Context Of Secondary Education Research Articles

Teacher educators and environmental justice: conversations about education for environmental justice between science and geography teacher educators based in England and Brazil

AbstractWhile environmental education has been present in the field of education for decades now, only recently our particular subject areas of science and geography have started to pay more critical attention to specific concerns surrounding the intersection of environmental issues and social justice (also known as environmental justice) within the context of formal secondary education, including in secondary teacher education programmes. Drawing on scholarship, policy landscapes and socio-environmental concerns from both the global South and the global North, and on a methodological approach based on transnational collective reflection and collaborative-dialogic writing, in this article we delve into our different cultural, geographical and disciplinary contexts, views and experiences as four teacher educators from Brazil and England who have been working at this intersection between environmental justice and Science and Geography teacher education programmes for secondary formal education. Here we will argue that environmental justice needs to have a central role in such teacher education programmes if we aim to support young people and their teachers in navigating the spatially diverse and unequal impacts of environmental emergencies in global North and South communities. We also consider future directions for research and collaboration across national and disciplinary boundaries within the landscape of environmental education for environmental justice, reflecting on the future of teacher education across the global North and the global South when facing more frequent and severe environmental emergencies.

Teacher candidates as student partners in decoding the disciplines research

This study examines the role of secondary teacher candidates as student partners in research into undergraduate students’ historical cognition while contextualizing documents. It highlights the unique role of teacher candidates as near-peer interviewers and change agents within higher education and secondary curricula. Through using decoding the disciplines methodology to solicit student voice in near-peer interviews, teacher candidates identified areas for curricular change in teaching contextualization in university history courses. The involvement of teacher candidates extended beyond the university classroom and informed their future work in secondary education. Decoding experiences in university courses provided teacher candidates with insights into supporting secondary pupils’ abilities to contextualize historical sources. This research demonstrates the potential of teacher candidates as near-peer interviewers and curricular change agents in secondary and higher education. Collaborative partnerships between teacher candidates and faculty can lead to meaningful curricular changes and effective teaching practices in higher education and secondary education contexts.

I don't have time! But keep me in the loop: Co‐designing requirements for a learning analytics cockpit with teachers

AbstractBackgroundTeacher dashboards can help secondary school teachers manage online learning activities and inform instructional decisions by visualising information about class learning. However, when designing teacher dashboards, it is not trivial to choose which information to display, because not all of the vast amount of information retrieved from digital learning environments is useful for teaching. Information elicited from formative assessment (FA), though, is a strong predictor for student performance and can be a useful data source for effective teacher dashboards. Especially in the secondary education context, FA and feedback on FA, have been extensively studied and shown to positively affect student learning outcomes. Moreover, secondary teachers struggle to make sense of the information displayed in dashboards and decide on pedagogical actions, such as providing feedback to students.ObjectivesTo facilitate the provision of feedback for secondary school teachers via a teacher dashboard, this study identifies requirements for designing a Learning Analytics Cockpit (LA Cockpit), that is, (1) a teacher dashboard that provides teachers with visualisations of results from formative assessment (FA) and (2) a feedback system that supports teachers in providing feedback to students.MethodsThis study was conducted in the context of STEM classes and is based on semi‐structured co‐design interviews with German secondary school teachers. In these interviews, we first explored challenges teachers encountered in monitoring students' learning and providing feedback. Second, in the ideation phase, teachers were asked to define features an LA Cockpit for FA should have. Finally, in the evaluation phase, we provided teachers with a design template for an LA Cockpit, the LAC_Template, which was built upon our previous work and feedback theory, and asked them to evaluate and improve it. Further design requirements were derived based on the evaluation of the LAC_Template and teachers' suggestions for improvement.ResultsWe derived 16 requirements for designing an LA Cockpit for FA in secondary schools. Findings from the interviews indicated that the feedback system of an LA Cockpit should address teachers' time limitations in giving students individualised feedback. It should therefore be designed to minimise the steps required to deliver feedback. To reduce workload, teachers requested an automated reminder to send feedback, but with the ability to adjust feedback to the learning context. Such a semi‐automated feedback system can help teachers support students individually but also underline the importance of actively involving teachers in the feedback loop and giving them control when using such technologies in secondary school practice. A challenge for future teacher dashboard designs could be to find a balance between technology and teacher control that utilises the strengths of both in a beneficial combination.

Macrostructural Analysis of STEM Students’ Research Introductions in the Secondary Education Context: Implications for Pedagogy, Curriculum, and Teacher Professional Development

There is a growing interest in exploring the structure of student academic writing across different disciplinary backgrounds, including the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) field. However, despite the availability of relevant literature on STEM student writing, research on the structure of STEM students’ research introductions, particularly within the secondary education context, remains essentially scant. Consequently, STEM student research writers should be redirected towards a genre-based academic writing practice to meet the rhetorical demands of their discourse community. Drawing on this research gap, this qualitative genre analytic study was conducted to explore the structure of STEM students’ research introductions, with an emphasis on the macrostructures and the move/step occurrences. Ten research introductions submitted as preliminary examination papers by the Grade 11 STEM students in an online research writing course at a private Philippine university were collected and further screened via Turnitin, ensuring their authenticity. Following Biber et al.’s (2007) top-down corpus-based discourse analytic framework, moves and steps in the research introductions were carefully analyzed, with Swales’ (1990, 2004) Creating A Research Space (CARS) model as basis for move/step identification. The findings indicated variations in the move structure of students’ research introductions, with the majority deviating from Swales’ (1990, 2004) model. While the students employed all three moves by Swales (1990, 2004), they hardly established a niche in writing a research introduction. The study highlights important implications for pedagogy, curriculum, and teacher professional development in the context of STEM research writing.

“I am so lucky to be part of this community”: Online professional learning communities to support teacher professional development (TPD) in higher education

Few studies have examined how EFL teachers, as language teacher educators, perceive their participation in a particular online professional learning community (PLC) despite the growing body of research on PLC in educational settings. The current study delved into the teacher professional development of EFL teachers in higher education settings. Semi-structured interviews were used to collect data and then narratively evaluated. The data were thematically analyzed. The results point to a few advantages teacher educators experience when participating in online PLC, which ultimately improves their competency in teacher professional development. The result brought to light that online PLC activities in Indonesia facilitated teacher educators' professional development in many aspects. Understanding the findings in the present study could motivate English teachers, be they in secondary or post-secondary education contexts, to always improve their pedagogical knowledge through PLC. Stories shared by the participants in this study inform pedagogical impacts for redesigning curricula that specialize in writing practice for PhD students. Policymakers could also take advantage of the present study's findings in the context of enacting PLC training for teachers on how to treat and make use of this PLC effectively.

THE ROLE OF INCLUSIVE LEADERSHIP IN PROVIDING QUALITY EDUCATION FOR ALL IN ISLAMIC SECONDARY EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS

In the contemporary landscape of education, the imperative of providing quality education for all has become a paramount concern. This dissertation investigates the instrumental role of inclusive leadership in ensuring the provision of quality education for all in Islamic secondary educational institutions. These institutions, serving as bastions of both religious and academic development, demand a leadership approach that is inclusive, equitable, and forward-looking. The study delves into the multifaceted concept of inclusive leadership, exploring its theoretical underpinnings and practical implications within the unique context of Islamic secondary education. Inclusive leadership goes beyond conventional models by actively involving diverse stakeholders, fostering a collaborative and supportive environment, and addressing the individual needs of all students. The research employs a mixed-methods approach, combining qualitative and quantitative analyses to comprehensively understand the impact of inclusive leadership on access to education and the enhancement of learning experiences

Ethical integrity in doctoral research: A focus on classroom remediation

This article delves into the paramount importance of upholding ethical integrity in doctoral research, particularly focusing on classroom remediation within secondary education contexts. It provides a comprehensive framework delineating ethical guidelines crucial for maintaining integrity throughout the research process. Key areas of focus include risk assessment, informed consent, privacy and confidentiality, data handling and reporting, and strategies for mitigating mistakes and negligence. Drawing from existing literature and ethical standards, this article underscores the need for meticulous planning and adherence to ethical principles to safeguard the well-being of research participants and ensure the validity and reliability of research outcomes. By prioritising ethical considerations, researchers can navigate complex ethical dilemmas and contribute meaningfully to scientific knowledge while upholding the integrity of their work.

Overcoming Low Teaching Self-efficacy of English as a Foreign Language Teachers in Secondary Vocational Schools

The new English curriculum stand (MOE, 2020) has put forward high requirements for China secondary vocational school English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers’ qualities. As part of teachers’ qualities, teaching self-efficacy determines their teaching practices and students’ general achievements. Research has found China secondary vocational school EFL teachers lack confidence in teaching processes (Liu, 2018). Therefore, this study reports on a qualitative study exploring factors contributing to the enhancement of EFL teachers’ teaching self-efficacy in China secondary vocational education context. It is based on the views of 12 experts from Higher Education Institutions, Teacher Training Colleges and the Academy of Educational Sciences, and Secondary Vocational Schools in China to learn more about what factors can enhance EFL teachers’ teaching self-efficacy in China secondary vocational schools. The interview data were examined using thematic analysis which allows for a detailed exploration of the data, and 12 themes emerged from that analysis in terms of experiences, knowledge, and school culture. These themes encompassed various aspects, including enactive mastery experiences, vicarious learning experiences, interactive experiences, physical and emotional states, learners and learning, the pedagogy and curriculum, the English language, the self, vocational background, school spiritual culture, school material culture, and school system culture. The article concludes by considering the implications of the results for those designing policies and professional learning activities for secondary vocational EFL teachers and suggesting potential avenues for future research.

Fostering English speaking and writing subskills for the Cambridge B2 First through technology-mediated tasks

AbstractRecent studies on technology-mediated task-based learning have shown the impact of task design and modality on English as a foreign language (EFL) learning. However, it is unclear what effect technology-mediated tasks have on learners’ English language skills. This paper presents a classroom-based study that showed how using technology-mediated tasks impacted students’ learning experiences and fostered the development of specific speaking and writing subskills in an EFL secondary education context. Forty-two EFL intermediate learners completed two speaking and two writing tasks from the Cambridge B2 First exam using mobile devices. The participants were divided into a pen-and-paper group (N = 21) and an iPad group (N = 21). Learning outcomes were measured using a pre-test/post-test design with a statistical comparison of ratings across tasks. A qualitative content analysis of lesson observations and student and teacher interviews served as an additional dataset to shed light on learners’ experiences. Descriptive statistics revealed that the iPad group achieved higher scores in pronunciation and accuracy (speaking) and essay organisation features (writing). Tasks involving the active use of the tool for content creation, rehearsing speaking performances, and accessing authentic materials were the most successful among students.

Exploring private supplementary tutoring in Finnish general upper secondary education

ABSTRACT We examine private supplementary tutoring within the context of Finnish general upper secondary education. Specifically, we focus on profit-driven private preparatory course providers who cater to individual students and their families, aiming to improve applicants’ prospects of gaining access to higher education. We examine this during a time when a recent education policy reform has renewed seeking admission to higher education in Finland, consequently impacting the private supplementary tutoring market associated with it. We draw on Bourdieu’s concepts of field, capital, and habitus as a starting point for discussing the complex dynamics between public and private actors in the field of Finnish general upper secondary education and the role of economic capital. The ethnographic data analyzed for this paper consist of field notes and interviews (n = 58) from three general upper secondary schools, produced in 2019-2020. The study aims to investigate the negotiations between the public and private spheres of education within the everyday practices of Finnish public upper secondary education during an educational policy reform. We conclude that the fields of public and private education are not separate but rather intertwined, and they can become blurred in the everyday life of schools through both temporal and spatial overlaps.

TEACHERS' POSITIVE FEEDBACK PRACTICES ON STRUGGLING READERS IN JUNIOR SECONDARY

Feedback is a cornerstone in education, profoundly influencing students' educational journeys and achievements. This study aims to investigate the impact of positive feedback practices among teachers on struggling readers in Sri Lanka's junior secondary education context. The objectives are to assess the specific positive feedback strategies employed by teachers, to evaluate the perceived effectiveness of these practices, to investigate the challenges and obstacles teachers encounter during their implementation, and to identify effective strategies, and determine the factors that predict positive feedback practices. The research employed a survey-based design, collecting data from 199 junior secondary teachers, randomly selected from various teaching experiences, subjects, and school locations. A purpose-built survey is administered online via Google forms, and data were analyzed using SPSS, involving descriptive statistics, thematic content analysis, and linear regression. The study revealed diverse participant representation, reflecting the multifaceted junior secondary education landscape. Positive feedback practices were prevalent, emphasizing effective feedback, effort encouragement, and a supportive environment. Perceived effectiveness was moderate, suggesting room for improvement. Teachers faced challenges including resource shortages, absenteeism, and student motivation, but offered solutions such as reading programs and parental involvement. Regression analysis identified a significant positive relationship between positive feedback practices and their overall effectiveness, highlighting their crucial role in supporting struggling readers.

EVALUATING THE INFLUENCE OF SCHOOL LEADERSHIP ON CULTIVATING A POSITIVE EDUCATIONAL ENVIRONMENT IN SECONDARY EDUCATION IN BALOCHISTAN, PAKISTAN

ABSTRACT
 This research conducts a rigorous examination of the pivotal role played by school leadership in shaping a positive school environment within the distinctive context of secondary education in Balochistan, Pakistan. The study encompasses 300 students, 100 teachers, and 60 head teachers from the Makran Division. The primary objective is to investigate leadership strategies and their influence on fostering a positive environment. Through an in-depth exploration of leadership approaches, decision-making processes, and community engagement initiatives, the study aims to comprehend how these strategies contribute to the overall school environment. Additionally, the study involves evaluating outcomes related to student well-being, teacher-student relationships, and academic engagement. Utilizing a mixed-methods approach, the research measures the effects of school leadership on creating an environment conducive to holistic student development. Strong connections are identified between student performance, teacher efficacy, and head teacher leadership. Positive correlations (r = 0.615, p < 0.01) exist between students' and teachers' performance, a moderate correlation (r = 0.328, p < 0.05) between students' performance and head teacher leadership, and a notable correlation (r = 0.336, p < 0.01) between teacher performance and head teacher leadership. The study aims to provide insights into effective leadership practices in Balochistan's secondary education and offers recommendations for enhancing the educational experience and fostering positive school environments. The findings are intended to inform educational policymakers, school administrators, and practitioners, facilitating informed decision-making for the improvement of secondary education environments in Balochistan, particularly within the Makran Division, and potentially in similar contexts globally.

Digital poetry for adult English learners with limited education: Possibilities in language learning, literacy development and interculturality

Studies on the role of digital technology in teaching and learning English tend to focus on secondary or higher education contexts and/or with literate or educated students. The recent global pandemic has highlighted the urgent need to advance digital equity and inclusion for adult learners with limited education and literacy. Despite their basic digital, language and literacy skills, classroom observations and studies have challenged stereotypes of this cohort of students’ limited capacity for online learning (Pobega, 2020; Tour et al, 2021). This paper will discuss a digital literacy project which involved poetry writing using an online book creator app with adult learners with limited English print literacy skills. Moving beyond merely mastering the mechanics of digital technologies (Kern, 2015), this project was an exploration of how language classrooms can be set up as supportive spaces where adult English learners perform “social acts of meaning mediated by the creation of texts” (Bhatt, 2012). Drawing on their personal histories, the learners made connections with the people, events, and spaces, from their past and present, emphasising the need to focus on human connections in language learning and the development of digital literacy skills (Guillén et al, 2020). Through poetry as a familiar literary form, the project serves to expand and strengthen the epistemic contribution capability (Fricker, 2015) of English learners with limited education and print literacy skills.

Observing secondary school teachers’ effective teaching behavior in the Netherlands, England, and the United States using the ICALT observation instrument

IntroductionThe purpose of this study was to examine measurement invariance in observer scoring of effective teaching behavior in three secondary education contexts–the Netherlands, England, and the United States. It also aimed to describe what effective teaching behavior looks like in secondary education across the three education contexts.MethodsA uniform observation measure called International Comparative Analysis of Learning and Teaching (ICALT) was used to observe teachers.ResultsResults revealed that the hypothesized factor structure of effective teaching behavior was confirmed for the Dutch and English data, but not for the US data. Teachers in the Netherlands showed higher levels of more basic teaching behaviors, but lower levels of more complex teaching behaviors, compared to teachers in England.DiscussionImplications of the findings are discussed.

Approaches to information literacy conceptualisation in primary, secondary, and higher education contexts

The information landscape of the 21st century demands that students are prepared to be responsible information users and creators, which requires information literacy (IL) proficiency. Underlying conceptualisations of IL influence instructional practices and students’ learning of these skills within primary, secondary, and higher education contexts. Responsive to the variation in approaches to conceptualisations of IL in the digital age, this article examines contemporary scholarly articles that conceptualise IL in these formal learning environments. Through a qualitative systematic literature review, 38 articles were examined with an inductive analytical method to understand how current conceptualisations of IL are approached within these educational settings. Analysis of results yielded five primary approaches to IL conceptualisation: (1) developing contextual frameworks, (2) comparing recognised models, (3) evaluating stakeholders’ perceptions, (4) considering academic disciplines’ information principles, and (5) advocating for information practice to inform frameworks. Collectively, this study points to an evident but necessary dynamism of IL conceptualisation.

Učinkovitost izrade videa u učenju engleskoga kao drugog jezika (ESL) u Litvi

The growing number of research investigating the efficacy of Web 2.0 tools in ESP classroom (Selevičienė 2020; Almuhaisen et al 2020; Rodgers and Dhonnchadha 2018; Šulovská 2013) has revealed the positive effect of technology integration on the development of students’ language learning in higher education. However, the implementation of web-based technologies, namely digital video creation for language learning, has been scarcely discussed through the prism of K-12 environment. The purpose of this study is to examine the effectiveness of video making in L2 acquisition of English from the perspective of secondary learners and explicate the potential strengths and weaknesses of its utilisation in the ESL classroom. Qualitative research methodology was employed to analyse an open-ended survey. Tenth and ninth graders were asked to produce their responses to a two-fold questionnaire aimed at evaluating the use of video making for revisiting target vocabulary of the lesson. The current research indicates a polarised view of video making practice in the ESL classroom. Regarding the potential of video creation, learners admitted it being beneficial for the acquisition of vocabulary, when it comes to memorising it, forming strong associations, comprehending and communicating the meaning more properly. Yet the results of the study also demonstrated that creating content via video aids proved to be relatively demanding and time consuming due to lack of ICT skills in video making, not sufficient Internet connection speed or restrictions imposed on time and vocabulary limit. The study may provide English language instructors with useful insights as to how the use of video creation may facilitate the learners’ acquisition of vocabulary and how possible hindrances can be prevented to achieve more effective learning outcomes with the aid of digital video making tools in the ESL classroom. The major contribution to the research in this field is its focus on the adoption of video making method in the English as the second language classroom considering the context of secondary education in Lithuania.

Exploring Augmented Reality Affordances for Media Literacy in the EFL Context

The ever-evolving information and communication technologies (ICTs) have affected the learners’ preferences for on-demand and on-the-spot access to information that challenge the traditional classroom practices and call for a reconstruction of curricula. New educational approaches are to be encompassed so as to align with the tech-savvy Generation Z needs and the contemporary digitized world that demands competences and skills for successful and well-informed personal and professional choices. Nevertheless, consumption and creation of new knowledge in the plethora of the new crowdsourced information ecosystem have to be critically accessed, analyzed, evaluated, and leveraged so as to lead to creativity and innovation. This paper is a report of the design of an educational intervention with the intent to enhance students’ media literacy skills in the English as a Foreign Language (EFL) secondary education context leveraging immersive technologies. In the first part there is a review of related work leveraging AR affordances in the EFL context. The second part explores the instructional design and pedagogical framework that AR assets can enrich a course material on media literacy for inclusive education practices taking into consideration students’ preferences on their learning process.

The Effects of Animated Film on Esl Learner’s Pronunciation in Secondary Education Context

Accurate and clear pronunciation plays a major role in language learning in order to communicate verbally in target language. Most secondary students in Malaysia still face difficulty in pronouncing English words correctly even though they have learned English as a second language for at least six years. This research aims to investigate the effectiveness of using animated film in enhancing pronunciation and also explore its influence towards learner’s motivation. A mixed method action research is used to obtain both quantitative and qualitative data. Pre-test and post-test are carried out and a paired T-test is run with SPSS to investigate the effectiveness of the teaching method towards different phonetic groups. Meanwhile, a semi-structured interview is conducted with 16 participants to identify their confidence level in word pronuncing . Results show that there are significant improvements in pronouncing ‘words with voiced and unvoiced consonant’, ‘words that look alike’ and ‘words with silent letter’ but not in ‘words with short and long vowel’ and ‘words with more than two syllables.’ It indicates that the effects of animated film in pronunciation teaching are varied towards different categories of word due to several factors. Thus, educators have to be aware of the factors that diminish the effectiveness of intervention used and overcome them for better teaching and learning process.

Validating the Volleyball Common Content Knowledge Test

The purpose of this study was to create a valid and reliable volleyball common content knowledge (VB-CCK) test in secondary physical education contexts in the United States. Two physical education teacher educators served as content experts and developed test items for the VB-CCK test. We then established content validity with a group of inservice teachers and determined face validity with preservice teachers. The Rasch model was used in data analysis. The standardized residual contrasts for the items loaded in the range of -.4 to .4, confirming the test was unidimensional and measured VB-CCK. Both infit mean-square residuals and outfit mean-square residuals were within the criterion range of .5 to 1.5 (infit = .8 to 1.1; outfit = .8 to 1.5), which showed the range of the question difficulties matched the respondents’ knowledge levels. The item separation index was 3.46 (reliability = .92; an excellent level) and the person separation index was 1.55 (reliability = .71; an acceptable level). The results provided evidence of the range of question difficulties and respondents’ knowledge levels. The Wright Map added additional evidence that the 40 questions were well distributed from easy to difficult levels and could discriminate different knowledge levels of preservice teachers’ VB-CCK. The study was successful in developing a valid and reliable instrument for PETE programs to assess secondary VB-CCK of their preservice teachers. We propose future CCK studies for both elementary content and secondary content.

The global pandemic and a shift in research methods

World-wide responses to the global pandemic, such as travel restrictions, border closures and lockdowns, have posed new challenges to researchers. For qualitative researchers conducting fieldwork, gathering data in person can be inapplicable (Howlett, 2021). My research investigates English as a Foreign Language (EFL) pre-service teachers’ beliefs and negotiation of meaning in Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) within the Thai secondary education context. Because of the pandemic I was unable to travel to Thailand to gather data, so I had to change my data collection methods to video conferencing interviews and classroom video observations. This article discusses this unexpected shift in research methods through my reflections on conducting digital-based research during the Covid-19 pandemic. It focuses on two main aspects: 1) grappling with emotional distress caused by the unprecedented phenomenon, and 2) redesigning research methods for digital fieldwork. Ethical issues regarding digital-based research are also discussed. The implications highlight the importance of resilience, flexibility and proactivity to surmount unexpected situations during a research journey.