Hidden fragility: Closure among licensed child-care services in British Columbia     

Paul Kershaw  Barry Forer  Hillel Goelman 《Early childhood research quarterly》2005,20(4):417-432

Research shows that stability is one component of quality child care. We investigate the understudied phenomenon of the stability of child-care facilities over time, focusing on the province of British Columbia, Canada. Although net figures show growth in the number of providers between 1997 and 2001, they obfuscate a dramatic level of closure among centers and family child caregivers. Our study analyzes closure rates in the light of caregiver and facility characteristics for more than 2500 licensed services, plus the community contexts in which the services operate. Results underscore the importance of public policy for center stability, re-confirm the benefits of paying higher wages to staff, and shed light on the influence of socioeconomic trends over the sector.  相似文献   

An Alternative Route to Higher Education: An Evaluation of the Senior Colleges in Western Australia     

John H. Lake  Barry J. Fraser  John C. Williamson 《高等教育研究与发展》1988,7(1):37-48

The establishment of two Senior Colleges in Western Australia in 1983 provided adult students with an alternative route to conventional schooling for completing matriculation requirements for entry to higher education. An evaluation of the Colleges involved large samples of students and staff and the triangulation of information obtained by different researchers working independently and using a variety of methods (interview, questionnaires, nominal groups, classroom and school climate assessments). The study attested to the success of the Senior Colleges in creating a positive ethos suited to its adult students and in allowing previously unqualified people to enter higher education and succeed.  相似文献   

Can any good come out of researching in science education and being a science teacher at the same time?     

DR. Barry Newman 《Research in Science Education》1992,22(1):308-314

Recent experience has demonstrated that for an aged researcher, teaching secondary school science at a selective high school while committed to carrying out research in science education is riddled with difficulties. With respect to the research, problems ranged from there being too much time required to establish one's credentials as a teacher, to too much research being too easily suggested and undertaken. With respect to the teaching, among other things, it was too time-consuming, there were too many other duties to perform and other teachers became too involved in one's own interests. To make matters worse, there were too many students, they were too varied, too interesting and the relationship with them became too rewarding. A thoroughly disturbing state of affairs. Specialisations: chemical education, history and philosophy of science, laboratory work, student conceptualisations.  相似文献   

Helping students become better learners: a case study in teacher education     

Barry C. Dart  John A. Clarke 《Higher Education》1991,22(3):317-335

The aim of this project is to increase teacher education students' understanding of the learning process by focussing on their own learning experiences. 67 preservice teacher education students in 4 classes completed measures of academic locus of control and study processes before and after a semester course in a specially designed programme in Educational Psychology. The programme focuses on students taking greater responsibility for their own learning by exposing them to a variety of learning experiences. These experiences include negotiation of the curriculum, peer discussion and teaching, learning contracts, self, peer and collaborative assessment and critical reflection on these and other learning experiences by means of an ongoing learning log.Results indicate an increase in academic locus of control for one class, and an increase in deep motive, achieving strategy, deep approach and deep achieving approach to learning for the whole group. These outcomes are discussed in terms of the congruence between these changes and the particular learning experiences to which the students were exposed.  相似文献   

Job satisfaction among academic staff: An international perspective   总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1  

Fiona J. Lacy  Barry A. Sheehan 《Higher Education》1997,34(3):305-322

This study examined aspects of academics'satisfaction with theirjob across the eight nations (Australia, Germany, Hong Kong, Israel, Mexico,Sweden, UK, USA). Interesting patterns emerged across countries reflectingdifferences in the international academic climate. The study also exploredpatterns of job satisfaction and dissatisfaction more closely for theAustralian data, and examined the impact of context elements, includingworking climate and atmosphere, on general levels of job satisfaction.Results indicated that factors related to the environment in which academicswork, including university atmosphere, morale, sense of community, andrelationships with colleagues, are the greatest predictors of jobsatisfaction. Implications for university management and governing bodiesare discussed.  相似文献   

Teacher characteristics and pupil outcomes in secondary science classrooms     

Jeffrey R. Northfield  Barry J. Fraser 《Research in Science Education》1977,7(1):113-121

Conclusion The present research employed data collected in two separate studies related to ASEP to investigate relationships of changes in seven pupils learning outcomes with four teacher characteristics and four instruction-teacher interactions. A significant relationship (p<.05) emerged between changes in a learning outcome and a teacher characteristic in the following three cases: changes in critical thinking in science were more favourable in classes with less pupil-centredness teachers, and changes in attitude to science were more favourable in classes with female teachers and those with more pupil-centredness teachers. A significant relationship also emerged between changes in a learning outcome and the interaction of the instructional variable (ASEP/control) with a teacher characteristic in four cases, and these were interpreted in the paper. In addition to the specific findings outlined above, two more general tentative conclusions can be advanced. First, the use of common samples in separate studies appears useful for allowing the investigation of worthwhile questions which go beyond the bounds of the individual studies. Second, in view of the number of interesting relationships found between changes in learning outcomes and teacher and instruction-teacher interaction variables, it could be useful to replicate the present study.  相似文献   

Changing Classroom Environments in Urban Middle Schools     

Sinclair  Becky B.  Fraser  Barry J. 《Learning Environments Research》2002,5(3):301-328

This study involved three phases. First, we developed and validated the Elementary and Middle School Inventory of Classroom Environments (ICE) for assessing upper primary and middle school (Grades 6–8) students' perceived and preferred classroom environment. Second, typical classroom environments in an urban setting were described based on quantitative and qualitative data, including differences between the perceptions of students of different genders. Finally, teachers' participation in action research techniques, involving the use of feedback on perceived and preferred classroom environment, was evaluated in terms of effectiveness in promoting improvement in classroom environments. The sample consisted of ten middle grade teachers and their 43 classes of students in an urban North Texas school setting. Perceived and preferred forms of the ICE, assessing Cooperation, Teacher Empathy, Involvement and Task Orientation, were administered. Factor and item analyses supported the internal consistency reliability of a four-factor version of the perceived and preferred forms of the ICE for both the individual student and the class mean as the units of analysis. The perceived and preferred environments of different classes are described based on profiles of classroom environment scores. When teachers were selected from the original sample to participate in an attempt to alter their classroom environments, changes in classroom climate occurred, thus supporting the efficacy of the environmental change strategy. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.  相似文献   

Family and nonfamily support in relation to burnout and work engagement among Italian teachers     

Caterina Fiorilli  Barry Schneider  Ilaria Buonomo  Luciano Romano 《Psychology in the schools》2019,56(5):781-791

Italy had traditionally been considered a family‐oriented culture where support from relatives is primary. The major purpose of this study was to clarify the benefits of social support inside and outside the family for schoolteachers in Italy, focusing on the teacher burnout and work engagement. Findings indicated that the family was by far the most significant source of support. School colleagues who felt close to each other resembled each other in terms of burnout and work engagement. Difficult interactions with colleagues were associated with burnout more extensively at later stages of the teaching career; supervisor support was linked with burnout at an early stage.  相似文献   

A time allocation study of university faculty     

Albert N. Link  Christopher A. Swann  Barry Bozeman 《Economics of Education Review》2008

Many previous time allocation studies treat work as a single activity and examine trade-offs between work and other activities. This paper investigates the at-work allocation of time among teaching, research, grant writing and service by science and engineering faculty at top US research universities. We focus on the relationship between tenure (and promotion) and time allocation, and we find that tenure and promotion do affect the allocation of time. The specific trade-offs are related to particular career paths. For example, full professors spend increasing time on service at the expense of teaching and research while longer-term associate professors who have not been promoted to full professor spend significantly more time teaching at the expense of research time. Finally, our results suggest that women, on average, allocate more hours to university service and less time to research than do men.  相似文献   

Choosing a University: A conjoint analysis of the impact of higher fees on students applying for university in 2012     

Dunnett  Andrew  Moorhouse  Jan  Walsh  Caroline  Barry  Cornelius 《Tertiary Education and Management》2012,18(3):199-220

Tertiary Education and Management - In the light of the forthcoming policy shift to full-cost fees for English undergraduates, this study examines the impact of fee changes on how students weigh up...  相似文献