The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of collaborative teaching on student teachers’ education and how it could be used to improve the teaching practice experience. The design of the study was experimental. The sample of the study was 30 senior students in the Applied Linguistics Department. They were divided into a control group (15 students) who used the traditional teaching practice model and an experimental group (15 students) who used the collaborative teaching model. Their performance was observed before and after the experimental treatment. The results of the study showed that collaborative teaching was more effective in developing students’ teachers professionally.
This paper is an attempt to show that in the educational system of the 21st century, four conditions must be met for its successful present and future: an educational philosophy that can provide an operating pedagogical framework to address the issues of educational experience and the appropriate principles and values in teaching and learning; a path to excellence in order to create innovative practices in the teaching and learning environment within which all pedagogical operations can take place; a technology integration instrument with which the fundamental educational needs and their attendant changes can be attained; and a leading in action process, which can allow new concepts and ideas to be able to be realized. But most importantly these requirements force upon the education system the need to work within an educational paradigm which is a susceptible to such necessities.
This paper presents and describes such a paradigm, named SoFIA which seeks to satisfy the conditions mentioned above. It suggests an educational philosophy offering an operating pedagogical framework to address the issues of educational experience and the appropriate principles and values in teaching and learning. The SoFia paradigm defines a path to excellence by creating innovative practices in the teaching and learning environment within which all pedagogical operations can take place. It outlines, moreover, a technology integration instrument with which the fundamental educational needs and their attendant changes can be attained; and a leading in action process whereby new concepts and ideas can be transformed into reality.
Changes in life are ever bound to take place and as a result, what was important yesterday may be obsolete tomorrow, and education is not an exception. Prior to the 21st century, necessity of changes in education had been identified by many researchers and international organizations concerned with education. This had been brought about by the fact that things were changing and education had to keep the pace. In light to this fact, this study was carried out in Eldoret town, Kenya, in order to investigate whether education was up-to-date in the 21st century. It targeted university and college graduates. It was guided by four objectives namely: the relevance of education in this century, the sufficiency, the challenges facing the education in the century and the solutions to the challenges. 300 graduates from 28 different higher learning institutions were considered and data collected using questionnaires. Purposive sampling method was employed. Data analysis was performed in R software and Microsoft Excel for both descriptive and inferential statistics. The results show that, the rate of unemployment among graduates in Eldoret stands at 56.3% (p=0.0163) and 83.4% (p<0.0001) of these unemployed graduates are seeking employment. Among the employed, 59.5% (p=0.0180) are in non-self-employment. At higher learning institutions, majority (74.3%) of the graduates feel that they only gained knowledge while only 3.7% gained both skills and knowledge. Those who don’t find higher education in the 21st century useful in preparing graduates for 21st century’s life are 93.0% (p<0.0001), which is the same as those who don’t find what they gained from higher education useful in their life. The need for reforms in higher education in 21st century for the sake of meeting modern expectations and realization of developments was supported by 98.7% (p<0.0001). 99.7% (p<0.0001) admitted to have faced challenges when studying, which is the same as those with remedies to the challenges. The conclusions are: the higher education in the 21st is not useful, sufficient and relevant for modern life, it is full of challenges and reforms are necessary to help realize developments and modern expectations, and graduates can be useful in finding solutions to the challenges. Recommendations are: the stakeholders should embrace these findings and make necessary reforms to ensure that higher education in 21st century meets the 21st century’s expectations in transforming the modern society, and more research to be done involving wider scope.
Background: This study investigated the influence of lobola, a payment made for marriage, on gender-based violence among married women in Lusaka’s Kamanga compound. Specifically, the study sought to establish how married women and men perceived lobola in relation to gender-based violence in marriage.
Method: The study used the qualitative research method. Participants in the study included eighteen married women and men. In addition, in-depth interviews using a semi-structured interview guide were conducted with five key informants.
Results: The findings from the study suggest that paying lobola translated into buying a wife and as such, a wife became a husband’s property. Lobola gave the man or husband powers to treat his wife as he wished, including subjecting her to sexual and other forms of abuse. This seems to take away a wife’s rights to make decisions on matters that affected her own life such as being restricted in her movements, in choosing what to wear, and depriving her of a claim over her children among others.
Conclusion: The study recommends that the Ministries of Justice and Gender and the Local Government should look deeply into the issue of paying lobola and correct the practice by deterring or reprimanding those who do adhere to its significance. Civil society should also lobby government to enact appropriate laws and policies to deal with patriarchy and help married women to enjoy their rights as human beings.
Approximately 33% of beginning public school teachers in the United States leave the profession before completing their first year in the classroom [1] and nearly 50% of new teachers leave the profession after only 5 years [2]. The literature review explicated factors of the possible interrelationship between teacher satisfaction, retention, and leadership of building principals. Data were collected through cross-sectional surveys that measured attitudes and practices [3].
The independent variable was the leadership traits of the building principal. The dependent variable was job satisfaction that was measured by surveys distributed as the primary instrument for gathering data within the given population. The population for the study was K-12 teachers in five school districts from the coastal region of Virginia. A positive correlation was found between teacher job satisfaction and the principal’s leadership score; r (298) = .63, p = .001. The findings support the study’s main hypothesis. In addition, in comparing the unique contribution of the school that the teacher worked at and the teachers’ perception of their principal’s leadership, leadership style had 17 times more explaining power (35.8% vs. 2.0%) forthe variation in the teachers’ job satisfaction score. Thus, the key finding of the study indicated a relationship between perceived leadership styles of principals and teacher retention and satisfaction.
Preservice and in-service K-12 educational leaders may be able to apply the findings from the study to help improve teacher retention.
As an individual goes through Senior High School education, s/he encounters situations which require them to take appropriate educational, vocational and social decisions. This highlights the need for guidance and counselling services in learning institutions. Its importance cannot be overstated. Research has shown that young people think about careers within the context of life more than in terms of qualifications and training. This study explored the knowledge of senior high school students in the Agona East district, about career counselling and how career guidance has been of benefit to them. The qualitative approach of descriptive survey using the purposive sampling technique was adopted. The data gathered was analysed using two main themes consisting of several sub-themes. It emerged from the study that for each occupation, different interests, abilities, personality traits and professional values are required. The findings also revealed that career counselling helps students to link what they learn to their interests, capacities, aspirations, and match these with existing opportunities. Going forward, the study recommends that schools assist students to identify their interests and make them aware of the importance of academic qualifications in making career choices. It further recommends to policy makers; especially the government of Ghana, to reinforce Guidance and Counselling programmes in senior high schools.
This paper examined the relationship between overloaded curriculum, excessive daily academic activities and the learning effectiveness of Junior secondary school students (JSS). The researchers used the ex-post facto research design to carry out the study. The study sought to determine the relationship that exist between overloaded curriculum, excessive daily academic activities and the learning effectiveness of JSS 3 students in public secondary schools in Uyo Education Zone. A sample of 220 JSS 3 students was randomly selected from the 36 public secondary schools in Uyo Education Zone. Data were collected using a researcher-designed instrument titled “Overloaded Curriculum Questionnaire, OCQ” and an adapted version of Kirkpatrick’s Learning Effectiveness Scale. Cronbach alpha technique was used in calculating the reliability of the instruments. Reliability scores of .79 and .87 were yielded for the OCQ and KLES respectively. Data collected were analysed using Pearson Product Moment Correlation, PPMC. The findings of the study indicated that duplication of learning contents and academic overload have significant relationship with learning effectiveness of young learners. The recommendations made based on the findings include that curriculum planners should use curriculum mapping to reduce redundancies inherent in our overloaded curriculum.
