In-service Secondary School Teachers Research Articles

Editor’s note: Unveiling the Pedagogical Advantages of Linguistic Landscapes: Insights from Secondary School Students, Teachers, and Field Experts

This monograph extends an invitation for the continued exploration of Linguistic Landscape (LL) as a valuable instrument in secondary and higher education classrooms. The research presented here underscores the benefits of LL in both foreign language and global citizen education (GCE) settings. This volume comprises a collection of five articles that delve into the utilization of LL as an educational tool, along with an interview featuring four LL experts. The articles within this collection offer diverse perspectives stemming from various educational contexts, including secondary school students, in-service secondary school teachers, and university lecturers.

Determining Conceptions of Assessment among In-Service Secondary School Teachers

Determining Conceptions of Assessment among In-Service Secondary School Teachers

Determining the role of digital literacy in EFL teaching concerning the views of Turkish EFL Teachers

The use of digital technologies in English as a foreign language (EFL) teaching has not been addressed enough. Furthermore, the COVID-19 pandemic has emphasized the significance of digital technology and digital literacy in EFL field. This study aims at finding out EFL in-service secondary school (SS) and high school (HS) teachers’ views on the role of digital literacy in their EFL teaching; revealing the level of EFL teachers’ digital literacy and its effects on their teaching, and understanding the facilities of the digital tools and challenges in EFL teachers’ instructions. Further, this study aims to examine the difference between the thoughts of SS teachers and HS teachers about the role of digital literacy in EFL. To achieve these aims, this study utilized a qualitative paradigm to determine the role of digital literacy in EFL classes concerning the views of Turkish EFL teachers, and their perceptions about digital teaching and learning tools in their instruction. First it was found that HS teachers knew the term digital literacy more than the SS teachers. Both SS and HS teachers were confident using digital tools and being digitally literate although some of them could not define the term properly. Secondly digital literacy was claimed to have positive effects on language teaching. Thirdly, all the participants agreed with the fact that the innovations of the digital technologies facilitated their language instruction. Lastly, digital tools had many challenges due to some problems besides their advanteages. All in all, when taken together, the results of this study confirmed the vital role of digital literacy in EFL teaching in the digital age that teachers should acquire and use it actively. Therefore, EFL teachers should incorporate digital literacy in using different digital technologies such as Web 2 tools having several facilities into their instructions. The EFL teachers also admitted the need for trainings and seminars to help them using those tools and become digital natives.

Secondary school teachers’ perceptions of BYOD among learners within the classroom

The use of personally owned devices among learners has remained a contentious issue in schools across the globe. While several studies have been devoted to explaining the importance of such initiatives, the debate has continued to rage on, with most school authorities imposing a blanket ban on the use of these devices within their premises. In this study, we seek to contribute by examining in-service teachers’ perceptions of the use of personally owned devices in schools within the global south context. The qualitative study explores teachers’ understanding of the usefulness of technology and associated devices such as smartphones in the classroom. The Unified Theory of Use and Acceptance of Technology (UTUAT) was used to draw up a conceptual framework. Purposive sampling was employed to select in-service secondary school teachers who had at some time previously enrolled in an introduction to information technology course at a tertiary institution. Constant comparison analysis and thematic analysis were used to analyse the data from the focus groups. Thirteen thematic areas were drawn from the study and these were framed to support the conceptual framework.

Effect of SESEMAT Program on Professional Competency of Mathematics and Science Teachers: A Case of In-Service Secondary School Teachers in Busoga Region, Uganda

Effect of SESEMAT Program on Professional Competency of Mathematics and Science Teachers: A Case of In-Service Secondary School Teachers in Busoga Region, Uganda

Strategizing Learner Support to Scaffold Learning and Internal Efficiency in Distance Training Program for In-Service Secondary School Teachers in Rwanda

While distance training program (DTP) was adopted to increase the rate of qualified in-service teachers in Rwandan secondary schools and upgrade their pedagogical skills, ensuring adequate learner support under this program has remained cumbersome. This paper was an attempt to explore the provision of learner support in DTP and examine how learner support can be strategized to scaffold learning and internal efficiency. The study was conducted in the academic year 2015/2016 and adopted the explanatory sequential mixed-method research design. From a target population of 1,346, stratified random and purposive sampling techniques enabled to arrive a sample 315 respondents. The findings revealed that DTP students lack adequate exposure to learning resources. The schedule of DTP activities is volatile; the staff required to assist students are either insufficient or not recruited in good time. Also, the management of DTP is obstructed by the lack of fully-owned study centers. Hence, in view of the fact that learner support is a contributing factor towards effective learning and holds a statistically positive relationship with internal efficiency, the present study suggests that the highlighted weaknesses in DTP learner support be urgently fixed. In this vein, the management of DTP is recommended to revamp its learner support system by increasing students’ access to enough and varied learning resources, hiring and training personnel in charge of students’ support, and establishing fully owned and equipped study centers across the country.

The Impact of CLIL Teacher Education on the Beliefs of In-service CLIL Teachers

This qualitative study investigates the impact of a CLIL teacher education programme on the beliefs that six in-service CLIL secondary school teachers of content subjects had about CLIL as a methodology for teaching and about using a FL as the means of instruction. The importance of CLIL teacher education provision is now uncontested, however, little research exists on the impact that those CLIL teacher education programmes may have on teachers’ beliefs. Data was collected by means of questionnaires and semi-structured interviews before and after the CLIL teacher education programme was delivered to teachers. Results showed that the programme had significant impact on the teachers’ beliefs. The programme enabled teachers to learn about, understand and become aware of what CLIL methodology is and implies both as regards the methodology itself and as regards language. Teachers gave voice to their beliefs and were able to reflect on their own previous (wrong) CLIL teaching practices, which had been informed by those beliefs. After the programme, the teachers had become empowered and confident professionals who were willing to implement real CLIL in a conscious way. This evidence of impact has important implications for CLIL teacher education provision and for effective CLIL implementation in classrooms.

Do Teachers Find Dashboards Trustworthy, Actionable and Useful? A Vignette Study Using a Logs and Audio Dashboard

Monitoring and guiding multiple groups of students in face-to-face collaborative work is a demanding task which could possibly be alleviated with the use of a technological assistant in the form of learning analytics. However, it is still unclear whether teachers would indeed trust, understand, and use such analytics in their classroom practice and how they would interact with such an assistant. The present research aimed to find out what the perception of in-service secondary school teachers is when provided with a dashboard based on audio and digital trace data when monitoring a collaborative learning activity. In a vignette study, we presented twenty-one in-service teachers with videos from an authentic collaborative activity, together with visualizations of simple collaboration analytics of those activities. The teachers perceived the dashboards as providers of useful information for their everyday work. In addition to assisting in monitoring collaboration, the involved teachers imagined using it for picking out students in need, getting information about the individual contribution of each collaborator, or even as a basis for assessment. Our results highlight the need for guiding dashboards as only providing new information to teachers did not compel them to intervene and additionally, a guiding dashboard could possibly help less experienced teachers with data-informed assessment.

Broadening Astronomy Education through Professional Development

Abstract We report on the processes and findings related to the iterative design of the San Antonio Teacher Training Astronomy Academy (SATTAA). In particular, we show how the initial iteration in 2018, limited to only future (or preservice) secondary school STEM teachers, broadened to include current (or in-service) secondary school teachers in 2019, and then added primary school pre- and in-service teachers in 2020. The participants of all three years are now part of a community of practice that continues to engage in astronomy education in varied ways.

Competency-Based Education in Africa: Exploring Teachers’ Perceptions, Understanding, and Practices

This study explored teachers’ knowledge and integration of competency-based practices in schools. One hundred and fifty in-service secondary school teachers were sampled across three African countries using a survey research design. A combination of both closed and open-ended questions was used to elicit responses from respondents via an online system. Responses from the open-ended questions were analysed using thematic analysis, and data received from the structured questions were analysed using percentage distribution. The theoretical lens through which this study was viewed was the Human capital theory and social constructivism theory. Findings revealed that teachers across the three countries have a positive perception of the usage of competency-based approaches but lack professional training and support, which in turn affects the quality of their teaching and assessment practices in classrooms. The implications and recommendations from this study offer teachers as well as education stakeholders in Africa valuable consideration to move beyond the traditional level of assessment and integrate good proxies of academic skills that support learners’ acquisition of 21stcentury skills such as problem-solving, creativity and critical thinking in assessing learners’ competencies.

Unpacking teacher challenges in understanding and implementing cognitively demanding tasks in secondary school mathematics classrooms

ABSTRACT Literature suggests that students need to be exposed to cognitively demanding tasks (CDT). In this qualitative study, we examined in-service secondary school teachers’ challenges in understanding (e.g. recognizing, solving, and designing) and implementing cognitively demanding tasks in mathematics classrooms. Purposive sampling consisted of eleven teachers who completed the cognitive demand survey. Qualitative data sources included semi-structured interviews and classroom observations. Data analysis consisted of open and focused coding based on which the following main challenges were reported: challenges related to students’ knowledge, challenges related to English language learners (ELL), challenges related to teachers’ knowledge, and challenges related to curriculum. The study results suggest that teachers may need a support system built to address the challenges and to assist in implementing CDT in their classrooms.

현대영어교육에 게재된 영어교사교육 관련 연구 분석

This paper analyzed 28 articles on English teacher education out of 413 articles published in Modern English Education over the past 10 years since it was first indexed in the Korea Citation Index, to investigate the trend and characteristics of research on English teacher education in the journal. The articles were categorized and analyzed according to subject (teacher status and school level), research methodology, and research theme. The findings are as follows: Pre-service elementary school teachers were less studied than in-service elementary school teachers, pre-service and in-service secondary school teachers; quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methodologies were employed in similar proportions across the studies; among eight research themes including teacher competence, teacher identity, and teacher training program, teacher cognition was the most studied. These findings show that the journal reflects changes in the field of second language teacher education (SLTE) and the key issues in research on SLTE.

The Capabilities of Secondary School Teachers to Provide Financial Education

This study examines the capabilities of in-service secondary school teachers to provide financial education. Data was gathered from online surveys which were spread among 300 teachers in the Flemish region of Belgium. We distinguish between perceived and actual capabilities. Our results reveal that only one third of teachers considers themselves sufficiently competent to provide financial education. Actual capabilities are assessed using a broad measure of financial literacy which takes into account teachers’ financial knowledge, financial behaviour and financial attitudes. Our results indicate that only approximately half of teachers score sufficiently on financial knowledge and only a third attains the preferred minimum score for financial attitudes. In addition, our heterogeneity analysis shows differences in scores related to teacher characteristics such as gender, teaching discipline, and teaching experience. The large share of teachers not reaching the threshold indicating adequate capabilities for providing financial education raises concern, as teacher quality is an important factor contributing to the effectiveness of financial education. Teacher professional development can play a crucial role here.

The capabilities of secondary school teachers to provide financial education

This study examines the capabilities of in-service secondary school teachers to provide financial education. Data were gathered from online surveys, which were spread among 300 teachers in the Flemish region of Belgium. We distinguish between perceived and actual capabilities. Our results reveal that only one third of teachers consider themselves sufficiently competent to provide financial education. Actual capabilities are assessed using a broad measure of financial literacy, which takes into account teachers’ financial knowledge, financial behaviour and financial attitudes. Our results indicate that only approximately half of teachers score sufficiently on financial knowledge and only a third attains the preferred minimum score for financial attitudes. In addition, our heterogeneity analysis shows differences in scores related to teacher characteristics such as gender, teaching discipline and teaching experience. The large share of teachers not reaching the threshold indicating adequate capabilities for providing financial education raises concern, as teacher quality is an important factor contributing to the effectiveness of financial education. Teacher professional development can play a crucial role here.

In-Service Teachers' Perceptions and Interpretations of Students' Errors in Mathematics

This paper reports on findings of a research study that investigated in-service secondary school teachers' perceptions and interpretations of students' errors in mathematics. The study used a survey research design in which a questionnaire with two sections was used to collect data. The first section sought to find out the teachers' perceptions of the nature of errors. In the second part the teachers were asked to explain five common errors in algebra. A sample of forty-two mathematics teachers randomly drawn from one university in Zimbabwe constituted the respondents for the study. The findings showed that teachers perceived errors as not solely due to the student, but also as due to other factors arising from teaching and the nature of the subject. The teachers also regarded errors as useful for further inquiry in mathematics, as a normal part of learning, and as a result of previous knowledge not well understood by learners. In their explanations of given errors in algebra the teachers gave mainly procedural explanations, some of which lacked clarity or were incorrect. The study recommends the need for pre-service and in-service teacher professional development programmes to incorporate error analyses so as to develop teachers' understanding of the nature and role of errors in the teaching and learning of mathematics.

An Analysis of Pre-service and In-service Secondary-school Teachers’ Understanding of Good Teaching: Focusing on the Characteristics of Good Teaching, Disturbing Factor and Support Plan

An Analysis of Pre-service and In-service Secondary-school Teachers’ Understanding of Good Teaching: Focusing on the Characteristics of Good Teaching, Disturbing Factor and Support Plan

A study of friending willingness on SNSs: Secondary school teachers' perspectives

This study examines the self-reported decision making behaviors of 435 Taiwanese in-service secondary school teachers' regarding their willingness to accept friend requests on social network sites (SNSs) from different requesters (e.g., students with acquaintanceships of various durations, unknown/in-class/homeroom students and teaching colleagues with or without administrative roles). The study found that teachers made different friending decisions based on gender and on the identity of the requester but found no difference in teachers' basic roles. That is, male teachers reported greater willingness to friend unknown students, in-class students and administrative colleagues than did female teachers. Overall, non-administrative colleagues were the most acceptable, whereas unknown students were the most unfavorable requesters.The study also revealed that teachers' friending willingness varies with the joint effects of privacy concerns and relational (social intimacy, ethical concerns) and behavioral (Facebook use and protective behaviors) factors. A privacy paradox exists in teachers' willingness to friend homeroom students and non-administrative colleagues. Teachers have privacy concerns related to all five types of requesters, but they report fewer privacy concerns and more ethical concerns and social intimacy when friending in-class and homeroom students. However, these teachers employ privacy protection practices only when friending unknown and in-class students and administrative colleagues. When friending colleagues, intensive Facebook use was found to be the strongest predictor of teachers' friending willingness. The implications of these findings and suggestions for future research are discussed.

Problem Solving: How do In-Service Secondary School Teachers of Mathematics Make Sense of a Non-Routine Problem Context?

The concept of mathematical problem solving is an important mathematical process in mathematics curricula of education systems worldwide. These math curricula demand that learners are exposed to authentic problems that foster successful problem solving. To attain this very important goal, there must be mathematics teachers well versed in content and the pedagogy of problem solving. This study investigated problem solving process of in-service secondary school teachers in a non-routine problem context. Teachers‟ written responses were examined based on Polya‟s problem solving theory to elucidate their disposition in relation to the problem context. Findings suggest that the in-service teachers exhibit (1) greater lack of understanding of the non-routine problem, (2) insufficient capacity to select appropriate heuristic strategies, and (3) total failure to reach the final “look back” stage. This study recommends in-depth examination of the role of keywords, prior knowledge and experience in mathematical problems, and the importance of written testimonies in metacognition.

Pre-service and In-service Secondary School Teachers’ Knowledge about Attention-deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and Attitudes toward Students with ADHD

This article reports on a mixed-method inquiry into pre-service and in-service secondary school teachers’ knowledge about Attention-deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and attitudes toward students with this disorder in Hong Kong. The inquiry revealed no differences between pre-service and in-service secondary school teachers concerning their knowledge of ADHD and attitudes toward students with ADHD. It also identified possible sources of participants’ knowledge and a variety of factors underlying their attitudes toward students with ADHD including sociocultural beliefs and working conditions. The findings call for teacher educators to develop better education programmes to support both pre-service and in-service teachers in undertaking the challenging task of teaching students with ADHD.

La percepción del profesorado de Educación Secundaria de la Comunidad Valenciana acerca de sus Conocimientos profesionales

Teaching competence is a factor that affects the quality of education. The aim of the paper is to analyze the self-perception of in-service secondary school teachers in relation to their professional knowledge. To achieve it, a scale-questionnaire was developed according to the Theory of Reasoned Action AjzenF this questionnaire was applied to a representative and stratified sample of the Valencian Comunity; and data were analyzed with various statistical methods. The results shown a teachers’ high self-perception of professional knowledge, and signifi cant differences for gender, age, experience, or type of institution were found. These results were compared with other researches.