Beyond the dichotomy of teacher- versus student-focused education: A survey study on physics teachers' beliefs about the goals and pedagogy of physics education

This study explored the content and structure of physics teachers' beliefs on teaching and learning in general in relation to their domain-specific beliefs. A questionnaire was administered to secondary school teachers in physics (N = 126) in the Netherlands. The results showed that beliefs about the general and domain-specific goals of physics education formed an interrelated belief system consisting of content-oriented and student-oriented beliefs. Moreover, teachers agreed with the importance of both teacher-regulated and student-regulated learning. Therefore, research on teachers' beliefs should go beyond the often used dichotomy between ‘teacher-focused’ versus ‘student-focused’ education by focusing on the rationale behind ‘appropriate’ teaching behavior.     

The mediating role of workplace social support on the relationship between trait emotional intelligence and teacher burnout

This study investigated the mediating effect of workplace social support on the relationship between trait emotional intelligence and teacher burnout among 307 Chinese middle school teachers. Structural equation modelling revealed a satisfactory fit between the data and our theoretical model. Workplace social support partially mediated the relationship between trait emotional intelligence and teacher burnout. Neither gender nor age moderated the relationship between trait emotional intelligence and teacher burnout. Emotional intelligence and workplace social support can protect teachers from teacher burnout. Thus, providing effective emotional intelligence training and creating supportive workplace conditions requires increased attention from education administrators.     

Successful university-school partnerships: An interpretive framework to inform partnership practice

This paper presents an Interpretive Framework stemming from a longitudinal and iterative multiple case study of five Australian universities examining the cogent and unique practices underpinning their established and successful school-based science teacher education programs. Results from interviews with teacher educators, school staff and pre-service teachers, show four components that guide the successful and sustainable use of university-school partnerships. These components: Guiding Pedagogical Principles; Growing University-School Partnerships; Representations of Partnership; and Growth Model provide a scaffold for initiating, growing and sustaining partnerships that maximise the benefits for all. The essential role of both university and school staff is also highlighted.     

Preliminary findings of Active Classrooms: An intervention to increase physical activity levels of primary school children during class time

This study evaluates the effects of a behaviour change intervention, which encourages the integration of physical activity into the teaching of academic lessons, on physical activity levels of students. The main outcome is mean minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) daily generated during the intervention lessons. Teacher's perceptions and students' enjoyment of the programme were also evaluated. Students accumulated a mean of 8 min MVPA during the intervention lessons daily. The teacher and students were very satisfied with the programme. Therefore, changing teacher behaviour towards using physically active teaching methods is a promising way of increasing children's physical activity levels.     

Learning to teach for reconciliation in Canada: Potential,resistance and stumbling forward

Following Canada's Truth and Reconciliation Commission Report and global interest in teachers' role in national reconciliation, this paper presents a study at two universities involving non-Indigenous pre-service teachers whose coursework required them to learn about colonization and its ongoing impacts and attempt informal teaching for reconciliation. Using the lens of the scene of rapprochement for analysis, findings point to how the emotional situations that arose and related resistance may be read as an inevitable, but not immobilizing, part of the larger social/psychic dynamic of becoming a teacher – when learning about and attempting to engage others in reconciliation.     

Connections between online harassment and offline violence among youth in Central Thailand

Increasing evidence indicates that face-to-face (offline) youth violence and online harassment are closely interlinked, but evidence from Asian countries remains limited. This study was conducted to quantitatively assess the associations between offline violence and online harassment among youth in Central Thailand. Students and out-of-school youth (n = 1,234, age: 15–24 years) residing, studying, and/or working in a district in Central Thailand were surveyed. Participants were asked about their involvement in online harassment and in verbal, physical, sexual, and domestic types of offline violence, as perpetrators, victims, and witnesses within a 1-year period. Multivariable logistic regression was used to assess independent associations between different kinds of involvement in offline violence and online harassment. Perpetration and victimization within the past year were both reported by roughly half of the youth both online and offline. Over three quarters had witnessed violence or harassment. Perpetrating online harassment was independently associated with being a victim online (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] = 10.1; 95% CI [7.5, 13.6]), and perpetrating offline violence was independently associated with being a victim offline (AOR = 11.1; 95% CI [8.1, 15.0]). Perpetrating online harassment was independently associated with perpetrating offline violence (AOR = 2.7; 95% CI [1.9, 3.8]), and being a victim online was likewise independently associated with being a victim offline (AOR = 2.6; 95% CI [1.9, 3.6]). Online harassment and offline violence are interlinked among Thai youth, as in other countries studied so far. Interventions to reduce either might best address both together.     

The role of the Support and Attention to Diversity Teacher (SADT) from a community-based perspective: Promoting educational success and educational inclusion for all

This article addresses the transformation of the role of the Support and Attention to Diversity Teacher (SADT), traditionally called special education faculty. The results are from a qualitative study in three inclusive preschool and elementary schools in Catalonia, Spain. The results demonstrate a transformation in the role of the SADT that mobilizes teachers, specialists and diverse agents in the community to join the work of educational support. The transformation of the SADT role fosters an improvement in the attention and learning of children in the classroom, and existing resources are optimized in collaboration with the entire educative community.     

Pedagogical content knowledge and the teaching of outdoor education

This theoretical paper examines the concept of pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) and explores how it might contribute to conversations around quality teaching and learning in outdoor education. This paper begins by summarizing the historical and contemporary literature, including issues of definitions, curriculum, content, and pedagogy in outdoor education. We then review the concept of PCK, its history, and contributions to other subject areas, including mathematics. We present a framework for PCK from the field of mathematics education and propose a 'modified' PCK framework for outdoor education. We postulate that this framework might help articulate knowledge areas needed by a teacher of outdoor education, and how these differ from and are similar to those required in other subject areas. We conclude by exploring how the idea of PCK and the modified framework might add to existing understandings of what it means to provide high quality outdoor education teaching and learning experiences.     

Probing the amalgam: the relationship between science teachers’ content,pedagogical and pedagogical content knowledge

ABSTRACT

This Special Issue aims to present evidence about the relationships between content knowledge (CK), pedagogical knowledge (PK) and pedagogical content knowledge (PCK); the development of these types of knowledge in novice and experienced secondary science teachers; and how CK, PK and/or PCK impact students’ learning. Since Shulman’s introduction of PCK as the feature that distinguishes the teacher from the content expert, researchers have attempted to understand, delineate, assess and/or develop the construct in pre- and in-service teachers. Accordingly, empirical findings are presented that permit further discussion. Outcomes permit post-hoc examination of a recent, collectively described, ‘consensus’ model of PCK, identifying strengths and potential issues. As we will illustrate, the relationship between CK, PK and PCK is central to this; that is, probing the hypothesis of pedagogical content knowledge as an ‘amalgam’ of content and pedagogical knowledge.     

Pedagogical content knowledge in computing education: a review of the research literature

This review synthesizes literature on computing pedagogical content knowledge (PCK). Shulman introduced PCK in the 1980s to describe the amalgam of knowledge teachers draw upon in their work and use of the construct is increasing in the computing education community. From a systematic search of the literature, I identified 19 articles drawn from 9 countries for review and summarize how computing PCK is conceptualized and investigated in the data set. Five conceptualizations of computing PCK were present: (a) two models of computing PCK components, (b) one model of PCK development and (c) two models focused on the metaphoric and problem-solving nature of computing. The most common research lines addressed were the nature and development of individual PCK. Mostly qualitative methods created by authors were employed. A focus on discipline-specific approaches for future computing PCK research is recommended.     

Technological pedagogical content knowledge in teacher education: in search of a new curriculum

The aim of this study was to explore the ways in which teacher education institutions (TEI) prepare pre-service teachers for integrating information and communication technology (ICT) in their classroom practise. Specifically, a multiple case study was conducted to examine the ways in which the development of technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK) was promoted in the existing curriculum of three TEI in Flanders. In the three cases, data were drawn from semi-structured interviews with the heads of the department and the ICT coordinators. Focus group discussions collected the perspectives of pre-service teachers and teacher educators. The results indicate that (1) the three institutions are moving from ICT as a ‘stand-alone’ course towards embedding ICT across the curriculum and (2) three approaches were adopted for developing pre-service teachers’ TPACK, each representing different ways of understanding the place of ICT in the curriculum. The discussion will focus on the challenges and opportunities inherent in understanding how to develop pre-service teachers’ TPACK in the curriculum of TEI.     

The function and integration of components of pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) in classroom teaching: a case study of business English teachers

While pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) has been studied across a wide range of research areas, including science, language teaching and mathematics, there is limited research on the role of PCK in business English (BE) teaching, an important teaching area of English for Specific Purposes. Informed by the conceptual framework of the PCK model for BE teaching, this study examined how four BE teachers integrated the PCK components in their actual classroom teaching in the English as a Foreign Language (EFL) context in China. The analysis of multiple sources of data including classroom observation, semi-structured interviews and teaching materials, identified the different patterns and ways in which the four PCK components (i.e. knowledge of the purposes of BE teaching, knowledge of instructional strategies for BE teaching, knowledge of students’ understanding of BE, and knowledge of the BE curriculum) functioned and were integrated in BE teaching. Implications for BE teaching practice and suggestions for future research on PCK in BE teaching are presented in the paper.     

Not a stale metaphor: the continued relevance of pedagogical content knowledge for science research and education

Recently, theorists have raised concerns that pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) has become “a stale metaphor” that disregards diversity and equity, offers little to help teachers address students’ misconceptions, and portrays knowledge as “in the head” versus in practice. We refute these notions using grounded theory to specify ways one 7th-grade science teacher enacted PCK to advance student learning. With the definition of PCK as knowledge at the intersection of content and teaching, we utilised a framework for science PCK to explore instructional decision-making. Interviews conducted over three years revealed specific ways the teacher enacted PCK by designing and delivering instruction built on each of the seven conceptual science PCK components. The teacher enacted PCK to plan and deliver instruction that was responsive, adaptive, and considerate of changing needs of students and the changing classroom landscape. She infused PCK into instructional decision-making, instructional interactions, and mentoring of a student teacher, modelling the translation of educational theory into practice and habits of mind necessary for expert teaching. This enactment actively refutes Settlage’s critiques, and depicts PCK as a vibrant and effective stance for teaching that enhances learning.     

Developing a pedagogy of mutuality in a capability approach: Teachers’ experiences of using the Open Educational Resources (OER) of the teacher education in sub-Saharan Africa (TESSA) programme

The TESSA (teacher education in sub Saharan Africa) programme aims to improve teacher education at scale by developing open educational resources (OER) that allow sustainable and locally managed pedagogical change in higher education institutions and schools. The article offers a sociocultural theoretical rationale for the pedagogy of mutuality represented in the TESSA OER; and for the research approach to understanding pedagogical change that recognises the dialectical relationships between national policies and institutional structures and practices, and the consequent impact of these on teachers’ practice and pupils’ learning. It reports from an interview-based enquiry, from the project¹ ‘Extending and embedding TESSA OER’, looking at how teacher educators at a Kenyan University served to broker changes in pedagogy within the institution and its partner schools. Two school-based cases are discussed that highlight the role teachers, who take up these pedagogical challenges play in further brokering change in their local institutions; some of the influences that support the process of institutional change are identified and how these are understood and reported to increase access and enhance learning for all pupils.     

Curriculum-based teacher professional development in middle school science: A comparison of training focused on cognitive science principles versus content knowledge

This study investigates, through a cluster-randomized trial, the effectiveness of two approaches to increasing middle school students’ science learning using a traditional science curriculum. Ninety schools were randomly assigned into one of three arms: (a) a treatment arm in which the textbook curriculum was modified based on four principles of cognitive science coupled with teacher professional development (PD), (b) a second treatment arm in which teachers received PD designed to improve their knowledge of the science content, and (c) a business-as-usual control group. The PD was able to change teacher practice but barely improved teacher knowledge. No significant boost in student achievement was observed, except in a few instances, where there were some promising findings. Exploratory analyses were conducted to examine what makes the interventions more effective. Implications for future research were discussed.     

Becoming a lecturer in further education in England: the construction of professional identity and the role of communities of practice

Further education colleges in England offer a wide range of post‐school education and training provision. Recently they have undergone major transformations that have resulted in considerable changes to the work of those teaching in them. In this paper we examine how cultures of learning and teaching in colleges are affected and how the nature of professional identity has changed. The paper considers the formation of professional identity amongst a group of trainee lecturers completing a one‐year full‐time teacher‐training course at a university in the English Midlands. Lave and Wenger's work on apprenticeship to communities of practice is used to examine the effect of trainees' teaching placement on the development of professional identity. Rather than identifying effective processes of increasing participation in existing communities of practice, a strong sense of marginalisation and alienation amongst trainees was observed. The paper argues that this is detrimental both to trainees and experienced lecturers if they are to actively engage in building new forms of professionalism for the future.