Pre-service teachers' representations about children's learning: A pilot study

Background: Research on teachers' representations of children's learning is currently ongoing. Social representations are common-sense theories built and shared in everyday interactions. Their analysis can detect the possible differences between teachers’ naïve beliefs and scientific learning theories. Objective: The objective of this pilot study is to analyse the beliefs about children’s learning of a group of teachers. The beliefs will be related to the most acknowledged learning theories. Methods: A mixed methods research was employed to analyse 100 pre-service teachers’ representations of the origins of learning and the psychological processes involved. Results: It emerged from the results that the teachers interviewed consider children’s learning mainly as culturally acquired, which reveals the prevailing constructivist conception of learning. Many pre-service primary school teachers, however, tend to see learning as mere ‘transfer of information’; many pre-service kindergarten teachers perceive learning as ‘behaviour modification’. The most considered psychological aspects are ‘knowledge’ and ‘acquisition’, while emotions are barely considered. Conclusion: Linking implicit theories and disciplinary theories could support pre-service teachers in integrating the theory and the practice of learning so as to understand the way their models influence their educational choices

Teacher Satisfaction in Relationships With Students and Parents and Burnout

In the educational field, the role of the support component of the teacher-student relationship is well known, while the role of the teacher-student relationship on teacher burnout is a more current field of investigation. Several studies on the sources of burnout have recently focused on job satisfaction and teacher-student satisfaction. However, the role of teacher-parent satisfaction is still little explored in this field. Moreover, in the Italian school context, students’ seniority and educational level require further investigation, as the average age of teachers is particularly high compared to their European colleagues. The present study aims to examine in a sample of 882 Italian teachers the presence of burnout and differences in teacher-student and teacher-parent satisfaction between primary (students aged 6–10years) and lower secondary (students aged 11–13years) teachers. A further objective is to test whether teacher-student and teacher-parent satisfaction and seniority can be significant predictors of burnout. Teachers completed the Job Satisfaction Scale (MESI) and the MBI-Educators Survey and the data were then processed using MANOVA and multiple linear regression analysis. The results revealed that 8.2% of the teachers suffered from burnout and lower secondary teachers showed the highest levels of emotional exhaustion, depersonalisation and reduced personal accomplishment. Predictors of emotional exhaustion were job dissatisfaction and seniority, and predictors of depersonalisation were job dissatisfaction and teacher-student dissatisfaction. Finally, predictors of personal accomplishment were also teacher-parent satisfaction and teacher-student satisfaction. The implications of these findings for practice and research are discussed in this article

Motivation to donate, job crafting, and organizational citizenship behavior in blood collection volunteers in non-profit organizations

This study assesses the levels of and relationships between the Motivation to donate, Job crafting propensity, and the Organizational citizenship behavior of blood collection volunteers in a non-profit association. An Italian sample of AVIS (the Italian Association of Voluntary Blood donors) blood donors (N = 1215) actively involved in organizing blood collection, were asked to complete the Italian version of the Volunteer Function Index, the Job crafting scale, and the Organizational citizenship behavior scale. The tools were verified by Confirmatory factor analysis and their relationships were explored using Structural equation modeling for hidden variables. The three constructs have overall high scores. Motivation to donate and Job crafting show a clear correlation, with the latter influencing volunteer Organizational citizenship behavior. The study highlights the need to take into consideration the Motivation to donate, Job crafting and Organizational citizenship behavior of volunteers, particularly in countries such as Italy, where blood collection is almost exclusively carried out thanks to spontaneous, altruistic, and disinterested commitment

Burnout syndrome in reception systems for illegal immigrants in the Mediterranean. A quantitative and qualitative study of Italian practitioners

Illegal immigration throughout the Mediterranean Sea is an intense and epoch-making phenomenon. This quantitative and qualitative study, based on the framework of the JD-R Model of burnout, described and assessed the risk of burnout among practitioners working in the reception system for illegal immigrants. A sample of Italian practitioners completed the Link Burnout Questionnaire (N = 193) and a semistructured interview (N = 108). The analysis of the questionnaires was carried out via ANOVA and χ2 test. The content of the interviews was examined using T-LAB. Quantitative results showed that the sample was generally at risk of burnout, and about a quarter were at severe risk. Qualitative results highlighted aspects of burnout that are specific to this working context: large workload, mental fatigue, and lack of social support; inability to understand the language and cultural differences of the immigrants; having to deal with organisational problems that come up repeatedly. This study offers coping strategies that can improve organisational health and performance of practitioners working in illegal immigration. Italy's shape, geographical location, and geo-political role make it a case in point for the whole European continent regarding the sustainability of illegal immigration across the Mediterranean Sea

Motivation to learn: a research on university students

Frequent cases of university drop-outs highlight various issues related to learning motivation. This work is based on Finn’s “partecipation-identification” model and on Goal Theory. Studies highlight the importance of teacher-student relationship and achievement goals on students motivation. We want to analyze if there are significant differences between: regular students and student who have not passed their exams within the prescribed period of time; Psychology Degree Course’s students and Primary Education Degree Course’s students; working students and students who don’t work. We considered the following variables: personal goals dimension; university belonging feelings; perceived teacher-student relationship; perceived school goals dimension This is a descriptive study and it uses an inquiry method on a sample of 100 Italian university students, using Anova, by SPSS. It was possible to highlight that students who are not regular have a less positive perception of teacher-student relationship and also of task goal structure than regular students. There aren’t any significant difference between Psychology students and Primary Education students and between students who have a job and students who haven’t. The results have demonstrated that regular students have a significantly more positive perception of teacher-student relationship. This means that the regular students feel better integrated in University than not regular students. For students who have not passed all their exams within the prescribed period of time, the perspective changes dramatically. In order to better explain this situation, we want to start from the theory of self-worth, which assumes that school performance should be understood in terms of students' attempts to maintain a positive self-image. To defend that image the students can implement a variety of defensive and self-protective strategies. From the data obtained, it was found that regardless of the degree course the levels of motivation are the same. First of all we can infer that they do not depend on length or facility of degree programs and neither on older age of Primary Education students than Psychology students. The

L'attaccamento negli asili nido: le educatrici hanno una visione monotropica o poliadica?.

A large literature analyzes the attachment relationship between teachers and children who attend the nursery, and emphasizes that the existence of simultaneous multiple attachment relations, for positive outcomes and for clinical evidence, can compensate for an insecure attachment to a parent. The present study examines with an semi-structured interview, the beliefs of educators on the attachment and the appropriate strategies to promote it. The results are not in favor of a polyadic view and, indeed, in many cases the teachers still think that the attachment is only between parent and child

Benessere organizzativo, ascolto, sostegno e valorizzazione della persona.

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