The aim of this research is to determine the characteristics of the questionnaire for teacher burnout. In this study, Teacher Burnout questionnaire developed by Wrench et al. was used. The survey was conducted in May 2022. The sample consisted of 103 teachers. Cronbach alpha was 0.974. The results showed that the surveyed teachers experience low burnout (M = 31.53, SD = 17.89). Although being a mentor or the years of experience did not prove to be a statistically significant parameter, it is noticed that teachers who are not involved in mentoring activities express a higher feeling of burnout than mentors. Teachers who have between 11 and 30 years of experience show the signs of burnout; even young teachers (up to 5 years of service) report feeling burnout to some degree. The obtained results should be seen as indicators for next changes in the Serbian education system in terms of reducing the demands placed on teachers, especially administrative tasks. Therefore, the main recommendation is aimed at the education policy makers to take into account as many parameters as possible when introducing new changes, especially an underlying risk for teachers’ burnout.
Keyword(s) : teachers
The Study of Socio-Psychological Factors Contributing to and Hindering the Retention of Teachers in the Profession
The profession of a teacher in modern conditions in our country is associated with a number of both positive aspects and professional difficulties. Among the most pressing problems, leading teachers point out: the constant transformation of the education system and the administrative requirements changing in this regard; the contradiction between the preservation of established pedagogical traditions and the need for constant introduction of innovations into pedagogical practice; the overload of reporting documentation, the need for constant personal growth and self-realization in the profession in combination with the threat of emotional burnout and professional deformation, the simultaneous focus of the teacher’s activities on the provision of psychological and pedagogical influence on students and on reflection of their professional activities, weak socio-legal protection of the teacher from the arbitrariness of the administration of the educational institution and aggressive actions on the part of students and their parents. To date, the fact of existence and the high degree of severity of the personnel problem are officially recognized, the shortage of teachers, their high degree of overload, including bureaucratic work, the combination of diverse subjects in teaching is openly stated. Based on the above, the purpose of the study is: to analyze the reasons for the departure of teachers from the profession, in order to determine the socio-psychological factors contributing to the retention of teachers in the profession.
Filipino Teacher Professional Development in the New Normal
The Covid-19 pandemic has posed various challenges particularly in the education sector where the
‘new normal’ experience is all about online interaction and distance learning. As the health protocols
enforce physical distancing measures, actual and personal interaction and engagements are limited.
As teacher professional development (TPD) becomes a melting pot of best practices and strategies
that work, teachers receive a perspective that helps them create their own professional vision.
The findings of this study revealed that for teachers, TPD is a route to enhance and upgrade their
knowledge and skills and professional growth, with teaching as a life-long learning process. Pre-
Covid-19 TPD programs included initiatives on content, pedagogy and technology, action learning,
graduate studies, leadership and management, and action research. During the pandemic, teachers
were exposed to webinars and training on online teaching and learning, technological capacity, and
mental health. Regardless of age and years of teaching experience, teachers have a mindset to grow
in the profession and be better educators. They want to unlearn the old, and relearn new knowledge
and skills because they want their students to learn according to their current needs and what the
world needs in the future.
Pilot Study on the Improvement of the Health-education and Psychological Competencies of Education Students in the Context of Epidemic/Pandemic Circumstances
Research study: According to the World Health Organization, six out of ten global health problems
are related to the domain of infectious diseases (WHO, 2019), which inevitably confronts us with
an increasing risk of pandemic situations. The global health system has identified solid solutions,
with prevention being essential in these situations (Bloom & Cadarette, 2019). Prevention is far
better and cheaper, regardless of whether it is a specific prophylaxis (vaccination) or non-specific
preventive measures (Bloom & Cadarette, 2019). Therefore, it is crucial that initial education includes
prevention against the most common infectious diseases, as well as initial knowledge about them.
Numerous preventive measures include patterns of behavior that can be practiced with children of a
preschool and early school age, through the immediate educational process. In addition, at this time
children successfully develop habits and adopt demonstrated patterns of behavior, via observational
learning (Bandura, 1977; Greer, Singer-Dudek, & Gautreaux, 2006). For that reason, it is important
that preschool and primary school teachers have awareness of their role in this complex process,
as well as enough knowledge, skills and experience regarding psychological protection and mental
empowerment of children while preparing them for various epidemic risks. It is crucial to enhance
teachers’ capabilities to implement holistic pedagogies and healing-informed teaching (Hill, et al.,
2020), in order to mitigate the epidemic/pandemic effects on children. All sudden and unexpected
events are opportunities that enable us to address current problems in each crisis and to consider
new and innovative approaches in teachers’ education (Mutton, 2020).
The aim of the research was to evaluate the health-education and psychological competencies of
future teachers regarding the circumstances of epidemic/pandemics, and subsequently, using
different workshop activities, to improve those competencies and skills. Thus, to enable them to
encourage children, through learning and demonstration, to practice behaviours that contribute to
the health maintaining and social-emotional wellness.
Research methods: Besides the theoretical research and literature review, the realisation of the
project began with the construction of a research instrument designed as a survey questionnaire.
The survey contained 18 questions intended to examine the levels of knowledge (3 questions) and
attitudes (15 for self-assessment of mentioned competencies, according to the Likert-type scale).
The questionnaire was anonymous, completed in a paper form and used as an initial test and retest
(after the workshop).
Conclusion and recommendations: 32 students of education participated in the workshop. They
deepened their understanding of the most common infectious diseases, their pathogenesis,
Vogralik’s chain of infection, the concepts of epidemics/pandemics, and especially the prevention
of different infectious diseases, with an emphasis on the current pandemic situation. Their psychological competencies were also improved, including the development and strengthening of
resilience and readiness to face various challenges caused by the epidemic threats. The students
were presented with ideas, in the form of stories, movies, posters, messages, etc. how, directly in
their daily educational praxis to encourage children to practice behaviours that contribute to health
maintenance as well as how to preserve mental components of their health during epidemic crises.
In that sense, the knowledge on the retest was significantly enhanced by 32.09% (p=0.00000), while
positive opinion on the examined competencies was increased by 14.84% (p=0.00001). Furthermore,
it was observed that knowledge was considerably improved when compared to attitudes (p=0.0064),
in a comparative analysis of the health-education vs psychological attitudes.
Taking into account the results in our pilot study and the seriousness and global nature of some
health problems, health education is becoming a priority and should be emphasised in an initial
education. Since the content in curricula for teachers’ education is inadequate, we believe that, either
similar workshop activities or curricula development, can significantly improve their competencies
in these domains.
Investigation of Stressors Teachers Face in Schools
Teachers have to face many different stressful situations in schools. In this context serious attention
has been paid, and much research has been carried out, to investigate the issue of potential stressors
occurring in school or class environment. Although pre-service teacher training does not usually
include training related to the development of the teachers` competence to solve stressful situations
in lessons, as soon as teachers start their teaching career, they are automatically considered to be
equipped with this competence. In the research, presented in this paper, the main goal was to identify
the most frequent stressors that primary and secondary school teachers face in their everyday
teaching. Two methods were used to collect necessary research data: a semi-structured interview
with teachers, and observation of teachers during the lessons they taught. Based on the interview
data analyses the following nine stressors were identified as the most frequent and most serious (in
order): difficult students, mismatch between students’ performance requirements and their abilities,
disruptive behavior of students, inadequate student attention, social and emotional factors of the
environment in which students live, use of mobile phones during lessons, overwork and fatigue of
teachers, insufficient school equipment and lack of teaching aids, conflicts among students. The aim
of the observation was to confirm in practice, the types of the stressors identified from the interview
data. Analysis of the records from observations, confirmed some of the previously (in interviews)
identified stressors and also identified some further stressors.
Are Madrassa and Mainstream School Teachers Mutually Exclusive? British Muslims discuss the influence of teachers on their emerging identities
This paper presents the findings of a study exploring the attitudes, experiences and relationships of
Muslim youth with their madrassa (supplementary school) and mainstream school teachers in the
backdrop of British government’s intense scrutiny and regulatory practices of educational spaces
occupied by Muslim youth.
This study further explores the perceived pedagogy used in both educational contexts and its influence
on the growth and development of the learners. British Muslims discuss how they negotiate their
identities against a normalised societal narrative dictating diverse cultural, religious and secular
educational contexts as conflicting polemics culminating in Muslim youth leading segregated lives.
The research was conducted in a small inner city, through an independent measures design
involving two groups of 22 participants, current and ex-madrassa pupils, aged 11 – 19. Interpretative
Phenomenological Analysis of the data revealed that over the past ten years there has been a change
in the attitudes of British Muslims towards their madrassa and school teachers. Due to the repetitive,
impersonalised rote learning pedagogy inculcating little meaningful knowledge; the harshness and
punitive nature of teachers and limited teacher-student engagement the ex-madrassa pupils held a
stronger relationship with their mainstream school teachers. In contrast the current pupils preferred
their madrassa teachers describing them as ‘fun and kind’. School teachers are perceived to develop
them as wealth producing capital and madrassa teachers as inculcators of moral character, laying the
foundations for becoming a better human being.
British Muslims discuss the changing nature of their madrassa teachers from overseas, to homegrown
British educated imams, helping to contextualise their understanding of Islam to their lives
in Britain and now more recently to online tutors with British teaching qualifications. They compare
these with professionally trained school teachers.
This evidence-based small-scale study identifies, through the voices of British Muslim youth, that
school and madrassa education does not have to be mutually exclusive. Through mutual sharing
of teacher training, pedagogy and curriculum planning, schools and madrassas have the potential
to homogenise the learning experiences helping Muslim youth inscribe their religious identities
within a secular pluralistic British society. This paper provides British Muslim youth a platform to
voice their felt experiences and make recommendations for madrassa teachers and leaders; school
teachers and leaders and policy makers.
Electronic Portfolio Architecture Based on Knowledge Support in Senior Project Design
ePortfolios based on the practice in self-assessment, and self-reflection and self-regulation are viewed
as important tools in facilitating and supporting learner-centered environment at higher education.
This study explains how an electronic portfolio system was designed and used as a useful repository
for learning products to help instructors monitor in-service kindergarten teachers’ progress, provide
feedback and develop in-service kindergarten teachers’ self-assessment, and self-reflection and selfregulation
through the presentation of a detailed and ongoing short-term training program used as
a comprehensive measure to determine degree mastery in Department of Early Child Development
at Wenzhou University in China. The finding show in-service kindergarten teachers can be trained
to carry out authentic tasks associated with ePortfolio and reveals that instructors can improve inservice
kindergarten teachers’ skills by enhancing their motivation and inspiring their positive training
in the curriculum, such as building group cohesiveness and having positive learning experiences.
Cross-Cultural Educational Partnerships to Prepare Global Leaders: Training Teachers, Teacher Candidates, and School Principals to Teach Students in the Multi-Cultural Classroom
With the growing incidents of terrorism, war, and warlike situations around the globe, academic
achievements, physical and mental well-being of affected children in schools have become a major
concern for the educational stakeholders. This paper discusses three key issues. Firstly, the article
discusses the emerging role of school teachers and leadership in supporting students affected by war
and terrorism in a cross-cultural context. Secondly, it focuses upon similarities between Canadian
and Pakistani classrooms, and the challenges that school teachers and leaders encounter while educating
students affected by war and terrorism. Thirdly, the article proposes the establishment of a
cross-cultural learning community connecting the school leaders and teachers from both countries
through the train-the-trainer model. This paper also contributes to the existing body of literature on
the role of school leadership in teaching multi-cultural classroom.
Social and professional values of Russian teachers having various pedagogical experience
Within the context of transformations in society and the challenges of new development, teachers
experience changes in their perception of education values. The aim of the research reported here
was to identify key perceptions of teachers in the Republic of Tatarstan (Russia) in respect of social
and professional values, at various levels of teaching experience. The research used axiological and
competence-based approaches as a firm basis for reaching agreement on teachers’ specific values.
This paper discusses the results from a comparative analysis of Russian teachers with up to 5 years,
6-20 years and more than 20 years teaching experience. The analysis makes it possible to define
some directions for the training and retraining of highly qualified teachers to help them understand
the importance of these qualities and values.