1.The Influence of Affective Teacher–Student Relationships on Students' School
Engagement and Achievement: A Meta-Analytic Approach
Author: Roorda, Debora L.; Koomen, Helma M. Y.; Spilt, Jantine L.; Oort, Frans J.
Source: Review of Educational Research, 2011, 81(3): 493-529
Abstract: A meta-analytic approach was used to investigate the associations between
affective qualities of teacher–student relationships (TSRs) and students’ school
engagement and achievement. Results were based on 99 studies, including students from
preschool to high school. Separate analyses were conducted for positive relationships and
engagement (k = 61 studies, N = 88,417 students), negative relationships and engagement
(k = 18, N = 5,847), positive relationships and achievement (k = 61, N = 52,718), and negative
relationships and achievement (k = 28, N = 18,944). Overall, associations of both positive and
negative relationships with engagement were medium to large, whereas associations with
achievement were small to medium. Some of these associations were weaker, but still
statistically significant, after correction for methodological biases. Overall, stronger effects
were found in the higher grades. Nevertheless, the effects of negative relationships were
stronger in primary than in secondary school.
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2. The Master's in Teaching and Learning: expanding utilitarianism in the continuing
professional development of teachers in England
Author: Frankham, Jo ; Hiett, Sandra
Source: Journal of Education Policy, 2011, 26(6): 803-818
Abstract: The article focuses on the policy rhetoric of the Masters in Teaching and Learning
(MTL). This is a new degree being launched in the summer of 2010 aimed, initially, at teachers
who have just joined the profession. The degree presages the aspiration for a Master's level
teaching profession in England. Professional development as conceived in the MTL is
continuous rather than continuing and permeating the vision is the language of
'personalisation'. Teachers will be accompanied on the journey by an 'in-school coach'.
These notions suggest a highly tailored approach to continuing professional development
(CPD), with careful attention to the identification of teachers’ needs and close support from
a colleague. The article argues that, contrary to this impression, the MTL marks a new and
significant step in expanding the utilitarianism of the English education system. The MTL
represents a deepening hold on education by the state and a growing scepticism about the
value of higher education in the CPD of teachers. It also aspires to a changing culture in
schools as the workplace becomes the locus for the CPD of teachers. As other authors have
described, the national character of education systems in Europe and in the Americas,
Australia, New Zealand and Asia reflect an increasing instrumentality. The MTL, then, can be
seen as part of a global phenomenon; in this case the policy lever of CPD is employed to
support performative and audit policy agendas via a rigid accountability system. The MTL also
represents a particular form of neo-liberal governmentality where increasing centralisation
is 'masked' by a 'simulacra of care'.
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3. Schools for the Twenty-First Century: School Design and Educational Transformation
Author: Leiringer, Roine; Cardellino, Paula
Source: British Educational Research Journal, 2011, 37(6): 915-934
Abstract: The Building Schools for the Future programme has been established to ensure
that English secondary schools are designed or redesigned to allow for educational
transformation. The programme represents the biggest single UK government investment in
school buildings for over 50 years. For this reason, it poses a major challenge to those
involved in the design of educational buildings. Inspiration is in part sought from exemplar
schools around the world. The paper draws on a multiple case study of four such exemplar
schools in Scandinavia that have been designed to address changes in the educational
curriculum. The analysis depicts the degree to which the building design in each case
supports the school approach to teaching and learning. The disjuncture between commercial
and educational issues inherent in designing 'good' schools is highlighted. The findings
show how it is important to find a balance between good design, commercial realities and
educational approaches.
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4. Connecting Does Not Necessarily Mean Learning: Course Handbooks as Mediating Tools
in School–University Partnerships
Author: Ellis, Viv; Scott Douglas, Alaster
Source: Journal of Teacher Education, 2011, 62(5): 465-476
Abstract: Partnerships between schools and universities in England use course handbooks
to guide student teacher learning during long field experiences. Using data from a yearlong
ethnographic study of a postgraduate certificate of education programme in one English
university, the function of course handbooks in mediating learning in two high school subject
departments (history and modern foreign languages) is analyzed. Informed by Cultural
Historical Activity Theory, the analysis focuses on the handbooks as mediating tools in the
school-based teacher education activity systems. Qualitative differences in the mediating
functions of the handbooks-in-use are examined and this leads to a consideration
of the potential of such tools for teacher learning in school–university partnerships. Following
Zeichner’s call for rethinking the relationships between schools and universities, the article
argues that strong structural connections between different institutional sites do not
necessarily enhance student teacher learning.
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5. The Reciprocal Internal/External Frame of Reference Model: An Integration of Models of
Relations Between Academic Achievement and Self-Concept
Author: Möller, Jens; Retelsdorf, Jan; Köller, Olaf; Marsh, Herb W.
Source: American Educational Research Journal, 2011,48(6): 1315-1346
Abstract: The reciprocal internal/external frame of reference model (RI/EM) combines the
internal/external frame of reference model and the reciprocal effects model. The RI/EM predicts
positive effects of mathematics and verbal achievement and academic self-concepts (ASC)
on subsequent mathematics and verbal achievements and ASCs within domains and
negative effects of mathematics and verbal achievements and ASCs on subsequent
achievements and ASCs across domains. Although ample support was provided for the I/E
model by cross-sectional data and for the REM within a single domain, there has been almost
no research on the longitudinal generalizability of the reciprocal cross-domain effects. Using
three waves of data collection from Grade 5 to Grade 8 with N = 1,508 students, analyses
supported the validity of the RI/EM, revealing positive longitudinal effects of grades and ASCs
on subsequent grades and ASCs within domains and negative effects of grades on
subsequent ASCs across domains. There were also small negative effects of ASCs on
subsequent grades across domains.
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6. Improving the learning of newly qualified teachers in the induction year
Author: Haggarty, Linda; Postlethwaite, Keith; Diment, Kim; Ellins, Jean
Source: British Educational Research Journal, 2011,37(6): 935-954
Abstract: Newly qualified teachers of mathematics and science are a precious resource and it
important that they are provided with appropriate support and challenge during their first year
in post. This study examines the developing thinking and practice of a group of such teachers
in England and the influence of their mentors within the workplace context of the school. We
argue that thinking and practice is restricted by the concern to 'fit in', by the belief that
behaviour management should be addressed before teaching can be developed and by a
lack of attention to the development of pedagogical thinking. We conclude that there is a need
to change the beliefs and practices of induction mentors and develop their skills in discussing
pedagogical ideas. This is most likely to be achieved within a school‐wide culture of
continuing professional learning.
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7. Teachers' learning while constructing technology-based instructional resources
Author: Polly , Drew
Source: British Journal of Educational Technology, 2011, 42(6): 950-961
Abstract: Grounded in a constructionist paradigm, this study examined elementary school
teachers' learning while creating technology-rich instructional materials. Sixteen teachers
at an elementary school were interviewed about their experience. Using the components of
Technological Pedagogical and Content Knowledge as an analytical framework, inductive
qualitative analysis indicated that these professional learning activities led to teachers' growth
primarily in technological knowledge, technological pedagogical knowledge and content know
ledge. These findings as well as implications for designing professional learning activities for
teachers are also shared.
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8. Configurations of Instructional Leadership Enactments That Promote the Teaching and
Learning of Mathematics in a New Zealand Elementary School
Author: Higgins, Joanna; Bonne, Linda
Source: Educational Administration Quarterly December 2011, 47(5): 794-825
Abstract: Purpose: This article examines how and why four leadership functions are enacted
in an elementary school, with a focus on hierarchical and "heterarchical" configurations of
leadership. Research Design: The data were collected using an exploratory 2-year case study
approach, and the data set comprises one-on-one interviews and relevant school
documentation from school leaders and numeracy lead teachers engaged in reforming their
mathematics teaching at an urban elementary school in a large New Zealand city. Four
interrelated core functions of leadership are combined with configurations of leadership
enactments to guide the analysis. Findings: The interplay between hierarchical and
heterarchical enactments of leadership functions in hybrid forms appeared to strengthen the
school's work toward embedding the reform. Results indicate that the lead teacher can
effectively support reform goals when this role is shared with others and when one lead
teacher also holds a designated leadership role in the school, such as that of assistant
principal. A list of strategies that supported embedding a reform in this school was developed
from the findings. Conclusions:Combining leadership functions and configurations into one
analytical frame is useful in building an understanding of the complexities of school-based
leadership by capturing leadership enactments across all members of a school staff, not just
those in designated leadership positions. What appears to be important in promoting
instructional improvement is hybrid patterns of leadership—the combination of hierarchical
and heterarchical leadership enactments—rather than either of these on their own.
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9. Spaces of possibility in pre-service teacher education
Author: Ryan, Mary
Source:British Journal of Sociology of Education, 2011,32(6): 881-900
Abstract: Pre-service teacher education is a spatialised enterprise. It operates across a
number of spaces that may or may not be linked ideologically and/or physically. These spaces
can include daily practices, locations, infrastructure, relationships and representations of
power and ideology. The interrelationships between and within these (sometimes competing)
spaces for pre-service teachers will influence their identities as teachers and learners across
time and space. Pre-service teachers are expected to make the connections between these
often-contradictory spaces with little or no guidance on how to negotiate such complex
relationships. These are difficult spaces, yet the slippages and gaps between these spaces of
fer generative possibilities. This paper explores these spaces of possibility for
pre-service teacher education, and uses the spatial theories of Lefebvre and Foucault to argue
that critical reflective practice can be used to create Soja's 'thirdspace' for reconstructing future
practice.
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10. Assessing the Effects of Teachers' Reading Knowledge on Students' Achievement
Using Multilevel Propensity Score Stratification
Author: Kelcey, Ben
Source: Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis December, 2011,33(4): 458-482
Abstract: This study investigated the relationship of teachers' reading knowledge with
students' reading achievement using a direct teacher knowledge assessment rather than
indirect proxies (e.g., certification). To address the inequitable distribution of teachers'
knowledge resulting from differences in teachers' backgrounds and the disparities in how
schools attract and cultivate knowledge, the study developed multilevel propensity score
methods to identify comparable teachers on the basis of both teacher and school
backgrounds. Results suggest that schools are complexly associated with differences in
teachers' knowledge and that comparisons which ignore the relevance of schools may be
misleading. By comparing teachers with similar personal and school backgrounds, results
show measured knowledge is significantly associated with students' achievement in
reading comprehension but not word analysis. The findings support policies which leverage
school capacities to develop the specialized knowledge needed for teaching reading.