Conflicts in teachers’ professional practices and perspectives about inclusion in Icelandic compulsory schools

Inclusive education policy, now the norm in many parts of the world including Iceland, is highly dependent on teachers for its successful implementation. Research on inclusion often attempts to identify teachers’ attitudes of inclusion (against/for). This article takes a different approach. It focuses on teachers’ perspectives of their professional practices; that is, how teachers understand what it means to be and practise as a teacher. We interviewed 10 Icelandic compulsory school teachers and also examined teaching logs and associated documents. The findings suggest that the teachers participating in this study have conflicting expectations towards their professional practice. They have unclear ideas about the inclusive ideology, and external factors influence teachers’ perception of their professional practice more than reflective practices. We suggest that these findings may well be applicable beyond the Icelandic context, and that they have implications for the overall in-service and pre-service education offered to teachers.     

‘I was kind of teaching myself’: teachers’ conversations about social justice and teaching for change

This article shares teachers’ conversations within teacher inquiry groups and considers how this reflective approach has potential for transforming teachers’ practices. Conversations took place at the early stages of a longer teacher inquiry project and centred on the critical interrogation of social justice-oriented children’s literature. These conversations served as a forum to help teacher professional learning communities and to reconcile understandings about social justice, action and agency within larger political and cultural forums of teaching. The teacher inquiry sessions shared in this paper explore teachers’ beginning struggles with conceptualizations of social justice, and the teacher’s role in imparting values to students. Teacher participants imparted their experience and practice as they negotiated their own understanding and implementation of social justice education in their schools. The teacher inquiry groups provided a needed supportive space where classroom teachers’ struggles were shared alongside their beliefs and pedagogical approaches so that a social justice agenda could be achieved.     

Affordances of teacher professional learning in secondary schools

It is commonly understood that teachers in secondary school should develop throughout their career in order to stay as an essential factor in student learning. Schools can offer opportunities to link teachers’ professional learning to their school practice with a positive impact on teachers’ motivation to learn and the effectiveness of their learning. In this field study, teachers, school leaders, policy-makers, educational consultants and educational scholars were asked for their perceptions of conditions for teacher learning in school and of interventions in school to enhance teacher professional learning. These conditions and interventions were understood as affordances in schools that enable and support teacher professional learning. The main affordance in school these stakeholders mentioned was an open, but critical way in which teachers share their practices, collaborate and reflect upon their teaching practice. Collaborative practices seem to stimulate many interventions of teacher professional learning in school. Two implications of this finding are discussed. First, we suggest that the maximum teaching time should be reduced, team teaching should be more implemented or classes should be scheduled in such a way that teachers can meet. Second, distributed leadership approaches match with our findings about the role of school leaders in teacher professional learning.     

Medical students and patient-centred clinical practice: the case for more critical work in medical schools

In the last two decades, undergraduate medical education in the United Kingdom has undergone several important changes. Many of these have revolved around a paradigmatic shift from ‘paternalistic’ to ‘patient-centred’ approaches to healthcare. Adopting a Foucauldian understanding of power and borrowing from Freire’s critical pedagogy, in this paper I draw upon ethnographic data from one UK medical school to illustrate the recurrence among medical students of narrow and uncritical understandings of patient-centred practices. These understandings highlight a tension between the ideals and frameworks of medical education policy and students’ conceptualisations of professional learning and practice. I explore this tension by tracing some possible links between students’ views of patient-centredness and the teaching practices at the medical school. I argue that more critical approaches to medical learning are sorely needed and suggest some directions for medical education that would help support the personal and professional development of more critically aware practitioners.     

‘I understood the complexity within diversity’: preparation for partnership with families in early childhood settings

‘Partnership between parents and teachers’ is a taken-for-granted feature of the philosophy and practice of early childhood education. Yet, the literature suggests this rhetoric belies a more complex and problematic reality for teachers. Making connections with the families and communities they will serve may help teacher education students confront understandings of the realities of family lives and assist them to prepare for their professional responsibilities. Teacher education literature suggests that supported field experiences may assist student teachers to examine their beliefs and reflect on their practices with families. This paper reports on the experiences of student teachers who undertook a community placement in order to interact with children and families outside their normal range of teaching practice experience. Three themes of changes in student learning are discussed: (1) beliefs about partnerships; (2) notions of complexities within diversity; and (3) developing relationships with diverse families. The paper argues that the change in placement setting prompted student reflection in relation to these themes and shifts in beliefs, towards more authentic and complex understandings of partnership.     

Identifying pathways of teachers’ PCK development

This paper describes a method of analysing teacher growth in the context of science education. It focuses on the identification of pathways in the development of secondary school teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) by the use of the interconnected model of teachers’ professional growth (IMTPG).The teachers (n = 12) participated in a one-year action research project focused on their individual concerns related to teaching science. The use of the IMTPG revealed that teachers use different pathways of learning to develop different aspects of their PCK. For each PCK component, three distinct pathways could be identified, two of which clearly were associated with professional growth. When examining these two pathways in detail, it was found that (1) teachers learned about new instructional strategies and assessment methods mostly through literature reviews and discussions with peers and (2) teachers who analyzed and reflected on student learning as it happened in their classrooms developed understandings that helped them to select and apply instructional strategies to further promote student learning. Both the analytical method as well as the identification of the different developmental pathways help to better understand teacher development in the context of classroom practices.     

Developing professionally: examining the value of an external agent to the professional growth of teachers experimenting with mobile digital technologies

This article presents and discusses findings related to the relationship between a university researcher acting as the external agent and three self-selected teachers involved in a professional learning and research project. The role of an external agent in supporting teachers’ professional development is of interest because it has not always been a role that has benefited teachers. The focus centres on how these three teachers viewed this role at the end of a two-year partnership. The wider project is centred on developing these teachers’ proficiency and knowledge of the value of iPads to both their own professional growth and classroom practices as well as their students’ learning. Some digital aspects of the project have already been addressed by Wright and colleagues, but not the perceptions of teachers regarding what value they put on the external agent role. Bevins and Price’s conception of school/university partnerships inspired this focus on wondering about the impact of the researcher acting as an external agent intersecting with teachers’ professional lives as we tracked their progress in using the iPads.     

The Task of Professional Development

Policies of inclusive education are emerging from many ministries and departments of education in countries around the world. McLesky and Waldron (2002) have argued that when teachers and administrators in schools begin to have discussions about inclusion the discussions often lead to two conclusions about how schools must change: (a) the change must address the needs of all students, not just those with disabilities, and (b) “school improvement” replaces references to inclusion. That is, teachers and administrators begin to rethink and restructure their programs in special and general education to improve the education of all students. In having to reform their practices general education teachers, in particular, must develop new understandings related to inclusion and reconceptualise how students with disabilities and learning difficulties might best be taught. As a consequence these teachers are recognising that they must change their practices in curriculum, pedagogy, and assessment. However, in order to make the changes and to develop new classroom practices general education teachers often reveal a need for inservice training. Thus there is a call from general education teachers for professional development in various areas. Several authors have described a range of initiatives in professional development in the context of school improvement. For example, there are alliances between teachers and researchers through teacher-researcher professional development groups (e.g., Vaughn, Hughes, Schumm, & Klinger, 1998) and collaborative communities (e.g., Englert & Zhao, 2001); professional development schools (PDS) where special educators are viewed as “catalysts” who further the knowledge of both inservice and preservice teachers (Voltz, 2001); “critical friend(s) groups” which are teacher support groups (Bambino, 2002); “Friday Forums” where teachers within a school use internal school expertise to inservice each other (Hudson, 2002); and professional learning communities or networks of various types, sometimes developed by professional organisations and itinerant specialists who are assigned to school districts to work on school reform with schools and teachers.     

The contribution of educational research to teachers’ professional learning: philosophical understandings

In this paper, we argue from principle that teacher education must enable a positive relationship between educational research and teaching knowledge and practice. We discuss two popular conceptions of good teaching, which conceive of the teacher as craft worker and as executive technician, and suggest that, while each of these aspects of knowing reflects something of the qualities that good teachers need, any one on its own is insufficient. In contrast to such mono-dimensional conceptions, a research-based textured notion of professional judgement encompasses a complementary and mutually enriching relationship between different aspects of professional knowledge and practice. We identify three interconnected and complementary aspects of teachers’ professional knowledge: situated understanding; technical knowledge; and critical reflection. Accordingly, teaching as professional endeavour demands of teachers practical know-how, conceptual understandings of education, teaching and learning, and the ability to interpret and form critical judgements on existing knowledge and its relevance to their particular situation. We conclude that in principle research can both enrich and be enriched by teachers’ professional knowledge and practice but that to build this relationship in a holistic way into teacher education programmes and partnership models presents considerable practical challenges.     

Driving change from ‘the middle’: middle leading for site based educational development

ABSTRACT

Educational researchers have invested much in isolating the specific ‘drivers’ that influence school change and teacher professional development. In this vein, this article draws attention to necessarily situated understandings of practice development through research into the nature of ‘middle leading’ for site based education development in one primary school district in regional Australia. Drawing on practice theory, the analysis reveals how developing and sustaining change in schools is contingent on middle leaders’ insider knowledge, shared responsibility and capacity to sustain and ‘drive’ teachers’ learning. The article argues more situated understandings of middle leading practices are essential for sustainable educational reform.     

义务教育教师专业化发展评价指标体系的构建——以合肥市中小学教师为例

采用文献法、调查法,在对合肥市义务教育阶段中小学教师专业化发展调查分析的基础上,尝试构建了义务教育教师专业化发展评价指标体系,期望为不断提高义务教育教师的专业化发展水平提供新的思路。     

SOCIAL CLASS AND EDUCATIONAL ACHIEVEMENT

The effect of higher education upon student attitudes is one of increasing liberality and decreasing authoritarianism. In this study of 345 women students in a college of education similar trends were recorded concerning teacher‐role expectations during a three‐year period of anticipatory professional socialization. The early part of the course is seen as particularly significant in changing attitudes. The nature of the change is complex, for whilst on home‐school relationships, curriculum, organization and motivation students become more ‘open’ in their teacher‐role expectations, a hardening of attitudes was seen towards corporal punishment and teachers’ leisure time involvement with their school children. Some changes may be attributed to the orientation of the college towards certain professional beliefs and practices. The process of professional socialization is marked by increasing differentiation among students at different stages of their course on questions relating to teachers’ instrumental (task‐centred) roles. Further, this college's stress upon primary education may be responsible for only slight differences developing between the role‐concepts of groups training for different levels of school.     

Professional controversies between teachers about their summative assessment practices: a tool for building assessment capacity

Abstract

This article describes two collaborative research projects whose common goal was to explore the potential role of professional controversies in building teachers’ summative assessment capacity. In the first project, upper primary teachers were encouraged to compare their practices through a form of social moderation, without prior instructor input or theoretical preparation. In the second project, lower secondary school teachers were encouraged to compare their summative assessment practices with reference to a theoretical model of curriculum alignment, under the guidance of an instructor. The findings support the potentially constructive role of professional controversies in supporting teachers’ professional development for summative assessment. They highlight the status of references called upon in discussion of controversies, and their contribution to the construction of the subjects under discussion.     

English language teachers’ perceptions of professional teaching

During the most recent educational reform in Estonia, a new National Curriculum was introduced in 2010 providing new guidelines for education generally and foreign languages specifically. To investigate the understanding that an EFL (English as a Foreign Language) teacher has about professional teaching and whether it matches the principles of the curriculum, a research project was conducted amongst EFL teachers at the lower secondary school level. A brief theoretical background to the topic is given and Estonian EFL teachers’ beliefs about professional teaching based on the findings of the survey are described. The study identifies that, although generally EFL teachers’ beliefs about professional teaching are in concordance with the principles contained in the new curriculum, there are aspects that should be addressed by both pre- and in-service education teacher programmes.     

农村教师队伍建设是发展农村义务教育的基石——农村教师专业化发展视角

从农村教师专业化发展的视角看,近年来我国农村教师队伍建设取得了很大成就,主要是农村义务教育投入大幅增长,有力地保障了农村教师队伍建设及其专业化发展;农村中小学教师整体结构不断优化和培养补充机制不断创新,极大地提升了农村教师队伍建设及其专业化水平,如2006年全国农村普通小学、初中、高中专任教师学历合格率分别达到98.4%、94.8%、75.9%,为发展农村义务教育铺垫基石。同时,关注其中存在的主要问题,旨在探讨相应的政策建议,建设好人民满意的农村教师队伍,提高农村"学有所教"的义务教育质量。     

Using Educative Assessments to Support Science Teaching for Middle School English-language Learners

Grounded in Hallidayan perspectives on academic language, we report on our development of an educative science assessment as one component of the language-rich inquiry science for English-language learners teacher professional learning project for middle school science teachers. The project emphasizes the role of content-area writing to support teachers in diagnosing their students’ emergent understandings of science inquiry practices, science content knowledge, and the academic language of science, with a particular focus on the needs of English-language learners. In our current school policy context, writing for meaningful purposes has received decreased attention as teachers struggle to cover large numbers of discrete content standards. Additionally, high-stakes assessments presented in multiple-choice format have become the definitive measure of student science learning, further de-emphasizing the value of academic writing for developing and expressing understanding. To counter these trends, we examine the implementation of educative assessment materials—writing-rich assessments designed to support teachers’ instructional decision making. We report on the qualities of our educative assessment that supported teachers in diagnosing their students’ emergent understandings, and how teacher–researcher collaborative scoring sessions and interpretation of assessment results led to changes in teachers’ instructional decision making to better support students in expressing their scientific understandings. We conclude with implications of this work for theory, research, and practice.     

Blurring the boundaries: connecting research,practice and professional learning

Educational researchers can incorporate benefits for themselves and teacher participants by planning for interactions between research, practice and teachers’ professional learning from the outset of a project. However, the dual role of a researcher as a professional learning partner has rarely been explicated and theorised in studies of teacher–researcher relationships. The study described in this paper occurred in the context of early childhood education. The notion of a critical friend was extended and validated as a useful theorisation of the relationship. Four ways that I acted as a critical friend are described. The expertise, roles, boundaries and hybridity of a co‐constructed approach to research are discussed. The importance of a researcher as critical friend having research and theoretical knowledge to shift teacher knowledge and practice is argued. Implications for teacher–researcher partnerships in terms of strengthening coherence between research, practice and professional learning are suggested.     

What Does Professional Rank Mean to Teachers? A Survey of the Multiple Impacts of Professional Rank on Urban and Rural Compulsory Education Teachers

Abstract

Professional rank is an important indicator of the professional capacity of compulsory education teachers. A rational professional rank evaluation system plays an important role in mobilizing the enthusiasm of teachers, improving the overall quality of teachers, and promoting the development of education. Based on stratified random sample data from compulsory education teachers in 23 counties and cities in 12 Chinese provinces, this study analyzes the multiple impacts of urban and rural compulsory education teacher professional rank on teacher salaries, development opportunities, and work duties. The authors found the following: (a) Urban-rural differences exist in the opportunity to access compulsory education teacher professional rank; rural school teachers are disadvantaged in accessing professional rank, especially senior rank; (b) Significant salary differences exist among teachers of different ranks, as well as significant urban-rural differences in the total monthly incomes and monthly salary among teachers of the same rank; (c) Teachers of different ranks have different opportunities to participate in training and undertake school duties. Within the same rank, rural teachers have fewer opportunities to participate in high-level training and have a higher proportion of school duties; (d) Significant differences exist among teachers of different ranks in terms of average classroom hours per week and important duties undertaken. There is a significant urban-rural difference in average weekly classroom hours and important duties among teachers of the same rank; weekly classroom hours are higher for rural teachers, while they have more opportunities to undertake important duties.     

Creating an Ofsted story: the role of early years assessment data in schools’ narratives of progress

This paper explores the growing importance of measures of progress in judgements of schools’ effectiveness in England, with a focus on the role of the early years (settings for children aged 2–5) in providing data for these measures. Qualitative data from a research project involving three diverse school-based and pre-compulsory early years settings are used to explore how teachers and school leaders prioritise the collection of data in their every-day practice, in order to show how children make continual progress. The need for a narrative of progress as children move up through the primary school, an ‘Ofsted story’ for the school inspection service, is discussed alongside recent policy which requires a ‘baseline’ assessment at age four. We argue that there is a reification of progress in schools and early years settings, and that this changes the status of early years within the sector.