Scenarios of mentor education in Romania - towards improving teacher induction

The aim of this paper is to examine the induction programme for newly qualified teachers and mentor education in Estonia, providing a comparative analysis of existing Estonian and possible Romanian models of mentoring. While the Estonian induction programme has been in place for more than ten years, induction in Romania is a relatively new and has only been mandatory since 2011 (National Law of Education 1/2011). The specifics of mentor professional development within the Romanian induction framework have yet to be explicated. This paper proposes two possible scenarios suitable for the Romanian system :1) long-term regulated academic education (part of master or doctoral level studies), and 2) flexible short-term in-service education. The advantages and disadvantages of both models are examined and ways to overcome some of the disadvantages are identified. Ultimately, the paper proposes that a flexible, needsdriven system which encompasses a degree of choice will best fulfil the professional development needs of teachers who wish to become mentors. (DIPF/Orig.)

“Am i really all the things that are outside of me?” - Estudo correlacional sobre persistência pessoal e vinculação

Dissertação de Mestrado apresentada ao Instituto Superior de Psicologia Aplicada para obtenção de grau de Mestre na especialidade de Psicologia Clínica.

STUDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS OF TEACHER INSTRUMENTAL SUPPORT AS A PREDICTOR OF MOTIVATION IN READING AND MATH AND ACHIEVEMENT FROM SECOND THROUGH TWELFTH GRADE

In this study, relations among students’ perceptions of instrumental help/support from their teachers and their reading and math ability beliefs, subjective task values, and academic grades, were explored from elementary through high school. These relations were examined in an overall sample of 1,062 students from the Childhood and Beyond (CAB) study dataset, a cohort-sequential study that followed students from elementary to high school and beyond. Multi-group structural equation model (SEM) analyses were used to explore these relations in adjacent grade pairs (e.g., second grade to third grade) in elementary school and from middle school through high school separately for males and females. In addition, multi-group latent growth curve (LGC) analyses were used to explore the associations among change in the variables of interest from middle school through high school separately for males and females. The results showed that students’ perceptions of instrumental help from teachers significantly positively predicted: (a) students’ math ability beliefs and reading and math task values in elementary school within the same grade for both girls and boys, and (b) students’ reading and math ability beliefs, reading and math task values, and GPA in middle and high school within the same grade for both girls and boys. Overall, students’ perceptions of instrumental help from teachers more consistently predicted ability beliefs and task values in the academic domain of math than in the academic domain of reading. Although there were some statistically significant differences in the models for girls and boys, the direction and strength of the relations in the models were generally similar for both girls and boys. The implications for these findings and suggestions for future research are discussed.

Percepciones de familias y profesorado de Educación Primaria y Secundaria sobre los deberes y derechos docentes y posibilidades de colaboración

Los autores realizan una investigación descriptiva para comprobar si existen diferencias significativas en las percepciones que madres, padres y profesorado tienen de los deberes y derechos docentes y las posibilidades de colaboración. En la recolección de datos se utiliza el cuestionario “Deberes y derechos del profesorado en la comunidad educativa”. Participan 394 docentes y 348 madres y padres de alumnos de toda España. Los resultados corroboran la hipótesis en Educación Primaria pero no en Secundaria, donde se deben introducir cambios sustanciales para que los institutos puedan beneficiarse de la colaboración de madres y padres. Se concluye que los deberes y derechos docentes pueden servir para promover la colaboración entre la escuela y las familias y ayudar a conseguir el equilibrio entre el derecho de los padres a participar y la autonomía de los docentes como profesionales.

Evaluating the Portuguese National Reading Plan: teachers’ perceptions on the impact in schools

The final publication is available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10671-014-9171-y

A inclusão da diversidade linguística no ensino básico na perspectiva de pais e professores : Um estudo de caso no interior rural

É num quadro internacional caracterizado pela crescente multi/interculturalidade das populações escolares, que se inscreve o presente trabalho de investigação, que tem como tema a inclusão da diversidade linguística no ensino básico, no contexto específico da Escola Básica com Jardim-de-infância de Ammaia, situada no interior rural de Portugal, mais precisamente no Alto Alentejo. A pesquisa, alicerçada no paradigma interpretativo, caracterizou-se por uma investigação de cariz qualitativo, mais precisamente um estudo de caso, que teve como principal fonte de recolha de dados as entrevistas em profundidade, realizadas a quatro docentes e a um encarregado de educação imigrante, as quais foram objecto de análise de conteúdo posterior. Entre os objectivos do estudo encontravam-se a identificação de algumas respostas educativas organizadas pelas escolas, no âmbito da sua autonomia, com vista a inclusão dos alunos migrantes e dos principais factores de favorecimento e de obstrução à inclusão dos mesmos, na perspectiva e concepção dos mais directos intervenientes no processo, nomeadamente os professores e os pais ou encarregados de educação destes alunos. Da análise e interpretação dos resultados ficou expresso o esforço que as comunidades educativas vêm fazendo com vista a adaptarem-se à inclusão da multi/interculturalidade, designadamente a linguística, não obstante as dificuldades com que se debatem, tais como a falta de formação da docente e a escassez de recursos para garantir o sucesso destes alunos. Além disso, permitiu comprovar alguns dados apontados pela investigação, nomeadamente a disseminação desta população por todo o território nacional e a generalização da prática denominada por «desclassificação», através da colocação dos alunos em níveis inferiores aos que frequentavam no estrangeiro. Foi igualmente possível apontar alguns dos factores que mais contribuirão para a sua inclusão, dos quais se destaca o estabelecimento de relações afectivas sólidas por parte destes alunos com os seus pares e a necessidade de fazer uso de métodos progressivos e flexíveis, adaptados às necessidades e capacidades dos alunos, capazes de lhes garantirem um nível adequado de proficiência da língua portuguesa, enquanto factor essencial ao seu sucesso educativo. ABSTRACT: It is in an international context, characterized by the growing cultural, ethnical, linguistic diversity and other aspects of school populations, which lead educational communities to severe changes, that the present investigational work refers to, whose topic is the inclusion of language diversity in the basic teaching, in the specific context of Escola Básica com Jardim de Infância de Ammaia, located in the rural interior of Portugal, to be more accurate, in the North Alentejo region. The research, based on the interpretational paradigm, is characterized by a qualitative investigation, more precisely in a case study, which had as a main source of data gathering the interviews done to four teachers and an immigrant parent, which were subjected to posterior content analysis. Among the aims of the study were the identification of some educational responses organized by schools, in the extent of its autonomy, regarding the inclusion of migrant pupils and the main favoring and obstruction factors to the inclusion of these same pupils, in the perspective, conception and comprehension of the most direct intervenient in the process, namely teachers and parents of these pupils. From the analysis and interpretation of the results it is visible the effort educational communities have been making in order to adapt themselves to the inclusion of the multi/interculturality, namely linguistic, in spite of the difficulties they find, such as the lack of formation of teachers and the scarcity of resources to guarantee the success of this new school population. Likewise, it allowed to prove some data pointed out by the investigation, namely the dissemination of this population throughout the national territory and the generalization of the practice called "disqualification”, by placing pupils in inferior levels to those they attended abroad. It was also possible to point out some of the factors that most contribute to their inclusion, of which stand out the establishment of solid affective relationship between these pupils and their peers and the necessity to use progressive and flexible methods, adapted to the needs and capacities of the pupils, able to guarantee an adequate proficiency level of the Portuguese language, as the key factor to their educational success.

Os inéditos-viáveis na e da formação continuada de professores que ensinam matemática nos anos iniciais da educação de jovens e adultos

Tese (doutorado)—Universidade de Brasília, Faculdade de Educação, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Educação, 2016.

The impact of ethics education in medical laboratory science.

Teachers and students were asked what ethics education is offered in their program. The survey of the teachers regarding ethics education revealed some differences between english and french schools. It was found that franch schools favoured ethics courses taught by philosophers while english schools favoured ethics courses taught by health care providers. Furthermore, case studies were reported to be used more often in english schools and more often in assignments. However, regarless of the differences, 87 % of teachers agreed that ethics training is a high priority and most teachers thought that ethics training in their programs was adequate. At same time, students were asked to answer some questions that involved ethical dilemmas wherein some moral decisions would have to be made. Their responses revealed their level of moral development, based on Kohlberg's theory of moral development. The impact of ethics courses in the curriculum on moral development was correlated taking into account what ethics education students actually received with what year-of-study they were in (1st year, end of program or two years post graduation). Students were presented scenarios about falsifying records, communication, student dishonesty and preanalytical impact on patient care. These are authentic issues that technologists face on a daily basis. In reply to multiple-choice questions, respondents chose, in order of personal preference, the three best answers out of six offered to complete a statement regarding ethics. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Studies), employing crosstabulations and Oneway Anova. Factors including respondents age range, mother tongue, gendre, and years of schooling were considered.

The teaching of reading English in a foreign language in Libyan universities: methods and models

This study focuses on the learning and teaching of Reading in English as a Foreign Language (REFL), in Libya. The study draws on an action research process in which I sought to look critically at students and teachers of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) in Libya as they learned and taught REFL in four Libyan research sites. The Libyan EFL educational system is influenced by two main factors: the method of teaching the Holy-Quran and the long-time ban on teaching EFL by the former Libyan regime under Muammar Gaddafi. Both of these factors have affected the learning and teaching of REFL and I outline these contextual factors in the first chapter of the thesis. This investigation, and the exploration of the challenges that Libyan university students encounter in their REFL, is supported by attention to reading models. These models helped to provide an analytical framework and starting point for understanding the many processes involved in reading for meaning and in reading to satisfy teacher instructions. The theoretical framework I adopted was based, mainly and initially, on top-down, bottom-up, interactive and compensatory interactive models. I drew on these models with a view to understanding whether and how the processes of reading described in the models could be applied to the reading of EFL students and whether these models could help me to better understand what was going on in REFL. The diagnosis stage of the study provided initial data collected from four Libyan research sites with research tools including video-recorded classroom observations, semi-structured interviews with teachers before and after lesson observation, and think-aloud protocols (TAPs) with 24 students (six from each university) in which I examined their REFL reading behaviours and strategies. This stage indicated that the majority of students shared behaviours such as reading aloud, reading each word in the text, articulating the phonemes and syllables of words, or skipping words if they could not pronounce them. Overall this first stage indicated that alternative methods of teaching REFL were needed in order to encourage ‘reading for meaning’ that might be based on strategies related to eventual interactive reading models adapted for REFL. The second phase of this research project was an Intervention Phase involving two team-teaching sessions in one of the four stage one universities. In each session, I worked with the teacher of one group to introduce an alternative method of REFL. This method was based on teaching different reading strategies to encourage the students to work towards an eventual interactive way of reading for meaning. A focus group discussion and TAPs followed the lessons with six students in order to discuss the 'new' method. Next were two video-recorded classroom observations which were followed by an audio-recorded discussion with the teacher about these methods. Finally, I conducted a Skype interview with the class teacher at the end of the semester to discuss any changes he had made in his teaching or had observed in his students' reading with respect to reading behaviour strategies, and reactions and performance of the students as he continued to use the 'new' method. The results of the intervention stage indicate that the teacher, perhaps not surprisingly, can play an important role in adding to students’ knowledge and confidence and in improving their REFL strategies. For example, after the intervention stage, students began to think about the title, and to use their own background knowledge to comprehend the text. The students employed, also, linguistic strategies such as decoding and, above all, the students abandoned the behaviour of reading for pronunciation in favour of reading for meaning. Despite the apparent efficacy of the alternative method, there are, inevitably, limitations related to the small-scale nature of the study and the time I had available to conduct the research. There are challenges, too, related to the students’ first language, the idiosyncrasies of the English language, the teacher training and continuing professional development of teachers, and the continuing political instability of Libya. The students’ lack of vocabulary and their difficulties with grammatical functions such as phrasal and prepositional verbs, forms which do not exist in Arabic, mean that REFL will always be challenging. Given such constraints, the ‘new’ methods I trialled and propose for adoption can only go so far in addressing students’ difficulties in REFL. Overall, the study indicates that the Libyan educational system is underdeveloped and under resourced with respect to REFL. My data indicates that the teacher participants have received little to no professional developmental that could help them improve their teaching in REFL and skills in teaching EFL. These circumstances, along with the perennial problem of large but varying class sizes; student, teacher and assessment expectations; and limited and often poor quality resources, affect the way EFL students learn to read in English. Against this background, the thesis concludes by offering tentative conclusions; reflections on the study, including a discussion of its limitations, and possible recommendations designed to improve REFL learning and teaching in Libyan universities.

EXPRESSIVE ARTS – EMBODYING INCLUSIVE TEACHERS

The Declaration of Salamanca proposes a deep reformulation of educational praxis which has as a main goal to create an environment where all students can enjoy learning, improve and grow in confidence, in a perspective of Inclusive Education. In this sense, it is necessary that teachers acquire scientific and educational skills but, also, development of personal and interpersonal competences that are crucial for a flexible and adequate professional praxis. The concept of competences integrates knowledge, skills, personal values and attitudes that are acquired through work experience and learning by doing. On other side, experiential work is lived through a body in movement. Acknowledging these ideas and considering active methods and expressive arts as valorous contributions to the positive model of inclusive education in this paper, the authors propose the training in Expressive Arts to promote Inclusion but mainly to develop personal and interpersonal competences of teachers to the Inclusion

Relatório da prática de ensino supervisionada no Agrupamento de Escolas n.º 4 de Évora - EB 2,3 Conde de Vilalva e Escola Secundária Gabriel

A presente dissertação é uma sinopse do trabalho desenvolvido no âmbito do estágio de Prática de Ensino Supervisionada em Educação Física. O estágio decorreu em duas escolas dos Ensinos Básico e Secundário. A dissertação encontra-se dividida por partes: preparação e planificação de aulas, conhecimento das turmas, condução das aulas, avaliação e processo reflexivo das várias etapas. Foram desenvolvidas actividades para as comunidades escolares de ambas as escolas e foi feita uma reflexão final do estágio que teve como objectivo analisar todos os procedimentos que foram desenvolvidos ao longo do ano lectivo. A passagem pelos quatro ciclos de ensino foi bastante produtiva para o enriquecimento do processo enquanto professor. As aulas seguiram o planeamento anual que estava delineado e foi esta ferramenta que possibilitou a existência de uma grande autonomia dos alunos, um maior controlo na prática pedagógica e a presença sistemática do jogo, trazendo uma motivação e empenhamento suplementar nas aulas e nas actividades desenvolvidas. ABSTRACT: The following dissertation is a synopsis of what was done at the scope of Supervised Practices for Physical Education beginning teachers. The traineeship took place in two schools from Primary to Secondary levels. The dissertation is divided into several parts: preparation and lessons planning, students' profile, lessons, evaluation and reflexive process on the different stages. lt was developed activities for the communities of the booth schools and was made a final reflection of the traineeship stage that have as a propose analyze all the procedures that was developed in all the academic year. The passage for the four cycles of school was very productive for the enrichment as a professor. The classes were follow as was expected and was that possibilities the existence of a great autonomy of the students, a bigger contrail in the pedagogy practice and systematic presence of the game that bring a motivation and supplementary interest in the classes and activities developed.

The Support Educational Commitee Participation in the Pedagogical Approach of an Educational Integration

Educational services are essential to social and economical development of people, mainly to the progress of all sectors of society. Establishing actions that can promote the participation of various social groups is essential to improve their quality of life and building more respectful and fair human rights without any discrimination or exclusion. In recent years, the Costa Rican education system has undergone significant changes due to the pedagogical approach of inclusive education in which students with educational needs may require different support and specialized resources for training and development. For this, the Basic Educational Division of the Center for Teaching and Research in Education, generated a concern of investigating the participation of the Committee of Educational Support in the process of educational integration, thus, determine the functions performed in the educational context, under the rules of the 7600 Equal Opportunity Act for people with disabilities, which is the entity that corresponds to regulate access to education by identifying the support required for students with educational needs and, advice and trains, administrative staff in schools both public and private in the country. In addition, there is also a concern for exploring the role of the Special Education teacher for this Committee, as well as learning the perceptions of teachers and parents about the functions performed by the committee.

A Pedagogical Strategy for Integrated Education of Spanish in the 4th to 6th Grades of the General Basic Education

Language teaching has become a priority in the Costa Rican educational system, considering it as a tool for communication and development of thought. Without language, there is no access to other curriculum disciplinary knowledge. A successful experience conducted some years ago, with students from 4th to 6th grade, was the basis for the design and implementation of a professional development activity addressed to promoting an integration strategy previously adjusted according to the Ministry’s requirements and the existing national regulations. This study is developed in the framework of a qualitative paradigm including research-action and systematization. A purposive sample was selected based on a suitability factor, through which individuals are informed about the strategy, and then the strategy is applied to a group of students from urban-marginal areas. The techniques used include literature review, analysis of curriculum and Ministry’s regulations, application of an in-depth interview, discussions from the course’s participant in a portfolio, and discussions from students to whom the strategy was applied. We analyzed the considerations of teachers and students, as well as the theoretical and regulatory information by triangulation. The study’s conclusion is the necessity of a communicative approach in language teaching and our recommendation is to implement the strategy developed in the Costa Rican classrooms as provided in this paper.

Contributions of the Rural Education Project (PER)

This paper presents the results of the research project “El proceso de formación inicial del Proyecto de Educación Rural (PER)” (creation of the Rural Education Project, PER by its Spanish acronym), conducted between 1984 and 1987 in the Regional Offices of the Ministry of Public Education in San Carlos, Coto and Limón. The Rural Education Project (PER) was implemented by the Center of Research and Teaching in Education (CIDE) of the Universidad Nacional (UNA) aiming at training teachers of single-teacher schools located in rural areas. The objective of our research was to collect the contributions of PER bearing in mind the training processes required today, and considering the success of PER, which was based on the leadership of teachers to promote community progress in rural areas from the classroom, an input to be considered in the new learning processes of Rural Education

THOUGHTS ON TEACHING PHONETICS AND PHONOLOGY IN THE COURSE OF LETTERS: PROBLEMATIC SITUATIONS AS CUES TO PEDAGOGICAL PRACTICE

This paper is a root from the research project on Linguistics and Teacher Formation (at UEM). It also investigates the relations between the linguistic knowledge and the formation of teachers, promoting an interface between scientific knowledge and the didactic and pedagogical knowledge. In order to do so, it proposes to triangulate the official documentation on teacher formation (National Curricular Guidelines, Official Decisions and Opinions; National Curricular Parameters of basic and high school education; and the Pedagogical Project of the Letters Course at UEM); the practice of teachers based on each of the themes; and the schoolbooks used: grammar and government donated books.