Causes of Students’ Aggressive Behavior at Secondary School Level

The article addresses the causes of aggressive behavior among secondary school students. Data for the study was collected from secondary school teachers through structured interviews.  Findings reveal that boys use abusive and foul language and involve in destructive activities as compare to girls who were rarely observed in abusive language or physical fight. Negative home and family environment (broken and divorced parents and family problems), unfriendly parents’ behavior, authoritative and dishonest behavior of teachers, poor teacher-student interaction, pressure of studies, unfriendly relationships with peers, injustice in society are the major causes of aggressive behavior of students at secondary level in students. Finding depicts no freedom of choice in subject selection makes boys aggressive and gender baseness in society makes girls aggressive. There is need to address the aggressive behavior among students  at schools on top priority basis by arranging counseling services for students at school level to provide them psychotherapy for relaxation from aggressive behavior. The role of parents at home, and parents-teacher interaction, strong teacher- student interaction, cooperative learning activities for students and their moral and religious training, scrutiny of presenting movies on promotion of aggression, and need of teachers’ training for providing counseling to aggressive students are some measures which can improve the situation. Strict rules may be implemented to keep check and balance on media for presenting material through various means of media. Keywords: aggression, aggressive behavior, causes of aggressive behavior, secondary school students, solution of proble

Becoming a Reflective In-service Teacher: Role of Research Attitude

In this article we consider the importance of the role of reflective practice and research attitude for the professional development of in-service teachers. Nine teachers engaged in an international master course (in a Belgium and French university) are interviewed to obtain self-narratives. The two years full-time master was aimed to acquire skills of science educational research. The interview was conducted at the end of the master to explore their reflective practices and to evaluate the impact of the research attitude developed during the master on their reflective practices. From the results we can consider how the reflection practice is differently by the teachers interviewed especially in relation to seniority in the teaching. The research activities learned in the master course has enabled the teachers to develop and expand they reflective practice on the analysis of their experience. In the same time emerges the need of a regular and more guided support to improve the reflective practice, especially for junior teachers

Perceived Effectiveness of Professional Development Programs of Teachers at Higher Education Level

The major purpose of the study was to assess the perceived effectiveness of professional development programs of teachers at higher educational level.   The objectives of the study were: to assess university level teachers’ opinion about effectiveness of professional development training with reference to quality teaching, to measure university level teachers’ opinion about the effectiveness of the content  applicability in classroom settings in taught  professional development programs, to find out the effectiveness of  professional development programs in leading to tackle with students  related problems in classroom, to assess the effectiveness of  professional development in introducing innovative teaching strategies.  Data for the study was collected from teachers of Public Sector University.   Major findings of the study were that university teachers were not satisfied with the effectiveness of content of professional development programs. The respondents were not satisfied with the professional development programs with reference to classroom related problems of students; follow-up of training, innovative teaching strategies and reflective practice aspects of professional development programs.    On the basis of present study we   recommended that the content of the professional development programs may be designed to address daily classroom problems of students,    providing practical training in innovative teaching strategies, using innovative teaching strategies that are helpful in effective teaching and proper follow-up of every professional development program may be made mandatory through implementation of rules. In current era reflective practice is an important component of effective teaching. Therefore it is suggested that special programs may be design for training of university teachers in doing reflective practice. The result of the study may lead to redesigning of professional development courses of teachers. Keywords: Professional developments, university teachers, effectiveness, reflective practice, follow u

Teachers’ Attitude towards Reflective Practice in Public and Private Sector at Higher Secondary Level

The study was conducted to explore teachers’ attitudes towards reflective practice in public and private sector at the higher secondary level. Objectives of the study were to investigate teachers’ attitude about the need for reflective practice in teaching and to explore teachers’ attitudes towards the use of reflective practice for understanding students’ learning difficulties. It was a descriptive study done in the Pakistani context. For this purpose, the researcher developed a questionnaire to find out teachers’ attitudes towards reflective practice. Data was collected through the stratified random sampling technique from 300 teachers teaching higher secondary classes of private and public sector higher secondary schools/ colleges. The analysis of the data was made by applying mean, SD (standard deviation), t-test and ANOVA (analysis of variance) through SPSS (statistical package for social sciences). The findings showed that teachers of both the public and private sectors did not realize the need for reflective practice at the higher secondary level for understanding students’ learning difficulties. It was recommended that teachers of the public and private sector may be aware of reflective practice through training programs. Strategies of reflective practice are supposed to be used by teachers in the teaching learning process. It is suggested that reflective practice may be mentioned in the syllabus of the training course. The findings of the presented study have implication for teachers and curriculum developers of professional development programs

Perceived Appraisal Fairness Effect on Performance Appraisal Effectiveness and Appraisal satisfaction in Higher Education

Purpose: The reactions of ratee to appraisal practices and their perceptions of appraisal system fairness may be a good indicator of appraisal system success. This research investigates employees' perception of performance appraisal (PA) aspects connected with organizational justice on Performance Appraisal effectiveness and employee satisfaction with the evaluation process in higher education. Design/Methodology/Approach: The partial least square structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was employed to check the hypothesized results. Overall, 497 respondents filled the questionnaire with their views on appraisal fairness, effectiveness, and satisfaction with appraisal practices. Findings: The findings show a positive relationship between organizational justice dimensions (socially determined justice and structurally determined justice) with effectiveness and satisfaction with the appraisal system. However, satisfaction with performance appraisal effectiveness and socially determined justice do not have a statistically significant relationship. Furthermore, there is a significant mediation relationship between the appraisal system's effectiveness, employee satisfaction with performance appraisal, socially determined justice, and structurally determining justice. Implications/Originality/Value: The study presents some useful suggestions to managers working as appraisers on increasing the performance appraisal system effectiveness and making it acceptable for the employees with their satisfaction

Pakistani Teacher-educator Professional Learning Through an International Blended Course

International teacher-educator learning supports a more complex vision of teacher professionalism for both developed and developing countries. The aim of this paper is the analysis of Pakistani teacher-educator professional learning after attending an international blended course, considering the impact of online and face-to-face participation and the main competencies involved in their professional learning. The blended learning course attended by the Pakistani Teacher-educators is part of an international project between Europe and Asia. The analysis is carried out using written traces in the online platform; 47 questionnaires at the end of the face-to-face training sessions in Pakistan and 10 deep-interviews with Pakistani educators; the written traces, open questions, and deep-interviews were qualitatively analyzed. Additionally, the educators’ technological, pedagogical and instructional design and interpersonal and intercultural skills were also analysed. The paper considers how international learning could affect the professional learning of teacher-educators in Global South and the centrality of the design of innovative learning courses for today’s environment of international globalization

Self-reported TPACK of teacher educators across six countries in Asia and Europe

International audienc