Examination of Chinese Teachers' Attitudes Towards Inclusive Education

The purpose of this study was to understand the status and influential factors of preschool teachers' attitudes towards inclusive education, given the evidence that attitudes predict successful inclusion for young children with or at risk for developmental delays or disabilities. We translated the Multidimensional Attitudes Toward Inclusive Education Scale (MATIES, Mahat, 2008) to Simplified Chinese (MATIES-C). We then administered the MATIE-C to a representative sample of in-service preschool teachers (N = 481) in Beijing, China. The confirmative factor analysis and reliability tests suggested an acceptable construct validity and internal reliability of the MATIES-C. We also found preschool teachers in Beijing held positive attitudes towards inclusion across cognitive, affective, and behavioral dimensions of attitudes. The ANOVA results indicate teachers' experience and knowledge about children with disabilities had statistically positive associations with favorable attitudes. Preschool area, teacher age, and educational background were also found to have a statistically significant impact on teacher attitudes.

Valences and sense of personal autonomy with regard to professional development in Dutch primary teachers: Do decision contexts and age make a difference?

In this study on motivations concerning professional development (PD) we interviewed 95 primary school teachers in the Netherlands. We coded these data using the Unified Model of Task-specific Motivation (de Brabander & Martens, 2014) in different decision contexts concerning who decides about teacher participation in PD: school board, teacher teams, or individual teachers. We analysed the valences that teachers associated with PD activities, their experiences of autonomy, and whether and how these variables were affected by decision context and teacher age. Results show that decision contexts relate differently to valences and autonomy experiences. Positive autonomy and positive valences increased going from schoolboard to team to individual decision contexts. Whereas the literature on effective teacher PD stresses the importance of PD design features, our study is the first to empirically demonstrate the crucial influence of decision contexts. Among older teachers, teaching experience informed the selection of PD content to transfer to their classrooms. Younger teachers tended to first explore whether PD worked in their classrooms before deciding about adoption. Direct applicability emerged as a dominant criterion for evaluating PD. Decision context and autonomy regarding PD programmes play important roles in ensuring applicability. Our research revealed that the dominance of the direct applicability criterion was not motivated by student benefits alone. It was also based in an attitude of efficiency among primary teachers, reflecting growing work pressures and a general prioritisation of classroom teaching above all other tasks, including PD.

Integration of Technology among Saudi EFL Teachers

In the field of education, technology is currently considered a new trend. This study aims to examine the factors that affect the integration of new technologies in EFL classrooms. Factors considered include teacher’s age, teacher’s level of technological proficiency, and teacher’s perception of technology. To achieve this, the study involved a questionnaire consisting of 21 items and a total of 38 Saudi EFL teachers participated in it. The results indicate that there is no significant relationship between teacher age and technology integration. However, both teachers’ level of proficiency in technology and teacher’s perception of technology were significantly related to technology integration in Saudi EFL classrooms. It is recommended to provide teachers with professional development and support in technology integration and to supply classrooms with resources such as computers and smart boards. 

Pengembangan Profesionalisme Guru Madrasah dengan Penguatan Konsep Khalifah

Research on teacher professionalism has been extensively studied by other researchers, but giving the concept of the caliph to the solution of its development has not yet been found. This study aims to explore the professionalism development of Madrasah Aliyah teachers by strengthening the concept of the caliph. This type of research is quantitative with ex post facto approach. I set 320 male and female teachers in public and private madrasas in 12 districts / cities in one of the provinces in Indonesia as a research sample. The questionnaire was used to measure the concept of the caliphate and the professionalism of madrasa teachers. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, t-tests, ANNOVA, and simple linear regression. The results showed that the promotion of the concept of the khalifah teacher was at a high stage, while professionalism was at a low stage. There are differences in the concepts of male and female teacher caliphs, length of certification and length of teaching of teachers, while in terms of teacher age there are no differences. There is a strong influence of strengthening the concept of the caliph in developing the professionalism of Madrasa aliyah teachers. This study concludes that the strengthening of the caliph concept contributes significantly in developing the professionalism of Madrasah Aliyah teachers. This study recommends that the Ministry of Religion adopt a policy of developing teacher professionalism by strengthening the concept of the caliph in madrasa teachers in Indonesia

Teaching and assessment practices for academic writing: an analysis of teacher profiles

The present research study aimed to determine what teachers do to promote the learning of academic writing. In particular, we studied how teachers teach and assess writing in higher education based on their self-reported teaching practices. We asked 64 teachers working in a Colombian university to fill in a questionnaire that we constructed for the purposes of the present study. The participants were teachers in the field of Health Sciences, the majority of whom were female (58%), with a mean age of 44 years. Data analysis consisted of cluster analysis based on items relative to teaching and assessing academic writing in order to determine teacher profiles. A Kruskal-Wallis H-test was then conducted to distinguish the found profiles as a function of teacher age. The results revealed three significantly different profiles: transmitting, assessing and no-adherence profiles. These profiles also varied as a function of age. These results will be discussed, taking into account a generational effect hypothesis, with regard to the tendency/lack of tendency for teachers to stimulate the learning of different components of academic writing (norms, methods and reflexive practices).

They Need More Than Technology-Equipped Schools: Teachers’ Practice of Fostering Students’ Digital Protective Skills

The intense use of digital media among children and adolescents raises concerns about online risks. In response, digital literacy frameworks for formal education usually include a set of protective skills. Considering that teachers have the responsibility to implement such frameworks, this study investigates factors associated with teachers’ practices of fostering students’ digital protective skills. Therefore, data from a survey conducted with 315 teachers in the state of Thuringia, Germany, was analyzed. The findings indicate positive associations between the importance teachers attribute to digital protective skills, the knowledge they have about guidelines for media education, their formal media training, and their media and technology use in class. Besides, the analysis revealed associations with school type, subject taught, and teacher age. Conversely, the factors of human and technological resources did not yield significant effects in the regression model. The final model explained 48% of the variance in the teachers’ practices of fostering protective skills.

Robotics and Programming Integration as Cognitive-Learning Tools

Robotics and programming integration as cognitive-learning tools in selected teaching cases exploits its full potential; therefore, it upgrades and enhances the teaching and learning process and promotes school transformation. Employing a case study approach, the current study examines how robotics and computer programming can be integrated within the elementary teaching practice (2nd to 6th grade) in order to achieve learning objectives across disciplines beyond STEM (8 teachers and 169 students participated at the study). Results are discussed taking into account class size, robotics package used, teacher age, gender, experience, and teacher digital literacy/comfort level with technology. The innovative educational robotics curriculum developed by the Robotics Academy provides the theoretical and educational framework to achieve the above.

Robotics and Programming Integration as Cognitive-Learning Tools

Robotics and programming integration as cognitive-learning tools, in selected teaching cases exploits its full potential; therefore, it upgrades and enhances the teaching and learning process and promotes school transformation. Employing a case study approach, the current study examines how robotics and computer programming can be integrated within the elementary teaching practice (2nd to 6th grade) in order to achieve learning objectives across disciplines beyond STEM (8 teachers and 169 students participated at the study). Results are discussed taking into account class size, robotics package used, teacher age, gender, experience and teacher digital literacy/ comfort level with technology. The innovative educational robotics curriculum developed by the Robotics Academy provides the theoretical and educational framework to achieve the above.

Teacher’s Attitudes towards Educational Technology in English Language Institutes

The issue of attitude towards technology is not a new one; it has been around since computers were first placed in the classroom. There appears to be a positive attitude towards technology, so researchers aimed to seek out new information in an effort to find the relationship among teachers’ tenure, age, educational level, experience and teachers’ attitude toward technology. The purpose of this study was to investigate the attitude towards technology among teachers working in several institutes in Mazandaran. A total of 100 teachers including 38 males and 62 females, ranging in age from 22 to 50 and 20 to 42 respectively completed a survey. The non-parametric Spearman Rank-Order Correlation was used to find the relationship between the variables. The result of the research questions showed that: (1) there was a statistically significant relationship between teacher experience and attitude toward technology, (2) there was a statistically significant relationship between teacher tenure and attitude towards technology, and (3) there was a statistically significant relationship between teacher age and attitude toward technology.