ABSTRACT THE QUEST TO RETAIN TEACHERS: ONE URBAN-SUBURBAN SCHOOL SYSTEM’S STORY OF TEACHER MOVEMENT by Karen Smits Recent data on teacher attrition indicate that approximately 15 percent of teachers either leave the profession or move from one school to another each year. The attrition rate is highest for teachers new to the profession with 30-50 percent leaving within five years. High rates of attrition are a contributing cause of various educational problems including reduced student achievement, teacher shortages, declining teacher morale, and organizational discontinuity. The purpose of this study was to examine the reasons why teachers choose to leave the profession or move to another school from one year to the next. A qualitative case study was conducted to explore the reasons teachers from one urban-suburban school system voluntarily resigned at the end of one school year and what changes could have been made to keep them from leaving. The study answers three questions: Why do teachers leave? Why do some move to other schools while other teachers leave the profession? What could keep teachers from leaving? Data were collected using exit questionnaires, exit interviews, and semi-structured interviews of teachers leaving after the 2006-2007 school year. Data were analyzed using both deductive and inductive methods. Teachers who participated in this study made the decisions to move or leave for two primary reasons: administrative support and new opportunities. Administrative support took many forms and was described in a variety of ways including the following: administrative visibility, communication, use of time, support with student behavior, workload, implementation of new initiatives, and school climate. Teachers who left for new prospects were seeking different teaching opportunities or a better chance of moving into administration. The greatest difference between the teachers who moved and those who left the profession was hope. Teachers who moved to another school system believed the situation would be better elsewhere. Teachers who left the profession saw the struggles they endured as likely to occur in any teaching situation. Teachers indicated that they may have considered staying if they had received more administrative support, experienced better working conditions, had more supportive mentors, or had a teacher advocate who could have intervened on their behalf.

<p> Teachers experience significant amounts of stress that can lead to burnout or attrition (Milhans, 2008). Creating time and space to engage in self-reflection helps teachers to reduce stress (Chang, 2009; Nollett, 2009). Courage to Teach was developed in 1994 by Parker Palmer and the Fetzer Institute in response to an identified need for developing the inner lives of teachers (Center for Courage and Renewal, 2008; Palmer, 1992) by encouraging self-reflection. This qualitative multiple case study focuses on the perceived effects of self-reflective practices learned at Courage to Teach retreats on levels of stress, classroom practices, and student engagement. Interview data and journal entries collected from nine female teachers participating in at least one of two Northern California retreat series from 2008 to 2011 indicates that engaging in the following self-reflective practices reduces stress levels: joumaling, deep listening and using silence, poetry, art, walking, and Clearness Committees. Additional data sources included Maslach Burnout Inventories&mdash;Educators Survey and documents obtained from the Center for Courage and Renewal. Teachers indicated that after participating in the retreats, they were more patient in the classroom and experienced a willingness and desire to present more engaging lessons. Suggestions for additional research include examination of Courage to Teach retreat cohorts in other locations, collecting data from male retreat participants, conducting a longitudinal study collecting data a priori, posteriori, and throughout the retreats, and focusing on a population using Palmer's ( 1994) <i>Courage to Teach</i> in a book group. </p>

<p> Students diagnosed with disabilities are increasingly educated in inclusive settings. Despite this shift, general education teachers typically do not receive adequate preparation for working with these populations. Such deficiencies in preparation have lasting negative consequences for students with disabilities, particularly with regard to education and employment outcomes.</p><p> Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is an approach to curriculum development and instruction that is targeted toward providing all students, regardless of any distinguishing characteristic, with an opportunity to learn. As such, UDL appears particularly well suited for inclusive settings. An emerging body of research suggests that UDL-based instruction fosters improved learning outcomes for students with and without disabilities. Recent federal education policies, particularly the <i>Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008,</i> have encouraged general education teacher preparation programs to provide instruction on UDL.</p><p> The purpose of this study is to examine the extent to which faculty members of college and university-based teacher preparation programs perceive that the instruction of UDL has been incorporated into their general education teacher preparation courses. Areas of the framework that are typically taught by faculty members, as well as barriers to the incorporation of the framework, are also examined. An online survey was administered to general education faculty of programs that were recipients of <i>Teacher Quality Partnership Grants for Pre-Baccalaureate Preparation of Teachers</i> (TQP grants). These grants are awarded to programs that are expected to prepare educators to understand teaching research and practices that are consistent with the UDL framework. </p><p> The data collected indicate that UDL is being taught in a wider range of programs and states than previously documented. However, the depth of this penetration appears limited; the survey results suggest that awareness and instruction of the framework were modest for programs with TQP grants. Among faculty who do teach UDL, nearly all address all three UDL principles. At least two-thirds provide instruction on seven of the nine associated guidelines. Several barriers to instruction were identified, including a lack of awareness and&mdash;among those aware of it&mdash;insufficient knowledge of the framework. Recommendations for future research are also discussed.</p>

<p> The Indonesia Open University (Universitas Terbuka or UT) face-to-face tutoring program for in-service teacher training is intended to improve teacher trainees' course completion rates. The university has attempted to intensify trainees' motivation to participate in the tutoring by increasing the contribution of tutorial performance to the final course grade. Very few studies have been conducted to find evidence that the tutoring program is positively associated with the learning outcomes of the trainees. The purpose of the study is to evaluate the fidelity and quality of the implementation of the tutoring program, assessing the effect of success in the program on students' results in the final course examination, and estimating the relationship of key tutor characteristics with these outcomes. </p><p> This study employed both quantitative and qualitative approaches. Information on program implementation was largely observational or interview-based and data on program results consists of the teacher trainees' test scores on tutorial and final examination. Finally, overall joint analysis of these bodies of data is undertaken on the basis of the results of telephone interviews with the key stakeholders and their interpretation of the quantitative data. The study was conducted at the UT regional center of Serang involving teacher trainees, tutors, and the center administrators as interviewees and four sample courses related to Social Sciences, Mathematics, Sciences and Indonesian. </p><p> Findings of the study suggested that the center has implemented the tutoring program with relatively high fidelity. However, these results were not strongly associated with trainee achievement on the final exams, in other words the quality of the tutoring program was low. There is a substantial difference between the average of trainees' tutorial scores and that of the final examination results. The correlation between the trainees' tutorial results and their final exam scores is very small but positive and significant in overall sampled courses. Partial correlation analysis between tutors' specific characteristics shows that the association of trainees' tutorial scores and final exam results is significant in the group of trainees guided by tutors holding a Master's degree and in those instructed by university affiliated tutors. The mean difference analysis between groups defined by tutor characteristics showed that the trainees guided by tutors with a Master's degree did substantially and significantly better than those instructed by tutors with only a Bachelor's degree, but there is no significant difference between the groups defined by tutors' professional affiliations. </p><p> The local key stake holders interpreted that different characteristics and scoring systems between both assessments may contribute to the weak correlation between tutorial score and final exam results. Tutors and the Center Administrator added that lack of trainees' preparation and poor reading habits may be factors correlated to the trainees' low average on the final exam. There is an indication that the heavy weighting of the tutorial's as part of the final grade contributes to the trainees less intensive preparation for the final exam. Interpreting the impact of tutors' specific characteristics on trainees' final exam achievement, almost all interviewees agreed that tutors with a Master's degree have better knowledge and teaching experience. The trainees were not concerned with their tutor's professional affiliation as long as the tutors had mastery of the course contents, good teaching methods, and could motivate trainees to study. The center administrator expressed that no significant impact of tutors hired from the university and those recruited amongst secondary school teachers was a result of strict recruitment and continuous tutor performance monitoring and evaluation. </p><p> Based on the findings, I recommend that UT revisit the proportional contribution of the tutorial score to the trainee's final grade. I also recommended that in hiring new tutors, candidate with a Master's degree educational level or higher should be given priority. Recruiting tutors amongst secondary school teachers should continue as long as continuous and rigorous selection and performance evaluations are conducted.</p>

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In education, 'gender' is consistently operationalized as a body of 'common sense' knowledge that can be freely invoked in an explanatory fashion. This study names such knowledge practices as artefacts of gender-normative privilege and links 'how' knowledge of gender conveyed by teacher education programs (TEP) to the hegemonic normalization of gender in schools. This transformative mixed methods study of 'gender content' in the curriculum of the TEP at McGill University incorporated both quantitative and qualitative analyses of data gathered from all available course outlines across the time sample (2001-2008). Findings included a general scarcity of gender content and genderist trends in course design practices. The meta-inference linking both strands was that there is gender content in the curriculum, but not with particular regard to education and what educators 'need to know' about gender. The concluding chapter examines the epistemological implications of gender as 'how' knowledge when conveyed by teacher education, recommending that both teacher educators and preservice teachers self-situate as gendered subjects in order to locate their gendered self-knowledge as contingent, not universal. / Dans l'éducation, 'le genre' est systématiquement mobilisé comme un corps de connaissance 'de sens commun' qui peut être librement invoquée. Ce projet appelle de telles pratiques de connaissance comme les objets de privilège 'gender-normative' et lie la connaissance 'comment faire' par rapport au genre transmise par les programmes d'éducation d'enseignant (TEP) à la normalisation de genre dans les écoles. Cette étude transformationnelle de méthodes mélangées de 'contenu du genre' dans le programme d'études du TEP à l'Université McGill a incorporé analyses tant quantitatives que qualitatives de données cueillies de tous les plans de cours disponibles entre 2001 et 2008. Les conclusions ont inclus une rareté de contenu de genre et de tendances 'genderistes' dans les pratiques de design de cours. La meta-inférence reliant les deux fils était qu'il y a le contenu du genre dans le programme d'études, mais pas avec l'égard particulier à l'éducation et que les éducateurs 'doivent savoir' du genre. Le chapitre terminant examine les implications épistémologiques de la connaissance 'comment faire' par rapport au genre quand transmise par l'éducation d'enseignant, en recommandant que tant les éducateurs d'enseignant que les enseignants de préservice identifient leur connaissance de soi 'gendered' comme une connaissance contingente et non-universelle.

Researchers have reported that transforming socio-constructivist teaching practices supported by information communication technology (ICT) has been slow and stagnant in Quebec and globally, because many contradictions emerged in organizational structure (c.f. Park, 2009; Sicilia, 2007). The primary aim of these case studies is to examine a five-month planned intervention in a technology rich school in order to extend the understanding of designing a socio-constructivist lesson plan supported by ICT. The intervention was designed collectively between researchers, school administrators and grade 7 and grade 8 middle school math teachers. The designed intervention incorporated the assumptions from socio-cultural and socio-constructivist theories and the assumptions found in notable change models. The intervention introduced organizational conditional and learning conditions which created new goals, resources, roles and rules to resolve contradictions found in previous studies. The organizational conditions were: resources, time, agent of change, school and teachers' historical background, and the learning conditions were: social collaboration, community-centered environment, contradictions and problem solving. During the implementation of the intervention, the teachers held bi-weekly "collaborative change meetings" facilitated by myself, the principle researcher who also assumed the role of change implementer (CI). / The actions of the design and implementation of the intervention were traced within the cultural historical activity theory (CHAT) systemic framework. Findings revealed a) although collective actions in designing and implementing the intervention created both new environmental conditions and disequilibria in existing ones, the changing conditions did not always lead to changes in teaching practices b) teachers' internal representation of understanding socio-constructivism hindered them in designing and delivering a socio-constructivist lesson plan because they interpreted socio-constructivism as an in class activity that students solve on their own. / Des chercheurs ont constaté un ralentissement et une stagnation de la transformation des pratiques de l'enseignement constructiviste, appuyé par les technologies de l'information et des communications (TIC), tant au Québec qu'à l'étranger, en raison des nombreuses contradictions qui se sont manifestées dans la structure organisationnelle (c.f. Park, 2009; Sicile, 2007). Cette étude de cas vise principalement à examiner une intervention de second ordre ou prévue, d'une durée de cinq mois, au sein d'une école qui se caractérise par sa technologie, afin de mieux comprendre l'apport de changements aux pratiques d'enseignement, passant de l'enseignement traditionnel à l'enseignement constructiviste appuyé par les TIC. L'intervention a été conçue collectivement entre les chercheurs, cadres scolaires et enseignants des mathématiques d'écoles intermédiaires (secondaires I et II). L'intervention conçue a incorporé les conditions organisationnelles et d'apprentissage, qui ont été constatées dans d'importants modèles et théories du changement, pour présenter de nouveaux objectifs, ressources, rôles et règles afin d'éliminer les contradictions relevées dans des études antérieures. Les conditions organisationnelles étaient les suivantes : ressources, temps, inducteur de changement, aperçu historique des écoles et des enseignants, et les conditions d'apprentissages étaient celles-ci : collaboration sociale, milieu axé sur la collectivité et contradictions, et résolution de problèmes. Au cours de la mise en œuvre de l'intervention, les enseignants ont tenu, toutes les deux semaines, des « réunions collaboratives sur le changement » animées par le chercheur principal, lequel a également joué le rôle de la personne chargée d'apporter des changements. / Les actions découlant de la conception et de la mise en œuvre de l'intervention ont été retracées dans le cadre systémique de la théorie historico-culturelle de l'activité (cultural historical activity theory). Les résultats de recherche ont révélé que a) bien que les actions collectives dans la conception et la mise en œuvre de l'intervention ont créé à la fois de nouvelles conditions environnementales et un déséquilibre dans les conditions en place, on a constaté que les nouvelles conditions n'ont pas toujours mené vers des changements dans les pratiques d'enseignement; que b) la représentation interne du constructivisme par les enseignants les a empêchés de modifier leurs pratiques d'enseignement traditionnel parce qu'ils ont interprété le constructivisme comme étant une activité que les élèves devaient réalisés par eux-mêmes.

This qualitative study in part explores the beliefs, attitudes and intentions of Iranian elementary school teachers about engaging in a curriculum reform endeavour, the Systems Thinking Education (STE) curriculum, and investigates the main motivational factors for the teachers' involvement in the program. Within a social marketing framework, this study also defines and develops the strategies and policies of an Iranian education Non Governmental Organization (NGO) that is steering the STE project. Systems Thinking (ST) is a set of required skills for understanding the systematic structure of a phenomenon and the resulting behaviour of that structure, and improves problem-solving and decision-making abilities. The ST framework is a relatively new concept in the Iranian education system and could be an appropriate alternative for the current memorization based system in formal education. The findings of this study expand the application of a social marketing framework to the field of education for the first time. In this work, social marketing provides a systematic approach to clearly set the goals; define the target group; explore the main barriers and motivational factors for the target group to achieve the goals; and develop strategies, techniques, and tools to remove the barriers and reinforce the motivational factors in order to bring about the desired behavioural change in teachers to successfully implement the reform. In brief, by primary means of individual interviews and focus group conversations, the author examines how Iranian elementary teachers, as the main change agents of curriculum reform, can be motivated to engage in the STE curriculum. / Cette étude qualitative explore en partie les croyances, les comportements et les intentions des maîtres iraniens du primaire à s'engager dans une reforme du curriculum, l'approche systémique, ainsi que les principaux facteurs pouvant motiver les professeurs. Dans un cadre de marketing social, cette étude définit et développe également des stratégies pour la société non gouvernementale iranienne qui s'occupe de ce projet. L'approche systémique consiste en l'acquisition d'une série de compétences nécessaires à la compréhension de la structure systématique d'un phénomène et le comportement résultant de cette structure. De plus, cette approche sert aussi à améliorer l'aptitude des élèves en résolution de problèmes et en prise de décisions. La base théorique de l'approche systémique est relativement chose nouvelle dans le système d'éducation iranien et pourrait représenter une alternative appropriée au système courant axé sur la mémorisation. Les trouvailles de cette étude étendent pour la première fois l'application du marketing social dans un contexte éducationnel.Dans ce domaine, le marketing social fournit une approche systématique dans le but de définir des objectifs clairs et une population cible, explorer les barrières principales a la réalisation des objectifs, ainsi que proposer des techniques et des outils pour éliminer ces barrières et renforcer les facteurs motivants afin d'arriver aux changements de comportements désirés. En bref, au moyen d'interview privés et de groupes de discussions, l'auteur examine comment les maîtres iraniens, comme agents principaux de ce changement de curriculum, peuvent être motivés pour s'engager dans le/la STE.

There is broad agreement that the practicum is a key part of teacher education. In the context of the classroom, the teacher candidate begins to adopt the role of teacher as outlined by the Ministry of Education in Ontario. One challenge for teacher candidates is to translate to the classroom what they have experienced in their university program. Associate Teachers influence this translation of pedagogy by how they shape what Student Teachers have explored in theory. The broad scope of research literature on the role of the Associate Teacher lacks clarity on the varied perceptions of the supportive roles of Associate Teachers. Research is needed on how Teacher Candidates and Associate Teachers perceive their pre-service practice experience and the impact of the Associate Teacher support. This study is a qualitative one. The research is based on a series of semi-structured interviews conducted with teachers who were participants in the 2007/2008 elementary pre-service consecutive teacher education program at one Ontario University. Findings from the research suggest that the use of participatory dialogue throughout the practicum is essential to support the learning process of Student Teachers concerning teaching in the classroom. Additionally, differentiated mentored support by the Associate Teacher proved essential to the completion of the practicum by the Teacher Candidate.

There is broad agreement that the practicum is a key part of teacher education. In the context of the classroom, the teacher candidate begins to adopt the role of teacher as outlined by the Ministry of Education in Ontario. One challenge for teacher candidates is to translate to the classroom what they have experienced in their university program. Associate Teachers influence this translation of pedagogy by how they shape what Student Teachers have explored in theory. The broad scope of research literature on the role of the Associate Teacher lacks clarity on the varied perceptions of the supportive roles of Associate Teachers. Research is needed on how Teacher Candidates and Associate Teachers perceive their pre-service practice experience and the impact of the Associate Teacher support. This study is a qualitative one. The research is based on a series of semi-structured interviews conducted with teachers who were participants in the 2007/2008 elementary pre-service consecutive teacher education program at one Ontario University. Findings from the research suggest that the use of participatory dialogue throughout the practicum is essential to support the learning process of Student Teachers concerning teaching in the classroom. Additionally, differentiated mentored support by the Associate Teacher proved essential to the completion of the practicum by the Teacher Candidate.