Teacher educators’ collaboration in subject departments: collaborative activities and social relations

Teacher educators’ collaboration plays an important role in the improvement of teacher education. Many studies in educational research focus on collaboration from 1 particular perspective. A focus on 2 perspectives, a qualitative (focusing on collaborative activities) as well as a quantitative (focusing on relations) perspective, and relating both perspectives, can add to our knowledge. Data were collected in 3 subject departments of a teacher education institute. Findings indicated that educators’ collaborative networks inside the departments could gain from more coherent and dense relations, and that key players were important to support and sustain collaboration. Both perspectives were mildly related, correlations were found for “degree” and “information” (r = .31, p < .05), “degree” and “joint work” (r = .38, p < .01), and “reciprocity” and “joint work” (r = .33, p < .05), no correlations were found for “degree” or “reciprocity” and “discussing”. At the department level, only mathematics showed significant correlations. Results indicated that, in further research, qualitative aspects as well as quantitative aspects should be included.     

A Collaborative-Comparative Approach to Learning Qualitative Data Analysis

ABSTRACT

The literature on qualitative research offers the novice two strategies for learning analysis: (1) “trust” that you will “somehow” make sense out of qualitative material, or (2) follow a predetermined set of analytic steps and stages. A problem with the first approach is that it does not take into account the wide variety of qualitative analysis projects researchers undertake or differences in how individuals approach the interpretation of qualitative material. A problem with the second approach is that it does not maximize the learning potential possible from making explicit and sharpening the learner's own interpretive framework. In this paper we describe a third alternative: a collaborative-comparative approach to analyzing qualitative materials. This approach uses a group-based model of learning and explicitly capitalizes upon differences in group member interpretive styles to enhance learning qualitative methods of research.     

THE BASIS OF JAMES W. FOWLER'S UNDERSTANDING OF FAITH IN THE RESEARCH OF WILFRED CANTWELL SMITH: AN EXAMINATION FROM AN EVANGELICAL PERSPECTIVE

This article focuses on the influence of Wilfred Cantwell Smith's presentation of the nature of faith on James W. Fowler's faith-development paradigm. Smith contended that, in the pre-modern era, terms translated by the English words “faith” and “believe” denoted a personal allegiance that did not require assent to any objective assertions. Two difficulties with Smith's research are highlighted: 1) In the premodern era, the terms translated as “faith” and “believe” denoted both personal allegiance and objective assent. 2) Although “faith” and “believe” primarily indicated personal allegiance in the premodern era, the primacy of personal allegiance within faith does not preclude the presence or the necessity of objective assent. The author suggests that, although Christian faith and Fowlerian stage-development are two distinct phenomena, the reality to which Fowler referred as “faith” describes the psychical context for Christian faith. The article concludes by reflecting on the implications of this concept, suggesting that Christian faith emerges from Fowlerian stage-development, but that the content and development of both phenomena remain essentially distinct.     

From “Boy-Government” and “Student-Government” to “Learner-Government”: The Best of Both Worlds?

In the history of South African education there have been three contrasting attempts to incorporate learners into the authority structures of schools, namely: “boy-government” (prefect system), “student-government” (Student Representative Councils (SRCs)) and “learner-government” (Representative Councils of Learners (RCLs)). This article traces the historical development of these traditions in governance in South African schools. Against this background, it proffers a historical analysis of these traditions to show that the phrase “learner representative council” is at a crossroads, that is, it is being stretched and pulled in different directions in post-apartheid South Africa. It points out that “student-government” was born out of the rejection of the unpopular “boy-government”. It also provides a critical analysis of the attempt of the national Guides for Representative Councils of Learners (Guides for RCLs) (DoE 1999) to blend the “prefect” and “SRC” traditions in order to strengthen democracy at school level. In doing so, it argues that the Guides for RCLs undermine democratic SRCs developed in the anti-apartheid education struggle. In the end, the article defends the “student-government” tradition because of its potential to educate for democratic citizenship in post-apartheid South African schools.     

Professional experience: learning from the past to build the future

The title of the 2014 Australian Teacher Education Association (ATEA) conference was Teacher Education, An Audit: Building a platform for future engagement. One of the conference themes was Professional Experience: What works? Why? I seized upon this theme and the title of the conference as it afforded me an opportunity to do an audit of my research in professional experience over the last 25 years. This article presents this evidence base and the messages I have taken from this evidence. I have done this in the hope that, by collating some of the insights gained from the past and the present, it will help to “build a platform for future engagement” in professional experience. In preparing this article I was asked by the Editors to reflect also on how I developed my distinctive line of inquiry and expertise in relation to the practicum across an extended period. These reflections are included. I hope they will support university-based teacher educators in enhancing their satisfaction and achievements from working in this stimulating and provocative field of study.     

“Equal Time” and “Equal Voice”

ABSTRACT

This paper outlines the development, implementation, and qualitative and quantitative evaluations of a foundation research course structured to give “equal time” and “equal voice” to both qualitative and quantitative research content. Assessment of this integrative approach suggested that students' gain in qualitative research knowledge was strongly correlated with their gain in quantitative research knowledge (r = .653, p > .0005), and some students believed “I am better able to evaluate my practice” as a result of taking this course.     

Boundary-Work and Discipline Construction: Boundary Strategies to Institutionalize Guoxue as a Discipline and Its Failure

Abstract

The construction of knowledge boundaries is an important mechanism in the formation of disciplines. This article examines and analyzes boundary strategies and difficulties in the institutionalization of guoxue (“national studies” or “Chinese classics”) as a discipline in recent years from the perspective of boundary-work. To establish guoxue as a discipline, proponents of the discipline have proposed the knowledge strategies of “new guoxue” and “broad guoxue,” so as to dispel potential conflict between guoxue and the external political environment. In addition, in the construction of the discipline, proponents have emphasized the differences between Chinese and Western scholarship, and also made analogy to Western Sinology, to highlight the necessity of constructing a holistic “discipline of guoxue.” However, these strategies and efforts have not achieved the objective of building guoxue as a discipline. One important reason is that guoxue studies are, to a very great extent, embedded in Chinese literature, Chinese history, Chinese philosophy and other related disciplines. The knowledge boundaries between guoxue and these disciplines are fuzzy, and the construction of the discipline lacks driving force from daily research practices. The process of to build a guoxue discipline can contribute to reflect on the existing discipline governance system in mainland China.     

Getting in tune through arts-based narrative inquiry

This article provides a glimpse into the use of arts-based methods within a narrative inquiry into learning in an early years degree. Drawing on writing as inquiry [Richardson, L., and E. A. St. Pierre. 2005. “Writing: A Method of Inquiry.” In The Sage Handbook of Qualitative Research, edited by N. K. Denzin, and Y. K. Lincoln, 959–978. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage], arts-based research [Estrella, K., and M. Forinash. 2007. “Narrative Inquiry and Arts-Based Inquiry: Multinarrative Perspectives.” Journal of Humanistic Psychology 47 (3): 376–383; Barone, T., and E. W. Eisner. 2012. Arts Based Research. Los Angeles, CA: Sage; Leavy, P. 2015. Method Meets Art: Second Edition: Arts-Based Research Practice. New York: Guilford Press], narrative inquiry [Kim, Jeong-Hee. 2016. Understanding Narrative Inquiry: The Crafting and Analysis of Stories as Research. Los Angeles, CA: Sage], autoethnography [Ellis, C., T. Adams, and A. Bochner. 2010. Autoethnography: An Overview. Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung/ Forum Qualitative Social Research 12 (1). http://www.qualitative-research.net/index.php/fqs/article/view/1589/3095] [Holman Jones, S. 2005. “Autoethnography – Making the Personal Political.” In The Sage Handbook of Qualitative Research, edited by N. K. Denzin, and Y. S. Lincoln. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage; Wyatt, J. 2008. “No Longer Loss: Autoethnographic Stammering.” Qualitative Inquiry 14 (6): 955–967; Trahar, S. 2009. “Beyond the Story Itself: Narrative Inquiry and Autoethnography in Intercultural Research in Higher Education.” Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung/Forum: Qualitative Social Research 10 (1)] and the philosophical notion of the rhizome [Deleuze, G., and F. Guattari. 1987. A Thousand Plateaus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia. Translated by B. Massumi. Vol. 2, Capitalism and Schizophrenia. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota. Original edition, Mille Plateaux, volume 2 of Capitlisme et Schizophrenie, 1980, Les Editions de Minuit, Paris; Jackson, A. Y. 2003. “Rhizovocality.” International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education 16 (5): 693–710; Honan, E. 2007. “Writing a Rhizome: an (im)Plausible Methodology.” International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education 20 (5): 531–546; Sermijn, J., P. Devlieger, and G. Loots. 2008. “The Narrative Construction of the Self: Selfhood as a Rhizomatic Story.” Qualitative Inquiry 14 (4): 632–650; Clarke, B., and J. Parsons. 2009. “Becoming Rhizome Researchers.” Reconceptualising Educational Research Methodology 4 (1): 205–215; Sellers, M. 2015. “‘Working with (a) Rhizoanalysis’ and Working (with) a Rhizoanalysis.” Complicity 12 (1)], the author, a timid ‘I’, seeks to disrupt commonly accepted modes of representing knowledge through a performative text that enacts rather than fixates meaning. The purpose is to attempt to shift the ‘discursively established, sedimented strata of educational theory and practice that continue to be highly influential in a great many institutional and policy driven contexts?…?’ (Sikes and Gale, 2006, final paragraph). The hope is to effect some change in research methodologies that marginalise and to highlight the political within the three dimensional inquiry space [Clandinin, D. J., and F. M. Connelly. 2000. Narrative Inquiry: Experience and Story in Qualitative Research. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass; Clandinin, D. J. 2006. “Narrative Inquiry: A Methodology for Studying Lived Experience.” Research Studies in Education 27 (1): 44–54] of Early Childhood education and practice.     

The predisposition of school culture towards change in public primary education in Greece

Educational reform attempts in Greece have been increased during the past decades, but research has shown negative change and innovation introduction and implementation results [Spiropoulou, Dimitra, Agapi Varvouraki, Chrisoula Koutra, Louka Eleni, and Mpouras Sarantos. 2007. “Innovation Programs in Education.” Review of Educational Matters 13: 69–83; OECD. 2011. Education Policy Advice for Greece. Strong Performers and Successful Reformers in Education. OECD Publishing. doi:10.1787/9789264119581-en; Kiriakodi, Despoina, and Athanasios Tzimoyiannis. 2015. “Educational Innovations in Primary Education. A Study of the Awarded Work of the Action ‘Institution of Excellence and Promotion of Good Practices’.” Issues of Science and Technology in Education 8 (3): 123–151]. The present article discusses those elements of school culture that impede educational change or can serve as resources for its more meaningful and effective implementation, as they are investigated with the use of a quantitative questionnaire. The findings from the responses of the participants, teachers (n?=?385) and headteachers (n?=?31), point to the need for an integration of the families in the educational processes, for a shift to the development of skills rather than mere academic achievement and for enhanced cooperation within the school environment. The role of the headteacher is recognised as an element that can improve the reform implementation results. Further qualitative research is suggested.     

A “Deleterious” Driver: The “First Teacher” Reform in Sweden

This article investigates the implementation of the “förstelärare” or “First teacher” reform in Sweden. We draw upon the insights of a superintendent, union official, principal, three First teachers, and two of their colleagues in one school, and recent literature on career development reform. We employ Michael Fullan’s overview of the “right” and “wrong” drivers of educational reform to analyse the extent to which the First Teacher initiative cultivated productive “professional capital.” The research reveals: how broader national policy aims were in clear tension with municipal-wide school development, and school-level development efforts; the perverse effects of a strong focus upon salary on professional conduct; and how an emphasis upon teachers’ roles per se undermined the espoused policy focus on enhancing teaching. The research cautions against the problematic effects of the initiative on more profession-oriented prerogatives, and how more external, “deleterious,” drivers of reform militate against more productive professional capital.     

Learning to teach,learning to act: becoming a critical literacy teacher

Critical literacy requires an exploration of privilege and social justice. This includes an exploration of power and action in one’s “inner” and “outer” lives. This qualitative case study illustrates the ways in which Jonah, a preservice teacher, navigates social practices and actions in his roles as a student, activist, and literacy teacher. Through critical discourse analysis, we conceptualize social action in relation to critical literacy teaching, using a framework of discourses of, discourses as, and discourses in action to construct a nuanced understanding of social action in relation to critical literacy. Given the demands of a standardized curriculum on teachers’ autonomy, this is an important illustration of how social action can be enacted and embodied through the act of teaching.     

Using Student-Determined Needs to Evaluate Environmental Education Programs

Abstract

All too often, evaluation is not used as the important management tool it could be, because educators feel inadequately prepared to use complex evaluation techniques. “Direct evaluation,” as a research concept, is based on the idea of “research as an intermediate technology,” developed by Steven and Rachel Kaplan in Cognition and Environment (1982: Praeger). Direct evaluation means you ask what you need to know of those who are participants in a program you wish to evaluate. The results, when collated, can be used for justification as well as modification of programs.     

The Practicality of Principled Practical Knowledge: A Response to Janssen,Westbroek, and Doyle

“Practicality Studies” (Janssen, Westbroek, & Doyle, 2015/this issue) starts with a critical commentary on “Principled Practical Knowledge: Not a Bridge but a Ladder” (Bereiter, 2014) but consists in the main of an essay on what the authors consider to be really practical knowledge for teachers. The gist of their criticism is that “Bereiter and with him a large part of the design research community in the learning sciences underestimate the magnitude of … usability issues and in fact believe that much of the task of usability is already solved by design research in the learning sciences” (p. 177). The authors argue persuasively for giving “practicality studies” a place in learning sciences research, but their subtitle—“How to Move From What Works in Principle to What Works in Practice”—claims too much and makes an invidious distinction.     

Portraits of Our Mentoring Experiences in Learning to Craft Journal Articles

Tenure demands for scholarship and publication are increasing, with relatively little research on mentoring junior faculty and less on mentoring to craft journal articles. This qualitative self-study of mentoring experiences of three junior faculty members and their experienced mentor used portraiture methodology to address the research question, How did the mentoring experience, from both mentor’s and mentees’ perspective, reshape our thinking and understanding of the journal article writing process? Portraiture was employed somewhat differently, with mentor and mentee “painting” each other. Five emergent themes were found in the dyadic portraits written by protégés and mentor: beginnings, relationships, fears and worries, support and scaffolding, and outcomes. The mentoring relationships evolved from traditional to more collaborative, simultaneously becoming less hierarchical and involving cognitive and affective aspects. Crafting journal articles involved finding focus, backwards design, iteration, problem-finding, affirmation, and support. Eleven implications offer guidance for mentoring in university contexts and for future research.     

Capturing change and stability in longitudinal qualitative research: insights from a study about aging and life transitions in Israeli continuing care retirement communities

ABSTRACT

The present paper considers the use of longitudinal qualitative research (LQR) as a means to capture both change and stability in people’s lives. We use an LQR study conducted in continuing care retirement communities to demonstrate three dimensions that should be taken into consideration when addressing change vs. stability. Three waves of interviews with older adults and their family members as well as memos and reflections concerning interview data are used. The first dimension concerns the question of: “who defines change?” A second dimension raises the question of, “what has changed?” Finally, a third dimension concerns the timeframe of change. We argue that LQR provides a tremendous richness of time dimensions and perspectives. Discrepancies between dimensions, perspectives and timeframes can be particularly enriching. Moreover, LQR allows also for the opportunity to examine stability.     

THE USES OF REMINISCENCE IN OLDER ADULTHOOD

Findings from previous research on the benefits of reminiscence and life review in the aging process have been inconclusive. This may be due in part to a lack of clarity with regard to the particular type of reminiscence being investigated. The study reported in this article attempted to bring some clarity to the phenomenon of reminiscence by identifying and differentiating its various uses or functions. A 17‐item Uses of Reminiscence scale was administered to 288 older adults as part of the Georgia Centenarian Study. A factor analysis of the data revealed three distinct uses of reminiscence: “therapeutic,” “informative,” and “enjoyment.” Implications for research and practice are discussed.     

Acculturation and teacher ratings of hispanic and Anglo‐American students∗

Robert Albert examined key conceptual shifts in the pertinent professional literature language over the first part of the 20th century in his 1969 American Psychologist article, “Genius: Present‐Day Status of the Concept and Its Implications for the Study of Creativity and Giftedness. “ His findings indicated profound changes in pertinent terminology in the professional knowledge base after 1945 from an emphasis on concepts such as genius, eminence, fame, and distinction to giftedness, talent, and creativity.

The goal of the current project was to investigate empirically changes in conceptions of exceptional ability and performance, as reflected in the professional literature published since 1969. Over 28,000 articles were culled from three data bases: Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC), PsycINFO and Exceptional Children Educational Resources (ECER). Conceptual themes and types of research were analyzed for a sample of the articles, drawn from the midpoint year of each decade.

Significant results include: an increase in the number of articles relating to creativity; a rise in the number of practice‐oriented articles; and a small but steady increase in the number of articles employing qualitative research methods. Articles were also analyzed for evidence of a “paradigm shift” also discussed in the literature; however, the paradigm shift was not significantly reflected in practice. Implications are addressed relative to the conceptual trends in the literature and qualities of the knowledge base.     

Mapping inequality in access to meaningful learning in secondary education in Ethiopia: implications for sustainable development

ABSTRACT

The rapid expansion of primary education in Ethiopia has enabled most children to attend primary education—or at least to start schooling. This expansion, however, is largely “symbolic” rather than “substantive” where “substantive” refers to access that generates meaningful learning. The article explores spatial inequality in access to meaningful learning in secondary education in Ethiopia with a particular focus on the Amhara region, and addresses the question: Is substantive learning equitably distributed? To operationalise this question, “access-to-learning” is conceptualised using a new method of constructing a learning-oriented measure of educational quality that combines grade survival (access) and test score (quality). Moreover, the “zones of exclusion” framework has been used to see the systematic loss of students from the education system at different points in time. Using GIS tools, the extent of spatial inequality in access-to-learning was determined by mapping the proportion of students who achieved the required level of performance, and geographical variation in the distribution of inequality factors. The paper concludes with implications for educational policy and planning and recommendations for further research.     

Breaking Through the Self-Fulfilling Prophecy About Jewish Education

This article responds to three articles in the most recent issue of The Journal of Jewish Education (74:1) in which a variety of researchers examined Bible teaching that employed an approach to Bible pedagogy that had been characterized by the present author as “the Contextual orientation” in his previously published book, Textual Knowledge: Teaching the Bible in Theory and in Practice. The article responds to these three empirical studies in the light of the theory that he had previously articulated and explores issues, complexities and new insights that are raised by the suite of articles. In particular the article looks at various uses of the “The Documentary Hypothesis” as they appear in the empirical studies and it explores complexities in the relationship between the Contextual orientation and other orientations (particularly “Personalization”) that were raised by these three studies, many of which were not anticipated in the author's original work.