Classroom Teachers Research Articles

ABCs unravelled: The time and timing in calls for behavioural change

District School Boards across the Global North (which includes my own school board in Toronto, Canada) implement behaviour management policies that remain situated within discourses and practices of developmental and behavioural psychology. The ABC chart (Antecedent, Behaviour and Consequence) is one key aspect of these behaviour management policies as it aims to document the timing, frequency, intensity and duration of behaviour characterized as problematic or troublesome. The purpose of this paper is to critically examine the ABC chart utilized by classroom teachers across K-12 school settings in order to document behaviour. Understood as a socio-cultural artifact and phenomenon of current neoliberal schooling practices, I seek to investigate the role of ABC charts in sustaining practices of conditional inclusion/exclusion for children and youth labeled as ‘problems.’ Using an interpretive methodology situated within critical disability studies and anti-colonial theories and practices, this paper will engage in the application of concepts such as being “out of sync” ( Knight, 2019 : p. 74) and “misfitting” ( Garland-Thomson, 2011 : p. 592) as they intersect with concepts such as “the ability line” ( Broderick and Leonardo, 2016 : p. 66). A key aim of this paper is to question the taken for granted assumptions regarding conceptions of linear time, developmental progress and, achieving the performance of normative behaviour. In examining the implicit power imbalances in practices of documenting behaviour, this paper also invites educators to engage in a critical dialogue in order to facilitate a transformation into more interdependent and socially just teaching and learning practices.

Models of Valuing Used by Christian Religious Education Teachers to Enable Secondary School Learners Acquire Social, Spiritual and Moral Insights Secondary Schools in Kenya

This investigation was motivated by the extant evidence which indicates that social, economic and political vices are on the rise in Kenya. For example the Kenya police report indicates that nationally crime among the youths stood at 22% between the years 2004 and 2006 from 08% in the period 1998 to 2003. Kisumu East was among the most hit areas with the crime index at 38% in 2006. In addition to this school dropout stood at 31% whereas HIV and AIDS prevalence stood at 12.5% in the same period. This scenario created a need to examine the mechanisms put in place by the Kenyan society to enhance moral growth of the learner more so in Kisumu East district. The study sought to determine the valuing methods used by the Christian Religious Education (C.R.E) teachers in secondary schools with the view of establishing whether or not, the methods equipped the learners with the ability to use valuing models in societal context. The design of the study was descriptive survey and it was conducted in Kisumu East District of Nyanza Province in the Republic of Kenya. The study population consisted of forty seven schools, forty eight teachers and three thousand two hundred and twenty five form two students. Using stratified sampling technique, fifteen mixed secondary schools, five from each of the three administrative units in the district were randomly selected for the study. A population of three hundred and forty three students determined by use of the Fischer formula and then simple randomly sampled formed the sample. Added to the above sixteen C.R.E teachers within the study schools were sampled purposively for the study. Data was collected as follows: the teachers were observed using a rating scale as they taught C.R.E. Secondly, the learners were given a test to ascertain their affective achievements with regards to value identification in societal context and an in-depth interview was conducted with the teachers. Data was also generated through documents analysis in which the teacher's schemes of work, the syllabus and curriculum guides were scrutinized to determine their adequacy in addressing the learners' value needs. To ensure the usefulness of the instruments in collecting data, they were piloted to ascertain their reliability. They were also critiqued and corrected by the experts from the faculty of Education to determine their face validity. Quantitative data was analyzed by use of descriptive statistics such as frequency counts, means and percentages then presented in form of tables. Information from the interviews and documents was analyzed qualitatively by transcription and organization into categories as per the emergent themes then reported and presented in narrative form. The research revealed that the teachers were not acquainted with the valuing models that are supposed to be used in teaching morals to enable learners to acquire social and spiritual insights in societal context. The research concluded that moral decadence experienced in Kisumu East district is due to teachers' inability to use the right valuing models of teaching values using C.R.E. Due to this, there is an urgent need to review the C.R.E. teaching curriculum guide to emphasize on valuing skills. The findings of this study are useful to the designers of curriculum at Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development, the Quality Assurance and Standards Officers in the Ministry of Education as well as the C.R.E teachers in a secondary school classroom since it contributes to the theory and practice of value education.

Infant and early childhood mental health consultation: evaluating change in classroom climate and teaching practices by dosage of program exposure

This study evaluated the effects of infant and early childhood mental health consultation dosage (IECMHC) on observations of classroom climate and teacher behavior management practices in seven schools from a charter school network. Classrooms were prioritized for consultation based on indicators collected during observations and either received no consultation, one cycle, or two or more cycles, each of which was approximately 10 weeks long. Fidelity of implementation was comparable between the two groups that received consultation at varying program exposure levels. Multilevel regression analyses examined how variation in the dose of consultation exposure related to both indicators of program quality considering the clustering of teachers within schools. The results showed that teachers most in need of consultation received it and that both short and long doses of consultation led to improvements in classroom climate and teaching practices outcomes over the academic year. Classrooms that received consultation for longer showed the largest change over time. Classrooms were equivalent on outcome indicators by the end of the school year and consultation appeared to have a protective effect against negative classroom climate.

Hide and seek: A game reimagined

We live in a culture that teaches us to value being seen and heard above all else. In early childhood classrooms teachers are encouraged to create individual spaces for every child and to artfully display their work as it is created. Especially in Euro-Western, neoliberal contexts, policy and curricula commonly call for early childhood professionals to pay special attention to children and families who come from immigrant or otherwise marginalized backgrounds. We are urged to acknowledge and elevate children's and families’ differences for all to see. But does everyone—child, teacher, and caregiver—want to be seen and heard all the time? What are the affordances and constraints of the visibility injunction under which we live? In this article we set out to reimagine the classic hide-and-seek paradigm in order to shed fresh light on the place of hiddenness and withdrawal from public view in the formation of positive self-regard. Is the joy of hiding always defined by the anticipation of being found? Are the pleasures of seeking only realized by the possibility of finding something/someone or is seeking an activity with its own rich rewards? Our stories and responses to each other are set out in a call-and-response pattern that echoes the six semi-structured hour-long conversations on which this article is built. Musical interludes are provided between each story/response couplet offering readers moments to pause, reflect, and argue with us as they move through the article.

Teacher collaboration and innovative learning spaces in New Zealand

ABSTRACT The changing architectural design of the spaces where schooling occurs can impact on the types of pedagogical practices that were once solely viewed within the traditional single teacher classroom. Innovative learning environments are being built where there can be multiple teachers with larger cohorts of students. This may provide more opportunities for collaboration amongst teachers which may enhance learning opportunities. This New Zealand study looks at the views of ten primary school teachers in innovative learning environments and the results from a national survey in regard to primary teachers’ and principals’ perceptions on teacher collaboration and innovative learning environments. Specifically, we highlight the views of principals and teachers situated within the New Zealand education system and the range of views they bring to this change to the types of differing structural spaces of learning and teaching. The findings suggest that a continuing challenge for teachers is the level of noise and the wide range of distractions within innovative learning environment. The attitudes and adaptability of teachers to adjust to change, and their opportunities for professional development to prepare for this change are key influential factors.

The effect of cognitive intervention program on intelligence scores in preschool.

Dynamic assessment is an approach that aims to improve student performance through interventions. One of the important application areas of dynamic assessment is the assessment of intelligence. Within the scope of the study, after a Cognitive intervention program (CIP) was developed, its effects on intelligence scores were examined with a quasi-experimental research method. The CIP was prepared by adopting a dynamic assessment approach to improve the performance of students with expert support. This improvement would be provided by the clues and feedback given during the intervention within the scope of the CIP. The sample of the study included 173 students in the 5-6 age group (83 experimental group, 90 control group). The CIP developed by the researcher consisted of 54 worksheets and was applied to the experimental group for 9weeks. The implementation of the worksheets was supervised by classroom teachers. The digital application of the Anadolu-Sak Intelligence Scale (d-ASIS) and Raven's colored progressive matrices (RCPM) were applied to both the experimental and control groups as pretests and posttests. The increases in the intelligence scores of the experimental and control groups were analyzed by MANOVA. The analysis showed that the intelligence levels of the experimental group increased significantly more than the control group in terms of both d-ASIS and RCPM total gain scores (posttest to pretest). This result indicated that the CIP, which was developed by adopting a dynamic assessment approach, supported cognitive development.

Relationship between teacher's ability model and students' behavior based on emotion-behavior relevance theory and artificial intelligence technology under the background of curriculum ideological and political education

PurposeThis paper aims to fully understand the relationship between students' classroom emotions and teachers' behaviors in the teaching environment, provide personalized teaching support, stimulate teachers' motivation, and enhance the emotional connection between teachers and students. This paper designs a teacher's ability model based on emotion-behavior relevance theory and artificial intelligence (AI) technology. MethodsFirstly, this paper expounds on the integration of emotion-behavior relevance theory, AI, and teacher's ability model under the background of ideological and political education. Subsequently, the artificial neural network (ANN) model is deeply analyzed in relation to the development of psychology and AI technology. Guided by the theory of emotion-behavior relevance, an ANN model is used to optimize the classroom emotion recognition module in the teacher's ability model. The accuracy of the optimized teacher's ability model in recognizing attention and resistance is verified by experiments. The relationship between the teacher's classroom emotions, students' classroom behavior, and the teacher's teaching ability is analyzed. ResultsThe experimental results show that the optimized model can effectively identify students' classroom emotions, and the accuracy of identifying attention and resistance reaches 93.6 % and 92 %, respectively, significantly exceeding the traditional model. For other emotions, the accuracy of the experimental group ranges from 80.6 % to 87.9 %, while that of the control group is only 61.1 %. The optimized model shows a better effect on the emotional recognition of multiple students. This proves the effectiveness of the proposed optimization model. In addition, by analyzing teachers' emotions in real classroom videos, people can observe that teachers' psychological emotions and behaviors change with the changes in students' classroom emotions. Under the students' positive emotions, teachers scored high in psychological emotions, behaviors, and teaching achievements, with the lowest scores of 87, 80, and 85, respectively. Under students' negative emotions, teachers' related scores are low, with the highest scores of 40, 40, and 42. This highlights the critical influence of the emotional attitude and values of the main characters on teachers' teaching ability in the classroom environment from the psychological perspective. ConclusionStudents' positive emotions, such as concentration and devotion, will arouse teachers' satisfaction and happiness, motivate them to teach more diligently, and improve the teaching effect. On the contrary, students' negative emotions, such as resistance and doubt, may cause teachers to feel depressed and discouraged. This proves the importance and effectiveness of integrating the emotion-behavior relevance theory into teaching. Students' emotions impact teachers' psychological emotions and behaviors and affect the teaching effect. In this case, teachers need to use their emotional adjustment ability to adjust their feelings in time to better guide students and improve teaching efficiency. This paper provides valuable insights for optimizing the teacher's ability model.

Authentic caring in online professional development for early childhood teachers in South Africa

Background: The professional development (PD) of early childhood teachers is of strategic importance in higher education and the profession given the need to improve responsiveness and progress towards millennium goals.Aim: The purpose was to analyse classroom practices and teachers’ experiences of PD programmes, through the theoretical lens of the UNESCO ICT Competency Framework for Teachers to construct an authentic data-based model, which can be used to understand PD challenges and guide decisions about the improvement of education quality.Setting: The study was conducted in Gauteng with teachers from a selection of early childhood centres.Methods: A phenomenological inquiry explored the settings and practices of 23 selected teachers in Gauteng province. Interview and observation data were analysed for content categories and grounded theory articulations.Results: The main finding is that teachers facing everyday educational challenges benefit from school-based support and available media but need additional learning to advance their professional aspirations. The grounded theory analyses of the data highlighted that early childhood practices and articulated development needs are best explained as authentic caring. This was conceptualised metaphorically as garden spaces where careful tending, deliberate planning and various elements of nurturing knowledge may harmoniously be blended. The model extends prevailing theories of PD and the flipped ICT Competency Framework for Teachers.Conclusion: The model of authentic caring is a grounded theory articulation based upon beliefs of practising EC teachers.Contribution: The article provides a comprehensive online teacher professional development framework for EC teachers, emphasising authenticity, care and alignment with global educational standards.

Theory is inclusive, practice is integrative? Discourses on inclusion in the education community

AbstractDefining educational inclusion is a complex task on which there is still no conceptual agreement among practitioners. Although the term inclusion has moved away from integration or disability, it has not yet been consolidated as the presence and participation of all students. Some of the reasons are lack of material and human resources, isolated curriculum or teacher training, among others. A qualitative research project was carried out with the aim of identifying the portraits that the different informant agents make of inclusion. The technique used to collect information was an open interview with 44 participants, representatives of different groups (head teachers, classroom teachers, specialists, counsellors, families, students, associations and politicians). The information was analysed using the content analysis model, supported by MAXQDA22 software. The results delve into (1) the dissonant issues with inclusion and (2) the rupture they perceive between legislation and daily practice, and (3) reveal five dominant discourses on the concept: as a legal measure, as a category, as an educational measure, as wealth and as participation. In conclusion, the vision of inclusion in this study remains confused, diffuse and utopian.

South African Teachers’ Insights on Improving the Sensory Classroom Teacher Questionnaire (SCTQ) for Inclusive Education and ADHD Support

The Sensory Classroom Teacher Questionnaire (SCTQ) is a psycho-educational tool designed to empower teachers in creating sensory-rich, inclusive environments that promote diversity, equity, accessibility, and inclusivity through the application of sensory ergonomics. Unlike other tools that focus on isolated strategies, the SCTQ takes a holistic approach by optimizing the overall classroom environment to meet the sensory and ergonomic needs of learners, particularly those with ADHD and sensory integration/processing challenges. This makes the SCTQ especially vital in diverse and under-resourced quintile schools, where creating sensory-optimized, inclusive environments is essential for fostering equitable learning experiences. By addressing sensory needs through thoughtful classroom design, the SCTQ not only strengthens learners’ cognitive development and socio-emotional well-being but also improves behavior regulation, physical comfort, and overall functioning. This manuscript is part of a larger exploratory mixed-methods study that validated the SCTQ using both qualitative and quantitative approaches. Here, the focus is on the qualitative aspect, utilizing thematic analysis to explore data from 23 focus group interviews with 88 Grade 1, 2, and 3 teachers from various Quintile 1–5 schools in Gauteng, South Africa. Guided by the enactivism paradigm, the study emphasizes the crucial role teachers play in creating and adapting sensory environments. Their insights were key to refining the SCTQ, ensuring it is practical, developmentally appropriate, culturally, linguistically, contextually, and socio-economically relevant. Developed through collaboration among researchers, specialists, and teachers, the SCTQ supports sensory ergonomic practices, raises awareness of ADHD and sensory integration/processing challenges, and supports both learners’ potential and teachers’ well-being, contributing to a more sustainable and positive educational experience.

Inovasi Model Pembelajaran Pai Menggunakan Media Audio Visual dalam Meningkatkan Hasil Belajar Siswa di Smpn 1 Purwosari

Acquiring knowledge Islamic Religious Education is a methodical endeavor to develop into a strong person capable of putting Islamic teachings into practice in daily life in order to reach human perfection. The goal of the learning process is to help each student reach their full potential and become as capable as possible. In the classroom, an instructor's or teacher's function is identical to that of a mentor and motivator who supports students' growth. Determining learning outcomes and student engagement when utilizing manual and audio-visual media is the aim of this study. Here, qualitative research methodologies are employed by the researchers, and the goal of the learning process is to maximize each student's potential. In a classroom setting, an instructor or teacher plays the same function as a mentor and motivator who

Exploring the Relationship between Teachers' Marital Status and Teaching Ability: A Systematic Review (2010-2022)

Work and marriage are important parts of life and many previous studies have confirmed the impact of life satisfaction on teachers' job satisfaction. Further understanding of teachers' marital status and their productivity therefore became the starting point for this study. A total of 24 studies were included in this systematic review study, including 15 studies on marital status and 9 studies on teaching ability. The systematic review included four specific aspects of society, schools, students and teachers that impact on teachers' teaching ability. It was also clear that students who attended the classrooms of married teachers performed better than unmarried teachers. It is because marriage is something that most people in society need to experience, however, it was found through this study that: there is a lack of systematic research in the study itself on the relationship between teachers' marital status and their teaching ability in their teaching activities. Because of this, there is a need to further expand, consider and evaluate research on the relationship between teachers' life status and their performance in the classroom.

유아의 놀이 상호작용이 언어 및 문해력과 수리적 사고에 미치는 영향 -사회적 유능감의 매개효과-

The purpose of this study is to examine the mediating effect of social competence in the structural relationship between child's play interactions and social competence, language and literacy, and mathematical thinking. For this purpose, data from the 7th year of the Korean Child Panel(2014) provided by the Korea Institute for Childcare Policy(KICE) were used, and a total of 667 young children and their classroom teachers were analyzed. Descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, exploratory factor analysis, structural model analysis, and path analysis were conducted using SPSS 23.0 and AMOS 22.0. The results of this study are as follows. First, children's play interactions had an effect on language and literacy, but not on mathematical thinking. Second, children's play interactions had a statistically positive effect on social competence. Third, children's social competence had a statistically positive effect on language, literacy, and mathematical thinking. Fourth, social competence was found to partially mediate the relationship between children's play interactions and language and literacy skills, and social competence was found to fully mediate the relationship between children's play interactions and mathematical thinking.

Exploring interactive behaviours of urban and rural teachers in blended synchronous classrooms: Insights from a proposed interaction analysis framework

Blended synchronous classrooms (BSCs) play a critical role in narrowing the educational gap between urban and rural areas in China, promoting educational equity. In BSCs, the quantity and quality of interactive teaching behaviours of urban and rural teachers may significantly influence the learning experiences of students in both urban and rural settings, and they are supposed to be different from interactive teaching behaviours that happen in traditional classrooms. However, there is limited research on the characteristics of such interactive teaching behaviours in BSCs. To address the gap, this study first proposed an interaction analysis framework for BSCs (IAF4BSCs) and then examined the interactive teaching behaviours of urban and rural teachers in BSCs using this framework, along with various learning analytics methods including lag sequential analysis, frequent sequence mining and thematic analysis. The data analysis yielded the following results: (1) Urban teachers exhibited more speech behaviours such as lecturing and providing immediate feedback, whereas rural teachers engaged more in non-speech behaviours like classroom patrols. (2) Despite the expectation for urban teachers to interact equally with urban and rural students in BSCs, they predominantly focused on urban students. (3) Urban teachers demonstrated diverse interaction sequences with both urban and rural students, whereas rural teachers primarily interacted with rural students. (4) Interviews with teachers and students revealed both positive and negative aspects of interactive teaching behaviours in BSCs. Based on these findings, the study proposed three pedagogical recommendations to enhance interactive teaching behaviours in BSCs: increasing interactive participation, integrating technology more effectively and emphasizing post-class assessment.

LIRIS (Literasi dan Riset) sebagai Inovasi pada Problematika Gerakan Literasi Sekolah dalam Pembelajaran Sejarah di SMAN 1 Sumenep

Literacy activities in education hold a crucial position, particularly reading within history education. Addressing literacy challenges encountered in the history learning process at State Senior High School (SMAN) 1 Sumenep, there arises a necessity for innovation in implementing school literacy movements. LIRIS stands as an innovative initiative formed by the School Literacy Team (Tim Literasi Sekolah/TLS) at SMAN 1 Sumenep, aimed at addressing literacy challenges by amalgamating literacy processes with research. This research aims to find out the implementation and problems of history learning in the GLS program and find out how LIRIS can be an innovation in literacy activities. Employing a qualitative descriptive approach, data is collected through interviews, observations, and documentation, then analyzed through data reduction, presentation, and verification. Findings reveal: (1) GLS implementation in history education generally follows existing guidelines, observable in familiarization, development, and learning stages, yet specifics vary based on classroom conditions and teacher innovation, (2) literacy activity issues in history education arise across student, teacher, and school support aspects, and (3) LIRIS emerges as an innovative literacy activity addressing both general and specific history education challenges, albeit still necessitating evaluation and refinement.

Research on the correlation between teacher classroom questioning types and student thinking development from the perspective of discourse analysis

Research on the correlation between teacher classroom questioning types and student thinking development from the perspective of discourse analysis

Links between instructional quality and classroom composition in classes taught by the same teacher

BackgroundAs instructional quality is crucial for successful learning, its conditional factors are of particular interest for research and practice. Research showed that distal as well as proximal class composition factors are related to instructional quality. However, it is still unclear to what extent these aspects explain differences in instructional quality between classes of the same teacher. AimThis study investigates differences in instructional quality (cognitive activation, classroom management, student support) between classes taught by the same teacher and how these differences are related to distal (gender ratio, SES, proportion of multilingual learners) and proximal (self-concept, interest, mathematics grade) classroom composition factors. SampleAnalyses are based on 3566 students in 219 classes taught by 106 teachers in 9th-grade mathematics classrooms in Germany. MethodsWe estimated three-level doubly-latent linear mixed models regressing instructional quality on class composition factors with students at level 1, classes at level 2, and teachers at level 3. ResultsRoughly 7–13 % of the variance in instructional quality perceived by the students can be attributed to class characteristics. Higher class-mean interest and a lower proportion of multilingual learners are related to higher cognitive activation. Class-mean self-concept is negatively and interest is positively related to student support. Higher discipline can be significantly explained by higher mean mathematics grades and more female students in the class. ConclusionsOur results underline the importance of considering the classroom context when striving for high instructional quality, highlighting the importance of promoting proximal factors such as student interest.

Evaluation of students’ performance in elective mathematics: The effect of high school students’ perceived difficulty of the subject

Perception has been attributed as a major cause of students' weakness in mathematics. Hence, this study evaluates its effect on student’s performance in the area of mathematics as an elective subject in some selected Senior High School (SHS) in Ghana. Mixed method research design that employed questionnaire with closed-ended and open-ended items were used in the collection of the data. Stratified sampling technique was used in selecting 300 students as sample for the study. Descriptive statistics and Multiple regression were used to analyse the quantitative data. Again, thematic analysis was used for the qualitative data. The findings showed that, SHS students perceived elective mathematics as a difficult subject. Nonetheless, they perceived the teacher-learner activities employed by their teachers in elective mathematics classroom as motivating. Further, they perceived as constructive, the teaching methods used by their elective mathematics teachers. In addition, the study revealed that students’ performance in elective mathematics was not significantly influenced by their perceived difficulty of elective mathematics, teacher motivation and teaching methods although the students expressed favourable dispositions towards these attributes. Thus, the need for Heads of High Schools, to do background check of students’ prior performance, interest and motivation in mathematics as a prerequisite condition for students to pursue elective mathematics is implied in this study. This could stem the tide in the students’ abysmal performance in elective mathematics. Implications for policy, practice and further research are discussed.

Primary School Teachers' Opinions on the Difficulties They Experience Compared to Subject Teachers

This study aims to determine the opinions of primary school teachers regarding the difficulties they experience compared to branch teachers. The research was conducted using a case study, one of the qualitative research methods. 25 primary school teachers participated in the study. A semi-structured interview form prepared by the researcher was used to obtain the data. Content analysis method was used in the analysis of the data. As a result of the research, it was determined that the biggest difficulty experienced by primary school teachers in classroom management compared to branch teachers is that they have difficulty in classroom management due to the young age of the students; according to the opinions of primary school teachers, the biggest difficulty experienced by branch teachers in the teaching process is taking on the responsibility of more lessons. It was determined that primary school teachers establish deeper and stronger emotional bonds with their students compared to branch teachers; they are divided into two in terms of being advantageous in terms of salary and additional lessons; and the majority of primary school teachers see themselves as disadvantaged due to working in villages and rural areas in terms of the settlement where they work compared to branch teachers.

Exploring Links Between Social Competence, Immigrant Background, and Children’s Preschool Adjustment

ABSTRACT Research Findings: In the present study, we investigated the roles of children’s social competence and immigrant background in the prediction of the quality of children’s relationships with peers and teachers and school adjustment. Participants were N = 212 children (M age = 58.32 months, SD = 10.72; n = 98 with an immigrant background) and their teachers (two per class). One teacher in each class assessed children’s social competence and behavior problems, whereas the other rated the quality of their attachment relationships with the children and their adaptation to school. Social acceptance was assessed via peer sociometric nominations. Among the results, children with an immigrant background evidenced greater conflict and dependence in their relationships with teachers, poorer social acceptance, and less pleasure in school. Among children with an immigrant background, externalizing behaviors were associated with conflict in relationships with teachers, whereas internalizing behaviors were associated with dependence. Practice or Policy: The study highlights how social behaviors and immigrant background can affect the quality of attachment relationships with teachers in the preschool classroom.