Getting to the root of the matter: pre-service teachers’ experiences and positionalities with learning to teach in culturally diverse contexts

Cultural Studies of Science Education - This study investigated the experiences of a group of pre-service secondary science teachers in learning to teach in culturally diverse contexts. The...     

VAKing out learning styles—why the notion of ‘learning styles’ is unhelpful to teachers

The notion of learning styles, and the multiple intelligence theory from which some of this derives, has come to be one of the dominant themes in the discourse on learning and teaching. This article argues that much of the language associated with this recent educational phenomenon is misleading for teachers. The author argues that instead of drawing attention to how children learn and the tools and processes of learning, learning style theories have led to pupils being labelled as being particular types of learners. The article argues for a more sustained debate on the notion of learning styles that will encourage teachers to interrogate underlying concepts more deeply.     

“The norm is a flux of change”: teachers’ experiences in international schools

This article explores teachers’ perceptions of the effects of high student turnover in international schools in the UK. The research used a “grounded theory” approach for qualitative data collection and analysis, based on interviews with eight teachers in four international primary schools. The results of the grounded theory suggest that a process of “systemic containment” develops which helps the whole class, including newcomer pupils and their teachers, to cope with the frequent transitions. The discussion emphasises the role of the educational psychologist in encouraging teachers to become more informed and reflexive about inclusion of newcomers from abroad.     

The split‐off narrator: coming to symptoms in stories of learning to teach

In this conceptual paper I draw on narratives from several contexts in my own educational history – a student‐teaching experience, a graduate course in educational theory, and my work as a preservice teacher educator – to consider, first, the Winnicottian notion of the split‐off intellect, in which individual subjectivity is skewed toward thinking and away from affect, and second, an inversion of that notion, in which affect splits off to form the central domain of experience, relationship, and defense against difficulty. Theorizing some of the ways in which thinking and affect can at times seem to get in each other’s way, and reflecting on what individuals might use that ‘getting in the way’ to do, I explore some ways in which educators in general, and teacher educators in particular, might facilitate the working‐through of intellect/affect splits with the aim of helping students integrate thinking and feeling as they begin or continue their work in the classroom.     

Examining pre-service teachers’ acceptance of technology-rich learning environments: A UAE case study

This study addressed the extent to which pre-service teachers at a teachers’ college in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) accepted and intended to utilize technology-rich learning environments in their future teaching practice. The effect of other significant factors on their overall acceptance, such as computer self-efficacy (CSE) and Perceived User Resources, was investigated. A final aim was to confirm the applicability of the instruments employed in this study within the unique sociocultural context of the UAE. Questionnaires utilizing a modified version of the technology acceptance model (TAM) were used to collect data. Respondents indicated strong acceptance of technology-rich learning environments. In the model, Perceived Usefulness and CSE were the two strongest predictors of Behavioral Intention. The results also supported the validity of TAM-based research within the Emirati sociocultural environment.     

Introducing a fifth pedagogy: experience‐based strategies for facilitating learning in natural environments

Educators have identified four categories of ‘productive pedagogies’ that are considered to lead to authentic student engagement and learning in the classroom. This study was designed to explore and extend these pedagogies in the context of learning in natural environments, in particular, through the programmes of Queensland environmental education centres. In‐depth interview and observation data were collected from students, classroom teachers and centre teachers who had participated in 12 environmental education programmes across Queensland, in order to identify the strategies that are most effective in facilitating learning in the natural environment. A fifth productive pedagogy category, ‘experience‐based learning’, is proposed. Experience‐based learning is particularly important in addressing students’ environmental attitudes and actions. The implications for the delivery of environmental education programmes both within and outside the classroom are discussed.     

Assessment preferences,learning orientations,and learning strategies of pre‐service and in‐service teachers

The importance of developing effective learning strategies and motivational beliefs has been widely acknowledged as a way of meeting the demand to acquire lifelong learning capabilities for successful functioning as professionals in the ‘information age’. The study reported in this paper examined the learning orientations and strategies of prospective teachers as well as their assessment preferences and compared them with those of in‐service teachers. The Motivated Learning Strategies Questionnaire (MSLQ) and the Assessment Preferences Inventory (API) were used to test the hypothesis that in‐service teachers will exhibit a deeper approach to learning and assessment due to their constant engagement in meaningful learning experiences. The results confirmed the hypothesis and their implications for teacher education programmes were then discussed.     

K-12 teachers’ perceptions of and their satisfaction with interaction type in blended learning environments

Blended learning is an effective approach to instruction that combines features of face-to-face learning and computer-mediated learning. This study investigated the relationship between student perceptions of three types of interaction and blended learning course satisfaction. The participants included K-12 teachers enrolled in a graduate-level course. Results indicate that students (a) perceived interaction as important to their learning experiences and (b) were moderately satisfied in their blended learning course. The predictive model of student satisfaction including three types of interaction was reliable. Of the three types of interaction, learner–content interaction was the strongest predictor of student satisfaction when the course design involved a low amount of collaborative activities. Additionally, student personality was found to be a vital factor for interaction and satisfaction in this type of course design. Students who reported having an extroverted personality noted more interaction and a higher level of student satisfaction than those who self-reported as introverted.     

The role of students’ interests in self-regulated learning: The relationship between students’ interests, learning strategies and causal attributions

The purpose of this research was to examine the relationship between students’ interests, their use of certain specific learning strategies and causal attributions which they made for their academic achievement. In this manner, we attempted to explore the relationships between some important variables from three different, but connected phases of self-regulated learning: the forethought phase (interests), the performance control phase (learning strategies) and the self-reflective phase (causal attributions). Results confirmed the presumption that learning strategies could be a potential mediator in the relationship between students’ interests and their academic achievement. Also, results indicate that the causal dimension of controllability could have a partial mediating role between students’ academic achievement and their interests. Generally, our findings indicate a dynamic and cyclical nature of learning process — interest is an integral part of this process and it could be conceptualized as both a consequence and an antecedent of cognitive aspects of learning.     

Inquiry-based learning in China: Do teachers practice what they preach, and why?

China is undergoing an education reform that calls for a change from a rigid, fixed curriculum and didactic pedagogy to a more flexible, school-based curriculum and more inquiry-based pedagogy. This study investigated the extent to which Chinese middle and high school teachers (a) endorse an inquiry-based approach and underlying learning principles, (b) practice this mode of teaching, and (c) believe that the approach is practically viable in the current educational contexts in China. A structured survey was developed to solicit Chinese teachers’ responses to the above three issues. A total of 582 valid responses were collected, representing middle and high schools in different geographic locations. The results show that Chinese teachers are receptive to inquiry-based pedagogy but find practical constraints in fully implementing it. Several cultural and pragmatic reasons are explored. Policy implications are discussed with respect to teacher education/development, capacity building for the new pedagogy, and teaching/evaluation alignment. Finally cultural issues are discussed regarding using inquiry-based learning to enhance critical thinking and nurture independent thinkers.     

Postgraduate student teachers’ developing conceptions of the place of theory in learning to teach: ‘more important to me now than when I started’

Integrating theoretical knowledge within teacher education has often been portrayed as difficult, with previous studies reporting student teachers’ ambivalence, or even scepticism, about the value of research findings and theory to classroom practice. Moreover, the nature of teachers’ professional knowledge is itself uncertain and highly complex. This paper reports on the developing conceptions held by a group of postgraduate student teachers about the relationship of theory to classroom practice in learning to teach. The data are drawn from a small-scale longitudinal case study. They capture participants’ preconceptions about theory before beginning training and subsequent developments through the course and into the first teaching post. The research finds these students to be far from naïve at the outset, entering training open to a range of forms of learning, with a positive view of the potential contribution of theory to practice. Alongside a growing appreciation of the complex, situated and contested nature of theory, the data suggest that theory comes to be increasingly valued over time. As newly qualified teachers, the participants not only see theory as integral to their practice, but recognise the important, largely unanticipated, role of the university in this process. As a result of these insights, potential considerations for course design are offered, at a time when teacher education in many countries is becoming more school-based and new forms of partnership are being developed.     

The I files,the truth is out there: science teachers’ constructs of inquiry

This article is concerned with the personal constructs of science teachers about inquiry in selected schools in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. While there is a large volume of existing literature which advocates the use of inquiry in the science classroom to enhance students' engagement with, and learning of science, relatively few of these studies represent teachers' voice. Therefore, we believe that it is important and distinctive to report teachers' constructs of inquiry and related concerns regarding its use in the science classroom. We identify the key constructs from 10 participating teachers and discuss these amongst a backdrop of policy implications for inquiry approaches in English secondary school science classrooms. Personal Construct Theory was used to underpin the study and frame data collection and analysis. Key findings show that the teachers identify an inquiry approach as being effective in stimulating students' independent learning and interest in science but issues such as time and confidence inhibit their deployment of inquiry approaches.     

The use of case-based learning in the development of student teachers’ levels of moral reasoning

The important role of the teacher in developing morally sensitive individuals is widely acknowledged. This paper examines the integration of context-specific moral development interventions within a four-year undergraduate teacher education programme in Ireland. The intervention strategy employed a case-based pedagogical approach where participants (n = 123) explored and discussed classroom scenarios to prepare them for a six-week school-based placement. Using the Defining Issues Test, results indicate statistically significant increases in levels of moral reasoning post intervention, suggesting that the use of a layered case-based pedagogical strategy provides students with alternative perspectives on their classroom practices and challenges their lay theories.     

Lifelong learning: The dialectics of “lifelong educations”

This article examines the emergence of different patterns of lifelong education and at the same time gives an overall view of how the various contributions to this special issue add to our understanding of the process of change that is taking place in the educational arena. The article is structured around three main themes. First, it addresses the changing relationship between initial education, adult education and the general learning environments. As the author shows, these three elements form a complex and interacting web of influences, which can be fully understood only as a totality. Secondly, under the heading of The Dialectics at work behind and in education, the article discusses such factors as the changing patterns of employment and non-working time and the disparity between social demand for education and the institutional response. Thirdly, the author deals with the economy of lifelong learning and the changing role of the state in education. Overall, the author presents a picture of profound and widespread transition, in which many different types of learning society are emerging.

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Zusammenfassung Dieser Artikel untersucht das Auftreten unterschiedlicher Bildungsmuster im Bereich lebenslanger Bildung und gibt zugleich einen Gesamtüberblick darüber, wie verschiedene Beiträge zu diesem Thema unser Verständnis für den gegenwärtig im Erziehungsbereich stattfindenden Veränderungsprozess erhöhen. Dieser Artikel gliedert sich in drei Hauptthemen. Erstens geht er auf die sich ändernden Beziehungen zwischen einer Erstausbildung, Erwachsenenbildung und allgemeinen Lernumgebungen ein. Der Autor zeigt auf, daß diese drei Elemente ein komplexes und interagierendes Netz von Einflüssen bilden, das nur in seiner Gesamtheit vollständig erfaßt werden kann. Zweitens diskutiert der Artikel unter der Überschrift die angewandte Dialektik vor dem Hintergrund der Bildung und in der Bildung selbst Faktoren wie Veränderungen von Arbeitsplatz und arbeitsfreier Zeit und die Diskrepanz zwischen dem sozialem Bedarf an Bildung und der institutionellen Antwort darauf. Drittens behandelt der Autor die wirtschaftliche Seite des lebenslangen Lernens und die sich ändernde Rolle des Staates in der Bildung. Insgesamt präsentiert der Autor das Bild einer tiefgehenden und weitreichenden Übergangsphase, in deren Verlauf viele unterschiedliche Arten von Lerngesellschaften auftreten.

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Résumé Cet article examine l'apparition de différents modèles d'éducation permanente et explique également en quoi ce numéro spécial nous permet de comprendre les processus de transformation qui ont lieu sur la scène éducative. L'article est structuré autour de trois thèmes principaux. Il aborde en premier lieu l'evolution des liens existant entre éducation initiale, éducation des adultes et environments éducatifs. L'auteur démontre que ces trois éléments forment un édifice complexe d'interactions réciproques qui n'est vraiment compréhensible que considéré dans sa totalité. Il discute ensuite sous le titre Processus dialectiques en éducation divers facteurs tels que la mutation des modèles d'emploi et de temps hors travail, ainsi que la disparité entre la demande sociale en éducation et la réponse des institutions. Enfin, il se penche sur l'éducation permanente d'un point de vue économique et sur le nouveau rôle de l'Etat en matière d'éducation. L'auteur brosse avant tout le tableau d'une transformation profonde et générale qui donne naissance aux formes de société éducative les plus variées.

     

Place-responsive pedagogy: learning from teachers’ experiences of excursions in nature

The nature-based excursion has been a significant teaching strategy in environmental education for decades. This article draws upon empirical data from a collaborative research project where teachers were encouraged to visit natural areas to provide an understanding of their roles and experiences of planning and enacting excursions. The analysis indicates that teachers’ sensitisation towards place was aided by collaboration, advance planning visits and the very practice of making place-responsive excursions with pupils. The authors build on the analysis to propose a theory of place-responsive pedagogy. At its core, place-responsive pedagogy involves the explicit efforts to teach by means of an environment with the aim of understanding and improving human–environment relations. Some implications for teacher professional development are offered.     

Learning to teach: enhancing pre‐service teachers’ awareness of the complexity of teaching–learning processes

Abstract

Interest in story in teaching has been linked to teacher research (Carter, 1993; Elbaz, 1991), to teacher education (Connelly &; Clandinin, 1994), to curriculum (Britz‐man, 1989; Gudmundsdottir, 1991c), and to school change (Giltin, 1990). I wish to argue here for a link between story and one form of teacher reflection, for portfolio construction, unlike more conventional forms of teacher development, encourages teachers to tell the story of their classrooms and to frame that story in particular ways. I wish to argue here for a view that constructing a portfolio shifts the ownership of learning to the portfolio‐maker and that in this constructing, we can trace a teacher's developing understanding of pedagogy. Specifically, my aim is to illustrate the narrative dimensions of a self‐generated portfolio question — its interpretations, the reflections upon its meaning, and its transformations of pedagogical understanding — as this text becomes pedagogy and pedagogy becomes text. This interpretive process is illustrated through a case study of Ellen Nicol, a secondary English as a Second Language teacher, in her graduate teacher education year and her first 2 years of classroom teaching. Ellen's pedagogical text, her question, is reinterpreted with major changes each time she comes to understand more completely the richness and complexity of her classroom. Each new transformation and reinterpretation serve as guide for selection of materials, for selection of pedagogy, and for assessment of success. Each new collection of pedagogical information serves as impetus for possible reframing and transformation of the text.     

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.     

The Changing Structure of British Higher Education: How diverse is it?

With the passage of the 1992 Further and Higher Education Act the British system of higher education formally moved from a binary to a unitary structure. However, ever since successive governments have argued for a diversified model of higher education within which institutions should pursue contrasting goals. This article offers an interpretation of the key ingredients of institutional diversification and constructs alternative structural models of higher education. It proceeds by exploring the changing structure of British higher education since the creation of the unitary model. The argument is that there has been a steady emergence of flexible sectors, which both converge and diversify. However, there is a danger that the 2011 White Paper, rather than sustaining flexible sectors, could intensify the nascent shift in the direction of stratification marked by increasing differentiation between sectors as they converge internally.     

The effect of an historical perspective on prospective teachers’ beliefs in learning mathematics

Many learners hold traditional beliefs about mathematics that can hamper their learning in the discipline. To address this issue, a “history-based” intervention program entailing problem-solving and writing activities that instigate cognitive conflict was implemented. Data sources were pretest and posttest scores of a 12-theme questionnaire designed for this study called “Prospective teachers’ beliefs questionnaire about mathematics learning” and written reflections of prospective teachers. The survey of the prospective teachers beliefs related to the nature of mathematics and the way it is learned, taught, and practiced showed a great majority of them failed to hold progressive beliefs. Fortunately, the intervention program has helped the prospective teachers revise and correct their beliefs, thoughts, and understandings. Study of the prospective teachers’ written reflections and observations of their oral presentations during whole-class discussions strengthen the results of the quantitative study.