Construing teachers’ quality work : a principal view
Teachers are the most important school based factor for students’ learning outcomes and educational success. Whereas teachers’ pro-spects of enhancing their students’ development and study results, are significant for their work satisfaction and wellbeing. This suggests that the endorsement of quality teaching will improve student results and teacher wellbeing. Many teachers have difficulties performing in accordance to their professional standards, sick rates are alarmingly high, and several teachers leave the profession. This calls for a re-search approach where teachers’ prospects of performing quality teaching, are related to their options to perform quality-driven profes-sional teacher work, i.e. the work performed to support quality teach-ing. Such an approach take into account factors related to local school leadership, and the organisation of teacher work. This paper aims to bring together teachers’ and principals’ perspectives on quality-driven professional teacher work, in order to gain new knowledge and give implications for praxis. The principals and teachers construe teachers’ options to perform quality-driven professional work in relation to the implementation of a new curriculum and a new grading system, quali-ty certification processes and an ongoing work hour project, and to some extent also to the teachers’ personality and ambitions. The teachers’ also mention factors related to local oranisation processes, and the relations to pupils and fellow teachers.
Where does time go? Teaching and time use from the perspective of teachers
During the last three decades Swedish education has undergone radical decentralisation involving increased school autonomy. One aspect of this change is the gradual weakening of the state regulation of teaching time. Thus, Sweden is somewhat of an extreme in the EU. This is accentuated by a five‐year experiment, where 900 compulsory schools were allowed more freedom in the allocation of school hours. Thirty teachers from three compulsory schools participating in the experiment were interviewed and team meetings observed during a two‐year period. The article explores and analyses changes in time‐distribution, classification and framing of the curricula and teachers’ work in the three teams and their classes, and analyses teachers’ experiences of the changes. A major trend towards weakened classification and framing was found. A majority of the teachers were positive to more flexible time use, teamwork and cross‐disciplinary studies. However, despite the experiment a majority still felt inhibited by the national time schedule and too little time for development work. Variations between the three cases are discussed in terms of different team cultures. The school characterised by development‐oriented culture had changed their work and teaching most.
Current Issues in English Education for Young Learners in East Asia
Recognizing English as an increasingly powerful lingua franca, many governments in East Asia have implemented English-language education at the...