No abstract

Students’ views about teaching, learning, and school experiences are important considerations in education. The purpose of this study was to examine students’ perceptions of teachers who create and maintain safe and supportive learning environments. To achieve this, a survey was conducted with 360 students to capture students’ views on their classroom experiences. Follow-up focus group discussions were used to further elaborate and clarify students’ perceptions. Despite varying school contexts, students provided consistent reports that effective classroom managers meet students’ needs by developing caring relationships and controlling the classroom environment while developing student responsibility and engaging students in their learning.

Teachers' views about teaching, learning and school experiences are important considerations in education. As the central participants in classroom interactions, students and teachers naturally have strong views about what it takes to manage learning and surrounding behaviours effectively. With this in mind and because we believe that ignoring the thinking of either of these stakeholders would be to the detriment of teaching and teacher education, we focused on hearing and understanding teachers' voices about teaching, learning and classroom management. Our aim was to further clarify teachers' perspectives on how educators create quality learning environments as well as gathering their views of various disciplinary interventions, their perceptions of challenging students and their sense of efficacy for classroom management in order to inform both policy and practice in teacher education. A survey was conducted with 50 secondary school teachers to capture their views on their classroom experiences. Follow up interviews with teachers identified by students as effective in their classroom management provided consistent reports that effective classroom managers build positive relationships with their students, manage their classrooms by establishing clear boundaries and high expectations, and engage students in their learning.

There exists a substantial number of studies that have identified a subset of low-achieving mathematics students who do not develop a reliance on retrieval for simple addition but who continue to use a counting strategy to solve these problems. There are few studies, however, that have focused on how retrieval of simple addition facts may be improved. This study employed a combined methodological approach to examine the effect extended practice had on increasing a reliance on retrieval for simple addition. An intervention aimed at improving the efficiency of extended practice was also piloted. Although most students improved with extended practice, the extent of improvement was not practical for all students and the intervention did not generally improve the effectiveness of extended practice. The findings emphasize the critical importance of continuing such research and draw attention to the complexities involved in addressing retrieval difficulties for simple addition.

The gap between theory and practice during initial teacher training has been an enduring topic of research due to its impact on teacher-readiness. Given the COVID-19 pandemic campus closures threatening to widen the gap, this research was a timely intervention aimed at connecting pre-service teachers to their professional network. Specifically, the project brought together pre-service drama teachers and in-service drama teachers (identified as positive mentors and practitioners) in two 90 minute online forums, to explore pedagogical perspectives and understandings. Semi-structured focus-group and individual interviews were held with 21 pre-service drama teachers. Data revealed that the lived experience shared by drama teachers assisted pre-service teachers translate theory into practice supporting the learning of their pedagogical craft, both instructionally and behaviourally. Furthermore, this collaboration appeared to enhance motivation, build connection to the drama education community and inspire pre-service students during a personally and professionally challenging time in their initial teacher training.