Teacher perceived difficulty in implementing differentiated instructional strategies in primary school

This study analyses teacher perceived difficulty in implementing differentiated instructional strategies in regular classes. The participants were 273 Portuguese primary school teachers with teaching experience ranging from 1 to 33 years. A 39-item questionnaire was used to evaluate teacher perceived difficulty in relation to different instructional strategies. Teacher responses were factor analysed and five different domains were identified: (1) activities and materials; (2) assessment; (3) management; (4) planning and preparation; and (5) classroom environment. Results showed that with the exception of the classroom environment domain, all the instruction practices in the remaining domains were considered to be difficult. In particular, the most difficult practices were under the domain of activities and materials and were associated with the adaptation of curricular elements (content, process, and product) based on student characteristics (readiness, interest, and learning profiles). The results also revealed a strong association between the activities and materials domain and the assessment domain. Some implications of these findings for initial teacher training and teacher professional development programmes are discussed.

Papel do educador e do professor do 1.º ciclo do ensino básico : conceções dos diferentes agentes envolvidos no processo educativo

Relatório de estágio apresentado à Escola Superior de Educação de Santarém para obtenção do grau de mestre em Educação pré-escolar e ensino do 1.º ciclo do ensino básico

Papel do educador e do professor do 1.º ciclo do ensino básico : conceções dos diferentes agentes envolvidos no processo educativo

Relatório de estágio apresentado à Escola Superior de Educação de Santarém para obtenção do grau de mestre em Educação pré-escolar e ensino do 1.º ciclo do ensino básico

Estratégias de ensino promotoras de aprendizagens e do pensamento crítico

Relatório de estágio apresentado à Escola Superior de Educação de Paula Frassinetti para a obtenção de grau de mestre em Educação Pré-Escolar e em Ensino do 1º Ciclo do Ensino Básico

The role of practical activities in primary school science

The roles, patterns of use and emphases of practical activities depend fundamentally on teachers' backgrounds and beliefs. Students' intense engagement with real objects was found to encourage exploration and enjoyment, and support recall. The study also identified the variety and value of science conducted outside the normal classroom.

Comparing mentors’ reports on their own mentoring of primary preservice teachers

Implementing the Australian Curriculum will require targeting both teachers and preservice teachers as enactors of reform. Classroom teachers in their roles as mentors have a significant role to play for developing preservice teachers. What mentors do in their mentoring practices and what mentors think about mentoring will impact on the mentoring processes and ultimately reform outcomes. What are mentors’ reports on their mentoring of preservice teachers for teaching science and mathematics? This quantitative study presents mentors’ reports on their mentoring of primary preservice teachers (mentees) in mathematics (n=43) and science (n=29). Drawing upon a previously validated instrument (Hudson, 2007), this instrument was amended to allow mentors to report on their perceptions of their mentoring. Mentors claimed they mentored teaching mathematics more than science. However, 20% or more indicated they did not provide mentoring practices for 25 out of 34 survey items in the science and 9 out of 34 items in the mathematics. Educational reform will necessity mentors to be educated on effective mentoring practices for mathematics and science so the mentoring process can be more purposeful. Indeed, mentors who have knowledge of such practices may address the potential issues of more than 20% of mentees not receiving these practices. To ensure the greatest success for an Australian Curriculum mentors may need professional development in order to assist mentees’ development into the profession.

Moral Education in the Japanese Primary School Curricular Revision at the Turn of the Twenty-first Century: Aiming at a Rich and Beautiful Kokoro

This study examines values education in Japanese schools at the beginning of the millennium. The topic was approached by asking the following three questions concerning the curricular background, the morality conveyed through textbooks and the characterization of moral education from a comparative viewpoint: 1) What role did moral education play in the curriculum revision which was initiated in 1998 and implemented in 2002? 2) What kinds of moral responsibilities and moral autonomy do the moral texts develop? 3) What does Japanese moral education look like in terms of the comparative framework? The research was based on curriculum research. Its primary empirical data consisted of the national curriculum guidelines for primary school, which were taken into use in 2002, and moral texts, Kokoro no nôto, published by the Ministry of Education in the same context. Since moral education was approached in the education reform context, the secondary research material involved some key documents of the revision process from the mid-1990s to 2003. The research material was collected during three fieldwork periods in Japan (in 2002, 2003 and 2005). The text-analysis was conducted as a theory-dependent qualitative content analysis. Japanese moral education was analyzed as a product of its own cultural tradition and societal answer to the current educational challenges. In order to understand better its character, secular moral education was reflected upon from a comparative viewpoint. The theory chosen for the comparative framework, the value realistic theory of education, represented the European rational education tradition as well as the Christian tradition of values education. Moral education, which was the most important school subject at the beginning of modern school, was eliminated from the curriculum for political reasons in a school reform after the Second World War, but has gradually regained a stronger position since then. It was reinforced particularly at the turn of millennium, when a curriculum revision attempted to respond to educational and learning problems by emphasizing qualitative and value aspects. Although the number of moral lessons and their status as a non-official-subject remained unchanged, the Ministry of Education made efforts to improve moral education by new curricular emphases, new teaching material and additional in-service training possibilities for teachers. The content of the moral texts was summarized in terms of moral responsibility in four moral areas (intrapersonal, interpersonal, natural-supranatural and societal) as follows: 1) continuous self-development, 2) caring for others, 3) awe of life and forces beyond human power, and 4) societal contribution. There was a social-societal and emotional emphasis in what was taught. Moral autonomy, which was studied from the perspectives of rational, affective and individuality development, stressed independence in action through self-discipline and responsibility more than rational self-direction. Japanese moral education can be characterized as the education of kokoro (heart) and the development of character, which arises from virtue ethics. It aims to overcome egoistic individualism by reciprocal and interdependent moral responsibility based on responsible interconnectedness.

Constructing The Ethos of Tolerance and Respect in an Integrated School: The role of Teachers

This article seeks to explore how teachers develop tolerance and respect within an inclusive school
in Northern Ireland. Drawing on interviews and observation of 18 teachers, it will be shown that
teachers’ own personal values and assumptions exert a defining influence on the school ethos. It will
be argued that if teachers are not accorded the time and space to develop an understanding
of their own values and beliefs then there is the potential for schools to simply reinforce the psychological
barriers which sustain division.

Citizenship training in school from the perspective of future primary education teachers

The aim of this paper is to recognize the images that prospective elementary school teachers have about citizenship and citizenship education in school. The qualitative methodology with an ethnographic approach is used for that deep interview of ethnographic kind and analysis of institutional documents, for example, curricula, course syllabus and graduated profi le. The revision of documents helps to a better understanding of discourses. The analysis of the corpus obtained after the application of the paradigm of codifi cation proposed in the established theory. As the principal fi ndings we way point out that the concept of citizens that is common among prospective elementary school teachers is reduced to the school environment because they consider that the promotion of citizenship helps to the incorporation of children to society, thus reproducing a propaedeutic view of education.

The use of interactive video in teaching teachers: an evaluation of a link with a primary school

This paper presents an evaluation of the use of videoconferencing in learning and teaching in a United Kingdom higher education institution involved in initial teacher education. Students had the opportunity to observe naturalistic teaching practices without physically being present in the classroom. The study consisted of semi-structured interviews with the co-ordinator of the link, the head of ICT services in Stranmillis University College and the teacher of the classroom being observed. Students were invited to complete an online questionnaire. The views of the students, the co-ordinator of the link, the teacher of the classroom being observed and the head of ICT services in Stranmillis University College were then triangulated to gain an overall view of the effectiveness of the videoconferencing link. Interviews suggested students benefited in terms of pedagogy. In the early stages of the project, the teacher thought it acted as a form of classroom control. Technical problems were encountered initially and camera control was modified in the light of these. The online questionnaire suggested that students viewed this experience in a positive way and were impressed with the content, technical quality, and potential benefits of the use of this example of new technologies.

An exploratory study of specialist and generalist teachers: predicting self efficacy in delivering primary physical education.

We aimed to determine whether primary school teachers’ motivational regulations to exercise and self efficacy in delivering a physical education (PE) lesson are different based on prior PE training. Two groups of qualified primary school teachers were recruited; PE specialists and a group of generalist primary school teachers who also teach PE. All teachers completed the Behavioural Regulation in Exercise Questionnaire-2, International Physical Activity Questionnaire and the Teachers’ Sense of Efficacy Scale. PE specialists demonstrated significantly higher levels of intrinsic motivation towards exercise participation and took part in more physical activity in comparison to the generalist teachers. Regression analysis showed that being a PE specialist predicted higher scores in instructional strategies and classroom management in PE. Our findings support the useof Self Determination Theory concepts in understanding teacher’s exercise participation motivations. These findings have implications for the modelling role of teachers in encouraging children to be physically active.

Interpretation of pictograms by 3rd grade pupils: the teacher’s role

In this paper we analyze how a primary school teacher (João) leads the discussion of a task in a grade 3 class aimed at reading and interpreting pictograms. The paper is part of a larger study that follows an interpretative and qualitative research methodology with a case study design. The results indicate that, in his teaching practice, the teacher strives to ask questions so that his pupils are not limited to the identification of categories of high and low frequency characteristic, that is, "reading the data", but also raises questions related to "reading between the data" and "beyond the data."

Teaching English : a handbook for primary and secondary school teachers.

Ofrece una introducción general a la enseñanza de la lengua inglesa en las escuelas de primaria y secundaria. Sitúa el plan de estudios de esta asignatura en el contexto de la alfabetización de toda la escuela y analiza, entre otras, cuestiones importantes: la planificación y dirección de la clase, el papel del teatro, de los medios de comunicación y de las tecnologías de la información y la comunicación y, también, el desarrollo personal y profesional de los docentes.

Teaching mathematics : a handbook for primary and secondary school teachers.

Proporciona una introducción general a la enseñanza de las matemáticas en las escuelas de primaria y secundaria. Sitúa el plan de estudios de esta asignatura en el contexto de la alfabetización aritmética de toda la escuela y analiza, entre otras, cuestiones importantes: la planificación y dirección de la clase, la investigación en matemáticas, tecnologías de la información y la comunicación y desarrollo personal y profesional de los docentes.