Thesis (M.P.H.)--University of Washington, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 44-47).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2007. / Title from first page of PDF file. Includes bibliographical references (p. 178-188).

Thesis (M.S.)--Springfield College, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available online (PDF file) by a subscription to the set or by purchasing the individual file.

Thesis (M.S.)--Springfield College, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references.

This thesis is concerned with the knowledge and skill requirements to teach technology education. Technology education has an important part to play in the UK economy. There is great demand to produce a technologically skilled workforce and secondary school technology education is a key element in the supply of skilled engineering technicians and graduates. Whilst there have been improvements in the number of pupils choosing to study mathematics and science there has been a decline in those studying technology. The work in this thesis has focused on the subject of Design and Technology as it provides pupils with the majority of their compulsory technology education in England. This thesis is comprised of four studies, adopting a mixed-methods approach. The first study characterised the background knowledge of Design and Technology teachers through a demographic analysis. In the second study observations were made on the adoption and teaching of a novel technology resource by trainee teachers. The third study analysed the opinions of teachers who attended a subject knowledge enhancement professional development course. In the fourth study the results of the previous studies were explored in further detail to triangulate findings and to test assumptions. In the first study the admissions data of 341 trainee Design and Technology teachers over the academic years 2000-2001 and 2013-2014 inclusive was analysed. The key finding of this analysis was that 81% of Design and Technology teachers have their entry qualification in creative arts and design and not in a technology subject. This misalignment of subject knowledge was discussed to be a result of the existing training standards and hypothesised to be contributory to the lack of technology teaching, and over emphasis of design in Design and Technology. The second study used observational methods to record how three trainee teachers adopted and taught lessons using a novel technology resource created for the study. The resource was designed to teach laser cutting and the design of mechanical systems. Subsequent analysis revealed the difficulties participants had in understanding and teaching the technology aspects of the projects. The existing practice, and collective knowledge of teachers within the schools used in the study were found to create obstacles for the trainees in trying to implement technological content. The third study developed a new professional development course for teachers to address the issues observed in the second study. The quantitative and qualitative data was obtained from 20 participant design and technology teachers before, during and after the course. Participants reported to be confidence in teaching technology, yet were unable to demonstrate a deep understanding of the subject content. Participants engaged with the procedural knowledge aspects of the course but not with the conceptual knowledge. They considered many aspects of technological and engineering content to be irrelevant to pupils. The fourth, and final, study developed questionnaires to assess teacher and pupil reactions to the provision of 57 different technology projects resources and training sessions to 82 schools across London. Useable data were generated from 33 teachers and 458 pupils. Measurements of teachers confidence in teaching the new Technology National Curriculum revealed that teachers strengths were the making of products. The weaknesses were teaching modern mechanical and electrical systems. Pupils motivation towards technology revealed positive attitudes, but they were unaffected by resources teachers considered to be novel. This study was used to triangulate the findings of the previous study and validate the claims made. The major contribution to knowledge of this thesis is the quantified description and analysis of teachers technology knowledge. The interrelationships of the distinct teacher knowledge domains were analysed to discover how they affect technology education. The main conclusion of this study is that teachers have difficulties in developing and teaching technology based schemes of work to meet the National Curriculum requirements. However, teachers appear unaware of this situation and consider themselves confident in teaching the technology curriculum topics. These difficulties have been caused by teachers lack of compatible background subject knowledge, and were evident in the teaching of projects without secure technology content. This thesis recommends that a significant intervention is required to provide support to Design and Technology teachers to develop their knowledge and skills in teaching technology.

The thesis ?Activating methods and techniques of teaching in the subject of Czech language and literature at elementary school? is based on actively methods and their influence over increasing effectiveness education and creativity of pupils. Aim work is evidence effectiveness suitable techniques of teaching activating methods in education subject Czech language and literature. Endeavour was to raise activity pupils, suitable lead lesson side mull over subject matter and get higher creativity by laboratory group of pupil at the end research.

This investigation was conducted for the purpose of developing and pilot testing an assessment center to determine job performance levels of caseworkers in essential job competencies.

This qualitative study was designed to investigate Asian Indian counselors’ lived experiences of integrating Indian/Eastern and Western counseling approaches in India and their perceptions of the adequacy of training provided to them. Scholars have documented the growing disillusionment with applicability of Western theories in India (e.g., Misra & Paranjpe, 2012) and argued how insights of traditional Indian origin can contribute to the understanding of psychological issues (e.g., Arulmani, 2007). However, several challenges in training programs for counselors and psychologists in India have been noted (Dalal, 2008). Also, there is a lack of empirical research on the integration of Indian/Eastern and Western approaches. To fill this gap in the literature, I conducted a phenomenological study with counselors in India. The participants (N = 8; age range: 25-52 years) all identified as female counselors working in a metropolitan/urban area in India with clinical experiences ranging from eight months to 20 years. Individual interviews with each participant and follow-up interviews with two of them were conducted. The interpretive phenomenological analysis (IPA; Smith & Osborn, 2008) method was followed for data collection and analysis. Peer debriefing, member check, and external audit were conducted. Results from this study provide insights into how counselors adapted Western counseling theories to the Indian context, incorporated indigenous concepts in counseling, attempted to integrate Indian/Eastern and Western approaches, experienced challenges in counseling and training, and suggested ways to overcome these challenges. Implications for clinical practice, training, and policy are discussed.

Recent changes to the provision for teacher training have seen a move to place greater responsibility for the training of teachers with schools rather than with Higher Education Institutes. The rationale appears to be the view that this will produce the kind of teachers schools are looking to employ. However, there appears to be little research focused on the opinions of the senior management of primary schools about whether they believe this to be the case, whether they feel schools are in a good position to undertake this training, and what impact they perceive such a move will have on primary schools. This study took a constructivist grounded theory approach to explore primary school headteachers’ perceptions of how best to train primary school teachers seen by them as fit to practise and what they perceived schools could and could not provide to support this outcome. Data were initially collected in a feasibility study exploring the views of the headteacher, the school-based mentor and the former trainee teacher in identifying their perceptions of factors which contributed to the outstanding outcome for a trainee on the Graduate Trainee Programme on the completion of his training year. Reflections on one of these factors in particular, that of the crucial role of the headteacher in enabling the successful outcome, at a time when a number of significant reforms to teacher training were being implemented, prompted a reconsideration of the focus of the main study to an exploration of headteachers’ perceptions of training teachers seen by them as fit to practise in primary schools in a changing landscape of teacher training. Twelve primary school headteachers participated in semi-structured interviews. Data were analysed utilising a constant comparison method (Strauss and Corbin, 1990; Charmaz, 2006). Conclusions from a small scale study cannot easily be generalised. However the findings from the main study suggested the headteachers believed teachers who were fit to practise demonstrated the ability to think critically about their practice and that this attribute was under-represented in standards for teachers. In terms of training to become teachers fit to practise the headteachers supported the viewpoint of the primacy of practice but believed that practice alone was not sufficient to develop the teachers they sought to employ in their schools. In order to become critical thinkers trainee teachers needed to study the theory underpinning the teaching in schools. This study should be guided by experts, who most of the headteachers identified as academic partners, in teacher training located outside of the school. There was a measure of hostility from some of the headteachers to the idea that a teaching school could fulfil this expert role. The headteachers used a number of synonyms to describe the teachers they were seeking but all appeared to mean teachers fit to practise in their schools. The headteachers believed they had the ability to recognise the potential to become a teacher fit to practise in applicants to teaching and they used this to identify trainee teachers who would fit their schools. With greater responsibility for teacher training moving to schools this highlighted issues of equality of opportunity and a potentially insular approach to the training and recruitment of teachers. According to the headteachers, schools which participated in teacher training required at least a good Ofsted grade, a climate and skilled staff to support novices and strategic leadership by the headteacher. As part of the remit of this strategic leadership the headteachers perceived it was their role to protect their schools from external pressures such as Ofsted inspections. This, they believed, gave them the autonomy to decide on their level of participation, if any, in teacher training on an annual basis. Recommendations for further research, policy and partnerships have been made.

My diploma thesis aims at the question of the handicapped people and their engagement in the support motor programme in one-week regime for a period of five months. The research was done at Základní škola speciální v Českém Krumlově (Primary Specialized School in Český Krumlov). A competent worker of the school institution provided me with the anamnesis data. I tested the gymnasts by means of standardized motor tests. Two hypotheses adverting to the field of motor and social competence were set up. The applied programme was created in order to support the development of the mentally handicapped pupils' motor abilities and capabilities. It covered easy motor exercises, yoga and its relaxation elements, and psychomotor plays. The influence of the programme was retrieved by double measuring (input and output); all the gained data were processed and evaluated statistically.\\