School classrooms within the EU are multilingual learning environments. The diversity of pupils in classrooms raises significant challenges for teachers, but to date, there are no data from large-scale surveys that compare views within and across European countries. A bespoke questionnaire was designed to examine views of current classroom learning environments with respect to the multilingualism. The questionnaire was piloted and subsequently completed by 2792 teachers across different European countries. Eleven countries provided sufficient data for analyses. Results from structural equation modelling showed that teachers’ attitudes could be reliably measured across Europe with the use of carefully devised questionnaire, whose loading and factor structure remained invariant across countries. Teachers’ views about multilingualism were most challenged by the numbers of children in their classes, not the percentage of multilingual pupils in the class. Countries differed in how they perceived multilingualism, with their differences leading to distinctive country clusters. Gender and education level (elementary vs. secondary) differences were also observed irrespective of country. These findings enhance our understanding of the role that the characteristics of teachers and their classrooms play in a multilingual setting across diverse European settings. The practical relevance of the results and new opportunities for teacher training are discussed.
This paper draws on 159 survey responses of fourth year Education students as they embark on a research project based in their
internship school. The project explores predisposition to research and the level of preparedness to undertake a research project.
The students who met most frequently with their supervisor and showed higher research self-efficacy were also most likely
to want to undertake postgraduate study and reacted positively to good personal support and a feeling of belonging to a research
“community”. Many felt they were “unconnected” to a learning community, and specifically to their supervisor. They were generally
positive about their ability to do the tasks, such as finding and writing up literature, even though they were concerned about
managing the overall commitment. Despite this they were optimistic about completion. Only 5% were sure they would undertake
postgraduate study in the future, and 65% were sure they would not do so. In an environment where there is commitment to promoting
research skills consistent with the needs of a knowledge society and drawing on evidence to inform practice, the findings
not only raise the question of how best to support and give meaning to early research endeavours of preservice teachers, but
also highlights the challenge of achieving this against a high level of disinterest in further tertiary study. 相似文献
