In current school environments, teacher recruitment, turnover, and retention present significant problems, particularly for rural and remote international schools in archipelagic countries. Employing the Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT), this study analyzed international school teachers with teaching experience at a Fijian international school about their career development, retention ideas, and the decision of teaching service. As there is not a large population of international school teachers in archipelagic countries due to the unique environment of the school and country, the researcher employed the Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) to better understand six international school teachers who have taught and are teaching at one of the Fijian international schools. The study categorized two directions for leaving and staying at a remote location. Participants indicated that the managerial styles, negative leadership, and limited social networking were the most significant challenges while respectfulness and simple living style were the most significant advantages of their Fijian teaching experience. As this study mainly focused on the issues for rural, remote, and archipelagic countries, the result of this study serves as one of the first blueprints for organizational leaders in those regions to improve their management styles in order to recruit and retain their skillful professionals.
Foreign language teaching and learning is one of the topics in the field of K-12 education and adult learning. Most of the current research studies tend to focus on the development and training of foreign language learners. However, issues such as teaching strategies, methodologies, classroom management, and personal beliefs of teaching and learning are neglected. As teachers are primary tools to deliver lessons at all different levels, educators and researchers are increasingly concerned about how teachers" beliefs and personal background may influence classroom management, curriculum and instruction planning and expectations of students. The current study is a literature review of the concept of teachers" beliefs, followed by a review of studies exploring teachers" beliefs using different methodologies. The relationship between teachers" beliefs and teachers" classroom practices is also discussed, along with factors influencing teachers" beliefs in teaching professional development courses. Contribution/Originality: This study contributes to the existing literature on teachers" personal beliefs and teaching behaviors. The paper's primary contribution is also to study how teachers" personal beliefs influence their classroom management, teaching styles, and instructional feature.
Teaching in international schools is challenging for teachers and professional school staff due to language barriers, cultural shocks, teaching and learning expectations, support and even living standards. As a result, international schools often organise recruitment fairs to recruit professionals and prevent them from frequent departures. Such departures always cost resources and reduces the performance and morale of the schools. To understand this issue and provide a solution, the researcher collected data from 28 qualified international school teachers and professional school staff who have provided education services for more than 20 years in Hong Kong. The participants used terms such as "bridging the future leaders", "connecting both local students and international expatriates in a safe environment", "transferring foreign, home and essential knowledge to local and international students" to describe their current positions for lifelong career decisions and career development. The results of this study outlined areas on how to improve the managerial styles and teachers' professional development plans in order to retain staff population and increase the morale of incoming and junior-level teachers.
The purpose of this study is to explore the reasons why parents decide to send their children to privately funded primary schools providing a bilingual English language program (BELP) after completion of native language-oriented kindergarten education (i.e. Chinese language). This study was guided by one research question: Why do parents decide to send their children to a primary school with a BELP after the completion of native language-oriented kindergarten education? In order to engage with the nature of the qualitative inquiry, 35 parents were invited to share their understanding and decision of BELP for their children with a semi-structured, face-to-face, and one-on-one interview. Three themes were emerged for reporting: 1. the expectation of advanced English language skills; 2. preparation for international schools, overseas schools, and university admission; and 3. the satisfaction of parents themselves. The findings indicated that parents tend to select programs, which satisfy their own interests instead of being the most appropriate for children. These findings imply that the decision to study in a school with a BELP after native language-oriented kindergarten education is affected by a combination of factors: globalization, advanced English language skills, preparation for further education, career development, and more importantly, the satisfaction of parents.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.