Where is sociology in teacher efficacy research? The influence of the school composition

The last two decades, considerable research has been intrigued by the study of teacher efficacy and its influence on students’ motivation and achievement. Studies have indicated that teacher efficacy influences teachers’ effort to encounter classroom difficulties and the academic performances of students (Fackler & Malmberg, 2016). Since most authors use a pedagogical or psychological approach to investigate the concept of teacher efficacy, there is a lack of sociological research that handles this concept. A more sociological view can be clarifying as it is known that the school context affects both teachers and students (Fackler & Malmberg, 2016; Goddard & Goddard, 2001; Knoblauch & Hoy, 2008; Skaalvik & Skaalvik, 2017). Through pedagogical and psychological research, we know which teacher characteristics affect teacher efficacy, nevertheless, classroom or school characteristics are largely overlooked in studies on teacher efficacy (Knoblauch & Hoy, 2008; Labone, 2004; Yoon, 2002). Yet, school characteristics are easier to alter than teacher characteristics. Knoblauch and Hoy (2008) report that teachers’ sense of efficacy is not uniform across school settings. For example, teachers can feel more efficacious in calm, rural schools and less efficacious in dense urban schools (Knoblauch & Hoy, 2008). Fackler and Malmberg (2016) confirm that in teacher efficacy research, most of the unexplained variance is between schools. Those differences between schools are still a ‘black box’ and research concerning teacher efficacy is urging for more studies that include school characteristics. Goddard and Goddard (2001) believe that it is important to understand the relationship between several school contextual variables and teacher efficacy. So far, very few studies concerning teacher outcomes include external obstacles, such as the socioeconomic student composition of the school (Fackler & Malmberg, 2016; Van Houtte, 2011). Those contextual factors, and possible effects on teacher efficacy, obviously need further research. We already know that students are affected in several ways by the socioeconomic composition of the school (Sellström & Bremberg, 2006; Van Eycken, 2018), but we know little about how this composition can affect teachers and their self-efficacy. The socioeconomic composition seems a possible predictor of teacher efficacy in a few studies (Auwarter & Aruguete, 2008), where teachers in schools with a high proportion of low-SES students score lower on self-efficacy. The ethnic diversity of schools affects teacher efficacy as well, since teachers experience a more diverse classroom as more demanding (Knoblauch & Hoy, 2008). Other studies suggest that gender (composition) matters since low-efficacy feelings appear when teaching, especially, low-SES boys (Auwarter & Aruguete, 2008). Teaching mostly low-SES students has a negative effect on teacher efficacy and the effect will be even stronger when teaching mainly low-SES boys. Auwarter and Aruguete (2008) suggest an interaction between gender composition and socioeconomic composition for teachers’ sense of efficacy, and an interaction between socioeconomic composition and the individual SES of the teacher for their sense of efficacy as well, however, they only tested this for teacher expectations. Since not many studies have encountered compositional effects to analyze teacher efficacy, scholars are increasingly urging for more focus on composition, such as schools’ socioeconomic student composition and gender composition (Fackler & Malmberg, 2016). Moreover, teacher outcomes are often overlooked in research concerning effects of school composition (Van Houtte, 2011). In response to this gap, this study will combine individual teacher characteristics and school characteristics based on aggregated student characteristics. This study will focus on the effect of the socioeconomic student composition and gender composition on teacher efficacy, controlling for ethnic composition of the school. To reveal the influence of those contextual factors, a multilevel approach will be used

Ferrocene-derived P,N ligands : synthesis and application in enantioselective catalysis

Due to their unique steric and electronic properties, air-stability and modular structure, chiral hybrid P,N-ferrocenyl ligands play a prominent role in the field of asymmetric catalysis. This report aims to give a concise introduction to the syntheses of chiral hybrid P,N-ferrocenyl ligands and presents an overview of their application in enantioselective catalysis. This review is of special interest to chemists working on ligand design and asymmetric catalysis, as well as to the broader organic and inorganic community

SES en spijbelgedrag : de school doet ertoe! De invloed van SES(context) op spijbelgedrag

Spijbelgedrag is in bijna elke school aanwezig. Het aantal spijbelaars blijft al jaren stabiel of kent zelfs een lichte stijging, ondanks de actieplannen door regeringen en scholen. Spijbelgedrag brengt de nodige risico’s mee voor jongeren. Het is een voorspeller van latere mislukkingen zoals criminaliteit en werkloosheid. Onderzoek heeft ons al veel geleerd over mogelijke oorzaken van spijbelgedrag, maar is het er niet altijd over eens welke factoren doorslaggevend zijn. Deze studie onderzoekt enerzijds welke invloed de sociaaleconomische status (SES) van de leerling en de sociaaleconomische samenstelling van de school hebben op het spijbelgedrag van de leerling. Anderzijds wordt er ook nagegaan of het effect van de SES van de leerling gemodereerd wordt door de sociaaleconomische samenstelling van de school. Hiervoor wordt gebruikgemaakt van data van het Vlaams Leerlingen Onderzoek (VLO) die verzameld werden in het schooljaar 2004-2005 bij 11.872 leerlingen in 85 Vlaamse secundaire scholen. Hoewel de multilevelanalyse aantoont dat de SES van de leerling geen direct effect heeft op het spijbelgedrag en de sociaaleconomische samenstelling van de school deze relatie niet modereert, heeft de school wel een opmerkelijke invloed. Scholen met veel leerlingen met een hoge sociaaleconomische status krijgen minder te maken met spijbelgedrag. Het is opvallend dat de individuele sociaaleconomische status van de leerling geen rol blijkt te spelen om spijbelgedrag te vertonen, maar de sociaaleconomische samenstelling van de school wel. De schoolomgeving en het schoolnet blijken eveneens een belangrijke rol te spelen

A sociological view on teacher efficacy : a closer look at the school context

Studies have indicated that teacher efficacy influences teachers’ effort to encounter classroom difficulties and students’ academic performances (Fackler & Malmberg, 2016). Through mainly psychological research, we know which teacher characteristics affect teacher efficacy, nevertheless, classroom or school characteristics are largely overlooked in studies on teacher efficacy (Knoblauch & Hoy, 2008). Few studies concerning teacher outcomes include external obstacles, such as the socioeconomic composition of the school (Van Houtte, 2011). Socioeconomic and gender composition have already proven to influence students (Sellström & Bremberg, 2006; Van Eycken, 2018), but we know little about how these compositions can affect teachers’ efficacy. Studies suggest that teaching mostly low-SES students has a negative effect on teacher efficacy and the effect will be even stronger when teaching mainly low-SES boys (Auwarter & Aruguete, 2008). Using Flemish data of 1247 teachers and 6380 students in 59 schools gathered between 2012 and 2014, our multilevel analysis shows that socioeconomic composition does not affect teacher efficacy and no significant interaction between socioeconomic and gender composition was found. Gender composition affects one dimension of teacher efficacy: efficacy for classroom management. Teachers feel more efficacious when teaching mostly boys. This was unexpected, although we could link this with Bandura’s social learning theory (1997): “mastery of difficult tasks heightens feelings of efficacy”. Thus, schools with mostly girls seem less challenging. This study confirms the relevance of investigating compositional effects on teacher efficacy showing that teachers feel more efficacious for classroom management when teaching mostly boys, while efficacy affects students’ motivation and achievement

Divergent strategy for the synthesis of α-aryl-substituted fosmidomycin analogues

Fosmidomycin is the first representative of a new class of antimalarial drugs acting through inhibition of 1-deoxy-D-xylulose 5-phosphate ( DOXP) reductoisomerase (DXR), an essential enzyme in the non-mevalonate pathway for the synthesis of isoprenoids. This work describes a divergent strategy for the synthesis of a series of alpha-aryl-substituted fosmidomycin analogues, featuring a palladium-catalyzed Stille coupling as the key step. An alpha-(4-cyanophenyl)fosmidomycin analogue emerged as the most potent analogue in the present series. Its antimalarial activity clearly surpasses that of the reference compound fosmidomycin

Ruthenium-catalyzed cascade C-H activation/annulation of N-alkoxybenzamides : reaction development and mechanistic insight

A highly selective ruthenium-catalyzed C-H activation/annulation of alkyne-tethered N-alkoxybenzamides has been developed. In this reaction, diverse products from inverse annulation can be obtained in moderate to good yields with high functional group compatibility. Insightful experimental and theoretical studies indicate that the reaction to the inverse annulation follows the Ru(ii)-Ru(iv)-Ru(ii) pathway involving N-O bond cleavage prior to alkyne insertion. This is highly different compared to the conventional mechanism of transition metal-catalyzed C-H activation/annulation with alkynes, involving alkyne insertion prior to N-O bond cleavage. Via this pathway, the in situ generated acetic acid from the N-H/C-H activation step facilitates the N-O bond cleavage to give the Ru-nitrene species. Besides the conventional mechanism forming the products via standard annulation, an alternative and novel Ru(ii)-Ru(iv)-Ru(ii) mechanism featuring N-O cleavage preceding alkyne insertion has been proposed, affording a new understanding of transition metal-catalyzed C-H activation/annulation

Electrochemical technology enables nutrient recovery and ammonia toxicity control in anaerobic digestion

The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of an electrochemical system (ES) on the performance of an anaerobic digester during both low and high ammonium (NH4+) loading rates. For this, a Test (with ES) and Control (without ES) setup was used. Ammonia (NH3), in equilibrium with NH4+, is a toxic compound to the methanogenic community, limits the substrate loading rate and endangers process stability. We hypothesized that, through coupling of an ES to a digester, NH3 toxicity can be controlled with simultaneous recovery of this nutrient. The ES always had a temporary negative effect when switched on. However, during periods of high ammonium loading rates the CH4 production of the Test reactor was at maximum a factor 4.5 higher compared to the Control reactor, which could be explained through a combination of NH4+ extraction and electrochemical pH control. A nitrogen flux of 47 g N m-2 membrane d-1 could be obtained in the Test reactor, resulting in a current and removal efficiency of 38±5% and 28±2%, respectively. For this, an electrochemical power input 17±2 kWh kg-1 N was necessary. In addition, anodic oxidation of sulphide resulted in a significantly lower H2S emission