Intensive Training Programme for Pre-Service Teachers: An Intersectionality Perspective of an Israeli Rural Druse School

The current case-study research was aimedat describing an intensive training programme for preservice teachers in a rural Druse school in Israel, and understanding how educators participating in the programme perceived collaboration and challenges during the programme. Twenty semistructured interviews were conducted with educators (pre-service and in-service teachers, coordinator, teacher educator, and principal). Based on thematic analysis, three collaborative characteristics were identified: debate over co-teaching practices; pedagogical theoretical learning and its immediate implementation and reflection; deep and intensive mentorship. In addition, combinations between two axes - professional and organizational domains; and short-term vs. longterm perspectives – yielded four different challenges. The professional domain in the short-and longterm was well established; however, the organizational domain remains unclear. Based on the intersectionality approach, the findings of the current study suggest that a combination of multiple social categories - rural space, and ethnic Druse group - create marginalized features that placed barriers for pre-service teachers. The various challenges are further discussed

“Who’s the Student at Home?”: Parental Help-Giving Orientation in Learning at Home Predicted using a Parent’s Personal Characteristics

The present study focuses on the involvement of a parent in their child’s learning processes, particularly, their help-giving orientation while learning at home. The main goal of the study was to identify the connection between the parent’s personal characteristics and the help-giving orientation the parent provides to their child: autonomous vs. dependent (parent as student) help-giving. The sample was collected using online participant recruitment surveys in Israel. In total, 306 parents aged 27–59, who had at least one child in elementary school, answered five questionnaires measuring the research variables: the short grit scale; the satisfaction with life scale; the advice/affect management–overparenting subscale; the parenting sense of competence scale; the parental help-giving orientations scale (PHGOs), and a background questionnaire. The findings identified negative associations between parental personal characteristics (grit, advice/affect management, well-being) and parent-as-student orientation and positive associations between the parent’s characteristics and parental autonomous help-giving orientation, with all of these effects at least partially mediated by parental self-efficacy (indirect effects). The results provide greater insight into the relationship between a parent’s personal characteristics and their choice of assistance to their child and contribute to the knowledge regarding parental involvement in learning at home and educational contexts in general

Parental Help-Giving Orientations Scale (PHGOs) in Children’s Learning: Construction and Validation

Parental involvement in the education and learning processes of children in general has become central in the last few decades. Following this involvement, the home arena is considered highly influential in providing a supportive environment for children’s learning processes. Help-giving orientations of parents to their children in relation to homework and learning assignments can be crucial for the children’s futures. According to the Help Relations theory regarding the two main orientations—dependent versus autonomy help (dependent help-giving rather than autonomy help), prevents opportunities to develop autonomous coping abilities in future. The Parental Help-Giving Orientations scale was designed to measure parental help to their children in learning at home. In Study 1, eleven experts evaluated orientations of parental help-giving that emerged from interviews. In Study 2 (n = 255), exploratory factor analyses (EFA) indicated four reliable factors: autonomic, dependent reminder, dependent partner, and dependent student. The confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) in Study 3 in an independent sample of parents (n = 303) exhibited a good model-fit of the data and demonstrated measurement invariance across parental gender. The scale can be used to measure individual differences in orientations in help-seeking among mothers and fathers

Caregiving strategies, parental practices, and the use of Facebook groups among Israeli mothers of adolescents

Facebook offers a “village” for mothers to come together and seek and share parenting information, but while there has been substantial research examining both positive and negative aspects of parents’ Facebook use, there is no research on use of Facebook by mothers of adolescents and its association with parent-adolescent relationships. Given the intense challenges of raising adolescents and the dearth of research into potential benefits and drawbacks of mothers of adolescents seeking support from Facebook, we sought to fill this gap by focusing on the caregiving and parenting practices of mothers of adolescents who were members of mothers’ groups on Facebook. The sample included 74 Israeli dyads of mothers (Mage = 43.73, SD = 4.41), who participated in Facebook groups for mothers and their adolescent children (Mage = 12.26, SD = 3.11) during 2019. Mothers reported on their Facebook use and caregiving strategies. The adolescents answered a parenting practices questionnaire. It was found that higher permissiveness and greater psychological intrusiveness were related to higher use of Facebook by the mothers. Among mothers who were high on hyperactivation, greater permissiveness and psychological intrusiveness were related to higher Facebook use to a greater extent than among mothers who were low on hyperactivation. Alongside Facebook’s benefits as a community for mothers come serious risks for some mothers. As research in this area grows, an examination of the characteristics of Facebook use by mothers of adolescent children involved in Facebook mothers’ groups is meaningful.