Learning and the ‘F’ Word

Abstract

The article looks at the ‘At‐Risk Program’ set up as a collaboration between teachers in elementary and secondary public schools and the staff of Indiana University.     

Complexity Science and Education: Reconceptualizing the Teacher’s Role in Learning

This writing is structured around the question, "What is teaching?" Drawing on complexity science, we first seek to demonstrate the tremendously conflicted character of contemporary discussions of teaching. Then we offer two examples of teaching that we use to illustrate the assertion that what teaching is can never be reduced to or understood in terms of what the teacher does or intends. Rather, teaching must be understood in terms of its complex contributions to new, as-yet-unimaginable collective possibilities.     

Learning ‘about’ and ‘from’ religion: phenomenography,the Variation Theory of Learning and religious education in Finland and the UK

The paper addresses the relationship between the twin tasks of enabling pupils both to learn about and learn from religion in the state education systems of Finland and the UK. Recognising that the relationship between these two tasks is the subject of considerable confusion, it is argued that the most appropriate way to view the connection is fundamentally ontological. In a plural society in which there is no basic agreement about the ultimate meaning and purpose of life, there nevertheless remains a common concern to enable pupils to live flourishing lives in harmony with the ultimate order‐of‐things. The paper draws on phenomenography and the Variation Theory of Learning to unpack the pedagogic implications of this argument.     

School Leaders’ and Teachers’ Perceptions of Learning Disabilities: Implications for Support in Inclusive Schools in the Sultanate of Oman

The study examined school leaders’ and teachers’ perceptions of Learning Disabilities (LDs) in Key Stage1 Schools in a sample drawn from schools in Muscat, the capital city of Oman. A sample of 175 school leaders and 175 teachers completed The Survey on Learning Disabilities (SLD), an instrument developed to explore beliefs and perceptions of the causes of LDs. A principal component analysis indicated that six factors underlie perceptions of LDs: The governmental formal educational system, repertoire of teachers’ skills and school support, familial and cultural background, students, academic curriculum, and social change. Multivariate analyses showed that school leaders perceive more strongly than teachers that the governmental formal educational system and academic curriculum as main causal factors for LDs. Implications for support of students with LDs in inclusive settings in Oman are discussed.     

Teacher Salaries and the Shortage of High-Quality Teachers in China’s Rural Primary and Secondary Schools

Abstract

Teacher salary level and structure are not only important factors affecting the supply of primary and secondary school teachers, but they are also crucial to attracting, training, and retaining high-quality teachers, thereby impacting the overall quality of education and teaching in schools. The reform of China’s basic education management system has ensured the fiscal security and steady increase of rural primary and secondary school teacher salaries and has effectively improved the supply and quality of rural teachers. The objective gap between urban and rural teacher salaries and benefits has, however, led to the one-way mobility of rural teachers, resulting in the loss of quality teachers and giving rise to a structural shortage in rural schools. To improve the supply and quality of teachers in rural areas, it is necessary to effectively and systemically increase rural teachers’ basic salaries and subsidies according to the law. There is the necessity through various channels to raise primary and secondary school teachers’ salaries and benefits, especially subsidy and allowance standards, to eliminate actual variances in teacher salaries.     

Assessment for learning and Teacher Learning Communities: UK teachers’ experiences

In this paper, I explore the experiences of secondary teachers in four London schools [UK] who participated in Teacher Learning Communities, defined as meetings in which professional learning was supported as they learned about Assessment for Learning (AfL). The claim for these communities is that they lead to sustained improvements in teaching and learning, where the following design principles are adhered to: where leaders respect and value a need that has been identified by participants as of importance to themselves; they are school-based and integral to school operations; there is teacher collaboration; and there is input from within and beyond the school to support teachers’ theoretical as well as practical learning. The findings from this research project suggest that Teacher Learning Communities’ benefits were compromised specifically: where they were imposed on teachers; where they were not accommodated sufficiently within other school commitments; where leaders were too directive; where meeting formats were adhered to inflexibly; and where practice was emphasized at the expense of theories. My conclusion is that both AfL and Teacher Learning Communities rely for their success on sustained critical reflection among their participants, which can be inhibited where the above limitations apply.     

Tensions and the Teacher’s Role in Student Teacher Identity Development in Primary and Subject Teacher Curricula

This paper describes a 2-year follow-up study on teacher identity development in different types of teacher education programmes. Teacher identity development was analysed with a focus on student teachers’ views of teacher’s roles and tensions experienced during their studies. Student teachers (n?=?20) were interviewed at the beginning and end of the master-level studies. Three types of tensions were identified: (1) conception of self versus professional role, (2) role expectations versus university training, (3) and multiple professional role expectations. The follow-up study showed that tensions tended to accumulate to some extent. However, successful consolidation of tensions appeared to depend on how the student teachers were able to recognise resources at their disposal, with implications for organisation of reflection support in teacher education.     

School Management Teams’ Instructional Leadership Role in Closing the Achievement Gap in Impoverished Schools

Abstract

Although the South African government has made numerous strides in addressing equity and social justice in education, significant inequalities still exist in learner performance, especially in many impoverished schools. One of the reasons cited for poor learner achievement is the ineffective leadership role of school management teams (SMTs). This article reports on a study that explored the instructional leadership role of SMTs of public schools with the view to closing the achievement gap in poor performing schools. To gain better insights into the SMTs’ realities and experiences of their work as curriculum leaders, qualitative research located within the interpretivist paradigm was undertaken. The findings revealed that SMTs of impoverished schools exhibit consistently low to moderate instructional leadership competencies which ultimately affect student learning. In order to close the achievement gap in poor performing schools, SMTs should play a more pronounced instructional leadership role by leading and managing core curriculum matters and educational resources effectively and efficiently.     

Founders’ Continuing Roles in Schools Supporting Self-Directed Learning

What should be the continuing role of founders in schools supporting self-directed learning? To answer this, the founders’ views of two North American schools for self-directed learners will be compared. One school is exam-focused and private; the other is, test-free and public. The founders of both schools have comparable beliefs regarding the importance of self-direction in education: Dr. Able, the founder of Able School, sees the primary value of the school as constructing a cohesive “tribe” based on the Socratic method of questioning. Dr. Green, influenced by A. S. Neill’s Summerhill in founding Unschool, considers freedom to live life as one chooses as the principle value. Although both founders played a substantial role in the formative years of their schools, only the founder of Able School still holds a prominent position in the school. Why does this discrepancy exist in the continuing role of the founders? What continuing role for a founder is most compatible with democratic society? The answers to these questions provided in this paper are based on personal communications with Dr. Green after a visit this founder of Unschool made to Able School December 12, 2013 to meet with Dr. Able. The names of the founders and their schools are pseudonyms.     

Lifelong Cyberlearning System: A Pilot Project for the ‘Learning Society’ in the ROC

Abstracts

English: Lifelong Learning is an important national policy in the ROC, and a significant goal in our educational reform policy is to establish a ‘Learning Society’ based on the concept of lifelong learning. This paper is intended to provide a broad overview of the current status of developments moving us towards the Learning Society, and to elucidate a special pilot project: The Lifelong Cyberlearning System. This project is sponsored by the Ministry of Economic Affairs in the ROC.     

From the Newspaper to the ‘News‐screen’ in Portuguese Schools

Abstracts

English: The paper points out the main objectives of school newspaper production, emphasizing those that may be achieved through work with electronic papers ‐ media competence and hypermedia literacy ‐ which are so important in the Information Society, and crucial for lifelong independent learning which is required in our continuously changing world. A pedagogical approach to the work with online papers which stresses the advantages of ‘learning by doing’ is suggested. A short overview of the Portuguese situation as to the integration of the new Information Technologies in schools will be followed by a presentation of some examples of electronic newspapers produced by Portuguese pupils.

The linear reading mechanisms of traditional papers are compared to those of online papers based on hypertext. The differences in the lay‐out and logic and in the ways of organizing information at the conceptual level will be mentioned, alongside some basic rules for writing an electronic newspaper.     

Teacher counternarratives: transgressing and ‘restorying’ disability in education

This inquiry aims to explore the disconnect between the disability studies in education (DSE) perspectives on inclusive schooling held by a group of dually certified inclusive educators and the everyday, lived experiences of these same teachers who find themselves teaching students with labelled disabilities within the confines of the special education bureaucracy. Through a collaborative inquiry circle (with a teacher educator who is a faculty member in a dual-certification programme informed by a DSE perspective and seven teachers who are graduates of this teacher education programme), this study aims to: (1) articulate the dominant narratives or storylines about disability in education that may ‘discipline’ teachers' practice within the special education bureaucracy; (2) illustrate some of the ways in which teachers do resist and transgress the discursive structures of schooling in ways that enable them to ‘restory’ disability in education; and (3) explore the implications of this work for preparing teachers to be dually certified, inclusive educators of all children in public schools.     

What Do Teacher Mentors Tell Student Teachers About Pupil Learning in Infant Schools?

Abstract

Recent emphases on experiential classroom learning in the induction into expertise of student teachers may over‐estimate the learning support that class based practitioners offer students. Current understandings of teachers' thinking and planning suggest that expert practitioners may not be best placed to provide student teachers with frameworks for understanding what Shulman (1987) categorises as general pedagogical knowledge. Data from a sample of 11 UK infant school teacher mentors in the form of 5 hours of taped planning and evaluatory conversations with 20 students have been content analysed. Teacher‐talk related to explanations of how pupils learn forms the focus of the paper. Implications for mentor training and school‐university partnerships are drawn from the analysis of the data. Finally the need to confront the language difference that obtains between schools and universities in order to develop the theoretical base of teacher education is asserted.     

Teachers’ Workplace Learning and the Learning Portfolio

During the years 1994‐1996 the Federal Government of Australia conducted the National Professional Development Program (NPDP) for teachers. This paper reports on a project concerned with investigating the views of significant stakeholders about the issue of accreditation of teacher learning in NPDP projects and developing a means by which such accreditation could take place. The project was carried out in the final year of the NPDP and sought to provide a vehicle for teachers to gain university credit for their workplace learning in many of the projects conducted during the three years of the NPDP.     

Students’ perceptions of classroom instructional environments in the context of ‘Universal Design for Learning’

Using a sample of 867 students in Grades 5–12, the present study investigated whether students’ perceptions toward the instructional environment in classrooms that employed Universal Design for Learning differed by school grade level and teacher gender. High-school students in the study showed higher perception scores than upper-elementary or middle-school students in the personalisation and participation aspect of the classroom environment. The results for teacher gender indicated that students in the study perceived a more personalised classroom environment with female teachers than with male teachers. Policy implications and methodological considerations are provided for future study.     

‘Teacher leadership’: values and voice

This article focuses on teacher leadership, an important dimension of the work of the Leadership for Learning network which is the focus of this special issue. More specifically, the article focuses on the launch of a journal – Teacher Leadership – as a strategy for promoting key values: shared leadership, teachers’ leadership of development work, teachers’ knowledge building and teachers’ voice. Material published in the first two issues of this new journal is used to illustrate how these values are realised in action enabling teachers to lead innovation and contribute to the development of professional knowledge. The article begins with an exploration of the place of teacher leadership within the wider context of shared or distributed leadership.     

Learning in Early Childhood: experiences,relationships and ‘Learning to Be’

Learning in the earliest stage of life — the infancy, toddlerhood and preschool period — is relational and rapid. Child-initiated and adult-mediated conversations, playful interactions and learning through active involvement are integral to young children making sense of their environments and to their development over time. The child's experience in this early phase of life is at the heart of ‘Learning to Be’ in any society. This article reviews early learning studies aimed at understanding children's personal, intellectual and social development, and promoting that development. Particular reference is made to attachment and attention, the process of self-regulation, and the adult-child engagement strategies that advance the child's receptive and expressive language: these all exercise substantial influence on early childhood learning and child development outcomes over time. The selected research studies variously highlight the development of infants, toddlers, and young children in kindergarten and the early years of school, and how children make sense of their environments as social, learning and unique human beings. Both the home learning environment and early childhood education programmes are important in children's development. This article argues for high-quality early childhood experience and giving attention to the engagement role of adults in advancing young children's development, minimising the risk of poor development and supporting positive long-lasting personal, academic and social benefits. In this early phase of life, in the words of Jacques Delors: ‘… none of the talents which are hidden like buried treasure in every person must be left untapped’. (Delors et al. 1996, p. 23).