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'educational assessment' Search Results



Freedom to Choose within Limits: Teacher Autonomy from the Perspectives of Basic School Teachers in Ghana

autonomy curriculum teaching experience

Dandy George Dampson , Stephen Kwakye Apau , Uriel Amuah


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The study examined the level of autonomy among basic school teachers in the Central Region of Ghana and the effect of teacher demographic characteristics on the level of teacher autonomy. The explanatory sequential design was adopted. Using the systematic sampling technique, a total of 315 basic school teachers were sampled for the quantitative phase of the study whilst 12 teachers were sampled for the qualitative phase through the purposive sampling technique. Eighteen (18) items Likert-scale was adapted from Pearson and Hall and used for the quantitative phase. A semi-structured interview guide was designed to collect data to further elaborate the study’s key findings. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyse the quantitative data whilst the interview was analysed thematically. The study revealed that teachers in the Central Region of Ghana hold positive perceptions about their autonomy with the level of autonomy being moderate. It further established that teacher autonomy is affected by gender positively whilst age and teaching experience affects their level of autonomy negatively. Based on the findings, it is recommended that the Ghana Education Service (GES) and school heads should organize in-service programmes aimed at informing basic school teachers on the extent of autonomy that they have in the process of implementing the curriculum.

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10.12973/eujem.2.1.35
Pages: 35-44
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Goffman’s theory of total institutions and Fanon’s theory of violence were used to explain student protests and violence in Kenyan secondary schools. Youth violence around the world is not a new phenomenon. However, the persistence, frequency, and intensity of violence, and their consequences beg for logical explanations and remedies. This study was part of a three-year project facilitated through the Networked Improvement Community partnership for self-study and intervention. Although a holistic approach to research was applied, data for this study were gathered through narrative inquiry. Participants (teachers, principals, and members of the school community) were identified purposively using the snowball process. Data were analyzed through deductive and inductive reasoning. Findings indicate a preponderance of student protest and violence among students in boarding schools. Student violence was a response to the devaluing and oppressive environment in boarding schools which resembled total institutions, and students exercising democratic rights to protest. The paper argues that school authorities could mitigate violent protests by providing formal political means of representation and democratic decision-making; creating new spaces for negotiation and peaceful protest; listening to the voices of students; and engaging in dialogue to create a common vision and mission.

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10.12973/eujem.3.2.25
Pages: 25-35
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906
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This research explores the impact of effective leadership and targeted interventions in closing the achievement gap of disadvantaged pupils in primary schools. Findings suggest that the case study schools use effective school leaders and a range of targeted interventions including early intervention, small group additional teaching, one-to-one tuition, peer tutoring, parental involvement, booster class, mastery learning, pastoral care, and enrichment programmes. Each of the above success factors and intervention strategies was explored in detail in the paper. The overall conclusions of this study are that the case study schools have closed the achievement gap between disadvantaged pupils and their peers through providing effective school leaders and the use of a range of effective intervention strategies. We would suggest that the case study schools’ stories of how they have closed the achievement gap through providing strong school leaders and the use of targeted interventions are of local and national significance. Our research also suggests the possibilities for further research. The recommendations from the study are that there is a need to replicate and expand this research with a larger sample of the study, in order to explore in detail what works in schools.

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10.12973/eujem.4.2.97
Pages: 97-108
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715
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This article aims to explore the views of primary school teachers regarding the educational leadership exercised by leader teachers at the human resource management level, and how this can affect their willingness to communicate and collaborate. The theoretical framework analyzes the dimensions of human resource management by a leader teacher, as a communication channel, team empowerer, and creator of a climate of trust. The research was carried out using quantitative method, with a closed digital questionnaire which was completed by 693 primary school teachers from whole Greece. Initially, the analysis was carried out through descriptive statistics and then selected questions were analyzed by statistical inference test. The findings show a shift towards the model of a transformational leader, despite the country’s education system remaining highly centralized. In addition, the findings show a correlation between democratic and cooperative staff management, with the axes of inspiration and responsibility on the teachers’ side. This article highlights whether the communication skills of a leader teacher affect the functioning of the school. The research was carried out during a pandemic and thus it was not possible to collect qualitative data using interviews with leader teachers so that we can have a comparative approach to the issue.

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10.12973/eujem.4.2.141
Pages: 141-155
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744
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876
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New Public Management and the Centralization of Educational Assessment Policy in Brazil: The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic in the Educational Field

covid-19 educational assessment new public management

Alisson Slider do Nascimento de Paula , Maria Beatriz do Nascimento Rodrigues , Thiago Tavares Soares


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This text aims to analyze the conditionalities of the New Public Management for the educational assessment policy in Brazil and the deepening of educational inequality with the outbreak of the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. Certainly, within the trajectory of educational policies, Brazil has a clear relationship with the conservative way in which the State and society were shaped. In the current scenario of the New Public Management, the new educational policy dictates an economic logic in the pedagogical factor, which uses business management methods for results, transforming it as a solution to measure the quality of teaching, for which it uses evaluation mechanisms. Aspects linked to the New Public Management such as efficiency, efficacy and effectiveness permeate the rationality of educational policy and, consequently, of the evaluative logic. Indeed, the centrality of the assessment conditioned the logic of curriculum standardization. These curriculum guidance indicators denote training based on skills and abilities that contribute to training that meets market demands.

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10.12973/eujem.5.1.15
Pages: 15-22
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A National Science Foundation-funded Mathematics and Science Partnership program, Leadership for Educators: Academy for Driving Economic Revitalization in Science (LEADERS), aimed to develop science teacher leaders who would influence the quality of science teaching in their respective schools. To fulfill a need to evaluate leadership abilities of teachers within LEADERS, a Teacher Leadership Instrument was developed based on our previous work. This paper examines the performance of teachers as outlined in the Teacher Leader Model (TLM) Standards following their enrollment in three teacher leadership courses aligned with these Standards. The study employed a qualitative approach to analyze peer professional development sessions provided by teacher leaders, and to rate leadership behaviours and practices. Results indicate that 31 of the 37 functions were exhibited by the teacher leaders, with most observations occurring at a developing level. Behaviours related to effective presentation and facilitation were observed most frequently, but the teacher leaders also incorporated research-based practices, information about assessments, and links to the community in their sessions. Further, these behaviours linked back to the intended outcomes of the three leadership courses. The results demonstrate one manner in which teacher leaders perform the functions of the TLM Standards in the context of professional development sessions.

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10.12973/eujem.5.1.49
Pages: 49-62
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371
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477
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A professional development that is often mandated is exclusionary, less motivating, and provides teachers with little or no improvement in their professional practice as well as student achievement. This necessitates a fundamental change in policy from prescribing professional development to addressing teachers’ self-identified felt needs. Hitherto, teachers are generally disenfranchised from specifying their felt needs for development, thus they feel uninterested, or enthusiastic to attend professional development programs that are prescribed for them by school leaders. When they do or are compelled to attend, they tend to be less attentive and are often indulged in reading newspapers, grading students’ test papers, texting, playing video games, or simply doing something unrelated to the professional development. This practice stifles teachers’ professional growth and student learning, hence it must not be allowed to continue unabated. Through a qualitative case study research design, using survey, interviews, and focus groups, this research brought to the fore, the debilitating effects of the current practice. Analysis of data yielded four major themes: choice, motivation, effectiveness, and satisfaction. The study proposed a paradigm shift in policy from mandating to granting teachers the autonomy to identify their own real or felt needs for professional development. Implications for practice, leadership, policy, and further research were also discussed.

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10.12973/eujem.5.1.63
Pages: 63-75
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Focusing on servant leadership and its outcomes are considered fairly essential in terms of its contribution to the literature. This study seeks to determine the relationships between the servant leadership of school principals and the loyalty of teachers to their principals and the constructs of loyalty to supervisors. Secondary school teachers working in Diyarbakır constitute the population of the study. 26 secondary schools were randomly selected from Diyarbakır province and the scales were applied to the teachers working in these schools. The sample consists of 202 teachers. The data were obtained with servant leadership and loyalty to supervisor scales. Validity and reliability analyzes were performed on the scales to determine whether the scales were valid and reliable or not. While analysing the data, descriptive statistics, correlation, and regression analyzes were used, respectively. It was found that the variables examined in the study had a positive and significant relationship. Regression analysis findings revealed that servant leadership predicted loyalty to supervisors and the constructs of loyalty to supervisors (dedication, extra effort, attachment, identification, and internalization) in a statistically significant way. School principals wishing to establish a sense of loyalty in schools are recommended to be aware of the positive role of servant leadership on psychological mechanisms and to have speeches and actions compatible with this type of leadership.

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10.12973/eujem.5.2.77
Pages: 77-85
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This study aims to evaluate the leadership practices of a sample of secondary school principals in the Madrid region. An attempt will be made to provide some insights into their professional profile, their performance of leadership tasks, and the different elements that define their leadership model. An online questionnaire was used to collect their opinions on the day-to-day performance of their leadership role, as well as on the factors that influence their leadership style. From a methodological point of view, a quantitative approach is used within an interpretative framework, given that the emphasis is not on the generalisation of results but on understanding how school principals operate in their particular context. Results revealed that instructional leadership in Spain is still seen as a challenging goal for principals. This is closely in line with the bureaucratic nature of the headship role in Spanish schools.

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10.12973/eujem.5.2.97
Pages: 97-113
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Quality of Administrative Services in Higher Education

administrative services higher education importance-performance service quality servqual tqm

Spiridon Rizos , Eleni Sfakianaki , Andreas Kakouris


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This study investigates the quality of higher education institutes’ (HEIs’) administrative services by assessing student satisfaction in the context of Total Quality Management (TQM). Differences between students’ perceptions and expectations of administrative service quality are examined and discussed. A questionnaire survey was developed employing the SERVQUAL service quality model, the results of which were further enhanced by the application of importance-performance analysis (IPA). All five dimensions of the model were explored (reliability, assurance, tangibles, empathy, and responsiveness) with data from the 104 students from five Greek HEIs who participated in the survey. The results of the IPA complemented the survey research by enabling recommendations for importance and performance. The study’s findings indicate that students’ expectations are not met by the administrative services provided at the time of examination. A gap is observed between perceptions and expectations on all dimensions, indicating the necessity to make improvements to enhance service quality.

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10.12973/eujem.5.2.115
Pages: 115-128
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The main objective of current study was to determine the opinions of adjunct faculty members regarding the flexible and precariat form of employment policies at universities in Turkey. The research was conducted qualitatively. The participants were 16 adjunct faculty members who were chosen with purposive sampling method. An interview technique was implemented in order to obtain data, and content analysis method was used to analyze the data. Results revealed that this form of employment policy causes organizational, academic and personal problems. As for organizational problems, it causes to prioritize financial points of views rather than academic expectations. Regarding personal problems, adjunct faculty members are underpaid, overworked, ignored regarding their professional development. Also academic and scientific knowledge production are ignored. Students do dot respect adjunct faculty members. It is recommended that this kind of employment policy should be reconsidered and full-time employment should be preferred.

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10.12973/eujem.5.2.129
Pages: 129-141
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As an educationist over the years, I have experienced principals’ outburst and their tendency to make a scene out of seemly minor issues that could have been addressed with little modesty. This behaviour has led to an uproar amongst parents, teachers and learners about the school principals’ insensitiveness which is attributed to lack of emotional intelligence (EI) competency. The study is underpinned by the transformational leadership theory which aims at pioneering change of attitude in school leadership so that different educational actors could be influenced to achieve the school and overall educational objectives. This qualitative study generated data from five (5) conveniently selected secondary school principals, five (5) parents and five (5) teachers using semi-structured interviews. Using thematic analysis method, the study revealed that principals with EI are able to enhance school performance and satisfy parents. Thus, the study revealed that EI is useful in establishing and maintaining good relationships with different school stakeholders. It is fundamental in managing conflicts in schools and facilitates constructive management of any stressful situations. The study further revealed that principals could acquire this skill through self-enrichment and induction initiatives by the Ministry of Education and Training (MoET). It is recommended that before principals are appointed, they should be subjected to multiple aptitude tests to evaluate their knowledge and competencies. Furthermore MoET through its experts should continually induct principals on EI aspects.

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10.12973/eujem.6.1.1
Pages: 1-13
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This study aims to identify the dominant leadership styles of chairs from the perspective of faculty members in different college departments in higher education in the UAE. Furthermore, the study aims to identify the teachers' perceptions of leadership styles that affect their job satisfaction. The study used quantitative means with faculty members in different higher educational settings in the UAE. The survey used a five-point Likert scale. The leadership styles have values (completely agree =5, agree = 4, neutral =3, disagree=2, completely disagree=1). The job satisfaction questions have values (completely satisfied =5, satisfied = 4, fairly satisfied =3, dissatisfied =2, completely dissatisfied=1). The chosen subjects were faculty members from different colleges. Those subjects are 135 university teachers who are divided into four age groups. The data revealed no dominant leadership styles in the colleagues from faculty members' perspectives; however, the statistics lean towards the laissez-faire leadership style. It also reveals correlations between the three leadership styles and job satisfaction. The democratic leadership style has the greatest impact and most significant environment and incentives among the three independent variables.

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10.12973/eujem.6.2.119
Pages: 119-134
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Educators in non-formal education organizations are often expected to display values of volunteering and giving to the community. These contributions, which are beyond the call of duty, are defined as organizational citizenship behavior (OCB). When such behavior is performed as a result of pressure rather than out of free will, that pressure is defined as citizenship pressure (CP). Building on the job demands-resources theory, the study examined a moderator-mediator model at the team level construct, to explore whether team CP mediates the relationship between both idealized influence behavior and idealized influence attributed (transformational leadership dimensions) and team OCB, and whether that mediation is moderated by organizational identification. The study sample consisted of 75 teams of educators and their direct superiors, who work in 11 youth movements. Results show that the negative relationship between both idealized influence behavior and idealized influence attributed and team CP is moderated by organizational identification. Furthermore, results show a negative relationship between team CP and team OCB. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.

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10.12973/eujem.6.3.135
Pages: 135-151
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This study aims to investigate the views of active primary and secondary education teachers in Greece while implementing educational administration in the modern Greek school for issues related to multiculturalism and their intention to take an active role in co-shaping internal education policy, considering the country's centralized educational system and the flexibility it leaves for the participants in everyday educational reality. 1052 Primary and Secondary education teachers from Greece took part in the research. Descriptive statistics were used, followed by a test of the effect of the sample's social profile on their perceptions, and complex statistical analyzes such as correlations and multiple regression. The findings shape an educational leader who embraces the core principles of intercultural education. According to teachers, these findings are also considered encouraging, since they delineate a teacher who no longer rests, only, in their pedagogical duties, but understands that they must be part of the educational life. Finally, the findings confirmed the influence that an educational leader can exert with their behavior on the teachers at their school. This research sets the basis for the delineation of educational administration in the modern Greek multicultural educational reality by utilizing various statistical methods.

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10.12973/eujem.6.4.215
Pages: 215-231
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The study aims to analyze the relationship between teacher leadership and the organizational happiness of secondary school teachers. The research was designed in the relational survey model. The research sample group involves 358 teachers working in the state schools in the Bakirkoy district of Istanbul province. The Teacher Leadership Scale and the Organizational Happiness Scale were used to collect the data. The social sciences statistics program was used in the analysis of the data. It was found that teachers' teacher leadership and organizational happiness levels were high. There was a low level of positive significant relationship between teacher leadership and organizational happiness. and between the positive emotions sub-dimension of organizational happiness and the total score of teacher leadership. However, there was no relationship between the negative emotions sub-dimension of organizational happiness and teacher leadership. It was concluded that teacher leadership significantly positively affects teachers' organizational happiness.

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10.12973/eujem.6.4.247
Pages: 247-259
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The purpose of this study is to review the literature on the Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS) for the past 10 years to identify multiple paths through which school leadership exerted influences on school organizations and organizational outcomes. Our analysis of a network, consisting of 83 nodes (variables) and 242 variable ties from 29 reviewed studies identified four emergent themes. Reviewed studies (1) overwhelmingly framed the principal as the driver and teachers as the target of change; (2) suggested nine core variables (e.g., instructional leadership) to play central roles within the reviewed studies; (3) depicted student academic achievement as a function of the principal’s instructional leadership and their job satisfaction influenced by school context, principal qualification, and organizational conditions (e.g., respect for others); and (4) suggested teacher self-efficacy as the potential bridging variable between multiple change processes. The discussion includes implications for school leadership and future research.

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10.12973/eujem.7.1.1
Pages: 1-17
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Courses are the fundamental building blocks of educational programs, serving as a tangible representation of student attainment and the desired learning outcomes of the program. Despite their pivotal role in education, however, a standardized framework for the development, implementation, and enhancement of course specifications remains elusive. Given that different programs may employ varying formats with differing levels of detail, it is critical to establish a universal framework that enables instructors to adhere to quality standards at the program level. To this end, leveraging the ASEAN University Network – Quality Assurance (AUN-QA) and Quality Matters Rubric, this study seeks to optimize course quality assurance requirements and assess lecturers' perception of these proposed guidelines. Drawing on document analysis, semi-structured interviews, and importance-level measurement, the findings of this study underscore the significance of eight criteria, comprising a total of 25 quality requirements, in ensuring course quality. These criteria include learning outcomes, structure and content, instructional approaches, learning assessment, learner support, staff, and output. Notably, these criteria align with the Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) cycle theory, thereby promoting continuous improvement in education.

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10.12973/eujem.7.2.91
Pages: 91-108
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This study, designed as a basic qualitative research, aims to evaluate the perspectives of Turkish teachers regarding the nationally implemented large-scale assessments in specific subjects. By employing purposive sampling methods, particularly maximum variation sampling, 14 teachers with different seniorities and branches from various high schools were included in the research. Data were collected using a semi-structured interview form prepared by the researcher. Through the application of descriptive analysis, it was found that teachers viewed these assessments more as a preparation for changes in the higher education transition system and as a tool for achieving standardization across the country rather than as an accountability policy instrument. Despite the low-stakes nature of this assessment, it was observed that teachers exhibited responses like those documented in the literature for high-stakes accountability. Additionally, it was found that teachers prepared students for the exams primarily through practice exercises and experienced anxiety before the exams due to the limitation of their autonomy and the comparison of their students and themselves. Furthermore, most participants believed that the assessment results were not effective in determining students' learning, primarily held the students accountable for the results, and considered such assessments as a source of stress. Based on the findings, recommendations were made for practitioners and researchers.

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10.12973/eujem.7.3.155
Pages: 155-171
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