The problem of this study was to determine and analyze the relationships between teacher morale as determined by the Group Dimensions Descriptions Questionnaire and the ability to establish rapport with pupils as determined by the Minnesota Teacher Attitude Inventory. The purpose of this study was to discover possible implications from the relationships between teacher morale and the ability to establish rapport with pupils and other selected personal and professional characteristics.

Professional learning communities are receiving attention in research on in-service teacher professional development. Arguments for professional learning communities emphasize teacher learning as a long-term, continuous, developmental and collaborative process. Such learning is viewed as necessary for supporting sustained improvements in teachers’ teaching practices and learners’ learning. The study reported in this thesis drew on these ideas to investigate how mathematics teachers learned in a professional learning community, and how their learning influenced changes in their teaching practices and identities. The study was a pilot for a larger, on-going project at the University of the Witwatersrand. Using the ideas of situated learning theory and data-informed practice, the case study involved a professional learning community of five mathematics teachers and the researcher. The study was conducted in one township high school in Gauteng, South Africa. The professional learning community participated in a year-long professional development intervention, which consisted of a set of developmental and structured professional learning activities. The activities involved analyzing learner errors in mathematics, identifying learners’ learning needs, planning and teaching innovative lessons for addressing the learning needs, and reflecting on how the lessons supported learners’ learning. The study investigated how teacher participation in the opportunities for learning was linked to shifts in their teaching practices and identities. The results show changes in teachers’ practices and their identities. Two teachers made shifts in their mode of teaching, task selection and implementation, and in their ways of engaging with learners’ ideas. Two other teachers made shifts in task selection. The shifts were sustained by one teacher in her teaching of the post-intervention lessons. All the teachers shifted in their ways of identifying themselves as members of communities. During and after the intervention, the teachers identified themselves as members of the professional learning community, and expressed visions of progressively learning together and improving their practice together. The shifts in teaching practice and teacher identity are explained by the opportunities for learning in the professional learning community. The results show how the links among teacher learning, teachers’ teaching practices and teacher identity were supported or constrained by features of the professional learning community.

The nature and quality of the built learning environment affect occupants' comfort, wellbeing and performance. Within the broad range of studies of the physical indoor environment reported in the literature, there are several which have focused on the effects of these environmental conditions on the comfort and physical health of students and teachers, while the main consideration in others is the organizational health of the school. The parameters, which are measured often concern the state and condition of the physical environment. Categories of building features, which appear to influence comfort, health and wellbeing, include thermal sensation, acoustics, lighting, air quality, classroom equipment, learning resources and other aspects of the teachers' workspace. Those components of the physical of indoor environment, which are considered to most strongly affect occupants' comfort, wellbeing and performance, are subject to sets of standards. The aim of this study is to elucidate the association between the indoor environmental quality (IEQ) of educational buildings and teachers' performance. Following a comprehensive review of the literature on the effects of IEQ on teachers' comfort, wellbeing and performance, a case study was conducted in which physical measurements were made of a range of indoor environmental variables in the classrooms of a technical college in Saudi Arabia, during lessons. At the same time, the teachers of those classes were asked to complete a questionnaire designed to investigate the quality of the indoor environment and explore teacher performance. An artificial neural network was then used to create an assessment model in order to test the hypothesis that the quality of the indoor physical environment in educational buildings is related to teacher performance and to predict future data. This research makes both academic and practical contributions to the study of the relationship between IEQ and teachers' performance. The findings of this research will be used as a primary knowledge resource for future researches and to identify initial IEQ parameters and tools for further in-depth studies. In practical terms, it offers standards to help designers to consider the importance of IEQ and its impact on building users.

Thesis (M.Dev.) --University of Limpopo, 2007 / Refer to document

The enactment of teacher leadership can be challenged by both policy initiatives and school contexts (Anderson & Cohen, 2015; Hargreaves & Fullan, 2012). However, teachers can have a positive influence on each other and their broader school community by building capacity for leadership, innovation, and student achievement through the relationships, or networks, they develop and maintain (Baker-Doyle, 2015; Hovardas, 2016; Hunzicker, 2012; Moolenaar, Sleegers, & Daly, 2012). This single exploratory case study takes place in a Title I elementary school and uses a combination of Social Network Analysis and content analysis to uncover patterns in teacher professional networks, the context in which they exist, and teachers’ perceptions of the influence of these networks on their sense of themselves as teacher leaders. The study focuses on four constructs: teacher leadership, teacher efficacy, instructional innovation, and professional networks. The concept of social capital is used to explore the connection between networks and teacher leadership. Symbolic interactionism frames the analysis of the nature of relationships that emerge within these networks. Findings indicate that teachers linked their identities as leaders with a culture of leadership, exchange of advice, shared values, and high expectations for themselves and their students. Interview responses demonstrated they believed in their collective capacity to accomplish a shared mission of student achievement; they trusted in and supported each other through their professional networks.

Historically, teachers’ unions have been some of the major organizational sites of social justice leadership in K-12 education (Kuehn, 2007; M. Murphy, 1990; Urban, 1982), but until the mid 1990s, the term “social justice unionism” (Peterson & Charney, 1999) had little currency in teacher union circles. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to examine the concept of social justice unionism in context. In particular, I asked how teacher union activists contributed and responded to the institutionalization of social justice in their organization. I used a critical constructionist (Ball, 1987; Berger & Luckmann, 1966; D. E. Smith, 1987) perspective to analyze 25 career history (Goodson, 1994) interviews with teachers, staff and elected officials affiliated with the British Columbia Teachers’ Federation between 1967 and 2007, and found that successive generations of union-involved activists dedicated to labour solidarity, feminism, multiculturalism, anti-colonialism and anti-homophobia used networks of like-minded colleagues to counter bureaucratic norms within their organization, the education system and society. A qualitative depiction of these changes suggests that they were layered, multi-dimensional and uneven. They played out on a contested, uphill gradient shaped, but not determined, by four factors: the organizational prioritization of teacher welfare over social justice; historically persistent micro-political struggles between two federation caucuses; the centralizing tendencies of union leadership in response to the provincial government’s centralization of educational authority; and broader ruling relations in Canadian society. Still, despite this uphill gradient, all activist networks left a durable trace on federation history. The major significance of this finding for critical theorists and social justice activists is a modestly hopeful alternative to the traditional conceptions of change embedded in organizational theory: revolution, evolution or despair.

Historically, teachers’ unions have been some of the major organizational sites of social justice leadership in K-12 education (Kuehn, 2007; M. Murphy, 1990; Urban, 1982), but until the mid 1990s, the term “social justice unionism” (Peterson & Charney, 1999) had little currency in teacher union circles. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to examine the concept of social justice unionism in context. In particular, I asked how teacher union activists contributed and responded to the institutionalization of social justice in their organization. I used a critical constructionist (Ball, 1987; Berger & Luckmann, 1966; D. E. Smith, 1987) perspective to analyze 25 career history (Goodson, 1994) interviews with teachers, staff and elected officials affiliated with the British Columbia Teachers’ Federation between 1967 and 2007, and found that successive generations of union-involved activists dedicated to labour solidarity, feminism, multiculturalism, anti-colonialism and anti-homophobia used networks of like-minded colleagues to counter bureaucratic norms within their organization, the education system and society. A qualitative depiction of these changes suggests that they were layered, multi-dimensional and uneven. They played out on a contested, uphill gradient shaped, but not determined, by four factors: the organizational prioritization of teacher welfare over social justice; historically persistent micro-political struggles between two federation caucuses; the centralizing tendencies of union leadership in response to the provincial government’s centralization of educational authority; and broader ruling relations in Canadian society. Still, despite this uphill gradient, all activist networks left a durable trace on federation history. The major significance of this finding for critical theorists and social justice activists is a modestly hopeful alternative to the traditional conceptions of change embedded in organizational theory: revolution, evolution or despair.

In October 2009, United States Secretary of Education Arne Duncan declared in a speech to Columbia University’s Teacher’s College that many university teacher preparation programs are outdated and must undergo major reform in order to produce high quality teachers needed to improve academic achievement for all students (U.S. Department of Education, 2009). Duncan stated that “America’s university-based teacher preparation programs need revolutionary change – not evolutionary tinkering” (U.S. Department of Education, 2009, p.2). To improve student success in the classroom, policy makers must understand the key role well-trained teachers play in achieving this goal (Boyd, Lankford, Clothfelter, Ladd & Vigdor, 2004; Loeb, Rockoff, & Wyckoff, 2007; Provasnik & Young, 2003; Rice, 2003; Rivers & Sanders, 2002). This study examined the specific aspects of an English teacher preparation program that beginning teachers implement and rely on in their classrooms on a consistent basis. In addition, this study examines how administrators/department chairs view the pedagogical competence of graduates from the English teacher preparation program. The research questions that guided this study are: (1) How do beginning teachers perceive their preparation for teaching in the urban English Language Arts classroom? (2) How do school administrators perceive the teaching ability of graduates? The participants were graduates of Southern Urban University’s English Education Master’s level program from 2005 – 2008. Data sources included Beginning Teacher Questionnaires, Administrator/Department Chair Questionnaires, in-depth phenomenological interviews with select teachers, observations of select teachers’ practice, “card sort” activity/interview, teacher artifacts and photographs. Data were analyzed inductively using the constant comparative method to determine categories and themes (Glaser & Strauss, 1967). Trustworthiness was established through research methods that confirm credibility, transferability, dependability, and confirmability (Lincoln & Guba, 1985). This study provides insight into how to better educate high quality teachers through the examination of an English teacher preparation programs’ daily effect and impact on their graduates and an examination of school administrators’/department chairs perception of these graduates’ performance in the classroom.

Abstract In this study, the theoretical basis of the management of teacher quality in U.S.A. in recent years was examined from several aspects such as human resource management, accountability, and related studies. Based on these measures, the theoretical structures developed in the process of the management changes of teacher quality since 1990s were studied. Secondly, the background and reasons of the reform were analyzed, and some concrete suggestions and methods were concluded from the various U.S. education reports and bills. Then, from realistic points of view, the policies developed by different states during the process of reforms were also probed into. Then, a questionnaire was developed as a tool for data collection. The populations of the questionnaire survey included teachers, school administrators, the members of parents¡¦ organizations, educational scholars, educational authorities, councilors and the representatives of teacher organizations. There were 1,360 samples, which contain 1,050 valid ones. The valid returned percentage was 77.2%. The data were testified through frequency distribution, percentage, means, standard deviation, one-way ANOVA, then were analyzed and discussed according to the results. Finally, the conclusions and suggestions were proposed as a result. When reflecting on the present conditions of U.S. teacher quality management, this research probed into five aspects: the access of teacher qualifications, selection and employment, payment and working conditions, assessment and dealing with incompetent teachers. The representatives of parents¡¦ organizations, councilors and elementary school teachers had significant correlation with each other in the perceptions of teachers¡¦ quality management problems and the measures. In addition, this study found that there were diversity in some aspects such as getting payment according to teachers¡¦ actual performances, assessing teachers according to their students¡¦ performance in exams, carrying out teacher career ladder program, and having principals observe in class. Most samples were quite unanimous in other aspects, such as raising the selection criteria of teacher education program, evaluating teacher education programs institutions, establishing professional development schools, setting up nationwide professional educational standard committees, implementing beginning teachers mentoring system, every elementary and secondary school posting reports on educational progress, the government posting nationwide teacher quality assessment report, raising teachers¡¦ basic hours of professional development, helping incompetent teachers improve their teaching methods. Finally, this study will propose several suggestions: 1. The measures of the reform should be taken from all aspects. 2. To select teacher education programs, post reports on teacher quality assessment and strengthen the cultivation and assessment system. 3. To establish the way to assess and report unqualified teachers for dismissal in order to raise the teaching quality. 4. Central government will request each elementary and secondary school to propose each report on teaching quality to raise the efficiency. 5. To set up beginning teachers mentoring system to improve teaching quality. 6. To raise teachers¡¦ professional recognition, correct the unreasonable long teaching hours and class distribution. 7.To give teachers various ways to get professional development to access different certificates to strengthen teaching abilities. 8. Teacher organizations will actively provide advices for education reform. 9. Teacher organizations will initiatively cooperate or participate with central government in the designing of the system in raising teacher quality.

The purpose of this study was to better understand the nature of the contribution of the mentor teacher and the methods instructor in the development of professional knowledge of pre-service teachers (PSTs) to teach elementary science. The PSTs' conceptions of teaching science were also explored to see if there were changes in their ideas about teaching science and what influenced these changes during the methods semester of a field-based elementary teacher preparation program. Specifically, this study examined the perceptions of the PSTs regarding the nature of mentorship that they received for the teaching of elementary science. Participants were 144 PSTs from five field-based elementary methods sites, their mentor teachers, and their methods instructor from a university program in a large urban area. Of interest in this study was examining the extent to which PSTs actually observed science teaching in their mentor teachers' classrooms during the methods semester. Analysis of an end-of-semester survey revealed that more than one-third of the PSTs never observed their mentor elementary teachers teach science. On an encouraging note, 62% of PSTs who observed at least some science teaching reported that they perceived their teachers as modeling inquiry science teaching strategies. Regarding the perceived quality of mentor support for learning to teach science, more than 90% of PSTs reported that they felt supported by mentor teachers in their growth of science teaching even if the mentor teachers did not incorporate science lessons into their school day. In addition, half of the PSTs' conceptions of teaching science changed over the methods semester, with the methods course and the elementary classroom as the two most influential factors.