Constructing constructivism: how student‐teachers construct ideas of development,knowledge, learning,and teaching

This case study investigates the development of the understanding of constructivist theory among students in a Masters level elementary teacher education program within a particular course. The focus of the study is a seminar entitled ‘Advanced Seminar in Child Development’. The questions explored include: How do students’ ideas of teaching, learning and knowledge develop within the context of their experience in this course? How do they come to understand constructivism? What are their definitions of constructivism? What is the course of the development of this understanding? The nature of the students’ learning processes is examined through three sources of data: dialog journals, videotaped sessions and the instructor’s reflective teaching journal. The study looks both at student development and instructional practice to further understanding of how student‐teachers can learn to apply constructivist theory to their teaching and to understand the learning process, both within themselves and their students. Their development is placed in the context of Korthagen and Kessels’s model of teacher understanding and practice, and within a broader context of principles of practice that emphasize a belief in equity and social justice. The case illustrates how the way student‐teachers are taught theory can help them integrate their own ideas of learning and teaching with constructivist theory in order to think critically about their own practice in an ongoing developmental manner.     

Reimagining the role of mentor teachers in professional experience: moving to I as fellow teacher educator

New accreditation requirements for Australian initial teacher education programs require that universities and schools establish quality partnerships to ensure strong links between pre-service teachers’ university-based learning and school-based professional learning experiences. This paper focuses on the shifts of identity, thinking and practice that occurred for five school-based mentor teachers as they co-created new professional experience practices alongside university-based teacher educators in a Teaching Academies of Professional Practice (TAPP) project. Interview data was analysed through the theoretical framework of Dialogical Self Theory to examine how the repositioning of mentor teachers as fellow teacher educators allowed for expansion in the understanding and enactment of their role. The findings of this study suggest that partnerships between schools and universities can enhance learning opportunities for all participants when commitments are made to creating collaborative and dialogical spaces to support new approaches to teacher education.     

Learning‐to‐learn and learning‐to‐teach: the impact of disciplinary subject study on student‐teachers’ professional identity

A coherent view of student‐teachers’ preparation and the learning experiences to which they are exposed are key to sustaining the relevance of university‐based teacher‐education programmes. Arguably, such coherence is lacking and the research base to an understanding of the student‐teacher experience is still a relatively limited one. This paper takes the view that student‐teachers’ epistemological growth is a key component of their professional development, their sense of identity as intending teachers, and their successful entry into a teaching career. In adopting a phenomenographic approach it explores a chain of evidence which demonstrates that immersion in the processes of learning and knowing, within a specific disciplinary context, had a significant impact on students’ emerging professional identities and on their values as teachers which extends beyond the subject matter itself. Arguably, the findings of this case‐study hold important implications for a teacher‐education programme and for effective pedagogic practice.     

From Skepticism to Scholarship: Learning and Living Self-Study Research in a Doctoral Seminar

Teacher education doctoral seminars can provide a space for students to collaborate, reflect and support each other as they transition from teacher to teacher educator. These spaces also provide a forum for the learning of new research methodologies. This collaborative self-study chronicles how one group of doctoral students learned self-study research and fostered a scholarly identity in a doctoral seminar focused on learning about teacher education practices through self-study research. The participants shared autobiographies, journals, and critical summaries of assigned readings, and they questioned each other’s understanding and development in the context of their shared experiences. Through this process, they overcame concerns regarding self-study as they developed their understanding of the components of self-study research and accepted their new role as self-study researchers. This study provides insights into the benefits of using doctoral seminars as a space to develop a scholarly identity and for using that space as a source of investigation. Implications for similar communities are also discussed.     

MATHEMATICS TEACHER EDUCATION AND QUALITY

‘Quality’ in mathematics teaching does not relate solely to pupil achievement, to teaching approaches or to deeply held beliefs about the nature of mathematics and its teaching and learning, but to all of these. A model of a teacher's mathematics‐related belief‐system is presented, and the issue of the contrast between espoused and enacted beliefs is discussed. ‘Quality’ in mathematics teacher education raises all of these issues, as well as the aims, goals and means of the teacher preparation process itself. The paper concludes by arguing against the ‘apprenticeship’ model of mathematics teacher education, for depriving student teachers of theory and of practical research experience. A well known dictum paraphrased states that theory without practice is empty, but that practice without theory is blind. ‘Quality’ in mathematics teaching and teacher education depends on both theory and practice in systematic cooperation.     

‘Practice in teaching should be practice in caring’ fidelity in teacher education

Abstract

As we move forward in the new millennium, the call for reform in teacher education programs increases. One reform model, offered by Nel Noddings, focuses on the students’ affect, emotion, and intellect. Noddings proposes the use of fidelity—focusing on the individual and the quality of relationships—as a cornerstone in teaching and teacher education. Fidelity in teacher education utilizes a process that includes modeling, dialogue, practice, and confirmation. This paper explores the fundamentals of a fidelity‐based approach to teacher education and examines a university course and its fieldwork component by analyzing the structure and methods of each using the fidelity framework. If we expect our pre‐service teachers to create caring learning environments, they must first be taught about caring environments by their professors. The use of fidelity in teacher education programs is one model that allows for caring environments as well as content application.     

“新工科”通识教育背景下的“名师研讨课”

"新工科"通识教育是连接传统通识教育与工科专业教育的桥梁,应以全面发展教育理念、结果导向理念、证据导向理念为核心。作为通识教育中"科技文明"板块的通识课程"名师研讨课",旨在通过邀请高水平的名师嘉宾,探索基于学生自主学习、名师指导、师生研讨的教学模式,使学生在领略名师教学风采和人格魅力的同时,提升学习、分析、表达、合作等综合素质能力,激发探索兴趣,挖掘研究潜能。文章对"名师研讨课"的课程定位、教学主题、教学方法、教学模式与教学内容等进行了介绍。     

Taking a Return to School: Using Self-Study to Learn about Teacher Educator Practice

The work of teacher educators is complex and multifaceted and requires knowledge of pedagogy and practice in both schools and teacher education institutions. This complexity, combined with calls for teacher educators to work in close partnership with schools, sees some in teacher education working in hybrid roles and across the boundaries of schools and universities. Drawing on a self-study conducted over a one-year return to teaching, I explore my return home to teach in a secondary school and I examine the continuing impact of this experience on my practice as a teacher educator. Using the concept of tensions as a conceptual framework to analyse the data I explore three tensions in this article: (1) teacher as technician versus teacher as pedagogue; (2) challenging versus being responsive to other’s views of learning; and (3) teacher versus teacher educator identity. I explore how a return to teaching in school and the tensions I experienced enabled me to develop my practice and understandings as a teacher educator. I argue that rich professional learning can result from using self-study to examine teacher educator practice, particularly for teacher educators working in hybrid roles and partnership contexts.     

论师范生“为教而学”学习观的构建

《教育规划纲要》对教师队伍建设提出的要求,也是对未来成为教师的师范生提出的要求。为了适应未来教师职业的工作需要,师范生需明确教师教育职责和自身学习目标及学习的特点,以提高教师素质为目的,在师范教育阶段积极构建"为教而学"的学习观。为此,高等师范院校应在改革课程体系,优化课程结构;明确培养目标,加强教学实践训练;改革教学模式,转变学生的学习方式等方面融入新的学习观,促进师范生专业能力的提高。     

The Uses of the Term Hypothesis and the Inquiry Emphasis Conflation in Science Teacher Education

This paper examines the use and role of the term ‘hypothesis’ in science teacher education as described by teacher students. Data were collected through focus group interviews conducted at seven occasions with 32 students from six well‐known Swedish universities. The theoretical framework is a sociocultural and pragmatist perspective on language and learning, introducing the notion of pivot terms to operationalise language use as a habit and mediated action. We describe three different customs of using the term ‘hypothesis’ within four cultural institutions that can be said to constitute science teacher education in Sweden. Students were found to habitually use the term hypothesis as meaning a guess about an outcome. This is contrasted to the function of this term in scientific research as a tentative explanation. We also found differences in how this term was used between the pure science courses given by the science departments of universities and science education courses taken only by teacher students. Findings also included further support for school students hypothesis fear reported in an earlier study. It is discussed how these findings can obstruct learning and teaching about the nature of scientific inquiry. Constructivist theories of learning are suggested as a possible origin of these problems. The findings are also related to curricular reform and development.     

Curriculum Evaluation Using a Seminar Interaction Analysis Schedule

A modification to the Flanders’ Interaction Analysis Categories to code student‐to‐student discussion allows meaningful analysis of seminar transactions. Examples are given of the use of the coding system in two seminar groups in teacher education. It is suggested that the system has a value in contributing to the evaluation of teaching.     

Exploring university-based teacher educators’ teaching beliefs and practice: a Hong Kong study

This study explores two higher education-based language teacher educators’ teaching beliefs and how they implemented their beliefs in classroom practice. Drawing on data from in-depth interviews and classroom observation, the findings revealed the teacher educators’ multiple and complex beliefs, which were derived from their past experiences and continued to be shaped and transformed through their professional work. The study also shows that while the participants tried to act in accordance with their beliefs in their teaching of teachers, they encountered some contextual obstacles (e.g. the ‘publish-or-perish’ system) which resulted in the gap between their beliefs and practice. Through their continuous reflections and agentive work, the teacher educators tried to close the gap and facilitate their students’ learning to teach. This study concludes with some implications for current teacher education and higher education on how to promote language teacher educators’ cognitive learning and continuous development.     

Paying Attention to Bodies in Education: theoretical resources and practical suggestions

This article theorizes and exemplifies reconceptualized teaching practices, both in early childhood education (ECE) and in a couple of programs within the new Swedish Teacher Education (since 2001). These programs are tightly knit to the last 12 years of reconceptualized early childhood education practices in and around Stockholm, built on deconstructive, co‐constructive, and re‐constructive principles, inspired by poststructural and feminist poststructural theories. The aim is foremost to work towards a dissolution and/or transgression of the modernist theory‐practice binary that dominates ECE and teacher education practices, where theory is meant to be applied to practice. Student teachers, as well as pre‐school teachers, use what I have conceptualized as deconstructive talks, as a possibility of making visible the dominant discourses of childhood, identity, learning, play, and gender in the performed and documented teaching practices. In teacher education, students’ narratives are also deconstructed. The aim is to transgress teaching‐as‐usual; i.e. dominant and normative ways of thinking and acting in teaching and learning situations. I will suggest an ethics of ‘resistance’, affirmation and becoming, inspired by Derridean deconstructionist thinking, as a professional attitude and reflexive mode for teachers, teacher students and teacher educators.     

日本高校“研讨会”课程对我国精英教育的启示

研讨会课程几乎成为日本所有大学必设的课程,有的学校直接把它叫做培养学生的＂研讨会制度＂。如今它已经演化成日本高校的一种特色教育。研讨会课程以培养和提高学生在国际视野下的系统学习能力和综合能力为主要任务,并能使学生在学习生活中有强烈的归属感。这种制度的长期坚持,帮助日本高校形成一种专业优势,全面提高了学生的能力,使得师生之间的关系更加融洽、紧密。这种研讨会课程对我国大学精英教育有着积极的借鉴意义。     

False Dichotomy? ‘Western’ and ‘Confucian’ concepts of scholarship and learning

Discourses of ‘internationalisation’ of the curriculum of Western universities often describe the philosophies and paradigms of ‘Western’ and ‘Eastern’ scholarship in binary terms, such as ‘deep/surface’, ‘adversarial/harmonious’, and ‘independent/dependent’. In practice, such dichotomies can be misleading. They do not take account of the complexities and diversity of philosophies of education within and between their educational systems. The respective perceived virtues of each system are often extolled uncritically or appropriated for contemporary economic, political or social agendas. Critical thinking, deep learning, lifelong and lifewide learning are heralded as the outcomes of Western education but these concepts are often under‐theorised or lack agreed meanings. Equally fuzzy concepts such as ‘Asian values’ or ‘Confucian education’ are eulogised as keys to successful teaching and learning when Asia prospers economically. They are also used to explain perceived undesirable behaviour such as plagiarism and uncritical thinking when Asian economies do not do so well. We argue that in general, educationists should be aware of the differences and complexities within cultures before they examine and compare between cultures. This paper uses the Confucian‐Western dichotomy as a case study to show how attributing particular unanalysed concepts to whole systems of cultural practice leads to misunderstandings and bad teaching practice.     

(Re)Producing Mathematics Educators: A sociological perspective

Whilst participation in higher education has increased dramatically over the last two decades, many universities are only now beginning to pay more attention to the learning experiences of first year students. It is important for universities to understand how first year students conceive of learning and knowing in order to promote effective approaches to learning. Even though an extensive body of research demonstrates that beliefs about learning and knowing influence student approaches to learning and learning outcomes, there has been no Australian research that has investigated this critical learner characteristic across first year university students. This paper reports on preliminary data from an ongoing longitudinal study designed to investigate first year students’ beliefs about knowing and learning (epistemological beliefs). Students from teacher education and creative industry faculties in two Australian universities completed the Epistemological Beliefs Survey (EBS) in the first week of their first semester of study. A series of one‐way ANOVA using key demographics as independent variables and the EBS factor scores as dependent variables showed that epistemological beliefs were related to the course of study, previous post‐school education experience, family experience at university, gender, and age. These data help us to understand students’ beliefs about learning and knowing with a view to informing effective learning in higher education.     

Shifting Identities: An investigation into student and novice teachers' evolving professional identity

This paper focuses on recent and innovative moves towards flexible learning in initial teacher education programmes in England and Wales, as part of the ‘widening participation’ agenda in higher education and in response to changes in teacher recruitment patterns. We take as our perspective our own experience as two course tutors in a higher education institution that introduced flexible routes into its secondary teacher education programme at the beginning of the academic year 2002/2003. Using the university's model for our case study, we have undertaken a small‐scale research project and reviewed the literature describing flexible learning discourses in higher education, to consider the extent to which concepts of flexibility are being translated into practice. In particular we highlight some implications for pedagogy and practice that have become apparent at this early stage in the development of flexible courses and which will have an impact upon their progress in the future.     

我国残疾儿童少年随班就读师资培训中的问题及对策

随班就读是具有典型中国特色的融合教育形式之一,师资是提高随班就读质量、保障残疾儿童少年公平受教育权利的重要保证。当前随班就读师资培训中存在的问题有：高等院校教师教育培养目标严重缺位;相关文件规定的培训目标模糊不清;职后培训模式单一,形式死板;师资培训的课程不完整,内容普教化、针对性不强。解决对策主要有：明确承担随班就读工作的师资条件,细化师资培训目标;结合实际,灵活拓展培训新模式;构建合理的师资培训课程内容。     

Collaborative learning in pre‐service teacher education: an exploratory study on related conceptions,self‐efficacy and implementation

In this study, the actual position of collaborative learning (CL) in teacher education is examined. One hundred and twenty teacher educators and 369 student teachers are surveyed on general educational beliefs, mental models and conceptions related to CL. The self‐efficacy and the implementation of CL are also taken under scrutiny. The results reveal that CL is highly valued as a teaching strategy for primary school children; however, student teachers do not prefer to collaborate themselves during their learning process. Student teachers’ self‐efficacy towards the use of CL is moderate. Collaborative learning is implemented once in a while in teacher education, and student teachers are not intensively trained in the pedagogical use of CL for their future classroom practice.