The aim of the study is to determine the effects of teacher's positive and negative feedback on high school students' perceived motivational climate and achievement goals in a physical education setting. Forty seven ninth grade students participated in the study. The design was a 2 x 2 between subjects factorial crossing feedback…

Developing sustainable e-learning requires a better understanding of the perceptions and preferences of e-learning providers and e-learners on the four crucial dimensions for elearning success including pedagogies, technologies, learning resources and management of learning resources. There is, however, little research on evaluating whether these…

This paper reports on findings from a major New Zealand research project around staff perceptions of student evaluations of teaching. The main focus of this discussion is the insights that the research afforded into staff engagement with and use of student evaluations to inform their teaching practice and to improve student learning. The research…

There are many different ways to measure a construct and the method chosen to accomplish this task can have a major effect on results of statistical analyses based on the measured variable. We looked at various methods ranging between naive and sophisticated that can be used to measure self-efficacy within the special context of mathematics, in…

This study investigates who chooses primary teaching and how prospective primary school teachers differ from future teachers in other types of schools. Using variance analysis, future student-teachers of different types of schools are compared with regard to their motives for the choice of studies and profession. As a main result, prospective…

Successful school reform is dependent on the quality of decisions made by educational leaders. In such decision making, educational leaders are charged with using sound research findings as the basis for choosing school reform initiatives. As part of the debate regarding the usability of various evaluative research designs in providing information…

Teachers bring a complex array of beliefs and attitudes to the teaching of literacy. The purpose of the study reported in this article was to investigate the nature of teacher attitudes towards the learning and teaching of writing in the first year of school and to identify any broad underlying attitudinal dimensions. The secondary aim was to…

The delivery of the primary curriculum has been subject to recent debate in Western countries. In Australia, the primary teacher is by and large considered a generalist; however a current paradox exists whereby there are claims that specialists are needed to deliver the curriculum. This study explores this claim by first addressing the prevalence…

One major issue social science research is faced with concerns the methodological schism and internecine "warfare" that divides the field. This paper examines critically what is referred to as combined methods research, and the claim that this is the best methodology for addressing complex social issues. The paper discredits this claim on the…

This study investigated the cognitive strategies that underpin assessors' holistic judgments of a school-based vocationally-related portfolio performance. Using a portfolio already identified as containing borderline qualities, quantitative data were gathered about features that six assessors attended to as they holistically evaluated the…

Much of the research regarding the effectiveness of drama as a teaching tool is evaluated using qualitative analysis. This collaborative action study applied quantitative research techniques to assess the usefulness of drama as a teaching tool. The aim was to discover what happens to children's understanding of verb tense when taught using drama…

The Chinese Language Classroom Environment Inventory (CLCEI) is a bilingual instrument developed for use in measuring students' and teachers' perceptions toward their Chinese Language classroom learning environments in Singapore secondary schools. The English version of the CLCEI was customised from the English version of the "What is happening in…

In this article the authors discuss issues faced by early career researchers, including the dichotomy, which many research textbooks and journal articles create and perpetuate between qualitative and quantitative research methodology despite considerable literature to support the use of mixed methods. The authors review current research literature…