Abstracts – Session Three

2:00 – 3:00 – 6EN – 561

Chair:  David Teh

Wendy Xiong: PETE students’ development of Cooperative Learning in a professional learning programme: A Chinese perspective

Whilst there has been an increased interest in studying Cooperative Learning (CL) to improve students’ academic performance, social and affective outcomes, practical use in schools still faces many difficulties and resistance due to teachers’ lack of comprehension of this model. Correspondingly, attention is required to be paid in preservice and in-service teacher’s professional learning in CL theoretically and practically. However, little is known about how preservice teachers’ (PSTs) learning and use of CL, particularly in the field of physical education and teacher education (PETE). The aim of this study was to investigate the ways in which PETE students develop their knowledge, beliefs, and practices of CL during a professional learning course and practicum experience in the Chinese context. Positioned within an interpretive paradigm, this study employed a qualitative single case study. Data was collected through focus group interviews, concept maps, semi-structured interviews, and class observations with PETE students, the lecturer, and associate teachers. Cyclical coding process of data analysis (Miles, Huberman, & Saldaña, 2014) was undertaken within the theoretical framework of situated learning theory. This presentation will describe the findings at the first phase of this study that how PETE students developed their perspectives on CL after experiential learning of this model. In general, the study revealed that experiential learning offered great potential benefits for PETE students’ development of CL, suggesting that CL model should be embedded in initial teacher education (ITE).

Waseema Fikuree: A leadership task effectiveness model for the Maldives: Perspectives from principals and the Senior Management Team

Although the relations between general educational leadership practices and student achievement have been well-researched, little is known about the relations between principals’ effectiveness in specific tasks and student achievement. The purpose of this research was to explore principal task effectiveness, as perceived by principals themselves and their senior management teams (SMT) and the associations between perceived principal task effectiveness in these task dimensions and student achievement.

This study employed an exploratory quantitative design using surveys to collect principal and SMT ratings of principal task effectiveness. Survey data and grades from the International General Certificate of Secondary Education (IGCSE) in Mathematics and English as a Second Language (ESL) were collected from all of the 178 public secondary schools in the Maldives. An exploratory factor analysis was used to explore principal task dimensions. Hierarchical regressions were used to examine the predictive ability of principal task effectiveness and certain principal characteristics on student achievement.

The study found that the task dimension Teacher Quality and principals’ years of experience in the school positively predicted student achievement in ESL. This research highlights the importance of principal task effectiveness and its link to student outcomes. These findings have implications for principals’ training and professional development.

Tracey Wakefield: Practitioners’ experiences of espoused organisational values and management practices in New Zealand Faith-Based Social Services

In New Zealand most of the larger social service non-governmental organisations (NGOs) are connected to faith-based organisations and therefore have a strong link to Christian values and ethics. This research explores how well organisations driven to “do good” also “do good” by their staff. “Organisational values” refer to publicly stated values and mission statement of the agency where staff are employed. These statements are connected to the religious values of the organisation and are used to signpost to external parties how the organisation will treat clients and what the organisation thinks is important. A review of the existing literature gives support to the theory that practitioners do experience a dissonance between organisational values and management practice. The aim of the study is to explore if this is the experience of New Zealand practitioners and develop an understanding of how practitioners view their experience of management practices alongside their understanding of espoused organisational values. This research involves conducting face to face individual interviews with counsellors and addiction practitioners who are either currently or have previously worked for faith-based social services. Early findings suggest that practitioners choose employers on the basis of alignment between organizational, personal and professional values; enjoy positive experiences when values and practices are aligned but negative when there is non-alignment; have observed defensive, manipulative, and disrespectful management actions; and are gaining insights into the pursuit of funding over valuing people and rapid expansion as potential causative factors of dissonance.