A more fine-grained measure towards animal welfare: a study with regards to gender differences in Spanish students

The environmental issue is nowadays taking more importance in the environmental awareness all around the world, and in this field, animal consideration is more and more spread. A highlighted part in globalisation is the animal welfare awareness. This article presents a study comparing attitudes towards animals among secondary and university students in reference to gender. It was carried out on 1394 Spanish participants from 11 to 26 years. The instrument used in the study is the reviewed version of the Animal Welfare Attitude Scale which was renamed as “Animal Welfare Attitude-Revised Scale” (AWA-R Scale), with a Cronbach a reliability value of 0.85. It is subdivided into four components namely C1: animal abuse for pleasure or due to ignorance; C2: leisure with animals; C3: farm animals; and C4: animal abandonment. These components have been deeply detailed by a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), which highly contributes to define the position of participants for the different dimensions of animal welfare. It is concluded that significant differences exist between males’ and females’ attitudes in all components of the AWA-R Scale. It is also suggested that two social characteristics—people’s attitudes towards animals and towards environmental protection—are, at the very least, coexistent and may indeed be interdependent. These differences between gender in matters of socialisation could thus be reflected in environmental attitudes, and also in others related to them, i.e. animal welfare attitudes

Attitudes towards Swedish comprehensive school : comparisons over time and between classrooms in grade 6

The main aim of the study is to understand student attitudes towards different aspects of school using data from the late 1960s and 35 years later, and to analyze the impact both from teachers and students on classroom climate. Another important aim in order to accomplish this is to develop suitable instruments and methods. The starting point of the empirical work was a 40-item attitude questionnaire that was used in the Didactical Process Analysis (DPA) project conducted in Göteborg in the late 1960s, which comprised 60 classrooms and 1600 grade 6 students. This attitude questionnaire was reanalyzed using two-level confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), the reanalysis resulting in seven factors describing differences in student attitudes within classrooms, three factors describing attitude differences between classrooms. The original 40-item questionnaire was expanded with 31 new items concerning school environment, teaching and interaction between the students, and between the teacher and the students. This instrument was administered to 78 classes, with the participation of 1696 students and 78 teachers in Göteborg. The first objective was to compare the attitudes of students now with the DPA investigation 35 years ago using identical items. The analysis focused both on item-level data and on factor scores computed from the two-level CFA model. The results showed a general improvement in attitudes. A differentiated picture was seen on the within-class level with significant changes in peer relational factors but not in school factors. The present curriculum with its focus on interaction aspects of learning may have implemented changes in relational patterns and created a more positive student attitude. On between-class level all three factors had increased their levels of attitudes, but the variation among classes was wide. The second objective was to analyze differences between the points of view of students and their teachers, and to analyze which factors explained classroom differences in attitudes. Differences in teacher-student perspectives were seen on item level. The students’ attitudes emphasized the importance of positive interaction with both teacher and peers. Teachers noted the level of work ambitions, stress and disturbance among students. The factors of most importance for classroom differences in attitudes concerning work atmosphere and social relations were a sensible management of deviancy, and creation of a safe and orderly environment

Pedagogiska teorier om eleven i skolutredningar på 1940-tal och 1990-tal - En metaforanalys

Bakgrund och syfte: Alla elever förutsätts klara betyget godkänd i grundskolan. Svenska, engelska och matematik har fått en särställning som kärnämnen. Betyget godkänd krävs för att få plats på ett nationellt gymnasieprogram. Många elever lämnar nu grundskolan utan komplett betyg. Det finns anledning fråga sig hur man resonerat i skolutredningen bakom dagens målstyrda skola (SOU 1992:94) angående elevernas förutsättningar och om uppfattningen förändrats jämfört med betänkandet som initierade grundskolan i Sverige (SOU 1948:27). Båda utredningarna har som grund en jämlik och demokratisk skola för alla. Metod: Båda utredningarnas formuleringar om individens begåvning eller förutsättningar granskades. Metaforer för två olika pedagogiska teorier, förvärvs- respektive deltagandemetaforen behandlas i teoridelen. Citat som innehöll formuleringar om individens begåvning eller förutsättningar eller de motsvarande formuleringar som i den yngre utredningen handlar om den process vilken eleven genomgår under sin skoltid. Jag behöll citat som innehöll metaforer eller ledord för dessa. Citaten granskades på nytt, grupperades och ställdes i kontrast eller likhet intill varandra. Metaforerna eller ledorden i citaten kursiverades för att lyfta fram kontraster eller likheter i grunduppfattning. Resultat: Genom att citat ur den äldre utredningen ställdes direkt mot citat i den yngre var det möjligt att åskådliggöra det pedagogiska synsättet i respektive utredning. Kontraserna var betydligt flera än likheterna. Det var möjligt att fånga de bakomliggande pedagogiska teorierna via synen på eleven. SOU 1948:27 ansluter sig i huvudsak till förvärvsmetaforens synsätt på kunskap och inlärning, medan SOU 1992:94 är starkt färgad av deltagandemetaforens synsätt. De speglar således vitt skilda uppfattningar. Förvärvsmetaforen erkänner begåvning som stabil, men också att alla elever förvärvar kunskap från en enkel nivå till en mer komplicerad. Deltagandemetaforen erkänner situationens och samarbetspartners betydelse, men en svaghet hos teorin är förnekandet av kunskapsöverföring. Båda teorierna har egna förtjänster och en syntes borde vara möjlig. Det är tvärtemot intentionerna den svagaste länken i skolan, nämligen eleven i svårigheter som blir förloraren om deltagandemetaforens pedagogik blir allenarådande

Are there signs of student segregation related to foreign background during classroom work in the city of Gothenburg?

Gothenburg, the second largest city of Sweden, has a rather high proportion of school segregation (index 0.26), which is above national level. Differences in school quality have been shown due to school segregation. One factor is related to effects from peer relationships (Gustafsson, 2006). Previous obstacles in measuring peer effects have now decreased (see for example Hoxby, 2000; Boozer & Cacciola, 2001; Gustafsson, 2003; Zimmerman, 2003)

Characteristics of Students without Reciprocal Friendship during School Work

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Teachers' Knowledge and Opinion of Their Own Classes with High or Low Students' Attitudes of Wellbeing

The teacher as a socializing agent with competence to promote social goals is not mentioned among students of education portraying an ideal teacher (1). However, the teacher has great responsibility for teacher-student relationships in classrooms. Also non-verbal behaviours have impact (2). Understanding teacher behaviour encompasses socio-communicative style e.g. a willingness to listen to students. The instructional outcomes including student’s interest towards both the teacher and the course content was shown to rely on collective communication behaviours (3). Teachers’ social and emotional competences develop supportive relationships and management of the classroom and thereby increasing effectiveness and reducing stress (4). A meta-analysis on learner-centred teacher-students relationships pointed out a number of personal teacher variables. Among the individual teacher characteristics nondirective style, empathy and warmth were associated with student outcomes. The largest association was however related to positive teacher-student relationship (5).To fully comprehend this aspect the learner’s situation becomes of interest. Features of the school and the classrooms may influence student motivation. The assumption was that contextual environmental conditions and lack of motivation were intervened (6). In this sense educators become responsible. According to Baker (7) children need relationships to construct the views about themselves and of the social world all in line with the attachment theory. A positive learning situation balances the conflict between academic press and support.Through the whole elementary school period relatively little is known about the development of the nature in teacher-student relationship. Academic competence increases during late middle-school. Similarly the student’s beliefs, attitudes and motivationalsets regarding schooling differentiate. Peer relationships become central for the individual after grade 5 and students’ become more engaged in peer acceptance.Parallel teachers report less positive relationships with boys, including conflicts, than with girls. Individuals at risk of poor school outcomes, who would benefit from closer relationships with a non-familial adult, have the same strong need for peer acceptance. Students with behavioural or learning problems seem more teacher dependent. Across grades, gender, and types of school outcomes students with positive teacher relationship were significantly advantaged compared to affected peers without this (7). Students’ perception of the relationship with their teacher was related to how they evaluated their academic work (8). At least four aspects were argued to influence teacher – student relationship. These were: the context of the teacher, the individual student, the peers, and the interpersonal culture of the classroom and the surrounding school (9). For students to manage teacher expectations, interference between feelings of confidence and appreciation within the classroom is substantial. Teacher expectations were thus important but they regarded classroom relationships either as central or superficial. The authors (9) concluded that few studies have examined teachers’ perceptions of the interpersonal school climate with effects on outcomes.The purpose of the present study was to explore teachers’ knowledge and opinion of classrooms with either high or low students’ attitudes towards wellbeing. The intention was to reveal important characteristics of relational and learning qualities inside differing school environments.MethodAn investigation of students’ self-reports on attitudes to school, teacher and peers included 1540 students from 78 classes in grade 6. The students and their teachers answered questionnaires using a five point scale. The 78 teachers also responded to 45 background questions about themselves, their students and the conditions in classroom and school (10). Before the results were sampled the author observed the quality of social competence of the students of the class and the quality of teacher-student interaction using a 3 point scale. Class means were calculated for each student item. Students’ Wellbeing was constructed from 13 student items (Cronbach’s α 0.86), Students’ Learning from another 14 statements (α 0.77), and finally Students’ Judgement of Teacher-Student Relationships from another 10 statements (α 0.92). The teachers knowledge and opinion of their classes with the highest (n=15) and the lowest (n=15) scores of Students’ Wellbeing were compared using independent t-test or Mann-Whitney test. Statistics were calculated using SPSS 19.0. Statistical significance was set at p &lt; .05.Expected OutcomesObserved Interaction Teacher-Students correlated with observed Social Competence (r=0.38, p=0.001). The variable Students’ Wellbeing highly correlated to Students’ Learning (r²=0.65) and to Students’ Judgement of Teacher-Student Relationships (r²=0.63). Considerable variation between schools and between classes was found. Classes with high scorings of Students’ Wellbeing (&gt; 50) were compared with those of low scorings (&lt; 45) regarding teachers’ opinion of their own class. In classes with high scorings; academic work was characterized by less frequent plenary teaching, more use of computers, higher school work ambitions , boys and girls worked better together, and students took more responsibility for free choice of work. Teachers reported that work conditions were better, the school environment was less messy, the teachers did not wish to switch to another class, were more fond of their class, and had been teaching the class for a longer period of time. In the classes scoring high on Student wellbeing teachers also reported less disturbance between students, fewer peer groups, less bullying among students, and the students seemed less stressed. The results include both excellent and catastrophic classroom attitudes and relationships. Teachers need awareness of the impact on student outcomes from factors in the context, e.g. relationships and environment