For the last two decades mentoring as a developmental relationship has been investigated and elaborated on by several researchers. In our study, 382 pre-service teachers answered questions about aspects of developmental mentoring relationships. Using structural equational modelling, we investigated relations between mentors' effort,…

Adequate self-efficacy is useful for motivating individuals to engage in continued improvement. This study explores the potential antecedents of instructional self-efficacy beliefs among Norwegian student teachers attending a programme for secondary school teachers. The most important finding was the strong association between the student…

This study focuses on how Finnish pre-service teachers' instructional self-efficacy contributes to their belief in their ability to provide learning opportunities and positive classroom outcomes. Data were gathered from 153 pre-service teachers and analysed using structural equation modelling. We found that experiences with problem behaviour…

This study examines teaching evaluation based on student feedback which is intended to contribute to teachers' professional development. Although studies have highlighted that teaching evaluation is a potential source of professional development and that follow-up sessions are crucial to this benefit, little attention has been paid to the…

A typical preservice teacher will experience demanding teaching situations during practicum. In such situations, interpersonal support from fellow students may be an important factor if experiences gained during teaching practice are to make a constructive contribution to personal growth for the teacher. Human support from other preservice…

This study focuses on how different educational programmes contribute to student teachers efficacy for classroom management and their abilities to provide learning opportunities and good classroom outcomes. Data were gathered from 491 student teachers attending different teacher education programmes in Norway and analysed via structural equation…

Norwegian education authorities pursue the objective that students in upper secondary schools should evaluate teaching. This kind of evaluation scheme has, however, elicited resistance from teachers. The aims of this article are to explain the advent of teaching evaluation policies in Norway and to explore which factors explain teacher resistance…

Good practice dissemination is an unsolved problem in education. This article describes how clear and "soft" leadership and perceptions of social and economic exchange operate in the bottom-up processes of school reforms and examines the relative impact of these factors on school-wide good practice dissemination and discusses how…

Time capacity is defined here as the individual teacher's perceived time for professional development (e.g., the capacity to develop and renew oneself as a teacher). The pressure of paperwork on the individual teacher should not be so demanding that it goes beyond the teacher's time for professional development. The purpose of this paper is to…

This article focuses on the comparison of organizational antecedents of teachers' fostering of students' effort in two quite different accountability regimes: one management regime with an external-accountability system and one with no external accountability devices. The methodology involves cross-sectional surveys from two different management…

Introduction: The purpose of this article was to explore the influence of parents and teachers on the deep learning approach of pupils by estimating the strength of the relationships between these factors and the motivation, volition and deep learning approach of Norwegian 16-year-olds. Method: Structural equation modeling for cross-sectional…

The folk high school (FHS) is a Nordic contribution to global education and is a unique approach to non-university adult education. Because expanded tuition is the true nature of Norwegian FHS, it is important for FHS that its teachers perform discretionary individual extra-role behaviour advantageous to the school organization, a phenomenon…

Purpose: Organisational citizenship behaviour (OCB) involves discretionary behaviour advantageous to the organisation that goes beyond existing role expectations. The purpose of this paper is to explore the link between the strength of accountability and teachers' OCB within three different management systems in which teachers are working: a…

Primary processes in schools are hard to pin down despite attempts to measure central aspects of processes and outputs. For this very reason, it is important that teachers are motivated to go above and beyond their formal job responsibilities, a phenomenon called organizational citizenship behaviour. Social exchange theory is a theoretical…