Do Managerial Skills Address Quality Issues in Teacher Education – An Introspection
Life Skills Acquisition of Higher Secondary Students In Relation to Their Academic Achievement.
Mathematical Anxiety and Achievement in Mathematics among Standard Ix Students.
Editorial: Indian Educational Researcher Volume 8 Issue 2, July – December 2015
Dr. A. Alma Juliet Pamela
Editorial Notes December 20, 2015. Pages: 01-02.
“The way to do research is to attack the facts at the point of greatest astonishment”
Celia Green
Educational research is essentially concerned with exploring and understanding social phenomena. In doing so, it deals with educational questions that can be investigated in a satisfactory manner and the methods which enable such satisfactory investigation and the utility of results emanating from such investigation (Dash, 1993). Since theoretical questions in education emerge from different conceptions and interpretations of social reality, different paradigms have been evolved to determine the criteria according to which one would select and define problems for inquiry. Thomas Kuhn who is known for the term 'paradigm characterizes a paradigm as: ''An integrated cluster of substantive concepts, variables and problems attached with corresponding methodological approaches and tools..." A paradigm is a matrix of beliefs and perceptions, it is a "worldview" or a set of assumptions about how things work. Rossman & Rollis define paradigm as “shared understandings of reality”.
Quantitative and qualitative research methods involve very different assumptions about how research should be conducted and the role of the researcher. Different paradigms have taken birth due to the remarkable growth in social sciences research. Positivism and anti-positivism (or naturalistic inquiry) are the two main paradigms which has definite research methods that is carried out in scientific investigation. Positivism an objectivist approach focuses on quantitative analysis, anti-positivism a subjectivist approach attaches importance to a range of research techniques focusing on qualitative analysis. The question arises: how does a researcher while selecting a research paradigm raises questions like, What is the nature or essence of the social phenomena being investigated?, Is social phenomenon objective in nature or created by the human mind?, What are the bases of knowledge corresponding to the social reality, and how knowledge can be acquired and disseminated? And what is the relationship of an individual with her environment? Is he/she conditioned by the environment or is the environment created by him/her? Based on the above questions, the researcher can identify whether the research questions pertain to positivism, anti-positivism, and choose the appropriate methodology accordingly.
Dr. G. Subramanian & Dr. N. Muthaiah in their Research 'Do Managerial Skills Address Quality issues in Teacher Education -An Introspection' insists that Innovation in Teaching, promotion of research, participation of teachers in innovative programs must be mode part and parcel of any teachers education program. Dr. K.S. Premila in her investigation on the Aptitude of teacher and Disabled graduates towards usage of Technology in teaching - learning process found that loco-motor disabled persons are using technology and visually impaired students are deprived of it. Dr. J. Kausalya and Anita Ezra in their study on five life skills explored that English medium students have better critical thinking, private management school students have better problem solving skills, co-education school student’s life skills are better. Dr. K. Saikumari in her research study recommends that the Mathematics teachers must be given training in helping the students to develop positive attitude towards mathematics and get rid of their anxiety in studying mathematics. Finally Dr. Jain Shanthini in her article on job stress discusses about the signs and causes of job Stress and provides measures to prevent Job Stress. We express our sincere gratitude to the contributors and look forward to quality Research articles on the current trends in Education.