Multitasking and synchronous work: Complexities in teacher work

Teacher work is described as increasing in complexity and intensity. Reasons for this include societal changes, reformed and increased work tasks, and the changed moral and normative character of teacher work, but also teachers' experiences of doing more than one thing at the same time, and of thinking about one's work at all times. The concept of multitasking is discussed as it relates to teachers' activities. The study is based on data collected with an organizational sampling method (OSM). The concept of synchronous work is developed and discussed as it relates to structural influences, involving concepts that conflict in some respects. It is concluded that the confrontation between teacher engagement and structural and social constraints can lead to work satisfaction, frustration, indifference or ignorance.     

Acting as accountable authors: Creating interactional spaces for agency work in teacher education

In this paper, relying on the sociocultural framework of learning, we report on the results of an ethnographically-grounded investigation of agency work among nine pre-service teachers: The main objective is to determine how agency emerges and is constructed in situated discourse practices within the context of a teacher education program embedded in the collective inquiry approach. Our study identifies the forms of agency that emerged in the collective discussions of the classroom community, evidencing pre-service teachers’ transformative agency, relational agency and epistemic agency. This study also shows that the negotiation and framing of agency, and acting as accountable authors, involves changes in teacher-student positions, such as crossing and transforming traditional expert-novice boundaries, as well as recognizing and crediting this crossing of boundaries. The methods and conditions for supporting students’ agency work in teacher education are discussed.     

Co-analysis of work in the triadic supervision of preservice teachers based on neo-Vygotskian activity theory: Case study from a French university institute of teacher training

The goal of this study was to evaluate the effects of the joint training activities of a cooperating teacher and a university supervisor during an advisory visit on (a) the professional development of a preservice teacher's activity and (b) the reorganization of mentoring activity following this visit. The results are considered from a theoretical perspective based on cultural-historical psychology (Leontiev, A. (1984). Activity, consciousness, personality. Moscow: Progress Editions.; Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Interaction between learning and development. In: M. Cole, V. John-Steiner, S. Scribner & E. Souberman (Eds.), Mind in society (pp. 79–91). Cambridge: Harvard University Press.; Vygotsky, L. S. (1997). Thought and language. Paris: La Dispute.; Vygotsky, L. S. (2003). Consciousness, the unconscious, emotions. Paris: La Dispute.) and the clinical study of activity (Clot, Y. (2003). Vygotsky, consciousness as liaison. In: Vygotsky, consciousness, the unconscious, emotions. Paris: La Dispute, pp. 7–59.; Clot, Y. (2004). Work between functioning and development. Bulletin de Psychologie, 57(1), 5–12.; Clot, Y. (2008). Work and the power to act. Paris: PUF.; Clot, Y., & Faïta, D. (2000). Types and styles in work analysis. Concepts and methods. Travailler, 6, 7–43.). The discussion focuses on the conditions that led to the greater effectiveness of the advisory visit, which is an integral part of teacher training programs that alternate classroom work with co-analysis of the work. Proposals are also made for new directions in training supervisors and cooperating teachers with a view to building a training team.     

Cross-cultural experience in preservice teacher education

The study investigated the effect of international student teaching experience on the professional and personal development of preservice teachers. Within the framework of their internship program, 26 graduate students in a private university in Turkey had a two-month internship in a mid western state in the United States, the main component of which was a six-week student teaching experience in high schools. Student teachers worked with mentors in pairs or triads in six high schools in different subject areas. They got involved in teaching practices, technology seminars, and diverse cultural activities during their internship. The student teachers and mentor teachers were surveyed through e-mail and three student teachers were interviewed to evaluate the outcomes of the program. The findings of the current research suggest that the international student teaching experience and the overall internship program with its cultural components contributed in a positive way to student teachers’ professional and personal development and helped student teachers increase their cultural awareness. The findings also suggest that the presence of international students in US schools and society in general helped American students and people have a better idea of other countries and cultures.     

Supporting small-group learning using multiple Web 2.0 tools: A case study in the higher education context

In this single-case study, small groups of learners were supported by use of multiple social software tools and face-to-face activities in the context of higher education. The aim of the study was to explore how designed learning activities contribute to students' learning outcomes by studying probabilistic dependencies between the variables. Explorative Bayesian classification analysis revealed that the best predictors of good learning outcomes were wiki-related activities. According to the Bayesian dependency model, students who were active in conceptualizing issues by taking photos were also active blog reflectors and collaborative knowledge builders in their group. In general, the results indicated that interaction between individual and collective actions likely increased individual knowledge acquisition during the course.     

Blended teacher professional development: A synthesis of three program evaluations

This study synthesized the findings of three program evaluations of teacher blended professional development programs from the perspective of situated design and implementation, development of community, changes in teacher practice, and impact on students. We found that the blended programs were effective in providing teachers with an opportunity for learning on the job and collaborating with other teachers, and they influenced teacher classroom practice moderately and affected student learning to a limited extent. Our study supports the contention that blended learning is a viable model for teacher professional development.     

Establishing and sustaining teacher educator professional development in a self-study community of practice: Pre-tenure teacher educators developing professionally

This paper outlines the professional development of pre-tenure teacher educators through the establishment of a self-study group. Through reflecting on three significant events, a discussion is offered as to how members contributed to the self-study of teacher education practices and experienced enhancement as a community of scholars. Evidence is presented as to how pre-tenure faculty can work together to build a culture that links teaching practice to scholarship within an organizational framework for group interactions. This work contributes to research on the induction of new professors by providing a model of professional development that is self-directed, collaborative, and empowering.     

Dialogue as a catalyst for teacher change: A conceptual analysis

Teacher–teacher dialogue is a central activity within many professional learning programmes. Understanding how and why dialogue works as an effective tool for teacher change is a question, however, that needs more careful probing in the extant literature. In this paper, I draw upon the philosophical theory of practical reason in order to show why and how teacher–teacher dialogue plays such a crucial role in the evolution of teacher practice. This conceptual analysis also builds our understanding as to the kinds of teacher–teacher dialogues that are more likely to be effective at catalysing teacher learning.     

Reassembling teacher professional development: the case for Quality Teaching Rounds

Conventional professional development, while still in full swing in many places, has been widely maligned for its passive approach to learning, its failure to address local differences, and its often single-event format. While the corrective move to more collaborative models of professional learning has been heralded, few empirical studies to date have demonstrated impact on classroom practice or student learning outcomes. What is missing in both approaches, we argue, is a focus on pedagogy that guides teachers’ efforts at improvement. To address this absence, we elaborate our ‘reassembled’ approach to professional development, Quality Teaching Rounds. We argue that bringing together approaches to teacher development that privilege collaboration, community, and context with a substantive pedagogical framework will deliver more powerful professional development that makes a substantial impact on practice and produces measurable effects.     

Emotion work and emotional exhaustion in teachers: the job and individual perspective

Teaching requires much emotion work which takes its toll on teachers. Emotion work is usually studied from one of two perspectives, a job or an individual perspective. In this study, we assessed the relative importance of these two perspectives in predicting emotional exhaustion. More than 200 teachers completed a questionnaire comprising the DISQ (Demand‐Induced Strain Compensation Questionnaire), the Dutch Questionnaire on Emotional Labour (D‐QEL), and the UBOS (Utrechtse Burnout Schaal [Utrecht Burnout Scale]). In line with previous studies, our findings indicated that emotional exhaustion is positively associated with emotional job demands and surface acting. The relative importance of the two operationalisations of emotion work was assessed by comparing the results of two regression analyses. Whereas the model with job demands explained 18% of the variance, the model with emotional labour explained only 5%. In understanding what might contribute to emotional exhaustion in teachers, the emotional job demands might be much more important than the self‐regulation perspective that is measured with emotional labour.     

Teacher participation in school-based professional development in China: does it matter for teacher efficacy and teaching strategies?

ABSTRACT

Although Chinese teachers commonly participate in school-based professional development activities, there is a remarkable scarcity of large-scale quantitative research into the effectiveness of teacher professional development in China, which is characterised as an institutionalised practice. Based on a conceptual framework applying recent research knowledge, this study investigates the relationships between teacher participation in school-based professional development and its individual and school contextual antecedents and effects on teachers and teaching in the context of mainland China. A total of 1506 secondary school teachers responded to a questionnaire survey. The results show that teachers’ willingness to attend teaching research activities and supportive principal leadership facilitated teacher participation. Among the three dimensions of teacher participation, it was collective lesson planning and teacher collegiality, not the frequency of participation, that improved teacher efficacy and the adoption of desirable teaching strategies. These results enrich the knowledge about the characteristics and effectiveness of teacher professional development in China. The implications of the findings are discussed.     

The challenge of involvement in reflective teaching: Three case studies from a teacher education project on conducting classroom discussions on socio-scientific issues

The purpose of this qualitative study was to learn more about how teachers deal with a reflective teaching approach aimed at developing their competencies in analysing and facilitating classroom discussions on socio-scientific issues. Three cases of teachers' journeys through the project are reconstructed and characterised. We posit that each teacher benefited from the project according to his or her individual situation, needs and learning style. A number of modifications to the project design are proposed and can be summarised by the idea of assisting teachers more closely and more individually as they pass through the reflective teaching process.     

The Video Viewing Task: A source of information for assessing and addressing teacher understanding of text-based discussion

This paper reports on the Video Viewing Task (VVT), an assessment designed to measure teachers' developing understanding of two reading comprehension instruction approaches: Reciprocal Teaching (Palincsar, A. S. & Brown, A. L. (1984). Reciprocal teaching of comprehension-fostering and comprehension-monitoring activities. Cognition and Instruction, 1(2), 117–175) and Questioning the Author (Beck, I. L., McKeown, M. G., Hamilton, R. L., & Kucan, L. (1997). Questioning the author: An approach for enhancing student engagement with text. Newark, DE: International Reading Association). The VVT consists of video excerpts that teachers view and comment on during their viewing. The VVT also includes a series of questions to guide teachers' reflections after viewing. Analyses of teachers' comments and reflections in response to the VVT provide evidence that the VVT captures teachers' entering conceptions and is sensitive to changes in teachers' developing understanding following professional development specific to the two instructional approaches.     

以人为本——对现阶段班主任工作的思考

班主任的作用处于杠杆动力臂的最远端,工作的核心是“育人”,“教书”是“育人”的过程和内容,“育人”才是目的。要敏锐地发现和解决学生现在的思想状况和“未来”对“人”的要求的矛盾。树立民主思想,给学生以尊重和宽容,同时应严格管理、严格要求。明了自己的责任,重新认识师生关系,重新认识教育对象的特点和教育目标。使学生个性与道德和社会规范结合。培养学生适应社会、发展自我、改造世界的能力,使之成为有用的人。     

Creating foundations for collaboration in schools: Utilizing professional learning communities to support teacher candidate learning and visions of teaching

Despite widespread acknowledgment of the power of professional collaboration, the norm in most schools is teachers working in isolation. Our study examined the impact of multiple layers of professional collaboration intentionally integrated into a one-year preservice teacher education program working in two elementary schools. Analysis of 23 teacher candidates' written reflections, focus group interviews, and classroom observations indicated that supported by collaboration with colleagues, they developed the skills and commitment to teach each student for understanding. Based on our research, we propose a shift in teacher education toward collaborative inquiry about teaching and learning within school/university partnerships.     

幼儿教师的反思性教学探微

幼儿教师的专业成长 ,是近年来教师教育领域一个日益受到人们关注的重要课题 ,也是目前国际上教师教育发展的重要趋势。促进幼儿教师专业成长的途径很多 ,其中最重要的途径是“反思性教学”。本文从幼儿教育的角度 ,对“反思性教学”的功能、方式、内容等方面进行阐述 ,并对如何提高幼儿教师反思性教学能力进行了浅微的探讨。     

提升大学教师专业发展——教学学术的维度

大学是人才培养的重要基地,而教学是作为培养人才的主渠道之一,因此大学教师的教学水平就影响了大学输出人才的质量。当前一些大学重视科研和社会服务而忽视人才培养,教学日益边缘化,殊不知教学是学校的主旋律,也是衡量教师专业发展的一个重要的维度。因此让大学教师回归教学,回归到育人为本的理念是大学教师专业发展的必然选择。     

高职学生英语作业错误特点及公共英语教学策略

英语写作作为书面形式的主动性输出技能,它能较客观的反映学生的语言能力高低,能集中体现一个学生的英语水平,并折射出他们学习中遇到的问题,所反馈的信息又可以促进、指导教学。高职学生英语基础普遍较差,作业中错误较复杂。该文尝试分析高职学生(非英语专业)英语写作错误的特点及成因,并提出相应的教学策略,旨在提醒同行重视高职学生写作错误,以便了解学生实际英语水平以及学生在学习中遇到的困难,并在教学中实施因材施教的原则,从而提高公共英语的教学质量,改善学生英语学习效果。     

Promoting inclusive education in secondary school in Norway: a national programme for teacher development

There is a great need in many countries for extended and new teacher competence to meet the challenges of inclusive education. This paper presents a national programme for developing new teacher competence in secondary schools in Norway. The programme was developed and implemented during the 1990s, its aim being to start a continuing process in schools directed at promoting inclusive education and improving the quality of education for pupils with special educational needs. Further, the paper presents some findings from a national survey of 2240 teachers and school administrators in 104 schools one year after the implementation of the programme. The survey partially replicated a survey carried out before the programme started. The purpose was to give an overall picture of the situation with respect to teacher competence in special needs and inclusive education, and the impact of the competence building programme on teacher practice, and to identify possible system changes in schools.     

Reform in teacher education: A personal comment

The Benton and Hoyt article reveals substantial information about attitudes toward teacher preparation in America. however, a notable set of issues are not a part of their data base because those responsible for programming teacher education have ignored them. This response presents a beginning at identifying such issues.