Heavy Teaching Loads Research Articles

‘If You Do Not Write, You Dry Up’: Tensions in Teacher Educator Research and Academic Writing

Teacher educators struggle to balance heavy teaching loads, research, writing, and institutional service. This qualitative study uses institutional ethnography to question how college leadership understand the significance of academic scholarship in the professional lives of college-based teacher educators in Israel. Data from interviews with eight college position holders shed light on the working lives of college-based teacher educators and how they are positioned as researcher-writers in an institution where scholarship expectations are blurry. Findings reveal three themes: the importance of academic activity for institutional prosperity, the difficulties in academic scholarship experienced by teacher educators, and the support the institution provides to encourage and maintain academic activity. The discussion contemplates the tensions between institutional and individual teacher educator advancement. The complexity of the institutional structure deserves attention to achieve institutional aims and attend to individual faculty’s professional needs and desires. The implications of this study are significant for leadership in teacher education and higher education around the world, prompting leaders to rethink ways of supporting faculty involved in research and writing alongside teaching and additional roles. Balancing conflicting roles, providing clear expectations, and maintaining an ongoing dialogue between teacher educators and leadership regarding professional development needs can lead to institutional prosperity alongside individual professional advancement.

Ma’had Aly Lecturers’ Research and Publication Activities: Challenges and Prospects

PurposeIn Islamic higher education, Ma'had Aly lecturers rarely performed research and publication activities. The study aimed to explore Ma’had Aly lecturers’ in conducting research and publishing scholarly works activities.MethodThis qualitative study used a case study design whose data collection techniques utilized in-depth interviews and a review of relevant articles. The informants comprised four Ma'had Aly lecturers taken purposively.Results/findingsThe findings revealed problems that caused lecturer Ma'had Aly to rarely carry out research and publication activities. In terms of personnel problems, apart from the fact that Ma'had Aly lecturers had not only adequate knowledge regarding research and publications, but they were also burdened with a heavy teaching load and other non-academic activities. Meanwhile, in terms of institutional problems, Ma'had Aly could not create a conducive atmosphere for lecturers to perform research and publication activities.Conclusion Research and publication are important for Ma'had Aly lecturers for their professional development. Therefore, both Ma'had Aly management and the Ministry of Religion should make various efforts to accelerate the research and publication competency improvement of Ma'had Aly lecturers.

EFL Learners’ Participation in Primary Schools of Coastal Areas in Bangladesh

Despite numerous initiatives by both governmental and non-governmental organizations, primary level students’ skills in English language are still below the expected level in Bangladesh (Hamid & Honan, 2012; Sultana, 2010). Our study examined reasons behind the limited participation of EFL (English as a Foreign Language) learners in primary level classrooms in the coastal areas of Bangladesh. To conduct the research, we followed an explanatory sequential mixed methods design (Creswell, 2014; Creswell & Creswell, 2018; Ivankova & Stick, 2007). We collected data from 37 male and 23 female students in grades four and five through questionnaire surveys and three focus group discussions (FGDs). We also collected data from five teachers through interviews and three class observations. We found that teachers had less motivation to create an interactive learning environment for the students due to heavy teaching loads and administrative assignments. Many of the students had low academic expectations and motivation, lived in poor socio-economic conditions that required them to work, and were impacted by frequent natural disasters that interrupted their regular classes. The results of our research provide insights for educationists and policymakers related to primary education in disaster-prone coastal areas as well as other rural parts of the country.

Challenges facing Arab researchers in conducting and publishing scientific research: a qualitative interview study

Arab researchers encounter formidable obstacles when conducting and publishing their scientific work. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 17 Arab researchers from various Arab Middle East countries to gain a comprehensive understanding of the difficulties they face in research and publication. We analyzed the transcripts using reflexive thematic analysis. Our findings revealed several key challenges. First, Arab researchers struggle to conduct high-quality research due to limited resources, inadequate funding, and a lack of a supportive research infrastructure. Furthermore, a shortage of teamwork and mentoring diminishes research productivity. Perverse promotion policies, heavy teaching loads, and low salaries force many researchers to seek external income sources, leaving them with insufficient time for research. Regarding publishing in high-impact journals, Arab researchers confront challenges existing of insufficient scientific writing skills, underrepresentation on editorial boards, and unconscious biases against researchers from economically challenged areas. Finally, achieving research integrity is closely tied to lack of access to essential resources. To address these issues, our participants proposed targeted interventions at the institutional and external levels. For example, universities can implement mentoring programs, offer workshops on scientific writing and publishing, and foster a supportive institutional culture for research. Addressing the underrepresentation of Arabic researchers on editorial boards is crucial for equity in global scientific publishing. In conclusion, acknowledging and addressing these challenges will empower Arab researchers, elevate research quality, and promote equitable global scientific collaboration. Our findings provide guidance for universities, governments, and international donors seeking to enhance research and publication practices in the Arab Middle East.

The Impact of Work Family Conflict on Female Teacher’s Intention to Leave the Job a Survey of Female Teaching Staff in Public Sector Colleges

As we all know that education is a serious issue in the development of any country. The purpose of this study is to find the impact of work-family conflict on female teacher’s intention to leave the job in the education sector and estimate that how difficulties influence the personal and professional life of female teachers. The study focused on 3 dimensions of work-family conflict such as: heavy teaching load, work timing and mental health issues which influence female teachers to leave the job. A Sample of 198 respondents was taken under this study, while the data is collected through the questionnaire tool. Data is examined with the help of SPSS software and Microsoft excel. The finding discloses that mental health issues influence female teachers to leave the job and cause negative impact on their personal and professional life and also affected their performance were as work timing and heavy teaching load results show neutral behavior of female towards the statement.

Examining Formative Assessment Practices in Mathematics in Primary Schools: China and Tanzania Comparative review

Evaluation plays an enormous role in the teaching and learning process. Being aware of this, both China and Tanzania use formative assessment to meet the ‎requirements of competence-based curricula especially in mathematics at primary school level. ‎Therefore, the purpose of this study was to look into the formative assessment practices, nature, ‎challenges in mathematics used by Chinese and Tanzanian primary schools. This report used ‎documentary analysis to consult articles, dissertations, and books found in different electronic ‎journals such as ERIC and Science Direct and deem them to have suitable information for the ‎study. The report found that evaluation methods such as test, assignments, homework, and ‎projects are common in both countries. Moreover, some dissimilar is some form of assessment ‎including terminal test and monthly test which are common in Tanzania. Furthermore, bustling ‎classes, heavy teaching loads, and a lack of clarity on the formative assessment implementation ‎strategies have similarly contributed to the ineffective formative assessment in both countries. ‎Further, the researcher recommends the recruitment of mathematics teachers and the provision of ‎in-service and pre-service training to the teachers to reduce ineffectiveness in the implementation ‎of formative assessment in Chinese and Tanzanian primary schools.‎

Constraints on Research in Biological and Agricultural Science in Developing Countries: The Example of Latin America

Science is an international effort, receiving contributions from researchers across the globe. The capacity of a country or a region to generate and publish quality research varies greatly according to the location examined. Among the factors that dictate the quantity and quality of scientific research are the availability of infrastructure and human resources, the traditions related to research endeavors, and, most significantly, local governmental support for research. There are several conditions that both individually and cooperatively limit research activities in Latin America, such as insufficient governmental support, a paucity of material and technical resources, heavy teaching loads, the absence of peer networks, and multiple constraints on publication. This commentary has been developed to discuss each of the issues that permit and, more frequently, limit biological and agricultural research endeavors in Latin America.

Lecturers’ Perceptions of Action Research and Current Challenges

Understanding the research concept, its obstacles, and motivation is necessary to provide better academic services and opportunities for teachers less active in conducting research. To this end, 40 lecturers from an English Language Center with various qualifications and adequate teaching experiences in the Omani EFL context were selected as the population of this study. A questionnaire initially designed by Borg (2009) to measure/gauge? lecturers' views on research was used to collect the data. The findings revealed that the lecturers showed lower levels of research engagement due to problems such as a lack of methodological knowledge, heavy teaching loads, and unclear job specifications. In addition, objectivity was considered an essential criterion while conducting research, and published materials on the Internet were stated to be the primary source of reading about language-related resources. They also believed that conducting research would only moderately affect their teaching techniques. The findings of this study should help reduce the concerns and obstacles among lecturers and engage them more in the research area by focusing on the problems and facilitating the use of accessible resources to encourage them to conduct more research studies. Policymakers, managers, institutions, and teachers play essential roles in the new way of developing curricula, which considers teachers as researchers.

Minority Serving Institutions and African American-Owned Technology Firms Barriers in Assistive Technology Research and Development

<h3>Research Objectives</h3> The Objective was implemented at the exploratory and discovery stage of research to identify and describe Delphi panelists' perspectives on AT-R&D participation barriers. <h3>Design</h3> A Delphi Technique, mixed-methods approach, was used to examine panelists' perceptions on the importance of contextual AT-R&D barriers resulting from policy and systems issues across different categories. <h3>Setting</h3> Delphi technique group survey activities were conducted through PsychData online survey platform. <h3>Participants</h3> The sample consisted of n=25, HBCU and Small African American-owned technology firms personnel with a wide range of knowledge on AT development. <h3>Interventions</h3> N/A. <h3>Main Outcome Measures</h3> Nvivo analyzed the qualitative data collected in Round 1 and generated themes. SPSS version 28 was used to calculate quantitative data to describe the priority of importance rankings and ratings in Round 2 (e.g., M; SD; ∑Rank Point). <h3>Results</h3> Findings indicated the four most important barriers among HBCU stem faculty were: heavy teaching loads, research infrastructures, student advisement commitments, and grant review processes. Small African American-owned technology firms reported the following barriers: knowledge and development of entrepreneur skills, investment, access to sufficient capital loans, facilities, research collaborations between HBCUs and Techpreneurs, and labor markets/supply demands. <h3>Conclusions</h3> These findings provide information about what Federal research entity leaders and HBCU administrators can do to stimulate competitive disability and rehabilitation AT-R&D participation across the HBCU Community and African American-owned technology firms. Recommendations that can be considered for external and internal policy and systems modifications to address the current under-funding and under-participation of HBCUs as "grantees" across the Federal disability and rehabilitation AT- R&D enterprise's. <h3>Author(s) Disclosures</h3> Acknowledgment: The contents of this article were developed under grants from the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR grant numbers 90AR5029, and 90RTST0001). NIDILRR is a Center within the Administration for Community Living (ACL), Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The contents of this article do not necessarily represent the policy of NIDILRR, ACL, HHS, and one should not assume endorsement by the federal government.

Lack of High-Quality, Frequent Feedback Contributes to Low Success Rates for Community College Students

Most students who enter a community college never finish. In fact, “fewer than four of every ten complete any type of degree or certificate within six years” (Bailey et al., 2015). One reason for low success rates is the lack of high-quality, frequent feedback provided to students. Feedback has been shown to improve student learning and success. The purpose of this systematic literature review was to understand the root causes for the lack of productive, consistent feedback. To this end, traditional peer-reviewed research, public scholarship sources, and faculty perspectives were included in this literature review. One cause identified was the lack of comprehensive faculty training in pedagogy in general and in how to provide high-quality feedback specifically. Another reason was lack of time. Faculty who teach in community colleges typically have heavy teaching loads, along with service and other responsibilities that make it difficult to provide regular, high-quality feedback to students. Finally, many students have a negative perception of feedback and therefore, often ignore it. When students do not use feedback, faculty can determine that providing feedback is not a good use of their time. There is ample evidence in the literature that supporting faculty to provide high-quality feedback is effective for promoting students’ academic success.

The influence of personal and work-related factors on teachers' commitment during educational change: A study on UAE public schools

Despite the significant role that committed teachers play in the lives of their students and for implementing educational reforms and changes, the topic of teachers' commitment has not received due attention in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Therefore, this study attempted to investigate teachers' commitment at one large school district in the UAE where the system has been undergoing substantial change for the last two decades. Specifically, this paper explored personal and school-related variables that could have impacted teachers' commitment. In this study, teachers' commitment is explored through two main dimensions: organizational commitment, which included affective, normative, and continuance commitment, and commitment to teaching, which included commitment to the profession, students, and the subject. The study utilized a quantitative research methodology where commitment was assessed through a survey completed by 737 teachers from 40 schools in Al Ain School District. The results revealed that teachers' commitment to teaching scored higher than their organizational commitment. The study also found that commitment increased with age, length of service, and staying at the same school, and it dampened when teachers had heavy teaching loads, taught multiple subjects, and were given exhausting non-teaching duties. The study concluded with specific recommendations that could help school principals and educational policymakers increase teachers' commitment.

The Practice of Active Learning Techniques in Governmental Secondary Schools: A Case Study of Debre Berhan Town in North shewa Zone, Amhara Regional state, Ethiopia Paragraph

The goal of this research was to demonstrate how active learning strategies are used in the teaching-learning process and to highlight the primary issues influencing the use of active learning approaches in public secondary schools. There have been several impediment challenges Having an overall impact, the use of active learning strategies such as , a shortage of materials and a budget constraint, heavy teaching loads, plasma and laboratory were not well functional, the curriculum, bulkiness of the content of text books, and for some subject it is time consuming. The data was collected using pre-tested written self-administered questionnaires, Structural interviews and observation. Questionnaire was administered to 910 secondary school students and 25 teachers. The Directors, Vice Directors and some randomly selected Teachers were interviewed using structural interview. The teachers and the students were observed by using checklist in different class lessons and the class lesson selected by random sampling method. The Quantitative and qualitative data were collected, processed, analyzed, and interpreted. Finally, the results revealed that both teachers and students rarely practiced active learning methods in their classroom . Keywords: Active learning, Active learning methods, Challenges of Active learning method, Practice of active learning DOI: 10.7176/JEP/13-25-03 Publication date: September 30 th 2022

Interprofessional education—situations of a university in Hong Kong and major hurdles to teachers and students

Studies have provided evidence that Interprofessional Education (IPE) can improve learners’ attitudes, knowledge, skills, behaviors, and competency. Traditionally, IPE is commonly seen in the healthcare professional training in tertiary education. Aging is a global issue that requires more than just a single healthcare sector. It requires interdisciplinary collaboration and understanding to tackle the issues. Therefore, IPE is essential for nurturing university students to tackle the ever-changing global challenges. In addition, different hurdles can hinder IPE development. To have a better understanding of the feasibility, acceptance, and educational value of IPE in Hong Kong, we conducted a cross-sectional quantitative study. We invited teachers and students from a Hong Kong university to fill in an online survey that evaluated their understanding and participation in IPE, their attitude toward IPE, and the barriers to developing IPE from March to June 2020. Among the 37 academic staff and 572 students who completed the survey, 20 (54.1%) teachers and 422 (73.8%) students had never heard of IPE before, and 26 (70.3%) teachers and 510 (89.2%) students had never participated in any IPE activities. Major barriers reported by teachers included an increase in teaching load (72.9%), lack of administrative support (72.9%), lack of financial support and limited budget (67.5%), difficulty to make logistic arrangements (64.8%), and problems with academic schedules and calendars (62.1%). The survey findings revealed that despite the positive attitude of university teachers and students toward IPE, barriers that could hinder the development of IPE included heavy teaching and administrative load and logistic arrangement for classroom arrangement and academic scheduling involving multiple faculties.

Prevalence of Depression and Associated Factors among Secondary School Teachers in Medina Region, Saudi Arabia

Background: Depression is one of the most common psychiatric conditions seen in primary health care clinics. On the other hand, teaching is one of the most stressful jobs. Objective: The aim was to estimate the prevalence and risk factors of depression among secondary school teachers in the Medina region. Subjects and Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted on a representative sample of secondary school teachers of both genders in the Medina region. A multistage cluster sample technique was implemented to recruit the participants. The data were collected using a self-administered Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) depression questionnaire. Results: The study included 297 teachers. More than half of them (54.2%) were males and the vast majority (97.6%) were Saudis. Major depression, based on PHQ-9 depression questionnaire was reported among 8.4% of the participants, whereas minor depression was reported among 14.1% of them. Among the studied habitual factors, the smoking of Shisha and nonpracticing of physical exercise were significantly associated with depression among teachers. Regarding obstetric and gynecological factors, female teachers with a history of postnatal depression were more likely to have major and minor depression features than those without such history. Conclusion: Depression is a common health problem among secondary school teachers in Medina region affecting almost one quarter of them. Familial instability, shisha smoking, physical inactivity, heavy teaching load, and deficiency of educational competencies are strongly correlated with depression. Further studies are needed to explore the extent of the problem among teachers at different levels of teaching across the kingdom.

Exploring How COVID-19 Shapes the Professional Identities of South African Student Teachers

This article contributes to the literature on teacher identities by exploring how the pandemic affected the professional identities of final year student teachers at a South African university. The researchers collected journals and interviews from seven participants, and analysed the data through thematic analysis. The findings show that the participants’ professional identities were enhanced or negatively affected by teaching in a pandemic. The participants whose professional identities were strengthened became more caring and hard working to support learners who had missed several months of school. Other participants, whose professional identities had been negatively affected by the lack of teaching practice, felt less confident and prepared to become teachers. While all the participants struggled with a heavy teaching load, one participant felt that the sheer amount of work prevented him from becoming a “relational” teacher. Schools and universities might strengthen pre-service teachers’ professional identities development by discussing what support student teachers require to enact their preferred professional identities during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The impact of online assessment challenges on assessment principles during COVID-19 in Oman

With the emergence of COVID-19, many educational pillars have been altered from conventional ways to online solutions. The educational assessment has been administered in online environments despite all encountered challenges. This descriptive study aimed to uncover the online assessment challenges that were confronted. Furthermore, it intended to display the impact of these challenges on the assessment principles. A mixed-method approach was adopted for data collection. A survey was used to collect quantitative data from 60 academic staff at Sultan Qaboos University in Oman, and semi-structured interviews were conducted with four of them. The study found some challenges when applying online assessment such as learners’ refusal to turn on cameras, heavy teaching loads, cheating, the long time required for developing online assessment instruments, impersonation/dishonesty, assessing practical experiences, plagiarism, grades’ inflation, assessing group’s work, academic integrity and a large number of students per section. The study concluded that these challenges respectively threatened assessment principles of validity, efficiency, fairness, reliability and variability.

Faculty Attitudes and Interest in Conducting Research at a Teaching Institution—A View from an Evangelical Christian University

Since the 1990s, there has been an increased expectation at “teaching institutions” that faculty engage in academic scholarship and empirical research activities. The present study explored faculty perceptions of undergraduate students as research partners and the factors that motivate faculty-driven scholarship at a Christian university that, until the mid-2000s, has been predominantly an undergraduate-serving college. In particular, the current research focused on the experiences of early, mid- and later-career faculty who have been charged with facilitating both undergraduate and, to a lesser extent, graduate students’ learning and emersion in the research enterprise. The study addressed 1) what factors influence faculty to include students in their work actively; 2) how faculty, with heavy teaching loads, organize their professional and scholarly lives incorporating research generally and student collaborations specifically, and 3) from the perspective of participating faculty, how campus factors both fiscal and institutional may hamper or support faculty efforts. Faculty in the allied health sciences endorsed more favorable attitudes than those in the natural sciences in humanities/liberal arts disciplines. Intrinsic factors such as peer recognition differed by both gender and academic discipline. Additional gender and discipline-associated differences were also detected in consideration of extrinsic factors. Differences in research and teaching orientation factors were observed, as were different experiences with funding success. Collectively, the faculty did not receive any discussions of research expectations during interviews. Last, a hierarchical regression model accounted for 62.3% of the variance in the faculty research motivation measure. The results are discussed in terms of the challenges associated with conducting research at universities with heavy teaching loads generally and, specifically, the issues that confront faculty employed at Christian institutions with research funding restrictions.

Academic research in Cambodia: Progress, challenges, and ways forward

Research plays a critical role in advancing knowledge, stimulating innovation, and driving socioeconomic development. In the context of a knowledge-based economy, the role of research in supporting knowledge production, dissemination, and utilization is indispensable. Drawing on secondary sources, this article examines the development of academic research in Cambodia. It focuses on three aspects: recent progress, challenges, and ways forward. The article first shows that there is hope for the development of a research culture in Cambodia. However, there remain many challenges, including limited state and institutional funding for research, low academic salaries, heavy teaching loads, limited research knowledge, unclear research policies, inadequate research infrastructure, and lack of well-defined academic career pathways. The article then discusses ways forward that focus on the role of key stakeholders, including the Cambodian government, the private sector, higher education institutions, and academic staff, in supporting research development. It is argued that active stakeholder involvement and collaboration are key to promoting academic research in Cambodia.

The Italian American Studies Association at Fifty-Five: 1966–2021

The Italian American Studies Association at Fifty-Five: 1966–2021

Coping strategies of Vietnamese overseas-trained returnees to do research in home university contexts

PurposeThis study focuses on Vietnamese international students who returned from their overseas doctoral education to home universities in Vietnam (henceforth Vietnamese overseas-trained returnees). The purpose is to explore the experience of these returnees “doing research” (i.e. being research active) when resuming a lecturing role at a Vietnamese regional university. In the context of research now receiving heightened attention in both the wider global higher education (HE) discourse and the Vietnamese HE sector, this study is timely and provides valuable insights.Design/methodology/approachIn total, 76 Vietnamese overseas-trained returnees from varied disciplinary backgrounds completed a questionnaire on their research motivation and their perceived constraints doing research. Eighteen subsequently took part in semi-structured interviews. The study draws on the notion of human agency from the sociocultural perspective to understand the coping strategies of the Vietnamese overseas-educated returnees in response to the challenges they encountered.FindingsThe results show that the returnees' motivations to conduct research varied, fuelled by passion, but constrained by multiple factors. Time constraints, heavy teaching loads, familial roles and lack of specialized equipment are key inhibiting factors in re-engaging in research for these returnees. Addressing them necessitated a great deal of readaptation, renegotiation and agentive resilience on the part of the returnees in employing different coping strategies to pursue research.Practical implicationsThe paper argues for a subtle understanding of the returnees' experience of re-engaging in research that is both complex and contextual. Implications are drawn for research development in the regional Vietnamese HE context and perhaps in other similar settings.Originality/valueThere is little empirical knowledge about how Vietnamese returned graduates – university lecturers – continue doing research after their return. Also underexplored in global discourse is research on foreign-educated returnees doing research, while they are an important source of human resources. The present study, therefore, fills these research gaps.