Thesis (M.Ed.)--University of Hong Kong, 2001. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 106-107). Also available in print.

Thesis (M.Ed.)--University of Hong Kong, 1993. / Also available in print.

Much research has been done on the job satisfaction of secondary school teachers in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The aim of this research was to investigate factors that influence the job satisfaction of these teachers. A literature review of theories on job satisfaction was undertaken. In the empirical investigation, a mixed-methods sequential explanatory design was used. In the quantitative phase, the data collection was done by means of a self-constructed structured questionnaire that focused on four work factors that were identified during the literature review, namely salary and benefits, management, work characteristics, and interpersonal relationships. The stratified, random sample consisted of 300 secondary school teachers in Addis Ababa. The data were statistically analysed using the Statistical package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) computer software programme, and the results were appropriately interpreted. In the second, namely the qualitative phase, interviews were conducted with a sample of 10 teachers who were purposefully selected from a larger sample. The data were analysed by using the constant comparative method. The results make a significant contribution to new knowledge and understanding of current issues relating to the job satisfaction of teachers in selected secondary schools in Addis Ababa. The results indicated that the teachers were significantly dissatisfied with most aspects of their work. Salary and benefits emerged as the primary dissatisfying aspect of all the work factors. Other areas of dissatisfaction related to poor fringe benefits and opportunities for promotion, the management style of the principals, the lack of decision-making opportunities for the teachers, as well as the opportunity to develop personally, and the poor relationships teachers have with the principals and the parents. The data also indicated that teachers who were 50 years and older, were significantly more satisfied with their work than the younger teachers. Accordingly, teachers with 21 years and more experience were also significantly more satisfied with their work than the less experienced teachers. In addition, all four of the identified factors were found to have statistically significant correlations with job satisfaction. Qualitative data confirmed the quantitative results. Finally, recommendations were made in order to enhance the job satisfaction of secondary school teachers in Addis Ababa, and for further research. / Psychology of Education / D. Ed. (Psychology of Education)

Religious education teachers in modern secular countries like Sweden are faced with many challenges. For example: how do the teachers encourage students to talk about religion when religion is largely understood as a private matter? Kittelmann Flensner found in her 2015 study that Swedish schools operate under what she calls a secularist discourse. This paper aims to examine that claim by analysing interviews with active Swedish religious education teachers. By applying Systematic text condensation to four transcribed interviews and analysing the results, this paper looks at what traces of a secularist discourse that can be found. Furthermore, the paper aims to answer how teachers relate to a secularist discourse and what didactic choices they make to encourage their students to talk about religion.To analyse these questions Kittelmann Flensner’s term secularist discourse is used along with Shiner and Casanova’s views on secularism. In terms of the didactic perspective, Hartman’s presentation of the didactic questions is used to analyse some of the methods teachers describe in the material. In short, my results show that Kittelmann Flensner might have generalized her results when it comes to viewing religion as a private matter in the classroom. Additionally, Casanova’s view on secularisation can explain only a few instances of public religion in the classroom. My conclusion is that the secularist discourse may be present in many classrooms but with exceptions in some multi-religious classes. My conclusion regarding the didactic analysis is that religious education teachers who want their students to talk more about religion need to do mainly three things; get to know their students well, spark interest among the students and bridge the gap between talking about religion in private and in public.

This thesis is focused on the form of theoretical and practical preparation of teachers of primary and secondary schools in Bohemia in the second half of the "long" 19th century. Acquainted with contemporary legislation, curriculum of teacher-training institutes, primary and secondary schools and addresses the contemporary teaching methodologies whose knowledge was requirement for completing teacher-training institutes and teachers qualification exams. These sources are also linked with the written legacy and memories of five contemporary teachers. Keywords teachers, teacher-training institutes, teachers qualification exams, primary school, secondary school, methodical manuals

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between physical activity, social support and hardiness as predictors of occupational stress in Swedish upper secondary school teachers. Effects with respect to gender were also examined. A convenience sample of teachers (n=145) from three different municipalities participated in a cross-sectional survey. The results indicated that physical activity, social support and hardiness significantly predicted the level of occupational stress in upper secondary school teachers. Despite female teachers reporting significantly higher levels of stress compared to males, no interaction effects between gender and physical activity, social support or hardiness were found. In summary, physical activity, social support and hardiness appear to provide stress buffering effects for male and female teachers alike. Implications of the findings and suggestions for further research are discussed. / Målet med denna studie var att undersöka förhållandet mellan fysisk aktivitet, socialt stöd och stresstålighet som prediktorer av arbetsrelaterad stress hos svenska gymnasielärare. Könsskillnader för respektive effekt på nivå av stress undersöktes. Ett bekvämlighetsurval av lärare (n=145) från tre olika kommuner deltog i vår tvärsnittsstudie. Resultaten pekade på att fysisk aktivitet, socialt stöd och stresstålighet signifikant predicerar nivån av arbetsrelaterad stress hos gymnasielärare. Trots att kvinnliga lärare rapporterade signifikant högre nivåer av arbetsrelaterad stress i jämförelse med manliga lärare fann vi ingen signifikant interaktionseffekt mellan kön och fysisk aktivitet, socialt stöd eller stresstålighet. Sammanfattningsvis framstår det som att fysisk aktivitet, socialt stöd och stresstålighet förser stresskyddande effekter för både manliga och kvinnliga lärare. Implikationer av fynden och förslag på framtida forskning diskuteras.

Outdoor education is believed to be a new teaching approach and method in the education framework which relates to learning through natural places using direct experience. However, the teaching approach that is mostly used in the Gambian schools is based on the traditional approach of teachings as well as many African countries. As a relatively new teaching technique, outdoor education is gaining recognition from many researchers who are developing a keen interest in it. Thus, the aim of the current thesis is to investigate the perceptions of Gambian Basic and Secondary school teachers about outdoor education. in that regard, six (6) Gambian teachers from different teaching subjects, grades, and regions reported their views about outdoor education. A qualitative approach methodology with the use of semi-structured interview was employed to get teachers perceptions. After the data collection, thematic analysis was used for analyzing the collected data from which three (3) themes emerged to report the participants’ opinions. The participants revealed their basic knowledge and perceptions about outdoor education and presented some characteristics and examples of how the practice outdoor education. They emphasized that they view outdoor education as a teaching approach with the use of outdoors. However, according to them, any teaching activity that involves using the outside the four corners of the classroom or the school premises, is considered outdoor education. They noted that outdoor education can take place in the form of excursions, fieldtrips, classes outside the class under a tree or within the school premises. Besides, although the teachers indicated that the main teaching approach, they use is still the traditional teaching and learning approach, they showed willingness to enrich their classes with use of outdoor education. They further revealed that the main places they conduct outdoor education is the school yard, under a tree, a visit to places of interest, excursions to various historical places or museums and the like. The Gambian teachers acknowledged many potentials of outdoor education to the students including stimulation of multi-senses, increased understanding, improved social relation and cooperation, boosting of their health and wellbeing, developing curiosity, and giving students a sense of freedom and happiness. However, participants also revealed several barriers that suppress them from doing outdoor education effectively. Among the barriers mentioned includes, inadequate funding, lack of support from parents and school administrators, lack of pedagogical training, tight schedule, and limited time. Thus, further research is needed to help testifying the results of the current study and give more insight into the field of outdoor education in the Gambia and Africa at large

Gamification is about using game elements in non-game contexts.This study examines what teachers want from gamified learningplatforms in order for it to work in their teaching. The aim is tocreate knowledge about teachers' needs for these platforms sothat system developers can design these systems based on theteachers' needs. This is so that teachers in turn will use thesystems and increase the motivation of the students. This studyused a modified TAM3 as theory which was the basis for thedesign of the questions. In order to carry out this study, semistructured interviews have been conducted with secondary schoolteachers. The data has been analyzed using a thematic analysis.What has been identified is that a gamified platform should beuser-friendly and useful by being adventurous. The platform mustbe structured in small modules with different assignments for thestudent. There must be ready-made templates with modules so asnot to take up too much of the teacher's planning time. Theplatform should be simple and complex, which makes itchallenging to design. / Spelifiering handlar om att använda spelelement i ickespelsammanhang. I denna studie undersöks vad lärare önskar avspelifierade inlärningsplattformar för att det skall fungera i derasundervisning. Syftet är att skapa kunskap om lärares behov avdessa plattformar för att systemutvecklare skall kunna utformadessa system utifrån lärares behov. Detta är för att lärare i sin turskall använda systemen och öka motivationen för eleverna. Dennastudie använde en modifierad TAM3 som teori vilken låg till grund iutformningen av frågorna. För att genomföra denna studie harsemistrukturerade intervjuer gjorts med högstadielärare. Datanhar analyserats med en tematisk analys. Det som identifierats äratt en spelifierad plattform ska vara användarvänlig och användbargenom att den är äventyrlig. Plattform ska vara uppbyggd i småmoduler med olika uppdrag för eleven. Det skall finnas färdigamallar med moduler för att inte ta alltför mycket tid i anspråk avlärares planeringstid. Plattformen ska vara enkel och komplex,vilket gör det utmanande att utforma.

Jernkontoret är svenska stålindustrins branschorganisation. 2013 startade de projektet Järnkoll vars syfte är att inspirera unga att söka jobb inom stålindustrin. Järnkoll jobbar främst mot gymnasieskolor och de har en modell där det ingår fyra träffar. Dessa träffar är tre föreläsningar och ett studiebesök. Syftet med denna studie är att utvärdera Järnkoll ur gymnasielärarnas perspektiv. Fokus har legat på hur lärarna uppfattar samt arbetar med Järnkoll och dess material. Ett ytterligare syfte är att utifrån lärarnas önskemål försöka ta fram ett förslag på en förbättrad modell till Järnkoll.De teoretiska utgångspunkterna tar huvudsakligen avstamp i det sociokulturella perspektivet. Vidare lyfts också olika definitioner av nätverk och partnerskap skrivna av Svensson (2014) och Nilsson (2004). För modellen har Fertmans (1994) idéer om service learning och hur de ska appliceras tagit i beaktande. I studien har elva lärare som jobbar på gymnasieskolor som har samarbete med Järnkoll intervjuats. Vidare har två personer som är sakkunniga inom kompetensförsörjningsfrågor från näringslivet intervjuats. Samtliga intervjuer har transkriberats och sedan bearbetats för att dels besvara forskningsfrågorna men även för att ta fram underlag för en förbättrad modell för Järnkoll. Resultaten visar att lärarna överlag är nöja med grundidén men det behövs mer arbete för att de ska bli helt nöjda. Det största problemet just nu verkar vara att det inte blivit så mycket samarbete de senaste åren. Resultaten visar också att materialet inte används. Som avslutning visas den förbättringsmodell som tagits fram utifrån lärarnas önskemål. / Jernkontoret is the Swedish steel industry's industry organization. In 2013 they started the Järnkoll project the purpose of which is to inspire young people to apply for jobs in the steel industry. Järnkoll works mainly with upper secondary schools and they have a model that includes four meetings. These meetings are three lectures and a study visit. The purpose of this study is to evaluate Järnkoll from the upper secondary schools’ teachers' perspective. The focus has been on how the teachers perceive and work with Järnkoll and its materials. An additional purpose is to try to produce a proposal for an improved model for Järnkoll based on the teachers' wishes.The theoretical starting points are mainly based on the socio-cultural perspective. Furthermore, various definitions of networks and partnerships written by Svensson (2014) and Nilsson (2004) are also highlighted. For the model, Fertman's (1994) ideas about service learning and how they should be applied have been considered.In the study, eleven teachers who work at upper secondary schools that collaborate with Järnkoll were interviewed. Furthermore, two people who are experts in skills supply issues from the business community have been interviewed. All interviews have been transcribed and then processed to answer the research questions but also to produce a basis for an improved model for Järnkoll.The results show that the teachers are generally satisfied with the basic idea, but more work is needed for them to be completely satisfied. The biggest problem right now seems to be that there has not been much collaboration in recent years. The results also show that the material is not used. In conclusion, the improvement model developed based on the teachers' wishes is shown.

This study investigated associations between professional groups in adolescents' surroundings and their assessments of violence in adolescent intimate relationships. The methodological approach involved quantitative surveys, each containing 4 vignettes that manipulated social categories such as gender, age, and type of violence. In total, 108 vignettes were spread across 27 surveys. Teachers and social workers (n=36) participated, with a response rate of 55.6%. Generalised estimating equations (GEE) models were used to analyse three outcomes: severity, violence assessment, and reporting tendency. The results showed significant differences based on gender and type of violence but not age. Social workers were more likely to report the violence compared to teachers, but all respondents assessed the violence as equally severe. Practical implications include whether the school has the right tools to work preventively with healthy relationships and intimate partner violence. Social work can help develop preventive measures at an early age in collaboration with schools. / I denna studie undersöktes associationer mellan yrkesgrupper i ungdomars omgivning och deras bedömningar av våld i ungdomars nära relationer. Det metodologiska tillvägagångssättet involverade kvantitativa enkäter, var och en innehållande fyra vinjetter som manipulerade sociala kategorier som kön, ålder och typ av våld. Totalt fördelades 108 vinjetter på 27 enkäter. Lärare och socialarbetare (n=36) deltog, med en svarsfrekvens på 55,6%. Generalised estimating equations (GEE) användes för att analysera tre utfall: allvarlighetsbedömning, våldsamhetsbedömning och anmälningsbenägenhet. Resultatet visade signifikanta skillnader baserat på kön och typ av våld men inte ålder. Socialsekreterarna var mer benägna att anmäla våldet jämfört med lärarna, men alla respondenter bedömde våldet som lika allvarligt. Praktiska implikationer är bland annat om skolan har rätt verktyg för att arbeta förebyggande med sunda relationer och våld i nära relationer. Socialt arbete kan bidra till att utveckla förebyggande åtgärder i tidig ålder i samarbete med skolan.