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Item Preparedness to teach : the perceptions of Saudi female pre-service mathematics teachers : a thesis presented in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Education at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand(Massey University, 2019) Alsaleh, Fatimah IbrahimBeing well prepared and experiencing a sense of preparedness for teaching is a key learning outcome of any initial teacher education (ITE) program. In order to understand more about the nature, development, and sufficiency of mathematics teacher readiness to teach, this study explores the phenomenon of preparedness. The aim of this study was to investigate how well Saudi pre-service teachers (PSTs) feel prepared to teach mathematics at secondary or middle schools (i.e. to explore their sense of preparedness to teach), delving into the nature and origins of that sense. The participants in the study were a sample of female mathematics PSTs (N=105), who were near the end of their teaching methods course in the final year of their 4-year education degree. The construct of preparedness was operationalized through a survey of PSTs’ efficacy to teach mathematics and an interview-based exploration of the factors influencing these perceptions. The data were collected over 4 months from 2015 to 2016. The quantitative data were analysed in SPSS and thematic analysis was used to analyse the qualitative data. The key findings of this study indicated that for the PSTs, being prepared to teach means having teaching efficacy, good knowledge for teaching, a sense of preparedness, and professionalism. However, PSTs are not fully aware of all the kinds of knowledge needed for being prepared. The study showed that PSTs were generally confident that they were sufficiently prepared to teach. They felt most confident in the areas of content knowledge (CK) and pedagogical knowledge (PK) rather than pedagogical content knowledge (PCK). The findings showed that the PSTs felt inadequately prepared in some aspects of their teaching roles, and needed more support and guidance from their university–school communities. The majority felt that classroom and behaviour management was the aspect in which they felt least prepared. They also expressed only a moderate level of general teaching efficacy (GTE), expressing a lower sense of efficacy relating directly to supporting students as learners. These were related to the disjunction between theory and practice that resulted from the two most influential factors shaping PSTs’ sense of preparedness and feelings of efficacy: the practicum experience and the ITE. Although these factors had positive impacts on their perceptions, they also expressed how the classroom environment, challenges, and school culture encountered during the practicum had lowered the PSTs’ sense of preparedness and teaching efficacy. Indeed, half of the PSTs felt that the school was neither sufficiently prepared nor sufficiently resourced to support PSTs learning the work of teaching. The challenge of closing the gap between theory and practice has led to PSTs’ desire to have more time in the mathematics methods course, as well as extra time in the practicum. It is hoped that the findings from this study concerning PSTs’ current perceptions about preparedness, combined with the suggestions for improving their levels of preparedness, will contribute to improvements in ITE and teaching quality in Saudi Arabia.Item "Teacher, what do you want to be when you grow up? : a case study of career development in a New Zealand primary school : a thesis [i.e. research report] submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Educational Administration at Massey University(Massey University, 2002) Bathurst, Maree GraceWith the introduction of Tomorrow's Schools (New Zealand Government, 1988), a national appointments structure for teachers was removed by the Ministry of Education. The researcher was interested in investigating how teachers planned their careers, in the post 1988 era, and if there were any significant differences in career patterns between genders. Factors influencing teachers' initial choice of vocation, as well as positive and negative career motivations were also identified. The research methodology selected by the researcher was that of case study, and was conducted in my current school. Questionnaires provided the initial source of quantitative data. Interviews and field notes provided a wealth of qualitative data. The researcher was a participant observer and as Associate Principal had considerable tacit knowledge about the staff and current school policies. The research results identified four central themes; positive motivators for teaching, negative factors impacting on teachers, gender issues, and career planning methods. Positive motivators were all intrinsic in nature. A desire to work with children was the main reason respondents identified as the most important reason for choosing teaching as their first career. Significant positive career motivators included the teachers' own confidence and ability, desire for involvement in decision-making, and the need for change or greater motivation. External motivators such as salary or qualifications ranked the least important. The overriding importance of balancing home and school, family commitments, location and travel factors, and significance of holidays were key factors identified as negative influences on career planning or potential career barriers. A surprising factor in the study was the lack of significant differences in the career planning between male and female. In comparison the more relevant dimensions of differing career motivations based on women's age, generation, and family commitments were of far greater significance to the final research. Career planning is occurring in a variety of ways, the most significant identified by teachers was the support given by a role model or mentor, and career planning conducted at appraisal interviews. Issues identified in the discussion also address the importance of career planning, and whose responsibility it should be.Item Women teachers and professionalism : a Singapore case study(Massey University, 1982) Wong, Kin WahThis paper explores women teachers' professionalism in Singapore schools. Based on the premise that a woman's professionalism will depend largely on the degree to which she identifies with the family-based role of woman in the home, her level of education and her working experience, five hypotheses in relation to the professional orientation of women teachers in Singapore are put forward. The study hypothesizes that: (1) Women teachers who are married and who have family commitment will be less professionally minded than the single women teachers, (2) the disparity in the professional orientation of women teachers, which is due to marriage will be minimized by high educational attainments and long working experience of the teachers concerned, (3) the higher the educational attainments of the teachers, the higher the professionalism, (4) the longer the service of the teachers, the higher their professionalism, and (5) the higher the teachers' professional orientation, the higher their professional behavior. Postal questionnaires consisting of three parts, viz., bio-data of the respondents, a measure of professional orientation and a measure of professional behavior, are used. The analyses draw on data obtained from two hundred and sixty-six women teachers randomly selected from different junior colleges, primary and secondary schools in Singapore. The findings reveal that marriage, as generally expected, has a significantly adverse effect on women teachers' professionalism. Both education and experience factors are ineffective in moderating the impact marriage has on the professional orientation of women teachers. These two variables are also found unrelated to women teachers' professionalism in Singapore. Finally, the correlationship between women teachers' professionalism and their behavior is shown to be positive but low. The study also suggests that women teachers' professionalism can be raised by maintaining a balance between professional and marital commitment on the part of women teachers, focusing on the problems encountered by teachers in schools, strengthening the link between the University and the schools, establishing a unified professional association and most importantly, cultivating in the teachers a systematic understanding of the ideas of professionalism.Item The lives and careers of female teachers in a rural New Zealand secondary school : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Education at Massey University, Manawatū, New Zealand(Massey University, 2017) Bucknell, Miriam RuthThis study explored the lives and careers of six female secondary school teachers who have worked in the rural secondary school, Central Hawkes bay College. The study used an overarching method of life history. The data which formed the basis of this research were collected via semi structured interviews with the six interviewees whose careers span from 1960 to the present day. The women reflected on their time teaching at Central Hawkes Bay College and described their experiences through the use of narrative and personal anecdote. This thesis explores the lives and careers of these women in relation to their experiences living and working in a rural community. The discussion focused on; their initial arrival in the community, their sense of belonging both in the community and at school, the private public nature of teaching in a rural community, the impact of both teaching, and specifically teaching in a rural community, had on their family life, factors relating to NCEA, and the emotionality of teaching. The main findings from this study discussed the evidence gathered on feelings of belonging on arriving in a new community, It identified the respect and care experienced by the six teachers, and the intersecting of both their private and public lives, both in a positive and negative way. Interviewees discussed the challenges associated with moderation and learning opportunities, and, increased workload generated by NCEA in a rural secondary school. Also acknowledged and discussed was the role emotionality plays within teaching, specifically within different career stages.Item Skirting the boundaries : the impact of marriage and domesticity on women's perceptions of kindergarten and primary teaching as a career in postwar New Zealand : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Education at Massey University(Massey University, 1998) Bethell, KerryIt has been argued that domestic ideologies have played a major influence in shaping both the education profession and the teaching careers of women, bringing about gender differentiated careers that have provided both constraints and professional opportunities for women teachers. Little is known of the response of women teachers to domestic ideologies; how they interpreted and defined their dual domestic and teaching responsibilities and in turn helped reshape them. In addition, the studies that do exist have tended to assume a commonality of experiences among women and over time. Scant attention has been paid to variations in women's approach towards work or to how both domestic and employment experiences structure perceptions of teaching. Also important is the need to examine the constraints and opportunities within the historical context in which women's experiences occurred. Women entering teaching in post World War Two New Zealand experienced contradictory and changing expectations of their domestic and teaching roles. On one hand, domestic life was represented as the proper sphere for women, on the other, the teacher shortage saw an unprecedented demand for their services. While women took advantage of the greater professional opportunities of the time to develop a diversity of career patterns this shift required women to negotiate a range of contradictions and tensions in the relationship between their identities as teachers and as homemakers. This thesis will add to our understanding of the impact of domestic ideologies on the teaching careers of women by showing how a small sample of women defined and constructed their teaching careers in the postwar era. The voices of twelve kindergarten and primary women teachers form the basis of this study; their experiences of negotiating and shaping their dual teaching and domestic identities, the focus. It is argued that women's career decisions cannot be separated from the politics of domesticity. Although it is women's teaching careers that have been largely affected by the ongoing need to balance this duality, the way forward is to regard work and family issues as universal, not just as women's concerns.Item Whaia te iti Kahurangi : contemporary perspectives of Māori women educators : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Education at Massey University(Massey University, 1996) Tomlins-Jahnke, HuiaThis thesis is concerned with the experiences of six Māori women educators who are currently working in educational organisations. The study explores significant themes that arise from the women's experiences situated within three specific sites - the home-place, the school and the work-place. A life history approach using oral narratives is used to examine the reality of the women's lives growing up, being educated and working in the dual worlds of te ao Māori and te ao Pākehā. The women's narratives are grounded in a Māori world-view and a theoretical perspective which draws heavily on a Māori philosophical tradition. The women's voices record how their sense of identity was conceived and understood, what their familial relations were growing up in rural and suburban settings and who were the strong models of womanhood that influenced them. It explores the women's educational experiences within particular schooling sites. A historical perspective of schooling for Māori women and girls provides a context for analysis. The women's workplace experiences, focuses on the nature of their experiences and those influences that affected the direction of their careers as educators and the multiple realities of working in various sites of the educational work-place. It explores the multiple tensions that underpin the experiences of the women as they contest, create and capture space for mana wahine Māori in the educational workplace. It looks at people, places and events that have significantly influenced them and shaped them as Māori, as women and as educators. This study places women as active agents of change who recognise the barriers that confront them but refuse to be limited by them. Above all the study reflects the complexity of their existence within dual worlds of te ao Māori and te ao Pākehā.