Absence Of Teachers Research Articles

"Шкідницька лінія" у репресивній політиці радянської влади щодо Наркомату освіти УРСР за доби „Великого терору” (1937–1938 рр.)

The article reveals the essence of the in the repressive policies of Soviet power during the Great Terror era of 1937–1938. During the research, archival-criminal cases of the repressed, other archival and documentary materials on the of the People's Commissariat of Education of the USSR and its management were studied and analyzed, which gives examples of professional so-called activity directly by the People's Commissar of Education of the USSR, falsification facts bodies of Soviet power, summarizes the subject of the allegations made by the repressed in the specified period. In addition, the author's emphasis on the harmful line in the repressive policy of the Soviet authorities illustrates the variety of methods of political persecution of the People's Commissariat of Education of the USSR in the Great Terror. For example, the use of teacher certification as a method of political pressure on professional affiliation, which occurred in the absence of teachers and teachers in educational institutions of the Ukrainian SSR and poor quality of education in particular. Or malicious drafting of curricula that were intended not only to satisfy educators and students or students, but also to the higher Soviet party nomenclature, which exerted constant ideological pressure and control in the field of education, not considering the peculiarities of Ukrainian Soviet education. In the course of the study, the author concluded that the allegations made by the NKVD authorities in this article are completely absurd, and demonstrate the neglect of the NKVD human rights bodies, which were defended by the Soviet Constitutions, including Stalin's in 1936, especially during the Great 1937–1938.

Trois fugues de Luigi Cherubini: mises en partition de piano by Frédéric Chopin

Reviewed by: Trois fugues de Luigi Cherubini: mises en partition de pianoby Frédéric Chopin Jonathan D. Bellman Frédéric Chopin. Trois fugues de Luigi Cherubini: mises en partition de piano. Fac-similé et transcription présentés par Jean-Jacques Eigeldinger. (Publications de la Société française de musicologie, Serie 1, Monuments de la musique ancienne, tome XXIX.) Paris: Société française de musicologie, 2017. [Introd. in Fre., Eng., p. ix–xxxi; facsimile and transcription, p. 1–24; crit. report in Fre., Eng., p. 25–28; appendix: excerpts from Cherubini's Cours de contrepoint, p. 29–36. ISBN 978-2-85357-259-0. €35.] It is well known in the Chopin community that the composer studied strict counterpoint with his teacher Józef Elsner as a teenager—he says so in a letter of 2 October 1826 to his friend Jan Białobłocki—and that counterpoint itself would remain a lifelong fascination. In the introduction to this volume, Jean-Jacques Eigeldinger assembles the traces of this preoccupation thereafter, through Chopin's youthfully dismissive descriptions of counterpoint pedagogues Luigi Cherubini and Anton Reicha (in a letter of 7 December 1831), to a written request to his friend Julian Fontana (sent mid-June 1841) that the treatises of Cherubini and Georges Kastner be sent from Paris to him in the village of Nohant, in central France, to the many contrapuntal passages that show up in late works such as the op. 65 Sonata for Cello and Piano, "in particular in the reversible counterpoint of the Largo—a sublime Preghiera—and in the rondo finale, with its richly chromatic principal theme" (p. xxx). Harder to pinpoint is precisely how Chopin pursued such study, in the absence of either teacher or study partner, as Brahms and Joachim later found in each other. With the appearance of this publication, we now have a much better idea. Eigeldinger, a towering figure in Chopin studies, now presents Chopin's arrangement, in piano score, of three fugues from Cherubini's Cours de contrepoint et de fugue(Paris: M. Schlesinger, 1835), which were originally published in score, with three C clefs (soprano, alto, tenor) and the familiar F clef for the bass. Instructive excerpts from Cherubini's treatise are provided in the appendix. Eigeldinger observes that Chopin must have been less than completely comfortable reading from score in relatively unfamiliar clefs. Few would blame him if so, and it is no surprise that he would have seen fit to transcribe these pieces into his preferred piano idiom. It has already been established (by among others David Kasunic) that however much Chopin attended the opera, his closest encounters with it took place via commercially available piano-vocal scores—in other words, in reduced and user-friendly form. Moreover, the act of music copying was a study technique with a long, long history; the familiar stories of J. S. Bach sneaking down to his older brother's music cabinet in the middle of the night for unsanctioned copying projects testify to this. Far from a mechanical exercise, Chopin's Cherubini transcriptions reflect a traditional learning strategy that clearly benefited him for the remainder of his compositional life. And despite Cherubini's sometime reputation as a dry and static figure (Chopin himself, in the 1831 letter), a less dynamic and creative teacher than Reicha (Berlioz, Mémoires, quoted here on p. xxiii), or as less visionary than the opera composer Gaspare Spontini (the artist Eugène [End Page 705]Delacroix, quoted on p. xxxi), he clearly had sufficient credibility and authority for the now more mature Chopin to learn from and respect. Eigeldinger points out (p. xxx) that the British scholar Gerald Abraham was among the first to stress Cherubini's intermediary role in Chopin's attraction to Bach's counterpoint. Whether or not an intermediary was needed (I personally suspect it was not), Cherubini did represent a kind of Bachian representative, a systematic tutor of the learned art and aesthetic Chopin had studied and played since his youth. And the fugue transcriptions presented in this book—beautifully presented, thoroughly glossed and explained, and now (for the first time) readily available—are proof of that...

Object Relations, Buddhism, and Relationality in Womanist Practical Theology by Pamela Ayo Yetunde

Reviewed by: Object Relations, Buddhism, and Relationality in Womanist Practical Theology by Pamela Ayo Yetunde Carol S. Anderson OBJECT RELATIONS, BUDDHISM, AND RELATIONALITY IN WOMANIST PRACTICAL THEOLOGY. By Pamela Ayo Yetunde. Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave/Macmillan, 2018. 135 pp. This book is a gem. While it may not be apparent from the title, this work provides readers with insights into the intersections of Buddhism, womanist theology, and practical theology. Using social scientific measures to study the impact of lovingkindness meditation, the core of this book is constructed around qualitative and quantitative data collected from a community of African-American lesbian interviewees. Yetunde argues that the assumption that Buddhist meditation practice leads to "detachment from others and cultivates introspection is not supported by my research on the psycho-spiritual experiences of African-American lesbians in the Theravada Buddhism-inspired Insight Meditation tradition" (p. 2). Her sources include interviews, her own personal experiences in the Insight Meditation Community (IMC), an ample bibliography as well as references to the Pāli canon. The book is written for a broad audience, from those interested in womanist theology, pastoral counselors, scholars interested in the relevance of Insight Meditation techniques among in same-sex loving communities and in communities of color, and those interested in a close reading of Western psychological theories of the self in comparison with the abhidhamma analysis of "no self." At other points, she is writing specifically for African-American women and men who are interested in personal transformation. She explores the ways in which those on the margins cultivate resiliency, particularly "women who live in a context where their humanity is in question based on gender, race, sexuality, and religious biases, discrimination, and oppression, but also for others who are challenged by US society's disdain for people who are deemed radically different" (p. 2). There are three foundations for this book: the Buddhism of the IMC, womanist theology that is largely Christian, and psychological theories about the self, which she calls "object relations." In chapter 1, Yetunde begins with an outline of what Buddhism is, as an introduction for those not familiar with Buddhism and with a more focused discussion of the IMC. Her definition of Buddhism is the classic definition found in Theravada Buddhist traditions: a short synopsis of the Buddha's path to awakening, his teaching of the Four Noble Truths, which include the Noble Eightfold Path and then the "four [End Page 323] immeasurables" of the Brahma Viharas. She acknowledges a few points at which scholars of Buddhism disagree about each of these teachings, but concludes her overview of the teachings with this observation: "No matter the origin and meaning [of the Brahma viharas], cultivating compassion, equanimity, lovingkindness, and sympathetic joy are part of the Insight Meditation community practice" (p. 13). She grounds her introduction to Buddhism in the tradition of Insight Meditation and provides a short introduction to the founding of the Insight Meditation Society in 1975, and candidly discusses the absence of dharma teachers of color in that organization: "The impact of having teachers of color may not yet be fully known, but there is greater awareness that the absence of people of color who are dharma teacher has meant that the Insight Meditation communities were virtually silent on the subjects of justice, pluralistic scriptural interpretation, interracial dialogue, and critical race social analysis" (p. 5). Chapter 2 introduces readers to her second foundation of the book, the Buddhist-inspired womanism of Alice Walker. Yetunde has a very direct writing style, with significant theoretical contributions phrased as if they were simply modest observations. Her thesis for this chapter is one of those such arguments: She points out the definition of womanism was originally extracted from the short story in which it first appeared, and as a result, was used to establish a womanist theology that was not only overwhelmingly Christian but also virtually heterosexual. Yetunde highlights this twist with a single adjective: "Ironically, womanist theology evolved over the decades without reliance on Buddhist thought and without reliance on African-American lesbian epistemologies" (p. 19). Yetunde recounts developments within womanist theology to repair that rift, drawing heavily on Delores Williams's work. Yetunde continues to use Williams throughout...

어린이집 보육교사의 직무스트레스가 개인의 일상스트레스에 미치는 영향

The purpose of this study is to analyze the effects of job stress on the daily stress of childcare teachers. The study targets 274 teachers at childcare centers in Seoul, South Korea.The results of the study are as follows.First, the job stress of child care teachers varied depending on the type of daycare center and working hours. When looking at the sub-factor of job stress, stress was the highest due to overload of the task. Job stress was also high in the absence of assistant teachers. Second, the daily life stress of day care teachers was higher for day care teachers aged 21~30 and for day care teachers working more than 9 hours, When the assistant teacher was shared with another class, the daily stress was high. Third, job stress and daily stress of child care teachers were correlated, and job stress affected daily stress. Fourth, the lack of leadership and administrative support of the director was the greatest influence on daily stress by the sub-factor of job stress.

Analisis Pemanfaatan Rumah Baca Apung oleh Masyarakat di Desa Tambak Lorok

Rumah Baca Apung located in Tambak Lorok Village is a valuable asset belonging to the community that can be used as meeting hall and village library. In fact Rumah Baca Apung has not been utilized optimally in accordance with the function and purpose of building a library. Based on preliminary observations of the researchers, can be knew that the location is more often used as a place for discussion by the local people.Therefore, this study aims to further study the utilization of Rumah Baca Apung and the reasons behind the utilization. This research uses qualitative approach of case study with using data collection technique through interview, documentation study, and observation. The results of this study show that the use of Rumah Baca Apung has not been based on the function of education, research and preservation function of a library. Rumah Baca Apung also has not been used as a place to increase reading habit. Rumah Baca Apung is now used as a place of recreation, a place to discuss, socialize and counsel for the local people. The utilization of Rumah Baca Apung which has not yet represented the function of the village library is due to the limited quantity and quality of the collection books, the lack of educative games equipment, and the absence of learning companion teacher as a volunteer for the coastal children of Tambak Lorok.

دراسة صعوبات حفظ القرآن الکريم التدريسية واللغوية، لدى التلاميذ النازحين بمعسکر السريف، بولاية جنوب دار فور، مدينة نيالا ـ السودان

The current study attempts to examine the obstacles that hinder memorizing the Holy Quran for the pupils of Sire if camp in SouthDarfurState. A descriptive analytical method has been used, beside testing for data collection. The study sample was (200) male/female pupils from the camp. The research results showed that the displaced pupils have difficulties in learning and memorizing the Holy Quran because they do not master pronunciation in Arabic. Moreover, the absence of teachers is another problem for mastering memorization. The study finds that male pupils memorize quicker than their female counterpart despite the existence of the above mentioned hindrances. The study come up with recommendations, of which increasing of Arabic lessons, in terms of pronunciation and writing, for the camp’s pupils in order to facilitate the Holy Quran memorization. It is also crucial to work on creating an attractive environment for teachers in the camp so as to enable them to supervise and have follow-up sessions. هدفت هذه الدراسة إلي بيان صعوبات حفظ القرآن الکريم التدريسية واللغوية للتلاميذ والتلميذات النازحين بمعسکر السريف، بولاية جنوب دار فور، نيالا السودان، حيث يواجه التلاميذ والتلميذات في هذا المعسکر صعوبات عديدة تحول ينهم وبين حفظ القرآن الکريم، وتتمثل هذه الصعوبات في عديد العوامل منها ما يتعلق بالتلاميذ والتلميذات ومنها ما يتعلق بالمعلمين الذين يقومون بتدريس التلاميذ في هذا المعسکر. وأجابت الدراسة على السؤال الرئيس: ما المعوقات التي تواجه التلاميذ بمعسکر السريف في حفظ القرآن الکريم؟، والأسئلة الفرعية:ـ 1/ ما الصعوبات التي تواجه التلاميذ النازحين بمعسکر السريف، بولاية جنوب دار فور نيالاـ السودان من حيث حاجز اللغة؟. 2/ ما احتمال حفظ القرآن الکريم مع وجود عمل إضافي للتلميذ النازح بمعسکر السريف بولاية جنوب دار فور نيالاـ السودان؟. 3/ ما الصعوبات التي تواجه المعلمين بمعسکر السريف وتحول بينهم وبين القيام بواجباتهم التدريسية على الوجه الأکمل؟. وقدمت الدراسة شرحا وتفسيرا واضحا لکل العناصر التي تضمنتها: مشکلتها، وأهميتها، وأهدافها، وفروضها، وحدودها، ومنهجها، کما شملت المصطلحات التي تناولتها. وأظهرت الدراسة الأثر التدريسي لدراسة وحفظ القرآن الکريم بمعسکر السريف بالنسبة للتلاميذ والتلميذات النازحين، وأوجه استفادة الدراسة الحالية من إطارها النظري وما ورد بها من دراسات سابقة. وتضمنت الدراسة کذلک الإجراءات والنتائج والتوصيات والمناقشات التي أفادت بالأثر الفعال لتدريس القرآن الکريم، وقد أظهرت النتائج وجود فروق ذات دلالة إحصائية بالنسبة للتلاميذ المتفرغين للدراسة، بالإضافة إلى المعلمين المتفرغين، وبذلک تمت الإجابة على أسئلة الدراسة، وتم التحقق من صدقها وصحة فروضها والتي قبلت کلها، واختتمت الدراسة بتقديم عدد من النتائج والتوصيات والمقترحات، وذيلت الدراسة کذلک بالمراجع والمصادر.

Learners’ Multimodal Displays of Willingness to Participate in Classroom Interaction in the L2 and CLIL Contexts

Drawing on recent conversation-analytic and socio-interactionist research on students’ participation in L1 and L2 classroom interaction in teacher-fronted activities, this paper makes a step further by presenting an exploratory study of students’ displays of willingness to participate (WTP) in classroom interaction and pedagogical activities across two educational and classroom settings (L2 classroom group work and CLIL classroom whole-class activity), both of which are characterized by the absence of teachers’ next-speaker selection practices. The study focuses on occasions where students self-select to provide a sequentially relevant second pair-part within the current activity and how it is oriented to by co-participants, particularly when the expected action is not accomplished. Using a multimodal conversation analytic approach, it shows that students’ WTP is indexed as a social, public demonstration of one’s interest to engage in the ongoing activity through displays of attentiveness to unfolding interaction and learning activities, emerging turn-taking and speakership establishment, engaging in foci of attention and participation frameworks, and taking on relevant participant roles. These findings indicate that WTP is not an absolute and fixed concept but is rather constituted by different aspects or levels of engagement displayed by the participants in interaction on a moment-by-moment basis.

CHALLENGE LEARNING FOR TEACHERS IN RURAL GWERU ZIMBABWE

The study established that rural day secondary school science teachers face a number of challenges, including inadequate teaching and learning materials, students’ negative attitudes towards science, conflicts between students’ home background and school science, and absence of science teachers’ associations. These challenges could have a direct impact on the teaching and learning of science in rural day secondary schools. The opening of rural day secondary schools in Zimbabwe was a great challenge in terms of providing science education to all students because the newly opened secondary schools did not have conventional laboratories and equipment that would facilitate the teaching and learning of science. This study sought to find out the challenges faced by rural day secondary school science teachers in Gweru district of Zimbabwe and propose a way forward. Questionnaires, interviews and observations were used to collect data pertaining to the challenges that were faced by the teachers.

EFL Teacher Education Programs in Iran: The Absence of Teachers’ Involvement

This study investigated the nature of EFL teacher education programs with respect to implementation, practicality, and approach to teacher learning. The data were collected through observation of two teacher education programs and interviews with 8 teacher trainers. The results attested to the transmission orientation of the programs. It was found that a pre-specified body of teaching knowledge is transferred from the trainers to the teachers. Teachers’ creativity, prior knowledge, and experience, the role of teaching context, and the population of learners are not considered in program development. The results of interviews with teacher trainers supported the results of the observations. It was found that even the trainers are not involved in the process of program development, as they are only transmitting the materials presented by textbook authors. The findings also indicated that what teachers considered beneficial for their development was different from what was incorporated in the programs. The existing gap between macro plans and teachers’ practices and preferences results from the centralized education system in Iran in which practicing teachers are not involved in the policy-making process. Implications for teacher education in general and EFL teacher education programs in particular are discussed.

Deaf and hard of Hearing Students’ Opportunities for Learning in a Regular Secondary School in Chile: Teacher Practices and Beliefs

This study aimed to analyze the learning context of deaf and hard of hearing (D/HH) students in a Chilean high school, in which 50 D/HH students (7th to 12th grade) attend classes together with hearing classmates. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with seven high school teachers and five deaf education teachers, to explore their practices and beliefs regarding teaching D/HH students in regular classrooms. Ten classroom observations were also carried out in classes with and without the presence of a deaf education teacher. Interview data were analyzed using qualitative content analysis. Class observations enabled a better understanding of the context in which D/HH students and their teachers interact daily. Results from interview analysis provided information of teachers’ beliefs about D/HH students; regular teachers and deaf education teachers’ perceptions of the roles they play in students’ learning; accommodations made for D/HH students; and facilitators and barriers for teaching in classes with D/HH students. High school teachers’ report of their difficulties to teach D/HH students and their need to rely on deaf education teachers in the classroom was corroborated by classroom observations, which showed that most D/HH students were unable to follow the class in absence of special teacher’s support, and regular teachers had problems communicating with them. D/HH students’ opportunities for learning are highly restricted in such environment. Implications for educational inclusion policies and teacher preparation programs are discussed.

School timetabling problem under disturbances

School timetables are one or multiple times per year generated to assign class-teacher combinations to class rooms and timeslots. Post-publication disturbances such as absence of teachers typically pose a need for schedulers to rapidly implement some minor changes to avoid empty periods in the timetable. In this paper our aim is to define methods to efficiently solve the school timetabling problem under disturbances. We present three types of solution methods, namely a simple rule-of-thumb, a heuristic and an optimization approach. Exhaustive numerical experiments have been performed with data from five high schools in The Netherlands, each with their unique characteristics in number of classes, number of teachers and number of daily meetings. For each of the three methods we show advantages and disadvantages as well as the effects of resulting changes in the schedules.

Practices and Challenges in the Provision of Pre-Primary Education in Tanzania

This study focused on exploring issues in the provision of pre-primary education in Monduli district in Arusha region-Tanzania. The specific objectives were to assess the current practices in the provision of pre-primary education in Tanzania, to investigate the challenges that encountered the provision of pre-primary education and then suggest appropriate strategies for the provision of pre-primary education in Tanzania. The study used both qualitative and quantitative approaches in data collection and analysis. Data were collected from the participants through interviews, questionnaire and documentary review. The findings from the study showed that Head Teachers faced multiple challenges in managing pre-primary education, including shortage of classrooms, shortage of qualified teachers and lack of teaching and learning materials. This study concludes that only few schools in Monduli district provided pre-primary education due to some challenges including inadequate classrooms, inadequate teaching and learning materials, absence of qualified teachers, long distance from schools to home and readiness of parents to enrol students. Based on the findings, it is recommended that policy planners should clarify the importance of preparations for pre-primary schooling. The government should furnish pre-primary classes with relevant facilities including books, tables, chairs teaching and learning materials, and qualified teachers.

Leadership Styles of Principals and Teachers of Nigerian Unity Schools: Using School Environment as a Tool For School Achievement

Collaborative, non-traditional leadership practices have attracted little attention in research about sustainable school achievement in Nigerian unity schools. The involvement of teachers in the administration of schools is well justified and arise from the need to boost school environment for the sake of attaining school achievement. The absence of teachers in the administration of unity schools impedes the proper attainment of school achievement. The purpose of this research is to reports on the outcomes of transformational leadership efforts in Nigerian unity schools aimed at enhancing the use of teachers in the administrative set-up. This study was carried out in seven selected unity schools all located in the north-eastern part of Nigeria. The study used Multifactor questionnaire 5x, School level environment questionnaire (SLEQ) and School Improvement questionnaire (SIQ) with 5 Likert-scale that involved the use of 800 questionnaires which were sent in which 790 were returned and 760 found valid for data analysis. Participants were drawn from a wide range of disciplines across the sampled schools. The establishment and operation of these school relied on a transformational leadership methodology by principals that facilitates acts of initiative, innovation, vision and courage through group interaction rather than through designated hierarchical roles. This research used the quantitative approach. The study found out that transformational leadership approach is effective in overcoming problems associated with lack of involvement of teachers in the building of a fruitful environment capable of bringing a good school achievement through cultivating the habit of a transformational leader, the principals of unity schools enabled teachers and other stake holders to engage in peer-led professional learning, collaborative curriculum and pedagogical development, and to facilitate wider institutional change (school achievement). This paper demonstrates that the transformational leadership model for a high school achievement reported here is effective in building capacity for both teachers and students via involvement of teachers in building the environment. The model is flexible enough for a variety of institutional settings, and hence, recommends the use of teachers in secondary school’s administration.

Quality by Design in Education (QbDE)–A Possible Futuristic Approach to Improve Current Status of Pharmaceutical Education in India.

1.0 Introduction An explosion of pharmacy education has happened in the last few decades. There has been spurt in number of institutions, number of students, and types of degrees and streams. The outcome of this growth has been both positive and negative. While the students have an easy choice to pursue pharmacy as a career, against the situation where only few privileged could get admission earlier, the uncontrolled growth in number of pharmacy institutions and ever enhancing number of sanctioned seats has unsettled the situation. The absence of quality teachers and training/research facilities in majority of institutions has lead to decline in the worth of the students, who have been reduced to status of a cheap labor. Other ills have also crept in pharmaceutical education, like offer of money by institutions to students for taking admission, award of degrees to non-attending students, non-payment of due salary to teachers, forcing teachers to pass the students, tendency of inspectors of statutory bodies to accept or seek financial alms from institutional managements, etc. The situation needs to be changed urgently, for which a systematic thought process and effort is needed. One possible way is to extend the Quality by Design concept, which recently has been implemented in pharmaceutical processing and manufacturing, to pharmaceutical education.

Reinforcement learning-based mobile robot navigation

In recent decades, reinforcement learning (RL) has been widely used in different research fields ranging from psychology to computer science. The unfeasibility of sampling all possibilities for continuous-state problems and the absence of an explicit teacher make RL algorithms preferable for supervised learning in the machine learning area, as the optimal control problem has become a popular subject of research. In this study, a system is proposed to solve mobile robot navigation by opting for the most popular two RL algorithms, Sarsa($\lambda )$ and Q($\lambda )$. The proposed system, developed in MATLAB, uses state and action sets, defined in a novel way, to increase performance. The system can guide the mobile robot to a desired goal by avoiding obstacles with a high success rate in both simulated and real environments. Additionally, it is possible to observe the effects of the initial parameters used by the RL methods, e.g., $\lambda $, on learning, and also to make comparisons between the performances of Sarsa($\lambda )$ and Q($\lambda )$ algorithms.

Implementing Indonesia’s English language teaching policy in primary schools: The role of teachers’ knowledge and beliefs

AbstractMany studies have been conducted to investigate teachers’ knowledge and beliefs and they confirmed that knowledge and beliefs are an influential factor in teachers’ decision making in the classroom. However, little research has been undertaken to investigate how teachers’ knowledge and beliefs in influence the implementation of language policy. This study aims at investigating primary school teachers’ knowledge and beliefs about the English program in primary schools in Indonesia, focusing on their pedagogical knowledge and how it influences the way they teach English when English is positioned as a local content subject in the curriculum The study reveals that in the absence of official curriculum teachers are required to draw on their existing knowledge and beliefs but the existing knowledge and beliefs of teachers in Indonesia are often not well developed. With no curriculum to guide their teaching, teachers’ rely on textbooks. They consider that the textbook can be regarded as a substitute for...

Teachers’ professional knowledge and state-funded teacher education: a (hi)story of critiques and silences

This paper traces long-standing philosophical, sociological and political tensions that have been at the core of narratives about state-funded teacher education, since its inception in England. These tensions are still visible today in debates around the professional knowledge of teachers, such as those described in Furlong (2013). Historiographical evidence leads to questioning the new ‘truce’ being forged at the moment around acceptable ways of settling disagreements about teacher professionalism and teacher education, for example through the discursive redeployment of terms such as ‘common sense’, ‘resilience’ and ‘craft’. From ‘virtuous common sense’, in the mid-19th century, through ‘scientific pedagogy’ near the turn of the 20th century and ‘the science of lighting a fire’ in the mid-20th century, and to the ideological clashes surrounding the turn of the millennium, there have been numerous attempts to construct public accounts of teacher knowledge and attributes, and of teacher education. The absence of teachers as powerful participants in this construction is palpable. Philosophers can contribute to the ‘untelling’ of these stories by carefully picking discursive threads that were not foregrounded in the policy and political filtering of public accounts of teaching, and reconnecting them to traditions of argument about teaching as a practice.

Childcare Outdoor Renovation as a Built Environment Health Promotion Strategy: Evaluating the Preventing Obesity by Design Intervention

To evaluate the effectiveness of Preventing Obesity by Design (POD), a childcare center outdoor renovation intervention. Pre-post intervention evaluation. North Carolina licensed childcare centers (N = 27). Preschool children. Outdoor renovation, teacher training. Behavior mapping, Preschool Outdoor Environment Measurement Scale (POEMS), center director interview. Descriptive statistics, ordinary least squares and logistic regressions calculated to assess levels of association between environmental change, children's physical activity (PA), social behaviors, and environmental quality. Qualitative interview data analyzed to help understand intervention impact. Behavior mapping showed that site layout attributes, such as the form (i.e., "single loop" and "double loop") of pathways (functioning as circulation routes and wheeled toy settings), are associated with higher levels of PA. Teacher interaction was associated with decreased children's PA. Absence of teacher or lack of child/child interaction was associated with increased PA. POEMS assessment of environmental quality was higher after renovation. POEMS domains (Physical Space and Teacher/Caregiver Roles) were positively associated with PA. After renovation, 68% of center directors reported positive changes in children's behavior and 40% mentioned edible plant installations as greatest success. Built environment renovation of childcare center outdoors, including looped pathways installation, coupled with teacher training, may support increased PA. Renovation, including food gardens, may be a key to success for preschool health promotion and support change in childcare policy.

Investigation of Factors Hindering Quality Education in Secondary Schools in Mbeya, Tanzania

Quality education is what brings forth manifestable development of any country. We all know that education is a pillar of development of all countries the world over. When we preach education, we normally mean quality education-an education that can provide answers to the problems that we face in our environment. The quest for quality education has become imperative in this modern world. The importance gain legitimacy due to the advancement of technology, which does both, hampering and boosting education, pending to the environmental setting. This article attempts to investigate factors that hinder quality education in Tanzania. It has adopted a qualitative research design, with interview as the main data collection strategy. The study is ethnographic, in the sense that it searches solution to the known problem. Questions have been the modal for stemming the study. Hence, no hypothesis was developed. The researcher has used scholarly group to come up with the findings. Twenty schools were visited and thus twenty scholarly groups consisting of teachers were the responsive sample for the study. The study used purposive sampling method, where only teachers employed with the respective schools formed the scholarly group for interview. Answers were on agreement of the entire group. The study has revealed that there are several factors, which have contributed to the failure of form four students. Those related to inconformity between numbers of teachers versus students, poor quality of textbooks, poor products of pupils joining secondary schools, absence of reliable teachers guide, absence of action based exams, absence of labs, among others. The second set are factors related to the administration of education, which include decision of removing standard four and form two exams, decision to liberate textbooks used in the entire cadre of primary and secondary education among others.

English-language teachers’ engagement with research: findings from Bangladesh

In this article, we report on a small-scale study in which we investigated English-language teachers’ engagement with educational research. We conceptualized engagement with research as reading and systematically using research for professional development. Using questionnaires and in-depth interviews, we gathered empirical materials from 40 English-language teachers who teach at various primary and high schools located in Dhaka, the capital city of Bangladesh. Our findings indicate that there is an absolute absence of teachers’ research engagement for professional development. We discuss the key reasons for this lack of research engagement. We conclude the article with some implications of our findings for teachers’ professional development and the practical value of educational research.