School Capacity Research Articles

When social hierarchy meets hierarchical school culture: Implications for Chinese Hong Kong school leaders

This article provides school leaders with insights into within and beyond-school influences on school collaborative culture. The study examines how social demographics, and school culture prevalent in different school bandings, influence school capacities (principalleadership; shared and supportive leadership; shared values and vision; and collaborative learning). A structural equation model is constructed from 10 Hong Kong schools’ survey data to trace the path influences of the study variables. The results show that hierarchical cultures tend to prevail in lower banding schools, affecting school collaborative culture negatively. In contrast, rule-seeking cultures have a positive influence on individuals with humbler childhood family upbringing. Likewise at the individual level, unlike most risk-takers found to negatively influence school collaborative culture, English childhood home language speakers’ risk-taking values do not have a significant influence on such school capacities. Nevertheless, rule-seeking and risk-taking teachers are as likely to be recruited in schools regardless of school banding. The results have global significance on how broader social hierarchy embeds in leadership relations differentiated by school banding, with an impact on school collaborative culture. School leaders may consider leveraging leadership relations and professional development to promote school cultures that enhance collaboration at different levels of the organizational hierarchy.

A systematic literature review to explore pupils’ perspectives on key outcomes of the Emotional Literacy Support Assistant (ELSA) intervention

ABSTRACT The Emotional Literacy Support Assistant (ELSA) intervention aims to build capacity in schools and support the wellbeing of students. This systematic literature review (SLR) explores pupils’ perspectives of their outcomes from participating in ELSA and how those views were gathered. Twelve papers met the inclusion criteria; the majority explored other key stakeholders’ views alongside pupil perspectives and few studies focused explicitly on outcomes for pupils. Pupil data were analysed using thematic synthesis, producing four themes: communication skills; emotional understanding, management, and outcomes; relational and social skills; and positive school experiences. Students highlighted outcomes which the intervention intended to deliver, and additional skills. Examination of the approaches taken to gain pupil perspectives identified semi-structured interviews as a frequent method, with standardised quantitative measures used in four of the 12 papers. The review highlighted areas to consider in relation to measures that capture progress within the ELSA intervention.

The Role of Wellness Teams in Promoting Health and Wellness Implementation Strategies in Elementary Schools in Chicago.

Strategies used by wellness teams (WTs) to foster local wellness policy (LWP) implementation have been documented, yet there remains a need to better understand how WTs respond to district-level LWP requirements, particularly when bundled with additional health-related policies. This study's goal was to explore how WTs implement Healthy Chicago Public School (CPS), a district-led initiative focused on both LWP and other health policy implementation in the CPS district, one of the most diverse in the nation. Eleven discussion groups were conducted with WTs in CPS. Discussions were recorded, transcribed, and thematically coded. Six overarching strategies used by WTs in working to achieve Healthy CPS include: (1) using district guides and resources to support planning, progress monitoring, and reporting; (2) under the leadership of wellness champions, as required by the district, facilitating engagement among staff, students, and/or families; (3) taking district guidance and adapting and integrating it into their schools' existing structures, curricula, and practices, often taking a holistic approach; (4) fostering linkages in the communities surrounding their schools to supplement internal school capacities; and (5) stewarding resources, time, and staff for sustainability. Strategies for LWP implementation by WTs in urban and diverse schools include planning for staff turnover, integrating health and wellness into existing curricula and structures, and leveraging relationships with the local community. WTs can play a critical role in supporting schools in diverse, urban districts to implement district-level LWP and the plethora of related policies that schools are subject to at the federal, state, and district levels.

Development of a school-based digitalised intervention for ADHD using Intervention Mapping

IntroductionAttention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a prevalent and impairing neurodevelopmental disorder affecting 2-5% of children. These children are at risk of negative health, social and educational outcomes; ADHD incurs an estimated £670 million annual cost to health, education and social care in the UK. Children with ADHD often experience severe difficulties at school despite drug treatment: effective psychosocial interventions are needed. There is mixed evidence for the effectiveness of existing school-based interventions for ADHD, which are complex and resource-intensive, contradicting the preferences of teachers for short, flexible strategies that suit a range of ADHD-related classroom-based problems.ObjectivesTo develop a prototype of a school-based intervention for ADHD.MethodsIntervention Mapping, a framework for developing theory- and evidence-informed interventions with explicit consideration of implementation context, was used. Logic models were developed of the behaviour change steps required by each agent in the school system to improve outcomes for students with ADHD.A comprehensive evidence synthesis was conducted for interventions that targeted the key outcomes of relevance (inattention, impulsivity, hyperactivity, peer and teacher relationships, self-esteem, executive functions and organisation skills); findings were integrated alongside behaviour change theory and theories of the underlying aetiology of ADHD, in order to develop a logic model for the intervention. Components of the intervention were then developed in line with the logic model using evidence-based behaviour change methods, with input from people with ADHD, school staff and other key stakeholders at every stage of the development process.ResultsThe development process resulted in a prototype digital platform that can be utilised to deliver a personalised behavioural intervention for children with ADHD within primary schools. It contains some core components that all teachers and children will complete, and then is individualised based on the key problems each child is currently facing. There are six optional modules, each containing a range of behavioural strategies for teachers to implement with the student or the whole class. The toolkit includes a symptom tracking graph that teachers can use to visualise the progress a child is making, and is developed to align with the current resources and capacity of primary schools in the UK.ConclusionsThe prototype intervention is designed explicitly to fit with existing school structures and demands, and to be low cost in terms of delivery and training. It focusses on adapting the school environment to better suit children with high levels of ADHD symptoms. It is now being feasibility tested, and in this talk I will describe the development process using Intervention Mapping, and the initial feedback from the first testing of implementation of the prototype.Disclosure of InterestNone Declared

Grandparent-Headed Families in University-Assisted Community Schools: Application of Social Capital Theory

AbstractUniversity-assisted community schools (UACS), which work as partnerships between schools and universities that assist the mobilization of coordinated services to children, families, and communities, can build capacity for schools and neighborhoods to better serve the needs of marginalized families, such as grandparent-headed households. Despite the increase of grandparents raising grandchildren, school staff are often ill equipped with the necessary skills and resources to support these children and their caretakers, who have multifaceted needs and complicated family contexts. In this conceptual article, the authors utilize social capital theory to propose social work practice implications for implementing UACS to support grandparent-headed families, focusing on three target areas: (1) social obligation and social trust, (2) network and information flow, and (3) norms and effective sanctions. The UACS model can be a vehicle for building social trust among grandparent-headed families, schools, and local communities that can lead to a shared model for grandchildren’s academic success. Strengthened networks and information flows are necessary to enhance engagement with these marginalized caregivers. Last, details of how to create norms of cooperation that utilize grandparent-headed families as partners and experts are suggested for effective implementation of the UACS model that engages grandparent-headed families.

Family engagement during the COVID‐19 pandemic: Opportunities and challenges for school social work

AbstractThe COVID‐19 pandemic brought dramatic changes in schooling in the United States and across the world, including abrupt shifts to remote learning, immediate cessation of social contact, intensive family engagement in education and diminished school capacity for social–emotional supports. While the initial national lockdown was temporary, the long‐lasting effects of the pandemic on society are still being revealed. This study contributes to a growing body of research exploring and documenting shifts in school social work practice in the United States during the COVID era. We used qualitative methods to explore how school social workers (SSWers) practised family engagement during the pandemic and their perceptions of the benefits and challenges of increased family engagement. Analysis of interviews with 20 SSWers from three US states (Colorado, Minnesota and Nevada) revealed five primary themes: reasons for family engagement, ways of engaging with families, frequency of family contact, challenges in engaging families and SSWers' attitudes and perceptions about family engagement. Results indicated a need for a comprehensive, organized and strategic family engagement plan in schools as we move into the post‐acute phases of the pandemic. Future research should explore how SSWers may serve as leaders in the development of such plans and how interprofessional practice might advance this agenda further.

Participatory research, biographical narratives and peacebuilding: An experience with teachers in Tolima, Colombia

Teachers can be important transformation agents in post-conflict societies. In this study—in Tolima, Colombia—39 teachers participated as co-researchers to investigate the effects of armed conflict on their school's capacity to build peace. They used different biographical tools to recount their experiences with the armed conflict. The article discusses how using this methodological approach contributes to peacebuilding through two processes: the production of knowledge and the generation of transformations in teachers. The results suggest that this approach can contribute to sustainable peacebuilding in post-conflict contexts by designing more contextualised school-based peacebuilding projects and better engaging teachers in this process.

Spatial zonation system with Voronoi diagram and Delaunay triangulation to improve management education

The zonation system is one of the efforts of the Indonesian Government to improve the quality of education services continuously, but the implementation is still considered less useful. Some areas were still grouped into the different zone from the original. Based on this problem, the solution needed for the zonation mapping of each school so that the apparent zonation limit can be resolved. An application that can map schools in an area based on housing for prospective students is a solution that can be considered at this time. This research showed the implementation of Voronoi diagrams to cluster the area based on the school position within Bengkulu City. The system was also capable of mapping the residential of the student address to match the choice for registration in available secondary school and senior high school. The implementation of the system showed a better result for school zonation over Bengkulu City based on web geographic information system (Web GIS). Furthermore, the comparison analysis over the existing system also showed that the performance of the Voronoi diagram for school zonation the method could solve the problem of the overlapping zonation with Radius method. Three hundred fifty students validated this system to show the performance of this method. The result showed that 72.05% of students matched the first choice, while 27.95% of students matched the second choice. This research showed the analysis of the value of this gap appeared due to the student preferences and school capacity factors.

Adaptation of Youth Innovational Skills Measurement Tool for Turkish Usage

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to adapt Youth Innovation Skills Measurement Tool (YISMT) into Turkish language. The YISMT is a scale developed by Chell (2009) to contribute the improvement of the skills and attitudes which young people need if they are to become the innovators of tomorrow.
 
 Design/Methodology/Approach: This study is a scale adaptation process which was firstly validated through translation and back-translation procedures. Secondly, exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were conducted to examine its construct validity. 
 
 Findings: Factor analyzes results demonstrated that the new scale had 25 items with 6 factors. 
 
 Highlights: The Youth Innovation Skills Measurement Tool is an instrument to support the development of the skills and attitudes which young people require if they are to become the innovators of future. 
 This research constitutes the adaptation process of the Youth Innovation Skills Measurement Tool into Turkish, which will contribute to revealing the innovation capacities of vocational and technical high schools.

Teacher Perceptions of Self-Efficacy in Teaching Online During the COVID-19 Pandemic

To examine the effects of the sudden shift to online instruction due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the early months of 2020, we sought to get a firsthand understanding of the experiences of teachers who were required to make the change to full online teaching. Teaching online requires technological knowledge, but it also requires a different pedagogy in order to keep students engaged and motivated to learn. Many educators indicated that this was a significant challenge. Our goal was to illuminate teachers’ experiences in order to include their voices in changes to educator preparation programs. A total of 699 complete survey responses were received representing educators in several grade levels working in nine states in the United States. Qualitative analysis revealed that many responses were related to extant research on teachers’ self-efficacy. Thus, this paper will shed light on the experiences of educators during the first semester of 2020 including the months of January through April, and teachers’ perceived efficacy. We find that teachers felt more efficacious regarding aspects of online teaching over which they felt an internal locus of control, such as delivery of curriculum and their own skill in the use of technology. For items over which they had less control, such as parental support and involvement, student motivation, and student access to adequate technology, teachers indicated much less efficacy. The majority of responses paint a complicated and somewhat dismal picture of the loss of personal connection with their students. Based on these data, recommendations for both education preparation programs, and policy are discussed such as districts and schools must provide sufficient professional learning opportunities and create a culture of collaboration amongst teachers that can assist them in building internal school capacity for good online instruction for their students. The COVID-19 pandemic should be used as an opportunity to evaluate gaps in digital equity and make positive strides to ensure all students, regardless of race, disability, economic background, or geographic location, have full access to quality online education. Keywords: teacher preparation, educator preparation, online teaching, COVID-19, self-efficacy

Lokakarya Satuan Pendidikan Aman Bencana (SPAB) dan Psychological First Aid (PFA)

One of the FPRB volunteers' tasks is to strengthen the capacity of schools in Kabupaten Bandung for the government-initiated program, namely socializing the SPAB (Satuan Pendidikan Aman Bencana). Given that a disaster situation is one that puts survivors in a state of crisis, the survivors (disaster victims) are likely to have emotional reactions in various ways. The FPRB Volunteers of Kabupaten Bandung are the PKM's special target for the 2020-2022 period. The reason for the FPRB Volunteers of Kabupaten Bandung being the subject of the PKM is due to the needs of the organization, which will soon be implemented in 41 schools in 31 sub-districts throughout Kabupaten Bandung as the beneficiaries of the SPAB carried out by the FPRB Volunteers of Kabupaten Bandung as participants. The research method used in the PKM is the experimental research method. The researcher conducted quantitative research using a pre-experimental design, type 1 group, pre-test-post-test (pre-test, single-group final test), called quasi-experimental. The result of the service is that the workshop that has been given has led to an increase in SPAB and PFA facilitation skills among FPRB volunteers.

EDUCATIONAL MIGRATION ENVIRONMENT IN CARPATHIAN REGION: MAJOR PROCESS MANAGEMENT DIRECTIONS

The manuscript addresses the problem areas of the educational migration environment in the oblasts of the Carpathian region and the main directions of their regulation. The educational migration environment is examined across main components: educational migration capacity (characterizes educational and informational conditions); academic environment quality (characterizes educational-scientific conditions); educational migration motivation (shows socio-economic, socio-demographic, and political conditions); cooperation of universities and industry in research (innovative conditions); and institutional conditions in the educational domain. The aggregate estimate of the components (integral index) shows the positions of the oblasts of the Carpathian region by the state of the educational migration environment. The conclusion on the objective need to monitor the condition of migration activity and form the system of its informational and analytical framework is made. The tools and measures to regulate educational migration are suggested to reduce the paces of educational migration and prevent possible losses of human capital. Implementation of suggested public policy measures will minimize the risks for the country and its regions caused by devaluation and loss of resources capacity and human capital of domestic higher education institutions and scientific schools and collapse of socio-cultural foundations of labor markets and educational services development. The main directions of regulating the educational migration environment in the domains of public social, scientific-technological, economic, educational, and informational policies are outlined.

К вопросу о новых подходах к подготовке педагога: социологический аспект

The article is devoted to the analysis of situation related to the development and application of new approaches to the training of the teaching staff and solving the problems of shortage of workers in schools. In accordance with the report of the Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation on social policy Tatyana Golikova, the shortage of teachers as of October 1, 2023 amounted to about 11 thousand people, which requires enhanced measures to build personnel capacity in schools throughout the territory and, especially, in the remote areas. From a sociological perspective, the author illustrates two-sided view of the identified issues. On the one hand, it is of interest to analyze the legal regulation of the training of specialists for the system of basic general education, and on the other hand, the attitude of society and the main customers of educational services to given government vectors. The empirical data presented in the article contradict the flexible educational trajectories developed by the state in the formation of new pedagogical competencies among the future teachers. A serious reason that adversely affects the development of teacher education is the current state of teaching staff at all levels. The article illustrates the view of parent respondents (customers of educational services) on new approaches that form the basis of modern training of school teachers. At the same time, new vectors for solving staffing needs in schools are burdened by both the existing age and gender imbalances. The article provides qualitative and quantitative data indicating the slow renewal of teaching staff. The article reveals the attitude of parent community towards practicing teachers and analyzes the problems of young specialists who came to school without basic pedagogical education. The author emphasizes feasibility of methodological substantiation of the content of pedagogical training of specialists who do not have a basic psychological and pedagogical education. The promise of scientific understanding of this issue along with the growing interest in the quality of teacher training is noted, the main conclusions are drawn and recommendations are outlined.

Current Situation and Analysis of STEM Education Competencies of Education Majors

In recent years, STEM education has become a common concern in international education reform and research as a method of teaching that requires teachers to help students integrate science, technology, engineering and mathematics into real-world problem-solving. STEM teaching has gradually entered primary and secondary education classrooms. However, the STEM education capacity of primary and secondary schools is currently weak, the teachers are inadequate, and the STEM education capacity of teachers directly affects the learning outcomes of students. This study used a questionnaire to investigate the current STEM education competencies of education majors. As far as the results are concerned, they reflect that the STEM education concept is widely recognised, and the current status of education majors’ overall STEM education competency is at an intermediate level. Therefore, this study expects the future instructional design to emphasise disciplinary integration, pay attention to the gender ratio of the education profession, and use technology tools to assist STEM teaching.

Образовательная подготовка милиционеров Центрального Черноземья в начале 1920-х гг.

Importance. The emergence and development of the system of professional police education in Soviet Russia in the first years after the October Revolution is considered. The relevance of the research lies in the possibility of using some approaches to the organization of the educational process for modern educational programs. Materials and Methods. The system analysis’ methods, the principles of historicism and scientific objectivity, the use by the authors of the entire array of identified historical sources directly related to the object of research are used. Archival materials are stored in the State Archive of the Russian Federation, the State Archive of the Tambov Region, the State Archive of Socio-Political History of the Tambov Region, the State Archive of the Voronezh Region are used. Results and Discussions. The militia bodies of the early 1920s, first of all, had to contribute to the strengthening of the Soviet apparatus. In this regard, the personnel policy in the militia was also being built. However, workers and peasants did not have proper legal and general education training, which required significant efforts by the state to develop a network of specialized educational organizations (schools, courses) for political and practical training of policemen. According to the authors, significant positive experience in this area has been accumulated in the Central Chernozem region – especially in the Tambov province. Conclusion. Conclusions are formulated about the significant potential of departmental education in the first half of the 1920s, the full implementation of which was hampered by the low capacity of schools and a significant bias towards militarization of training.

Assessing the Civic-Building Capacities of Schools: Early Findings from a Survey of Parents and Students

Schools in the U.S. have long been charged with the work of preparing young people for engaged citizenship. Do they, in fact, accomplish this work? Using survey data from 164 schools, we find mixed performance of schools in terms of their civic-building capacity, with striking disconnects between rhetoric and reality. We show that although students rate citizenship as a strong school priority, they are infrequently exposed to activities that support community engagement. Similarly, parents expect classrooms to have open climates in which students are free to discuss and disagree about controversial topics, but students report that such environments are a rarity. Additional findings indicate that lower-socioeconomic-status, female, nonbinary, and public/charter school students are significantly less likely to perceive their classrooms as open, and Black students perceive more open climates than their White counterparts.

Educational Infrastructure: A Block Level Comparative Assessment of Jorhat District, Assam

This paper is an attempt to evaluate the present condition of the educational infrastructure of Jorhat district of Assam, India. The term educational infrastructure covers dimensions like availability of schools, teachers, and intake capacity of schools. In addition to these three dimensions, some basic amenities of school like the condition of building, drinking water facility, toilet facility, electricity, and availability of proper furniture are also considered. The main attempt is to show the intra-district picture of educational infrastructure and how it is related to educational attainment status, i.e. enrolment & literacy. An attempt is made to formulate ‘Educational Infrastructure Index’ (EII) using these three dimensions besides conducting primary survey in selected villages of eight community development blocks to assess the real status of educational infrastructure.

Web-Based Geographic Information System Design In Madrasah In The North Area Of Tangerang District

Many madrasah under the auspices of the Tangerang Disctrict Education Office are scattered and the public does not know where the madrasah are. So that mapping is needed to find out the distribution of these madrasah. The development of residential areas and the increasing number of residents raises several problems, including inadequate school capacity, lack of access points to schools, incomplete supporting facilities and so on. Conditions like this can disrupt the stability of education services in the northern region of Tangerang Disctrict. With the development of the world of information today makes a lot of convenience, one technology that is currently being developed is the Geographic Information System (GIS). The information system regarding school mapping is a combination of GIS and web technology, allowing the information to be visualized into the web so that it can be accessed by the wider community without any time and place limits. This system was built using the Google Maps API to display a map of the location of madrasah in the northern area of ??Tangerang district. Spatial data for madrasah was obtained from the Tangerang District Education Office. The results of the trial of the Geographic Information System application in the Northern area of ??the Tangerang Disctrict, have provided information to the community and the Education Office about mapping madrasah in the Northern Region of Tangerang Disctrict.

Leadership of School Principals to Improving Teacher Professionalism at Muhammadiyah School

The principal's leadership increases teachers' work motivation and improves education quality. The study examined the principal's leadership in improving teacher professionalism at SD Nitikan Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta. This qualitative descriptive research uses interviews, observation, and documentation. This study involved the principal and 25 teachers as informants. The principal's strategy to improve the quality and professionalism of teachers is to motivate, encourage, and organize training on IT development, reward, and punishment. Principals must also meet content, process, graduation capacity, facilities and infrastructure, management, funding, teacher and staff, and teacher education standards. Supporting factors provide teachers with equal opportunities to develop their pedagogical and professional skills through teaching and training activities based on knowledge and adapted to needs and budgets. Lack of internal motivation from teaching priorities is a barrier. This research contributes to the development of Islamic education by analyzing principals' efforts to increase teachers' professional capacity in Islamic schools.

Evaluating School Priorities for Equal Opportunity in Admission to Schools

ABSTRACT Schools’ priorities in student selection constitute the basis for fairness in school admissions. We study the case where schools are active strategic players that rank their applicants in terms of priorities. A methodological framework is developed to examine the impact of the variation in the admission settings on the equality of opportunity in access to high-quality schools. The school’s priorities are formulated following a Multi-Attribute Decision Analysis (MADA) approach with several scenarios including geographic, family, academic, and socioeconomic variables. The matching is simulated using student preferences, multiple assignment algorithms, varying school capacities, and changing priority profiles. The Human Opportunity Index (HOI) logistic regression approach is used to examine how far from, or how close the admission is to being an equitable assignment, i.e., one that gives equal opportunities to children with different backgrounds. The analysis is based on choice admission data from a large specialized (magnet) middle school program in Florida. The results suggest that how the school priority is designed slightly affects the equality of opportunity. The second impact is due to the algorithm used to perform the selection. The availability of places in high-quality schools has a big impact and is tightly correlated with the parents’ satisfaction with their most preferred school choices.