Teachers’ perceptions of students with special education needs in Two Western Districts of Bhutan

The present study examined Bhutanese teachers’ general perceptions, challenges towards special educational needs (SEN) students, and professional development (PD) and training attended by teachers with their levels of stress. A total of 53 teachers of Two SEN Schools in western Bhutan participated in this study. The data were collected using the online survey. The findings of this study suggest that although, 55% of teachers felt that teaching students with or without disabilities together is a good thing, however, the lack of professional development and further training can thus be a contributing factor why teachers feel stress while teaching students with SEN in these two identified schools. The findings also indicated that teachers learnt skills in SEN mostly through personal initiatives such a doing further research and reading. Similarly, the results of the study showed that the female teachers were said to have experienced more stress compared to their male counterparts. Further, the study also revealed that some of the challenges identified by teachers while teaching students with SEN were the lack of teacher collaboration within the school, lack of resources, overcrowded classrooms and the lack of professional development and training. Alternatively, the results of predictive analysis tended to show a strong negative relationship between the PD and the teacher stress. Further, the correlation and the prediction analyses further revealed that an estimated of 52% variability of stress can be predicted by the PD/trainings attended by the teachers

The Impact of Family Type on Bhutanese Secondary Students’ Academic Performance

Family support has played an influential role in a child’s development, particularly in education and learning. However, little research is undertaken in developing countries related to student academic achievement and their family type. This current study aimed to study the differences and similarities in students\u27 academic achievement scores between broken and intact families. Family type in this study refers to either broken or intact. The broken family in this study has particular reference to children from divorced families only. This study used a quantitative approach to collect information about children’s family status, and a secondary source was used to collect the overall grade point average from respective schools. A total of 312 students participated in this study, and their age ranged from 11- 19 years. The findings showed that the Bhutanese Secondary students from broken families outperformed those living with both parents. There was a statistically significant mean difference of |28%| between the broken and intact families. The results of the Pearson correlation showed that there was no statistical relationship between academic achievement, gender, and age. However, a positive small-sized relationship was found between the family type and academic achievement |r=0.11, p=0.05|. Similarly, after adjusting for ‘age’ as a covariate, a one-way analysis of covariance showed no statistically significant difference in academic score. The stream and the effect size was |η2 = 0.001

Teachers’ Perceptions of Students With Special Educational Needs in Two Western Districts of Bhutan

The present study examined Bhutanese teachers’ general perceptions, challenges towards special educational needs (SEN) students, professional development (PD), and teachers' training with their levels of stress. A total of 53 teachers of two SEN schools in western Bhutan participated in this study. The data were collected using an online survey. This study's findings suggest that although 55% of teachers felt that teaching students with or without disabilities together is a good thing, one of the challenges certainly was the inadequate numbers of trained and specialised teachers. The findings also indicated that teachers learned SEN skills mainly through personal initiatives such a doing further research and reading.Similarly, the study results showed that the female teachers were said to have experienced more stress than their male counterparts. Further, the study also revealed that some of the challenges identified by teachers while teaching SEN students were the lack of teacher collaboration within the school, lack of resources, overcrowded classrooms and the lack of professional development and training. Alternatively, the correlation and the prediction analyses further revealed that an estimated 52% variability of stress could be predicted by the PD/training attended by the teachers

Exploring Bhutanese primary school teachers’ technological knowledge

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the normal functions of schools globally. Online learning is a new concept in Bhutan. Nonetheless, classes have begun using various online learning platforms to continue their operations during the pandemic. This study examined primary school teachers’ perceived information technology knowledge and proficiency. The participants of this study consisted of 124 primary teachers from two western districts of Bhutan. Data were collected using an online survey. The study’s findings suggested that although the majority of participants (98.2%) had access to personal digital devices, slow internet connection and high internet data subscription charges (60.7%) were cited as significant challenges. Findings also revealed that a small percentage of the participants, less than 12 (9.7%) teachers in this study preferred to teach entirely in an online learning environment. The results of multiple linear regression suggested that only technological pedagogical knowledge (TPK) [t = 2.68, p = .008, β = .236] and perceived information technology proficiency of teachers (PITP) [t = 3.55, p = .001, β = .306] were statistically significant predictors of technological knowledge (TK)

Exploring Bhutanese primary school teachers’ technological knowledge

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the normal functions of schools globally. Online learning is a new concept in Bhutan. Nonetheless, classes have begun using various online learning platforms to continue their operations during the pandemic. This study examined primary school teachers’ perceived information technology knowledge and proficiency. The participants of this study consisted of 124 primary teachers from two western districts of Bhutan. Data were collected using an online survey. The study’s findings suggested that although the majority of participants (98.2%) had access to personal digital devices, slow internet connection and high internet data subscription charges (60.7%) were cited as significant challenges. Findings also revealed that a small percentage of the participants, less than 12 (9.7%) teachers in this study preferred to teach entirely in an online learning environment. The results of multiple linear regression suggested that only technological pedagogical knowledge (TPK) [t = 2.68, p = .008, β = .236] and perceived information technology proficiency of teachers (PITP) [t = 3.55, p = .001, β = .306] were statistically significant predictors of technological knowledge (TK)

Factors Influencing Teachers’ Intention to Use Technology: Role of TPACK and Facilitating Conditions

The behavioral intention (BI) of teachers to use technology is an important factor in the success of technology use in classrooms. Many models have been developed and extended in different contexts by adding various independent variables to the two initial variables of the Technological Acceptance Model (TAM) (Davis,1989): Perceived usefulness (PU) and Perceived ease of use (PEOU) to determine teachers' BI to use technology. However, not many have attempted to investigate the role of Technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK) and Facilitating Conditions (FC) in determining teachers’ BI to use technology. Further, mediation through PU and PEOU from TPACK and FC to determine BI remains untested. To address these gaps, this study used an extended TAM (eTAM) model to investigate factors influencing teachers' BI to use technology. Employing convenience sampling technique, an electronic survey questionnaire consisting of 22 items was distributed across the schools in two western districts of Bhutan. A total of 207 in-service school teachers voluntarily responded to the survey. Structural equation modelling (SEM) was used to analyse the data; first, to examine whether there is any direct influence of TPACK and FC on BI or not, and then the mediating effects of PU and PEOU from TPACK and FC to BI. The findings revealed that there was no evidence of a direct influence from TPACK and FC on BI, though there was a significant effect of TPACK and FC on teachers’ BI when mediated through PU and PEOU

Conservation threats to the endangered golden langur (Trachypithecus geei, Khajuria 1956) in Bhutan

Threat assessment is critical to species conservation and management planning, because prior identification and assessment of key threats to conservation planning can assist in developing appropriate interventions or strategies. Comprehensive threat assessments are currently lacking for many threatened primates. In this paper, we classify and rank all direct threats to the endangered golden langur (Trachypithecus geei) in Bhutan in order to provide a practical guide to future conservation of the species. Information on threats was based on interviews with local people, discussion with field forestry staff, and social media interaction. We classified threats to golden langur habitats and populations, and ranked them using Miradi™, an analytical software for the adaptive management of conservation projects. We identified five habitat threats: (1) hydropower development, (2) road development, (3) housing development, (4) resource extraction, and (5) agricultural expansion. We also identified seven population threats: (1) electrocution, (2) road kill, (3) road injury, (4) dog kill, (5) retaliatory killing, (6) illegal pet keeping, and (7) hybridization with capped langurs. We rated the overall threat to golden langurs in Bhutan as 'medium'. Hydropower, road, and housing development constituted 'high' impact, while agricultural expansion, resource extraction, electrocution, and road kill had 'medium' impact; the remaining threats had 'low' impact. To immediately mitigate threats to golden langurs, we recommend: (a) installing speed limit signage and speed breakers with strict enforcement of speed limits; (b) installing insulated electric cables and fencing around power transformers; and (c) reducing and restraining domestic dog populations