The Roles of the Primary Head in Voluntary Aided and County Schools: A Personal View     

Ray Fisher Headteacher 《School Leadership & Management》2013,33(3):265-272

In Zimbabwe, there have been some debates on democratisation and decentralisation, which led to the development of policies meant to increase teacher participation in decision-making in schools. However, despite these developments, teacher participation in decision-making in Zimbabwean schools is regarded as insignificant. Teachers work closely with students and have firsthand knowledge of their strengths and weaknesses – they are therefore the most valuable people to develop and implement policies. This study investigated the extent of teacher participation in decision-making in Zimbabwean schools. The study adopted a qualitative/interpretive research methodology and used the case study research design as the operational framework for data gathering. Data was collected through interviews, documentary analysis and observation of two staff meetings per school from five secondary schools in Gweru Education District in Zimbabwe. The population sample comprised five secondary school heads and 20 secondary school teachers. The study established that teachers were insignificantly involved in decision-making despite their eagerness to be involved. Some duties are given to senior teachers or committees even when teachers feel that they should be directly involved. There are times when school heads make unilateral decisions and impose them on teachers for implementation. The study recommends that heads of schools should give their teachers room to come up with ideas and look at all contributions objectively.  相似文献   

A Case Study of Needs Assessment in Teacher In-Service Development     

Heidi L. Schnackenberg  Krista Luik  Yael C. Nisan  Colleen Servant 《Educational Research and Evaluation》2013,19(2-3):137-160

In 1996, The Ministry of Education of the Province of Quebec authorized a plan to support the integration of new information technologies and communications (NTIC) in its schools. An expenditure of $318 million dollars was announced for the purchase and upgrade of hardware and software. In response to this initiative, The Concordia University Centre for the Study of Learning and Performance (CSLP) approached the Quebec schoolboards, proposing partnerships between them and the Centre to facilitate the integration of these technologies into pedagogical practices. This article describes a needs assessment performed by the university in two Quebec elementary schools. The collected data revealed that teachers are currently using computers primarily for word processing and to prepare report cards. While they are somewhat dissatisfied with previous professional development, they are still highly interested in receiving training on how to better incorporate technology into their pedagogical practices. General recommendations and a workshop are outlined.  相似文献   

Integrating Information Technology: competency recommendations by teachers for teacher training     

Mercedes Fisher 《Technology, Pedagogy and Education》2013,22(3):233-238

ABSTRACT

A challenge for teacher training education lies in keeping courses up to date. This paper provides a view of the top ten IT competencies required of pre‐service teachers, as perceived by practising teachers in USA schools. This paper reports findings from 215 teachers in Colorado public schools. A complimentary view of reasons that teachers have for not using new media in instruction indicates that convenient access to hardware and software are significant issues and recommends re‐examination of traditional teacher training and practise.  相似文献   

Analysing the Role of the Teacher in Early Reading: A lesson for researchers     

Ros Fisher 《Teachers and Teaching》2013,19(3):297-313

This paper describes two parts of a research study that examined the role of the teacher of reading in the child's first year of school. Traditional research into reading has tended to examine the child's reading behaviour or the methods used by teachers. Research into teacher effectiveness tends to be large scale and uses standardised measures of performance and analysis of task design. This paper argues that teaching, particularly with younger children, is a complex process that cannot be easily defined. The design adopted by researchers will influence findings and, above all, if research into teaching does not involve the teachers themselves, then it is unlikely that new definitions of teaching will arise. The author discusses how the inclusion in the research project of teachers' own perceptions of their role revealed different and contradictory findings to those of more established studies .  相似文献   

Creating a Schoolwide Vocabulary Initiative in an Urban High School     

Douglas Fisher 《Journal of Education for Students Placed at Risk》2013,18(3):337-351

In an effort to improve student achievement at an urban high school, teachers and administrators developed a 5-part, schoolwide vocabulary plan. Over 4 years, teachers provided students with increased opportunities to read, read to their students, developed content-specific vocabulary instruction, taught students academic words, and focused on 5 words each week with a common prefix, suffix, or root. Over the 4 years, student achievement in vocabulary and reading comprehension improved in significant ways, both on reading assessments and state achievement tests.  相似文献   

A professional development model to facilitate teacher adoption of interactive,immersive digital games for classroom learning     

Colleen Stieler-Hunt  Christian Jones 《British journal of educational technology : journal of the Council for Educational Technology》2019,50(1):264-279

The benefits of using digital games in the curriculum are well documented in literature. Most teachers who use digital games use short-form drill-and-practice learning games rather than the kinds of games most students would choose to play in their free time. The use of more interactive, immersive digital games (IDGs) in classrooms tends to be sporadic, dependent upon the enthusiasm and ingenuity of individual teachers. Previous studies have indicated that many teachers have concerns about using digital games in classrooms and have difficulties knowing how to best use digital games. This qualitative study presents a professional development model for teachers that was inductively derived through analysing in-depth, semi-structured interviews with 13 educators who have used digital games in the classroom. Implementing this model can help teachers develop attitudes and skills necessary to meaningfully use interactive, IDGs in their classrooms. Evidence suggests that a mentor should have a strong understanding of how to use digital games effectively in classrooms, work with small cohorts of teachers to collegially plan the use of digital games within a unit of class work, trial the unit of work with a small number of enthusiastic teachers, and then implement it with the remaining teachers. This approach is based on interviews with educators who have successfully mentored teachers in their schools to use interactive, IDGs in their classrooms. These educators encountered little resistance from their teaching colleagues. Their approach further supported teachers who were open to the possibilities of using digital games in their classrooms.  相似文献   

Interpersonal behaviour and student outcomes in vocational education classes     

David G. Henderson  Darrell L. Fisher 《Learning Environments Research》2008,11(1):19-29

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Linking Employment to Attachment: The Mediating Effects of Maternal Separation Anxiety and Interactive Behavior   总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1  

Cynthia A. Stifter  Colleen M. Coulehan  Margaret Fish 《Child development》1993,64(5):1451-1460

This study examined the effects of maternal employment and separation anxiety on maternal interactive behavior and infant attachment. 73 mother-infant pairs participated in a laboratory free-play session when infants were 5 and 10 months of age and in the Strange Situation when the infants were 18 months of age. Maternal feelings about being separated from her infant were assessed by questionnaire at 5 months. Employed mothers returned to work before the infants' fifth month, and nonemployed mothers did not work outside the home through their infants' tenth month. Employed mothers who reported high levels of separation anxiety were more likely to exhibit intrusive behaviors at 10 months. While employment was not directly related to attachment, we found infants of high-anxiety employed mothers to develop anxious-avoidant attachments. The results suggest that maternal separation anxiety and interactive style may be important mediators between employment and later infant outcome.  相似文献   

Responding to student expectations: a partnership approach to course evaluation   总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1  

Ron Fisher  Dale Miller 《Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education》2008,33(2):191-202

This paper presents a study that used newly developed instruments to investigate student expectations at two points in a semester‐based course. Course convenors were able to make some changes in response to the feedback, explain to students how the feedback had informed the course processes, and work with tutors on delivery enhancements. The administration of these instruments, a partnership approach involving students, tutors and lecturers, contributed to the creation of a responsive teaching and learning environment. In addition to enabling real‐time changes to be made, evaluation of the total teaching and learning experience ensured that improvements were made to subsequent offerings of the same course. Also, insights from one course were evaluated in terms of applicability to other courses offered within the same academic discipline. The study finds that establishing student expectations provides a framework for developing a responsive and iterative approach to achieving excellence in teaching and learning.  相似文献   

Trust in education     

Andrew Fisher 《Educational Philosophy and Theory》2020,52(7):780-790

Abstract

The philosophy of trust is a relatively small subfield. Nonetheless, it contains within it many important insights. Our contention in this paper is that careful study of this subfield can bring with it many insights that can and should be used to reconsider a variety of arguments that have been brought forward in the literature on the philosophy of education and other areas of educational research. Our focus is largely destructive in section 2 of the paper. We object to two recent papers from the philosophy of education literature arguing that they fail to recognise important insights from the philosophical literature on trust. In section 3 we say something more positive, noting the routes forward.  相似文献