Search results for "ta516"
showing 10 items of 614 documents
A Small Special Needs Class or a Smaller Class at the Beginning of the Educational Path?
2016
<p>This article is based on the case study which focuses on the small class (in this article used to describe a small special needs class) operation of one medium-sized Finnish town. In the study an attempt was made to clarify what kind of alternative the small class is to the first grade of general education at the beginning of the child's educational path, what kind of experiences the teachers had of the pupils of the small class, of multi-vocational cooperation and of pupils' integration and success in general education. The results of the study showed that a large part of the pupils who come to the small classes had learning difficulties, and attention and behavioural disorders. I…
Reducing disruptive behaviours and improving learning climates with class-wide positive behaviour support in middle schools
2014
Disruptive behaviours in classrooms pose a significant challenge for learning in schools and are, at the same time, a risk factor for students’ academic achievement and a major source for work-related stress among teachers. Earlier research suggests that clarifying the classroom rules and behavioural expectations, monitoring students’ adherence to them and using behaviour-specific praise are simple and effective practices to reduce disruptive behaviour. Most of the interventions have been developed for elementary schools, although behaviour problems tend to be more common in middle schools. This two-month pilot study using a pre–post design evaluated the effects of a class-wide intervention…
Becoming an Inclusive Teacher at the Interface of School and Teacher Education
2015
The aim of this study is to assess how the pedagogical solutions of the inclusive teaching practice in class teachers' adult education programme support the development to become an inclusive teacher. What kind of interpretations do the students make of inclusion and inclusive school? How does the participation in school community with reflective support by teacher education community enhance inclusive professional orientation? The research material consists of qualitative network material written by 22 adult students: teaching practice plans, reflective practice stories and teaching practice feedback. The analytical approach was thematic text analysis. Inclusion was interpreted as pupils’ …
A Descriptive Case Analysis of Instructional Teaching Practices in Finnish Preschool Classrooms
2013
This study examined the diversity of teaching practices to illuminate the qualitative variety of instructional teaching practices among preschool teachers. Further, teachers' self-rated educational goals were explored to complement the multifaceted nature of preschool teachers' instructional teaching practices. The study was carried out as a case study. The cases were used to describe the qualitative variety of Finnish preschool teachers' instructional practices in authentic classroom situations among groups of 6-year-old children. The authors' previous study revealed four distinct latent profiles of teaching practices in preschool classrooms based on 49 observed preschool teachers, using t…
Validating the early childhood classroom observation measure in first and third grade classrooms
2016
The present study reports on the psychometric properties of the Early Childhood Classroom Observation Measure (ECCOM) in Finnish and Estonian first and third grade classrooms. The observation data were collected from 91 first grade teachers and 70 third grade teachers. Teachers' curriculum goals, teaching experience and the classroom size were measured also. The results of confirmatory factor analysis provided evidence of the three-factor model (management, climate, and instruction) for each dimension—child-centred, teacher-directed, and child-dominated—in both grades. The reliability of the dimensions and sub-scales was good, and some evidence was also found for criterion validity. The fin…
Teacher-perceived supportive classroom climate protects against detrimental impact of reading disability risk on peer rejection
2012
Abstract This study examined the role of a supportive classroom climate, class size, and length of teaching experience as protective factors against children's peer rejection. A total of 376 children were assessed in kindergarten for risk for reading disabilities (RD) and rated by their teachers on socially withdrawn and disruptive behaviors. The grade 1 measures included sociometric peer assessment and teachers' self-ratings of their supportiveness in the classroom, together with information on class size and teaching experience. The results showed, first, that the studied social and learning risk factors positively predicted peer rejection in grade 1. Moreover, teacher-reported supportive…
Flexible Grouping as a Means for Classroom Management in a Heterogeneous Classroom
2011
This article concerns issues of classroom management in heterogeneous classrooms. Although research in the field of learning styles has yielded mixed results, there is a call for information about how they could be used to individualize instruction, especially in primary schools. This article is part of an ethnographic study aiming to examine teacher collaboration in a primary school and it draws strongly on field notes and on interviews with teachers. The intention was to discover how the two teachers in the classroom studied categorized pupils according to the learning styles model they had invented, and how the resulting groups were used for the purposes of classroom management. The stu…
‘The teacher almost made me cry’ Narrative analysis of teachers' reactive classroom management strategies as reported by students diagnosed with ADHD
2016
This interview study addresses the gap in earlier research by focussing on the narratives of 13 ADHDdiagnosed Finnish students regarding teacher reactive classroom management strategies. The data are analysed through narrative analysis. Five different narrative types are identified, in which teacher behaviour is evaluated as (1) disproportionate, (2) traumatising, (3) neglectful, (4) unfair and (5) understanding. The dominant storyline e common to the first four types e constructed the narrator's transgression as contingent upon and a justified reaction to teacher conduct. The vicious cycle of coercive classroom management strategies and the culture of blame between students and teachers ar…
What happens at the lesson start?
2016
AbstractTransitional periods, such as lesson starts, are necessary steps from one activity to another, but they also compete with time for actual learning. The aim of the present study was to replicate a previous pilot study on lesson starts and explore possible disturbances. In total, 130 lesson starts in Finnish basic education in grades 1–9 were studied using systematic observation performed by 79 preservice teachers. The results corresponded with a previous pilot study indicating that lesson starts were generally orderly and teachers used effective means to manage events. However, lessons started 5 min late on average. Male teachers were evaluated to have better classroom order than fem…
Distributed pedagogical leadership in support of student transitions
2012
This article examines how, through uncovering collaborative leadership, the whole school staff is able to understand its common endeavours to support heterogeneous students’ fluent learning paths. For this, a notion of distributed pedagogical leadership (DPL) is drawn upon. DPL concerns everyone in the school community, not only leaders and management. It means abandoning role, instrumental or process centricity and moving towards leadership that is characterized as the innermost qualities of a professional learning community. This kind of leadership is best described with 10 ‘keys’ as 10 key attributes. To understand DPL in practice, quantitative data both from a nationwide Finnish survey…