Secondary Teachers Research Articles

Preparing Teachers for Linguistically Diverse Classrooms—A Systematic Review on Interventions and Intersectional Perspectives

Teachers need to be well-equipped to work with diverse groups of students from various linguistic backgrounds. Following the PRISMA guidelines, this systematic review analyzed international empirical research on interventions aiming at preparing secondary pre-service teachers for teaching linguistically diverse students. The dataset includes papers from 2012 to 2022 retrieved through the electronic databases ERIC, Education Source, and Scopus. The goal of this review was twofold, namely (1) to investigate how interventions contribute to the development of strategies and skills for teaching linguistically diverse students and (2) to analyze which of the identified interventions considered aspects of intersectionality and, more specifically, in what sense. Multiple intervention strategies, such as assessment tools, self-inquiry, or practice experiences, were found. Regarding the targeted skills of pre-service teachers, this review identified the emerging themes of Methods and Instruction, Critical and Reflective Thinking, as well as Linguistic Awareness. While the term intersectionality was hardly used explicitly, several studies implicitly addressed intersectional matters. Single-issue approaches, which considered multiple diversity referents in an additive rather than an interconnected way, occurred most frequently. This review underlines the need for interventions in teacher education that are based on a broader understanding of linguistic diversity and emphasizes the importance of employing critical and intersectional perspectives.

Exploring teachers’ agency in inclusive education: Secondary education teachers navigating their projects in responding to the diversity in students’ sociocultural backgrounds

This study examined educational projects that Dutch secondary teachers consider to be inclusive and their agency in implementing them. Using Banks' (1993) Multicultural Education (ME) model, we analyzed inclusive projects that twelve expert teachers mentioned having developed and used Personal Project Analysis (Little, 1983) to capture teachers' accompanied agency. Inclusive projects were considered meaningful, but poorly manageable and connected with daily teaching practice. A high degree of agency hinged on the ability to connect with existing curriculum and a management that supports teachers' inclusive initiatives. This paper refines ME's dimensions and uncovers misconceptions hindering teachers' agency in inclusive practices.

Constructing the associations between creative role identity, creative self-efficacy, and teaching for creativity for primary and secondary teachers.

Constructing the associations between creative role identity, creative self-efficacy, and teaching for creativity for primary and secondary teachers.

Teaching proficiency of pre-service secondary teachers in Eastern Samar State University-Salcedo Campus

Teaching proficiency of pre-service secondary teachers in Eastern Samar State University-Salcedo Campus

메타버스 활용 음악 수업에 대한 음악 교사의 경험과 인식 조사

The purpose of this study is to investigate the experiences, perceptions, and effective teaching methods of music teachers utilizing the Metaverse in music classes. A survey was conducted with 88 secondary school music teachers in the Seoul and Gyeonggi regions. The collected data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, frequency analysis, Pearson correlation coefficient, and independent sample t-test. The results are as follows: First, teachers had a basic understanding of the terminology and concepts of the Metaverse and recognized it as a means to engage learners, showing willingness to integrate it into their music class. Second, music teachers who had attended training or had experience with Metaverse-based music classes felt confident in using it for various music activities, understanding the educational goals, and employing it appropriately. Third, teachers perceived that Metaverse-based music activities and class sturctures could include virtual instrument experiences, autonomous learing space navigation, use of diverse visual and three-dimensional learing materials, motivation enhacement, increased immersion, experiential learning, and activities in music appreciation. Fourth, anticipated difficulties included the burden of class preparation and limitations in communication infrastructure and device usage. Teachers identified the need for support and educational content on Metaverse usage for both instructors and learners, as well as sharing of best practices and class design strategies among teachers. This study higlights the deucational potential of the Metaverse in music education and provides foundational data for the direction of teacher trainging in digital media utilization.

Perceptions of Secondary Level English Teachers on In-Service Teacher Training: A Narrative Inquiry

Teacher training is one of the major components of continuous professional development (CPD) which makes the teacher stay updated and informed regarding the innovative pedagogy and methodology. In-service teacher training is a systematized planning or program through which teachers refresh or upgrade their professional knowledge, skills, and practice. This study aimed to explore the perceptions of secondary-level English teachers on in-service teacher training. The study assessed the perception of the teacher towards in-service teacher training. The study adopted a narrative inquiry methodology. Five participants were selected purposively from Godawari Municipality, Lalitpur. Data were collected through semi-structured in-depth interviews and after transcribing, translating, and classifying them, the data were analyzed thematically. Self-efficacy theory developed by Albert Bandura has been applied to analyze the study. The findings of the study indicated that teachers were positive towards in-service teacher training. They opined that in-service training supported them in their professional development to conduct different hands-on activities effectively in their classrooms, and after this school-based training, they updated themselves with innovative pedagogy and methodology. The teachers demanded regular in-service training based on their needs. Further, teachers focused on ICT-based teacher training rather than theory-laden conventional training but they were not satisfied with the top-down approach of in-service teachers training packages. The study concludes that research needs to be carried out on the impacts on students' performance through teacher training.

Developing, validating, and piloting a MultiTeachViews questionnaire on L1 and translation use: Attitudes of Kazakhstani secondary school EFL teachers

This study developed, validated, and piloted a MultiTeachViews questionnaire to investigate secondary school English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers' attitudes towards multilingual teaching practices such as L1 and translation use. Initially, a literature review and focus group interview with six in-service EFL teachers were conducted to capture prevailing attitudes and inform content areas for the questionnaire. Items were then crafted, followed by the adoption of a 5-point Likert scale. Validation involved assessing internal and content validity through a structured checklist and expert evaluation. The pilot phase included think-aloud protocols with two teachers and a reliability test across a broader cohort of 100 teachers. Reliability testing yielded satisfactory Cronbach's Alpha coefficients (α > .70) for all scales, affirming the instrument's internal consistency. Consequently, the instrument is found to be a reliable and valid measure of EFL teachers' attitudes towards L1 and translation use in the classroom, with significant implications for Applied Linguistic and Second Language Acquisition research.•Developed, validated, and piloted a MultiTeachViews questionnaire for investigating attitudes.•Employed mixed methods in the development, validation, and piloting phases.•Found MultiTeachViews to be a reliable and valid measure of EFL teachers' attitudes towards multilingual teaching practices, such as L1 and translation use.

INFLUENCE OF SCHOOL TENDER COMMITTEE PRACTICES ON STUDENTS PERFORMANCE IN PUBLIC SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN RWANDA: A CASE OF NGORORERO DISTRICT

The goal of this study is to look at the influence of school tender committeepractices on student performance in public secondary schools in Ngororero District, Rwanda.This study is important to the government of Rwanda and other educational stakeholders. The study used a descriptive survey approach where the target population was 106 parents, 195 secondary teachers and 15 school leaders for a total of 316 respondents within the sample size of 177 respondents has drawn using Taro Yamanes (1967) formula. Statistical findings were analysed in descriptive and inferential way where these findings indicate that school tender committee practices can influence academic performance and are positively and statistically correlated, as the majority of their level of significance was greater than 0.05 in association with school tender committee practices and academic performance in the Ngororero district of Rwanda. Regarding research findings, it is advised that the Rwandan school tender committee prioritise openness, accountability, and quality over cost in purchasing selections.

Thai Secondary EFL Teachers’ Use of Digital Literacy Tools in Post-COVID-19 Teaching

This study investigates the reasons behind pre-service and in-service teachers’ decisions to use digital literacy tools in their teaching following the COVID-19 pandemic. The objective is to understand the factors influencing their choices and to identify areas where support and training are needed. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with eight teachers from a university demonstration school in Thailand, evenly divided between pre-service and in-service teachers. The Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) framework guided the creation and adaptation of the interview questions. The findings indicate that pre-service teachers prefer digital tools that are easy to use, accessible, and affordable, with features such as templates, multimedia, and engaging functionalities. In contrast, in-service teachers prioritize familiar tools that save time and enhance the quality of teaching materials. Both groups value tools that facilitate collaboration and ensure privacy. The study highlights the significant generational differences in technology adoption, with younger teachers showing a greater inclination towards exploring a variety of digital tools, while more experienced teachers tending to stick with familiar technologies due to time constraints and comfort levels. These insights underscore the necessity for ongoing, tailored professional development programs that address the specific needs of both pre-service and in-service teachers. Such programs should focus on enhancing digital literacy, providing practical examples of new tools’ benefits, and fostering a supportive community for technology integration. By understanding these differences, educational institutions can better support teachers in integrating digital literacy tools effectively, thereby improving teaching practices and professional development opportunities. The implications of this study suggest that a one-size-fits-all approach to technology training may not be effective, and differentiated support is essential to cater to the diverse needs of educators.

Assessing the Factors Affecting the Standards of Secondary School Education in Ehor Local Government Area, Edo State, Nigeria

Globally, the drive towards attaining quality education continues because the development of nations has been linked to the education of its citizens, especially the youth. However, the poor standard of secondary school education has raised so much concern in Nigeria because they do not meet the societal demand regarding quality. Challenges encountered include a stirred population explosion in the classroom at all levels, deteriorating physical facilities; continued inadequacy in funding; recurrent strike actions by all sectors as well and student unrest that leads to a truncated academic calendar, particularly in higher institutions. Hence, the research problem centers on the need to systematically investigate and assess the factors affecting the standards of secondary school education in Nigeria. Thus, the study conducted a comprehensive assessment of multifaceted aspects of enhancing the standards of secondary school education in Ehor Local Government Area, Edo State, Nigeria. The study adopted the survey research design while purposive and random sampling techniques were used to select the secondary schools, teachers, and SS 3 students in Egor Local Government area of Edo State. The main research instrument is a questionnaire. Data collected was analyzed with the use of Statistical packages of the social sciences. Results among other findings confirmed that educational standards are falling in the study area. It further shows significant differences between the standards of education now and in the last ten years. The paper recommends the availability of school facilities and other resources necessary for effective teaching and learning processes that will enhance the standard of secondary education in Nigeria.

Heritage Education of Memory: Gamification to Raise Awareness of the Cultural Heritage of War

This study focused on the use of gamification, specifically the UrbanGame activity, to enhance heritage education related to the bombings of the Spanish Civil War in Alicante. The research aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of active methodologies in raising cultural heritage awareness among university students, particularly those in primary and secondary teacher training programs. The methods included the design and implementation of the UrbanGame, followed by surveys to collect quantitative and qualitative data on students’ perceptions, satisfaction, and learning outcomes. The results indicated that meaningful learning showed a positive trend towards content comprehension, and that motivation and concentration significantly influenced learning outcomes. Additionally, the UrbanGame activity promoted memory and cultural heritage by emotionally connecting students with local history, providing future teachers with innovative pedagogical tools for their teaching.

Secondary teachers’ disparate understandings of student engagement

ABSTRACT Student engagement is currently a topical aspect of teaching and learning due to its influence on students’ learning experiences and outcomes. The literature delineates student engagement as a malleable construct, involving a student’s behaviour, emotions, and cognitions, all of which are influenced by the learning context, and more specifically, by the teacher. Indeed, teachers are pivotal in fostering engagement in the classroom, and their pedagogical decisions can significantly impact on a student’s engagement. The aim of this study was to investigate secondary teachers’ understandings of student engagement in relation to three dimensions (behavioural, emotional, and cognitive engagement) using an online questionnaire (n = 223). The study findings indicated that teachers describe an engaged student and define student engagement in different ways. Some teachers described student engagement as including only behavioural or emotional or cognitive dimensions, others described it as involving more than one dimension, while yet others defined engagement as including all three dimensions. This research supports the view that teachers’ conceptual understandings may play a key role in teachers’ prioritisation of strategies to foster engagement in their classrooms. These findings contribute new insights to existing research, prompting a reimagining of effective approaches to support student engagement in the classroom.

The Affective Dimensions of Historical Empathy: Opportunities, Problems, and Challenges

Emotions and feelings play an important role within history education. Yet, the affective dimensions (feelings, emotions, connections) of learning about the past are understudied within research on historical empathy—defined here as a cognitive-affective process of attempting to understand the thoughts, feelings, experiences, decisions, and actions of people from the past within their historical contexts. Drawing from interviews with secondary school history teachers in Canada, this article offers insight into teachers’ perspectives on constructive ways that they approach the affective dimensions within history classrooms, as well as problems and challenges that arise when they intentionally elicit emotions or encounter them unexpectedly. In doing so, the article aims to further conceptualize the affective dimensions of historical empathy and expand understandings of emotions in history and social studies education, while positioning these discussions in relation to history education in Canada.

Why do teachers not change while the national curriculum repeatedly changes?: The ‘Hidden’ resistance of teachers in the centralized system of education in South Korea

In the highly centralized education system, national curriculum revisions are significant because they fundamentally change the direction and nature of schooling across the country. However, any new reform will inevitably be met by opposition and resistance from various stakeholders. While the notion of increased autonomy and empowerment is predicated on teachers’ participation, in practice, teachers are often unwilling to accept or even oppose curriculum changes. Using South Korea's recent national curriculum revision in 2022 as reference, this study draws attention to the fact that despite the revision of the national curriculum, teachers’ curriculum implementation has not changed as much as expected, and even show antipathy or resistance. Resistance in this context does not mean simple opposition but rather a phenomenon that involves and intervenes in the interpretive process of new policies, and the politics of the society that surrounds individuals and schools. I argue that Korean primary and secondary teachers’ reactions to the new national curriculum reflect complex orientations towards the curriculum and resistance to its revision, shaped by personal, organizational, and sociocultural contexts. With implications of the analysis for understanding teachers’ responses to national curriculum, I conclude that we need more pay attention to the dilemma as an ambivalent emotion teachers experience requires us to consider the dynamics when the national curriculum is implemented.

Formative assessment for self-regulated learning: Evidence from a teacher continuing professional development programme

It has been argued that formative assessment (FA) improves student learning. Recent research has focused on helping teachers enhance their assessment literacy in FA in order to see the impact on learning results. Researchers are also beginning to contend that FA not only leads to improved content learning, but also helps improve students’ ability in self- and co-regulated learning. In this study, a 12-week teacher continuing professional development (CPD) programme was designed and implemented for a group of five secondary school EFL teachers in China aiming at developing their formative assessment literacy. This paper zooms in on students’ perceptions of and reactions to the CPD programme, offering insights into the impact of FA on the development of students’ self-regulated learning (SRL). Pre- and post-CPD interviews with ten students of the five teachers were coded and analysed using Zimmerman’s three-phase model of SRL. Higher frequency of mentions after the CPD and more students mentioning a code were taken as indicators of improvement over the 12-week intervention. The results show that all three phases of SRL were fostered by the CPD programme aimed at the implementation of FA. The study has implications for both formative assessment and self-regulated learning.

Enhancing Biology Teachers' Professional Development

The purpose of the study is to identify the necessary knowledge to be developed by biology teachers using the TPACK model for each of the five topics that are difficult to teach in Mongolian high schools. Five groups—“respiration,” “regulation of the living body,” “biotechnology, genetic engineering,” “enzymes,” and “immunity”—were selected as difficult groups for teaching according to the TPACK model. The study questioned 113 school biology teachers for content knowledge (CK), pedagogical content knowledge (PCK), technology content knowledge (TCK), and technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPCK). For each topic, TCK is the heaviest and CK the lightest compared to other types of knowledge for biology teachers. In terms of the correlation coefficient, for the groups, TCK and TPCK had the highest correlations. This research proposes the development of TCK and TPCK content modules for specific groups of secondary school biology teachers is crucial.

How Can Schools Retain Secondary Emotional Support Teachers? Ask Them

<i>The population of certified special education teachers working and remaining in secondary emotional support classrooms continues to dwindle across the nation. This causes more and more students with Emotional Disturbance to work with a frequent turnover of educators or emergency-certified educators with possibly no prior experience. High school students who receive emotional support services are a vulnerable population that requires a supportive and well-trained special education teacher to help them make academic, emotional, and behavioral progress in the school setting and in achieving their post-secondary goals. This qualitative study explored five veteran schoolteachers’ experiences to identify the factors that have helped them remain in their careers and which ones discourage them from staying. The individual and focus group interviews identified several job-related factors that are consistent with previous literature (diverse student needs), evolution in some (administrator and colleague support), and different or newly identified factors (willingness to take risks, advocating for secondary student’s needs, educator’s personality) that require additional exploration.</i>

East Meets West: Perceptions of Teachers and Students of Secondary Reform in China in 2012 and 2022

This mixed-methods study compares how secondary teachers implemented Education Reform in China in 2012 and 2022. The survey asked how often a teaching or evaluation strategy was used. The conclusions indicate that even though teacher-directed lessons (teacher talk, individual work, and questioning) still dominated, subject teachers were using a variety of student-centered learning (SCL) methods (activities and group work) and integration of technology (ICT) in accordance with reform initiatives. Surveys also revealed that classroom management needs decreased as a result of the reforms. The problem lies with the examination system, as there is little room for introducing reform initiatives.

Teachers’ use of mobile devices in suburban under-resourced secondary schools in Nepal

This study examined how secondary teachers used mobile devices for teaching and learning activities in under-resourced secondary schools in Napal. Twelve secondary teachers from three schools in the suburbs of one Himalayan district in Nepal were interviewed using qualitative research methods. The information gathered through observation of their classes supplemented the information gathered through interviews. Findings show that using mobile devices is productive for developing digital content, getting access to internet resources, and delivering lessons in the classroom. The degree of teachers’ technological, pedagogical, and content knowledge was reflected in how they used their mobile devices for information access, language games, dictionaries, and specific learning applications. In the absence of desktop computers and laptops, this study demonstrated how mobile devices improved teachers’ teaching and learning activities. Teachers could exhibit a greater level of proficiency in using technology if they received training on its usage in teaching and learning, and administrative support.

The Pineapple as a Means to Develop Scientific Competence in the Spanish High School Diploma of Research

AbstractEvery three years, the Organisation for European Cooperation and Development evaluates the scientific competence of European students. Recent results have demonstrated that scientific competence in Spain is somewhat underdeveloped, which underscores the need to apply educational methodologies that favour the development of said competence. This paper analysed the extent to which the implementation of the Spanish high school diploma of research favoured the development of the Scientific Competence of students. The students had to develop a research project, co-tutored by a secondary education teacher and a University teacher/researcher. Both professionals offered the guidance necessary to develop a project that concerned the resolution of a problem of interest. Audio and video data were collected during the 18 months of the high school programme. These data were transcribed and analysed using a rubric designed ad hoc. This assessment instrument is a relevant point of this work as long as it can be used as evaluating tool in the Scientific Competence assessment of future studies. The results revealed that the students had to make use of their knowledge of the research topic, strengthen this knowledge, substantiate the research using the scientific literature, design and develop the experimental methodology, collect, analyse and present data, and, finally, disclose these data. The results indicated high levels of development in the three sub-competences that were explored, which concluded in a high development of scientific competence.