficiently on every level of education. There was also variation between answers from primary school to university teachers. However, species recognition skills improved from primary school to university teachers. Among other things, sex and place of residence explained species recognition skills, because girls and pupils from rural areas knew plant species statistically significantly better than boys or pupil from cities. Almost every pupil, student and all classroom teachers wanted to recognize plant species better. Many pupils mentioned that a motivating teaching method would be to go outdoors and investigate the plant species themselves. University teachers and experts also mentioned that the best and most efficient learning and teaching method for species recognition skills, is to practice in nature. We should teach plant species in nature, using many senses and teaching methods. Also new technology could be used in teaching species recognition skills. Keywords: plant species recognition, plant species education, general education

"Mut ei tää oo hei midsommarista!" - ruotsin kielen viestinnällinen suullinen harjoittelu yhteistoiminnallisten skeema- ja elaborointitehtävien avulla

Communicative oral practice in Swedish through collaborative schema-based and elaboration tasks The general aim of this study was to learn how to better understand foreign language communicative oral practice and to develop it as part of communicative language teaching. The language-specific aim was to study how Swedish was being practised communicatively and orally in a classroom context as part of the didactic teaching-studying-learning process, and how the students' communicative oral practice in Swedish was carried out through collaborative schema-based and elaboration tasks. The scientific problem of this study focused on the essence of foreign language communicative oral proficiency. The research questions were concerned with 1) the students' involvement in carrying out the given oral tasks; 2) the features of communication and interaction strategies; 3) thematic vocabulary, and 4) the students' experiences and conceptions of the communicative oral tasks used. The study consisted of two groups of students from a Helsinki-area school (a group of upper secondary school students, Swedish Level A, Courses 2 and 3, n=9; and a group of basic education students, Swedish Level B, Course 2, n=13). The study was carried out as a pedagogically oriented case study which included certain features of ethnographic research and where the students' teacher acted as a researcher of her own work. The communicative oral practice contained five different tasks. The research data were gathered through systematic observation, audio recordings and by a questionnaire. The data were analysed through ethnographic content analysis methods. The main research finding was that a good deal of social interaction, collaboration and communication took place between the students when involved in communicative oral practice in Swedish. The students took almost optimal advantage of the allocated training time. They mostly used Swedish when participating in interactional communication. Finnish was mostly used by the students when they were deciding how to carry out a given task, aiming at intersubjectivity or negotiating meaning. The students were relaxed when practising Swedish. They also asked for and gave linguistic help in the spirit of collaborative learning principles. This resulted in interaction between students that highlighted certain features of negotiation of meaning, scaffolding and collaborative dialogue. Asking for and giving help in language issues concentrated mainly on vocabulary, and only in a few cases on grammar or pronunciation. The students also needed the teacher as a mentor. As well, the students had an enjoyable time when practising, which was most often related to carrying out the oral tasks. The thematic vocabulary used by the students corresponded well to the thematic lexis that served as a basis for the practice. At its most efficient, this lexis was most evident when the basic education students were carrying out schema-based tasks. The students' questionnaire answers agreed with the research findings gained through systematic observation and the analysis of audio recordings. The communicative tasks planned by the teacher and implemented by the students were very much in line. The language-didactic theory as presented in this study and the research findings can be widely utilised in pre-service and in-service teacher education, as well as, more generally, when developing communicative language teaching. Key words: communicative oral practice; the Swedish language; foreign language; didactic teaching-studying-learning process; communicative language teaching; collaborative task; schema-based task; elaboration task.

Lessons to be learnt from two professional development programs

The involvement of teachers in any process which seeks to enhance classroom pedagogy is vital. In this area, professional development (PD) for teachers can be effective in developing and broadening classroom practices, but the process takes time. Teachers need time to reflect on their practice and be confident in implementing new programs and strategies by taking risks and employing different approaches in their pedagogy. There are various ways of initiating professional development which also take into account time for reflection. One is by the use of professional development to improve knowledge and skills. Another way is by teachers observing the practice of their colleagues before reflecting and modifying their own practice. This study discusses the findings of a case study where two different PD programs in a single secondary school were implemented with the assistance of two University Lecturers. The study revealed that although there were positive reflections on the development of knowledge and skills from the PD, factors such as collegiality and time and infrastructure constraints impacted the teachers involved in both the Reflective Practice and the technology PD programs. The school was part of the Brisbane Catholic Education Office (BCE) in Queensland, Australia and the researchers were both Senior Lecturers at the Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane.

Luottamus koulussa : Tutkimus yhdeksännen luokan oppilaiden luottamus- ja epäluottamuskertomuksista ja niiden merkityksestä oppilaiden kouluarjessa

The aim of this study is to explore trust at school and its meaning for 9th grade students. The intent is to investigate students views about trust and mistrust in school relationships. Three research questions are posed: 1) what meanings do students give to their experiences of trust and mistrust at school and how do they evaluate connection of these experiences to their well-being and enjoyment in the classroom? 2) what and how important, is the teacher s role according to the students writings, and 3) what might the different pedagogical and administrative structures of schools reveal about trust and mistrust in a particular school culture? The data consists of 134 writings of 9th grade students (secondary school) from three schools in one of the biggest cities in Finland. The schools differ from others in terms of their pedagogical or structural backgrounds. The study is restricted to the micro-level of, disposition of Educational Sociology, focusing on trust in schools relationships. The theoretical framework of the study is trust, as a part of social capital; however trust is also approached from the sociological, the psychological and philosophical perspective. The methodological approach is narrative research concerning school practice . Analysis of narrative consist mostly content analysis, but also some elements of holistic-content reading, thematic reading and categorical content. The analysis found three main themes: 1) individual stories of trust, 2) the teachers role in making trust possible in the classroom, and 3) school as a community of trust. According to the study trust at school (1) is a complex phenomenon consisting of people s ability to work together and to recognize the demands that different situations present. Trust at school is often taken for granted. In the students experiences trust is strongly connected to friendship, and the teacher s ability to connect with students. Students experiences of mistrust stem from bulling, school violence, lack of respect as well as teachers lacking basic professional behavior. School relationships are important for some students as source of enjoyment, but some feel that it is difficult to evaluate the connection between trust and enjoyment. The study found that students trust of teachers (2) is linked to the teacher s professional role as a teacher, a caring human being open to dialogue. In other words, the students describe teachers abilities to create a sense of trust in terms of three expectations: the teacher was better, the same or worse than expected. Better than expected, means the teacher engender a high degree of trust and has excellent communication skills. Same as expected means the teacher comes across as familiar and secure, while lower than expected means the teacher creates no trust and has poor communication skills. Finally, it was shown that trust at school (3) should not only exist between some individuals, but between (all) members of the school community. In other words, according to the study there is some evidence that trust is strongly committed to school culture. Further, trust seems to depend on (school-) cultural background, values, beliefs, expectations, norms as well as staff behaviour. The basic elements of an optimum level of trust at school are favourable school structure and pedagogical background; however, good relationships between teachers and students as well as high professional skills are also needed. Trust at school is built by good communication, working together and getting to know each other.

Juventude, tecnologia e educação: perspectivas para o ensino médio

O presente século está sendo marcado pelo aceleramento da tecnologia eletrônica. Nesse momento se torna imprescindível a formação e compromisso dos professores com o ensino e a escola que devem trazer em pauta as TICs (Tecnologias da Informação e Comunicação). Através das relações diárias, o ser universal (o homem) pensa, sente e age a todo instante através das relações sociais de que fazem parte. As pessoas agem a partir de uma relação de trocas culturais, modificam a si mesmas, aos outros e à natureza, por esse motivo precisa haver uma educação voltada para a cidadania.O objetivo desta dissertação é contribuir para a análise dos desafios que o jovem aluno do ensino médio enfrenta hoje, o que diz o professor e a preparação que as escolas públicas oferecem para o futuro desses alunos em uma sociedade na qual a revolução tecnológica faz nascer um novo tempo e onde os valores são questionáveis, onde tudo é relativo. E seguindo esta linha de pensamento questionamos a ética na Educação, principalmente no ambiente virtual cibersociedade -, onde as pessoas se relacionam por meios eletrônicos.Nos capítulos II e III, deste estudo se buscou analisar sobre juventude tecnologia e educação. Como esse jovem do ensino médio utiliza as TICs, o desafio da escola com esse recurso educativo, orientando e qualificando essa geração para enfrentarem o mundo cada vez mais interligado. A sala de aula perde a exclusividade, ganhando uma nova dimensão. Quem ensina não pode se neutralizar diante da forte influência lançada pelas tecnologias. O currículo e a formação docente nos faz repensar paradigmas. A educação requer políticas publicas, de formação docente, capacitando para o uso das tecnologias da informação e comunicação TICs, entretanto, não bastam oficinas e sim formação continuada, pois não adianta sofisticar a técnica se o professor não estiver sofisticado na alma, nos fundamentos, e não souber o que desejam os seus alunos. O estudo foi realizado com pesquisa de campo, duas escolas da zona Oeste do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, com entrevistas e questionários para 220 alunos.

Quem conta um conto aumenta um ponto: trabalhando o gênero no 9 ano do Ensino Fundamental II

A presente dissertação nasceu da necessidade particular de abrir espaço para o texto literário no ambiente escolar. A escola é o espaço natural no qual os alunos entram em contato com as linguagens escritas; é, pois, o espaço onde os estudantes devem conviver com diferentes textos de gêneros variados. É preciso, contudo, refletir sobre a forma como estes textos serão apresentados aos estudantes. A partir desse questionamento, algumas dúvidas motivaram a presente pesquisa: como trabalhar a leitura e a escrita no Ensino Fundamental II?, como formar jovens leitores?, como despertar o gosto pelo texto literário?, como trabalhar a produção do texto escrito com esses jovens? Pesquisar o trabalho com o texto literário no segundo segmento, todavia, seria um tema amplo demais. Desse modo, foi realizado um recorte, definindo a série e o gênero textual que seriam o foco da pesquisa. O 9 ano foi eleito por ser a última etapa do Ensino Fundamental. Nessa fase, teoricamente, os alunos já tiveram contato com diversos gêneros textuais e já estudaram (e produziram) textos com diferentes modos de organização do discurso: narração, exposição, argumentação, injunção, descrição. A escolha do gênero conto se justifica por ser este um texto mais curto, possibilitando a leitura em sala com a turma. O corpus se compõe de contos de dois grandes autores brasileiros: Machado de Assis e Lima Barreto. Um dos propósitos dessa escolha era mostrar que autores clássicos podem e devem ser lidos no Ensino Fundamental. O objetivo principal desta pesquisa é apresentar atividades realizadas em sala de aula com o gênero selecionado, visando à formação do leitor e ao desenvolvimento da produção escrita, ressaltando a importância do texto literário no contexto escolar. Defende-se, portanto, que o trabalho com os contos pode ser um estímulo para desenvolver o gosto e, se possível, ao prazer da leitura, o enriquecimento vocabular e, por conseguinte, para o amadurecimento da escrita

Cálculo no ensino médio: uma proposta para o ensino de derivada na primeira série

Este trabalho traz uma proposta de atividades, a serem desenvolvidas em sala de aula, com o objetivo de introduzir o conceito de derivadas para os alunos da primeira série do Ensino Médio. Antes das atividades, estão presentes algumas breves pesquisas. O histórico da presença de tópicos do Cálculo Diferencial e Integral no Ensino Médio no Brasil, assim como a análise de alguns livros didáticos, serve para mostrar como o assunto já foi e está sendo tratado no país. Também são exibidos aspectos sobre o Ensino Médio na Alemanha e nos Estados Unidos, países onde o cálculo está presente na Escola Secundária, embora de formas bastante diferentes. Um capítulo sobre a preparação adequada para as aulas também foi incluído, uma vez que a simples inserção da derivada poderia causar problemas de tempo para o cumprimento do cronograma e não trazer os resultados esperados. São necessários algum grau de adequação dos conteúdos ministrados e de cooperação com professores de Física. As atividades visando o ensino dos conceitos iniciais de derivada são motivadas por um problema físico de movimento. O foco é dado na intuição e na visualização de gráficos, para que haja uma melhor compreensão dos conceitos envolvidos. A utilização de um software de geometria dinâmica é requerida em boa parte do tempo, como importante ferramenta de apoio pedagógico

A probabilistic energy model for non-domestic building sectors applied to analysis of school buildings in greater London

The diversity of non-domestic buildings at urban scale poses a number of difficulties to develop models for large scale analysis of the stock. This research proposes a probabilistic, engineering-based, bottom-up model to address these issues. In a recent study we classified London's non-domestic buildings based on the service they provide, such as offices, retail premise, and schools, and proposed the creation of one probabilistic representational model per building type. This paper investigates techniques for the development of such models. The representational model is a statistical surrogate of a dynamic energy simulation (ES) model. We first identify the main parameters affecting energy consumption in a particular building sector/type by using sampling-based global sensitivity analysis methods, and then generate statistical surrogate models of the dynamic ES model within the dominant model parameters. Given a sample of actual energy consumption for that sector, we use the surrogate model to infer the distribution of model parameters by inverse analysis. The inferred distributions of input parameters are able to quantify the relative benefits of alternative energy saving measures on an entire building sector with requisite quantification of uncertainties. Secondary school buildings are used for illustrating the application of this probabilistic method. © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A study of information literacy initiatives between secondary schools and universities in the UK

Lonsdale, R. E. & Armstrong, C. (2006). A study of information literacy initiatives between secondary schools and universities in the UK. In A.B. Martins, A.P. Falcao, E. Conde, I. Andrade, M.B. Nunes, M.J. Vitorino (Eds.), Proceedings of 35th Annual conference of the International Association of School Librarianship, Lisboa (Portugal). The Multiple Faces of Literacy: Reading, Knowing, Doing: Selected papers from the 35th Annual Conference of IASL [CD-ROM: PDF version] Lisbon, Portugal 2006 Sponsorship: JISC

Bullying e cyberbullying

Dissertação apresentada à Universidade Fernando Pessoa como parte dos requisitos para a obtenção do grau de Mestre em Psicologia Jurídica