Secondary Education Teachers Research Articles

CONSTRUCTIVE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE IMPLEMENTATION OF INFORMATION AND METHODOLOGICAL SUPPORT IN VOCATIONAL EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS

Educational and methodical materials in modern institutions of secondary vocational education are associated with the use of complex information and technical systems, computing and measuring instruments, and their implementation, using systems for transmission, storage, processing, formalization, and coding of information. At the heart of these processes are intensively implemented information systems that operate on the basis of information and communication technologies. Many studies have shown that the use of the above tools and systems requires the formation of a certain information culture of teachers of secondary vocational education, which they acquire in the process of vocational education. The current state of development and use of information and methodological support, which operates on the basis of information and communication technologies in secondary vocational education institutions, is analyzed. Pedagogical and ergonomic requirements and pedagogical conditions for the electronic educational resource for academic disciplines are substantiated. The conducted pedagogical experiment on the assessment of the level of competence of the teacher of secondary vocational education in the field of creation and use of the electronic educational resource as a part of information and methodical maintenance of educational process is described. In the process of designing information and methodological support of the educational process, significant sources of information were identified: pedagogical and ergonomic quality of the developed electronic educational resources; formation of professionally important qualities in the conditions of use of means of information and communication technologies; formation of the teacher’s readiness to develop and use an electronic educational resource based on the implementation of didactic capabilities of information and communication technologies.
 Keywords: information and methodological support; institutions of professional (vocational) education; professional education; educational process; electronic educational resource.

EXPLORATORY FACTOR ANALYSIS (EFA) AND CONFIRMATORY FACTOR ANALYSIS (CFA) TO MEASURE THE VALIDITY AND RELIABILITY CONSTRUCTS OF HISTORICAL THINKING SKILLS, TPACK AND APPLICATION OF HISTORICAL THINKING SKILLS

In teaching and learning sessions, the effectiveness of applying Historical Thinking Skill (TKPS) elements to students depends on the level of teacher mastery in Historical Thinking Skill (KPS) and the skills of adapting Technological, Pedagogical and Content Knowledge (TPACK) components in teaching and learning sessions and approach study uses quantitative studies based on the Structural Equation Model (SEM). This study aims to develop and verify the validity and reliability of the instrument using the Exploration Factor Analysis (EFA) and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) to measure the construction of KPS, TPACK and TKPS. This study has adapted the instruments developed by some earlier researchers, and also modified some statements in accordance with current studies. Therefore, it is necessary to re-run the Analysis of Factor Analysis of the Exploration (EFA) and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA), as the current study area may differ from previous studies, or the current study population is far different from previous studies in terms of socio-economic status, ethnicity and culture (Awang, 2010). The samples of this research were 100 upper secondary school Islamic Education teachers from various districts in Kelantan, Malaysia. After implementing the EFA, the constructs of historical thinking skills (KPS) and application of historical thinking skills (TKPS) were scaled down from five sub-constructs each to only one main construct for each set of skills with 18 and 13 items respectively. As for the TPACK construct, after the implementation of EFA, some items were moved to other constructs. Then, in the second stage of this study, CFA was implemented and after its implementation, 12 items and one construct (Technological construct) were deleted. Finally, only three main constructs (KPS, TKPS and TPACK) and 2 sub-constructs (Pedagogical and Content Knowledge) were proved to be statistically significant with the 35 remaining items and proceeded to be used for further study.

Economic Crisis and Educational Reforms: How Burnout affects Teachers' Physical, Mental, and Oral Health?

In July 2013, for the first time in the Greek civil sector, a legal measure suspending labour, was applied overnight on Greek Secondary Education teachers. More than 2,200 secondary school teachers were affected. This so-called “reform effort” impacted on 23,000 students, through abolishing 52 Technical Education specialties. The majority (80%) of affected secondary school teachers were placed on suspension, while 20% underwent obligatorily transfers to administrative positions through the application of a government dictated “social criteria”. This research that took place from 2013 till 2017, investigated the burnout experienced both by teachers who were suspended and by those who were compulsorily transferred to administration duties. The Maslach Burnout Inventory measurements recorded the highest percentages on this scale, in its history of application to Greek teachers. The factors of work stress were studied with respect to both separate categories of teacher (suspended – compulsorily transferred) and a comparative study was then conducted between them. Psychopathological symptoms (utilising the SCL-90 Psychopathology scale) were observed in both categories of teacher, due to work-related stress, with results from both the General Symptom Index and the Positive Symptom Disorder Index (PTSD) indicating pathological responses. With respect to both categories, the appearance and deterioration of physical health problems that are normally associated with chronic stress was also recorded, and a general deterioration in physical health was also evidenced. The significance of this research is that the findings are indicative of the total effects of burnout, that correlate psychological and health issues. By creating the tools for this, it can open future further investigations on the impact of educational policies on teachers.

Exploring factors influencing pre-service and in-service teachers´ perception of digital competencies in the Chinese region of Anhui

The emergence of the Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated the wave of digital social transformation worldwide and pushed the “Accelerator Key” for the digital transformation of education in 2020. This transformation has also impacted in an all-around way in China. Taking Anhui province as a case study, this research explores socio-demographic factors influencing the digital competence level of pre- and in-service teachers of primary and secondary education in China. The quantitative methodological approach emphasizes the study subjects’ perception of their digital competencies in three factors: basic technology literacy, technical support learning, and technical support teaching. The study involved 250 pre-service teachers and 248 in-service teachers. The main findings are: (1) participants have good consciousness and attitudes towards using ICT in daily work, but their educational practice is weak; (2) in-service teachers have a digital competence level generally higher than pre-service teachers’, which might be their professional practice promote them to reflect on perceptions and attitudes regarding technological education; (3) for in-service teachers, there are significant differences between their digital competence level and age, years of teaching experience, educational background; (4) current ICT courses have no influencing on in-service teachers’ digital competence level, implying that current ICT training system may have problems. The study provides insights to improve pre-service teachers’ digital competence education in universities and develop well-designed in-service teachers’ ICT training courses.

Self-Efficacy Beliefs of Teaching ESD: A Theory-Driven Instrument and the Effectiveness of ESD in German Teacher Education

Self-efficacy beliefs are important for teachers to conduct Education for Sustainable Development (ESD). Self-efficacy instruments for teaching ESD mainly focus on primary education, and theory-driven instruments are lacking. Thus, we developed an instrument for secondary education reflecting eight subcategories of a science teaching pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) model, transferred to teaching ESD. We conducted an exploratory factor analysis (n1 = 162) and a confirmatory factor analysis (n2 = 236) with mainly pre-service biology, politics, and geography teachers for secondary education. We identified seven self-efficacy beliefs of teaching ESD factors. Six of these factors showed an expected low or middle correlation with self-rated content knowledge of SD-relevant issues (divergent validity). Pre-service teachers’ ESD teaching self-efficacy beliefs were rather positive, missing clear differences due to studying biology, politics, and geography. Bachelor students had higher self-efficacy beliefs than Master of Education students regarding four factors. Only 32 of 113 Bachelor students completed any ESD course at that time. They could have overestimated their own skills or underestimated teaching ESD. Current participation in at least one ESD course positively influenced three self-efficacy factors. Since barely any pre-service teacher currently participated in or completed more than three ESD courses at the time of the study, there is room for a stronger focus on ESD in German teacher education.

Digital Teaching Competence: A Systematic Review

This systematic literature review aimed to discover how the concept of digital teaching competence (DTC) has been developed, how its dimensions have been defined, and how educational development models and models that evaluate teachers’ digital teaching competence have been constructed. Concurrently, this review aimed to draw conclusions on the implementation processes of digital teaching competence in order to uncover its strengths and limitations, and to propose future lines of research to develop it further in initial teacher training programmes. A systematic literature review following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) methodology was proposed in order to achieve these aims. We chose the time frame of 2015 to the end of 2021 in an attempt to cover the appearance of the first scientific articles dealing with the subject, up until the present day. Thus, the inclusion criteria covered scientific research articles from the Web of Science (WoS) and Scopus databases, in English or Spanish, that focused on samples of teachers in primary education, secondary education, baccalaureates, and initial teacher training. The database searches, which will be detailed in depth later, initially provided a corpus of 127 articles, which was reduced to 26 articles after screening for duplicity and applying the inclusion criteria.

Prerequisites for the formation of the readiness of future teachers to work in an inclusive educational environment

The article examines the prerequisites for the formation of the readiness of future teachers to work in an inclusive educational environment. The research is based on the hypothesis that future teachers express their attitude to inclusive education through the prism of their existing socio-pedagogical experience. The purpose of the article is to identify the prerequisites for the formation of the readiness of future teachers to work in an inclusive educational environment based on existing socio-pedagogical experience. Methodology and methods of research. The article presents the results of two studies conducted in the spring of 2018 and in the spring of 2022 in order to identify the attitude of future and current teachers to inclusive learning. The study was conducted by the method of questioning randomly selected groups of future teachers, teachers of secondary schools, teachers of institutions of secondary vocational education and university teachers and allowed to identify the attitude of respondents to inclusive education. The conclusion concludes that it is necessary to purposefully systematically train teachers to work with children with special educational needs and opportunities. Such training can be carried out as part of the study of specialized academic disciplines, involvement in social design, which contributes to the development of future teachers to develop the competencies necessary for successful professional activity.

Greek teachers’ difficulties & opportunities in emergency distance teaching

During the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic, most schools worldwide were closed and online teaching replaced face-to-face teaching. This study reports the results of a survey among 845 teachers of primary and secondary education in Greece who taught their students fully remotely during the pandemic lockdown. These Greek teachers expressed the difficulties that they faced as well as the opportunities that they gained during this emergency distance teaching (EDT). Through qualitative content analysis this study found that everyone (students, teachers, and state) involved in EDT faced various difficulties due to digital infrastructure’s inadequacy, limited support by the state, limited digital educational material, as well as low digital literacy of students, parents, and even some teachers. On the other hand, there were many opportunities for teachers to experiment and apply their prior training knowledge on distance education to EDT. More concretely, teachers managed not only to improve their teaching and digital skills, to enrich and organise their educational material with more interesting online educational resources, but also to collaborate with colleagues, and to maintain effective communication with students. Similarly, students had opportunities to improve their digital and soft skills and receive personalized teaching. However, some teachers believed that their workload and their available free time increased while other teachers believed the opposite. Also, some teachers believed that students’ participation and engagement increased while other teachers believed the opposite. Finally, the study suggests actions to be taken to support the teachers in EDT such as improvements in digital infrastructure, digital educational material, teachers’ training, as well as support and clear guidelines by the educational authorities.

Застосування інформаційно-комунікаційних технологій у діяльності сучасного педагога: погляд з середини

Information and communication technologies occupy an important place in the life of a modern teacher. But their use is unsystematic. The purpose of this work is the specified area of information technology, the specified area of responsibility, and the space of tools and techniques that can be used by the teacher. To analyze the activities of teachers, we based on the principles of a unified model language, methods of systems analysis, and elements of the statistical information processing. As a result, the basic actors of the teacher’s activity are detemined: the state, the administration of the higher education institution, the management of the structural unit and the teacher himself. In the work "student" is considered not as an actor, but as a living environment for teaching, as the main goal for any teacher. Then we considered a teacher as the class with its required and optional attributes. These attributes are determined by state and social requirements for the modern teacher and have different states. Further the complex of the factors influencing on these attributes’ states formation are defined. Objective and subjective reasons that hinder the formation of attributes are analyzed. The resulting significant factors are distributed to the spheres of certain actors’ existence. The range of responsibilities and influence of actors on significant factors are determined. In analyzing the attributes of the teacher and the factors that contribute to or hinder their formation, open information from the reports of the Ministry of Education of Ukraine and state institutions for the collection of statistical information was used. Among the attributes are common to all teachers, regardless of the level of education they teaching. The study examined data on teachers of higher education and general secondary education (with an emphasis on teachers in grades 5-11). As a result, we emphasize the responsibilities of a teacher of higher education. We determine the range of tasks that teacher must solve in their daily work. We choose the tasks of teacher’s pedagogical activity, subjected to automation and unification. As a result, from a practical point of view, a range of elementary problems has been identified, the solution of ones can be accelerated and optimized. This work is the beginning of an article’s series devoted to solving each elementary problem from a defined list.

Collaboration between Secondary Special Education Teachers and Community Rehabilitation Service Providers: A Focus Group Analysis

Collaboration between Secondary Special Education Teachers and Community Rehabilitation Service Providers: A Focus Group Analysis

Initial teacher training for secondary schools – a new curriculum for the age of migration?

ABSTRACT In this article, competencies of teachers for an age of migration where students with refugee and migration background are part of many classrooms are tied to the question why a current reform in initial teacher education failed to adjust to an urgent need. The country under scrutiny for this case-study is Austria. The focus is on the curricula of secondary teacher education. It had to be developed along the new Bologna architecture—a top-down requirement—and bottom-up filled with content by the teacher educators of the institutions involved in the reform. First, I will give a short historical and present-day sketch of migration and schooling in Austria in the light of international data and the comparative context integration theory. Secondly, I will discuss relevant topics in initial teacher education and present data from the TALIS 2018 survey. Thirdly, I will describe the reform of the initial teacher education in Austria and discuss four hypotheses why it did not manage to respond to the needs of today’s socio-culturally, linguistically and religious highly diverse schools.

Teaching is therapy for me. The subjective wellbeing of Austrian ICLHE teachers: learning to balance challenges and resources through teacher development

ABSTRACT Purpose: Even though research on teacher wellbeing has recently generated considerable interest in the field of teacher psychology, investigations of the subjective wellbeing of ICLHE teachers remain relatively scarce and have not found their way into teacher development. It is therefore worth investigating whether teachers in tertiary education struggle or flourish in their role as ICLHE teachers, what factors appear to diminish or enhance their wellbeing and how teacher development can address these factors. Design/methodology/approach: Based on a nation-wide study on the subjective wellbeing of Austrian CLIL teachers in primary and secondary education, data for this paper were generated from ten semi-structured interviews with ICLHE teachers who discussed their ability to cope with the spate of new tasks and to remain optimistic despite the emotional and social demands they have to face. The findings below are the result of a thematic analysis following procedures laid out by Braun and Clarke ([2006] “Using Thematic Analysis in Psychology.” Qualitative Research in Psychology 3 (2): 77–101.). Findings: Our study shows that teachers manage the challenges of having to teach in English better if they perceive their work as rewarding, have a strong social network and see a clear purpose in their work. It seems that particularly in tertiary education, goals, motivation and possibly prestige connected with ICLHE help reduce the impact of stress and other challenges. Originality/value: Based on our findings, we developed a combined Interactive Balance Model for Managing Wellbeing which offers a feasible avenue to explore individuals’ positive psychological resources. We hope that this model will provide a framework for effective ICLHE teacher development.

Heritage Resources and Teaching Approaches. A Study With Trainee Secondary Education History Teachers

At present, there is a great deal of research demonstrating the educational potential of heritage for the teaching of history. However, relevant studies have shown that, although it is a resource which is widely valued by teachers, its incorporation into the classroom remains limited. The aim of this study is to analyze the opinions of teachers in initial training regarding the use of heritage in the classrooms and to inquire about their relationship with their own teaching approaches, given that these may influence the use or evaluation they make of this resource. This study, which is non-experimental and quantitative in nature, has employed as a research tool a questionnaire with the participation of 646 students of the master’s degrees in Teacher Training in Geography and History of 22 different universities, representing 70% of the universities that offer this degree in Spain. The most significant results show a broad interest in heritage among future secondary education and baccalaureate level teachers, although there is a preference for heritage resources more linked to their undergraduate studies (History, History of Art, Archeology) compared with heritage resources of a technological nature. Regarding teaching approaches, it has been observed that those who present a student-based approach (CCSF) value heritage more highly. Given these results, we consider it necessary to improve the initial training of teachers regarding existing heritage resources and to adapt teaching approaches in order to achieve a greater integration of heritage in history education.

Professional vision as a mediator for inclusive education? Unravelling the interplay between teachers’ beliefs, professional vision and reported practice of differentiated instruction

ABSTRACT To ensure inclusion and equity in education, both teacher beliefs and practice are cited as influential. However, the connection between beliefs on student diversity and inclusive practice is often more complex than straightforward. Professional vision is theorised to be important in aligning beliefs with practice. Hence, this study investigates whether teachers’ professional vision of differentiated instruction (DI) mediates between teachers’ beliefs about teaching diverse learners and teachers’ practice of DI, and is unique in investigating these constructs in concert with each other. Data are part of the Potential-project and were collected in a sample of secondary education teachers (N = 461) in Flemish schools (N = 23). Survey data measuring teachers’ beliefs (i.e. growth mindset, professional beliefs about diversity and about differentiating the curriculum) and teachers’ self-reported DI practice were combined with video-based comparative judgement data measuring teachers’ professional vision of DI. Multilevel models show that both teachers with a more expert professional vision and less expert professional vision implement DI. For a more expert professional vision, beliefs about teaching diverse learners explain the association. For a less expert professional vision, teachers’ reflective and experimental practice explains the relationship. Results suggest that aspects of teachers’ competence are related in more complex ways than linear theoretical frameworks propose. Implications for teacher training and professionalisation are discussed.

Modern approaches to optimizing the physical activity of children and adolescents of school age

The importance of physical activity for maintaining and strengthening health, learning success, increasing the number of factors that can affect the motor regime, determine the relevance of research on scientific substantiation of ways to optimize physical activity of schoolchildren. The aim of the work was to study and generalize modern approaches to optimizing physical activity of school-age children and adolescents as a component of a healthy lifestyle. Analysis of the literature data and the results of their own research showed that the level of physical activity of a significant number of schoolchildren remained low. Important approaches to its optimization are to increase children's physical activity during school and free time. Participation of school teachers in this work, increasing their competence in physical activity are important aspects in solving the problem aimed at streamlining the structure and increasing the level of physical activity of children and adolescents, educating motivation to exercise, developing skills of various forms of physical activity and self-control. Conclusions. The problem of optimizing the physical activity of children and adolescents is multifaceted, requires the attention and cooperation of specialists of different profiles and parents. The main directions of its solution include: formation of motivation to observe of mode of physical activity in children of different age groups; creation of organizational and pedagogical conditions for optimizing the physical activity of children and adolescents during school and free time; monitoring of physical activity of schoolchildren, in particular, in the context of health monitoring. An important place in solving the problem is to increase the competence in physical activity of children and adolescents of teachers of general secondary education.

Preparing teachers for diversity: how are teacher education systems responding to cultural diversity – the case of Austria and Ireland

ABSTRACT The paper begins with an overview of migration-related diversity in Austria and Ireland, both countries with high levels of cultural, linguistic and religious diversity in schools. Research in Europe indicates that migration produces a new context for teaching, for which many teachers do not feel sufficiently prepared. Hence, teacher education is at stake and rarely looked at systematically in migration-related research in education. Therefore, in this article secondary teacher education courses are analysed to ascertain how higher education institutions in these two countries are preparing secondary teachers for culturally responsive teaching. After describing the methodology used to examine the Initial Teacher Education curricula of the two countries an analysis of the research findings is provided. It turns out that relevant courses in the compulsory sections of the curricula are largely missing in both countries. Finally, based on an analysis of the literature and research findings, a discussion of the consequences for teacher education together with recommendations for improvement are formulated. It provides countries with a foundational discourse to equip student teachers with the necessary skills to embed cultural responsivity into their classrooms upon completion of their apprenticeship for teaching.

Epistemic Beliefs and Pre-service Teachers’ Conceptions of History Instruction

This study investigates the difficulties pre-service history teachers face in understanding and implementing a history curriculum focused on historical reasoning. Based on the general hypothesis of beliefs exerting a direct influence on teachers’ actions, this phenomenographic study provides a qualitative analysis of the epistemic and learning/teaching conceptions on which pre-service teachers base their reflections and decisions when they have to produce a teaching plan for a specific situation, taking n = 72 pre-service teachers from the Master’s Degree in Teaching in Secondary Education at the University of Zaragoza (specialty Geography and History) as statistical sample. The outcome of the first phases of the analysis was a new theoretical reference framework that innovated by simultaneously analyzing epistemic and educational conceptions. On the one hand, the analysis results include a considerable number of pre-service teachers who use epistemic beliefs identifying history and the past when addressing the curriculum. On the other, none of them, not even those with advanced epistemic beliefs, think about the curriculum in terms of an inquiry-based approach to historical problems, and, therefore, they display a transmissive–reproductive conception of history instruction. Consequently, the main contribution is observation of a twofold threshold that pre-service teachers must cross to understand and accept an interpretive history curriculum: they must overcome the identification between past and history and instead immerse themselves in the necessarily interpretive nature of any history; and they must stop viewing learning as knowledge internalization and reproduction and, instead, embrace a conception of learning as inquiry and reasoning.

The Helping Everyone Achieve Long Term Health Passport: exploring potential use of the HEALTH Passport in primary and secondary schools.

Chronic disease is a significant burden on the global population. The Helping Everyone Achieve Long Term Health (HEALTH) Passport is a paper-based approach previously utilized to help adults modify clinical risk factors through lifestyle, which may be effective in improving the long-term health of school-age children. This study investigates the feasibility of in-school use by engaging trainee teachers in primary and secondary education. Two hundred and fifty six unique responses were collated to evaluate current teaching of the main health risk factors and HEALTH Passports specifically adapted for schools. Trainees attended workshops with pre- and post-questionnaires used to measure training efficacy and evaluate the Passports' suitability for in-school use. Narrative analysis of feedback was performed. Feedback received for both Passports was positive overall. Trainees highlighted the need for the Passports to be further age differentiated. Significantly increased confidence (P<0.01) in knowledge of exercise, type 2 diabetes, weight and blood pressure was shown. Confidence in smoking, drugs and alcohol knowledge was reduced highlighting the requirement for further teacher training. The HEALTH Passport has potential as an intervention to improve health literacy in school-age children. Age adaptation is needed with references to weight measures removed. Emotional well-being should be focused on, and data management stringently assessed for child protection.

Slovak Teacher’s Transformational Leadership and Student Teachers’ Ideas: A Comparative Study

The contribution brings an analysis of transformational leadership among Slovak secondary education teachers in comparison with ideas of student teachers. The research sample consists of secondary education teachers (N = 142) and student teachers (N = 142). Data are obtained from the Slovak version of the LPI/Leadership Practices Inventory. Results indicate statistically significant differences in three dimensions favouring students against teachers: Model the Way, Challenge the Process, Enable Others to Act. Slovak students consider transformational leadership practices essential as Slovak teachers apply them in their daily practice. Results are discussed mainly from the perspective of ontogenetic and educational practice.

The Competence Disparity of Elementary and Secondary Teacher-Education Graduates

There has been substantial research undertaken on teacher-education graduates' competence, but disparities in terms of demographic profile, school of origin, and program of study are yet to be explored. Thus, this paper sets out to characterize the competence of elementary and secondary teacher-education graduates as perceived by themselves and their immediate supervisors, using two sets of survey questionnaires adopting the statements from the CHED Memoranda No. 30, s. 2004 and 59, s. 1996. This study was designed following the cross-sectional procedure for the graduates and their immediate supervisors. It utilized mean, standard deviation, the independent sample T-test, the Mann-Whitney U, and the Kruskal-Wallis tests to analyze and present the data. Disparities in critical thinking, creativity, communication, and awareness of relevant issues were evident among BEEd and BSED graduates. Whereas their demographic profile, such as gender, age, and school of origin, have not influenced their competence. It conveys that their demographic profile did not indicate a significant difference in their acquisition of the mandated competencies. Thus, TEIs should exert an effort to enhance the readiness of their pre-service teachers, the BEEd students, to meet the industry's demands.