Selection and Assignment of Georgia Teacher Support Specialists (Mentors): Perceptions of Principals and Beginning Teachers

The results of this study provided insight into the priorities that Georgia principals and beginning teachers place on interpersonal and professional characteristics used to select experienced teachers to serve as mentors for beginning teachers. This study further identified the processes which principals use in the identification process for potential mentors and examined the priority Georgia principals and beginning teachers provide for concerns used in assigning mentors to beginning teachers. All public schools in Georgia are eligible to participate in providing mentor support for beginning teachers through the Georgia Mentor Teacher Program. Monies made available annually from the Georgia Department of Education through the Leadership Academy provide stipends to mentor teachers who support beginning teachers. All principals and beginning teachers involved in the mentor support process during the 1995-96 school year were the populations for this study. Data were collected from an equal stratified random sample of 100 elementary school, 100 middle school, and 100 high school principals and from an equal stratified random sample of 150 elementary school, 150 middle school, and 150 high school beginning teachers. Responses were received from 217 of 300 possible principal respondents and from 248 of 450 possible beginning teacher respondents resulting in an overall study return ratio of 62%. The data for the study were gathered through the use of two parallel questionnaires containing three sections. First, both principals and beginning teachers rank ordered ten interpersonal characteristics and ten professional characteristics for the selection of mentor teachers. In addition, principals checked items used in the identification process for mentor selection. Second, principals and beginning teachers rank ordered their perceived importance of mentor assignment concerns. Third, demographic information was elicited from all respondents. The study results indicated that there is general agreement between principals and beginning teachers regarding the characteristics and concerns which should be given priority in the selection and assignment of mentors to support beginning teachers. The greatest differences were among the various school levels for both principals and beginning teachers. The only consistent element used in the identification process for mentors is the use of the principal\u27s recommendation. Results from this study provide guidelines for principals to select and assign mentors and for other educators to help with the decision-making process. Interpersonal characteristics which should be given greatest attention in mentor selection are: willingness to devote the time necessary to be an effective mentor; willingness to perform the roles expected of a mentor; effective communication skills; willingness to maintain the confidentiality of the beginner; and willingness to demonstrate professional and ethical behavior. Professional characteristics which should be given greatest attention in mentor selection are: demonstration of effective teaching strategies; ability to maintain effective classroom discipline and management; ability to plan effectively; and maintenance of high student expectations. High school mentors should demonstrate expertise in subject matter, and elementary mentors should understand and follow policies and procedures. In addition to the principal\u27s recommendation, this study indicates that other mentor identification criteria might include classroom observation and recommendation by the assistant principal. In making mentor assignments, this study indicates that principals should concern themselves with: providing a common planning time for the mentor and beginning teacher; consideration of the compatibility of the mentor/beginning teacher personalities; and providing mentors in the same content area for middle school and high school beginning teachers and in the same grade level for elementary beginning teachers. This study\u27s results indicated that more emphasis should be placed on the issues of direct support than on the social issues when making mentor assignments. However, if equally qualified mentors are available, issues such as age, gender, race/ethnicity, and interests could be considered

‘It's not really Michael who wears me out, it's the system’ : The hidden work of coordinating care for a disabled child

The parents, especially mothers, of disabled children play a crucial role in coordinating care for their children. This article investigates families’ coordination work using qualitative accounts of the parents of disabled children in Norway. The theoretical concepts of the third shift, hidden work and a broad definition of care are applied. We present a typology of coordination work, consisting of writing, meetings, administration of services, learning, monitoring and emotional work. We describe three cases to show the nature and consequences of having to coordinate the everyday lives of disabled children. The findings show that coordination work is gendered, individualised and taken for granted in service provision. We argue that coordination work should be better recognised in social policy design for these families to provide adequate services and avoid reproducing social inequality.publishedVersio

What’s the ‘problem’ with workplace accommodation? A disability policy journey over time

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Evaluating an assistant for creating bug report assignment recommenders

Software development projects receive many change requests each day and each report must be examined to decide how the request will be handled by the project. One decision that is frequently made is to which software developer to assign the change request. Efforts have been made toward semi automating this decision,with most approaches using machine learning algorithms. However, using machine learning to create an assignment recommender is a complex process that must be tailored to each individual software development project. The Creation Assistant for Easy Assignment (CASEA) tool leverages a project member’s knowledge for creating an assignment recommender. This paper presents the results of a user study using CASEA. The user study shows that users with limited project knowledge can quickly create accurate bug report assignment recommenders.Ye

Musicing at the lower secondary level. A study of teachers' experiences with practical music teaching

Master i grunnskolelærerutdanning 5-10. Nord universitet 202

The shifting roles of employers : At the intersection of employment and social work : A case study from Norway

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«Praksis er viktig, også i timene!». Om relevante, praksisorienterte, elevaktive og demokratiske arbeidsformer i yrkesfagopplæringa

Masteroppgave i tilpassa opplæring - 202

A few more minutes make a difference? The relationship between content and length of GP consultations

Objectives. To investigate the relationship between the length of a medical consultation in a general practice setting and the biopsychosocial information obtained by the physician, and to explore the characteristics of young physicians obtaining comprehensive, especially psychosocial information. Design. A prospective, longitudinal follow-up study. Setting. Videotaped consultations with standardized patients on two occasions were scored for the amount of biopsychosocial information obtained. Consultation length was recorded in minutes. Subjects. Final-year (T-1) medical school students (n = 111) participated in the project. On completion of their internship one and a half years later (T-2), 62 attended a second time, as young physicians. Main outcome measures. Content lists. Results. Pearson's r correlations between content and length at T-1 and T-2 were 0.27 and 0.66, respectively (non-overlapping confidence intervals). Psychosocial content increased significantly when consultations exceeded 13 minutes (15 minutes scheduled). Physicians using more than 13 minutes had previously, as hospital interns, perceived more stress in the emergency room and had worked in local hospitals. Conclusions. A strong association was found between consultation length and information, especially psychosocial information, obtained by the physicians at internship completion. This finding should be considered by faculty members and organizers of the internship period. Further research is needed to detect when, during the educational process, increased emphasis on communication skills training would be most beneficial for students/residents, and how the medical curriculum and internship period should be designed to optimize young physicians’ use of time in consultations.publishedVersio