Professionalism and Intensification in Teaching: a case study of ‘care’ in teachers’ work

This paper reports a research project in teachers’ work in one secondary school. It takes a labour process perspective to examine how localized notions of professionalism act to both enable and disable teachers in their struggle to exercise control over their work. For the teachers in this study an ‘ethic of care’ appears to inform their practice and relationships. Professionalism as care plays a contradictory role in these teachers’ working lives, at the same time providing the motivation, commitment and conditions that result in the intensification and control of their work.     

Post‐welfarism and the reconstruction of teachers’ work in the UK

A key rationale for the UK education reforms of the 1980s and 1990s was a desire on the part of agents within the state to control more directly the work of teachers. In a variety of ways, the reforms were designed to contribute to a reconstruction of the work of teaching. The first part of this paper considers the roots of this intended reconstruction. The second part explores the impact of the reforms on the culture of teachers’ work, focusing on three kinds of consequences ‐ emotional, social and pedagogical. The paper draws on loosely‐structured interviews with secondary school teachers, carried out as part of a study of the culture and values of schooling in the light of the shift from wel‐farist to post‐welfarist policies in education.     

A cross-cultural study on the influence of cultural values and teacher beliefs on university teachers’ information and communications technology acceptance

This study examined how cultural values and teacher beliefs influence Chinese and Spanish university teachers’ acceptance of ICTs by combining Hofstede’s cultural values theory with technology acceptance theories. Four hundred and twenty-five university teachers from China and 385 teachers from Spain participated in the study. The proposed research model was tested by using samples from both countries and the multigroup analyses were performed to test moderating effects of cultural variables. Results confirmed the validity of the model in both samples and the effects of cultural values on the adoption of ICTs, and significant differences were observed between the two samples.

     

A systematic observational study of teachers’ and pupils’ behaviour in large and small classes

Research and debate on class size differences have focused on relations with achievement and there is little relevant research on what mediating classroom processes might be involved. This paper investigates connections between class size and three aspects of teacher and child behaviour in class: teacher–child interactions, pupil attentiveness and off-task behaviour, and peer relations in class. It reports on a systematic observational study of large (average 33 children) and small (average 19 children) reception classes (children aged 4–5 years). Data come from a sub-sample of 235 children in 39 classes drawn from a longitudinal study of two cohorts of over 10,000 children for three years after entry to English infant schools (aged 4–7 years). Results show that teacher–child contacts are more frequent and personalized in small classes, but that children are more likely to be off-task in large classes (whether with the teacher, other children or when not interacting), and interact more extensively with their peers (through work as well as social contacts). The results raise questions about direct models of teacher effects, and suggest that class size is one contextual influence that presents difficulties and opportunities for teachers and children.     

Municipal consultants’ participation in building networks to support science teachers’ work

This paper focuses particularly on the role of municipal science consultants in developing and maintaining network activities and connections among primary school science teachers. The hypothesis is that consultants play a crucial role in supporting strategic planning, and sustaining contacts and activities within professional learning networks. The research is framed by a project that involved 80 primary science teachers in 20 schools. The aim of the project was to develop network activities that facilitate sustainable change of the participating schools’ collective culture and practice of science teaching. The authors were involved as researchers and evaluators in the project. Data consist of reports from the consultants about their participation in various network activities, school assessment reports and a longitudinal survey. Three distinct cases are analysed through the use of a framework of professional learning networks to assess the consultants’ opportunities and constraints in terms of participating in network development. The results indicate that the consultants’ roles in successful network formation is characterized by personal stable contacts within the science teacher community in the municipality, availability of municipal resources to support network activities, participation in strategic planning of municipal network support, and facilitation of the development of new teaching activities within schools or in collaboration between schools. These four distinctive features of municipal science consultants’ participation in supporting network activities enable the participants to share and develop teaching activities.     

A micro-perspective on students’ behavioral engagement in the context of teachers’ instructional support during seatwork: Sources of variability and the role of teacher adaptive support

Despite increased acknowledgement of the significance of situational factors to engagement, engagement is traditionally seen as a student characteristic. In this study, we investigated to what extent variation in observational measures of behavioral student engagement during seatwork is due to students versus teachers, teacher-student dyads, or situational (i.e., variation in time) effects. Additionally, we studied whether adaptive support during teacher-student interactions contributes to student engagement following that interaction. A cross-classified multilevel analysis of 324 video- and audio-recorded secondary school teacher-student interactions showed that situational factors and error were the strongest source of variability in student engagement. Other than expected, teacher-related and dyad-related variability were limited. Although behavioral engagement after teacher-student interaction was significantly higher than pre-interaction student engagement, higher post-interaction levels were not related to the level of adaptive support provided during the teacher-student interaction. These findings imply that situational factors deserve more attention in engagement research, for example by investigating what situational factors contribute to engagement. For teachers, the time-variant, situation-dependent nature of engagement opens up valuable opportunities to actively design optimal learning situations.     

Adaptation of lesson study in a Danish context: Displacements of teachers’ work and power relations

Though lesson study adaptations in the West have flourished, there is scarcity of associated culturally sensitive research. We contribute such research by exploring the conflicts that emerge when Danish teachers engage in lesson study. Using figured worlds, we analyze how teachers realize lesson study in their local setting through their dynamic orientations towards possibly conflicting worlds. We show how this realization challenges the teachers’ work and power relations and is influenced by broader issues of culture and power. We conclude that, in order to adapt lesson study in Denmark, it is necessary to address the overriding cultural characteristics we identify.     

Improving the judgment of task difficulties: prospective teachers’ diagnostic competence in the area of functions and graphs

To teach adaptively, teachers should be able to take the students’ level of knowledge into account. Therefore, a key component of pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) is the ability to assume the students’ perspectives. However, due to the so-called expert blind spot, teachers tend to misestimate their students’ knowledge, such as when estimating the difficulty of a given task. This empirically well-documented estimation bias is predicted by Nickerson’s anchoring and adjustment model, which generally explains how people take on other people’s perspectives. In this article, we present an intervention study that aims to improve the accuracy of prospective teachers’ judgments of task difficulty in the area of functional thinking. Two types of treatments are derived from Nickerson’s model. In the first condition (PCK group), participants acquire knowledge about task characteristics and students’ misconceptions. The second condition (sensitizing group) serves to control the idea that potential improvements in the PCK group are not merely based on a pure sensitization of the expert’s estimation bias. Accordingly, these participants are only informed about the general tendency of overestimating task difficulties. The results showed that the PCK group improved both in terms of the accuracy of the estimated solution rates and the accuracy of rank order, whereas the sensitizing group only improved in regard to the former. Thus, the study shows that prospective teachers’ diagnostic judgments can be improved by teaching them relevant PCK in a short amount of time.     

Signature pedagogies in support of teachers’ professional learning

Signature pedagogies [Shulman, L. 2005 Shulman, L. 2005. “Signature Pedagogies in the Professions.” Daedalus 134 (3): 52–59. doi: 10.1162/0011526054622015[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]. “Signature pedagogies in the professions.” Daedalus 134 (3): 52–59.] are a focus of teacher educators seeking to improve teaching and teacher education. The purpose of this paper is to present a preliminary common language of signature pedagogies for teacher professional development (PD). In all, 24 papers from the study of physical education PD projects with clearly articulated pedagogical objectives and documentation on achieving those objectives were included in the analysis. In total 479 teachers and 48 facilitators across the US and Europe were interviewed and/or surveyed. Three discrete PD signature pedagogies holding potential to enhance teacher growth and learning within the context of PD were identified: critical dialogue (process of acquiring knowledge through communicative interactions), public sharing of work (testing out practices in classrooms and share ideas with larger audiences), and communities of learners (collective learning around a shared concern or a passion). It is our hope in providing the beginnings of a common vocabulary for pedagogies of teacher professional learning we have encouraged additional steps toward developing signature pedagogies for learning across different PD settings and content areas.     

Facilitating university teachers’ continuing professional development through peer-assisted research and implementation team work in China

ABSTRACT

Chinese university EFL teachers face challenges in teaching English writing effectively. On one hand, a lack of teaching strategies, heavy workload, and inability to meet students’ increasing expectations are driving them to seek continuing professional development (CPD) and adopt new pedagogies, e.g., peer assessment. On the other hand, their urgent need for CPD is overlooked by university administrators, who provide few opportunities for English teachers’ CPD in China. To help Chinese university EFL teachers to step out of the dilemma, the research proposes a CPD model, i.e., peer-assisted research and implementation team work. The model is characterised by its simultaneity with self-initiated research, instant communication of problems, implementation of strategies, and collaborative reflection of ideas with three major stages, i.e., problem identification, collective research and exploration, and pedagogy implementation and reflection. The findings show the model successfully contributes to Chinese teachers’ changing attitudes towards using peer assessment in the writing class. The model is of great practical value in improving teachers’ CPD collectively with minimal external help. The model can be widely promoted with modifications to cater teachers’ different CPD needs.     

High-tech,hard work: an investigation of teachers’ work in the digital age

This paper explores the ways in which digital technologies are now implicated in the work – and specifically the labour – of school teachers. Drawing upon qualitative studies in two Australian high schools, the paper examines the variety of ways in which teachers’ work is now enacted and experienced along digital lines. In particular, the paper highlights the association of digital technologies with the standardization, evidencing, intensification and altered affect of teachers’ work. The paper questions the extent to which these trends might be seen as constituting ‘new’ forms of labour, with the research data pointing to continuities and disjunctures in terms of teachers’ autonomy and professionalization. The paper also considers how these conditions are experienced in different ways across the teaching workforce. The paper concludes by reflecting on how fairer and/or empowering working conditions might be achievable through alternate uses of digital technology.     

Gender and socioeconomic status differences in university students’ perception of social support

Perceived social support has been shown to be one of the most important protective factors for emerging adult students during their transition to university. However, the relationships between perceived social support and dimensions of gender and family background, which have been shown to affect adjustment to college life, remain unexplored. The current study analyzes the effect of gender, parents’ education, and family income level on social support perceived by Spanish university students. The sample consisted of 575 women and 280 men, of average age 18.02 years (SD?=?0.52) enrolled in the first year of degree courses at the University of Santiago de Compostela (Spain). Three measures were used to assess various facets of perceived social support, namely perceived acceptance, social provisions, and support availability and satisfaction. Gender differences were identified for several perceived social support dimensions; women reported a wider social network, which should cover more diverse needs of social support. In addition, differences related to mother’s education and family income level emerged for the availability of support and perceived acceptance. The results highlight the different role of gender and family background in several dimensions of perceived social support during the transition to emerging adulthood.     

To assist or not to assist? A study of teachers’ views of the roles of learning support assistants in the provision of inclusive physical education in England

This paper examines teachers’ perceptions of their working relationships with learning support assistants (LSAs) when seeking to incorporate young disabled people and pupils with special educational needs (SEN) within mainstream physical education (PE), an area that has been a largely neglected aspect of research in inclusive education. The findings indicate that teachers spoke positively of these relationships when LSAs were perceived as making a positive contribution to the development of pupils’ learning and when they supported teachers as they did in other school subjects. Conversely, when LSAs and other support staff failed to provide teachers with information that was related to pupils’ needs in PE, and when LSAs did not possess the required skills, knowledge and expertise of the subject, teachers were rather critical of their relationships with them. In this regard, LSAs were seen as placing a particularly significant constraint on teachers’ ability to meet the needs of pupils in PE lessons. It is concluded that teachers’ perceptions of the constraints they experience from working with LSAs to help support pupils, and the extent and quality of support they receive, cannot be understood adequately unless they are located within the context of the relational constraints experienced by teachers.     

An exploratory study of changes to university EFL teachers’ teaching practices

The brief report describes an exploratory investigation into changes to three university EFL teachers’ teaching practices in a research-intensive university framed by managerialist technologies to improve its visibility and global ranking. The findings revealed that substantial changes have been brought about to their teaching practices in terms of falling into the routine of ‘technification of teaching’, producing a spectacle ‘what is there simply to be seen and judged’ or striving to seek out new spaces for ‘authentic’ English teaching. The study concluded with implications for facilitating the managerial reforms that are congruent with the cognitive and contextual realities of different generations of Chinese university EFL teachers.     

Addressing the discontinuity of students’ and teachers’ diversity: a preliminary study of preservice teachers’ beliefs and perceived skills

The authors of the present investigation provide baseline data regarding preservice teachers’ beliefs about addressing the needs of students whose backgrounds and abilities differ from their own. These data provide the guidance for subsequent in-depth longitudinal investigations about the ways in which preservice teachers’ beliefs inform their classroom behaviors toward the aforementioned students, as well as suggestions for teacher educators about program improvements.     

A study of early childhood teachers’ conceptions of creativity in Hong Kong

The study aimed to uncover the conceptions of creativity among early childhood teachers in Hong Kong. The sample comprised 563 early childhood teachers. Factor analysis supported the multidimensional hypothesis of teachers’ conceptions of creativity. Five dimensions were found: novelty, product, problem solving, cognitive processes and personal attributes. Early childhood teachers in Hong Kong ascribed high importance to these dimensions as defining characteristics of creativity, with a person’s cognitive processes and personal attributes being ascribed relatively more important while product as relatively less importance. In particular, imagination, multiple perspectives and curiosity were perceived as very important concepts of creativity. Teachers with different teaching backgrounds shared very similar conceptions of creativity. Significant results were found with regard to product only. The findings have implications for early childhood teacher education programmes and professional development in Hong Kong.     

In the physics class: university physics students’ enactment of class and gender in the context of laboratory work

This article explores how the doing of social class and gender can intersect with the learning of science, through case studies of two male, working-class university students’ constitutions of identities as physics students. In doing so, I challenge the taken-for-granted notion that male physics students have an unproblematic relation to their chosen discipline, and nuance the picture of how working-class students relate to higher education by the explicit focus on one disciplinary culture. Working from the perspective of situated learning theory, the interviews with the two male students were analysed for how they negotiated the practice of the physics student laboratory and their own classed and gendered participation in this practice. By drawing on the heterogeneity of the practice of physics the two students were able to use the practical and technological aspects of physics as a gateway into the discipline. However, this is not to say that their participation in physics was completely frictionless. The students were both engaged in a continuous negotiation of how skills they had learned to value in the background may or may not be compatible with the ones they perceived to be valued in the university physicist community.