This research focuses on the ways in which teaching assistants are deployed to support learning in secondary schools and investigates the effect of the different deployment approaches used. Much of the previous policy and research literature conceptualises the relationship between the teacher, teaching assistant and learner as tripartite and hierarchical - a three-way relationship in which the teacher has the major responsibility for promoting learning. Key debates in the literature include whether teaching assistants make a positive contribution to learning, represent good value for money or have an impact on educational attainment. The lack of consensus provided the impetus for this case study which contributes further to the debate. In this case study, the theorisation of the teaching assistant's role is grounded in the constructivist theories of Vygotsky and Bruner and, to a lesser extent, of Piaget. The role is also considered in the light of the theories of Bandura, Malaguzzi, Black & William and James et al. In the classroom this means that the learning is not only focused on what the teaching assistant does to support learners but also how learning is supported through the use of specific approaches. The study suggests that some models of deployment allow teaching assistants more scope to work in particular ways which offer more opportunities for learning. Methodologically, the research takes the form of an exploratory case study. The study was completed within the defined boundaries of three schools and seven lessons. Unlike previous studies which have taken predominantly quantitative approaches and provide a focus on the measurement of learners' attainment, this case study takes a wholly qualitative approach in order to focus closely on the interaction between teachers, teaching assistants and supported learners and how particular models of deployment support learning. The case study involved six teachers, seven teaching assistants and fourteen learners from three state comprehensive schools, located in one local authority. Different deployment models were observed. These included the more typical model where teaching assistants were deployed to support individuals, pairs or groups of learners within the classroom or to work in a different location with a small group of learners withdrawn from the class. Also observed was a higher level teaching assistant team teaching with a teacher in the classroom and a ordinary level teaching assistant deployed in managing a learning support facility and working independently from the teacher. Data were collected through a four stage approach that began with joint semi-structured interviews with pairs of teaching assistants and teachers. Joint interviews were followed by lesson observations. Following this, teachers and teaching assistants were interviewed separately in order to obtain their individual perceptions of the learning of supported learners in the lesson. Lastly, group interviews were conducted with supported learners to obtain their views on the support they had received. The different data sources were examined using four perspectives to identify the various ways in which teaching assistants were being deployed and how these supported learning. The case study provided a range of qualitative data from which it was possible to explore the complexities of the relationships between teachers, teaching assistants, and learners and to identify models of teaching assistant deployment which allow them to contribute more fully to learning. The study also highlighted the importance of building professional relationships. It concluded that the lack of planning between teachers and teaching assistants, the unavailability of training for teachers on managing the work of teaching assistants and for teaching assistants on supporting learners, all have a negative effect on support for learning. The learners suggested that they appreciated the academic and pastoral help they were given while also being able to provide examples where learning was over-supported and, therefore, detrimental to intellectual independence. The study, therefore, has implications at different levels - for example, for policy makers and institutions who determine roles, models of deployment and the training and management of teaching assistants when they are working both inside and outside of the classroom.

Quality is now at the centre of education policy and teacher performance is seen as critical to the enhancement of learning outcomes. Quality has become a particular priority in the developing world following two decades of expansion of access driven by the Education for All (EFA) movement. Teacher quality, performance and effectiveness are widely thought to be dependent on a complex combination of competency and motivation. However, studies have remained heavily focused on competency-related issues, resulting in the neglect of a deeper understanding of motivation in relation to incentives and context. This omission is particularly glaring in the case of research on developing countries – and Cambodia, the focus of the present study, is no exception. This study therefore investigates the complex relationship between teacher motivation and incentives on the one hand, and motivation and context on the other, exploring how teacher characteristics mediate these relationships. This study defines the ‘motivated teacher' as an individual who strives for goals that are closely associated with those of the school in which he or she teaches. To examine these relationships, the study employs a mixed methods approach, combining analysis of national survey data and semi-structured interviews; drawing on responses from a survey of 676 teachers, classroom observations of 284 teachers, and follow-up interviews with 18 teachers. Quantitative datasets reveal larger patterns of association between teacher incentives and motivation, and the qualitative dataset offers a deeper understanding of the phenomenon. This mixed methods approach itself is seen as one part of the contribution of this research: it helps deepen and enrich current understandings of teacher motivation, opening the door for policies that are more sensitive to diverse contexts. The study found that the meeting of basic needs such as an adequate working environment and living salary was insufficient to satisfy most Cambodian teachers. Indeed, it emerged that salary levels were as low as those of factory workers, a situation that leads to the perceived low social status of teachers. Moreover, the data indicate that while teachers – particularly those who work in rural and remote areas – do identify the work environment as a critical motivator, this in itself cannot guarantee sustained motivation. Beyond such basic incentives, the active support of the school director was identified as the most significant motivator across age groups and regions. Two additional factors were also found to be significant, but differed according to age group: firstly, recognition from community and colleagues is most important to mid-career teachers; and secondly, professional development opportunities represent a strong motivator among newly assigned teachers. Within this complex nexus of incentives and motivation, the study found initial intrinsic commitment and motivation to become a teacher to be a consistently powerful factor in shaping higher motivation throughout a teacher's career. This was associated with the impact of incentives on motivation; indeed, the data suggest that newly assigned teachers tend to have higher intrinsic motivation than those who have been in the profession for more than ten years. Thus, the thesis proposes that the same incentives can have different effects on teacher motivation, depending on whether or not the individual is intrinsically driven to enter the profession, and on his or her length of service. The thesis concludes by proposing the following education policy reforms: (i) improvement of basic working conditions and a raise in the salary level; (ii) strengthening of instructional support; (iii) revision of entry requirements for the ‘good teacher award', with greater focus on mid-career teachers; (iv) greater provision of in-service training, as well as induction support for new teachers; and (v) reformation of the current entrance examination for teacher training institutions with greater emphasis on strong intrinsic motivation. Finally, this study seeks to open up further avenues for future research in the area of intrinsic teacher motivation by identifying the phenomenon as a contributory factor in education delivery, and drawing attention to how this variable has hitherto been absent from research on developing countries.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 2002. / Title from electronic submission form. Vita. Abstract. Includes bibliographical references.

Problem: The problem of this study was to: (1) identify those laws, court decisions, legal opinions of the Office of the Attorney General of the State of Utah, the legal opinions and policies of the Office of the State Superintendent of Public Instruction of the State of Utah, trends and extra legal practices of local school boards in the State of Utah with respect to teaching personnel, (2) organize such data into topical categories in terms of subject matter , and (3) develop some suggested guidelines and recommendations for local school board policies and legislative enactments in the State of Utah. Summary: A portion of the summary was as follow s: (l) The Office of the State Board of Education in Utah has the sole power to issue teaching certificates and may revoke them for immoral or unprofessional conduct. (2) Local school boards may require additional qualifications of certificated teachers such as areas of training, experience, and health. (3) Written contracts may be entered into with teachers for terms not to exceed five years, providing that they may be terminated for cause at any time. (4) It is not unlawful to employ a certificated teacher who is closely related to a school board member. (S) Utah has no teacher tenure laws, but local school boards may provide for tenure, continuing contracts, and orderly dismissal procedures for teachers through district policy. (6) Local school boards are financially liable for the full term of a teacher' s salary. (7) Local school boards may either insure in the state insurance fund or pay compensation directly to a teacher injured on the job. (8) Immunity from legal suit of local school boards has been waived for certain of their own acts and negligent acts of teachers when performing in their official capacity. (9) Local school boards may insure teachers against individual liability if they are judged negligent in the performance of their duties. Major recommendations: The Utah Legislature should: (1) delete outdated and obsolete statutes pertaining to teaching personnel from the Utah Code Annotated, (2) pass a Professional Negotiation and Tenure Law for teachers, and (3) make it mandatory that local school boards purchase liability insurance for the protection of teachers. The Utah State Board of Education should: (l) withhold State Uniform School Funds from local school boards who continue to employ non-authorized, non -certificated teachers, (2) require a financial penalty of teachers who break their contracts illegally with local school boards, and (3) prohibit local school board members from originally appointing their close relatives as teachers. The Utah School Boards Association should increase its leader ship role with local school boards in such areas as legislation, negotiations, general school operation, and inservice training for newly elected school board members. Additional areas of study suggested by this research were: (1) District court cases in Utah with respect to teaching personnel which have not been taken to the Appellate Courts, (2) Updating of the Utah Code Annotated in all respects in those statutes involving schools, and (3) Reasons why some local school boards in Utah operate extra legally.

There is a growing body of research that suggests that participating in collaborative, long-term continuing professional development (CPD) is the most effective type of CPD for teachers. An example of such CPD is a teacher learning community (TLC) where a group of teachers work together in school to discuss pedagogy and practice, observe each other in the classroom and feedback, all of this is done with the intention of improving student outcomes. This case study follows 12 teachers and their experience of a TLC over one academic year at a secondary school in south east England. The focus of the case study was to find out how teachers learn in a TLC, how the TLC contributes to their professional learning, what are the outcomes of the TLC, the essential elements plus the strengths and limitations of the TLC and finally, what elements of a TLC and teacher learning from this project might be transferable to other schools. As an insider-researcher and member of the Senior Leadership Team, I collected qualitative data to uncover what goes on within the TLC and beyond it in order to understand how teachers learn in a TLC. The data sets consisted of ethnographic participant-observer notes, before and after interviews with five teacher participants, survey data and also interviews with teachers who had taken part in TLCs that had run in previous academic years. Key contributions to knowledge are that teachers learnt through key processes of discussion, experimentation, reflection, and observation; the combination of these dimensions for some teachers also led to the development of metacognitive skills. Furthermore, learning in a TLC and the development of these metacognitive skills take a significant amount of time to develop. A further contribution to knowledge is that TLCs also contribute to the emotional well-being of teachers providing support and encouragement which is much needed in a wider national and international culture of accountability and performance related pay. The main barriers to learning in the TLC were generally related to a lack of time to carry out observations and engage in the related processes. I conclude that TLCs have a positive impact on teachers and the school in a variety of ways, which leaves key decisions for Headteachers and policy makers: how can long-term collaborative CPD be supported and funded in schools and what cultural and financial shifts are required to enable all teachers to have the opportunities to participate in them.

This thesis explores the perspectives of academics on the impacts of quality assurance (QA) processes on their professional practices in a higher education institution in North Cyprus, the European University of Lefke (EUL). After considering how QA might be conceptualized, it describes QA development in this context, before exploring how QA was understood and experienced by a range of different EUL academics. In keeping with a phenomenological approach, the study adopted a qualitative research design. Building on an assumption that social processes reveal the perspectives, thoughts and realities of individuals in context, it examined the social realities of QA from the academics' perspectives. The epistemological and ontological positioning of the study, therefore, followed a social constructivist and interpretive approach in order to explore the construction of the social processes associated with QA in my research context. Research methods involved documentary analysis of selected institutional texts and semi-structured interviews with 18 academics in different subject areas and of different seniority. Through these, the thesis aims to give voice to academics and to present their situated understandings of quality assurance and its impacts on their professional practices. My findings indicate that QA was viewed positively by many academics, who associated it with ‘quality' in both academic and administrative practices in higher education. They also understood it as being characterised by standards, transparency and quality in teaching and learning. The study further revealed that achieving quality in teaching and learning was strongly associated with aspects such as adequate provision of technological resources and facilities. The thesis also suggested that academics valued QA as a means of supporting the development of particular qualities in students, such as educating them as professionals, and for their own professional development. Regardless of the variety of meaning that can be attached to the concept of quality and QA, ultimately it was the academics who held individual motivations and wished to have quality in their professional practices, mainly in teaching and learning, although also through the interaction of teaching and research. They also attached significance to research as part of their understanding of quality HE. However, the findings also demonstrate that when implemented, QA processes do not operate in a straightforward way. The empirical data demonstrated that there appeared to be a wide gap between what academics would have liked QA processes to achieve and what they thought it had accomplished. My study suggested that the implementation of the QA initiatives at institutional level has been challenged by a number of weaknesses in implementation due to the absence of institutional text(s) on principles and procedures as well as a lack of procedural orientation on how QA should be carried out. The evidence in my research suggested that academics were not satisfied with the process, partly because they had strong convictions about what quality HE provision might involve, but also because they desired an institutional environment which allowed them more participation in the decision-making process. An important conclusion from this research is the evident difficulties in implementation of QA processes in this context are mainly due to the lack of involvement, participation and cooperation between academic staff and university management. The findings suggest that the key issues which were important for these academics were more communication, more participation that was responsive to academics' views, and the desire to have such an institutional environment. Instead of this, QA development in this institutional context had resulted in different and individualised QA practices. In this thesis I argue therefore for the need to broaden the communication and cooperation between the academics and the authorities in the conception, implementation and evaluation of change.

Thesis (Ph. D., Education)--University of Idaho, April 2009. / Major professor: Roger L. Scott. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 145-152). Also available online (PDF file) by subscription or by purchasing the individual file.

Thesis (M.Ed.)--Regis University, Denver, Colo., 2009. / Title from PDF title page (viewed on Jun. 30, 2010). Includes bibliographical references.

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The purpose of this study was to assess the overall job satisfaction and the curriculum satisfaction of the teachers teaching Mathematics, Turkish, Social Studies, Natural Sciences, and Foreign Language at 6-8 grades of public elementary schools. A questionnaire developed by the researcher was used as the data collection instrument of this study. All the teachers working at the 6-8 grades of the public elementary schools in Turkey and teaching Mathematics, Turkish, Social Studies, Natural Sciences, and Foreign Language constituted the population of the study. The total number of the teachers who constituted the sample was 720. The data gathered was analyzed by SPSS program / descriptive statistics, independent sample t-test, and one-way ANOVA. The results showed that the teachers were satisfied in terms of overall job satisfaction, however, quite undecided in terms of curriculum satisfaction. According to the results of the study, there was a significant difference between the teachers&rsquo / overall job satisfaction in terms of age, marital status, educational background, work experience, lesson load, and motive for choosing teaching profession, but no difference in terms of their gender, number of courses taught, and teaching subject. The results also showed that there was a significant difference between the teachers&rsquo / curriculum satisfaction in terms of teaching subject. When the teachers&rsquo / choice for a new career was considered, there was a significant difference between the teachers&rsquo / overall job satisfaction and between their curriculum satisfaction.