Abstract

Background/purpose – Teacher recruitment and retention is a major issue for sustaining and growing an educational system. Nurturing and supporting teachers through all stages of their career in the form of mentoring is recognized as an important factor in retaining teachers in the profession. The current English Government’s “golden thread” of documentation for a teaching career stipulates a mentor for life. This study asks whether a qualification to practice mentoring should be mandated.  

Materials/methods – This case study presents ethnographic qualitative data analyzed and interpreted through a Miles et al. (2020) display structure. Seven practicing teacher mentors were separately interviewed within their own schools. The interviews were recorded, the participants were not prompted, and their responses are presented in full.

Results – This study found that none of the participants hold a recognized accredited qualification in mentoring. The literature shows that other professions value further qualifications which are used as proof of expert knowledge through theoretical study and reflection.

Conclusion – It is suggested that application of the intent to provide all teachers with a mentor throughout their whole career through an ad hoc cottage industry of volunteer mentors is unsustainable and not commensurate with that of a professional body.

Keywords: mentoring, qualification, motivation, intrinsic, extrinsic

Abstract

Background/purpose – Anxiety is one of the most common mental health problems seen in children and adolescents. Based on this general framework, the first aim of the study is to reveal the prevalence of trait anxiety among adolescents and to determine whether this prevalence differs according to their gender. The second aim is to reveal whether adolescents’ ineffective coping styles with stress, friend loyalty, and gender predict trait anxiety.

Materials/methods – Data were collected from a total of 531 adolescents (318 females; 213 males). State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, Coping Strategies Scale in Stress Experiences, and the Friend Attachment Scale were used as data collection tools.

Results – According to the findings, 18.3% of adolescents had a low level of anxiety, 65.2% were moderate, and 16.0% had a high level of anxiety. In terms of gender, 17.6% of females had a low level of anxiety, 62.3% were moderate, and 20.1% had a high level of anxiety. For the males, 18.3% had a low level of anxiety, 69.5% were moderate, and 11.3% had a high level of anxiety. This gender-based difference was shown to be significant. Another finding showed the adolescents’ trait anxiety scores to be negatively correlated with friend attachment, and positive significant relationships revealed between ineffective coping styles. These variables and gender together explain 31.0% of the trait anxiety variance.

Conclusion – The findings showed the trait anxiety of female adolescents to be higher than male adolescents. In addition, attention should be paid as to whether attachment to friends and ineffective coping methods with stress are used in research and treatment processes related to trait anxiety.

Keywords: adolescents, anxiety, stress, coping, gender

Abstract

Background/purpose – Developing the body of knowledge about how facilitators act and engage with participants is essential to developing Lesson Study (LS) facilitation. This research reveals how two LS facilitators from the United Kingdom and the United States support and lead cycles.

Materials/methods – We used the Standards, Assessment, Instruction and Intervention, Leadership, and Sustainability (SAILS) framework (Hasbrouck & Denton, 2005; Hasbrouck & Michel, 2022) to explore and thematically code reflective semi-structured interviews between two LS facilitators. We coded and organized themes to explore the actions, processes, tools, and behaviors that facilitators use.

Results – Standards formed a key feature of LS facilitation. Leadership, how the facilitators intervened and supported participants to sustain LS, was a salient theme. The skills, tools, and processes used by the facilitators built upon existing knowledge of LS facilitators (de Vries & Uffen, 2021; Morago & Grigioni Baur, 2021; Mynott, 2018). A fundamental finding is that the facilitator is a leader who needs to be present enough to navigate discussions, yet invisible enough to not get in the way of participant learning.

Conclusion – Deepening our knowledge of what the facilitator can do to increase the sustainability of participant learning can help support future LS teams. How a facilitator thinks about aspects of their work in advance, which tools can be used during conversations, and how they summarize learning are all important aspects of their work.

Keywords: leadership, sustainable collaboration, relationship, communication, authenticity

Abstract

Background/purpose – The study aimed to investigate relationships between preservice teachers’ teacher readiness level, attitudes towards the teaching profession, and organizational attraction perceptions.

Materials/methods – Relational survey method, one of the quantitative research methods, was employed in the study. The sample of the study consisted of 341 fourth-grade students at Fırat University’s Faculty of Education. The Preparedness to Teach Scale, Attitudes Towards Teaching Profession Scale, and Organizational Attraction Scale were used to collect the study’s data.

Results – The research revealed a positive and significant relationship between the participants’ teacher readiness level, attitudes towards the teaching profession and organizational attraction perceptions. In addition, it was found that the attitude towards the teaching profession had a mediating effect on the relationship between levels teacher readiness and organizational attraction.

Conclusion – The study concluded that preservice teachers’ teacher readiness level and attitudes towards the teaching profession directly affect their willingness to join educational organizations. Therefore, it is vital for educational organizations that preservice teachers possess higher levels of teacher readiness and sufficiently positive attitudes.

Keywords: organizational attraction, preservice teachers, teacher readiness, attitude towards the profession

Abstract

Background/purpose – Cocurricular offerings should appropriately align with academic learning goals to ensure undergraduate students’ development of professional dispositions that lead to civic and career success. This study provides a framework for implementing high impact practices into cocurricular instruction, as well as steps on how to align this instruction to the general educational goals of institutions.

Materials/methods – Case study methodology was used to examine university students’ perceptions of the effect a course-embedded service-learning activity had on their development of professional dispositions.

Keywords: cocurricular assessment, service-learning, first-year experience course, general education outcomes

Abstract

Background/purpose – Understanding gifted students’ perceptions by means of metaphors, carefully examining and interpreting them may help to guide the organization of training programs and the differentiation of educational content for gifted students. This study aims to reveal the perceptions of gifted students regarding science and mathematics concepts as well school math, school science, scientist, experiments, and problem-solving perceptions by examining students’ metaphors.

Materials/methods – 30 gifted students studying at a children’s university, which was established by a foundation university in Istanbul, Turkey, were selected as the study’s participants based on convenience, criterion, and accessibility sampling methods. To reveal the students’ metaphorical perceptions, gifted students were asked about their metaphors for “mathematics,” “science,” “mathematics lessons at school,” and “science lessons at school.” Data were collected using a Metaphorical Perception Form, and then transferred to the QDA Mine Lite program for qualitative data analysis, which included coding and the creation of categories and themes.

Results –Metaphors about mathematics, Metaphors about school mathematics, Metaphors about science, and Metaphors about school science were obtained as the themes of the study.

Conclusion – In a general sense, three categories of findings were obtained across all four themes. For metaphors about mathematics, the categories were “favorable,” “relating,” and “difficulty level”; whilst for school mathematics they were “favorable,” “relating,” and “unfavorable”; for science they were “favorable,” “relating,” and “difficulty level”; and for school science they were “favorable,” “relating,” and “unfavorable.”

Keywords: Gifted students, mathematics, metaphor, science

Abstract

Background/purpose – As COVID-19 spread around the globe, learning was greatly impacted, with teachers having to pivot to remote delivery. This study documented teachers’ perceptions on the transition to online teaching and learning.

Materials/methods – The phenomenological approach was used to gather and analyze responses to open-ended survey questions that solicited teachers’ reflections on the benefits and challenges of instructing online, the quality of interactions with families, and the support provided by the leadership in school districts.

Results – Two themes emerged from the data, teachers’ challenges adjusting to new circumstances, and the complexities of meeting students’ needs remotely while maintaining high academic expectations in pedagogy, instructional content, student outcomes and engagement, and parental involvement.

Conclusion – Student engagement during remote learning indicate the need for educators and technology designers to begin to consider the future of learning in online formats among younger children.

Keywords: COVID-19, inservice teachers, mandated e-learning, digital divide, parental engagement