Secondary special education teachers’ beliefs towards their teaching self-efficacy

The self-efficacy of special education teachers is a key aspect of the educational process for inclusive learning and co-teaching. However, research on self-efficacy perceptions in the area of special education and particularly in the field of parallel support is very limited. The aim of this research is to adapt a scale measuring the beliefs of special education teachers’ self-efficacy in supporting students in need of parallel support in secondary education and therefore to investigate those beliefs as well as the factors that affect them. The study involved 147 special educators for supporting students in Greek junior high schools or high schools. To study and investigate the research questions, the “Teachers' Sense of Efficacy Scale” (TSES) of Tschannen-Moran & Woolfolk-Hoy (2001) was adapted. The results demonstrate that special education teachers report high levels of teaching self-efficacy with male special education teachers being distinguished by significantly higher self-efficacy levels, compared to females. Moreover, a positive correlation between the experience of participants and their levels of self-efficacy, a small negative correlation between the number of supported students and their levels of self-efficacy regarding teaching strategies as well as a medium negative correlation between the number of supported students and their levels of self-efficacy regarding student management, were revealed

Secondary special education teachers’ beliefs towards their teaching self-efficacy

The self-efficacy of special education teachers is a key aspect of the educational process for inclusive learning and co-teaching. However, research on self-efficacy perceptions in the area of special education and particularly in the field of parallel support is very limited. The aim of this research is to adapt a scale measuring the beliefs of special education teachers’ self-efficacy in supporting students in need of parallel support in secondary education and therefore to investigate those beliefs as well as the factors that affect them. The study involved 147 special educators for supporting students in Greek junior high schools or high schools. To study and investigate the research questions, the “Teachers' Sense of Efficacy Scale” (TSES) of Tschannen-Moran & Woolfolk-Hoy (2001) was adapted. The results demonstrate that special education teachers report high levels of teaching self-efficacy with male special education teachers being distinguished by significantly higher self-efficacy levels, compared to females. Moreover, a positive correlation between the experience of participants and their levels of self-efficacy, a small negative correlation between the number of supported students and their levels of self-efficacy regarding teaching strategies as well as a medium negative correlation between the number of supported students and their levels of self-efficacy regarding student management, were revealed

THE EFFECT OF TEACHERS’ COLLABORATIVE NETWORKS ON INNOVATIVE SCHOOL CLIMATE AND THEIR INDIVIDUAL INNOVATIVENESS

The main purpose of the study is to investigate the possible effect of school teachers’ collaborative networks on their individual innovativeness and the innovative school climate. In addition, 174 Greek primary school teachers’ views were explored about their collaboration networks (three collaboration types), their perceived individual innovativeness, the possible existence of innovative school climate, and the support they received in order to promote and/or produce new ideas and practices. Results showed that most of the participant school teachers belong to two categories of the five in the individual innovativeness scale, the early adopters and the early majority, although 20% belongs to innovators. Teachers’ collaboration network types affect innovative school climate and their individual innovativeness, but there were not found correlation between innovative school climate and perceived teachers’ innovativeness. However, collaborative networks within school have a higher effect on teachers’ innovativeness, and innovative school climate can be predicted by the network within school and among schools, as well as by the support that school teachers receive. Article visualizations

Persönlicher unterricht und dramapädagogische fernunterrichts-interventionen für aufstrebende zweisprachige schüler: anwendung einer gemischten methodik zur förderung der lesekompetenz und zur bewältigung von lernschwierigkeiten

The aim of the Doctoral thesis is to evaluate the effectiveness of a series of integrated drama-based methodologies for the language education of emergent bilingual 10–12-year-old student populations, in times of socio-health constraints. Particularly, the research aims on examining the impact of emergency remote and face-to-face language submersion teaching interventions based on educational drama for teaching reading in Modern Greek as a second language. Using a mixed-methodology, a nationwide survey of 388 emergent bilingual students and 204 fourth, fifth and sixth grade elementary school teachers, was conducted, and the impact of drama-based methods, with the main one being reader's theatre, was holistically examined, on improving reading decoding, reading fluency, reading comprehension, reducing reading errors, and modifying the learner reader's reading skills and strategies. The contribution of these methodologies to reading anxiety, psychosocial adjustment of the bilingual learner, management of learning difficulties and self-efficacy of the teacher to teach either digital distance or face-to-face reading using drama-based methods, were also examined. To investigate the above, a semi-experimental design between experimental group and control groups of students and teachers, was first utilized. This research design included pre-measurement with a set of psychometric scales, digital distance, and face-to-face interventions of a total duration of seven weeks, post-measurement and statistical comparison to draw conclusions. The comparison between the two phases was combined with cluster analysis of participants to elicit reader profiles, in terms of readers' cross-linguistic characteristics and learning difficulties, as a value-added practice to evaluate the interventions. Qualitative data from semi-structured interviews with both teachers and students, as well as teacher reflection journals were then used according to the principles of the Grounded Theory. According to the quantitative results, the methods of reader's theatre as well as storytelling theatre, as teaching methodologies, improve reading ability and related skills, modify cognitive, metacognitive, social and emotional strategies and reduce bilingual readers' errors, compared to standard teaching, whether they had learning difficulties or not. They also contribute to the development of a sense of efficacy for teachers in cultivating either distance or face-to-face reading literacy. The qualitative results indicate that reader's theatre as a teaching method create a sense of autonomy and security for the teacher, improve the reading performance of bilingual students with or without learning difficulties, and positively influence their academic, psycho-emotional and social development. The findings of the study suggest that theatre pedagogy, applied theatre and drama in education can be an effective tool for reading literacy and managing the learning difficulties of emergent bilingual learners, as well as that the use of technology to enhance educational drama can be beneficial in terms of improving the effectiveness of educational interventions. Finally, suggestions with educational implications are provided as well as suggestions for further research.Αντικείμενο της διδακτορικής διατριβής είναι η αξιολόγηση της αποτελεσματικότητας μιας σειράς ολοκληρωμένων θεατροπαιδαγωγικών μεθοδολογιών για τη γλωσσική εκπαίδευση αναδυόμενα δίγλωσσων μαθητικών πληθυσμών, ηλικίας 10-12 ετών σε καιρούς κοινωνικο-υγειονομικών περιορισμών. Ειδικότερα η έρευνα είχε ως στόχο να εξετάσει την επίδραση επειγουσών εξ αποστάσεως και δια ζώσης διδακτικών παρεμβάσεων γλωσσικής εμβύθισης, που βασίζονται στο εφαρμοσμένο θέατρο και το δράμα, για τη διδασκαλία της ανάγνωσης στη νέα ελληνική ως δεύτερη γλώσσα. Μέσα από μια μεικτής μεθοδολογίας πανελλήνια έρευνα σε 388 αναδυόμενα δίγλωσσους μαθητές/τριες και 204 εκπαιδευτικούς τετάρτης, πέμπτης και έκτης τάξης του δημοτικού σχολείου, εξετάστηκε ολιστικά ο αντίκτυπος θεατροπαιδαγωγικών μεθόδων, με κύριο αυτόν του θεάτρου αναγνωστών, στη βελτίωση της αναγνωστικής αποκωδικοποίησης, της αναγνωστικής ευχέρειας, της αναγνωστικής κατανόησης, στη μείωση των αναγνωστικών λαθών, στην τροποποίηση της αναγνωστικής ικανότητας και των στρατηγικών του μαθητευομένου αναγνώστη. Επίσης εξετάστηκε η συμβολή των μεθοδολογιών αυτών στο αναγνωστικό άγχος, την ψυχοκοινωνική προσαρμογή του δίγλωσσου μαθητή, τη διαχείριση των μαθησιακών δυσκολιών και την αυτο-αποτελεσματικότητα του εκπαιδευτικού να διδάσκει ανάγνωση είτε εξ αποστάσεως είτε εκ του σύνεγγυς. Για τη διερεύνηση των παραπάνω αξιοποιήθηκε πρώτα ημιπειραματικός σχεδιασμός μεταξύ πειραματικής ομάδας και ομάδων ελέγχου μαθητών και εκπαιδευτικών. Αυτός περιλάμβανε προμέτρηση με ένα σύνολο σταθμισμένων κλιμάκων, εξ αποστάσεως και δια ζώσης παρεμβάσεις συνολικής διάρκειας επτά εβδομάδων, μεταμέτρηση και στατιστική σύγκριση για την ανάδειξη συμπερασμάτων. Η σύγκριση μεταξύ των δύο φάσεων συνδυάστηκε με συσταδοποίηση των συμμετεχόντων για την ανάδειξη αναγνωστικών προφίλ ως προς τα διαγλωσσικά χαρακτηριστικά και τις μαθησιακές δυσκολίες των αναγνωστών, ως πρακτική προστιθέμενης αξίας για την αξιολόγηση των παρεμβάσεων. Στη συνέχεια αξιοποιήθηκαν ποιοτικά δεδομένα από ημιδομημένες συνεντεύξεις σε εκπαιδευτικούς και μαθητές, όπως επίσης και από ημερολόγια αναστοχασμού εκπαιδευτικών τα οποία αναλύθηκαν βάσει των αρχών της Εμπειρικά θεμελιωμένης θεωρίας. Σύμφωνα με τα ποσοτικά αποτελέσματα οι μέθοδοι του θεάτρου αναγνωστών και της δραματοποιημένης αφήγησης ιστοριών, ως μεθοδολογίες διδασκαλίας, βελτιώνουν την αναγνωστική ικανότητα και τις σχετικές, με αυτή δεξιότητες, τροποποιούν τις γνωστικές, μεταγνωστικές, κοινωνικές και συναισθηματικές στρατηγικές και μειώνουν τα λάθη του δίγλωσσου αναγνώστη σε σύγκριση με την τυπική διδασκαλία, είτε αυτός αντιμετώπιζε μαθησιακές δυσκολίες είτε όχι. Επίσης συμβάλλουν στην ανάπτυξη μιας αίσθησης αποτελεσματικότητας για τους εκπαιδευτικούς στο να καλλιεργούν είτε εξ αποστάσεως είτε δια ζώσης τον αναγνωστικό εγγραμματισμό. Τα ποιοτικά αποτελέσματα ανέδειξαν ότι το θέατρο αναγνωστών ως μέθοδος διδασκαλίας δημιουργεί ένα αίσθημα αυτονομίας και ασφάλειας στον εκπαιδευτικό, βελτιώνει τις αναγνωστικές επιδόσεις των δίγλωσσων μαθητών του που αντιμετωπίζουν ή όχι μαθησιακές δυσκολίες και επηρεάζει θετικά τη σχολική, ψυχοσυναισθηματική και κοινωνική τους εξέλιξη. Τα ευρήματα της έρευνας υποδηλώνουν ότι η θεατροπαιδαγωγική μέθοδος, το εφαρμοσμένο θέατρο και το δράμα στην εκπαίδευση μπορεί να αποτελέσουν ένα αποτελεσματικό εργαλείο για τον αναγνωστικό εγγραμματισμό και τη διαχείριση των μαθησιακών δυσκολιών των αναδυόμενα δίγλωσσων εκπαιδευομένων, όπως επίσης και ότι η χρήση της τεχνολογίας για την ενίσχυση της εκπαιδευτικής λειτουργίας του δράματος μπορεί να είναι επωφελής όσον αφορά τη βελτίωση της αποτελεσματικότητας των εκπαιδευτικών παρεμβάσεων. Παρέχονται, τέλος, προτάσεις με εκπαιδευτικές προεκτάσεις καθώς και προτάσεις για περαιτέρω έρευνα.Ziel der Dissertation ist es, die Wirksamkeit einer Reihe integrierter, auf Drama basierender Methoden für die Sprachbildung von aufstrebenden zweisprachigen Schülerpopulationen im Alter von 10-12 Jahren zu bewerten, insbesondere in Zeiten sozialer und gesundheitlicher Einschränkungen. Die Forschung zielt darauf ab, den Einfluss von Notfall-Fern- und Face-to-Face-Sprachunterrichts-Interventionen auf Basis von Bildungsdrama zur Vermittlung des Lesens in modernem Griechisch als Zweitsprache zu untersuchen. Mit Hilfe einer Mixed-Methodologie wurde eine landesweite Umfrage unter 388 aufstrebenden zweisprachigen Schülern und 204 Lehrern der vierten, fünften und sechsten Grundschulklasse durchgeführt, und die Wirkung von auf Drama basierenden Methoden, insbesondere Reader's Theatre, wurde umfassend untersucht, um das Lesedekodieren, die Leseflüssigkeit, das Leseverständnis zu verbessern, Lesefehler zu reduzieren und die Lesefähigkeiten und -strategien der Lernenden zu modifizieren. Der Beitrag dieser Methoden zur Leseangst, psychosozialen Anpassung des zweisprachigen Lernenden, Bewältigung von Lernschwierigkeiten und Selbstwirksamkeit des Lehrers, entweder digital entfernt oder face-to-face Lesen mit auf Drama basierten Methoden zu unterrichten, wurde ebenfalls untersucht. Um dies zu untersuchen, wurde zunächst ein semi-experimentelles Design zwischen Experimental- und Kontrollgruppen von Schülern und Lehrern verwendet. Dieses Forschungsdesign umfasste Vor- und Nachmessung mit einer Reihe von psychometrischen Skalen, digitalen und Face-to-Face-Interventionen mit einer Gesamtdauer von sieben Wochen, Postmessung und statistischem Vergleich, um Schlussfolgerungen zu ziehen. Der Vergleich zwischen den beiden Phasen wurde mit Clusteranalysen der Teilnehmer kombiniert, um Leseprofile hinsichtlich der sprachübergreifenden Merkmale und Lernschwierigkeiten der Leser als Mehrwertpraxis für die Bewertung der Interventionen zu ermitteln. Qualitative Daten aus halbstrukturierten Interviews mit Lehrern und Schülern sowie Reflexionsjournale der Lehrer wurden dann gemäß den Prinzipien der Grounded Theory verwendet. Gemäß den quantitativen Ergebnissen verbessern die Methoden von Reader's Theatre sowie Storytelling Theatre als Unterrichtsmethoden die Lesefähigkeit und die damit verbundenen Fähigkeiten, modifizieren kognitive, metakognitive, soziale und emotionale Strategien und reduzieren Fehler bei zweisprachigen Lesern im Vergleich zum Standardunterricht, unabhängig davon, ob sie Lernschwierigkeiten hatten oder nicht. Sie tragen auch zur Entwicklung eines Gefühls der Wirksamkeit für Lehrer bei, um entweder digitale oder face-to-face Lesekompetenz zu fördern. Die qualitativen Ergebnisse zeigen, dass Reader's Theatre als Unterrichtsmethode ein Gefühl der Autonomie und Sicherheit für den Lehrer schafft, die Leseleistung zweisprachiger Schüler mit oder ohne Lernschwierig

Exploration of children's perceptions about home-based narrative practices: A demographic research for storytelling in the prefecture of Florina

Η αφηγηματική δραστηριότητα αποτελεί μια καθιερωμένη πρακτική αλληλεπίδρασης ανάμεσα στους ενηλίκους και τα παιδιά. Ως φαινόμενο, συνδέεται άμεσα με την ανάγκη αναπαραγωγής της πολιτισμικής κληρονομιάς και συμβάλλει στην καλλιέργεια κοινωνικής κουλτούρας. Συνήθως αναπτύσσεται στα στενά πλαίσια της οικογένειας, λόγω των ισχυρών συναισθηματικών δεσμών που διαμορφώνονται μέσα σε αυτή και συγχρόνως, αποκτά παιδευτική αξία και εκπαιδευτικά χαρακτηριστικά. Σκοπός  της  παρούσας  εργασίας  είναι  η  διερεύνηση  των  αντιλήψεων και των απόψεων των παιδιών σχετικά με τις πρακτικές αφηγηματικής δραστηριότητας στο σπίτι, όπως επίσης και η ανίχνευση των παραγόντων που επιδρούν ή συσχετίζονται με αυτή. Η έρευνα, που έχει δημογραφικό χαρακτήρα, βασίστηκε στο σύνολο των μαθητών που φοιτούσε τη σχολική χρονιά 2005-2006 στα δημοτικά σχολεία του νομού Φλώρινας.Σύμφωνα με τα αποτελέσματα, σχεδόν το σύνολο των παιδιών αρέσκονται στην αφήγηση παραμυθιών από ενηλίκους στο σπίτι. Βέβαια, παρότι μέλη της οικογένειας αφηγούνταν με μεγαλύτερη συχνότητα παραμύθια στα παιδιά τους σε μικρότερη ηλικία, μόνο στα μισά περίπου από αυτά συνεχίζουν την αφηγηματική δραστηριότητα, ενώ εμφανίζονται διαφυλικές, ηλικιακές και άλλες διαφορές. Οι λόγοι απουσίας της αφηγηματικής δραστηριότητας σχετίζονται με νοησιαρχικές αντιλήψεις που έχουν εγκαθιδρυθεί από το άμεσο περιβάλλον του παιδιού στο ίδιο το παιδί, ενώ τέλος τον αφηγηματικό ρόλο μέσα στα πλαίσια της οικογένειας ασκούν κατά κύριο λόγο τα θήλεα μέλη της. Από τις αναφορές των παιδιών φαίνεται ότι οι αφηγήσεις εστιάζονται στην κλασική λογοτεχνία. The narrative activity is an established practice of interaction between adults and children. As a phenomenon, it is directly linked to the need to reproduce the cultural heritage and contributes to the development of social culture.  It usually develops within the narrow family context, due to the strong emotional ties that are shaped  within it, and at the same time it acquires pedagogical value and educational characteristics. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the perceptions and views of children about the narrative practices at home, and to identify the factors that affect or are associated with the activity of narration. The survey, the character of which is demographic, was based on the entire population of pupils attending primary school at the prefecture of Florina during the school year 2005-2006. Based on the results, almost all children like to hear adults narrating fairy tales at home. Of course, although the members of the family were frequently telling fairy tales to their children when they were younger, now they continue the narrative activity with only half of those children, while transgender, age and other differences have started to appear. The reasons for the absence of narrative activity are associated with the mentalistic perceptions that have been fixed by the child’s immediate environment to the child itself, while the narrative role within the family is mainly exercised by female members. According to the children’s reports, it seems that most narrations are centered around classical literature

The Employment of Cognitive and Metacognitive Strategies in Bilingual Pupils’ Creative Writing

Abstract and full text of the articles are freely available on www.degruyter.com (De Gruyter Open)

Gender Representations in Dramatic Texts for Children and Youth

Theater, including drama, plays for an underaged audience, is considered an active mechanism for reproducing or challenging gender relations in power that reflects the ideological and political beliefs of a society. Under such circumstances, it is interesting to discover whether theatrical texts for children and youth gender fairness and to investigate whether or not traditional and stereotypical perceptions govern the way male and female citizens are presented in theatrical texts. The purpose of this research is to investigate theatrical texts addressed to children and youth as to the way in which men and women are portrayed as citizens. The research material was decided to consist of theatrical texts, namely texts with dramatic features, such as dialogical form, plot, etc., addressed to a juvenile audience, which was published in Greece, by Greek authors, during the period 1985-1995. In order to achieve the individual aims and objectives of the present research, the content analysis method was used. According to the results of the study, the analysis of activities of the heroes in children’s theatrical works shows that men have power in their hands, make political decisions, and have active and decisive roles in social life. They are the leaders and those who control the society’s fortune, whereas women are generally detached from any serious political, social, and economic activity or decision. The theatrical works for children portray the woman only in the capacity of a mother or housewife without any dynamic presence in modern socio-political life

REPRESENTATION OF IMMIGRANT STUDENTS IN SPECIAL EDUCATION: EVIDENCE IN GREECE DURING 2003-2013 / RAPPRESENTANZA DEGLI STUDENTI IMMIGRATI NELLA FORMAZIONE SPECIALE: PROVE IN GRECIA NEL 2003-2013

The main purpose of this article is to explore the representation of immigrant students in Greece during 2003-2013, with regard to their reference to diagnostic services (Centers of Differential Diagnosis and Support; KEDDY) and their identification in various disability categories, particularly those of intellectual disability, dyslexia and complex cognitive, social and emotional disorders. According to the results obtained, immigrant students are not overrepresented in assessment requests and diagnostic process in special education in relation to their Greek students. In particular, Greek and immigrant students were proportionately represented in the judgmental categories of special educational needs (dyslexia, mental retardation, complex cognitive, emotional and social disorders). A slight but statistically non-significant trend of disproportionate representation of Greek students in the category of dyslexia is discussed.Lo scopo principale di questo articolo è quello di esplorare la rappresentanza degli studenti immigrati in Grecia nel periodo 2003-2013, per quanto riguarda il loro riferimento ai servizi diagnostici (Centri di diagnosi e supporto differenziale, KEDDY) e la loro identificazione in varie categorie di disabilità, in particolare quelle di disabilità intellettiva, dislessia e disturbi cognitivi, sociali ed emotivi complessi. In base ai risultati ottenuti, gli studenti immigrati non sono sovrarappresentati nelle richieste di valutazione e nel processo diagnostico nell'istruzione speciale in relazione ai loro studenti greci. In particolare, gli studenti greci e immigrati erano rappresentati proporzionalmente nelle categorie giudicatrici di bisogni educativi speciali (dislessia, ritardo mentale, disturbi cognitivi complessi, emotivi e sociali). Una leggera ma non statisticamente significativa tendenza di rappresentazione sproporzionata degli studenti greci nella categoria della dislessia e discussa.  Article visualizations

A systematic review and meta-analysis of the Readers’ Theatre impact on the development of reading skills

Readers’ Theatre is an artistic drama-based preparation and stage presentation of theatrical scenarios method, where the reader is called to interpret dialogues effectively, in cooperation with a group of people in the form of Stage Reading. Numerous studies have been conducted in order to evaluate the didactic effectiveness of the method for the development of the students’ reading skills. The aim of the study is the systematic review and meta-analysis of bibliography from 1990 to 2020, in order to unitize the findings concerning the didactic performance of Readers’ Theatre applications in the development of students’ skills aged between 6 and 12, as well as the revelation of the fields, where research presents some deficiencies. The findings of the systematic review of 23 studies showed that Readers’ Theatre is a teaching method, which contributes positively to the development of the students’ reading skills, along with the creation of positive attitudes towards reading and the development of incentive for the learning of reading within linguistic environments of either the mother tongue or a foreign language. Moreover, based on the meta-analysis results of 11 studies with similar research hypotheses and design, it was discovered that Readers’ Theatre contributes considerably to the improvement of the students’ reading skills and has a large effect size indeed