Staff perspectives on Emotionally Based School Avoidance: a case study in a Welsh primary school

تحقیق حاضر با هدف تحلیل روابط بین فرهنگ مدرسه و انسجام سازمانی با عملکرد مدیران در پاسخگویی به نیازهای محیطی با نقش میانجی تعهد اخلاقی و کارآمدی جمعی در مدرسه به اجرا درآمد. این تحقیق از نظر هدف از نوع تحقیقات کاربردی و از نظر گردآوری داده‌ها و کنترل متغیرها توصیفی از نوع همبستگی می‌باشد. جامعه آماری پژوهش حاضر شامل کلیه مدیران متوسطه دوره اول و دوم شهر ارومیه به تعداد 1200 نفر می باشد که از بین آنها تعداد 300 نفر با بهره گیری از جدول مورگان و به روش نمونه گیری طبقه ای نسبی به عنوان نمونه انتخاب گردید. ابزار گرداوری داده‌ها پرسشنامه‌های استاندارد ) می‌باشد. روایی پرسشنامه‌ها به وسیله تحلیل عاملی تأییدی مورد تأیید قرار گرفتند و پایایی پرسشنامه به روش آلفای کرونباخ برای متغیرهای پژوهش به صورت فرهنگ سازمانی92/0، انسجام مدرسه80/0،کارآمدی گروهی 81/0، تعهد اخلاقی93/0 و عملکرد81/0 بدست آمد که به لحاظ آماری قابل قبول می‌باشد. به منظور بررسی روابط علی بین متغیرها از روش مدل‌یابی معادلات ساختاری به روش تحلیل مسیر با استفاده از نرم افزار spss, lisrelاستفاده شد. نتایج نشان داد بین بین فرهنگ مدرسه و انسجام سازمانی با پاسخگویی مدیران به نیازهای محیطی با نقش میانجی تعهد اخلاقی و کارآمدی جمعی یک رابطه ساختاری مثبت وجود دارد و عوامل سازمانی هم بصورت مستقیم و هم بصورت غیر مستقیم، از طریق تعهد اخلاقی و کارامدی گروهی توان پیش بینی عملکرد مدیران در پاسخگویی به نیازهای محیطی را دارد.

Culture is a misunderstood and misused idea. In this chapter I advance seven clarifying theses. (1) Culture is a characteristic of a group, not an individual, and talk of culture must always specify the relevant group. (2) Organisations have it within their power to ensure that organisational culture over-rides national cultures. (3) The most useful definition of the culture of a collectivity is its set of collective practices—“the way we do things around here”. (4) In the organisational context, it is usually better to use culture as a description of group behaviour, rather than as an explanation for individual behaviour. (5) Organisational cultures depend on the structures that organisations put in place to achieve desired outcomes. These structures reflect the priorities of top leaders. The priorities of leaders in turn may depend on factors outside the organisation, such as regulatory pressure and public opinion. (6) The distinction between emergent and managerialist views of culture is misleading. (7) The term safety culture is so confusing it should be abandoned.

The current study examines senior school leaders’ theories of action driving their decision-making around how they manage departments and distribute leadership to department heads. Based on a thematic analysis of transcripts of interviews with the principal, head of the curriculum unit, and two department heads from nine high schools, four approaches for managing departments were identified: (a) quasi self-managing units; (b) hierarchical managerial control; (c) participatory management; and (d) transitioning from hierarchical control to incipient participatory management. All approaches, to varying degrees, involved hierarchical managerial control and, to a greater or lesser extent, department heads participated in decision-making. At the centre of the distinct patterns for the distribution of leadership associated with each management model was a concern for aligning teachers’ improvement priorities. These approaches are examined through a distributed leadership lens in terms of their potential affordances and constraints for strengthening the contributions of departments to school improvement processes. The main conclusion is that variations in how senior leaders manage departments for the distribution of leadership need to be understood in the context of a school's history and culture.


 
 
 The literature suggests that twenty first century schools must pay as much attention to how students learn as they do to what students learn. Part of the `how students learn' encompasses attempts to address student mastery of the processes of becoming informed. At one time it was considered the role of the teacher librarian to teach students information skills or an information process. At one time it was assumed that class teachers could teach these skills and this process. In more recent times it has been suggested that teacher librarians and class teachers must form partnerships to enable the building of a school culture that facilitates an emphasis on ways of learning rather than on what is learned.
 
 
 
 A number of writers have suggested that the key agent in the fight for information literate schools is the teacher. The teacher is at the front line working with students on a day to day basis and influencing student expectation and behaviour. As teaching practice changes from teacher focused quantitative approaches to student centred and more qualitative approaches the importance of the teacher as role model and mentor becomes paramount.
 A common thread to these approaches is the assumption that class teachers and /or teacher librarians are themselves information literate. That is, it is assumed that teachers (and especially teacher librarians) have mastered the processes of becoming informed. It is assumed that they work with an information-processing model (whether that entails a formal model or a systematic approach) and that they themselves employ higher order thinking skills when undertaking complex information tasks.
 This paper reports on a project that tested the validity of these assumptions. It seeks in part to identify whether or not teachers understand the information process and whether they are able to use a process to undertake a complex information task. Are teachers equipped to act as role model and mentor to their students? Does being employed as a teacher librarian (as distinct from being a qualified teacher librarian) make a difference to understanding, and use of, an information process?

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2020.00202.].

BackgroundSchool refusal is a form of school attendance problem (SAP) distinct from truancy, school withdrawal, and school exclusion; it requires specific mental health care. Schools' identification and referral to care of school refusers depends on school personnel's interpretation of the reasons for absences. Because cultural factors can induce misunderstanding of the young people's behavior and of their parents' attitudes toward school attendance, school personnel can have difficulty understanding these reasons for children with transcultural backgrounds (migrants or children of migrants). The aim of this study was to explore the experiences and opinions of school personnel, mainly teachers, related to school refusal among these students.MethodsGrounded theory methodology was used to conduct 52 qualitative interviews of school personnel in two regions of France. Their daily practices with students presenting with school refusal were addressed in general (i.e., in response to absence of all youth) and in transcultural contexts (i.e., absence of migrant children or children of migrants). This study analyzed the interviews of the 30 participants who reported working with students from transcultural backgrounds.ResultsMany school personnel reported experiencing difficulties, ambivalence, and destabilizing feelings in situations involving immigrant families whose school culture differed from their own. Talking about culture appeared to be taboo for most participants. These situations challenged the participants' usual strategies and forced them to devise new ones to deal with these young people and their families. Although some personnel were at risk of developing exclusionary attitudes, others dealt with school refusal with both commitment and creativity.ConclusionThe tensions experienced by these participants reveal contradictions between the French universalist ideology and the reality of daily life in schools becoming increasingly multicultural. School personnel's attitudes toward children with transcultural backgrounds presenting with school refusal can affect children's access to care and shape social inequalities. Further research should develop, implement, and assess interventions including transcultural training of school personnel, improved use of interpreters at school for migrant families, and the addition of a transcultural dimension to SAP assessment scales, especially for school refusal.

This paper explores teachers’ perceptions of digital citizenship education and the causal mechanisms that influence their perceptions. While digital citizenship education is promoted across the curriculum in New Zealand, school cultures, leadership priorities, and systemic pressures influence how digital citizenship education is interpreted and enacted. Drawing on data from 11 semi-structured interviews with secondary school teachers from across the eight learning areas in New Zealand, this study presents a visual representation of teachers’ perceptions across four domains – safeguarding, equipping, empowering, and resistance – followed by an examination of the realities of digital citizenship education in practice. Analysis suggests some consistency in teachers’ perceptions, particularly techno-optimistic narratives, but indicates that school culture, leadership, and curriculum demands are key factors shaping digital citizenship education. The findings indicate the paradoxical role of schools as both enablers and constrainers of digital citizenship education. Despite teachers’ appreciation for the importance of ‘thick’ understandings of digital citizenship education that equip and empower students as digital citizens, the realities of schooling constrain digital citizenship education to ‘thin’ approaches focused on skill development and risk management. The research addresses a critical gap in understanding how systemic and organisational-level factors mediate digital citizenship education policy intentions and classroom realities.

Values instilled in students during the primary school years have a lasting impact on their lives. Among the values that should be taught are religion and ethics, imparted first by families. However, they are taught through the Religious Culture and Ethics (RCE) course during the school years. In the formal educational institutions of our country, RCE education starts in the fourth-grade class of primary school. At schools without subject teachers, the RCE course, scheduled as two hours per week in primary schools, is delivered by class teachers. Based on this situation, the research sought to determine the class teachers' evaluations of the RCE course they teach in primary schools. The research was designed using a phenomenological approach. The research's study group consisted of 30 participants determined by criterion sampling among class teachers working at state schools in Ağrı province and instructing the RCE course in the 2022-2023 academic year. The data were obtained through the structured face-to-face interview, one of the qualitative data collection methods, and analyzed through content analysis. According to the research findings, the participants concurred that the teachers teaching the RCE course should possess pedagogical content and basic religious knowledge. Another finding was that it is essential to use applications and technology to make the RCE course more efficient. It was also found that fourth-grade students struggle to comprehend some abstract religious concepts as they are in the concrete operational period. Moreover, the textbook is insufficient and needs to be simplified in content and language. Consequently, it was discovered that the class teachers instructing this course encountered a number of challenges, yet they had recommendations for enhancing the teaching process.

This case study is concerned with the perspectives of staff and governors in the secondary school where the researcher works as deputy head. The focus of the inquiry is school development planning and its relationship to wider strategic planning. The study further explores the School's culture and organisational structure in order to contextualise the findings and examine the School's capacity for change. The author considers the difficulties of conducting case study research in one's own place of work and utilises a range of research instruments to improve the validity of the research approach. These include questionnaires and interview schedules designed by the researcher, together with research resources designed for the Improving the Quality of Education for All (IQEA) school improvement project and the Improving School Effectiveness Project (ISEP). The study concludes that the School's development plan is generally considered to provide a sense of direction for the School but that there is little evidence of direct engagement with the plans produced. The senior team are perceived to provide purposeful leadership and the School's development structure, i.e. its capacity for improvement, is strong but there are concerns amongst many staff that decision-making is insufficiently collegiate. The author argues that this lack of involvement in key decision-making is the foundation for a model of strategy development that does not provide an authentic shared vision for the School as a whole. The School's aspirations to become a 'learning organisation' are compromised by a political structure that does not develop leadership density across the staff team. It is argued that the complexity and ambiguity of the School's culture, as reflected by the perspectives of its staff and governors, challenges the credentials of technicist models of strategic planning within this context. The result of an essentially top-down approach to strategy formation is a staff team who partially disengage themselves from strategic implementation, i.e. the school development planning process. From consideration of both the value and the constraints and limitations of this research study, the author concludes that there is a need for further case studies that explore the complexity and contradiction of the school setting and, in particular, action research studies that help the reader to understand the dynamic reality of school management from the perspectives of the practitioners themselves.

Background: The lives of children in school is rapidly changing and their off-line and on-line lives are becoming more and more interwoven, this is also making the field of bullying more complex. Although bullying is a field that has been studied for quite some time, new technology is creating new challenges. There is still a need to know more about the possible emotional problems traditional and cyber victimization has on the students experiencing it. Knowing how it affects them is however not enough as it is also important to know what the teacher could do to make the situation better for these students when the bullying has happened. On this background, the current thesis attempts to highlight the different emotional problems detected between students having experienced traditional and / or cyber victimization, and to explore these consequences in depth, in addition to shed some light on how the class teachers’ response is perceived when the bullying has happened. Aims: The primary aim of this thesis was to contribute to the knowledge and theory building regarding the emotional consequences of traditional and cyber victimization and the importance of the authoritative class teacher in the intervention of bullying cases. A sub aim was related to practical implications and covers helping teachers in their practical work better recognize different emotional symptoms in addition to making them aware of the importance of the authoritative class teacher and protective control when intervening in cases of bullying. Methods: Paper 1 builds on data from questionnaires from the nationwide school environment study conducted by Center for behavioral research in Norway in 2008. The data were collected using self - reported questionnaires, 3046 students participated in the study. For analysis SPSS software was initially used. Further latent variables in Structural Equation Modeling (Mplus) was used for investigating the relation between victimization and emotional problems. Paper 2 and 3 builds on qualitative data from 10 semi structured individual interviews performed both in Norway and Ireland. All the respondents had experienced traditional victimization and many of them also cyber victimization. The sample consisted of 10 cases that were reported closed to either the Norwegian centre for learning environment and behavioral research in education (NSLA), University of Stavanger or the National anti-bullying research and resource centre, Dublin City University. Results: The results in paper 1 showed a stronger association between cyber victimization and symptoms of anxiety than between traditional victimization and symptoms of anxiety. There were also a stronger association between traditional victimization and symptoms of depression than between cyber victimization and symptoms of depression. The results in paper 2 showed differences regarding descriptions of symptoms of post-traumatic stress for those respondents having experienced only traditional and those having experienced both traditional and cyber victimization. The respondents having experienced both traditional and cyber victimization where the only ones reporting trouble sleeping, experiences of fear outside school and behavioral avoidance also outside school. The findings in paper 3 showed that none of the class teachers were perceived as authoritative by the respondents, i.e. high on both warmth and control, during the time the respondents were bullied. Conclusion: Both the findings in paper 1 and 2 points in the direction of cyber victimization causing more symptoms of anxiety than traditional victimization. The reasons for these results are yet to be investigated in future studies, however as cyber victimization often includes the aspects of anonymity and publicity, these could be contributing to the victim reporting more anxiety when having experienced cyber victimization. To reduce the experienced anxiety it is suggested that the teacher in bullying intervention needs to demonstrate an authoritative teacher style, which is found in paper 3 to be absent. In addition to emphasize the importance of showing warmth and control, the theoretical concept of protective control is introduced.

Written from the perspective of hospitals, this article examines, in theory and in practice, challenges associated with hospitals' efforts to engage in neighborhood development more fully with the communities that neighbor them. Increasingly, these efforts include significant investments in housing, safety, and educational initiatives. These investments stretch the traditional expertise of medical practitioners and administrators and raise ethical and political questions about how best to engage and work with communities. After first describing the contexts within which hospital-community relationships arise, we examine ethical and political considerations likely to bear on the success of these projects. We conclude with recommendations to hospitals for operating within communities in a way that is consistent with hospitals' ethical commitments.

O presente trabalho analisa as formas pelas quais docentes especialistas de Educação Física e docentes referências vêm assumindo demandas e posições em suas docências no I ciclo. Problematizamos algumas discursividades que nos parecem interpelar as subjetividades dessas(es) docentes, produzindo certos modos de viver a docência no I ciclo. Para tanto, efetuamos um estudo etnográfico em duas escolas da Rede Municipal de Ensino de Porto Alegre. Foi possível vislumbrar que há certos discursos, sobretudo aqueles relacionados à infância, que instituem posições às(aos) docentes e estabelecem hierarquias entre o coletivo docente. Nesse cenário, a professora referência se responsabiliza por maiores demandas da turma e é compreendida na cultura escolar como “a” professora da turma; enquanto as(os) docentes de Educação Física, por vezes, apresentam menos legitimidade e autoridade perante a turma; ainda, não costumam estar envolvidos nas demais atividades, como reuniões e conselhos de classe de alguma turma.

Empirical research revealed that Kenya is experiencing poor performance in the Kenya Certificate for Secondary Education (KCSE) within the context of subsidized secondary education adopted in 2008. School culture has been considered a central concept that changes how schools operate, improve educational results and is heavily influenced by its institutional norms and history which could be an obstacle to over all performances. The purpose of the study therefore was to determine school culture and its influence on KCSE attainment in Nandi Central Sub County Kenya. The study was guided by the following objectives: To establish form(s) of culture(s) that is/are practiced. To determine the relationship between school motto, vision, mission statement, to determine the relationship between school rules, regulations and the attainment of KCSE in public secondary schools in Kenya and to establish the relationship between Internal assessment exams and attainment of KCSE in public secondary schools in Kenya. This study adopted convergent triangulation mixed method research design; Pragmatic philosophical paradigm was employed. This study was guided by dual factor theory by Fredrick Herzberg 1957. The study was conducted in Nandi Central Sub-County, Nandi County involving 20 secondary schools. There were 352 respondents comprising of 20 principals, 81 form four class teachers and 251 form four students selected using simple random, stratified sampling and purposive technique.. The data from the study was collected using questionnaires, interview, document analysis and direct observation. Data generated from this study was both quantitative and qualitative. Analysis of quantitative data involved, use of inferential statistical analysis where data was coded and entered into a Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 26. In qualitative approach, data was analyzed thematically by organizing themes corresponding to the study objectives. The study revealed that, there was a statistically significant relationship between forms of cultures practiced and attainment of KCSE in Kenya (p=0.019<0.05). School motto, vision and mission statement is statistically significantly associated with attainment of KCSE in Kenya (X2=93.572, p=0.000<0.05). School rules, regulations, policies are statistically significantly associated with attainment of KCSE in Kenya (X2=16.083, p=0.003<0.05). Regular internal assessment exams are statistically significantly associated with attainment of KCSE in Kenya (X2=14.821, p=0.005<0.05). The study concluded that forms of culture practiced in schools include; equal distribution of educational resources and learning opportunities, made students and staff feel emotionally and physically safe, high concern for staff/students combined with strong performance expectations and being centered on performance with little regard for staff and students. School motto, vision, mission statement should spell out the purpose of the school, create a new and deeper relationship among students and staff and consist of a new-defined ideology of the school, for example fundamental values and beliefs. Set rules and regulations direct student’s social and academic discipline that translates into performance by guiding student’s behaviors. The study recommends that schools should ensure that their school motto, vision, mission statement spell out the purpose of the school and this would create a new and deeper relationship among students and staff.

Growing numbers of pupils with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) are attending mainstream schools, and increasing numbers of teaching assistants (TAs) are being deployed into classrooms to support them. Evidence suggests, however, that pupils who have a TA may underperform academically, receive less attention from their teachers and be isolated from their peer group. Issues relating to the deployment and training of these staff, and their relationships with class teachers have been raised as contributing to the negative impact of TAs. However, school factors – such as inclusive school culture and teacher training – have been overlooked. In light of this, the objectives of the current study were to (1) develop understanding of the aspects of school culture that TAs feel contribute to the development of inclusion, and (2) identify aspects of school culture, policies and practices that facilitate or hinder their ability to effectively support pupils with ASD. Fifteen TAs supporting pupils with ASD in four mainstream secondary schools were interviewed. Thematic analysis identified positive attitudes towards pupils with special educational needs , school leadership support for inclusion , collaboration and respect as components of an inclusive school culture. The factors perceived as facilitating or hindering the ability of TAs to effectively include pupils with ASD included access to expertise , communication within school and teaching staff awareness of ASD . These findings are discussed in relation to the growing literature on inclusive education for pupils with ASD.

Background/Context In an era of high stakes accountability, public school districts struggle to improve teaching and learning for all students. As a result, effective professional development approaches for teachers are a high priority. Recently, teachers’ learning communities (LCs) have been recommended because successful LCs foster teacher collaboration and make practice public. At a deeper level, however, this type of professional development depends on teachers taking more control over their work, releasing tacit knowledge and expertise, developing critical judgment, and taking fuller responsibility for student learning. Such a construction of teachers’ roles and responsibilities sometimes collides with entrenched norms in school cultures. Purpose This article explores four core themes, which represent endemic challenges to sustaining teachers’ learning communities (LCs): 1) defining and fostering teacher agency, 2) determining purposes for teacher collaboration, 3) tracking the challenges to and impact on district culture, and 4) identifying enabling and constraining institutional and policy conditions. The author uncovers conflicts that frequently emerge when efforts at enhancing the professional autonomy, authority, and responsibility of teachers conflict with hierarchical and bureaucratic district and school cultures. Setting The study is located in a mid-Atlantic city in the United States, struggling with economic disparities, entrenched poverty in some sectors, a shifting economic base, and rapidly changing demographics largely due to immigration. The school district faces challenges typical of other urban districts—closing the achievement gap between middle class and poor children; developing culturally responsive educational practices, providing adequate resources in uncertain economic times; and meeting intensifying federal and state accountability demands. Population Research participants include the district superintendent, district administrators, principals, instructional coaches, and teachers. Research Design This article, based on two and a half years of data collection (October 2001 to April 2003), draws on site-visit interviews and focus groups of key players, observations of LC participants’ meetings and classrooms, e-mail correspondence with several key players, observations of LC coaches’ trainings, and reviews of relevant documents. The author served as an outside researcher to track the district's implementation of the initiative. Eventually, the field-based data was compared with survey data with responses from 251 LC participants in the district. Survey questions were designed by a research team, which included three other outside researchers studying the same initiative in three districts in other states. In all, the qualitative data required visits to LC coaches’ trainings and five on-site visits to the school district, each visit extending over two to four days. Conclusions/Recommendations From the data, the author draws several conclusions with implications for the initiative's success and sustainability. First, although the initiative sought to establish learning communities to mobilize practitioner expertise and build collective responsibility—all for the sake of student learning—most participants did not claim a connection between their collaborative work and student learning. Second, while the district has made considerable headway institutionalizing structural dimensions of the initiative, efforts to enhance teacher efficacy appeared to be constrained by high-stakes accountability policies requiring compliance. Third, within the groups, more time was devoted to community-building efforts than to critical inquiry aimed at improving practice. Fourth, because the initiative's practices and principles run counter to entrenched norms of district culture, its sustainability may be in question. Fifth, paradoxically, district leadership, though seeking a promising context for change, may be unwittingly causing conditions that threaten to undermine the initiative. Finally, if an initiative like this is to endure, districts must invest greater authority and autonomy in participants as well as adequate time and support.