School accountability and teacher stress: international evidence from the OECD TALIS study

Accountability—the monitoring and use of student performance data to make judgements about school and teacher effectiveness—is increasing within school systems across the globe. In theory, by increasing accountability, the aims and incentives of governments, parents, school leaders and teachers become more closely aligned, potentially improving student achievement as a result. Yet, in practice, concerns are mounting about the stress that accountability is putting schools and teachers under. This paper presents new evidence on this issue, drawing upon data from more than 100,000 teachers across over 40 countries. We find evidence of a modest, positive correlation between school system accountability and how stressed teachers and headteachers are about this aspect of their job. When looking within schools, there is little evidence that the management practices of headteachers differ when they report feeling stressed about accountability, or that they transmit these feelings onto their staff. However, we do find strong evidence of ‘emotional contagion’ of stress amongst colleagues within schools, with teachers more likely to feel stressed by accountability if their colleagues do as well

Advanced information processing system: Inter-computer communication services

The purpose is to document the functional requirements and detailed specifications for the Inter-Computer Communications Services (ICCS) of the Advanced Information Processing System (AIPS). An introductory section is provided to outline the overall architecture and functional requirements of the AIPS and to present an overview of the ICCS. An overview of the AIPS architecture as well as a brief description of the AIPS software is given. The guarantees of the ICCS are provided, and the ICCS is described as a seven-layered International Standards Organization (ISO) Model. The ICCS functional requirements, functional design, and detailed specifications as well as each layer of the ICCS are also described. A summary of results and suggestions for future work are presented

Can we replicate the findings of EEF trials using school level comparative interrupted time series evaluations? Non-technical report

This report focuses on whether one particular non-experimental method can reproduce the results from experimental evaluations: the comparative interrupted time series (CITS) design. The basic idea is to compare the way in which outcomes in the treatment group deviate from trend after an intervention is introduced, relative to the way in which outcomes in the control group deviate from trend at the same point in time. Under certain assumptions, the difference between these deviations can be interpreted as the effect of the intervention

Teacher autonomy: Good for pupils? Good for teachers?

Should teachers have complete autonomy over teaching methods and practices, or should some aspects of their practice be determined by school or government policy? We address this question using repeated (value-added) maths test scores linked to rich survey data from the TALIS video study. With the possible exception of inexperienced teachers, we generally find no relationship between teacher autonomy and pupil outcomes (test scores, maths self-efficacy or interest in maths). In partial contrast with our findings for pupil outcomes, teachers with very low levels of autonomy are more likely to report reduced job satisfaction. It may hence be that some level of restriction on teacher autonomy is justified, especially among inexperienced teachers, particularly when it represents only partial control of teachers’ approaches in the classroom and is done to introduce evidence-based methods

I quit! Is there an association between leaving teaching and improvements in mental health?

The mental health and well‐being of teachers is an issue of great policy concern. This is particularly true in England, where high workload and the associated stress is thought to be leading to a recruitment and retention crisis within the education profession. But do individuals who decide to leave teaching for another career actually see their well‐being and mental health improve? We provide new evidence on this matter for individuals aged between 40 and 65, using the rich information gathered as part of the UK Biobank study. Our analysis shows that individuals who choose to leave teaching are somewhat happier in their work, but do not generally experience any improvement in their general well‐being or mental health. We hence caution those middle‐aged teachers who are thinking of leaving teaching that the grass may not necessarily be greener on the other side

How did the COVID-19 pandemic affect the anxiety of teachers at work?

This paper explores teachers’ anxiety about work at 75 timepoints between October 2019 and July 2022, covering the period before, during and towards the end of the COVID-19 pandemic in England. We find the work-related anxiety of headteachers increased substantially throughout the pandemic–much more so than amongst more junior staff. Female teachers experienced a greater impact than men, particularly amongst those with young children. Differences were also observed in work-related anxiety between independent and state schoolteachers, though only during the first lockdown. We illustrate how providing onsite instruction, live online lessons and working longer hours were all associated with raised levels of work-related anxiety

Are some school inspectors more lenient than others?

School inspections are a common feature of education systems across the world. These involve trained professionals visiting schools and reaching judgements about the quality of education they provide. Yet there is currently little academic research investigating the consistency of school inspections, including how judgements vary across inspectors with different characteristics. We present new empirical evidence on this matter, drawing upon data from more than 30,000 school inspections conducted in England between 2011 and 2019. Male inspectors are found to award slightly more lenient judgements to primary schools than their female counterparts, while permanent Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills (Ofsted) employees (Her Majesty’s Inspectors) are found to be harsher than those who inspect schools on a freelance basis (Ofsted Inspectors)

Determining the Anisotropic Exchange Coupling of CrO_2 via First-Principles Density Functional Theory Calculations

We report a study of the anisotropic exchange interactions in bulk CrO_2 calculated from first principles within density functional theory. We determine the exchange coupling energies, using both the experimental lattice parameters and those obtained within DFT, within a modified Heisenberg model Hamiltonian in two ways. We employ a supercell method in which certain spins within a cell are rotated and the energy dependence is calculated and a spin-spiral method that modifies the periodic boundary conditions of the problem to allow for an overall rotation of the spins between unit cells. Using the results from each of these methods, we calculate the spin-wave stiffness constant D from the exchange energies using the magnon dispersion relation. We employ a Monte Carlo method to determine the DFT-predicted Curie temperature from these calculated energies and compare with accepted values. Finally, we offer an evaluation of the accuracy of the DFT-based methods and suggest implications of the competing ferro- and antiferromagnetic interactions.Comment: 10 pages, 13 figure

Endothelial Progenitors Exist within the Kidney and Lung Mesenchyme

The renal endothelium has been debated as arising from resident hemangioblast precursors that transdifferentiate from the nephrogenic mesenchyme (vasculogenesis) and/or from invading vessels (angiogenesis). While the Foxd1-positive renal cortical stroma has been shown to differentiate into cells that support the vasculature in the kidney (including vascular smooth muscle and pericytes) it has not been considered as a source of endothelial cell progenitors. In addition, it is unclear if Foxd1-positive mesenchymal cells in other organs such as the lung have the potential to form endothelium. This study examines the potential for Foxd1-positive cells of the kidney and lung to give rise to endothelial progenitors. We utilized immunofluorescence (IF) and fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) to co-label Foxd1-expressing cells (including permanently lineage-tagged cells) with endothelial markers in embryonic and postnatal mice. We also cultured FACsorted Foxd1-positive cells, performed in vitro endothelial cell tubulogenesis assays and examined for endocytosis of acetylated low-density lipoprotein (Ac-LDL), a functional assay for endothelial cells. Immunofluorescence and FACS revealed that a subset of Foxd1-positive cells from kidney and lung co-expressed endothelial cell markers throughout embryogenesis. In vitro, cultured embryonic Foxd1-positive cells were able to differentiate into tubular networks that expressed endothelial cell markers and were able to endocytose Ac-LDL. IF and FACS in both the kidney and lung revealed that lineage-tagged Foxd1-positive cells gave rise to a significant portion of the endothelium in postnatal mice. In the kidney, the stromal-derived cells gave rise to a portion of the peritubular capillary endothelium, but not of the glomerular or large vessel endothelium. These findings reveal the heterogeneity of endothelial cell lineages; moreover, Foxd1-positive mesenchymal cells of the developing kidney and lung are a source of endothelial progenitors that are likely critical to patterning the vasculature. © 2013 Sims-Lucas et al

Has the mental health and wellbeing of teachers in England changed over time? New evidence from three datasets

This paper presents the first empirical evidence on long-run trends in teacher mental health and wellbeing in England. We find that, although there has been a recent rise in mental health problems reported by teachers in England, this is mirrored by workers in other professions–with little evidence of a simultaneous change in levels of personal wellbeing. Our conclusion is therefore that the mental health and personal wellbeing of teachers in England has remained broadly stable over the last 20 years, though this group may be more likely to report such problems now than previously