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1 – 10 of over 16000Sylvia Yee Fan Tang, Eric Siu Chung Lo, Fang-Yin Yeh and May May Hung Cheng
This study examined the relationship between early career teachers' (ECTs') perceived professional competence (PC) and teacher buoyancy (TB) and the contribution of such dynamic…
Abstract
Purpose
This study examined the relationship between early career teachers' (ECTs') perceived professional competence (PC) and teacher buoyancy (TB) and the contribution of such dynamic interaction between ECTs' perceived PC and TB to their thriving in the face of everyday teaching challenges.
Design/methodology/approach
The study adopted a concurrent mixed-methods research design. A total of 218 ECTs taking a postgraduate, part-time initial teacher education programme completed two quantitative measures: Professional Competence Questionnaire and Teacher Buoyancy Scale – Extended Version. Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) analysis was conducted to examine the relationship between PC and TB. Qualitative data via semi-structured interviews were collected from 14 survey respondents and were interpreted through a case study approach.
Findings
The quantitative findings showed: (1) Competence in classroom teaching predicts the personal and contextual dimensions of teacher buoyancy; and (2) Competence to work in schools predicts the personal dimension of teacher buoyancy. The qualitative findings showed two cases that exemplified how the dynamic interaction between ECTs' perceived PC and the personal and contextual dimensions of TB supported their development of teaching expertise.
Originality/value
The paper provides empirical findings on the relationship between PC and TB. It highlights ECTs' perceived Competence to work in schools as goal alignment and engagement with school policy as a crucial facilitating condition that develops ECTs' capacity to face daily challenges and engenders their thriving in terms of development of teaching expertise.
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Teachers at the tertiary level play an essential role in the expansion of quality in higher education. The issue of competence and its development has particular importance in…
Abstract
Purpose
Teachers at the tertiary level play an essential role in the expansion of quality in higher education. The issue of competence and its development has particular importance in creating the new landscape of the twenty-first century. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to develop validated inventory identifying future-oriented competences required for the teaching profession in the changing environment of higher education institutions (HEIs).
Design/methodology/approach
In the study, teacher competences and related teacher’s behavior were theoretically defined and underwent principal factor analysis. The survey was carried out among teachers, students and graduates of HEIs in India.
Findings
The analysis revealed future-oriented teacher competences resulting from the globalization process of the teaching profession. Testing the inventory indicated that there was a high Cronbach’s α reliability. Results show that the inventory enjoyed proper internal consistency for four dimensions as general teaching competences. The inventory with 66 items and four factors explained 47.279 percent of the total variance and indicated a strong factor model.
Practical implications
Teacher competence inventory (TCI) can be used to modernize study programs of teacher education and shift focus toward future-oriented competences required for the teaching profession in HEIs in India. Therefore, TCI could be essential to prepare teachers for the changing environment of teaching.
Originality/value
This study is an essential step in reorienting the process of teacher education toward professional development aimed at developing future-oriented competences in the teaching profession. It proposes to develop an instrument measuring teacher competences areas and related teacher behavior.
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The purpose of this paper is to explore the role of collaborative learning in the development of teachers’ entrepreneurial competences in the school context at primary, secondary…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the role of collaborative learning in the development of teachers’ entrepreneurial competences in the school context at primary, secondary and vocational levels of education.
Design/methodology/approach
The research is based on an interpretative and collaborative learning approach to teachers’ entrepreneurial competence development. The empirical work relies on teachers’ written learning reflections collected during the chosen training programme and applies an Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) method to analyze the data.
Findings
The findings demonstrate that collaborative learning can help teachers to adopt a more entrepreneurial teaching approach. The findings highlight that social interaction and collegial support are important “drivers” for building self-confidence, further showing that conceptual and pedagogical renewal leads to an in-depth understanding of the work role and its meaning in society.
Research limitations/implications
The study is of an explorative nature and bound to a specific contextual setting in Finland. Therefore further empirical research is needed to affirm the study’s suggestions on the effects of other collaborative learning interactions.
Practical implications
The research findings provide new insights for teacher trainers and policy makers on how to enhance entrepreneurial teaching competences. The study concludes with new directions for designing and managing teacher training programmes.
Originality/value
The paper enhances the understanding of teachers’ entrepreneurial competences, the role of collaborative peer learning in this process and thus bridges the gap between teacher research and entrepreneurial competence literature.
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Sofia Antera and Marianne Teräs
This study explores the role of previous occupational identity in the formation of the (new) teacher identity of vocational teachers. The focus is on how vocational teachers…
Abstract
Purpose
This study explores the role of previous occupational identity in the formation of the (new) teacher identity of vocational teachers. The focus is on how vocational teachers discover their teaching identity, how they describe the connection between their previous occupation and teacher identity and how they describe a competent member of the teaching community.
Design/methodology/approach
The theoretical approach is inspired by Communities of Practice (CoP) theory. More specifically, the realignment between socially demanded competence in the profession and personal experience as well as identification with the teaching community are discussed. The research material comes from 14 interviews with vocational teachers in different disciplines.
Findings
Findings indicate first that the process of professional identity (trans)formation was initiated by finding one's teaching self when the individuals became aware of their interest in teaching by discovering that they had already achieved some sort of teaching-related competence. Second, individuals had been connecting their professional identities – finding common competence between their previous occupation and the teaching role. Third, vocational teachers experienced legitimising their competence and their new identity with reference to what their new CoP instructed as important competence (regime of competence).
Originality/value
While teachers' vocational competence is not scrutinised, their teaching competence needs to be constantly proved. This imbalance often leads to teachers returning to an aspect of their identity that is well established – their vocational competence. Looking back to their occupational competences constitutes a realignment backwards, when teachers attempt to serve their new professional goal by drawing on old competence.
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Francisco David Guillén-Gámez, Ernesto Colomo-Magaña, Julio Ruiz-Palmero and Łukasz Tomczyk
To know the digital competence of rural teachers to carry out the tutoring process with members of the educational community through digital resources (teacher-student, teacher…
Abstract
Purpose
To know the digital competence of rural teachers to carry out the tutoring process with members of the educational community through digital resources (teacher-student, teacher-families and teacher-teaching team). As specific objectives, gender, teaching specialties, interaction between gender*teaching speciality, and significant predictors were analysed.
Design/methodology/approach
The research was quantitative, with a non-experimental, cross-sectional, descriptive and inferential design.
Findings
The results showed an explorer-expert teacher, where the generalist teachers had a superior competence compared to the rest of the specialties. Gender and teaching speciality were significant predictors in the communication that the teacher has with all the agents involved, while the interaction of both predictors was only significant between the teacher-teaching team and teacher-families.
Research limitations/implications
Another issue worth considering relates to the development of the classification tree for the use of digital resources in tutorial action. Due to lack of space, the proposal has focused on gender and particular subjects, but it would be interesting to focus on the dimensions of the instrument with regard to tutorial action with the different agents (students, teaching staff and families).
Originality/value
After reviewing the literature, the authors can conclude that very little quantitative research is focused on the level of self-perception of digital competence of teachers in rural schools. Furthermore, the teaching speciality of teachers has up until now hardly been taken into account as a variable that can determine the levels of digital competence. Not many studies have analysed the use of digital resources to communicate with the different members of the educational community.
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The purpose of this study is to provide an analysis of the teacher education program focused on the development of the research competence of the preservice teachers, difficulties…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to provide an analysis of the teacher education program focused on the development of the research competence of the preservice teachers, difficulties they encountered in conducting action research and the need to provide them with realistic research opportunities.
Design/methodology/approach
This qualitative study made use of data sources taken from observations, feedback sessions, presentations and follow-up written interview of 133 randomly selected preservice teachers.
Findings
Findings reported that the multicultural preservice teachers have novice research skills and that the real-world application of their research skills developed their research competence. However, they encountered difficulties creating their action research, such as in the literature review and the research conceptualization.
Research limitations/implications
Aside from the self-reported experiences of the students, the training on the action research mainly focused on the conceptualization, design formulation of interventions and proposal writing stage but were not implemented due to course constraints.
Practical implications
This study can assist policymakers to integrate a mandatory research course as part of the curricular offerings and for the university to create space for students to practice their research skills based on real-life problems in the basic level institutions.
Social implications
Understanding the challenges, difficulties, and basic competence in the research development of the preservice teachers would strengthen the research practice of the future teachers for evidence-based teaching in the schools.
Originality/value
The limited literature focus on the development of research competence on teacher education students using action research, including the difficulties that university students experience in doing research based on a societal context.
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Tomas Jungert, Rickard Östergren, Nathalie Houlfort and Richard Koestner
Perceived support from co-workers and managers is important for many organizational outcomes. However, the benefit of competence support from colleagues and school management on…
Abstract
Purpose
Perceived support from co-workers and managers is important for many organizational outcomes. However, the benefit of competence support from colleagues and school management on personal teacher efficacy has not been investigated. The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to investigate the impact of competence support from colleagues and the school management on growth in teacher efficacy and second, to investigate cultural differences (Canada and Sweden).
Design/methodology/approach
The authors administered an inventory measuring support for competence and personal teacher efficacy to over 400 teachers in Canada and Sweden at 27 schools, at two times. Time 1 took place at the first week of a fall semester and Time 2 at the end of the same semester.
Findings
Structural equation modeling revealed that competence support from colleagues predicted growth in teacher efficacy, whereas competence support from school management did not. No differences in these relations emerged between Canadian and Swedish teachers.
Practical implications
The findings have implications for how schools organize teachers in teacher teams so that competence support from co-workers is promoted.
Originality/value
This study is the first cross-cultural study to empirically show that teachers’ self-efficacy is significantly benefitted by competence support from their teacher peers.
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Francis Kasekende, John C. Munene, Samson Omuudu Otengei and Joseph Mpeera Ntayi
– The purpose of this paper is to examine relationship between teacher competences and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) with empowerment as a mediating factor.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine relationship between teacher competences and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) with empowerment as a mediating factor.
Design/methodology/approach
The study took a cross-sectional descriptive and analytical design. Using cluster and random sampling procedures, data were obtained from 383 usable questionnaires. Data were analyzed through SPSS and Analysis of Moment Structures.
Findings
Results indicated that planning, continuous assessment and initiating as operant teacher competences were significantly and positively related to empowerment. Also, empowerment was significantly and positively related to OCBs. Similarly, empowerment came out as a full mediator of the relationship between the teacher competences and OCBs.
Practical implications
The study is relevant in that heads of schools will ensure they set up and implement human resources policies and practices that are favorable to building empowerment and OCB. School heads will be able to closely adhere to planning, initiating and continuous assessment rules in order to promote teacher empowerment and OCB. Government could appraise school heads based on whether they can successfully implement operant competence related rules on the employees
Originality/value
The findings theoretically reconceptualize competences from the objectivist to the constructivist perspective. Planning, initiating, continuous assessment and empowerment make significant variations in OCB. The study demonstrates that empowerment translates the inputs of teacher competence into OCB.
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Mario Diz-Otero, Iago Portela-Pino, Sara Domínguez-Lloria and Margarita Pino-Juste
Continuous training in professional teaching competencies has become one of the challenges of the school of the 21st century, especially if we refer to the mastery of digital…
Abstract
Purpose
Continuous training in professional teaching competencies has become one of the challenges of the school of the 21st century, especially if we refer to the mastery of digital competence. The aim of this study is to analyze the degree of digital competence of secondary school teachers of different areas of knowledge during the global pandemic of COVID-19 in the Galician autonomous community and obtain data that allow us to infer whether there is an association between individual variables such as age, gender, degree, work experience and their mastery of digital competence.
Design/methodology/approach
A cross-sectional descriptive quasi-experimental study is performed using an accidental sample of secondary school teachers from different fields of knowledge.
Findings
The different results obtained determine that the level of knowledge and use of digital media and tools is low. There are no significant differences depending on the variables analyzed, but it is necessary to establish specific continuing education plans for the improvement of digital competence in secondary school teachers to enable the effective use and management of information and communication technologies in future professionals.
Originality/value
Therefore, the findings of this study allow the development of educational interventions focused on increasing the digital competence of teachers, taking into account their individual characteristics.
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Giuseppe Tacconi, Vidmantas Tūtlys, Marco Perini and Genute Gedvilienė
The present study aims to reveal common and diverging trends in the development of pedagogical competences of vocational education and training (VET) teachers and trainers in…
Abstract
Purpose
The present study aims to reveal common and diverging trends in the development of pedagogical competences of vocational education and training (VET) teachers and trainers in Italy and Lithuania.
Design/methodology/approach
A structured survey was administered to Italian and Lithuanian teachers. The collected data were analysed and compared.
Findings
Results show that there are many common challenges and problems in the development of pedagogical competencies of the VET teachers in both countries; e.g.: the marginalisation of the VET teacher's work and working conditions, especially the dissatisfying wages and poor career opportunities, and the absent or weak institutionalisation of the VET teacher's qualifications and training.
Originality/value
The emerged results can be useful for directors of VET-centres and VET-schools to manage training and pedagogical growth of teachers both in Italy and in Lithuania. Moreover, the outputs can be considered as a set of suggestions also by the policymakers both at national and European level.
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