Inexperienced Teachers Research Articles

Biased career choices? It depends what you believe: Trainee teachers’ aversions to working in low‐income schools are moderated by beliefs about inequality, meritocracy, and growth mindsets

AbstractSchools serving diverse and low‐income communities tend to have disproportionately high numbers of low‐quality or inexperienced teachers, thereby creating an inequality of access to high‐quality teaching. Across two pre‐registered experiments and one exploratory survey (Ntotal = 956), we investigated the factors associated with trainee teachers’ bias in school choices, and the role of teacher education in mitigating this issue. In Studies 1 and 3, trainee teachers demonstrated a preference for working in a school with average (vs. diverse/low‐income) demographics, even though all other aspects of the school were equal. These disparities were most pronounced when trainees more strongly believed that (a) educational inequality can be attributed to external factors; (b) intelligence is fixed, and (c) schooling is truly meritocratic. Study 2 revealed that levels of equity‐related input during initial teacher education vary hugely, but that, where implemented, it may better prepare trainees for the challenges associated with teaching in diverse and low‐income communities. Finally, Study 3 revealed tentative evidence to suggest that a brief intervention that challenges teachers to think beyond the internal causes of inequality could reduce some of these troubling disparities.

Unveiling Growth: Do Master's Degrees Propel Professional Development for English Teachers at All Experience Levels?

Teachers, as professional educators, are supposed to keep improving their ability in the pedagogical field. The teacher development program is one of the best ways for teachers to maintain and enhance their professionalism. Motivation has become an issue that is considered crucial to teachers' involvement in teacher development programs (TPD). However, investigating novice and experienced EFL teachers' motivation in pursuing their master's degree as a form of development activity is underexplored. This research article aims to investigate novice and experienced English teachers' voices regarding their motivation in pursuing a master's degree at a postgraduate program in one of the state universities in Bandung and the comparison between the teachers in regard to their motivation. This study employed a qualitative research approach guided by a case study design with 2 novice English teachers and 3 experienced English teachers who are currently studying at a postgraduate program as the respondents. The instrument used in this study was an interview with 9 questions adapted from a conceptual framework proposed by Alghamdi (2020). The findings revealed that the EFL teachers have several types of factors in their motivation to pursue their higher education. The factors are primarily grouped into incentive and reward factors, school factors, CPD program factors, and within-teacher factors. In comparison, all respondents have quite similar motivations with no significant difference. However, one difference was found in the reward factor in which the role of the family is more motivating in novice teachers than inexperienced teachers.

Dynamic Teacher’s Technology Adoption During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Understanding the teacher’s technology adoption process is essential to comprehend and narrow the digital divide in the post-epidemic age. During the pandemic, the stay-at-home orders not only intervened schooling and teaching but also increased digital accessibility to teachers. This research studies teacher heterogeneity and adoption controls in the epidemic to simultaneously affect teacher’s underlying intention and adoption behavior based on a dynamic framework under the theory of planned behavior. We present a quantitative framework for modeling the teachers’ adoption behavior of a technology conditioned on intention, defined as latent dynamic processes via a hidden Markov model. This model allows us to examine the effects of three concerned adoption controls: epidemic, community, and experience. We also explicitly characterized teachers’ digital traits as the estimated results accounts for teacher’s heterogeneity. The implicit quality of digital teaching artifacts is examined to correlate the dynamic analyses with the qualitative supports. We collected data from four primary schools in Shanghai over 173 weeks, using an after-school activity management system. The data collection spanned periods both before and after the school closure caused by the epidemic, providing us with a dynamic view of technology adoption patterns under different circumstances. Our results suggest that the interventions derived from the controls of the epidemic did not significantly narrow the digital gap. In particular, well-prepared teachers may be more sensitive to adjusting their usage to meet the evolving standards. The inexperienced teacher struggles to maintain a high level of adoption once the passive external pressure is eliminated. Even the compulsory policy can temporarily change their adoption behavior. These implications highlight the second-order digital divide problem.

TEACHING ENGLISH LANGUAGE CHALLENGES AMONG BEGINNER ENGLISH TEACHERS AT SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN JORDAN

This study investigates the difficulties faced by novice English teachers in Jordanian secondary schools, focusing on the impact of errors made by new teachers on the academic performance of (EFL ) students. The research used interviews and observation to gather data, with purposive sampling strategies employed. The results showed that novice EFL teachers needed to focus more on lesson overviews, presenting topics in a logical order, explaining major and minor points clearly, providing explanations for complex or challenging topics, and providing definitions of terms and concepts. The primary language challenges faced by novice teachers were pronunciation, listening comprehension, and grammar. 40% of teachers did not connect lessons together, and 45% needed to deliver lesson themes in a logical order. Only 30% of inexperienced teachers focused on emphasizing the lesson's essential elements, while 60% needed to. 65% of new teachers needed to clearly articulate important and small ideas, while 30% needed more attention on offering definitions of terms, concepts, and principles. 60% of new teachers needed to provide clear examples to illustrate lessons and put steps into practice while solving homework difficulties. The study suggests that the native tongue of EFL beginning teachers, irregularities in sound, diverse grammar forms, tenses, and vocabulary size account for most of these challenges. Socio-psycho variables, such as attitude, anxiety, and self-confidence, also impact these teachers. To address these challenges, it is crucial to set uniform standards for all schools and conduct further research on the root causes of these challenges.

The outlook of learning through metaverse technology from the perspective of teachers in the science education

As a personal avatar, Metaverse can be very effective in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) classrooms such as science classes that are practical and experimental. In this article, the aim is to report a study related to the perception of teachers and their attitudes towards the use of metaverse tools in teaching elementary science classes in Iranian education system. The study uses qualitative content analysis as well as quantitative analysis represented by descriptive statistics. The former includes of semi-structured interviews with 28 samples from two groups of pre-service teachers (inexperienced) and in-service teachers (experienced), which participants were given the opportunity to express their perceptions of Metaverse tools through interviews. The latter comprises a survey was designed to get their attitudes towards the potential use of Metaverse technology. The results showed that the nature of inexperienced ‘digital native’ is in line with the metaverse world and this group had relatively high confidence in using Metaverse in their teaching. Generating these new ideas requires a degree of experience that pre-service teachers do not have. However, this gap can be bridged through a group of experienced teachers who can use their experience to help inexperienced teachers understand how such tools can be integrated into practice.

Psychological Factors Influencing Leadership, Diversity and Equality for Better Inclusive Education Practices

To promote inclusive practices holistically within Indonesia’s school system, three ideas–leadership, diversity, and equality–have been constructed and integrated within the operationalization of the inclusive education concept. This study has been carried out to understand the influence of leadership, diversity, and equality factors on inclusive practices in schools, especially in Indonesia. This study used a correlational research method with a questionnaire as the data collection technique. Questionnaires were distributed to 212 respondents living in West Java Province, Indonesia. The research was based on the theory of inclusion, equality, diversity, and leadership in teaching and learning. The data analysis, using multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA), revealed that female teachers had good knowledge and were found to be prospective teachers with better support for inclusive education. However, it has been established that variations exist regarding the way special education teachers and general teachers address practical leadership, diversity, and equality in an inclusive learning environment. Experienced teachers, in support of inclusive practices within education, were observed to understand their leadership style, perceptions regarding the equality of learners, and how they handle students’ diversity within a school enclosure. It has been concluded that the attitudes of both experienced and inexperienced teachers toward leadership, equality, and diversity influence the promotion of inclusive practices.

Exploring challenges and facilitators to E-learning based Education of nursing students during Covid-19 pandemic: a qualitative study

BackgroundDuring the COVID-19 pandemic, there was a shift to e-learning and online education in educational and learning processes. Research has shown that nursing students who are satisfied with e-learning tend to have better learning outcomes. Therefore, this qualitative study aimed to explore the challenges and facilitators of e-learning for nursing students during the pandemic.MethodsThis qualitative study utilized a content analysis approach. Sixteen participants with nursing education experience were purposively selected and interviewed using a semi-structured format. The data collected were analyzed using the conventional qualitative content analysis approach.ResultsThrough data analysis, two main categories were identified: e-learning challenges and facilitators. The e-learning challenges included subcategories such as inexperienced teachers, ineffective learning, academic cheating, system problems, and inappropriate evaluation. The facilitators included subcategories such as improving education, and promoting online exams.ConclusionsWhile e-learning was adopted as a substitute for in-person education during the COVID-19 pandemic, its implementation involves both challenges and facilitators. By addressing the challenges and optimizing the facilitators of e-learning, nursing schools can successfully adapt to this new mode of education in the post-pandemic era and provide high-quality education to their students.

Diagnostic Abilities of Novice Teachers

This paper discusses diagnostic abilities of novice teachers of English as a foreign language in Poland as demonstrated through analyzing critical incidents (CIs). A case study, designed to explore patterns and regularities in cognitive processes that practitioners activate to examine disorienting situations in their educational context, provided evidence of effective mental work of beginner teachers at the verbal and conceptual levels. Specifically-structured written reports on what the instructors considered critical moments in their teaching practice served as a tool to verbalize how they represent, interpret, and value phenomena in the FL classroom by activating and integrating various sources of professional knowledge. The data analysis, which included both identification of the character of mental representations the subjects stimulated during the recall as well as higher order thinking operations on these representations, led to the conclusion that the inexperienced teachers show a degree of efficacy to register relations and variation in classroom realities, to problematize the unproblematic, to take position on matters, and to formulate relevant feedback for their future didactic moves. This encourages a hypothesis that teachers’ diagnostic abilities are not necessarily determined by the current state of their professional expertise and that limited classroom experience does not suppress adequate cognitive and affective responses to problems in beginner practitioners.

Teacher autonomy: Good for pupils? Good for teachers?

AbstractShould teachers have complete autonomy over teaching methods and practices, or should some aspects of their practice be determined by school or government policy? We address this question using repeated (value‐added) maths test scores linked to rich survey data from the TALIS video study. With the possible exception of inexperienced teachers, we generally find no relationship between teacher autonomy and pupil outcomes (test scores, maths self‐efficacy or interest in maths). In partial contrast with our findings for pupil outcomes, teachers with very low levels of autonomy are more likely to report reduced job satisfaction. It may hence be that some level of restriction on teacher autonomy is justified, especially among inexperienced teachers, particularly when it represents only partial control of teachers’ approaches in the classroom and is done to introduce evidence‐based methods.

A Review of Dogme Approach: Principles and Practices

As an emerging teaching approach, Dogme is proposed to protest against the over-reliance on coursebooks and technologies in language teaching and is compatible with a conglomerate of contemporary teaching approaches. According to Dogme, language teaching should not rely too much on teaching materials but should focus on communicative activities that could satisfy students’ actual needs and interests. In this paper, the theoretical principles of Dogme are briefly summarized by discussing the similarities and differences between Dogme and several contemporary teaching approaches, and then major studies on Dogme are reviewed and summarized by discussing its suitability. The findings are that (a) Dogme is more suitable for high-level second language learners, but findings about its suitability for low-level learners are inconclusive; (b) inexperienced teachers are unable to use Dogme exclusively, and it is more suitable for them to integrate Dogme’s principles into the traditional materials-based lessons; (c) the combination of Dogme and mainstream teaching methods in different educational environments is comparatively effective and is widely welcomed by teachers and students, and (d) studies on the suitability of Dogme in the technological era are still in its infancy, with limited research results. The previous studies on the universality of Dogme have failed to support each other. Therefore, further research is needed.

A MODERN PROBLEM FACED BY PRIMARY SCHOOL STUDENTS IN DISADVANTAGED REGIONS: TEACHER INFLUENCER

Some young and inexperienced teachers working in the rural and disadvantaged region of Turkey have the habit of constantly producing digital content and sharing virtual videos in classrooms/schools. Thus, the students become the material of virtual trade. The process of becoming a teacher influencer and its effects on the students were examined in detail. The study had a phenomenology design as one of the qualitative methods. The data were collected from the teachers of various teaching areas (n= 201). According to the findings, the majority of the teachers participating in the study thought that being a teacher influencer, and teacher influencers caused damage on the students and violated children’s rights.

Mentoring Novice Teachers in a Norwegian Context of Inclusive Education

ABSTRACT There is global agreement that schools should be inclusive, however both experienced and inexperienced teachers find this challenging. In this study we explore how experienced teachers working as local mentors for newly qualified teachers (NQTs) address the challenges they face in an inclusive school. The study is designed as a qualitative study consisting of three different focus group discussions with three samples of mentors, and two surveys with one sample of mentors and one of NQTs. Data was collected in 2021, and descriptive analysis of the survey-data and thematic analysis of focus group discussions were conducted in 2022. Key findings indicate that the topics dominating NQTs supervision also challenge their mentors’ practices concerning 1) pupil behaviour and inclusive-adapted education, 2) inclusive classroom management and relationship building, and 3) inclusive parent-teacher cooperation. Furthermore, although the mentors acknowledge lack of expert knowledge, their self-efficacy is maintained due to professional mentoring-collaboration. An implication of the study is the need for recognising the mentoring process as a joint responsibility between all members of the professional community in schools, and not only a task for the assigned mentor.

Suspending Suspensions: The Education Production Consequences of School Suspension Policies*

Abstract Managing student behaviour is integral to the education production process. We study the trade-offs of school suspension policies by modelling and estimating how changes in school suspension policies causally impact student performance and teacher turnover. Our results indicate that the reduction in suspension rates in the Los Angeles Unified School District decreased math and English test scores, decreased grade point averages and increased absences. Teacher turnover also increased, particularly for inexperienced teachers. We also document an efficiency-equity trade-off: while achievement decreased for most students in the district, the highest-risk students experienced moderate gains in achievement.

The accuracy and reliability of three instruments used to assign school furniture

BACKGROUND: Students spend a high number of hours being seated while at school. In order to find the correct adjustment between school furniture and the anthropometric characteristics, specific knowledge and tools are necessary. OBJECTIVE: The objective of the study is to evaluate the accuracy and reliability of the measurers with different instruments, as well as contrast the differences between the values that were obtained by the different examiners. METHODS: Measurements were taken independently by one expert examiner and two inexperienced teachers from the school. They used a measuring tape, a segmometer and an anthropometer for the anthropometric measurements. The statistical tests conducted: Kolmogorov-Smirnov test, Intraclass Correlation Coefficient, Bland and Altman method, Standard Error of Measurement, Technical Error of Measurement and relative TEM with a level of significance of ρ ≤ 0.05. RESULTS: A total of 108 students (8.87±1.67 years; 40.7% girls) participated in the study. The non-expert measurers had good accuracy and reliability, but they far exceeded the error percentages of the expert, obtaining the worst results in the shoulder measurement. The instrument with the lowest affinity between the inexperienced measurers was the anthropometer. CONCLUSIONS: In order to assign furniture in the schools, the experts should continue using the anthropometer. The inexperienced measurers can use more accessible instruments in the school environment such as a measuring tape and segmometer.

Implementation of the Virtual Learning Models during the Covid-19 Pandemic: Students’ Perspectives and Its Lessons

This study aims at analyzing the existence of the implementation of the virtual learning models during the Covid-19 pandemic to encourage, explore, and evaluate effective online learning based on the students’ perspectives. This type of research is library research using qualitative descriptive methods. Data in this study were students’ perspectives from many contemporary literature sources, such as journals, books, and other relevant works of literature. By using the Connectivism theory and the PICRAT model, the results indicated that students faced many problems during the Covid-19 pandemic due to inexperienced teachers. Furthermore, the online system was not equipped with optimal learning infrastructure, giving rise to negative and positive aspects in many aspects of learning. Both teachers and students in countries affected by the Covid-19 pandemic faced similar problems, namely the online learning system which was not handled properly. Thus, with a proper understanding of the strengths and limitations of online learning, it is feasible to offer a better instructional atmosphere for students by making appropriate modifications. This study concludes that online learning and the dynamics of education reform still serve as a model for future educational development, especially for facing a pandemic. The significant contribution of this study is the findings regarding the potential of technology and the barriers that students face while learning due to digital mechanisms.

Understanding and improving teachers’ graph literacy for data-based decision-making via video intervention

In the educational context, graph literacy describes the competence to read, comprehend, and interpret formative assessment data in terms of data-based decision-making (DBDM) in order to derive and justify individual adaptations of instruction based on them. Since misconceptions may arise in predicting a future learning progress due to the characteristics of the data base as well as the approach to graph literacy, effective supports are needed, especially for inexperienced teachers. We present two interrelated studies to broaden the field of support in graph literacy. In Study I, graph literacy procedures are collected fromN= 196 university student teachers using an online survey that includes six case vignettes with learning progress prediction tasks. Results show that both regular and special education student teachers intuitively neglect important data points in interpretation and they do not use a consistent strategy in prediction across the case vignettes (Fleiss’ κ = 0.071;p< 0.001). Building on the results of Study I, a 3-min video intervention for linear trend identification using Tukey Tri-Split was developed. Study II tested the efficacy of the video intervention on the accuracy of future learning progress among student teachers and in-service teachers (N= 198) using randomized group assignment compared to a brief text hint. With a large effect size of Cohens’f= 0.39, the video instruction shows high efficacy compared to the text hint. The increasing importance of DBDM in inclusive and special education is discussed.

Understanding Teacher Educators’ Perceptions and Practices about ICT Integration in Teacher Education Program

This study explored the perceptions and practices of teacher educators in integrating information and communication Technology (ICT) in teacher education programs. The study adopted a phenomenological design under the qualitative research approach that included eighteen selected participants from a teacher education university college. Data collection employed semi-structured interviews, observations, and documentary reviews. The authors adopted the Braun and Clarke (2006) thematic analysis model for data analysis. The findings showed that while young and inexperienced teachers showed readiness to use ICT, some teacher educators do not understand the logic behind using technology and hence question the rationale for applying it to their teaching. At the same time, equipment challenges, large teaching burdens, and time limits were the critical barriers to integration. Again, the findings revealed that teacher educators use different software and learning platforms, use social media, gather online information, and access learning materials through journal subscriptions to enhance preservice teachers’ learning. Thus, integrating ICT during teacher training is paramount, and teacher educators should be assisted and encouraged to develop positive attitudes in learning and to apply ICT in their teaching practices. Concomitantly, equipping preservice teachers with ICT-based pedagogical skills, not only through specialized ICT courses, but also through observing how teacher educators use it, has a significant impact on transforming teaching practices in their future classrooms.

The Distribution of School Resources in the United States: A Comparative Analysis Across Levels of Governance, Student Subgroups, and Educational Resources

ABSTRACT Levels of governance (the nation, states, and districts), student subgroups (racially and ethnically minoritized and economically disadvantaged students), and types of resources (expenditures, class sizes, and teacher quality) intersect to represent a complex and comprehensive picture of K-12 educational resource inequality. Drawing on multiple sources of the most recent available data, we describe inequality in multiple dimensions. At the national level, racially and ethnically minoritized and economically disadvantaged students receive between $30 and $800 less in K-12 expenditures per pupil than white and economically advantaged students. At the state and district levels, per-pupil expenditures generally favor racially and ethnically minoritized and economically disadvantaged students compared to white and economically advantaged students. Looking at nonpecuniary resources, minoritized and economically disadvantaged students have smaller class sizes than their subgroup counterparts in the average district, but these students also have greater exposure to inexperienced teachers. We see no evidence that district-level spending in favor of traditionally disadvantaged subgroups is explained by district size, average district spending, teacher turnover, or expenditures on auxiliary staff, but black and Hispanic spending advantage is correlated with the relative size of the black and Hispanic special education population.

Did We Deliver Quality Education in Online Sessions During Covid 19 Lock Down? Learner’s Perspective from a Developing Country

Objective: COVID-19 pandemic pushed unprepared educational institutes towards online sessions. Though equivalence of online sessions proved already in many studies before pandemic, unplanned sessions and inexperienced teachers with networking issues and novice software for online sessions could not meet the standard of teaching that was expected or experienced during these sessions. We planned this study to know perspective of learners to measure quality of online sessions and to find out factors which could improve these sessions in future. Design: Prospective questionnaire based study Place & duration of study: Hitec IMS Dental College, from 10th Feb 2022 to 10th March 2022 Methodology: Questionnaire was distributed to 150 students of BDS who has attended online session during COVID-19 pandemic. Results: 85% of the responders appreciated online sessions happening during pandemic to avoid wastage of time but as high as 50% students were of the opinion that teachers could not maintain standard of teaching as in on campus session. Factors for this dis-satisfaction of students included issues like connectivity issues, gadgets of students as well as teachers, novelty to softwares to attend online class, and psychological issues like depression. So at the end 83% of students preferred on-campus sessions on on-line sessions. Conclusion: On the basis of findings of this study, it is recommended that we should continue activity of online teaching with improvement in resources and train our staff and students even in the absence of such emergency. Keywords: E-learning, Online learning, COVID pandemic, Learner’s perspective, Developing country, Medical education, Educational preparedness, satisfaction of learner,

Correlation Between Student Internet Access and Teachers’ Self-Efficacy in Teaching Online Classes

The most critical requirement of an online class is the availability of the internet for a teacher and students alike. The objective of this study was to find out how student internet access correlates to teachers’ self-efficacy in teaching an online class. This quantitative study used categorical data obtained using two questionnaires, one of which was student internet access consisting of three constructs, and the other is teachers’ self-efficacy in teaching an online class. The questionnaires were distributed online to in-service teachers who had completed or almost completed an online teacher professional development program in four major universities in Indonesia. As many as 158 teachers completed both questionnaires. The data were analyzed using Spearman Correlation Coefficient to reject the null hypothesis at the significance level of 0.05. The correlation was calculated for seven teacher categories, i.e. teachers in urban areas, teachers in rural areas, elementary school teachers, junior high school teachers, senior high school teachers, experienced teachers, and inexperienced teachers. The research results show that teacher-reported student internet access correlates with teachers’ self-efficacy in teaching an online class. The level of correlation ranges from weak to strong correlations, with moderate correlations for most teacher categories. The implication of this study for teacher education is also discussed.