The purpose of this study is to identify the perceptions of novice and veteran teachers regarding the role of the principal in retaining teachers in the profession. Also, the research investigated whether and to what extent there are differences in the perceptions of novice and veteran teachers on the role of the principal in teacher retention. Participants for the study were selected from 15 elementary schools in an urban school district in the Southwestern part of the United States. The study included 270 novice and veteran elementary teachers who completed a Likert Scale questionnaire consisting of 23 questions. The study revealed that novice and veteran teachers believe principals play a key role in the retention of novice teachers. Specifically, the study revealed that teachers want to know the expectation of principals and their evaluation of them as a novice. In addition, they expect principals to play a major role in providing professional development support for teaching strategies, classroom management, and they expect continuous collaboration and encouragement. The results of the study revealed that there was not a statistically significant difference in the perceptions of the novice and veteran teachers in regards to the role of the principal and teacher retention.

This project examined the life narratives of four veteran teachers, each of whom began their careers before the onset of the Standards Era and were still teaching in 2013. Seeking to surface both their ways of resilience and negotiations of their identities as teachers through their decades-long careers, the question is positioned in the neoliberal turmoil of high-stakes accountability, national curriculum standards, and widespread, large-N assessment, to determine if resilient, long-career teachers exhibit particular characteristics and support systems that enable their accomplished status. Using the postmodern, interpretivist methodologies of portraiture and oral history, richly contextualized narratives for each teacher were crafted as an initial analysis. A secondary analysis revealed three manifestations of identity: the socially constructed identity, the bureaucratically informed identity, and the emotionally shaped identity. Findings suggest that having a fully developed and robust set of identities might encourage teacher resilience and longevity, supporting existing bodies of research, and that storytelling is an important aspect of identity development and maintenance. An additional finding was the absence of adversity through veteran teachers’ careers, which pushes against current research on resilience, as it positions resilience against adversity. An interesting question remains, which is in what ways might these veterans have renamed themselves—through the development of multiple and fluid identities—and renamed the challenges and disruptions of their world of work so that they might continue in the classroom. As school leaders typically rely on the knowledge base of seasoned veterans—to inform curriculum development, novice teacher support, and professional learning communities—it seems important to consider the power of storytelling in those venues. In conclusion, the author suggests that the addition of research from the field of knowledge creation, usage, and stewardship could be useful to future research of veteran teachers and the ways their professional knowledge might be better leveraged for improved educational outcomes. / text

This research study documents the perceptions of Manitoba teachers working with educational assistants as schools comply with the Appropriate Educational Programming Amendment to the Public Schools Act (Manitoba Education, Citizenship and Youth, 2005). Eight teachers who work with educational assistants in rural and urban Manitoba were asked about four aspects of this emerging role: (i) What are their experiences working with educational assistants in the classroom (what roles do they perceive educational assistants to perform), (ii) the competencies they think they need for their work, (iii) how they have been prepared for this responsibility, and (iv) how they think teachers should or could be (better) prepared for their work with educational assistants. The study invited four novice teachers (less than two years of teaching experience) and four veteran teachers (more than 10 years of teaching experience) to participate in one-on-one face-to-face interviews. Open-ended questions based in current research prompted the participants to reflect on their own practice. The study reveals some of the perceived issues teachers report as challenges in their changing role to meet new legislative mandates. It examines the need to introduce collaboration with educational assistants during pre-service training and access to professional in-service learning opportunities to facilitate teachers understanding of the role of educational assistants in Manitoba schools. The study also reveals some of the competencies required for managing the activities of educational assistants.

This research study documents the perceptions of Manitoba teachers working with educational assistants as schools comply with the Appropriate Educational Programming Amendment to the Public Schools Act (Manitoba Education, Citizenship and Youth, 2005). Eight teachers who work with educational assistants in rural and urban Manitoba were asked about four aspects of this emerging role: (i) What are their experiences working with educational assistants in the classroom (what roles do they perceive educational assistants to perform), (ii) the competencies they think they need for their work, (iii) how they have been prepared for this responsibility, and (iv) how they think teachers should or could be (better) prepared for their work with educational assistants. The study invited four novice teachers (less than two years of teaching experience) and four veteran teachers (more than 10 years of teaching experience) to participate in one-on-one face-to-face interviews. Open-ended questions based in current research prompted the participants to reflect on their own practice. The study reveals some of the perceived issues teachers report as challenges in their changing role to meet new legislative mandates. It examines the need to introduce collaboration with educational assistants during pre-service training and access to professional in-service learning opportunities to facilitate teachers understanding of the role of educational assistants in Manitoba schools. The study also reveals some of the competencies required for managing the activities of educational assistants.

Teachers and administrators have different perceptions regarding the importance and validity of various factors that influence veteran teachers' professional practice. Herzberg's 2-factor motivation-hygiene theory was used as the conceptual framework for this basic qualitative study. The purpose of the study was to gain an understanding of veteran teachers' and administrators' perceptions about motivating and hygiene factors and their influences on veteran teachers' professional practice in a southern California suburban school district. One-on-one semistructured interviews were conducted with 8 veteran high school teachers and 4 high school administrators. The interview responses were audio recorded and transcribed, then coded using open and axial coding and categorized into themes. Administrators perceived 3 prevalent motivating factors for teachers: academic freedom, student-teacher relationships, and feeling effective, whereas administrators' hygiene factors included administrative support with discipline and open and clear communication. Teachers cited students' progress and student-teacher relationships as their primary motivating factors and lack of administrative support as their most important hygiene factor. The hygiene factors provided a foundation and framework for teachers to perform the motivating work of teaching students and developing relationships. Through this study, both veteran teachers and administrators may become more aware of the motivating factors that positively influence veteran teachers' professional practice in the classroom, which may improve the ways in which administrators support and motivate them. Positive social change may result by creating synergetic relationships between administrators and veteran teachers that could not only expand the role of veteran teachers but also increase student academic achievement.

Research has shown that South African mathematics performance is extremely poor compared to other countries that participated in the Trends in Mathematics and Science Study in 2015 and 2016, respectively. Most of the competing countries were developing and were disadvantaged by their socio-economic status compared to the more economically vibrant South Africa. However, South Africa came last in the mathematics and science standardised tests commonly referred to as the Annual National Assessment and National Benchmark Test. The poor performance of the country’s learners in mathematics is exacerbated by the inability of veteran mathematics teachers to adopt technological teaching methods and innovations during teaching and learning. The Mathletics programme is a modern teaching tool that links every aspect of mathematics teaching and learning and gives individual learners the ability to successfully engage in mathematics learning activities. The learner gains mental mathematics skills to solve mathematical problems and is then able to apply the acquired mathematical skills to solve similar mathematical problems in any given situation. This study aimed to investigate and develop the professional status of veteran primary school mathematics teachers through participatory action research to improve their understanding of the application of Mathletics during teaching and learning. The data for my study was collected via audiotape, semi-structured interviews, and participant observations. The participants were veteran mathematics primary school teachers between the ages of 40 and 59 from the Gauteng Department of Education, Tshwane South District Circuit 2. The interviews and observations were conducted at times and venues preferred by the participants at their respective schools. The main research finding of the study shows that the majority of the participating veteran primary school teachers are not fully prepared in terms of skills, resources and methods to effectively respond to the recent technological teaching and learning transformations. As a recommendation, this study needs further research to benefit more schools and more teachers, so that participatory action research (PAR) can be a method for continuing professional development (CPD). / Dissertation (MEd)--University of Pretoria, 2020. / Humanities Education / MEd / Unrestricted

The purpose of this study was to develop categories of meaning regarding veteran teachers' perspectives on teacher evaluation and how veteran teachers want to be evaluated. A total of 14 teachers with 10 or more years of teaching experience were interviewed. The study relied upon a qualitative method, using grounded theory to provide an in-depth analysis on perspectives veteran teachers had on teacher evaluation and how they wanted to be evaluated. Interview data was analyzed and coded for concepts that represented teachers' perspectives. The analysis yielded data which presented two themes, Theme one: Veteran Teachers' Perspectives on Teacher Evaluation, and Theme Two: Veteran Teachers' Plan for Evaluation. Theme one revealed several categories: "evaluation career," "evaluation process," "types of evaluation processes," "evaluators," and "purpose of evaluation." Theme two presented three categories: "what to evaluate," "who evaluates," and "how to evaluate." Data analysis led to a grounded theory suggesting that teachers experienced commonalities regarding their perspectives on teacher evaluation and how they want to be evaluated. This study concluded that teachers perceive the current status of teacher evaluation as ineffective and useless. Teachers want the process to continue using principal observation as the key component, but want it done more often both formally and informally. Teachers feel that evaluators should be competent in the areas they evaluate and serve as instructional leaders. They want other data sources to be included in their evaluations. Teachers disagree with pay for performance systems or those solely dependent on student outcomes, and that student growth data should be part of a multi data driven system. Self-evaluation and professional growth are areas teachers feel should be tied to an effective evaluation system. Teachers want to receive feedback from parents, peers, and students. Teachers find the California Standards for the Teaching Profession (CSTP) to be an effective and necessary tool to base teacher evaluation upon. This study presented perspectives concerning teachers' experiences with teacher evaluation and also presented data regarding how teachers wanted to be evaluated.

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This phenomenological qualitative study involved 15 veteran K-6 public school teachers – each having taught a minimum of 24 years - from several districts in Southern California. It identified and examined what factors influenced the ongoing commitment and engagement of these teachers over the course of their careers. Factors mirrored the study’s theoretical framework and included: 1) the teacher’s challenges, 2) the teacher’s personal characteristics or attributes, and 3) the teacher’s professional life phases. A majority of the teachers interviewed spoke to the escalation of the environmental challenges they confronted while on the job, such as, student behavior, administrative and parental support, educational reform, work load, and instructional time constraints as well as individual factors, such as, family issues and personality. In particular, the increased aggressive misbehavior of some students along with an all-too-common lack of support from both parents and administrators left these teachers feeling disrespected, isolated, and even burnt-out at times. However, the study’s findings pointed to the affirmative power of the teachers’ personal characteristics – specifically, their passion for teaching and their students along with the teachers’ resilience – in helping them to combat the trying environmental and individual challenges they faced during the various professional life phases of their careers, and remain committed and engaged. Moreover, the study’s findings suggest that veteran teachers could benefit from recognition, growth, variety and interaction with colleagues in order to have a meaningful longevity in their careers as well as more robust support from both site and district administrators. The findings also recommend that teacher educators introduce their pre-service and beginning teachers to what it takes emotionally to stay committed and engaged in the profession in meaningful ways, thereby, giving these new teachers a deeper foundation of what being an effective and fulfilled teacher really entails.

No description available.