Evaluating the quality of BEd programme: Students' views of their college experiences

Quality assurance of teacher training has become of a great concern nowadays. This paper addresses the quality of BEd programme of the University of Education (UE) Lahore. The main purpose of the study was to evaluate the quality of BEd programme with regard to the internal efficiency of Government Colleges for Elementary Teachers (GCETs), the affiliated institutions of UE. The study was conducted on a random sample of 600 BEd students drawn from 11 GCETs in Punjab province. Data was collected through a questionnaire which was validated through a pilot study in 2006. The reliability of the final questionnaire was established at 0.863 allowing the researcher to launch the study at large scale (Gay, 2000). The findings revealed that BEd programme was effective in terms of updating student teachers' knowledge and skills. Student teachers favoured the quality of BEd curriculum, lesson planning and presentation by themselves and their teacher educators, and had some reservations about the proper use of audio-visual aids for effective classroom teaching learning processes. Female gender showed more satisfaction with the quality of BEd curriculum and teaching than their male counterparts. No significant difference was found in the opinion of the students of GCETs having low, medium, and high enrolment.     

Strengthening the special educational needs element of initial teacher training and education

In the academic year 2006–2007, the Training and Development Agency (TDA) set up a development programme to enable Initial Teacher Training and Education (ITTE) placements in specialist special education provision. The goal of the programme was to enhance the knowledge, skills and understanding of inclusive practice for special educational needs and disability among those joining and those who are relatively new to the teaching workforce. This article, by Gill Golder, Nicky Jones and Erica Eaton Quinn, all Senior Lecturers at the College of St Mark and St John in Plymouth, outlines one project related to this TDA programme. The authors explore the outcomes of their work on a three‐year BEd (Honours) Secondary Physical Education course in the south‐west against the TDA's objectives for both trainee teachers and the special schools to which they were attached. Results confirm the importance of preparing trainee teachers for a future career in more inclusive schools.     

Comparative and international education in initial teacher education: an Irish case study

Since the late 1980s and early 1990s, Comparative and International Education (CIE) has almost disappeared from the curricula of teacher education colleges in Ireland, the United Kingdom and the United States. Yet, CIE is experiencing a revival at postgraduate level. This article will explore the reasons for this dichotomy and the decline of CIE in initial teacher education. It will use findings from a research study in an Irish teacher education college to inform this exploration. The author initiated, developed, and offered a CIE course to final year BEd (n=24) students in 2003 and again in 2005. This article will use data gathered during the latter course to explore CIE for undergraduate trainee teachers, considering students’ motivation for choosing to study CIE, their perceptions of CIE, and their beliefs about how it may enhance their professional practice in classrooms. It will explore, in particular, a significant finding that emerged from the study – the potential of CIE in developing student teachers’ capacities to teach in multicultural classrooms.     

Impact of teachers’ beliefs on mathematics education

ABSTRACT

The objective of the current study was to analyse the impact of teachers’ personal theory and beliefs (PTB) towards Mathematics teaching. A total of 183 respondents were involved in this study, using the stratified random sampling method with Cronbach's alpha of 0.87. Due to the objective of the research and the hypothesis, it was positioned within the positivist paradigm following a survey design, concentrating on Bachelor of Education and Postgraduate Certificate Education students, with a quantitative approach. The instrument of data collection was a structured questionnaire schedule. All selected respondents (using a questionnaire) were students of University of Fort Hare, enrolled in either the Bachelor of Education (BEd) or Postgraduate Certificate of Education (PGCE) programme. Using analysis of variance (ANOVA), the results revealed that there was no significant effect of age and race on learning of Mathematics amongst BEds and PGCEs candidates.     

Does training matter? Comparing the behaviour management strategies of pre-service teachers in a four-year program and those in a one-year program

Survey-based research was conducted with Australian pre-service teachers to identify the classroom management strategies that they would employ, their confidence in employing them, and the effectiveness of the strategies. Furthermore, the study aimed to identify significant differences in these variables between pre-service teachers in the final year of a four-year teacher training course and pre-service teachers undertaking a one-year, stand-alone teaching program. The results of this study indicate that the most frequently reported strategies by all the Australian pre-service primary teachers surveyed were rewards and initial corrections. The pre-service teachers were selective in the type of corrective strategies they would employ, with a preference for relatively less intrusive reactive strategies. All of the pre-service teachers here found rewards and preventative strategies to be the most effective. The only significant differences found between the four-year trained and one-year trained pre-service teachers were around preventative strategies. Specifically, four-year trained pre-service teachers employ preventative strategies significantly more often than pre-service teachers in the one-year teaching course. Similarly, four-year trained pre-service teachers are significantly more confident in using preventative strategies than those in the one-year course. The implications of the results for teacher education programs are considered.     

Using Interviews to Predict the Success of Teacher‐education Students

In November 1987, the School of Education at the University of Tasmania at Launceston (then the Tasmanian State Institute of Technology) commenced a programme of pre‐entry assessment of BEd applicants with a view to conducting an ongoing research programme aimed at improving the quality of trainee teachers. Pre‐entry data gathering included English and mathematics skills, learning style, Higher School Certificate (HSC) aggregate scores and interview assessments of each applicant by a panel of at least two academic staff of the School. This paper reports findings from the interview data gathered on students who entered the BEd programme in 1989. In particular, the evidence from this cohort of students suggests that interview ratings by academic staff are successful predictors of future practice‐teaching performance, whereas HSC aggregate scores are not at all predictive. In addition to this finding, the data indicate that staff interview assessments are only marginally weaker than HSC aggregate scores as predictors of academic performance on the BEd course.     

Course Design in Teacher Education: an English institutional view

This paper describes some of the features of the courses provided at Westminster College, Oxford, a small English institution specialising in teacher education. Within an account of experience gained in the initial design and subsequent revisions of BEd and PGCE courses, a number of issues are identified and related to the national situation.

After a brief discussion of whether a small specialised college is an appropriate environment for teacher education, there follows a more detailed elaboration of the reasons for the institution's decision to adopt a consecutive structure for its Bachelor of Education degree. This leads into an examination of some key aspects of the issues and difficulties which the College has had to tackle in operating and developing its BEd and one‐year Postgraduate Certificate in Education which prepare teachers for the Junior (7‐11), Middle (8‐13) and Secondary (11‐18) age‐ranges. Since these are seen as inherent in all courses of this kind, the discussion places them in the context of wider national debate and other developments in course design and operation that are currently taking place. Questions considered include the balance of studies within courses, the relationship between theory and practice, and the nature and role of school experience.     

Perceptions of learning-support teachers and resource teachers of each other's role in Irish primary schools

This article reports findings from an exploratory study of how learning support and resource teachers perceive each other's role. The study was conducted during the debate on the proposed changes to allocation and deployment of support teachers, following the publication of Circular 24/03 by the Department of Education and Science. It sought to test the hypothesis that learning-support and resource teachers perceive each other's roles differently in terms of their distinctiveness, type of children they support, working arrangements and training. The findings confirmed this and the implications of this for more whole-school collaborative models of support are discussed.     

Pre-service teachers' reasons for choosing teaching as a career in Singapore

As the national teacher education institute in Singapore, the National Institute of Education (NIE) prepares all teachers seeking to be employed within the education service in Singapore. In the last decade, NIE's enrolment for initial teacher preparation programmes has grown significantly, with peaks in numbers during the recession years. There is also some evidence of attrition when beginning teachers complete their 3-year bond with the Ministry of Education, which sponsors their teacher education programme. It is thus important to determine empirically the reasons why pre-service teachers join the teaching profession, to see whether this can inform us about measures that can be taken to ensure they stay on in the profession. As part of a longitudinal study on beginning teachers' attitudes towards teaching and professional development, a research survey, the first of three data collections, was administered to whole cohorts of pre-service teachers entering NIE's three main teacher preparation programmes in July 2004. This paper presents the survey findings on pre-service teachers' reasons for choosing teaching as a career and discusses the differences between cohorts of different programmes. The implications of the study are discussed in terms of informing future policy and practice in the areas of teacher recruitment, retention and professional development.     

Dissecting the teacher monolith: Experiences of beginning basic school teachers in Zambia

This article explores the multifaceted experiences of beginning basic school teachers in Southern Province, Zambia, through a qualitative study comprised of interviews with 35 basic school teachers. Our research examines the uniqueness of beginning teacher experiences in the global South, and points to the need to recognize the implications of ‘Education for All’ for this particular sub-group of the teaching population. We found that these teachers faced significant personal and professional difficulties, while receiving little support. Nevertheless, teachers expressed a commitment to the profession. Recommendations are provided to suggest improvements to the transition and socialization process for future beginning teachers.     

地方师范院校转型后教师教育面临的问题探析

上世纪90年代后期以来,我国沿用了近百年的“师范教育”这个概念逐渐为“教师教育”所取代;师范教育制度实现了转型。地方师范院校在转型后,其教师教育面临着一系列的问题：如何保持教师教育在学校中的重要地位,使之不被弱化或边缘化;教师教育应当培养什么样的教师;应该在哪里,采取什么方式来培养教师;教师教育课程的设置如何更好地促进教师的专业发展。     

城乡教育均衡发展进程中农村语文教师职前职后一体化教育探索

城乡教育均衡发展战略实施过程中,重庆教育学院中文系对农村语文教师职前职后一体化教育进行了探索。针对学习者师德、专业技能、承担社会责任等方面的素质需求,研制了具有针对性和前瞻性的课程目标,开发了4部被教育部推广和重庆市政府奖励的特色教材,并通过“CEA整合教学模式”的研发运用和系列高规格相关教育科研课题的研究,培养了大批高素质农村语文教师,打造了一支在农村教育、语文教育和职前职后教育方面同时具有一定研究水平的教师教育师资队伍。     

Citizenship and Personal, Social and Health Education in Catholic Secondary Schools: Stakeholders' Views

During 1999–2000, the writer carried out a survey of six randomly selected Catholic secondary schools in England to examine the attitudes of stakeholder groups towards Citizenship and Personal, Social and Health Education. Questionnaires were completed by six governors, 12 parents, 139 pupils, 12 teachers and six school leaders, providing insight into perceptions of the purposes of selected components of Citizenship and Personal, Social and Health Education, viz. Citizenship Education, Moral Education and Sex Education. Drawing on Hornsby-Smith's (1996) definition of contrasting perspectives, which he characterises as 'Open' and 'Closed' Catholicism, the enquiry located attitudes of the stakeholder groups along a continuum of values. While there was evidence of consensus across stakeholder groups within each component, differences in attitudes were also identified. The results indicated that governors and school leaders adopt more 'Open' attitudes towards Citizenship Education compared with pupils, teachers and parents; that school leaders adopt more 'Open' attitudes towards Moral Education compared with pupils; and that pupils and teachers adopt more 'Open' attitudes towards Sex Education compared with governors. One conclusion is that these results demonstrate that, when traditional religious values are challenged by rapid social and technological changes, stakeholder groups in faith schools are faced with added tensions to resolve.     

The role and status of non-governmental (‘daike’) teachers in China's rural education

A key ingredient for countries striving to achieve Education For All is the availability of trained qualified teachers with favourable working conditions. The goal is an elusive one, even for some developed countries, though progress is being made toward it. The problem is particularly challenging in poor rural areas of developing countries where qualified teachers are reluctant to work or employing authorities cannot afford to hire them. This paper examines this situation in the context of a Western province in China (Gansu). It considers the role, characteristics and status of non-governmental (‘daike’) teachers and discusses issues that arise from their employment.     

Revisiting a student-oriented curriculum in the Nigerian secondary school system

Abstract

The increasing gap between what students learn and what they remember has agitated the minds of educators in recent times. The apparent gap is that teaching tends to be more theoretical than practical. For instance an apparent absence of relevant instructional materials, skilled vocational education personnel and the current lack of awareness on the part of policy makers on the advantages of pragmatic education, constitute current obstacles to the actualisation of pragmatic student-oriented secondary school education curriculum in Nigeria. However, this paper therefore, describes methods by which secondary school education can be made more functional through the introduction of more practical learning schemes which shall ultimately equip graduates with revenue generating and life skills. Fifty teachers and 150 students were randomly selected for the study from formal and non-formal secondary schools in Calabar Metropolis and Calabar South Local Government Area of Cross River State of Nigeria. Ex-post facto design was adopted. A 16 item questionnaire constructed on a modified four-point Likert-type scale was used for data collection. The data was analysed using simple percentages, independent t-test and a One-way analysis of variance. The findings revealed that, the schools lack adequate instructional materials and adequately trained vocational education teachers. Based on this, it was recommended among others, that a student-oriented curriculum be implemented in line with the objectives of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), Education For All (EFA) and Universal Basic Education (UBE). Also more practical skills-oriented education and vocational education teachers should be employed to train the students on the development of functional literacy skills.     

美国小学教师标准与小学教育专业的课程设计——以佐治亚州立大学早期儿童教育专业为例

美国小学教师的培养有自己的文化特色和教育理念。佐治亚州立大学教育学院设置的早期儿童教育专业典型地反映了美国小学教师的培养特点。这个专业以美国关于小学教师的十条标准为指导,结合早期儿童教育的实际,设计了比较完整的课程体系。其课程设计的思路和结构特点对我国小学教育专业的课程改革具有参考价值。     

Teachers’ attitudes towards inclusive education: a critical review of published questionnaires

Teachers’ attitudes towards inclusive education affect its successful implementation within mainstream schools. This paper reviews nine questionnaires which capture primary school teachers’ attitudes towards inclusion, with the aim to support researchers in selecting the most appropriate measure according to the purpose of their study. Most of the reviewed questionnaires showed acceptable reliability and validity. The Multidimensional Attitudes towards Inclusive Education Scale (MATIES) and the Sentiments, Attitudes, and Concerns about Inclusive Education Revised Scale (SACIE-R) were the only questionnaires with adequate psychometric properties which addressed the affective, cognitive and behavioural components of teachers’ attitudes. As another psychometrically sound scale, the Teachers’ Attitude towards Inclusion Scale (TAIS) was found to use more up-to-date terminology and suitably addressed the cognitive and behavioural components. This paper provides a useful resource to facilitate the appropriate selection of questionnaires that measure teachers’ attitudes towards inclusion.     

A study of alternative English teacher certification practices in Turkey

For several years the number of teachers trained in several subject areas through regular teacher education programs in Turkey has been insufficient to meet the demands in the country. As a result, to combat teacher shortages in many subjects alternative routes to teacher certification have been sought. Here we examine teacher candidates' perspectives of some of these practices. The participants in this examination comprised 140 senior undergraduate students in the English teaching program in a Faculty of Education in Ankara. Almost all participants believed that the teacher candidates who go through alternative routes to become teachers of English do so because they seek employment and this is the last resort. The study highlights the fact that it is critical to pursue educational planning if we are to improve quality in education.     

The impact of the social environment on the student teacher’s agency

This paper explores the agency of student teachers during the Post/Professional Graduate Certificate of Education (PGCE) year at a Higher Education Institution in England. It presents part of the findings of a year-long investigation into the reflective practice of student teachers during the PGCE year. The multi-method study includes surveying student teachers (n = 101) and longitudinal interviews with student teachers (n = 6). One of the aims of the study was to investigate the impact of the social environment on the student teacher. The research analysis found that the complex environment the student teachers exist in can be both supportive and constraining.     

An examination of US first-year teachers’ risk for occupational stress: associations with professional preparation and occupational health

Previous research has demonstrated associations between teacher stress and occupational burnout, but few studies have attempted to operationalize a central tenet of most stress theories, namely that teachers’ appraisals of their classroom demands vis-à-vis their classroom resources is a central driver of vulnerability to stress. The research is particularly silent on risk for stress among the most vulnerable workers in the education sector – first-year teachers. The current study, utilizing data from the US National Center for Education Statistics Beginning Teachers Longitudinal study, sought to replicate prior research, conducted with more experienced US teachers, demonstrating that perceptions of classroom demands and resources can be used to classify new teachers according to their risk for stress. In an extension to previous analyses, the current study also examined the association between first-year teachers’ risk for stress and professional preparation. Results from this study aligned with previous findings, teachers classified at risk for stress reported more burnout symptoms (d = 1.48) and less classroom control (d = .62). Teacher education characteristics and exposure to first-year support programming were also found to be associated with first-year teachers’ risk for stress classification. Findings have implications for how US teacher education potentially shapes first-year teachers’ appraisal of their working conditions and corresponding risk for stress.