Emotional literacy (EL) provides a basis for understanding how relationships between teachers and students contribute to effective learning. This facet of schooling is central to the growing interest in positive education and the place of positive psychology in schooling. As schools are relational organisations, EL provides a cornerstone for building pro-social values and social-emotional skills that can help make schools more satisfying places to work and learn. The thesis comprises two interrelated studies of multiple stakeholders’ perspectives of EL in a case study school (school executive (n=4), school counsellors (n=2), teachers (n=89), students (n=509)). An ecological systems view provided the theoretical underpinning for utilising a participatory action research (PAR) approach. Study 1 examined the status of EL to determine strengths, barriers, and areas that would benefit from school-derived EL interventions. Multiple stakeholders (n=215): leading teachers (n=3), School Counsellor (n=1), teachers (n=33), and students (n=178) participated in Study 1 by completing a survey and participating in focus groups (n=2) and interviews (n=4). Study 2 explicated and implemented school-derived EL interventions through PAR and elucidated the impact of the EL interventions on EL. Study 2 aimed to identify the features of an emotionally literate school. Multiple stakeholders (n=396: School Executive (n=3), School Counsellors (n=2), teachers (n=56), and students (n=331)) participated in Study 2 by completing the survey utilised in Study 1 in two waves of data. Teachers (n=6), students (n=4), and school counsellors (n=2) participated in focus groups or an interview after the EL interventions were implemented to determine the impact of the interventions and how their views about EL evolved. Using qualitative analysis methods the research findings informed school-derived EL intervention strategies. Research data was coded against the research questions and ascribed meaning. On this basis patterns and themes emerged, enabling understanding and insight about the research findings. The ecological framework used in this research informed my thinking about the data and the way I derived meaning from the data. Study 1 found stakeholders’ views about EL were influenced by school social environment perceptions. Students confirmed their positive view about the role of socialemotional skills and relational quality for academic outcomes, as found in other research (Dix, Slee, Lawson, & Keeves, 2011; Durlak, Weissberg, Dymnick, Taylor, & Schellinger, 2011). Study 2 found that emotionally literate school leadership played a key role in how teachers feel about their roles and contributions to school. The findings suggested that activating teacher and student voices adds to a positive school ambience and builds teacher self-efficacy. In Study 2, the PAR approach elucidated that while quality implementation of EL is the ideal, EL change could be promoted through a ‘ripple effect’, if embedded in the school culture through teacher ownership. A teacher EL development model using teacher professional practice, knowledge of self and others, and positive education approaches is another outcome of the research. Using pedagogical approaches akin to EL, teachers can model pro-social values, EL skills, and grit, enabling students to develop EL. The research findings imply that teacher well-being provides a foundation for building EL through value-laden approaches embedded in the school philosophy.

Enhancing emotional literacy: A critical case study of multiple stakeholders' perspectives and effects of a whole-school approach

This Australian case study explored the implementation of strategies to support the development of a positive school culture among whole school staff. A participatory action research approach was u...

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The role of leadership in establishing a positive staff culture in a secondary school

The purpose of this study was to determine whether training affected the job satisfaction reported by online faculty members. A convenience sample of 492 Iowa Community College Online Consortium (ICCOC) faculty members were invited to participate in a quantitative survey, and 148 responded. Overall Job Satisfaction was operationalized through the use of the Index of Job Satisfaction (IJS), which was created by Brayfield and Rothe (1951). The study was unable to find a statistically significant relationship for Training either as a dichotomous variable (p=.463>.05) or a continuous variable (p=.330>.05) and Overall Job Satisfaction, controlling for age and gender.IntroductionStudents increasingly choose online education because of its accessibility and flexibility (Horvath & Mills, 2011). As web-enhanced teaching continues to expand (Moloney et al, 2010) and as student demand for online courses increases, the resulting demand for qualified faculty to teach distance education courses also has grown as well. The need for trained faculty in the online environment is noted in literature (Haber & Mills, 2008; Orr, Williams & Pennington, 2009; Pagliari, Batts & McFadden, 2009). Colleges and universities must respond to student demands by offering quality online courses using best practices and qualified faculty (Baghdadi, 2011).Faculty members who desire to teach a quality online course need training in both technology and instructional methods, such as course design (Hoyle, 2010), implementation, and delivery (Dempsey, Fisher, Wright, & Anderton, 2008) because many of these skills are applied uniquely in the online learning environment. Another important ingredient of online course quality is faculty satisfaction (Bollinger & Wasilik, 2009) which is one of the five pillars of quality for online courses indicated by the Sloan Consortium (2002). Outside of educational research, training opportunities have been found to be positively related to employee satisfaction (Irving & Montes, 2009).In 1999, the Iowa Community College Online Consortium (ICCOC), a group of seven community colleges located in Iowa, began offering online courses. When the ICCOC started, there were 11 faculty members serving 273 students. During the 2011-2012 academic year, the ICCOC employed approximately 497 faculty members who served over 30,000 students. Historically, the ICCOC has addressed online faculty training in a variety of ways including face-to-face, conferences, and workshops. Although the ICCOC offers various types of training, this study focused exclusively on the formal training modules offered to ICCOC faculty through the Pearson eTeaching Institute©.ImportanceAs online education continues to grow in the United States (Allen & Seaman, 2011; Moloney et al., 2010), enrollments have grown at the Iowa Community College Online Consortium (ICCOC). Although member colleges have formed a consortium to jointly offer online courses, there is no standard policy regarding faculty training and each college makes its own decisions regarding the method and amount of required training. Thus, each college has different training requirements for faculty regarding the completion of online course modules, which may affect job satisfaction, faculty retention, and, ultimately, student achievement.The problem studied was that the ICCOC did not know whether the online course modules result in increased job satisfaction for online faculty members (G. Bartelson, personal communication, March 12, 2013). As discovered in a review of the literature, age and gender have been regularly confirmed as being related to job satisfaction and were included as part of the research analysis. A review of the literature has found training to be linked to employee job satisfaction in other arenas but not yet for online faculty. The results of this study may direct practitioner efforts to increase job satisfaction for online faculty and may guide decision makers in future training-policy decisions. …

Relating Training to Job Satisfaction: A Survey of Online Faculty Members.

Teacher retention is essential to high student achievement. Factors affecting teacher morale must be identified to increase teacher retention. The low numbers of female administrators compared to the number of female teachers indicates that equity, diversity, and pluralism do not apply to women in leadership roles. This promotes the need for an examination to the degree to which the gender of the leader impacts teacher morale. This qualitative study examined the relationship between the gender of the leader and teacher morale. Teachers and principals were interviewed with the intent of investigating the impact that gendered practices of leaders may or may not have on teacher morale. This study suggests that teacher morale hinges on a set of behaviors or character traits of the leader rather than leader gender. Certain leader attributes were identified as essential to high teacher morale. These attributes fostered qualities that appeared as recurring themes associated with high teacher morale. Additionally, an evaluation of the collected data demonstrated the influence of gender norms on how leaders may be perceived. The view of gender as a binary rather than as a continuum and factors that promote this worldview were also present in the data collected from interview respondents.

Perceptions Of Gendered Practices Among Teachers And Leaders In Relation To School Morale

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Lynn W. Varner

Papers

Factors that Affect Teacher Morale