Search results for " teachers."
showing 10 items of 361 documents
The Concordance between Teachers’ and Parents’ Perceptions of School Transition Practices: A Solid Base for the Future
2015
This study focuses on parents’ and teachers’ perceptions of practices aimed at easing the transition to formal schooling (e.g., familiarization with the school, discussions about the school entrants). A total of 230 preschool teachers, 131 elementary school teachers, and 2,662 mothers and fathers filled in a questionnaire containing items on how important they considered different preschool-school transition practices. The participants considered the various transition practices to be at least somewhat important. On average, familiarization with the school was considered to be most important, whereas teacher co-operation and joint writing of curricula were considered to be least important. …
Science teachers’ perceptions of the current situation of planetary emergency
2003
During the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development held in Rio in 1992 educators of every subject were asked to contribute to public awareness and understanding of the problems and challenges related to our planet’s future, in order to make possible citizens’ participation in well grounded decision-making. The purpose of our contribution is to analyse what science teachers’ perceptions are, because without correct teacher perception of the planetary crisis and its possible solutions, we can’t expect their effective implication in this dimension of education.
Ethnic prejudice, resilience, and perception of inclusion of immigrant pupils among Italian and Catalan teachers
2021
In the current study we investigated the relationship between ethnic prejudice and resilience and the perception of inclusion of immigrant students among primary and middle school teachers in two different countries (Italy and Spain). Participants were 315 teachers: 75 Catalan women, 25 Catalan men, 202 Italian women, and 13 Italian men. Participants completed the Classical and Modern Racial Prejudice Scale, the Resilience Process Questionnaire, and an ad hoc questionnaire evaluating teachers’ perceptions about immigrant students and their inclusive education process. The results showed two different models: The first one, referring to Italian teachers, suggested that the resilience compone…
How do novice teachers in Finland perceive their professional agency?
2015
This study investigated novice teachers’ perceptions of their professional agency during the initial years of their work in schools. The research questions were: (i) How do novice teachers perceive their professional agency within their work, and what do they see as the main restrictions and resources affecting that agency? (ii) How do novice teachers perceive their professional agency in the construction and renegotiation of their professional identities, and what do they see as the main restrictions and resources affecting their sense of agency? In theoretical terms, we adhere to a subject-centered sociocultural approach. This implies understanding subjects as active agents from a develop…
Inclusive didactics and assistive technologies: the experience of a group of special needs teachers
2018
This paper describes the results of an exploratory survey aimed to examine the experience of a group of special needs teachers on the use of ICT in teaching to students with autism spectrum disorder. It is focused on the effectiveness of video modeling as a tool through which to learn (self-learning and imitation) specific skills in the field of personal autonomy. By sharing the thought of Rossi (2012), which has stated that "digital technologies provide to school an extraordinary opportunity to put on the agenda the issue of learning and, together with it, the professionalism of teachers", the authors handed out a questionnaire to a group of special needs teachers of a Comprehensive School…
Children’s Emotions in Educational Settings: Teacher Perceptions from Australia, China, Finland, Japan and Spain
2019
The transition to formal education is a critical transition in children’s lives that has importance for socio-emotional and behavioral functioning. In the transition process, teachers are key players who work intensively with children and their families. This article focuses on teachers’ perceptions of children´s socio-emotional behavior during the transition from preschool to primary school. We collected qualitative teacher interviews from 112 teachers from five different countries—Australia, China, Finland, Japan and Spain. The research questions were: (1) How do teachers in the five countries perceive children’s abilities in expressing and regulating emotions. (2) How are children’s emot…
Special Education Teachers’ Identification of Students’ Reading Difficulties in Grade 6
2020
his study investigated special educational needs (SEN) teachers’ (n = 29) assessment practices and the accuracy of their ratings of the students’ (M age = 12.75 years, n = 55) skill levels in reading fluency and reading comprehension. Teachers rated their sixth grade students’ fluency and comprehension on a three-point scale, and the students were also tested in group tests. Results showed that SEN teachers used several assessment practices simultaneously but mostly relied on observations. The correlations between the teacher ratings and the test scores were significant but moderate in fluency and weak in comprehension. Only two thirds of low-performing students having difficulties in fluen…
Vocational teachers’ pathways in the course of a curriculum reform
2011
Teachers face continuous changes, many of which significantly influence their professional identities and work practices. This study investigates Finnish vocational teachers’ pathways in the course of a curriculum reform. The data were obtained by interviewing 14 vocational teachers twice, i.e. at the initial and later stages of the reform. This study used a narrative approach to analyse the interviews as whole and also to illustrate variations between teachers. The teachers were found to exhibit distinctive pathways through the reform: an empowerment pathway, a critical but adaptive pathway, an open and expectant pathway, a successful transformation pathway, and a struggling pathway. The p…
Acceptability, reach and implementation of a training to enhance teachers’ skills in physical activity promotion
2020
This is a pre-print of a published study: Renko, E., Knittle, K., Palsola, M. et al. Acceptability, reach and implementation of a training to enhance teachers’ skills in physical activity promotion. BMC Public Health 20, 1568 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-020-09653-x Background: In order to achieve real-world impacts, successful behavior change interventions need to be scaled up and broadly implemented. Implementation is challenging however, and the factors influencing successful implementation are not fully understood. This study describes the nationwide implementation of a complex theory-based program to promote physical activity and reduce sedentary behavior in vocational school…
Prerequisites for the successful group mentoring of first-year university students: a case study
2018
In this article we present a case study on a group mentoring practice proven successful in earlier studies in terms of student self-regulation and collaboration. The purpose of our study was to unc...