The aim of this study was to explore students' and teachers' perceptions of teacher burnout in relation to the occurrence of disruptive student classroom behaviour and the teachers' competence to cope with this kind of behaviour. First, the study shows that the Maslach Burnout Inventory, the Coping with Disruptive Behaviour Scale and the Perceived…

This study used focus groups to investigate 18 general classroom teachers' and 12 learning support teachers' conceptions of the attributes of successful learning support teachers. Based on the attributes emerging from the focus groups, a 20-item questionnaire was designed consisting of statements in four categories: Knowledge and Experience;…

This study was conducted to investigate the disposition of students and parents towards the inclusion of sex education in the school curriculum in Cross River State. Using a random sampling technique, 602 secondary school students and 180 parents from Calabar, were selected for the study. Data were collected with the aid of self-administered…

The purpose of this descriptive study was to investigate middle school general education mathematics teachers' beliefs and self-perceived knowledge regarding teaching students with learning disabilities (LD) in inclusive classrooms. Teacher beliefs regarding administrative support and higher education teacher preparation were also examined. The…

Retention of a competent teaching force is a growing concern among the nation's educators and policy makers. Providing new teachers with quality induction programs may mitigate significant teacher attrition and teacher staffing issues now facing many school districts in the United States. This article reports positive results in the long-term…

Two exploratory studies were conducted to investigate U.S. teachers' attitudes and beliefs about bullying. Although most teachers believed they were doing a good job at preventing bullying, results indicate that some teachers hold beliefs that are at odds with current best practices in bullying prevention and intervention. First-year teachers…

The concept of education "for" the environment is well documented in the literature but is apparently less common in practice. Some of the reasons provided for this rhetoric-reality gap include: the controversial and political nature of the subject, the difficulty of empowering students into meaningful action, the challenge of using…

In this article, the author invites students to reflect on the characteristics of their own teachers. The author contends that this reflection can be a methodological process and model toward a better understanding of what identifies teachers as professionals. To "constructively reflect" on teacher professionalism, it is imperative that…

This study examined the dispositions of Indiana middle school principals toward 29 possible teacher selection criteria drawn from the middle school literature and 13 possible criteria not drawn from this literature. The former were assigned more importance than the latter, and performance-based criteria were assigned more importance than…

Imagine that this morning you have to teach Bradley. He likes to make animal noises, crawl around the floor during story time, and clings onto furniture when you try to send him to the Head. What strategies do you have? Who will support you? Do you feel that you can ask for support? Or will you just go and cry quietly in a cupboard and hope that…

Despite the possibility of poor teacher performance causing damage to pupils and to a school's reputation, the subject has rarely been studied. This article examines, within the Israeli context, who the poor performing (referred as "challenging") teachers are. Based on interviews with 40 elementary school principals, over 7 percent of…

Students' perception of the instructor's personality and the evaluation of instruction were found to be strongly related. Students appear to be using a contaminated measure to establish personality and its relationship to the evaluations. The findings do not support the contention that the association reflects a valid measure of instruction.…

In the UK, and elsewhere in the world, schools with a higher level of pupil socio-economic disadvantage generally have lower levels of pupil attainment. However, some primary schools in Wales buck this trend. They have both high levels of disadvantage and high levels of attainment. The authors studied 18 of these schools to answer the questions:…

While researchers have paid a lot of attention to dimensions of quality transcending the content of education, in the course of the last decade a lot of attention has been invested by policy makers in the description of the kind of learning that is expected from schools (not in the least in the early years). That is why the topic of curriculum…

The competencies of a sample of teachers of integrated science (ISC) in the induction of future scientists were investigated. Thirty teachers of integrated science in the junior secondary schools in Rivers State of Nigeria were observed by five science teacher educationists. The teachers were in general only fair in their demonstrated ISC teaching…