Collective teacher culture: exploring an elusive construct and its relations with teacher autonomy, belonging, and job satisfaction

One purpose of this study was to analyze relations between four possible indicators of a collective teacher culture by means of confirmatory factor analyses. The indicators were termed “shared goals values”, “value consonance”, “collective teacher efficacy”, and “supportive colleagues”. A second purpose was to explore relations between collective teacher culture and teachers’ experiences of autonomy, belonging, and job satisfaction. Participants were 760 Norwegian teachers in elementary school and middle school. The data were analyzed by means of confirmatory factor analyses and SEM analyses. The correlations between the four indicators of a collective culture ranged from .44 to .63 and both a model with first order factors and a model with a second order collective culture variable had good fit to the data. The analysis showed that a second order collective teacher culture variable was strongly and positively associated with the teachers’ experiences of autonomy, belonging, and job satisfaction.Collective teacher culture: exploring an elusive construct and its relations with teacher autonomy, belonging, and job satisfactionpublishedVersio

Decentralized nursing education in Northern Norway: a basis for continuing education to meet competence needs in rural Arctic healtcare services

Background: Ensuring a sufficient nursing workforce, with respect to both number and relevant professional competencies, is crucial in rural Arctic regions in Norway. This study examines the continuing education (CE) of nurses who graduated from a decentralized nursing programme between 1994 and 2011. Objective: This study aims to measure the extent to which the decentralized nursing education (DNE) in question has served as a basis for CE that is adapted to current and future community health care service needs in rural Arctic regions in northern Norway. More specifically, the study aims to investigate the frequency and scope of CE courses among the graduates of a DNE, the choice of study model and the degree of employment with respect to the relevant CE. Design: This study is a quantitative survey providing descriptive statistics. Results: The primary finding in this study is that 56% of the participants had engaged in CE and that they were employed in positions related to their education. The majority of students with decentralized bachelor's degrees engaged in CE that was part time and/or decentralized. Conclusions: More than half of the population in this study had completed CE despite no mandatory obligation in order to maintain licensure. Furthermore, 31% of the participants had completed more than one CE programme. The findings show that the participants preferred CE organized as part time and or decentralized studies

Psychometric validation of the Carers of Older People in Europe Index among family caregivers of older persons with dementia

Source at https://doi.org/10.1177/2050312118792812 .Objectives: The Carers of Older People in Europe Index is a first-stage assessment tool to detect family caregivers in need of support. This instrument assesses caregivers’ subjective perceptions of their caregiving circumstances. The present study examines the psychometric properties of the Norwegian version of the Carers of Older People in Europe Index among family caregivers for older persons with dementia living at home. Methods: Cross-sectional survey data were collected from 430 dementia caregivers. The sample was randomly split as follows: the first half of the sample was used to identify the measurement model using an exploratory factor analysis, and the second half of the sample was used to cross-validate the model using a confirmatory factor analysis. The criterion validity and reliability (internal consistency and test–retest reliability) of the Carers of Older People in Europe Index were also examined. Results: Using an exploratory factor analysis, we extracted three factors that were consistent with previous findings: negative impact of caregiving, positive values of caregiving and quality of support. This model fit the data well using a confirmatory factor analysis. Moreover, a second-order model could replace the three-factor correlated model without sacrificing the model fit, supporting the use of a global impact of caregiving score. The three factors and the global factor correlated with the criteria measures in the expected directions. The internal consistency was assessed using Cronbach’s alpha and was good for the negative impact (α = 0.86) and the quality of support (α = 0.76) factors. The positive values factor was less consistent (α = 0.64). The test–retest reliability was examined using Spearman’s rank order correlation and was good for all three factors. Conclusion: The psychometric properties of the Norwegian version of the Carers of Older People in Europe Index are good. The instrument assesses dementia caregivers’ situations across three primary factors or alternatively validly summarizes the factors in a global impact of caregiving score

The Effect from Executive Coaching on Performance Psychology

In this study, the authors explore the effects of an executive coaching programme on important performance psychology variables (self-efficacy, causal attribution, goal setting, and selfdetermination). One hundred and forty-four executives and middle managers from a Fortune high-tech 500 company participated in the experiment over a period of one year. Twenty executives participated in an external executive coaching programme and one hundred and twenty four middle managers participated in a coaching based leadership programme. Findings indicate that there are significant effects of external coaching on psychological variables affecting performance such as self-efficacy, goal setting, intra-personal causal attributions of success and need satisfaction. Findings also indicate that there are significant effects of coaching based leadership on self-efficacy among middle managers. However, the effects regarding coaching based leadership are not as strong as those from external executive coaching

Teacher self-efficacy and reasons for choosing initial teacher education programmes in Norway and New Zealand

publishedVersio

Experiences of the Flipped Classroom method Does it make students more motivated?

The aim of this paper is to highlight use of the flipped classroom method, and how teachers perceive this teaching practice. More specific the research focus on whether the teachers’ experience that the model leads to increased motivation in the students learning process. The background for the research is generated from qualitative interviews with teachers, and the empirical data obtained is from semi-structured interviews with these informants. The results show that the flipped classroom method in fact did increase participation and cooperation, which in turn generated motivation and willing students. The teachers got more time for guidance of each student, which provided more solid knowledge on each student’s academic level

Secondary School Transition and the Use of Different Sources of Information for the Construction of the Academic Self‐concept

This study focuses on processes involved in students' academic self‐concept constructions before, during, and after secondary school transition. The study is based on a four‐wave longitudinal dataset (N = 1953). Structural equation modeling showed that during school transition, the impact of grades on students' academic self‐concepts in Math and English decreased whereas the effects of maternal competence perceptions increased. After the transition, the effects of grades increased, while the effects maternal competence beliefs decreased again. The results are interpreted in terms of differential emphasizing of sources of information for students' self‐concept construction. During school transition, elementary school grades lost informational value for self‐evaluations due to the changed frame of reference. To secure stable and valid self‐assessments, students emphasized other sources than grades; in this, case information obtained through parental competence appraisals. After transition, when valid grades were available for the students' constructions again, the temporarily heightened parental influence decreased again.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/92444/1/j.1467-9507.2011.00635.x.pd