The literacy preparation in Turkish preschool education

The purpose of this study is to reveal the views and recommendations of the preschool and primary school teachers on the literacy preparation in Turkish preschool education. The study is designed as phenomenological research. The participants of the study are 12 preschool and 9 primary school teachers who have been teaching actively in the western part of Turkey. The qualitative data was collected through face-to-face interviews and analyzed through content analysis. The findings of the study show that preschool teachers have some confusion on literacy preparation and readiness. While preschool and primary school teachers are of the same opinion about the need for literacy preparation in preschool education, they have different opinions about the literacy preparation activities conducted in preschool education. While preschool teachers think that they get preschoolers ready for literacy, primary school teachers think that first graders in their classes do not come literately ready from preschool education. Teachers participated in the study; think that the lack of collaboration among preschool and primary school teachers, some deficiencies in preschool education curriculum and in the education system, and the preschool teachers’ imperfect knowledge in the literacy readiness are the possible reasons of inadequacy of readiness for literacy in preschool education. They recommend systematic collaboration among teachers, review of preschool education curriculum and providing professional support for preschool teachers to support literacy readiness in preschool education.

Slovenian Primary School Teachers' Opinion on Interdisciplinary Approach Between Fine Art and Science Education

<p style="text-align: justify;">In this article we present research on Slovenian primary school teachers' opinion about the interdisciplinary approach between fine art and science education. With the help of questionnaires, interviews, and analysis of lesson plans, we determined how primary school teachers use this type of interdisciplinary approach, how often and what their views are. We included 138 primary school teachers from every region in Slovenia. It turned out that primary school teachers in Slovenia use an interdisciplinary approach between fine art and science teaching quite often and consider it useful to achieve different aspects of pupils' development. The study revealed that most teachers find it difficult to consider the educational goals of both fields (fine art, science). They often use the connection between the subjects only on an associative level - they only mention the teaching content of one subject quickly and carelessly, without making meaningful connections and without achieving the goals of both subjects. Content taught in this way cannot be considered a cross-curricular approach in the subject sense.</p>

Attitudes of primary school teachers towards e-learning in teaching Arabic and the obstacles they face

The study aimed to identify the trends of primary stage laborers towards e-learning in teaching the Arabic language, and the obstacles they face from their point of view. The study relied on the descriptive and analytical approach, and the study population consisted of (170) male and female teachers working in public schools in Jerash governorate. The study sample (75) male and female teachers, who were chosen randomly. The results of the study showed that the attitudes of primary school teachers towards e-learning came at a positive level, with an arithmetic average (3.61), and the obstacles facing primary school teachers in e-learning came with a high degree, with an arithmetic average (3.84). The study recommended giving attention to providing electronic learning tools to include all schools, connecting all schools to the Internet and providing computers in proportion to the number of students in schools, and the study also recommended the necessity of dissolving all obstacles in e-learning, in terms of providing Internet labs in schools in proportion to the number of students and courses Scholastic.

Doing Action Research: The Experience of Teachers in Seychelles

Action research is regarded as a dynamic strategy to galvanise teachers to determine what works best for them and their pupils. Teachers’ experience in action research has been investigated in some developing countries without involving any of the small island states in the Indian Ocean. Hence, this study explored the experience of teachers from Seychelles regarding action research focusing on their understanding of the nature, meaning, and purpose of action research; the benefits they gained from doing action research; the difficulties and the challenges they encountered while conducting action research, including their background characteristics. Its aim was to identify their successes, concerns, and issues. Participants were 33 primary school teachers enrolled in the two-year Advanced Diploma programme at the Seychelles Institute of Education during the 2019/2020 academic year. One of their assessment tasks required them to identify a difficulty that their pupils encounter and conduct action research on it with a view to finding a solution. Data collected using a self-reporting questionnaire designed by the investigators was analysed using both descriptive and interpretive techniques. Results indicated that the participants had a mixed experience of successes, concerns, and issues.

Technology: a workshop on labor training

The textbook discusses the main types of practical work on the subject of "Technology", highlights various types of artistic, creative and design activities of children that underlie this aspect of teaching younger schoolchildren. Detailed material is given on the processing methods and the possibilities of using various types of paper and cardboard. It can be useful for primary school teachers, educators and counselors of children's recreation camps, students of pedagogical colleges, parents, teachers of additional education.

Effect of institutional context and finance context of housing finance on home ownership among low-income earners in Bauchi

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the effects of housing finance institutional and financial context on beneficiaries’ context to low income earners in Bauchi Local Government Area, Bauchi, Nigeria Design/methodology/approach This paper adopted a quantitative research approach. Self-administered structured questionnaires were used to collect information from 357 primary school teachers in Bauchi Local Government Area, Bauchi, Nigeria. Partial least squares-structural equation modeling was used to analyze the data collected using SmartPLS 2 software Findings This study revealed that effectiveness of financial institutions and their performance has significant positive causal effect on low income earners housing ownership context, which shows that performance and effectiveness of the housing finance institutions is vital to housing ownership for the low income earners in the study area. Thus, performance of housing finance institutions and their effectiveness has direct effects on low income earners housing ownership through finance affordability Practical implications The prime consumer of these research findings are the financial institutions, this will make them bulk up in terms of their performance and effectiveness toward housing finance accessibility and affordability to the low income earners such as the primary school teachers in the study area. Originality/value This paper used the technology organization environment theory, which is a multi-perspective theory to evaluate the concepts of institutional, finance and beneficiaries context with respect to housing finance in Bauchi by conceptualizing institutional context as effectiveness and performance, finance context as affordability and accessibility and beneficiaries context as ownership.

Enhancing innovative delivery in schools using design thinking

The pandemic has created challenges in all sectors of the economy and education. Traditional teaching approaches seem futile in the new context, thus the need to constantly reinvent the delivery to meet the fast-paced changes in the education domain. Hence, Design Thinking (DT) is an alternative approach that might be useful in the given context. DT is known to be a human-centric approach to innovative problem-solving processes. DT could be employed in the delivery process to develop twenty-first-century skills and enhance creativity and innovation, in an attempt to identify alternative solutions. The study explores the role of design thinking (DT) in the form of empathy, thinking process, gamified lessons and curriculum enhancement, which leads to innovative delivery among teachers. It enhances and facilitates innovative content delivery by leveraging creativity. The study targeted 131 teachers, whereby 61 are primary school teachers and 70 are secondary school teachers. A questionnaire constituting of 23 close-ended questions using the 5-point Likert scale was used to collect data. Data was analyzed using SmartPLS to establish relationships between DT and Innovative Delivery in schools. The data was further analyzed to seek co-relations between the DT steps and the successful transformation of content delivery by teachers. The study established a framework for the application of design thinking for teachers as the primary support in developing activities for their students. It shows that thinking process, gamifying lessons and curriculum enhancement have positive significance in innovative delivery, whereas empathy did not show a significant positive relationship. The outcome of this study will help fill the gap towards creating an interesting method of delivery in schools and constantly innovating the method to suit the evolving generation. This insight is crucial for the Ministry of Education and policymakers to enhance teachers’ ability to innovatively deliver content to students.

Post-Corporal Punishment Challenges Facing Eswatini Primary School Teachers When Disciplining Learners and the Necessary Counselling Services

The purpose of this study was to explore post-corporal punishment challenges facing Eswatini primary school teachers when disciplining learners and the necessary counselling services. The research employed embedded research design using 48 primary teachers in the Hhohho region in the Kingdom of Eswatini. A purposive sampling was used to select the most accessible research participants. Instruments used were questionnaires and one-on-one interviews. Sixteen schools were selected. Data was collected and analyzed both quantitative and qualitatively. For analyzing data for questionnaires and observation, descriptive statistics such as frequencies and percentages were used and for analyzing data for interviews, thematic analysis was used. Findings show that teachers are facing challenges regarding learner discipline in post corporal punishment in primary schools. Teachers are confused and afraid of infringing learners’ rights. Given the findings, some notable recommendations were highlighted.