Team entitativity and teacher teams in schools: Towards a typology

In this article we summarise research that discusses ‘teacher teams’. The central question guiding this study is ‘What types of teacher teams are there in schools and can they rightfully be called ‘teams’ or are they merely groups?’. We attempted to answer this question by searching literature on teacher teams and comparing what these articles present as being teacher teams. We attempt to further grasp the concept of teacher teams by creating a typology for defining different types of teacher teams. Overall, the literature pertaining to teacher teams appeared to be characterised by a considerable amount of haziness and teacher ‘teams’ mostly do not seem to be proper ‘teams’ when bearing the criteria of a team as defined by Cohen and Bailey (1997) in mind. The proposed typology, characterising the groups of teachers by their task, whether they are disciplinary or interdisciplinary, whether they are situated within or cross grades en by their temporal duration, seems to be a useful framework to further clarify different sorts of teacher ‘teams’.

Effect of sourdough addition and storage time on in vitro starch digestibility and estimated glycemic index of tef bread

The effect of sourdough amount and storage time on starch digestibility and estimated glycemic index (eGI) of tef bread was investigated. The rapidly digestible starch (RDS), slowly digestible starch (SDS) and resistant starch (RS) of 0-30% sourdough fresh tef breads ranged from 49 to 58, 16 to 29 and 20 to 26 g/100 g starch, respectively. Storage of tef breads up to 5 days decreased the RDS by more than 2-fold while SDS and RS increased by 2 and 3 fold, respectively. The eGI for fresh and stored breads ranged from 39 to 89. Addition of sourdough increased the eGI of fresh breads while no uniform pattern was seen in the stored breads. As the storage time increased, all the breads showed a decrease in eGI. In vivo study is necessary to further investigate the effect of sourdough on GI of tef bread

Study protocol for a randomized controlled trial of the RASPERA project: recalling and anticipating specific positive events to boost resilience in adolescents

BackgroundMany stress-related mental health problems, like depression and anxiety, emerge during adolescence, with some recent studies suggesting numbers are increasing. One possible way to reduce adolescents' vulnerability to stress-related mental health problems is to increase their resilience by training them in recalling specific positive memories and anticipating specific positive future events. Therefore, an innovative combi-training (called Positive Events Training; PET) was developed, focusing on the enhancement of the specificity of both past and future positive autobiographical events in adolescents. Its effects on adolescents' resilience and mental wellbeing will be examined.MethodsA cluster randomized controlled trial with a 2 (condition) × 3 (time-point) factorial design was conducted. Classes of adolescents were randomized to either a PET program (intervention) or a CREAtive writing Training (CREAT) program (active control). Both trainings consisted of four sessions of 50 min (one session, weekly, for four consecutive weeks) and were delivered in schools. Before (pre-training, T1), immediately after (post-training, T2), and 2 months after the training (follow-up, T3), participants completed a series of self-report questionnaires. Primary outcomes are resilience and mental wellbeing. Secondary outcomes are positive affect, positive affect regulation and anhedonia. CONSORT criteria for conducting and reporting RCTs will be used.Ethics and disseminationEthical approval was obtained from the Social and Societal Ethics Committee (SMEC) and the study has been preregistered on Open Science Framework (OSF) and ClinicalTrials.gov (Trial registration number: NCT05757180). We plan to develop a free, online, web-based self-directed PET protocol for teachers if the study provides evidence for the effectiveness of the PET program in increasing adolescents' resilience and mental wellbeing, so teachers can deliver the program to future students without the need of professional external trainers