Search results for: school leadership characteristics

Authors: Mohammad Lutfur Rahman

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School students of Dhaka are in extreme risk of natural disasters. However, the study on assessment of the real scenario of high school students about perceptions of earthquake is very little. The purpose of this cross-sectional study is to assess the seismic risk perception and preparedness levels about earthquake among high school students in Shavar, Dhaka. A questionnaire was developed, and data collection was done about a group of high school students in seven classrooms. The author uses a method of surveying high school students to identify and describe the factors that influence their knowledge and perceptions about earthquake. This study examines gender and grade differences in perceived risk and communication behavior in response to the earthquake. Female students’ preparation, participation, and communication with family are more frequent than that of male students. Female students have been found to be more likely to learn about a disaster than male students. Higher grade students have more awareness but less preparedness about earthquake than that of the younger one. This research concludes that irrespective of grades, high school students are vulnerable to earthquake due to the lack of a seismic education program.

Keywords: awareness, earthquake, risk perception, seismic

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Authors: Y. R. Lai, J. C. Jehng, T. T. Chang

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Team is a popular job design in the management settings. Because people on a team need to work together to complete a lot of tasks, the interaction between team members strongly influences team effectiveness. The study examines the effect of social capital and empowering leadership on team cohesion. There are three facets of social capital: structural facet, relational facet, and cognitive facet. Empowering leadership includes enhancing the meaningfulness of work, fostering participation in decision making, expressing confidence in high performance, and providing autonomy from bureaucratic constraints. Data were collected from 181 team members of 47 teams in the real estate agency industry. The results show that the relational social capital, enhancing the meaningfulness of work, and providing autonomy from bureaucratic constraints are positively related to two dimensions of team cohesion: sense of belonging and feelings of moral. Additionally, expressing confidence in high performance is negatively related to sense of belonging.

Keywords: social capital, empowering leadership, team cohesion, team effectiveness

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Authors: Khalid Alasim

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This study investigated Saudi Arabian elementary school teachers’ knowledge of strategies to teach reading components to hard-of-hearing students. The study focused on four of the five reading components the National Reading Panel (NPR, 2000) identified: phonemic awareness; phonics; vocabulary, and reading comprehension, and explored the relationship between teachers’ demographic characteristics and their knowledge of the strategies as well. An explanatory sequential mixed methods design was used that included two phases. The quantitative phase examined the knowledge of these Arabic reading components among 89 elementary school teachers of hard-of-hearing students, and the qualitative phase consisted of interviews with 10 teachers. The results indicated that the teachers have a great deal of knowledge (above the mean score) of strategies to teach reading components. Specifically, teachers’ knowledge of strategies to teach the vocabulary component was the highest. The results also showed no significant association between teachers’ demographic characteristics and their knowledge of strategies to teach reading components. The qualitative analysis revealed two themes: 1) teachers’ lack of basic knowledge of strategies to teach reading components, and 2) the absence of in-service courses and training programs in reading for teachers.

Keywords: knowledge, reading, components, hard-of-hearing, phonology, vocabulary

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Authors: James Bassey Ejue, Dorn Cklaimz Enamhe, Helen Francis Ejue

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The study examined the influence of personal variables such as sex, type of school, and parental socio-economic status on secondary school students’ perception of school security. To guide the study, three null hypotheses were formulated. The research design adopted was the survey design, and a 20-item instrument was constructed and validated by the researchers through a test-retest procedure. The sample size for the study comprised 2,198 students made up of male and female students selected through a stratified random sampling technique. This was drawn from a study population of 21,988, made up of 12,635 students and 9353 students from public and private secondary schools, respectively. Data were analyzed using an independent t-test statistical tool. The findings showed that female students were more fearful in their perception of school security; the students in private schools perceived school to be more insecure than those in public schools; and the students from high parental socio-economic status are more associated with the perception of school as insecure than the ones from low parental socio-economic status. Based on these findings, it was recommended that, among others, more reassuring measures be put in place to check school security for females, for those in private schools, and for those from high parental socio-economic status. School counsellors should also be guided accordingly in designing intervention strategies.

Keywords: personal variables, students, perception, school security

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Authors: Bin Su

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This study focuses on the impact of school building design factors on winter extra energy consumption which mainly includes space heating, water heating and other appliances related to winter indoor thermal conditions. A number of Auckland schools were randomly selected for the study which introduces a method of using real monthly energy consumption data for a year to calculate winter extra energy data of school buildings. The study seeks to identify the relationships between winter extra energy data related to school building design data related to the main architectural features, building envelope and elements of the sample schools. The relationships can be used to estimate the approximate saving in winter extra energy consumption which would result from a changed design datum for future school development, and identify any major energy-efficient design problems. The relationships are also valuable for developing passive design guides for school energy efficiency.

Keywords: building energy efficiency, building thermal design, building thermal performance, school building design

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Authors: Hoi Nga Ng, Kam Weng Boey, Chi Wai Kwan, Hing Kwan To

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The effectiveness of school-based sexuality education (SBSE) depends largely on adolescents’ attitudes towards sexuality and SBSE. This study examined factors (demographic characteristics, religiosity, and spirituality) associated with students’ sexual attitudes and their views on SBSE. Data were collected via a questionnaire through convenience sampling from three secondary schools. A total of 818 students participated in the study. Male students were generally more permissive in sexual attitudes. Female students were specifically more liberal in attitudes towards abortion, contraception, infection of sexually transmitted diseases, and homosexuality. Higher levels of religiosity and spirituality were negatively associated with permissive sexual attitudes. As in the West, students showed positive attitudes towards SBSE, which provided a fertile ground for SBSE. However, female gender, conservative sexual attitudes, religiosity, and spirituality were positively related to attitudes towards SBSE, which were incongruent with what was found in Western studies. Implementation of SBSE needs to consider factors specific to the local cultural setting.

Keywords: religiosity, school-based sexuality education, secondary school, spirituality

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Authors: Lea B. Milan

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This descriptive study evaluated the existing Food Safety Management in Central Elementary School Canteens of Region 3. It made used of survey questionnaires, interview guide questions and validated knowledge test on food for data gathering. Results of the study revealed that school principals and canteen managers shared responsibilities in food safety management of school canteen. It also showed that the schools applied different methods of communication, monitoring and evaluation of food safety management. The study further revealed that implementation of monitoring and evaluation of food safety compliance are not being practiced in all elementary schools in the region. The study also showed that school canteens in the Region 3 do not have the thermometers and timers to use to conduct proper monitoring of foods during storage, preparation and serving. It was also found out from the study that canteen personnel lacks the basic knowledge and trainings on food safety. Potential source of physical, chemical and biological hazards that could contaminate foods were also found present in the canteen facilities of the elementary schools in the region. Moreover, evaluation showed that the existing implementation of food safety management in the Central Elementary School Canteens of Region 3 were below the expected level and the need to strengthen the appreciation and advocacy on food safety management in school canteens of Region 3 is still wanting.

Keywords: food safety management, food safety school catering, food safety, school food safety management

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Authors: Krishna Kistan Govender, Alex Masianoga

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The aim of this explanatory study was to critically understand how ethical leadership impacts employee creative behaviour, as well as the creative behaviour dimensions, in a South African transport and logistics SOE. A quantitative study was conducted using a pre-developed questionnaire, and data for 160 middle and executive managers was analysed through structural equation modelling and multiple regression techniques conducted with the Smart PLS statistical software. All five hypothesized relationships were supported, and it was confirmed that ethical leadership has a significant positive influence on employee creative behaviour, as well as on each of the creative behaviour dimensions, namely: idea exploration, idea generation, idea championing, and idea implementation.

Keywords: ethical leaders, employee creative behaviour, state-owned enterprises, South Africa

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Authors: Kanyarat Bussaban, Siriporn Poolsuwan

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This study is conducted with the objective to prove how the distorted distribution of welfare affects the quality of school-age children lives differently in the case of an urban community in Bangkok. 334 samples are households from Suan Oi and Ratchapatubtim communities. The study of sample communities found the difference between two community areas that are close. The people of Suan Oi community are economically better off people than the people of the Ratchapatubtim community. They share the benefits of using most services except the welfare of a child’s education. The resulting analysis of the variability in quality of life of the school age children indicate that heads of the households are women looking for quality of life benefits when the compulsory school age is less. A study of the two communities suggests that the inequality in income distribution currently affects the quality of life of school-age children.

Keywords: inequality, income distribution, quality of school-age children lives, welfare state

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Authors: Ummi Sholihah Pertiwi Abidin, Khusnul Hajar Nuansari

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Human resource is one of the most important components that can not be separated from communication fields, either in a large community like a mass or narrow ones such as an institution, office, group and even family. Human resource is an asset which is often used as a tool to achieve certain goals. Therefore, development of human resources is essential for improving skills and character of a person especially at the time that has entered globalization era. People are required to be able to compete both in the local and international arena, no matter what. This paper raised topic related to human resource development solution by a unique educational leadership and communication skill improvement through a linguistic approach. Here the authors want to go by form of public speaking method applied in Modern Islamic Boarding School Darussalam Gontor as the extracurricular activity that is using three languages, they are: Indonesian as the mother language or the nation language of the students, Arabic and English as the second language and Gontor’s mean to supply its students to be able to conquer the globalization needs. This implementation produced the establishment of great leaders through confidence growing to speak in public by adjusting the listener context. In linguistic term, it will help enhancing verbal and nonverbal communication skills and so forth in owning a lot of vocabulary.

Keywords: public speaking, Gontor, language, leadership

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Authors: Ghazi Alotaibi

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The current study examined and described the views of secondary school students and their parents on their reasons for seeking private tutors in English. These views were obtained through two group interviews with the students and parents separately. Several causes were brought up during the two interviews. These causes included difficulty of the English language, weak teacher performance, the need to pass exams with high marks, lack of parents’ follow-up of student school performance, social pressure, variability in student comprehension levels at school, weak English foundation in previous school years, repeated student absence from school, large classes, as well as English teachers’ heavy teaching loads. The study started with a description of the EFL educational system in Saudi Arabia and concluded with recommendations for the improvement of the school learning environment.

Keywords: english, learning difficulty, private tutoring, Saudi, teaching practices, learning environment

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Authors: S. C. Lin, W. F. Hung, W. W. Cheng

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Teacher empowerment was regarded as investing teachers with the right to participate in the determination of school goals and policies and to exercise professional judgment about what and how to teach. Professional commitment was considered as a person’s belief in and acceptance of the values of his or her chosen occupation or line of work, and a willingness to maintain membership in that occupation. An effective school has been defined as one in which students’ progress further than might be expected from consideration of its intake. An effective school thus adds extra value to its students' outcomes, in comparison with other schools serving similar intakes. A number of literature from various countries explored that teacher empowerment and professional commitment significantly influenced school effectiveness. However, there lacked more empirical studies to examine the relationships among them. Hence, this study was to explore the relationships among teacher empowerment, professional commitment and school effectiveness in junior high schools in Taiwan. Samples were seven hundred and five junior high school teachers selected from Taichung City, Changhua County and Nantou County. Questionnaire was applied to collect data. Data were analyzed by using descriptive statistics, t-test, one-way ANOVA, Pearson’s product-moment correlation, and multiple regression analysis. The findings of this study were as follows: First, the overall performances of teachers’ perceptions of teacher empowerment, teacher professional commitment and school effectiveness were above average. Second, the teachers’ perceptions of teacher empowerment were significant different in gender, designated duty, and school size. Third, the teachers’ perceptions of teacher professional commitment were significant different in gender, designated duty, and school size. Fourth, the teachers’ perceptions of school effectiveness were significant different in designated duty. Fifth, teacher empowerment was mid-positively correlation by teacher professional commitment. Sixth, there was mid-positively correlation between teacher empowerment and school effectiveness. Seventh, there was mid-positively correlation between teacher professional commitment and school effectiveness. Eighth, Teacher empowerment and professional commitment could significantly predict school effectiveness. Based on the findings of this study, the study proposed some suggestions for educational authorities, schools, teachers, and future studies as well.

Keywords: junior high school teacher, teacher empowerment, teacher professional commitment, school effectiveness

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Authors: Shehu S. Janguza

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The need for national security cannot be over Emphasis, which should be pursued by any means. Thus the need for effective management of education through effective school community Relationship/participation. In preparing and implementing only effort to promote community involvement in manning Education, it is importance to understand the whole picture of community participation, how it works, what forms are used, what benefit it can yield and what we should expect in the process of carrying out the efforts finally emphasis will be made on how effective school community relationship/participation and lead to national security.

Keywords: community participation, managing, school community, national security

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Authors: Endah Mastuti, Prihastuti Sudaryono

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The rapid development of Internet usage and technology influences the academic behavior of students in high schools. One of the consequences is the emergence of academic procrastination behavior. Academic procrastination behavior is students’ procrastinate behavior in completing assignments. This study aimed to see whether there are differences in the duration of using the internet with academic procrastinate behavior among high school students in Surabaya. The number of research subject is 498 high school students. Instruments of the research are academic procrastination scale and duration of the internet usage questionnaire. The results from One Way Anova shows F value 0.241 with a significance level of 0.868 This demonstrates that there is no difference between the duration of the use of the Internet with academic procrastination behavior in high school students.

Keywords: academic procrastination, duration of internet usage, students, senior high school

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Authors: Mi̇hri̇ban Müge Aras

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The present study aims to investigate the learner autonomy usage of prep school students. This research focuses on the prep school students' autonomy habits according to their self-regulated studies, age and duration of learning English. The research also analyzes whether prep school students have strong autonomy to learn the English language or depend on teachers and English classes only. The participants of the study consisted of 32 prep school students. The "Likert- type of questionnaire " was adopted by the researcher from the survey of Dede (2017). The scale was a one-dimensional 4-Likert type, which has the options of 1=never, 2= sometimes, 3=often, and 4=always. There are 19 questions in the questionnaire to understand the autonomy of students when they try to learn English. Descriptive statistics and OneANOVA were used to analyze the data. The results of the study showed that there is no significant correlation between their ages and their duration of learning English according to their autonomy studies for English.

Keywords: learner autonomy, self-regulated learning, independent learning, English language learning, prep school students

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Authors: Soyhan Egitim

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This case study aims to investigate leadership practices in diversity management in the liberal arts department of a Japanese university. In 2013, the Japanese Ministry of Education, Sports, Science, and Technology (MEXT) revealed their English education reform plan in response to rapid globalization. Based on the new reform plan, Japanese universities would expand their international faculty in order to promote globalization through an increased number of intercultural communication and content-based language classes in English. The study employed a two-phased qualitative approach to gain a deeper understanding of the management strategies employed in diversity management, and the leadership practices influenced those management strategies. In the first phase, a closed-ended qualitative survey was conducted with ten adjunct faculty members from the liberal arts department. The results indicate that syllabus design, grading scheme, textbook choices, and class management policies are strictly regulated by the tenured Japanese faculty. In the second phase, semi-structured interviews were held with international faculty members to understand their personal experiences. Their responses revealed that top-down management approaches are counter-effective in the department’s efforts to promote diversity and thus, a new organizational culture needs to be nurtured to emphasize inclusion alongside diversity. In this regard, the study proposes collaborative leadership as an inclusive leadership practice to minimize power differences in the hierarchy and increase opportunities for inclusion in the rapidly diversifying workforce.

Keywords: collaborative leadership, diversity, inclusion, international faculty, top-down

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Authors: Ashok Pandey, Rajan Adhikari

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Introduction: Menstruation is part of the female reproductive cycle that starts when girls become sexually mature at the time of puberty. It is a phenomenon unique to the females. During a menstrual period, a woman bleeds from her uterus via the vagina. For decades, in many countries, academic school ‘type,’ private or public, as a predictor of or factor in future academic success has been researched and debated. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The comparative study was carried out with adolescent girls studying in both public and private schools of Kathmandu valley. A total of 100 girls participated in the survey, and out of them 21 participated in the FGD and 5 in the in- depth interview. Quantitative data from the survey was analyzed using SPSS 16.0 software. Informed verbal consent with the respective head of school and the respondents were taken before data collection. Results:The age of the respondents ranges from 11 to 18 years, with mean age of menarche being 12.37 years in both school adolescent girls. 70 percent of the public school adolescent girls and 72 percent of the private school adolescent girls are feeling upset and tension during menarche. There is a statistically significant difference on take rest during the period and good hygienic practice during menstruation of public/private school, at α=0. 05 level of significance. There is a statistically significant difference on overall score of practice during menstruation between public and private adolescent girls. Conclusion: Private schools children are more knowledgeable and maintain hygiene as compere to public school even though, it can be said that among the adolescent school girls both in public and private school, menstrual knowledge and perceptions are poor and practices often not optimal for proper hygiene. Often ignored issues of privacy affect the hygienic practices and daily lives.

Keywords: Comparison, Menstruation, Private school, Public School

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Authors: Petcharat Kerdonfag, Supunnee Thrakul

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School health services through regular screening of school students’ health status have been the main responsibility for community or school health nurses. The purposes of these retrospective study were to assess and compare health problems between government and private primary school students in the central region of Thailand. The data were collected from the school health records in October at the end of the first semester in the academic year 2018. Two thousand and fifty primary school health records from government and private primary schools were gathered to assess health problems regarding anthropometric measurements, physical examination/personal hygiene, and clinical findings for this study. Descriptive statistics and Chi-square were used to be analyzed. The results revealed that health problems of all the school students remained high magnitude. The five top ranks for prevalence rate of health problems were dental caries (36.6%), visual acuity problem (27.7%), over-nutrition (16.8%), head lice (12.8%), and under-nutrition (6.8%), respectively. However, when compared between government and private schools among five health problems; dental caries (55.0% vs 19.9%), visual acuity problem (23.1% vs 31.9%), over-nutrition (20.2% vs 13.8%), head lice (26.5% vs 0.3%), and under-nutrition (10.6% vs 3.4%) with Chi-square analysis, there were significantly different (p < .001). The problem of visual acuity seems to be more serious in private schools while other health problems tend to be more critical in government schools. The findings have suggested that parents who have children in the private primary schools should pay more attention to visual health defects whereas parents with children in the government school should pay more vigilance regards to hygiene and health behavior problems.

Keywords: community health nursing, school health service, health status, primary school children

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Authors: Bin Su

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Auckland has a temperate climate with comfortable warm, dry summers and mild, wet winters. An Auckland school normally does not need air conditioning for cooling during the summer and only needs heating during the winter. The Auckland school building thermal design should more focus on winter thermal performance and indoor thermal comfort for energy efficiency. This field study of testing indoor and outdoor air temperatures, relative humidity and indoor surface temperatures of three classrooms with different envelopes were carried out in the Avondale College during the winter months in 2013. According to the field study data, this study is to compare and evaluate winter thermal performance and indoor thermal conditions of school buildings with different envelopes.

Keywords: building envelope, building mass effect, building thermal comfort, building thermal performance, school building

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Authors: Xiaoming Zeng, Xiaozan Wang, Qinping Xu, Shaoxian Wang

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Research Purpose: In 2017, the high school physical education and health curriculum standard advocates modular teaching. This study aims to explore the impact of ‘sports module’ teaching on the physical quality of high school students. Research methods: 800 senior high school students (400 in the experimental group and 400 in the control group) were randomly divided into two groups. The experimental group carried out modular teaching of physical education, and the control group carried out conventional teaching mode for one semester. Before and after the experiment, the physical fitness of the subjects was tested, including vital capacity, 50 meters, standing long jump, sitting forward bending. Results: After the experiment, the vital capacity (t = -4.007, p < 0.01), 50 meters (t = 2.638, p < 0.01) and standing long jump (t = -4.067, p < 0.01) of the experimental group were significantly improved. High school sports modular teaching has special characteristics. It attaches great importance to the independent development of students' personality. Students can choose their favorite modules to develop various skills and actively participate in various sports activities in the classroom. The density and intensity of sports are greatly improved. Students' speed (50m run), cardiopulmonary endurance (vital capacity), sensitivity, and strength (standing long jump) scores are greatly improved and obviously improved in nature. But at the same time, it was found that the students' sitting forward flexion did not show significant improvement, which was caused by the lack of relevant equipment in school and the students' inattention to stretching after exercise or not doing regular exercise to promote flexibility. Conclusion: (1) ‘Sports module’ teaching can effectively improve the physical quality of high school students. It is mainly manifested in cardiopulmonary function, speed, and explosive power. (2) In the future, ‘sports module’ teaching should give full play to its advantages and add courses to improve students' flexibility.

Keywords: module teaching, physical quality, senior high school student, sports

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Authors: Araceli Martinez Ortiz, Gillian Bayne, Solomon Abraham

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This paper describes research led by faculty from three American universities and four Ethiopian universities on the delivery of professional leadership development for early-career female Ethiopian university instructors in the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) fields. The objective was to carry out a case study focused on the impact of an innovative intervention program designed to assist in the empowerment and leadership development related to teaching effectiveness, scholarly activity participation, and professional service participation by female instructors. This research was conducted utilizing a case study methodology for the weeklong intervention and a survey to capture the voices of the leadership program participants. The data regarding insights into the challenges and opportunities for women in these fields is presented. The research effort project expands upon existing linkages between universities to support professional development and research effort in this region of the world. Findings indicate the positive reception of this kind of professional development by the participating women. Survey data also reflects the particular cultural challenges professional women in STEM education face in Ethiopia as well as the global challenges of balancing family expectations with career development.

Keywords: Ethiopian women, STEM leadership, professional development, gender equity

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Authors: Yarhands Dissou Arthur, Samuel Asiedu Addo, Jonathan Annan

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Interest in subject specific is very essential in the quest to ensure effective teaching and learning. In building interest in subject specific areas requires certain factors and strategies well-spelled out.The factors such as the gender of the student, the type of basic school attended, the parent interest as well as the scare of the basic school mathematics teacher is very important to consider. The relational effect and the contribution these above mentioned variables on student have not been fully investigated and this paper address the effect of these factors on the student interest. In the attainment of this goal, the current paper addresses the effect of parent interest, the type of basic school attended, the scare by basic school mathematics teacher and its effect on student’s interest in mathematics. A cross sectional data collected from two hundred and sixty post-secondary school student were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistical methods by aid of SPSS version 16. The study found that parent interest and value for mathematics significantly influenced students interest and joy in solving mathematical problems. Moreover, we also observed that the fear imposed by basic school mathematics teachers was found to significantly influence students’ interest. The study further found that the type of basic school attended and gender are factors that do not influence students’ interest in mathematics. In addition to concluding that a student’s interest is influenced by both parent interest and the fear of basic school mathematics teacher, the study also showed that the type of basic school attended and gender does not affect the students’ interest in mathematics.

Keywords: gender, mathematics interest, teacher interest, teacher interest, student interest

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Authors: Sidra Rizwan

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The article focuses on the training needs of secondary school teachers related to the knowledge component of instructional planning and strategies as stated in the National professional standards for teachers in Pakistan. The study aimed to determine the training needs of secondary school teachers on different aspects of knowledge & understanding component of instructional planning and strategies. The target population of the study was the secondary school teachers across Pakistan. For this purpose, a sample of 400 secondary school teachers was selected through multistage sampling from all the four provinces and Federal capital area. Survey method was adopted to assess the training needs by using a self reporting tool. The tool helped to gauge the training needs through indirect inventory questions as well as a ranking list in which the respondents themselves prioritized their training areas. The results showed variation between the direct and indirect reporting of the teachers on the basis of which it was concluded that the secondary school teachers needed awareness about the knowledge component of instructional planning and strategies in order to redefine their actual training needs. The researcher further identified the training needs of secondary school teachers within each province and Islamabad capital territory; including an analysis of variations between strata. As teachers are considered agents of change, their training according to the professional standards should provide a solid base for “rethinking education”.

Keywords: training needs, secondary school teachers, instructional planning & strategies, knowledge & understanding

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Authors: Eva Šmelová, Alena Berčíková

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The issue of school maturity and readiness of a child for a successful start of compulsory education is one of the long-term monitored areas, especially in the context of education and psychology. In the context of the curricular reform in the Czech Republic, the issue has recently gained importance. Analyses of research in this area suggest a lack of a broader overview of indicators informing about the current level of children’s school maturity and school readiness. Instead, various studies address partial issues. Between 2009 and 2013 a research study was performed at the Faculty of Education, Palacký University Olomouc (Czech Republic) focusing on children’s maturity and readiness for compulsory education. In this study, social skills were of marginal interest; the main focus was on the mental area. This previous research is smoothly linked with the present study, the objective of which is to identify the level of school maturity and school readiness in selected characteristics of social skills as part of the adaptation process after enrolment in compulsory education. In this context, the following research question has been formulated: During the process of adaptation to the school environment, which social skills are weakened? The method applied was observation, for the purposes of which the authors developed a research tool – record sheet with 11 items – social skills that a child should have by the end of preschool education. The items were assessed by first-grade teachers at the beginning of the school year. The degree of achievement and intensity of the skills were assessed for each child using an assessment scale. In the research, the authors monitored a total of three independent variables (gender, postponement of school attendance, participation in inclusive education). The effect of these independent variables was monitored using 11 dependent variables. These variables are represented by the results achieved in selected social skills. Statistical data processing was assisted by the Computer Centre of Palacký University Olomouc. Statistical calculations were performed using SPSS v. 12.0 for Windows and STATISTICA: StatSoft STATISTICA CR, Cz (software system for data analysis). The research sample comprised 115 children. In their paper, the authors present the results of the research and at the same time point to possible areas of further investigation. They also highlight possible risks associated with weakened social skills.

Keywords: compulsory education, curricular reform, educational diagnostics, pupil, school curriculum, school maturity, school readiness, social skills

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Authors: M. A. M. Hayati Adilin, D. Ajau, A. S. Siti Khuzaimah, K. Mastura, R. Nik Muhammad Syafiq, M. N. Noor Fatin Nadiah

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The school environment is one of many factors related to the increment of overweight and obesity among children. There is an evidence to suggest that the school environmental factor has an independent effect towards health-related behaviour of children and school culture. It may have a significant impact towards the emergence of childhood obesity through their influence on eating pattern and physical activity level. The objective of this study is to identify the school environmental factors (i.e. physical, economic, political and socio-cultural) towards healthy eating and physical activity of urban and rural primary school children in preventing childhood obesity. This can be identified by examining the compliance of rural and urban school environment with whole-school environmental mapping framework. The study design was a cross-sectional study. A total of 60 schools were randomly selected (30 urban and 30 rural) in Selangor, Western Peninsular Malaysia in 2013 and 60 teachers (responsible for student affairs and the school curriculum) have been interviewed face to face by using a whole school mapping questionnaire followed by observation of the school environment . This study has demonstrated that schools in both areas (rural and urban) comply mostly with the physical environmental mapping (83.3%), followed by socio-cultural environmental mapping, 65%. Meanwhile, the political environmental mappings in both urban and rural schools show a low compliance percentage, which is 56.7%. For economic environmental mapping, only 10% of both schools are complied. As a conclusion, this study has demonstrated that schools in both areas do not fully comply with the whole school environmental mapping framework, especially economic and political. However, holistic approach is needed and many improvements can be proposed to promote healthy eating and physical activities among school children. Government, families and schools as well as communities and the media should be included together with any strategies for preventing childhood obesity.

Keywords: childhood obesity, healthy eating, physical activity, school environment

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Authors: Arif Sikander, Imran Saeed

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The behavioral pattern and performance of airline pilots are influenced by the level of stress, their ethical decision-making ability and above all their leadership style as part of the Crew Management process. Cultural differences of pilots, especially while working in ex-country airlines, could influence the stress perception. Culture also influences ethical decision making. Leadership style is also a variable dimension, and pilots need to adapt to the cultural settings while flying with the local pilots as part of their team. Studies have found that age, education, gender, and management experience are statistically significant factors in ethical maturity. However, in the decades to come, more studies are required to validate the results over and over again; thereby, providing support for the validity of the Moral Development Theory. Leadership style plays a vital role in ethical decision making. This study is grounded in the Moral Development theory and seeks to analyze the styles of leadership of airline pilots related to ethical decision making and also the influence of the culture on their stress perception. The sample for the study included commercial pilots from a National Airline. It is expected that these results should provide useful input to the literature in the context of developing appropriate Talent Management strategies. The authors intend to extend this study (carried out in one country) to major national carriers (many countries) to be able to develop a ultimate framework on Talent Management which should serve as a benchmark for any international airline as most of them (e.g., Emirates, Etihad, Cathay Pacific, China Southern, etc.) are dependent on the supply of this scarce resource from outside countries.

Keywords: ethics, leadership, pilot, stress

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Authors: Jonathan W. Shute

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Truancy – unexcused absences from school and class – continues to challenge educators throughout the world, including in Oceania. Traditionally, the focus of attendance issues has been on students, parents, and social factors. While these factors obviously contribute to truancy, research suggests that most truants are rational decision-makers who claim to be bored and intellectually unfulfilled, choosing to avoid specific classes and teachers. For this study, 2,536 Junior and senior high school students were surveyed from six high schools in the following island nations: Tonga, Samoa, Kiribati, and Fiji. From these data, patterns and characteristics emerged which seem to influence truancy from the truant’s perspective, and which may enlighten teachers in their practice. For lasting solutions to an age-old challenge, the 21st century educational community should consider sharing the responsibility for truancy by focusing on pedagogy practices as a possible explanation for truancy. Specific ideas are suggested to inform teacher effectiveness and therefore keep our students in school and class. This research does not focus on the effectiveness of Teacher Education Programs from which teachers arrive in their careers or the potential cultural, linguistic, and political trends and policies that may or may not influence truancy. While these are critical topics to be researched, this research focuses on students’ opinions and perspectives of why they choose to truant from entire days of school or from specific classes.

Keywords: truancy, student engagement, effective pedagogy, student perspectives

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Authors: Mette Kjerholt, Thora Grothe Thomsen, Connie Bøttcher Berthelsen, Bibi Hølge Hazelton

Abstract:

Academic nursing is a relatively new phenomenon in Denmark. Leadership and management training in nursing does not prepare Danish nurse leaders to become leaders for nurses with academic background, and some leaders may feel estranged with including this kind of nursing staff in clinical settings. Currently there is a debate regarding what academic nurses can contribute with in clinical practice, and some managers express concern regarding whether this will lead to less focus on clinical practice and more focus on theoretical issues that may not seem so relevant in a busy everyday clinical setting. The paper will present the experiences of integrating three advanced nurse practitioners with Ph.D. degrees (ANP) in three different clinical departments at a regional hospital in Denmark with no prior experiences with such profiles among its staff.

Keywords: leadership, advanced nurse practitioners, clinical practice, academic nursing

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Authors: Ayse Ozbil, Gorsev Argin, Demet Yesiltepe

Abstract:

Data for this cross-sectional study were drawn from questionnaires conducted in 10 elementary schools (1000 students, ages 12-14) located in Istanbul, Turkey. School environments (1600 meter buffers around the school) were evaluated through GIS-based land-use data (parcel level land use density) and street-level topography. Street networks within the same buffers were evaluated by using angular segment analysis (Integration and Choice) implemented in Depthmap as well as two segment-based connectivity measures, namely Metric and Directional Reach implemented in GIS. Segment Angular Integration measures how accessible each space from all the others within the radius using the least angle measure of distance. Segment Angular Choice which measures how many times a space is selected on journeys between all pairs of origins and destinations. Metric Reach captures the density of streets and street connections accessible from each individual road segment. Directional Reach measures the extent to which the entire street network is accessible with few direction changes. In addition, socio-economic characteristics (annual income, car ownership, education-level) of parents, obtained from parental questionnaires, were also included in the analysis. It is shown that surrounding street network configuration is strongly associated with both walk-mode shares and average walking distances to/from schools when controlling for parental socio-demographic attributes as well as land-use compositions and topographic features in school environments. More specifically, findings suggest that the scale at which urban form has an impact on pedestrian travel is considerably larger than a few blocks around the school.

Keywords: Istanbul, street network layout, urban form, walking to/from school

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Authors: Charlie Yang

Abstract:

The idea that business practitioners urgently need a more holistic and humanistic philosophy about the free market economy has gained some attraction among business practitioners and business professors. Those who have endorsed “conscious capitalism” as an emerging business philosophy also contended that business education should be grounded in a more positive understanding of capitalism, which enables future business leaders to have a greater impact on the world. This study is designed to critically examine the theoretical foundations of conscious capitalism and its practical and pedagogical possibilities as an emerging business movement. Based on the analysis of qualitative data collected through reflective essays written by business students, I will discuss the pedagogical and practical implications for developing conscious leadership in the context of more transformative and contemplative management education.

Keywords: conscious capitalism, conscious leadership, contemplative management education, contemplative pedagogy

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