Shlomo Romi

Exploring inclusion preservice training needs: a study of variables associated with attitudes and self‐efficacy beliefs

The study examined attitudes towards inclusion and sense of efficacy of 1155 Israeli preservice teachers and variables related to these beliefs. Participants responded to an Options related to inclusion scale, and a Teacher efficacy scale. Findings revealed strong support for the principle of inclusion, yet also support for segregated special education placements. Several concerns regarding inclusion were expressed, which were related to the area of classroom management and teacher instructional skills. Sense of efficacy scores on personal efficacy, social efficacy and efficacy regarding low‐achieving students were higher than those for teaching efficacy. Less support for inclusion was found for students in Arab (Muslim) colleges compared to students in Jewish colleges. These two groups were also different on self‐efficacy scores. The major area of study and experience was associated with the level of support for inclusion and to self‐efficacy scores. The progression in the training programme was associated with increased concerns and less support for inclusion. Female students were more supportive of inclusion than males, and had higher self‐efficacy scores. Implications for preservice education for general and special education students are discussed.

Changes in Self-efficacy of Prospective Special and General Education Teachers: Implication for inclusive education

The impact of three variables on the self-efficacy of 992 general and special education preservice teachers was examined. These variables were years of preservice education, experience with children with special educational needs, and training in inclusion or exceptional education. All participants responded to a teacher self-efficacy scale that measured four factors. Findings revealed a main effect for years of preservice education and for major of the academic degree. The main effect for years of preservice education was found only for efficacy for social relations. The main effect for degree major revealed that special education majors had significantly higher scores than regular education majors, on all four factors. A significant main effect for experience and major was also found. Students with much and some experience had significantly higher scores than students with no experience on two factors. Intensity of training was associated with self-efficacy. Students with much and some training had significantly higher scores than students with no training on all four factors. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

The Impact of Teachers’ Aggressive Management Techniques on Students’ Attitudes to Schoolwork

ABSTRACT Previous studies have shown that teachers’ aggressive classroom management impacts negatively on students. The authors compared student reaction to teachers’ use of aggressive management techniques in Australia, China, and Israel. Reactions included distraction negativity toward teachers and perceptions that teachers’ responses were unjustified, yet the perception of aggression as justified (or not) only minimally affected the degree of students’ distraction and negativity toward the teacher. Yelling in anger and sarcasm appeared less problematic in Israel and somewhat less so in China; in Australia, no difference in potential impact between different forms of aggression was evident. Implications of these findings are discussed.

Non‐formal education: a major educational force in the postmodern era

This study aims to describe the current position of non‐formal education (NFE) as a major educational force in the postmodern world, and to analyze its philosophical and theoretical assumptions. Far from being ‘supplementary education’ or ‘extracurricular activities’, NFE has developed into a worldwide educational industry. However, it has yet to be studied as an independent educational approach. Aimed at all ages and literacy levels, NFE challenges traditional concepts of education. It affects society as a whole and the life and conduct of individuals, and has influenced formal education, which has adopted many of its theoretical assumptions and pedagogical practices.

Teachers’, Students’ and Parents’ Attitudes Towards Disruptive Behaviour Problems in High School: a case study

Abstract The present study maps the attitudes towards students’ disruptive behaviour as part of the school discipline. Research studies on the subject usually examine the attitudes of one or two groups of relevant subjects, that is, teachers, parents or students. As teachers, students and parents do share a common milieu, the relationship of their attitudes towards student misbehaviour is important in the crystallisation of such discipline. The present study is innovative in that all three groups were examined simultaneously in one school. A standardised questionnaire was designed for all three groups which identified typical disruptive behaviour by adolescent students. The study was conducted in a centre for technological education in Central Israel which caters, especially, for low‐achieving students. Findings reveal large gaps among the three groups. While teachers seem to agree among themselves as to the severity of most of the disruptive behaviour problems at school, students and parents were found t...

Teacher and Student Attitudes to Affective Education: A European Collaborative Research Project.

This article reports on the outcomes of a comparative research project examining teacher and student attitudes to affective education across Europe. Affective education is defined as the aspect of the educational process that is concerned with the feelings, values, beliefs, attitudes and emotional well-being of learners. The article begins with a consideration of some of the conceptual issues in affective education and its diversity across Europe as a basis for stressing the relevance of cross-cultural comparisons. It then offers a general picture of the findings of the present research project, draws a number of tentative conclusions from this and ends with a reference to issues requiring further research in comparative work on affective education.

Disruptive Behaviour in Religious and Secular High Schools: Teachers' and Students' Attitudes

D and adolescent behaviour, in and out of school, is highly relevant to examining research regarding expressions of violence, on the one hand, and building a just, civil society on the other. A survey of the research (Romi and Fruend, 1999) on attitudes to problems of student behaviour (‘discipline problems’) pointed at differences in attitudes between teachers and students. In most of the areas surveyed (e.g. expressions of aggression towards property or expressions of interpersonal aggression) teachers perceived the problems as being more severe than did the students. Despite the crucial role that religion plays in the lives of many people, religious beliefs are perhaps the least addressed when studying the issue of disruptive behaviour (Haque, 2001). According to Frank and Kendall (2001), only a few studies have examined how adolescents’ religious beliefs directly impact other important areas of their lives. In Israel the Ministry of Education operates two parallel public school systems – a secular system and a religious one – in which curricula are dictated by the Ministry. Parents are free to choose between the two, and may also move the child from one system to the other, their satisfaction with the school being the only relevant criterion. This study is an attempt to examine and compare the attitudes of teachers and students to students’ disruptive behaviour in religious junior high schools in Israel. After a review of relevant literature, the data from a case study of one such school will be presented. Furthermore, in order to explore differences between religious and secular settings, these data will then be compared with data from a sample of teachers and students from a secular high school of similar socio-economic level.

Emergence of a Unique German‐Israeli Academic Exchange Programme: Attributes and Dilemmas

This article describes a unique student exchange programme that has been operating for more than five years and which links students in the Department of Non-formal Education at Beit Berl College in Israel and students in the Department of Social Work at Fachhochschule Wiesbaden in Germany. The uniqueness of this programme lies not only in the co-operation between countries but mainly in the form of a professional study programme involving two educational institutions having different approaches and with different methods for the training of social workers that are embedded in different socio-cultural atmospheres and historical traditions. On top of these complexities, there was the need to cope with the question of how to rebuild relations between two societies loaded with the historical heritage of the Holocaust. The focus of this article is on the emergence and the development of the programme and on some of the dilemmas with which it was faced.

Reasons for aggressive classroom management and directions for change through teachers’ professional development programmes

Abstract This investigation was designed to determine whether there are significant relationships between the reasons teachers provide for aggressive classroom management techniques and the type of professional education created to help them reduce their reliance on such techniques. The study reports data from a survey of 192 Australian teachers showing that teachers’ gender and their school (primary or secondary) are related to rationales for teacher aggression. Teachers more accepting of the Attribution narrative as an explanation for teacher aggression are less likely to be supportive of gaining more knowledge about a misbehaving student. In contrast, those who more readily identify Efficacy as a reason for teacher aggression are more likely to gain more knowledge about a misbehaving student and about techniques that work with that student in other settings. Finally, teachers more accepting of the Attachment narrative did not exhibit a preference for any specific kind of support. Consequently, all types of PD activities might contribute to teachers who are seeking to feel close to students.

Youth exposure to security threats in Israel

Abstract This article examines the impact of three moderating variables ‒ attachment style, family support, and general values ‒ on the wellbeing of Israeli adolescents exposed to various levels of ongoing security threats. Based on a sample of 412 adolescents, it shows that young persons with a secure attachment style, high family support, and formed values have a higher degree of wellbeing. The findings for twelfth graders are of particular concern as their wellbeing was found to be lower than that of ninth and tenth graders. Using the path analysis model, the article explores the practical implications of the results and suggests ways and means for treating adolescents in similar circumstances.