Language: English

ISSN: 1071-6246

Language: English

ISSN: 1071-6246

Language: English

ISSN: 1071-6246

Language: English

ISSN: 1071-6246

Language: English

ISSN: 1071-6246

Language: English

ISSN: 0044-0728

Abstract/Notes: The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between self-concept and perceived levels of stress in the teaching profession at the elementary school level. The subjects of the study were teachers from two communities--Romulus, Michigan and Buffalo, New York. The subjects were chosen by the schools in which they taught and by the methods of teaching which they used. One-half of the total number of the subjects used traditional methods of teaching and one-half of the total number of the subjects used the Montessori Method of teaching. The responses of these teachers were gathered during the 1981 winter school term. The instruments used to gather the data for the study were the Tennessee Self Concept Scale, the Maslach Burnout Inventory, and a personal data questionnaire. The levels of self-concept of the subjects were taken as indicated by the means of the total positive scores of the Tennessee Self Concept Scale. The levels of the subjects' perceived stress were taken as indicated by the means from the Maslach Burnout Inventory in the areas of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and personal achievement. Pearson product-moment correlations were found to determine if a significant relationship existed between self-concept and the perceived stress of the subjects. Demographic data from the questionnaire were used to divide the subjects into categories which were investigated for significant differences. One way analyses of variance were performed of the self-concept and stress means of the categories to determine if significant differences existed. Statistical significance was chosen at the 0.05 alpha level. For the thirteen null hypotheses formulated and tested, it was concluded that the subjects indicating higher self-concept means, as measured by the Tennessee Self-Concept Scale, also indicated lower stress means, as indicated on the Maslach Burnout Inventory, in the areas of emotional exhaustion and depersonalization, and higher means in the area of personal achievement. Null hypotheses formulated indicating no significant differences of stress or self-concept when the subjects were categorized by teaching methods, years of formal education, number of years of teaching experience, classroom racial dominance, number of students in the classroom, or marital status were all accepted. No significant differences were found at the 0.05 alpha level. The subjects of this study were shown to be similar in life style, education, and work environments. Further studies might bring to light differences if more varied teachers, teaching methods, and levels of education were taken into consideration. Replication of the study may also provide valuable information if performed with subjects from independent schools. A search for areas which the teachers feel are stress producing may also contribute to significant research.

Language: English

Published: Columbus, Ohio, 1981

Abstract/Notes: The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) requires schools to be held accountable for academic performance. It is believed the pressure of accountability will lead teachers to narrow the curriculum by engaging students in test preparation activities. The purpose of this two-phase, explanatory mixed methods study was to examine elementary teachers’ perceptions of the impact of the Stanford Achievement Test 10 (SAT-10) and the Alabama Reading and Math Test (ARMT) on classroom teaching practices from a sample of third-grade, fourth-grade, and fifth-grade teachers in three large school systems in Alabama. The purpose of the first, quantitative phase of the study, was to reveal teachers’ perceptions of the impact of high-stakes testing on curriculum and instructional approaches, the amount of time spent on critical thinking skills, the amount of time spent on test preparation activities, and the perceived impact of state tests on students and teachers by surveying 123 third-grade through fifth-grade teachers in three large Alabama school systems. In the second, qualitative phase of this study, purposeful sampling strategy and maximal variation sampling strategy were employed to interview nine teachers who responded to the survey in the first, quantitative phase of the study to explore the results from the statistical tests in more depth. Findings suggested urban teachers spent more time on critical-thinking skills than rural and suburban teachers, and low-socioeconomic, rural teachers experienced more stress caused by high-stakes testing than their geographical counterparts. All teachers independent of socioeconomic status or school geographical location reported they increased their focus on reading and math, which were the subjects assessed on high-stakes tests and de-emphasized subjects not tested such as social studies and science. Finally, most teachers reported they decreased the teaching of critical thinking skills due to the SAT-10 but increased the teaching of critical thinking skills due to the ARMT. Due to the lack of research regarding high-stakes testing in Alabama elementary schools, there was a need for teachers to discuss the specific impact of testing on classroom teaching practices because they work directly with students and are cognizant of the challenges that teachers face.

Language: English

Published: Birmingham, Alabama, 2010

Abstract/Notes: MORE Abstracts 2003 Only at the beginning of the 20th century was it recognised, at least at a theoretical level, that the state and public institutions should provide for the assistance and education of farmer’s children living in the countryside around Rome. However, the municipal authorities, who barely managed to keep a few primary schools running in the main rural centres, was unable to open others in more isolated areas and, above all, to set up kindergartens for pre-school age children. The creation of a basic school service in the Roman countryside, and then of kindergartens, was carried out by a committee set up within the anti-malaria campaign conducted in the Lazio region by Angelo Celli and his wife Anna, with the cooperation of the Red Cross, and which – besides the Cellis – also included the poet Giovanni Cena, the writer Sibilla Aleramo, the artist Duilio Cambellotti and the educator Alessandro Marcucci. As director of the “Schools for Farmers”, and on the basis of ministry guidelines, Marcucci drafted a teaching programme, a school calendar and timetable that would suit the particular needs of the rural population of the Roman countryside. Moreover, in his makeshift schools initially opened in village huts before any real school buildings were built, he provided for health care, school meals and, finally, the setting up of kindergartens all based on the Montessori method, of which he appreciated the innovative educational system and especially the social principles, the respect for the human person, the freedom of self-determination and the love for the harmony of things which sustained it. Marcucci devoted his whole life to spreading education among the rural proletariat, not only in the Lazio region around Rome, and managed to create a high profile school service, to train a qualified teacher class, and to build modern schools from an architectural, hygienic and furnishings point of view. Above all, he managed to increase the creation of Montessori Children’s Homes. He always managed to achieve extraordinary results even when the environmental conditions seemed to be working against them. Among the many testimonies there is a diary written by a young teacher, Irene Bernasconi, who, having just finished a Montessori course in Milan at the Umanitaria in school year 1915-16, started working with the children of farm labourers in the kindergarten of Palidoro, one of the most desolate and malaria-ridden places of the Roman countryside north of the capital.

Language: English

ISSN: 2281-8375

Language: Korean

ISSN: 1226-9417