Researcher as Teacher: Lessons Modeled by a Well-Remembered Scholar

While teacher educators may encourage their students to reflect deeply on their teaching, the teachers of teachers rarely seem to examine their own teaching practices. Yet a study of one's own practice can generate profound insights into one's own teaching, can model good teaching to our students, and can serve as the foundation for research about teaching. One teacher–researcher–scholar, Jeff Northfield, developed a powerful set of insights into the value of exploring personal practice while contributing to our general knowledge of teaching. Within the context of the current paradigm wars concerning “best” research in the reform of teaching and teacher education, this paper demonstrates that the work of researchers like Northfield stands as a valuable exemplar of good research of teaching. The paper also explores critical points from Northfield's work that can guide future research into our own teaching.     

Singaporean Early Childhood Teachers' beliefs about Literacy Development in a Multilingual Context

It is widely recognised that teachers' pedagogical practices are influenced by many factors, including their personal experiences, their theoretical knowledge and the institutional context in which they work. Yet little is known about the beliefs held by Singaporean teachers about language and literacy development. Given the significance of early childhood for subsequent academic achievement, this study employed a survey method to explore the beliefs about literacy held by 79 teachers of 4‐ to 6‐year‐old children in prior‐to‐school settings. The findings indicate that almost all teachers viewed their primary goal as fostering children's ability to communicate and express themselves. They believed in using an eclectic approach rather than focusing on one or other ‘method’. The findings have implications for early childhood teacher education programs, professional development and implementation of Government policies in Singapore.     

Teacher Absenteeism and Ill Health Retirement: A review

Teachers who take time away from work through sickness present problems for school principals in covering their work. Their absence will have an impact on students and other teachers, as well as on the money available to schools. When teachers become too ill to teach again, their absence before retirement may affect the organisation of the school, while their premature retirement due to disability can have adverse consequences both for the individual and the education system as a whole. This paper reviews research into teacher illness and absenteeism. Drawing on data from Europe and North America, it examines a number of issues, including the definition and measurement of absenteeism, its cost, and the relationship between absenteeism and student attendance and school performance. Research comparing teacher absenteeism data with figures for other public employees is also considered. Approaches to managing absenteeism, including policy development and implementation, are reviewed. Possible causes of teachers' early retirement because of disability are set within the context of management practice, educational reform and making best use of 'older' employees.     

'It's Pretty Difficult to Fail': The reluctance of lecturers to award a failing grade

Graduates from initial teacher education institutions in New Zealand are assumed to be fit to take up positions as beginning teachers. To this end lecturers make judgements at various stages during the teacher education programme about the quality of student performance with regard to coursework and teaching practice. Findings from a field-based project at a large metropolitan college of education in New Zealand revealed that making such judgements was not a straightforward activity. In particular, there was a reluctance to award failing grades. The college's published guidelines referred to the passing and failing of courses and the programme as dependent on the quality of submitted work or demonstrated performance. The everyday discourse and observed practice of lecturers and student teachers suggested, however, that both groups construed a fail grade as a judgement of personal worth. This shift from judgements about performance to judgements about personal worth was associated with the utilisation of criteria other than those outlined in published documents. The use of 'other' criteria enabled positive judgements to be made about students who did not meet course requirements and/or whose work failed to meet the minimum standard. Lecturers thus appeared to be reluctant to act as gatekeepers to an initial beginning teacher position.     

Surviving and flourishing in a neoliberal world: primary trainees talking

This article examines the ways in which the context of teaching shapes teachers' perceptions of their work. Its starting point is the seminal work of Nias, who argued from research conducted in the 1970s and 1980s that the particular historical context of the time in England encouraged teachers to be socialised into a tradition of isolation, individualism and a belief in personal autonomy. Nias theorised her findings in terms of the situational and substantial self, and I suggest that this particular environment encouraged the teachers' substantial self to be dominant. I then examine how the context for teaching has changed with the introduction of neoliberal reforms from the 1980s and, drawing on data from a qualitative project that has been investigating the characteristics and values of a small number of successful teacher trainees, argue that these participants' situational self is dominant in the teaching placements, where they have to show competence in 33 professional standards in a number of different schools to pass the course. However, as Nias's teachers, these teacher trainees want to be employed in a school in which they ‘fit in’ with the prevailing values, reinforcing the importance of school context in supporting and developing teachers' long term commitment to the profession.     

What makes a successful transition to school? Views of Australian parents and teachers

This paper reports a survey of 355 parents and 166 teachers of young children starting school in New South Wales, Australia. Parents and teachers were asked to rate a list of 20 items in answer to the question 'How important are the following for deciding whether a child has had a successful first two terms of school?' The results are presented in relation to individual items as well as broad categories, with comparisons between the perceptions of teachers and parents. Overall, teachers placed most emphasis on the areas of children's adjustment to the school context and their dispositions or feelings about being at school. Less emphasis was attributed to areas such as knowledge. Parents were more likely than teachers to focus on knowledge, as well as children's dispositions. Implications are drawn for collaborative interaction between parents and teachers as children start school.     

Exploring teachers' knowledge of children's literature

In the context of the current debate about teaching reading, research to ascertain primary teachers' personal and professional reading practices was undertaken. The study explored teachers' reading habits and preferences, investigated their knowledge of children's literature, and documented their reported use of such texts and involvement with library services. Questionnaire responses were gathered from 1200 teachers. The data were analysed and connections made between the teachers' own reading habits and preferences, their knowledge of children's literature, their accessing practices and pedagogic use of literature in school. This paper reports on part of the dataset and focuses on teachers' knowledge of children's literature; it reveals that primary professionals lean on a narrow repertoire of authors, poets and picture fiction creators. It also discusses teachers' personal reading preferences and considers divergences and connections between these as well as the implications of the teachers' limited repertoires on the reading development of young learners.     

Assessing Teachers' Beliefs about Their Science Teaching Context

The primary purpose of this study was to develop and apply a method for assessing teachers' context beliefs about their science teaching environment. Interviews with 130 purposefully selected teachers resulted in 28 categories of environmental factors and/or people who were perceived to influence science teaching. These categories were used to develop items for the Context Beliefs about Teaching Science instrument and provided evidence for content validity. Construct validity was partially confirmed through factor analysis that resulted in 26 items and two subscales on the final instrument. Using Ford's Motivation Systems Theory and Bandura's Theory of Collective Efficacy, additional evidence for construct validity was found in the modest correlation of context beliefs with outcome expectancy beliefs and the low correlation with science teaching self‐efficacy beliefs. The instrument was tested using 262 teachers participating in long‐term science professional development programs. These teachers possessed fairly positive context beliefs and, according to Ford's theory, should be capable of effective functioning in the classroom. It was concluded that the assessment of context beliefs would complement current science teacher self‐efficacy measures, thereby allowing researchers to develop profiles of science teachers' personal agency belief patterns. It could also be used to determine the factors which predict particular personal agency belief patterns, and assess teachers' perceptions of the strengths and weaknesses of school science programs, and could be used in planning and monitoring professional development experiences for science teachers. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 37: 275–292, 2000.     

Highly committed teachers: what makes them tick? A study of sustained commitment

This article focuses on teacher commitment, and particularly on teachers displaying sustained high levels of commitment throughout their teaching careers (over 15 years). Graduates from one Teacher Education programme responded to an open-ended questionnaire conducted on 10 occasions concerning their work as teachers, from graduation in 1993 to 2013. Out of the 72 who responded on all nine occasions, eight teachers stating high levels of commitment throughout their careers were selected for additional interviews. A framework containing four commitment factors was used as the point of departure. Content analyses of the interview and selected questionnaire data then resulted in a revised framework of five factors: personal, teaching, school context, system context and professional development. Accounts from eight teachers with sustained high commitment illustrate the framework. The article offers an extended framework for understanding and categorising the factors that contribute to teacher commitment.     

Learning to teach science as inquiry in the rough and tumble of practice

This study examined the knowledge, beliefs and efforts of five prospective teachers to enact teaching science as inquiry, over the course of a one‐year high school fieldwork experience. Data sources included interviews, field notes, and artifacts, as these prospective teachers engaged in learning how to teach science. Research questions included 1) What were these prospective teachers' beliefs of teaching science? 2) To what extent did these prospective teachers articulate understandings of teaching science as inquiry? 3) In what ways, if any, did these prospective teachers endeavor to teach science as inquiry in their classrooms? 4) In what ways did the mentor teachers' views of teaching science appear to support or constrain these prospective teachers' intentions and abilities to teach science as inquiry? Despite support from a professional development school setting, the Interns' teaching strategies represented an entire spectrum of practice—from traditional, lecture‐driven lessons, to innovative, open, full‐inquiry projects. Evidence suggests one of the critical factors influencing a prospective teacher's intentions and abilities to teach science as inquiry, is the teacher's complex set of personal beliefs about teaching and of science. This paper explores the methodological issues in examining teachers' beliefs and knowledge in actual classroom practice. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 44: 613–642, 2007.     

Exploration of teacher life stories: Taiwanese history teachers’ curricular gatekeeping of controversial public issues

This study explores teachers' personal practical knowledge and curricular-instructional gatekeeping as they relate to the teaching of contemporary controversial public issues in Taiwan (e.g., national identity, sovereignty, and ethnic issues). Using a case study design, this study documents how six social studies teachers make curricular decisions about teaching controversial public issues by making use of their personal practical knowledge. Findings illuminate that personal practical knowledge plays a role in teacher's curricular-instructional gate keeping in socially divisive contexts. In sum, this study, refracted through the national context of Taiwan, helps us understand the relationship between a teacher's own imaginative worldview, their sense of personal and professional identity, and their classroom teaching practices.     

Building life world connections during school booktalk

In criticisms of children's literature, notions of 'fantasy' and 'realism' are pivotal. In school 'booktalk' conversations pupils referred to what is 'real' in three different ways: (i) by referring to feelings of or semblance to 'real' life, (ii) by invoking shared facts and (iii) by making references to personal experiences. In cases when teachers or pupils initiated so-called text-to-life or real world connections, two types of dilemmas occurred. First, engagement was at times bought at the cost of quite literal reader responses. At other times, engagement was accomplished at the price of intrusiveness. There was, thus, a delicate balance between life world references, on the one hand, and literal readings or intrusion, on the other. Moreover, students sometimes resisted life world probing, but volunteered privileged information about their parents, displaying different notions from teachers about legitimate information in a school context.     

The Disciplining of Pre-service Teachers: Reflections on the teaching of reflective teaching

In this paper we examine some of the knowledge transformations which occur amongst first-year pre-service teachers as a result of their reflections upon their initial fieldwork experiences and course content. We pay particular attention to the changes which herald a shift from school student perceptions of what constitutes a 'good' teacher to the perceptions of pre-service teachers who are becoming immersed in educational discourses. In many instances this immersion represents a knowledge loss. Accompanying the movement of a school student knowledge of effective teaching to a more 'professional' or 'disciplined' knowledge is a lack of attention to an 'ethic of care' as an integral component of teaching. Our reflections upon this loss lead us to suggest that the knowledge about the teaching act which first-year education students bring to education faculties should be valued, and serve as an important standpoint from which other pedagogical knowledges can be viewed.     

Creating contexts for talk: the influence of school-based creative arts projects on children's language

This article draws on data from two recent research studies of children's language and literacy development in the context of their work in school‐based creative arts projects. Using observations of children (ages 3 to 11) and teachers at work, the article examines the ways in which the activities in such projects open up opportunities for children to talk with each other and with adults by generating a ‘workshop’ atmosphere. Children's authentic and wide‐ranging talk in creative arts projects encompasses personal, social, imaginary and real‐world themes which, we argue, is rare in other curriculum contexts. As schools are encouraged to develop ‘creative partnerships’ with artists and arts organisations, the article highlights the role of the teacher in observing and promoting these experiences as occasions for children's language development.     

The Reconstruction of Primary Teachers' Identities

Primary teachers have had to reconstruct their identities in response to the reconstruction of the education system. The holism, humanism and vocationalism of the old Plowden self-identity has been challenged by a new assigned social identity signalled in the assault on child-centred philosophy, the diminution of elementary trust, and changes in the teacher role. These challenges have thrown up new dilemmas for teachers, and represent 'fateful moments' in the careers of their identities. In trying to resolve the dilemmas, teachers have engaged in identity work, characterised mainly by identity talk, and a number of emotional and intellectual strategies. The result has been a partitioning of the old Plowden self-identity, with the 'real self' being largely withheld from the new personal identity and the sense of vocationalism being set to one side. The new personal identity in teaching represents a more instrumental and situational outlook, with the substantial self finding more expression elsewhere. Identity work is still in progress and seems set to continue while teachers have to find ways of relating to two or more competing discourses.     

Reading for Assessment: How teachers ascribe meaning and value to student writing

This paper is about how teachers read student writing in the context of criteria-based assessment as it currently operates in secondary schools in Queensland, Australia. Throughout, the term 'reading' is understood to encompass responding to students' writing and assessing it for grading purposes. In the paper, attention focuses on different types of knowledge that teachers have available to them, including what is referred to metaphorically as 'knowledge files'. Of special interest are the ways in which knowledge files can be accessed to open up (or close down) pathways for reading student writing produced for assessment. Also of interest is the interplay that occurs between stated assessment criteria, as supplied to students when they commence an assessable task, and other considerations that influence how teachers read and ascribe meaning and value to student papers.     

Storied emotional distances in the relationships between beginning teachers and school principals

Recent research has acknowledged the importance of the relationships of school principals with beginning teachers. However, little is known about how emotions inform these relationships from the beginning teacher's side. Applying the concept of emotional geographies, this paper explores the kinds of storied emotional distances that appear in the relationships between beginning teachers and their principals. Based on interviews with beginning Japanese teachers, the results indicate that such relationships may be: (1) very direct and personal; (2) acted out indirectly by the principal as personal facilitator ‘behind the scenes’ or as public gatekeeper; or (3) mediated by the teacher community. The analysis reveals beginning teachers’ personal experiences of these relationships, as well as how such relationships are influenced by organisational and cultural context. Although principals are described as distant figures within the school organisation, they are seen to play an important role in facilitating beginning teachers’ work by connecting with them at a personal level and providing good working conditions by influencing the emotional atmosphere of the teacher community or by sheltering them from parental pressure.     

Telling and Retelling Our Stories on the Professional Knowledge Landscape

Drawing on a 3-year study focusing on the shaping influences of the professional knowledge landscape on the personal practical knowledge of experienced teachers, we first explore how stories are shaped as they are told and responded to in different places and, second, explore whether or not this sharing leads to imagining new possibilities for retelling and reliving stories. By sharing and exploring a story of a disagreement between a parent and a teacher, we focus on what we do when we tell stories in schools and what we do when we tell stories off the school landscape. In making meaning from this story, we show that both in the teacher's living of the story with the parent and in her numerous recountings of the story to others on the school landscape, she did not have opportunities to figure out new ways to relive the story. In our research group, she shared her story again. In this telling, we asked her to focus on who she, the mother, and the principal are in the story, and we inquire into what plotlines each were living. We ask questions about how they were positioned as characters in relation to one another. Re-searching the story in this way enabled us to understand the embodied nature of the teacher's knowing and how this knowledge shaped the events of the story as they were lived out, particularly how the teacher's living of a relational story countered the story of teacher and principal as positioned above parent. By drawing on Nelson's work on 'found' and 'chosen' communities, we imagine ways in which schools could become chosen communities where the story of school might be one of fostering the living out of multiple stories. We imagine the stories emerging from such communities might significantly shape the landscape of schools by opening up new possibilities for living in relation with others.     

Professional development and reform in science education: The role of teachers' practical knowledge

In this article, professional development in the context of the current reforms in science education is discussed from the perspective of developing teachers' practical knowledge. It is argued that reform efforts in the past have often been unsuccessful because they failed to take teachers' existing knowledge, beliefs, and attitudes into account. Teachers' practical knowledge is conceptualized as action‐oriented and person‐bound. As it is constructed by teachers in the context of their work, practical knowledge integrates experiential knowledge, formal knowledge, and personal beliefs. To capture this complex type of knowledge, multimethod designs are necessary. On the basis of a literature review, it is concluded that long‐term professional development programs are needed to achieve lasting changes in teachers' practical knowledge. In particular, the following strategies are potentially powerful: (a) learning in networks, (b) peer coaching, (c) collaborative action research, and (d) the use of cases. In any case, it is recommended that teachers' practical knowledge be investigated at the start of a reform project, and that changes in this knowledge be monitored throughout the project. In that way, the reform project may benefit from teachers' expertise. Moreover, this makes it possible to adjust the reform so as to enhance the chances of a successful implementation. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 38: 137–158, 2001