Modeling as moral education: Documenting,analyzing, and addressing a central belief of preservice teachers

This study reports belief survey data from 92 preservice teachers responding to questions about the moral work of teaching. Those data reveal that participants commonly express the belief that modeling is a primary means by which moral education occurs. The survey responses are analyzed to show a number of themes regarding the nature of preservice teachers' beliefs about how modeling works. Recommendations for teacher education practice to prepare preservice teachers for the moral work of teaching, by addressing their beliefs about such work, are discussed, along with ongoing research needs to support effective and responsible teacher education practices.     

公共话语中的幼儿园教师形象——基于网络媒体新闻的内容分析与话语分析

本研究综合运用内容分析和话语分析的方法,以微信、微博和新闻网站三大媒体平台报道的相关新闻为研究对象,探究公共话语中的幼儿园教师形象。内容分析结果显示,幼儿园教师的公众形象比较负面,并呈现出职业道德低、工作内容技术含量低、个人品质差的"二低一差"特点;社会形象呈现出职业待遇低、学历低、社会地位低的"三低"特点。与中小学教师相比,网络媒介中幼儿园教师形象特征的描述更为负面、具体、多维且充满情绪化。幼儿园教师公众形象的道德特征突出,专业特征则模糊脆弱。话语分析结果显示,网络媒体通过话语的标题主题结构、内容主题结构、措辞和隐含词义以及语境等的运用来构建公众形象,工于幼儿园教师负面形象的塑造而不是正面形象的构建。新闻报道和评论的对比分析表明,网络媒体新闻报道的倾向性和公众评论基本一致,可见媒体对公众认知具有很强的导向作用。网络媒体对幼儿园教师形象进行负面塑造主要源于网络媒体框架定位的负面单一;报道的"短快式"操作;标签化和捆绑式报道。为有效改善公共话语中的幼儿园教师形象,应增强新闻媒体的专业精神和社会责任,着力加强对幼儿园教师专业形象的正面塑造;应积极促进幼儿园教师专业化,利用专业组织的力量主动塑造和维护幼儿园教师的正面形象;应提高公众的媒介素养水平,使其能够理性地看待负面新闻报道,坚持对幼儿园教师群体的正面认识。     

美国绩效标准本位教师教育课程理念与实践探析

美国绩效标准本位教师教育课程理念与实践的变革体现为四个维度:教师观,强调教师是从事复杂工作的专业者;知识观,认为教学知识是复杂的情景化知识;教学观,倡导教学要基于情境,以学生为中心展开;评价观,主张教学评价要注重个体发展和整体质量。美国教师教育相关院校和机构依据上述理念,基于自身特点选择并调适相应的教师教育标准,对教师的职责、教学理论及评价方式等进行多方面改革探索,实践中改革者在各维度所做的改变和尝试可为我国教师教育课程标准的优化和教师教育课程的构建与实施提供启示。     

新时代理科教师胜任力模型构建与内涵解析

中学理科教师胜任力是理科教师胜任理科教育教学工作所需具备的关键能力、师德品格特质与科学思维。本研究基于理科教师胜任力的操作性定义,构建了理科教师胜任力的理论模型,包括教学实践能力、育人能力、教师专业伦理、科学观念与思维4项核心要素。依据该模型对国内外理科教师专业标准等7份文本材料进行编码,分析各构成要素关键词出现的频次,结果显示教学实践能力在文本材料中出现的频次最高。基于30位德尔菲专家调查数据的模糊性收敛分析,结果表明各构成要素具有较高的内容效度。对专家共同体展开的层次分析调查显示,育人能力的权重在4项核心要素中居于首位,表明本研究所构建的中学理科教师胜任力模型符合新时代国家对教师队伍建设的要求。     

Emotions that experienced English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers feel about their students, their colleagues and their work

This study examines what contribution emotions make to the professional lives of experienced EFL teachers. Interviews with EFL teachers working in Tokyo universities revealed that the teachers had very positive feelings of emotional warmth regarding students, which they expressed through their identity as carers and moral guides. On the other hand, the teachers expressed their relationships with colleagues and institutions in much more negative emotional terms. Two implications for teacher development are suggested: the need for teachers to talk collaboratively about the emotional impact of teaching, and the need to discuss what the moral purpose of EFL teaching is.     

The moral aspects of teacher educators' practices

The growing political, social and scientific attention that is being devoted to the moral aspects of teaching has implications for teacher education. This paper reports on a study of the actual moral education practices of 54 teacher educators within one institution. We encouraged these teacher educators to make their values explicit and to explain how they put them into practice. Nine teacher educators were studied in detail. These teacher educators were then stimulated to reflect on their values by completing charts to analyse the moral aspects of their practices. In addition, one of their lessons was videotaped and discussed. An important conclusion of this study is that whilst the responsibility for preparing student teachers for moral education rests with individual teacher educators, this process is largely implicit and unplanned. This is due in part to the lack of a language for expressing the moral dimension in teaching. Both teacher educators and students emphasise the importance of the role that attitudes play in the expression of values by teacher educators.     

Epistemic beliefs and beliefs about teaching practices for moral learning in the early years of school: relationships and complexities

While investment in young children is recognised as important for the development of moral values for a cohesive society, little is known about early years teaching practices that promote learning of moral values. This paper reports on observations and interviews with 11 Australian teachers, focusing on their epistemic beliefs and beliefs about teaching practices for moral education with children aged 5–8 years. The analysis revealed three main patterns of thinking about moral education: following others, reflecting on points of view, and informing reflection for action. These patterns suggest a relationship between epistemic beliefs and beliefs about teaching practices for moral learning which have implications for teacher professional development concerning experiences in moral education.     

Teaching evolution: Narratives with a view from three southern biology teachers in the USA

This case study explored sociocultural forces that influenced three 10th grade public high school biology teachers' instructional goals, instructional acts, and identity narratives related to the teaching of evolution. Primary data included field observations of classroom instruction and teacher interviews. Secondary data included informal conversations with students, interviews with department chairs, and interviews with a Southern minister. Data were coded and analyzed resulting in categories and themes which provided insights into the sociocultural influences that gave shape to the teaching of evolution for three teachers in this southeastern state. Findings included: (a) changes in teaching identities as the teachers sought legitimacy for teaching evolution through dependency on the textbook as the authoritative knowledge, (b) socioculturally embedded lived experiences and the perceived teaching identity of each teacher that created idiosyncratic positionings related to decisions about teaching evolution, and (c) the complicatory influence of the state standards, the graduation exit examination, and teacher autonomy on teachers' decisions related to the teaching of evolution. This study revealed practical relationships between what actual practices occur when teachers include or exclude evolution within the curriculum and the liabilities and benefits of teacher autonomy related to controversial topics such as evolutionary theory. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 46: 762–790, 2009     

In search of the excellent literature teacher. An inductive approach to constructing professional teaching standards

This study makes a contribution to the development of empirically based, domain-specific teaching standards that are acknowledged by the professional community of teachers and which, therefore, have a good chance of being successfully implemented and used for professional development purposes. It was prompted by the resistance on the part of many teachers to the one-size-fits-all teaching standards imposed on them from above. We, therefore, looked for an alternative and canvassed teacher opinion about what makes an excellent literature teacher. Because our standards will be used to evaluate the profession, we also wished to know to what extent teachers satisfy (or would like to satisfy) their own ideal, and which factors influence their professional development. Contrary to earlier studies, we found that the professional community of literature teachers hold widely shared ideas about what constitutes excellence in their profession. We also found that almost 40% felt that their own level of professionalism fell far short of excellence, but that their professional growth was primarily hampered by external, contextual factors. If the government wishes to promote teacher ‘excellence’, the infrastructure for professional development will need to change so that teachers can acquire the knowledge and skills embodied in the teaching standards.     

Inquiry-Based Whole-Class Teaching with Computer Simulations in Physics

In this study we investigated the pedagogical context of whole-class teaching with computer simulations. We examined relations between the attitudes and learning goals of teachers and their students regarding the use of simulations in whole-class teaching, and how teachers implement these simulations in their teaching practices. We observed lessons presented by 24 physics teachers in which they used computer simulations. Students completed questionnaires about the lesson, and each teacher was interviewed afterwards. These three data sources captured implementation by the teacher, and the learning goals and attitudes of students and their teachers regarding teaching with computer simulations. For each teacher, we calculated an Inquiry-Cycle-Score (ICS) based on the occurrence and order of the inquiry activities of predicting, observing and explaining during teaching, and a Student-Response-Rate (SRR) reflecting the level of active student participation. Statistical analyses revealed positive correlations between the inquiry-based character of the teaching approach and students’ attitudes regarding its contribution to their motivation and insight, a negative correlation between the SRR and the ICS, and a positive correlation between teachers’ attitudes about inquiry-based teaching with computer simulations and learning goal congruence between the teacher and his/her students. This means that active student participation is likely to be lower when the instruction more closely resembles the inquiry cycle, and that teachers with a positive attitude about inquiry-based teaching with computer simulations realize the importance of learning goal congruence.     

Pedagogical practices: examining preservice teachers’ perceptions of their abilities

Teachers routinely make decisions regarding the best pedagogical methods for altering students’ understandings about academic content. Such practices are at the root of teaching as persuasion, and have been shown to be related to academic achievement. Yet very little research has investigated the extent to which individuals learning to be teachers (i.e., preservice teachers) feel they are capable of performing the practices underlying teaching as persuasion. As such, the purpose of this study was to examine the extent to which preservice teachers see themselves as capable of performing persuasive pedagogical practices compared to more general teaching practices as operationalized on well-researched measures of teacher efficacy. Results indicated that undergraduates enrolled in preservice teacher education courses perceived themselves as less capable of performing persuasive pedagogical practices than more generally accepted practices. In addition, preservice teachers perceived they were more capable of altering students’ knowledge about content than at modifying their beliefs about content. Implications for research and practice are forwarded.     

The role of motivations and perceptions on the retention of inservice teachers

This article addresses the characteristics, motivations and perceptions of teachers regarding retention. The participants were practicing teachers in Australia. The survey included the Factors Influencing Teaching Choice (FIT-Choice) scale, previously used with preservice teachers. The results show that: i) teacher motivations are related to self-perceptions in teaching children/adolescents in the community, ii) threatened by negative social perceptions, and iii) influenced by characteristics such as gender. It is concluded that retention may be undermined by employment practices and social perceptions that erode a teacher’s self-concept. Outcomes inform policy for improving employment practices for the retention of a diverse teaching workforce.     

Teaching for the Pursuit of Truth in a Post-Truth World

Abstract

This study investigated teacher profiles with regards to their conception of truth. The explanatory sequential design began with the first phase administering a survey to a random sample from across the American southeast. Results were aggregated and each teacher was profiled with regards to four diverse views of truth: correspondence, relativist, pragmatist, and critical. The second phase of the study analyzed open-ended responses to a set of questions about instructional practices of teachers for comparison of common practices based on truth profile. The results of this investigation found a significant proportion of teachers hold contradictory views of truth while those who are firmly within one profile have noticeable distinctions among priorities, perspectives, and practices. Implications for these findings are discussed with practical consideration for the classroom regarding salient topics such as learning online, engaging in social media, and combatting fake news.     

论师德

师德是教师的职业道德 ,是教师进行教育实践时必须遵循的各种道德规范的总和。从教育功能、教师职业的特点及当前师德的现状看 ,在市场经济条件下加强师德建设十分迫切。各类学校要以《教师法》和中共中央关于深化教育改革推进素质教育的《决定》为指针 ,引导教师从立德、修身和实践三个方面着手 ,加强师德修养     

Educational Psychology in Teacher Education

Over the years, educational psychology has been a part of teacher preparation, moving from a centerpiece in many programs, through periods when it was deemed irrelevant by some, to current concerns about its role in the reforming of teacher education and teaching. Today, psychological knowledge is used to ground reforms in teaching and schooling, particularly the call for teaching for understanding. Current standards for teacher certifications and licensure and suggestions for reform in teacher education assume that teachers will have a deep and generative understanding of learning, development, motivation, and individual differences. This article explores several themes that recur in the writing on reforms and teacher standards: the need to place learning at the center of teaching, the call for integrated studies, and the value of collaboration with the public schools. These themes have both positive and negative implications for the role of educational psychology in teacher education.     

教师资格制度中建立教育实习评鉴标准的思考

教师资格制度是国家对教师实行的一种法定的职业许可制度,目前教师资格审核的基本条件由身份条件、思想品德条件、学历条件和教育教学能力条件构成,其中最重要的是教育教学基本素质和能力标准,而教育实习是形成教学能力的重要阶段,建立教育实习评鉴标准已成为教师资格制度改革的基本内容。当前我国教师资格认证申请采取属地化自愿申请的原则,教育教学基本素质和能力的测试标准和测试办法由各省确定,对申请者是否参与了一定时期的教育实践(教育实习)没有建立评鉴标准,本文就教师资格制度中建立教育实习体系评鉴标准进行分析和思考。     

美国实施“优秀科学教师专业标准”经验述评

美国一向把科学教育看做提高国家竞争力的重要基础,高度关注科学教师的质量。建立专业标准是提高教师质量的基础和前提。联邦政府在长期支持"国家教学专业标准委员会"建立优秀科学教学专业标准并认证优秀科学教师的基础上,近年又在教育发展战略上强调"只有优秀的教师才能培养优秀的学生,高素质的教师队伍是保证教育质量的关键",并从政策上和经费投入上提出"投资卓越教学",推广优秀科学教师实践,借以加强科学教师队伍建设,进而促进整个教育质量提高。本文旨在解读分析美国"国家教学专业标准委员会"开发的优秀科学教师专业标准的准则、内容、特点,从而为我国试行教师专业标准提供可资借鉴的经验。     

How is cultural diversity positioned in teacher professional standards? an international analysis

Unprecedented levels of global mobility mean that culturally homogenous classrooms are now increasingly rare. This brings with it challenges for teachers and raises issues about what constitutes quality teaching and teachers. Professional standards are commonly seen as a key policy instrument through which teacher quality can be enhanced. This article presents an analysis of teacher professional standards from five of the most culturally diverse nations in the English-speaking world. Using critical discourse analysis, we examine how culturally and linguistically diverse learners and culturally responsive pedagogy are positioned, and what the standards stipulate teachers should know, and be able to do, in fulfilling their professional obligations. We conclude by raising concerns about how the official representations of teaching in particular national contexts fail to position culturally diverse learners and culturally responsive teaching as a priority.     

In search of quality criteria in peer assessment practices

With the increasing popularity of peer assessment as an assessment tool, questions may arise about its measurement quality. Among such questions, the extent peer assessment practices adhere to standards of measurement. It has been claimed that new forms of assessment, require new criteria to judge their validity and reliability, since they aim for specific goals and address different aspects of learning. But although new criteria have been formulated, little is known about how they are deployed and operate in actual peer assessment practices. This study intends to explicate the quality criteria relevant to the context of peer assessment. We conducted a survey in vocational education on peer assessment quality criteria applied in classrooms. Fifty-six teachers using peer assessment rated several quality criteria as relevant to their teaching practice. The findings suggest that peer assessment practices entail many of the quality criteria recognized in measurement and evaluation, although in an embedded way: the generic quality criteria are tuned or adapted to the peer assessment setting. The findings also show that peer assessment is very much in the hands of the teacher, who organizes and orchestrates the appraisal process in which students receive clear guidelines to appraise one another's work. Our results indicate that quality criteria hardly differ from the function peer assessment serves in classrooms, either within a summative or formative evaluation context. By gaining insight on the specific criteria of peer assessment and their precise purposes, we believe it becomes possible to help teachers improve its measurement quality.     

How much does the quality of teaching vary at under-performing schools? Evidence from classroom observations in Chile

The present study aims to determine how much the quality of teaching varies among and within under-performing schools. 1266 classroom observations were conducted in 260 schools across Chile. An index of teaching quality was constructed to analyze its variance. It was found that only 4.8% of the variance is explained by the teacher’s school. This suggests that the variance in the quality of teaching is not among schools, but within teachers from the same school. These results are important for public policy, especially in the field of professional development, as they suggest that best practices can be found at under-performing schools.