This study investigated the attitudes of Grade One teachers in Pietermaritzburg to the training they have received on Outcomes Based Education (OBE). A questionaire was developed by the researcher from documentation used in the training that took the form of various workshop sessions. The study comprised 47 Grade One teachers drawn from 18 primary schools in Pietermaritzburg. This study attempted to determine the following issues: • The attitudes of Grade One teachers to the training they have received • Whether there were any significant differences in the attitudes of Grade One teachers from the various ex-Departments of Education to the training they have received on OBE A five point rating scale namely the Likert Scale was used to determine the attitudes of teachers. A descriptive analysis was initially employed to determine the percentagew:futeachers that strongly agreed, agreed, were uncertain, disagreed or strongly disagreed with the statements in the questionaire. The results revealed that the majority of teachers agreed that the training had provided them with an understanding of various aspects of OBE. However, some teachers did state that they were uncertain on certain issues like the Foundation Phase policy document as well as the policy document on assessment, assessment itself and the compilation of portfolios and progress reports to be submittted to relevant persons. The area of resources was also highlighted as being problematic. Teachers disagreed that they were informed on how to use educational resources in accordance with OBE as well as where and how to obtain these resources. A descriptive analysis was also undertaken to determine what percentage of teachers from each eX-department felt about each statement in the questionaire. Results revealed that only teachers from the ex-NED schools strongly agreed with most of the statements, whilst the highest percentage of teachers that were uncertain came from ex-DET schools. A statistical analysis was employed to determine whether significant differences existed in the attitudes ofteachers from the various ex-departments of education. The statistical report revealed that only four statements were significant namely the issue of the OBE assessment policy document, the Foundation Phase policy document, the compilation of Journals and progress records. Recommendations were made for further training in these areas as well as further research. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2000.

This study is an exploratory investigation on teachers' perceptions of the extent to which the national examinations that are written at the end of primary schooling in Rwanda influence their curriculum practices. The study used a structured questionnaire for data collection, and simple descriptive statistics for data analysis. The study, firstly, examined teachers' views on the link between national examinations and the aims of primary education. The results showed that teachers perceived the national examinations as assessing the prerequisite knowledge for secondary education, on one hand; and to some extent social skills needed for life in the community and society. This is in line with the aim of primary education in Rwanda according to government policy. Secondly, the study explored the impact of the national examinations on teachers' practices as well as on teacher self image. Findings were that a good success rate in these examinations was the main goal-direction for teachers and had a major influence on the curriculum practices. Most teachers indicated that they aimed to produce a large number of candidates who were classified highly on national scale, and were socially well skilled. The impact of the national examination on their practices is evident in some of the strategies they use in negotiating and mediating the curriculum: the focus on the main examination subjects, on the previous examination topics, and on academically good and borderline students who have a greater chance of scoring high grades in the national examination. Finally, the study explored factors that teachers perceived to influence candidates' success and failure in the national examinations. Teacher commitment to preparing candidates for the examinations was most frequently reported, as a factor associated with student success, whereas the very limited places I available in pubic and subsidized secondary schools was the most contributing factor to poor results. / Thesis (M.Ed.) - University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2003.

The problem of this study was to examine the relationship between pre-service elementary teachers' attitudes toward role modeling and the health behaviors they practice. Using a 26-item questionnaire modified from several instruments, a convenience sample of 166 pre-service elementary teachers enrolled in health education course at Ball State University, voluntarily completed the questionnaire in Spring semester 2004. A panel of expert jurors reviewed the instrument for face validity. A pilot test was conducted to confirm instrument reliability. Data were analyzed using both unviariate and bivariate analysis. Bivariate correlations indicated a statistically significant association between pre-service elementary teachers' attitudes toward role modeling and their attitudes toward role modeling healthy behaviors. Additionally, a statistically significant association was indicated between pre-service elementary teachers' attitudes toward role modeling healthy behaviors and the actual health behaviors they practice. Results confirmed that while elementary teachers believe role modeling healthy behaviors to their students is important, they are not consistently practicing healthy behaviors. / Department of Physiology and Health Science

The purpose of this study was to discover and compare perceptions of three different groups of Indiana elementary educators concerning the importance of areas of the principal’s literacy knowledge base, as well as responsibility for and use of this knowledge by principals to adequately support effective research-based literacy instruction. The educator groups selected to participate in the study included elementary principals, non-permanent teachers, and literacy curriculum specialists from all Indiana public elementary schools containing grades K – 4. Using a survey specifically designed for this study, data on participants’ perceptions connected to the purposes of the study were collected and analyzed. Twelve different areas of literacy knowledge were identified for investigation. The areas included: Literacy Research and Best Practice, Role of Change Agent in Literacy Curriculum and Instruction, Literacy Instructional Components, District Language Arts Curriculum, Language Arts State Standards and Assessments, School-Based Literacy Assessments, Literacy Data Collection and Analysis, Literacy Classroom Environments and Schedule, Literacy Instructional Resources, Quality Children’s Literature, Meeting Struggling Readers Needs, The School Literacy Curriculum Specialist. The study used quantitative methods of statistical analyses. Results showed a large percentage of participants perceived all twelve identified areas as absolutely essential for the principals’ literacy knowledge base. Some areas were statistically more important than others. The results were similar concerning the principals’ ability to use and share the areas of literacy knowledge. Perceptions of who the principal should be able to share areas of literacy knowledge revealed faculty as being most important when compared with parents and children. Sharing literacy knowledge with parents was considered more important than children. While it was perceived as critical for principals to have a broad literacy knowledge base and have the ability to use this knowledge with various school constituent groups, all literacy areas with a few exceptions were seen as the responsibility of both teacher and principal equally. Finally, a comparison between perceptions of participating principals, non-permanent teachers, and literacy curriculum specialists showed more similarities than differences between groups overall. / Department of Educational Leadership

The primary purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between principals’ social and emotional skills and the academic and social outcomes of their schools. The Social-Emotional Educational Leadership Factor (SELF) survey was completed by 27 Indiana public elementary school principals and 30 Indiana public elementary school teachers to analyze the perceptions of the principals’ social and emotional skills. Results showed that principals’ self perceptions of their social and emotional skills predicted 49% of the variability of how they perceived their skills affecting their school’s academic success (R = .70, p < .01). A larger 57% of the variability was predicted from teachers’ perceptions of how their principal’s social and emotional skills affected their school’s academic success (R = .76, p < .01), while principals’ self perceptions of their social and emotional skills predicted 33% of the variance in iv student attendance rates. Results also indicated that principals and their teachers differed on their perceptions of principals’ skills (Wilk’s λ = .33, p < .001), as principals’ self evaluations of social and emotional skills were consistently more positive than the teachers’ evaluations of their principal’s social and emotional skills. It was determined that teachers’ perceptions of their principal’s social and emotional skills predicted 82% of the variability of their assessment regarding their principals’ overall leadership abilities. An in-depth analysis of six participating schools indicated that academic and socially underperforming schools consistently had lower average social and emotional skill scores throughout the SELF survey when compared to academic and socially performing schools. Finally, teachers tended to believe at higher rates that principals’ social and emotional skills can affect the principals’ ability to lead when compared to the responses of the principals. / Department of Elementary Education

This study examined the attitudes of regular education teachers at the elementary school level, toward mainstreaming students with emotional/behavioral disorders (E/BD) and identified variables which were correlated with those attitudes.

Since its introduction in the 1980's, student engagement has been a popular topic in educational research. In the beginning, engagement was thought of as a simple construct; however, it is now believed that student engagement involves four separate, but equally important components (Appleton, 2012; Christenson, Reschly, Appleton, Berman, Spanjers, & Varro, 2008). The components of academic, behavioral, affective and cognitive engagement are each vital to the ongoing educational success of students, and ideally, these would remain high throughout all of the years that students are in school. Unfortunately, research shows that most students' engagement levels continuously decrease from elementary school until high school graduation (or dropout), with the biggest drops occurring when students transition to middle school and high school (Alexander, Entwisle, & Horsey, 1997; Dunleavy & Milton, 2008; Finn, Pannozzo, & Voelkl, 1995; Lopez, 2011; Roeser, Strobel, & Quihuis, 2002; Skinner et al., 2009). Much of the research is currently being done at the middle and high school level to try and re-engage students in their learning (Appleton, 2012; Appleton, Christenson, Kim & Reschley, 2006; Fredricks, Blumenfeld, & Paris, 2004). This research study, however, looked at the implications of engagement data collection with fourth grade students. This mixed-methods study had two main goals. The first goal of the study was to determine the benefits of providing teachers with a systematic approach to collecting and following data on students' affective and cognitive engagement levels over time. The second goal of the study was to begin to explore interventions that appeared to increase fourth grade students' affective and cognitive engagement levels. The data analysis showed that students consistently reported lower engagement scores in the areas of teacher and peer relationships at school. It was also found that teachers did not report using student engagement data to make whole class interventions, but teachers did report the desire to track individual student's engagement scores in order to implement individualized interventions, when needed. Three additional findings, as well as suggestions for future research, are also presented. In the end, the study concludes with a more broad view on how this research can be used to impact the field of education. The ideas of teacher awareness, power in schools, and the need to create safe and caring classrooms that include students in the decision making process are all discussed as important components needed to engage students. Final suggestions have also been given for both teachers and administrators on how best to increase student engagement in the school or school district where they are working.

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This study was undertaken in an effort to determine the effects of piano instruction on attitudes and piano skills of elementary education majors enrolled in a music methods class. A class of nineteen elementary education majors at a private mid-western university served as subjects for the case study. They were given both written and oral pre and posttests, and extensive anecdotal data were recorded.As a result of the study, general conclusions and recommendations were as follows:1. Subjects' initial perceptions of their probable success in the piano laboratory were high. In addition, seventy-nine percent of the subjects accurately predicted their probable success (or failure) in the piano laboratory. It is recommended that instructors take time at the outset of the course to reassure and encouage the students in an effort to increase confidence and thereby the probability of success in the piano laboratory.2. Subjects' attitudes and skill development were negatively affected by perceived inadequacies when comparing themselves to other subjects in the class. As the more advanced students tested out of the piano laboratory, skills and attitudes of the slower subjects improved appreciably. This suggests that ability grouping in methods classes may improve students' perceptions and also performances in these lasses.3. Subjects' confidence in their ability to teach music increased, as indicated by pretest and posttest rankings. Since the sample size was adequately large, the Wilcoxin T value of 7.5 was standardized to a Z value = 2.66 (p <.01). Interpretation of a Z-value = 2.66 strongly suggests the posttest score has significantly increased over the pretest score.4. Subjects' perceptions of their ability to read and write music, their ability to sing songs with their students, and their piano playing ability significantly increased as shown by a series of paired comparisons t-test analyses on the pretest/ posttest data.It is recommended that additional case studies be conducted in the methods class in an effort to isolate and identify additional aspects of the class which influence the students' growth and/ or lack of growth in self confidence and musical skills. / School of Music

There is a gap in educational research regarding teachers’ narratives of teaching in diverse classrooms, especially in East Africa. It is essential to investigate teachers’ beliefs and perspectives because these are strong indicators of their planning, instructional decisions, and classroom practices and can also frame their perception of classroom transactions. In this study, I asked a group of Kenyan primary teachers at an informal settlement school about their perspectives on Kenya’s diversity; how they teach curricula reform objectives such as citizenship for all in their classrooms; and how experiences from their personal lives have shaped their stances on matters related to identity, nationhood, citizenship, and other related concepts. These teachers’ localized meaning-making revealed their citizenship consciousness and their considerations of history, power, and politics, which in turn impelled agency, action, and increased accountability in this place-specific project of citizenship education. I considered the school itself both as a liminal space, forgotten within Kenya’s urban planning and governance policies, and also as a relational, pluralistic, and intellectual space that merited scholarly research on pedagogy and practice. This study’s findings created space for new and different frameworks for conceptualizing teachers’ knowledge. Specifically, this study helped make teachers’ narratives of their experiences teaching in this context more visible and valuable, underscoring the importance of teacher education research as an area of onto-epistemological inquiry. Learning how teachers understand, think, and teach in complex urban borderlands can contribute to an emergence of shared understandings about belonging and identity in multiethnic spaces, particularly in postcolonial sites. This critical narrative case study collected responses to interviews and focus group discussions and also included classroom visits to observe how teachers made meaning of curricular objectives and understood concepts of sociocultural plurality, identities, citizenship, and belonging. The narratives that teachers held contained the potential to reimagine constructions of difference; invited a reconceptualization of ideologies related to language and inclusive spaces; and highlighted the need to consider inter-epistemic synergetic approaches within the fields of teacher education and curriculum studies in order to design pedagogies of pluralism to facilitate teaching and learning in diverse classrooms.