The role of mother–child and teacher–child relationship on academic achievement

Robust findings have highlighted the importance of early cognitive abilities for academic performance. However, little is known about the role played by relational variables. In this longitudinal study, we examined children’s relationship with their mothers and teachers as predictors of later academic achievement. We addressed this issue following a group of 45 Italian children (29 boys) from the last year of preschool (mean age: five years and six months) until Year 4 of primary school (mean age: nine years and six months). Results showed that mother–child relationship at age 5 and teacher–child relationship at age 7 correlate with children’s academic achievement at age 9, controlling for early background and verbal abilities. Further analyses showed that teacher–child conflict partially mediates the relationship between early mother–child conflict and children’s later academic achievement. Mechanisms by which relational variables influence learning outcomes are discussed.     

父母参与作业的自主动机与小学生积极作业情绪:学生作业自主动机与教师支持的作用

采用问卷调查法,以702名小学生为被试,探讨了教师支持、父母参与作业的自主动机和学生家庭作业自主动机影响积极数学家庭作业情绪的内在作用机制。结果发现：（1）父母参与作业的自主动机是积极数学家庭作业情绪的预测因素;（2）学生家庭作业自主动机在父母参与作业的自主动机与积极数学家庭作业情绪之间起完全中介作用;（3）教师支持在父母参与作业的自主动机通过学生家庭作业自主动机影响其积极数学家庭作业情绪的过程中起有中介的调节作用。研究表明,教师支持、父母参与作业的自主动机和学生家庭作业自主动机均是学生积极家庭作业情绪的重要影响因素。     

Does sensitivity to criticism mediate the relationship between theory of mind and academic achievement?

This study adds to the growing research on school outcomes associated with individual differences in preschoolers’ theory of mind skills by considering whether “costs” of theory of mind (e.g., sensitivity to criticism) actually help to foster children’s academic achievement. A group of 60 Italian children was tested during the last year of preschool (Time 1, mean age = 5 years 6 months) and in their first year (Time 2, mean age = 6 years 5 months) and second year (Time 3, mean age = 7 years 5 months) of primary school. Children’s theory of mind, verbal ability, and social skills were evaluated at each time point. In addition, children’s sensitivity to teacher criticism was assessed at Time 2 and teachers’ ratings of children’s academic achievement were gathered at Time 3. Mediation analyses showed that, independent of verbal ability and social skills, sensitivity to criticism at Time 2 mediated the association between theory of mind at Time 1 and academic achievement at Time 3. These findings highlight the importance of investigating the educational consequences of individual differences in preschoolers’ theory of mind.     

Restricted interests and teacher presentation of items

Restricted and repetitive behavior (RRB) is more pervasive, prevalent, frequent, and severe in individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) than in their typical peers. One subtype of RRB is restricted interests in items or activities, which is evident in the manner in which individuals engage with items (e.g., repetitious wheel spinning), the types of items or activities they select (e.g., preoccupation with a phone book), or the range of items or activities they select (i.e., narrow range of items). We sought to describe the relation between restricted interests and teacher presentation of items. Overall, we observed 5 teachers interacting with 2 pairs of students diagnosed with an ASD. Each pair included 1 student with restricted interests. During these observations, teachers were free to present any items from an array of 4 stimuli selected by experimenters. We recorded student responses to teacher presentation of items and analyzed the data to determine the relation between teacher presentation of items and the consequences for presentation provided by the students. Teacher presentation of items corresponded with differential responses provided by students with ASD, and those with restricted preferences experienced a narrower array of items.     

Using teacher greetings to increase speed to task engagement

We used a multiple baseline design across participants to determine if teacher greetings would reduce the latency to task engagement. Three participants were identified by their respective teachers as having difficulty initiating task-appropriate engagement at the beginning of class. Latency was measured from teacher greeting until the participant was actively engaged for 5 consecutive seconds. Results showed that teacher greetings were effective at reducing latency to task engagement for all participants.     

School competence and emotional/behavioral problems among Norwegian school children as rated by teachers on the Teacher Report Form

Of 1,409 eligible children aged 6-13 years in grades 1 to 7 who were randomly selected from a national sample of Norwegian schools, 858 participated in the present study (60.9%). The sample was stratified by school centrality, region and size of grade cohort. The teachers assessed their children's academic performance, adaptive school functioning, and levels of emotional/behavioral problems using the 2001 version of the Teacher Report Form (TRF). Only one child was randomly selected from each grade cohort. Girls had significantly higher scores than boys in the Working Hard, Appropriate Behavior, Learning, and Total Adaptive Functioning domains. For girls, only the Working Hard domain was of medium effect size. While boys had significantly higher scores than girls on Attention, Thought Problems, Rule-Breaking, Aggression, Externalizing Problems and Total problems, only Attention Problems showed a medium effect size. Significant sex by age interaction effects were also found for Rule-Breaking, Externalizing, Internalizing, Anxious-Depressed and Total Problems. In all these comparisons, 10-13-year-old boys had significantly higher scores than 6-9-year olds, while girls had similar problem levels across age groups. Our mean Total Problems score (17.2) was lower than the grand mean (21.6) reported in a multi-country comparison but higher than in another Norwegian large-scale survey. Overall, our findings indicate that teachers in Scandinavia report, just as do parents, relatively low levels of emotional/behavioral problems among school-aged children.     

小学生的社会技能与友善—敌对型教师互动风格、社交归因的关系

以武汉市343名小学三至六年级的儿童为被试,考察儿童友善—敌对型教师互动风格与社交归因、社会技能之间的关系。结果显示:友善型、理解型教师互动风格与小学生成功内部归因、环境、自我、任务行为技能呈显著正相关,与成功外部归因呈显著负相关;理解型教师互动风格与人际行为技能呈显著正相关;不满型和训诫型教师互动风格与小学生成功和失败外部归因因呈显著正相关,与成功和失败内归因、四种行为技能呈显著负相关;成功内部归因与四种行为技能呈显著正相关;失败内部归因与人际、自我、环境行为技能呈显著正相关;成功与失败外部归因与四种行为技能呈显著负相关。社交成功的外部归因分别在不满型教师互动风格和环境、人际、自我、任务行为技能间起部分中介作用。不满型教师互动风格对成功内部归因、社会技能的预测效应显著,通过成功内部归因的中介效应不显著。     

影响教师职业倦怠的多层变量之间的关系

采用问卷法调查了39所学校的370名小学教师,运用多层线性模型在个体和组织的不同层面上对影响教师职业倦怠的因素进行了探讨。结果发现:(1)教师集体效能越高,情感衰竭、低个人成就感和人格解体的得分就越低;校长越关心人,教师的人格解体得分就越高;(2)教师集体效能越高或校长越关心工作,则教师效能对情感衰竭的负向作用就越弱;而校长越关心人,则教师效能对情感衰竭的负向作用就越强;(3)教师集体效能对教师职业倦怠的影响不因教师性别和教龄的不同而不同,但校长领导行为对教师职业倦怠的影响却出现了性别和教龄的差异:关心工作导致了女性的个人成就感更低,对改善高教龄教师的低个人成就感更为有利,而关心人对改善低教龄教师的成就感、人格解体的帮助更大。     

东北地区高师院校师范生教师职业成熟度的现状

采用自编师范生教师职业成熟度问卷对东北地区6所高师院校师范生进行了师范生教师职业成熟度发展现状的调查。结果表明：（1）在教师职业能力成熟度方面,师范生表现为知识准备比较充分,但有关教师专业技能的社会实践经验不足;（2）师范生教师职业成熟度的发展水平随着年级的增长而递增;（3）女生的师范生教师职业成熟度显著高于男生,农村学生显著高于县镇和城市学生,并且省属普通高师院校师范生比省属重点高师院校师范生做了更充分的教师职业能力准备。     

教师组织承诺结构的验证性因素分析

通过文献回顾、半结构访谈、问卷调查及理论分析,提出了教师组织承诺的结构。对278名教师进行测查以考察教师组织承诺的因素结构,验证了教师组织承诺的结构,发现教师组织承诺包含四个维度,即感情承诺、规范承诺、理想承诺和投入承诺。