An Ecosystemic Approach to Preventing Bullying in School. Risk Factors Associated with School

Previous research has shown that teachers play an important role in preventing bullying in school. Nowadays, there is a growing interest in understanding the risk factors associated with school such as the teachers’ perception of the severity of bullying and their response to bullies and victims. This paper presents risk factors associated with bullying and teachers’ perceptions within Bronfenbrenner’s (1977) classic ecological theory.According to this paradigm, changes are required in the environments with which children interact as they develop (family, school, community and society). By exposing the factors that trigger and maintain bullying, we aim to highlight the importance of Bronfenbrenner's ecological systems model in designing bullying prevention strategies. We will focus on the risk factors associated with school, chief among which is the, teachers' perceptions of bullying in school. Not only does this view contribute to optimizing the understanding of the importance of ecosystem theory for effectiveness prevention, but it also suggests that both research and prevention should focus on individual risk factors that influence teachers' reactivity to bullying behaviors.

Teachers' Perception of the Phenomenon of Cyberbullying During the Covid-19 Pandemic

Cyberbullying is a negative social phenomenon that takes place online. It consists of harassing technology users through various means and various platforms. Frequent exposure to this phenomenon can cause emotional, mental and social problems for victims, witnesses and aggressors. In the current pandemic context, when education has shifted to the online environment, and students spend a significant amount of time using different devices and online platforms, the number of cyberbullying cases is constantly increasing. There is currently little research describing how this phenomenon influenced online aggression. In preventing and eliminating this phenomenon, teachers play an important role, due to the time they spend with students and the impact they can have on them. In order to identify teachers' perceptions of this phenomenon during the pandemic and how they manage it in the classroom, we conducted a qualitative research on 10 teachers from primary and secondary schools. The results of the research were interesting and offered a new perspective on this phenomenon during Covid-19 crisis.

Investigating Indonesian EFL Teachers’ Perceptions on Blended Learning Strategy Amid Post-Covid-19 Era

One of the good news of the new normal era is all humankind’s sectors are opened gradually by following the restricted health protocols. Without an exception, the educational sector is also allowed by the government to open schools in the green zone. As a result, a blended learning strategy is inevitably essential to support this post-covid-19 era. Blended learning strategy is a novel pedagogical approach where the online and offline systems are combined to promote more purposeful, organized, and meaningful learning dynamics for learners. This current small-scale qualitative study aimed to investigate the specific benefits of a blended learning strategy based on Indonesian EFL teachers’ perceptions. Thus, 5 open-ended written narrative inquiry questions were sent to two randomly invited Indonesian EFL teachers working in different elementary school institutions. The obtained research results unveiled that the effective utilization of blended learning strategy had successfully promoted more meaningful language learning enterprises, elevated EFL learners’ learning motivation, and increased their proactive learning behaviors. However, it should also be pondered carefully that the more contextualized language learning approaches, as well as stable internet connection, are urgently needed to strengthen the effectiveness of this learning approach. Due to the obtained research results, it is reasonable to be expected that Indonesian EFL experts, teachers, practitioners, and policy-makers can establish more collaborative networking to better design more qualified and meaningful blended learning activities in the future.

Teachers’ perceptions and the implementation of the adapted communicative approach in Libya

This study instigates the teachers’ perceptions towards the implementation of the adapted communicative approach to teach English language in Libyan high schools in the city of Khoms. The participants were six teachers of different gender-based high schools. The study followed a pure qualitative method to collect and analyze the date, and the data were collected using an open-ended questionnaire. The findings reveal that the majority of English language teachers in Libyan high schools in Khoms city have positively perceived the implementation of the communicative approach (CA) to teach English language in their high schools’ contexts. They agreed to the majority of the questionnaire’s items such as: the CA emphasizes the communication in the target language and emphasizes that the learners need meaningful communication. All the participants said that they modify the principles of the communicative approach to meet the students’ needs and goals and most of them have agreed that the allocated time is not enough to complete the lesson in the classroom. This study draws out the pedagogical implication that the implementation of the adapted CA to teach English language in high schools in Libya can be quite adaptable, especially when the teachers have to fulfil the students’ needs.

Ecuadorian and Uruguayan teachers' perceptions and experiences of teaching online during COVID

PurposeThe COVID-19 pandemic is a unique event that forced K-12 schools to rethink the delivery of instruction to protect the well-being of school system stakeholders. Teachers, school administrators and parents had to adapt to and embrace new ways of teaching and learning by utilizing available technology. The purpose of this study is to examine the challenges encountered by in-service teachers when moving from face-to-face to online teaching.Design/methodology/approachThis study utilized a qualitative phenomenological research methodology to examine Ecuadorian and Uruguayan teachers' perceptions and experiences transitioning from face-to-face to online teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic. This comparative study used convenience sampling to include 12 K-12 teachers from Ecuador and Uruguay.FindingsThe results of this study produced two themes that evidenced the demands placed on educators. The first theme was job demands, relating to teachers' perceptions about workload, preparation time and curriculum issues. The second theme related to available support provided by the school administrators and technology issues faced by teachers and students. Even though the teachers demonstrated adaptability for educating students during the pandemic, the experiences from both countries should be considered by teacher training programs and in post-graduate professional development.Originality/valueThis article examined how COVID-19 affected teachers in Uruguay and Ecuador. Data analysis documented the challenges encountered by teachers transitioning to online learning during the pandemic. The findings inform a larger audience about the needs of teachers working online.

Positive Adult Education, Learned Helplessness and the Pygmalion Effect

Positive education is seen as a transformative methodological approach capable of improving the act of teaching and learning and, above all, essential for the development of students’ personal skills and competences. However, few studies have been carried out on this topic in the field of adult and continuing education; instead, they have been published mainly in the field of formal education and at school age. This study works with a sample of 399 people over 16 years of age and students of the Universidad Popular de Dos Hermanas in order to show the relationship between the Pygmalion effect and learned helplessness in the process of acquiring knowledge in adulthood. In this way, three tools were used: one questionnaire that showed the teachers’ perceptions of the students’ qualities and behaviour and two that provided information on self-concept, self-esteem, personal and social skills and other variables directly related to emotional intelligence and positive education. It shows how exposure to negative operational constraints hinders the psychosocial and socio-educational development of learners in all possible ways, while, on the other hand, it indicates the importance of positive education to compensate for this phenomenon by enhancing the development and growth of those who study and participate in non-formal education through positive reinforcement. Likewise, the factorial interrelation of both positive and negative conditioning factors and their incidence on learning is shown; the importance of neutralising the negative components and strengthening the positive reinforcement and the role played by the community and education professionals as catalysts and behavioural modulators at any stage of learning and age group for the achievement of the objectives of the student and of education itself in a broad sense.

Increasing Teacher’s Competencies through Empowerment of Madrasah Teachers Forum

It is a School Action Research with two cycles where each cycle consists of four stages; they are Planning, Implementing corrective actions, Observing, and Reflecting. It aims to find out the improvement of teachers’ competencies through Madrasah Teachers Forum known as MGMP. This research was conducted in Madrasah Aliyah Negeri 1 Pamekasan – East Java, Indonesia. It involved six Mathematic teachers, four Physics teachers and three Biology teachers as research subjects. The results showed that there was an increase in the competencies of the member of teachers forum at Madrasah Aliyah Negeri 1 Pamekasan. This can be seen from the results of observations in two cycles, as well as on the results of the tests carried out. It can be seen that the results of the posttest significantly increased. In the distribution of the questionnaire conducted to find out teachers' perceptions and opinions on the Madrasah Teachers Forum, the results of the questionnaire were at a value of 85%; thus, teachers felt the direct benefits of the Madrasah Teachers Forum to increase their competencies. Based on the results of the study, the researcher recommends to teachers participating in the Madrasah Teachers Forum to: (1) Utilize Madrasah Teachers Forum activities as an empowerment forum to update and upgrade their professional competencies and (2) Utilize Madrasah Teachers Forum to establish strong solidarity among teachers.

Perceptions of teachers towards COVID appropriate behaviors for school children in coastal South India

COVID appropriate behavioral measures need to be followed once school reopens. School teachers being in the forefront could substantiate the feasibility of suggested safety measures. This study aimed to assess teachers’ perceptions towards COVID appropriate behaviors for children with school reopening and compare their mean scores between public versus private schools and across school boards. We conducted an observational school-based study of teachers over two months. Perceptions were scored using a five-point Likert symmetric agree to disagree scale. Results were expressed as proportions and analyzed using an independent sample t-test. Of the 547 teachers surveyed, most (> 90%) agreed to the suggested social distancing and hygiene measures. There was a significant difference in perception scores between private versus public schools and across boards regarding i) reducing the academic syllabus, ii) adopting a cloud-based system to integrate online-offline learning, and iii) conducting meetings online. In addition, measures such as i) teaching classes on alternate days with a limited number of children, ii) arranging benches/desks to maintain six feet distance between students, iii) dealing with psychological stress by counselors, and iv) arrangement with local hospitals for medical services were significant statistically across school boards. To conclude, most schoolteachers agreed with the need for social distancing and hygiene measures for children. There was a significant difference in perceptions between public versus private schools and across boards regarding academic syllabus, integration of online-offline student learning, number of children per class, the timing of classes, student seating arrangement, and medical/psychological guidance availability.